President Donald Trump stunned lawmakers in a White House meeting on immigration Thursday when he reportedly referred to Haiti and African nations as “s—hole countries.” “Why are we having all these people from s—hole countries come here,” the president asked, as was first reported by The Washington Post and confirmed by CNN television. The crude…
read morePolice and immigrant-rights protesters clashed Thursday outside 26 Federal Plaza, New York City’s immigration court, after word spread that Ravi Ragbir, a well-known activist known to protect immigrant families from deportation, had himself been detained by immigration authorities inside the building. City leaders said Ragbir passed out while in detention, which occurred during a routine…
read moreWhile Congress and the White House debate the future of young immigrants brought to the U.S. as children, a new survey shows Americans overwhelmingly think they should be allowed to stay and apply to be citizens. The new poll by Quinnipiac University found that 79 percent of respondents supported citizenship for the immigrant youths, while 11…
read moreThe U.S. Environmental Protection Agency will replace Obama-era carbon and clean water regulations and open up a national debate on climate change in 2018, part of a list of priorities for the year that also includes fighting lead contamination in public drinking water. The agenda, laid out by EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt in an exclusive…
read moreU.S. President Donald Trump says it “seems unlikely” that he would need to meet with special counsel Robert Mueller about Mueller’s investigation into allegations that Trump’s presidential campaign had ties with Russia. Trump made the comment Wednesday during a news conference after a meeting with Norweigian Prime Minister Erna Solberg. He reiterated his statement that…
read moreThe South Korean government Thursday said it plans to ban cryptocurrency trading, sending bitcoin prices plummeting and throwing the virtual coin market into turmoil as the nation’s police and tax authorities raided local exchanges on alleged tax evasion. The clampdown in South Korea, a crucial source of global demand for cryptocurrency, came as policymakers around…
read moreMaine’s U.S. senators say they are getting behind an effort to restore net neutrality rules. Republican Sen. Susan Collins and independent Sen. Angus King say they support a bipartisan Congressional Review Act resolution to bring back net neutrality, which was repealed by the Federal Communications Commission last month. Collins and King say in a joint…
read moreThe Trump administration’s anti-marijuana move has some members of the president’s voting base fuming. Fans of President Donald Trump who use marijuana say Attorney General Jeff Sessions’ move to tighten federal oversight of the drug is the first time they’ve felt let down by the man they helped elect. The move feels especially punitive to…
read moreA U.S. District Court judge denied on Wednesday a preliminary injunction filed by Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Deputy Director Leandra English seeking to stop White House budget director Mick Mulvaney from taking control of the agency. English has challenged Mulvaney’s right to lead the consumer watchdog agency, citing her endorsement by former CFPB Director Richard…
read moreAlthough a federal judge in California ordered the Trump administration to keep in place the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program (DACA), recipients may not see any benefits soon, or at all. In Tuesday’s court order, U.S. District Court Judge William Alsup said immigration officials must begin to process DACA renewal applications again. The ruling…
read moreA U.S. congressional report issued Wednesday accused Russia of mounting a protracted assault on democracy at home and abroad, and urged a multi-pronged counter-strategy that begins with U.S. presidential leadership, something the report alleged has been lacking from Donald Trump. Prepared by Democratic staff of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and provided in advance to…
read moreThe head of a research firm that hired a former British spy to investigate Donald Trump during his campaign for president told a U.S. Senate committee that the investigator gave a dossier about Trump to the Federal Bureau of Investigation because he was “very concerned” about a potential national security matter. Senator Dianne Feinstein on…
read moreU.S. President Donald Trump has signaled willingness to compromise on some immigration issues so he can finalize a permanent immigration bill. He met with lawmakers from both parties on Tuesday to address border security, protection of young immigrants without legal status in the United States, chain migration and the visa lottery program. VOA’s Zlatica Hoke…
read moreA U.S. federal judge on Tuesday ordered the Trump administration to keep in place for now a program that protects from deportation hundreds of thousands of immigrants who entered the country illegally when they were children. In September, President Donald Trump ended the program known as Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals and gave congress six…
read moreInterior Secretary Ryan Zinke has caved in to pressure from the governor and is banning oil and gas drilling off the Florida coast. “I support the governor’s position that Florida is unique and its coasts are heavily reliant on tourism as an economic driver,” Zinke said in a statement late Tuesday. He outright admitted that…
read morePresident Donald Trump on Tuesday ordered the secretaries of Defense, Homeland Security and Veterans Affairs to come up with a plan to improve mental health care for U.S. veterans. “They get out of the military and they had nobody to talk to, nobody to speak to. And it’s been a very sad situation,” Trump said…
read moreNearly seven years into Syria’s civil war, Syrian refugees in neighboring Lebanon are becoming poorer, leaving children at risk of child labor and early marriage, aid organizations said on Tuesday. A recent survey by the United Nations children’s agency UNICEF, U.N.’s World Food Program, and refugee agency, UNHCR showed that Syrian refugees in Lebanon are…
read moreSudan’s pound currency weakened to 30.5 pounds to the U.S. dollar on Tuesday from about 29.5 pounds a day earlier, traders said, continuing its fall amid protests over bread prices and an acute shortage of hard currency. Street protests broke out across the northeastern African country after bread prices doubled in recent days, following a…
read moreWhen urban designer Trupti Vaitla asked residents of a Mumbai slum what new features they’d like to see in their dilapidated public space, she was surprised by one popular answer: a patch of grass. The Lotus Garden is the only open area for about 200,000 people who live in cramped and squalid tenements abutting the…
read moreSitting on a rickety bench at his home in Kipipiri, in central Kenya, Samuel Macharia pulls a piece of paper from his pocket and proudly points to the signature at the bottom. “This paper means I get paid on time for my potatoes, even when the weather is bad,” he said. The precious document is…
read moreThe White House says President Donald Trump will attend this year’s World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, only the second time a U.S. president has attended the summit, and the first in 18 years. Presidential spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders told reporters Tuesday, “The president welcomes opportunities to advance his America First agenda with world leaders.…
read moreVenezuela has extended its ban on air and maritime ties with three nearby Dutch Caribbean islands, citing out of control smuggling, officials said Tuesday. Venezuela is pressing for high-level talks with leaders of Aruba, Curacao and Bonaire before trading can resume, officials said. Vice President Tareck El Aissami said that leaders of the…
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