Several states have rejected a White House request for sensitive personal data on all registered voters, scoffing at President Donald Trump’s election fraud commission and warning the information could be misused in voter disenfranchisement efforts. On Friday the number of states rejecting the request in full or in part grew to at least 13, including … Read more
Turkey on Friday said the rights of Qatar must be respected as it hosted the defence minister of Ankara’s main Gulf ally which has been left isolated by Saudi-led sanctions. Khaled bin Mohammed al-Attiyah met with Turkish Defence Minister Fikri Isik at the defence ministry in Ankara, the state-run news agency Anadolu said on Thursday. … Read more
US President Donald Trump, after insisting a “fantastic” health care overhaul was imminent, injected more confusion Friday by suggesting if the current Senate bill fails they should immediately repeal Obamacare and pass a replacement later. Republican leaders have struggled to win sufficient support from within the party for their plan, now under threat of collapse … Read more
President Donald Trump welcomed South Korea’s Moon Jae-In to the White House Friday for talks on how to rein in Pyongyang’s nuclear and ballistic missile programs, with the leaders at odds on whether to isolate or engage the regime. “We have many options, with respect to North Korea,” Trump declared as he headed into an … Read more
A duo of TV hosts targeted in a deeply personal attack by President Donald Trump hit back Friday, questioning his “unmoored behavior” and fitness to serve. Mika Brzezinski and Joe Scarborough, who headline the “Morning Joe” news program on the left-leaning MSNBC cable network, penned a Washington Post opinion piece titled “Donald Trump is not … Read more
The White House envoy coordinating the US-led coalition fighting the Islamic State group was holding talks in Ankara on Friday a day after visiting a Syrian Kurdish militia deemed by Turkey to be “terrorists”. The visit by Brett McGurk, which was not announced in advance, comes a month after Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu called … Read more
US President Donald Trump and his South Korean counterpart held talks Thursday on how to halt North Korea’s nuclear drive, but remained at odds over whether to isolate or engage the Pyongyang regime. Trump welcomed the newly-elected South Korean President Moon Jae-In to the White House for a formal dinner that preceded the heavier lifting … Read more
Donald Trump unleashed a brutal personal attack Thursday on respected female television host Mika Brzezinski in the latest, stunning salvo in the president’s ongoing war with the media. Trump’s Twitter outburst — in which he describes the journalist “bleeding badly from a facelift” — appears to have been trigged by Brzezinski’s sharp comments during the … Read more
US-backed forces cut off the last escape route for the Islamic State group from Raqa on Thursday, a monitor said, trapping the besieged jihadists inside their de facto Syrian capital. Fighters with the Syrian Democratic Forces captured two villages on the southern bank of the Euphrates River the jihadists had been passing through to withdraw … Read more
The human voice is the most basic of all musical instruments. But when singers come together as choirs, quality standards vary widely around the world. A festival in Washington is bringing together top-tier choirs from a dozen countries in a bid to show music’s universality — how the joy of singing together transcends cultures. But … Read more
President Donald Trump on Thursday launched a brutal personal attack on MSNBC journalist Mika Brzezinski, after she sharply criticized his administration’s dysfunction in a segment on her show. “I heard poorly rated @Morning_Joe speaks badly of me (don’t watch anymore),” Trump wrote, referring to a morning news show featuring Brzezinski and co-host Joe Scarborough. “Then … Read more
The White House envoy to the US-led coalition bombing the Islamic State group, Brett McGurk, met on Thursday with local officials in the northern Syrian town of Tabqa. IS jihadists were ousted from Tabqa and an adjacent dam on May 10 by the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces as part of the group’s flagship offensive for … Read more
The White House has set new criteria for visa applicants from six mainly Muslim countries and all refugees, requiring them to have a “close” family or business tie to the US. The rules, affecting people from Iran, Libya, Syria, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen, come into force on Thursday. They were issued after the Supreme Court … Read more
The next US election is still more than 1,200 days away, but Donald Trump is already drumming up cash to pay for his campaign — and chose the Trump International Hotel, two steps from the White House, as a fundraising venue. On Wednesday, the 45th president of the United States will take part in a … Read more
The next US election is still more than 1,200 days away, but Donald Trump is already drumming up cash to pay for it — and chose the Trump International Hotel, two steps from the White House, as a fundraising venue. On Wednesday, the 45th president of the United States will take part in a dinner … Read more
US President Donald Trump’s warning to the Syrian government not to carry out a chemical weapons attack appears to have worked, Pentagon chief Jim Mattis said Wednesday. “It appears that they took the warning seriously,” Mattis said, referring to the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. White House spokesman Sean Spicer warned Monday night that … Read more
French President Emmanuel Macron invited President Donald Trump to a Bastille Day celebration next month to celebrate the arrival 100 years ago of the American troops who fought alongside the French during World War I. An official of the presidential Elysee Palace said the invitation to Trump and first lady Melania Trump was extended Tuesday … Read more
US Republicans eager to repeal “Obamacare” suffered a deeply embarrassing setback Tuesday when shrinking support forced them to postpone votes on their controversial health care overhaul, one of President Donald Trump’s top priorities. With the Senate bill delayed by a few weeks and maybe more, the timeline of the effort — and the overall viability … Read more
US President Donald Trump on Tuesday congratulated Ireland’s new Prime Minister Leo Varadkar, who earlier this month became the country’s youngest ever and first openly gay leader. “Congratulations on your great victory,” Trump told Varadkar, as the US leader sat at the Resolute Desk in the Oval Office for the telephone talks. “We have so … Read more
Frantic closed-door negotiations intensified at the US Congress on Tuesday to try to salvage President Donald Trump’s key campaign pledge to repeal Barack Obama’s health law, as the number of Republican holdouts continued to swell. At this point, the party does not have the votes to pass the legislation unveiled by Senate leaders, as a … Read more