List of All Articles with Tag 'pol'

BEIRUT (Reuters) -A Lebanese military tribunal has formally accused five members of Hezbollah and the allied Amal Movement of killing

The Biden administration on Thursday imposed sanctions on Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps officials accused of plotting assassinations abroad, including against former national security adviser John Bolton and former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.

The Supreme Court on Thursday sided with a cement mixing company that seeks to bypass federal labor law and sue a union in state court for the destruction of property caused by striking workers.

Former President Donald Trump's history of making inappropriate or questionable comments on tape got another chapter on Wednesday with fresh revelations from his post-White House life.

KHARTOUM A senior U.S. official said violations of a ceasefire in Sudan have led Washington to "seriously question"

Senators are racing the clock to pass a bill to to suspend the nation's debt limit through January 1, 2025 -- but it's not yet clear when a final vote will take place as the threat of default looms.

Asian leaders accustomed to straddling the US-China divide are increasingly nervous that tensions between the world’s two superpowers

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy made an unexpected appearance at a summit in neighboring Moldova the same day Russia

Ukraine’s capital was hit by a missile barrage overnight, the 19th such attack in the last month. While

In a bombshell development in the classified documents case against Donald Trump, a report by CNN says federal prosecutors have obtained an audio recording of a summer 2021 meeting in which the former president acknowledges he held onto a classified Pentagon document about a potential attack on Iran — potentially undercutting his argument that he declassified everything. The recording indicates Mr Trump understood he retained classified papers after leaving the White House and suggests he would like to share the information but is aware of limitations on his ability post-presidency to declassify records. The network cites multiple sources. Special Counsel Jack Smith, who is investigating the classified papers case, is also looking at the former president’s efforts to overturn his 2020 election loss. In a new development he is examining Mr Trump’s firing of cybersecurity official Christopher Krebs, whose office said the vote was secure, The New York Times reports. Mr Krebs was fired by Mr Trump shortly after the election. Meanwhile, as more Republican contenders join the party’s primary race, Mr Trump has promised a year-long celebration of America to mark 250 years of independence if he wins the presidency again. Read More Trump caught on tape discussing classified documents he kept after leaving White House, reports say Trump legal team asks for judge in hush-money case to be removed Trump accuses DeSantis of faking his own name in wave of attacking social media posts

Former president Donald Trump escalated his attacks on competitor Ron DeSantis as the Florida governor began his presidential campaign in Iowa following his glitch-laden Twitter announcement. The 45th president on Wednesday claimed that Mr DeSantis was looking to "change his name". "Have you heard that 'Rob' DeSanctimonious wants to change his name, again," Mr Trump wrote on his social media platform Truth Social. "He is demanding that people call him DeeeSantis, rather than DaSantis. Actually, I like “Da” better, a nicer flow, so I am happy he is changing it. "He gets very upset when people, including reporters, don’t pronounce it correctly. Therefore, he shouldn’t mind, DeSanctimonious?" The Florida governor pronounced his name both as “dee-santus and “duh-santus", but reportedly settled on the latter. Mr Trump in a subsequent post, wrote: "ELECTION INTERFERENCE!" The one-time president continued his diatribe against Mr DeSantis by reposting a statement from Republican representative Mike Keyy, accusing the governor of “ingratitude” after Trump endorsed him in 2018. "There was a time when Ron DeSantis begged for president Trump's support. Our president gave Mr DeSantis that put him in a position to win the Florida governor's race...," the statement read. Mr Trump persisted. He then shared a post with a link to an article that called Mr DeSantis a "Trump knockoff". That followed another post linked to an article calling Mr Trump’s support “unmovable". A third post with a link claimed "Trump showed that he can capably lead America and protect the unborn”. Mr DeSantis, meanwhile, blitzed through Iowa during his first full day of presidential campaigning, stepping up his verbal swipes at the former president. The governor accused MrTrump of abandoning “America First” principles on immigration, supporting coronavirus pandemic-related lockdowns and generally having “moved Left”. Mr DeSantis also laughed off frequent criticism from the former president over his leadership in Florida, particularly on the state’s response to Covid-19. “Hell, his whole family moved to Florida under my governorship,” Mr DeSantis said. “This is a different guy than 2015, 2016,” Mr DeSantis previously told The Daily Wire, a conservative news website. Read More Reports: Prosecutors have tape of Trump discussing holding onto classified doc after leaving office Trump news - live: Trump caught on tape revealing he kept classified papers after presidency, report says DeSantis news – live: Florida governor attacks ‘wokeness’ but avoids saying Trump’s name at Iowa rally Ivanka and Jared split over attending Trump 2024 launch – follow live Why was Donald Trump impeached twice during his first term? Four big lies Trump told during his 2024 presidential announcement

