Alex Azar has been sworn in as President Donald Trump’s second health secretary. The former drug company executive and official in George W. Bush’s administration succeeds former Republican Georgia congressman Tom Price, who resigned last fall following an outcry over his use of costly private charter aircraft for official travel. Azar’s nomination as…
read moreAndrew McCabe, the FBI’s No. 2 official whom President Donald Trump publicly criticized for alleged political bias, stepped down from the bureau Monday, several weeks ahead of his retirement, an FBI official said. McCabe, 49, was set to retire as deputy director in March when he becomes eligible for full pension benefits. But the 22-year…
read moreIngvar Kamprad, who founded Sweden’s IKEA furniture brand and transformed it into a worldwide business empire, has died at the age of 91. Kamprad died Saturday of pneumonia in the southern Swedish region of Smaland where he grew up on a farm, and with some modest financial help from his father, starting selling pens, picture…
read morePresident Donald Trump will deliver his first State of the Union address Tuesday against the backdrop of the Russia investigation and intensive negotiations on immigration reform. VOA’s Michael Bowman reports from Washington. …
read moreKey Republicans voiced strong support Sunday for special counsel Robert Mueller’s handling of the investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 U.S. presidential election, but split on whether Congress needs to approve legislation to block President Donald Trump from firing Mueller. Senators Lindsey Graham of South Carolina and Susan Collins of Maine, breaking with some…
read moreWhy has Mumbai’s largest slum, which packs some one million people in about two square kilometers, emerged as an unlikely stop for foreign tourists? The draw is not images of squalor and poverty in the heart of India’s largest city, but a place where thriving entrepreneurship and stories of hope and success break many stereotypes…
read moreU.S. President Donald Trump touted the continued growth of the U.S. economy on Sunday, saying it is “better than it has been in many decades.” “Businesses are coming back to America like never before,” Trump said in a Twitter remark, a likely theme of his State of the Union address on Tuesday. “Unemployment is nearing…
read moreThe political network backed by conservative industrialists Charles and David Koch plans to spend $20 million to promote the tax overhaul recently signed into law by President Donald Trump. The investment marks an early focus of the Koch brothers’ 2018 political strategy. It comes as the conservative billionaires work to expand their sweeping efforts to…
read moreFlorida Sen. Marco Rubio said Saturday that he has fired his chief of staff after receiving reports of “improper conduct” with subordinate staffers. “By early this afternoon, I had sufficient evidence to conclude that while employed by this office, my Chief of Staff had violated office policies regarding proper relations between a supervisor and…
read morePresident Donald Trump’s first year in office has at times been racially charged, from his push to temporarily ban citizens from certain countries to his comments after a race riot in Charlottesville, Virginia, when some said he didn’t swiftly condemn white supremacists. But no matter the controversy, he remains the U.S military’s commander-in-chief. At the…
read moreTokyo-based cryptocurrency exchange Coincheck Inc said Sunday it would return about 46.3 billion yen ($425 million) of the virtual money it lost to hackers two days ago in one of the biggest-ever thefts of digital money. That amounts to nearly 90 percent of the 58 billion yen worth of NEM coins the company lost in…
read moreOfficials trying to settle differences over how to update the North American Free Trade Agreement have made some progress and hope politicians decide the talks should continue, Steve Verheul, Canada’s chief negotiator, told Reuters on Saturday. The United States, Canada and Mexico are due to finish the sixth of seven planned rounds of NAFTA discussions…
read morePresident Donald Trump will deliver his first State of the Union address to a joint session of Congress Tuesday. Lawmakers and a worldwide TV audience expect to hear the president’s priorities for 2018 in domestic and foreign policy. Trump is looking to shore up public support after a controversial first year that saw a victory…
read moreCasino mogul Steve Wynn has resigned as finance chairman of the Republican National Committee amid allegations of sexual harassment and assault. Wynn has been a prolific Republican donor and led the RNC’s fundraising efforts during President Donald Trump’s first year. RNC chairwoman Ronna McDaniel said in a statement Saturday that she accepted Wynn’s resignation. The…
read moreIn a surprise move, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency reversed itself Friday and stopped the approval process for the proposed Pebble Mine copper and gold mine project in southwest Alaska’s Bristol Bay region. “It is my judgment at this time that any mining projects in the region likely pose a risk to the abundant natural…
read moreThe Trump administration on Thursday sent a one-page framework to Republicans in Congress addressing immigration questions that have divided Congress and the American people. Mike O’Sullivan reports that, with critics on both sides, the administration’s proposals face an uphill battle. …
read morePresident Donald Trump’s “America First” policy on trade aims to reverse decades of lopsided exchange by withdrawing from international trade deals, renegotiating others and raising tariffs on foreign-made goods destined for the U.S. But, in a connected global economy, analysts warn the U.S. could find itself increasingly isolated as other countries rush forward to embrace…
read moreU.S. President Donald Trump commended the president of the National Border Patrol Council Saturday for expressing his support in a televised interview for the latest White House immigration reform proposal. “Thank you to Brandon Judd of the National Border Patrol Council for his strong statement on @foxandfriends that we very badly NEED THE WALL. Must…
read moreVOA’s Diplomatic Correspondent Cindy Saine interviewed former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations and former New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson via Skype about his abrupt resignation from an international board that advises Myanmar on the Rohingya crisis. Question: Do you prefer Ambassador Richardson or Governor Richardson? Former New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson: I think governor…
read moreYasmin Radjy finished graduate studies at one of the country’s top schools, Harvard University, and began mobilizing local efforts in Virginia to elect Democratic, progressive candidates. Radjy said she soon learned that bookwork often doesn’t equate to real life. “They [Harvard professors] taught me a lot of things that didn’t work in [the election of] 2016,”…
read moreU.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis says the United States will continue to “hold the line and provide credible military options” to diplomats working to de-escalate tensions on the Korean Peninsula and address Pyongyang’s nuclear and missile threat. Speaking on his flight before landing at Pearl Harbor, Mattis also noted the U.S. was ready to “fight…
read moreA year ago, President Donald Trump issued an executive order restricting travel by citizens of a handful of predominantly Muslim countries. With one of his first acts in office, the president set in motion what would be the first of three attempts to ban some travelers — including refugees — from the United States. The so-called travel…
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