Veering away from a default crisis, the House overwhelmingly approved a debt ceiling and budget cuts package, sending the deal that President Joe Biden and Speaker Kevin McCarthy negotiated to the Senate for swift passage in a matter of days, before a fast-approaching deadline. The hard-fought compromise pleased few, but lawmakers assessed it was better than the alternative — a devastating economic upheaval if Congress failed to act. Tensions ran high as hard-right Republicans refused the deal, but Biden and McCarthy assembled a bipartisan coalition to push to passage on a robust 314-117 vote late Wednesday. “We did pretty dang good,” McCarthy, R-Calif., said afterward. Amid deep discontent from Republicans who said the spending restrictions did not go far enough, McCarthy said it is only a “first step." Biden, watching the tally from Colorado Springs where Thursday he is scheduled to deliver the commencement address at the U.S. Air Force Academy, phoned McCarthy and the other congressional leaders after the vote. In a statement, he called the outcome “good news for the American people and the American economy.” Washington is rushing after a long slog of debate to wrap up work on the package to ensure the government can keep paying its bills, and prevent financial upheaval at home and abroad. Next Monday is when the Treasury has said the U.S. would run short of money and risk a dangerous default. Biden had been calling lawmakers directly to shore up backing. McCarthy worked to sell skeptical fellow Republicans, even fending off challenges to his leadership, in the rush to avert a potentially disastrous U.S. default. A similar bipartisan effort from Democrats and Republicans will be needed in the Senate to overcome objections. Overall, the 99-page bill would make some inroads in curbing the nation’s deficits as Republicans demanded, without rolling back Trump-era tax breaks as Biden wanted. To pass it, Biden and McCarthy counted on support from the political center, a rarity in divided Washington. A compromise, the package restricts spending for the next two years, suspends the debt ceiling into January 2025 and changes some policies, including imposing new work requirements for older Americans receiving food aid and greenlighting an Appalachian natural gas line that many Democrats oppose. It bolsters funds for defense and veterans, and guts new money for Internal Revenue Service agents. Raising the nation's debt limit, now $31 trillion, ensures Treasury can borrow to pay already incurred U.S. debts. Top GOP deal negotiator Rep. Garret Graves of Louisiana said Republicans were fighting for budget cuts after the past years of extra spending, first during the COVID-19 crisis and later with Biden's Inflation Reduction Act, with its historic investment to fight climate change paid for with revenues elsewhere. But Republican Rep. Chip Roy, a member of the Freedom Caucus helping to lead the opposition, said, “My beef is that you cut a deal that shouldn’t have been cut.” For weeks negotiators labored late into the night to strike the deal with the White House, and for days McCarthy has worked to build support among skeptics. At one point, aides wheeled in pizza at the Capitol the night before the vote as he walked Republicans through the details, fielded questions and encouraged them not to lose sight of the bill’s budget savings. The speaker has faced a tough crowd. Cheered on by conservative senators and outside groups, the hard-right House Freedom Caucus lambasted the compromise as falling well short of the needed spending cuts, and they vowed to try to halt passage. A much larger conservative faction, the Republican Study Committee, declined to take a position. Even rank-and-file centrist conservatives were unsure, leaving McCarthy searching for votes from his slim Republican majority. Ominously, the conservatives warned of possibly trying to oust McCarthy over the compromise. One influential Republican, former President Donald Trump, held his fire: "It is what it is,” he said of the deal in an interview with Iowa radio host Simon Conway. House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries said it was up to McCarthy to turn out Republican votes in the 435-member chamber, where 218 votes are needed for approval. As the tally faltered on an afternoon procedural vote, Jeffries stood silently and raised his green voting card, signaling that the Democrats would fill in the gap to ensure passage. They did, advancing the bill that hard-right Republicans, many from the Freedom Caucus, refused to back. “Once again, House Democrats to the rescue to avoid a dangerous default,” said Jeffries, D-N.Y. “What does that say about this extreme MAGA Republican majority?” he said about the party aligned with Trump’s ”Make America Great Again” political movement. Then, on the final vote hours later, Democrats again ensured passage, leading the tally as 71 Republicans bucked their majority and voted against it. The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office said the spending restrictions in the package would reduce deficits by $1.5 trillion over the decade, a top goal for the Republicans trying to curb the debt load. In a surprise that complicated Republicans' support, however, the CBO said their drive to impose work requirements on older Americans receiving food stamps would end up boosting spending by $2.1 billion over the time period. That's because the final deal exempts veterans and homeless people, expanding the food stamp rolls by 78,000 people monthly, the CBO said. Liberal discontent, though, ran strong as nearly four dozen Democrats also broke away, decrying the new work requirements for older Americans, those 50-54, in the food aid program. Some Democrats were also incensed that the White House negotiated into the deal changes to the landmark National Environmental Policy Act and approval of the controversial Mountain Valley Pipeline natural gas project. The energy development is important to Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., but many others oppose it as unhelpful in fighting climate change. On Wall Street, stock prices were down Wednesday. In the Senate, Democratic Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell are working for passage by week's end. Schumer warned there is ”no room for error." Senators, who have remained largely on the sidelines during much of the negotiations, are insisting on amendments to reshape the package. But making any changes at this stage seemed unlikely with so little time to spare before Monday's deadline. ___ AP White House Correspondent Zeke Miller, AP writers Mary Clare Jalonick, Seung Min Kim and Jill Colvin and video journalist Nathan Ellgren contributed to this report. Read More Ukraine war’s heaviest fight rages in east - follow live Charity boss speaks out over ‘traumatic’ encounter with royal aide Debt ceiling deal advances pipeline and tweaks environmental rules. But more work remains. Republicans get their IRS cuts; Democrats say they expect little near-term impact Progressives and conservatives complain as Biden-McCarthy debt deal passes