Page 10 - Us Government

More severe storms hit central US as thousands recover from tornadoes

More tornadoes ploughed through the central US on Monday, ripping apart buildings and knocking out power as people from Texas to Kentucky continued to clean up from days of severe weather that killed more than two dozen people and destroyed thousands of homes and buildings. At least four tornadoes were confirmed in Oklahoma and Nebraska on Monday evening, according to a preliminary report from the National Weather Service. Across Oklahoma, at least 10 homes were destroyed and multiple buildings were damaged, including a fire station that was wiped out, according to the Oklahoma Department of Emergency Management. A spokesperson for the agency said they have not received any reports of injuries or deaths. Around 115,000 customers were without power in Oklahoma, Arkansas and Missouri, according to PowerOutage.us. Parts of several highways were also closed due to flooding or storm damage. In northwest Arkansas, severe weather caused a Halsey concert to be cancelled. And in Oklahoma,

US Secretary of State Rubio urges release of 11th Panchen Lama after 30 yrs

On May 17, 1995, just three days after the Dalai Lama recognised him, the six-year-old Panchen Lama and his family were abducted by the Chinese Communist Party

Trump to enforce tariffs if nations don't negotiate in good faith: Bessent

He did not say what would constitute "good faith" negotiations or clarify the timing to announce any decisions to return a country to the various rates Trump initially imposed on April 2

White House slams Moody's downgrade to US credit as 'political decision'

Trump has argued that his economic agenda, centered on tax cuts, reduced regulations and sweeping tariffs to bring more manufacturing jobs to the US, would promote strong growth

Moody's strips US govt of top credit rating over failure to rein in debt

Moody's Ratings stripped the U.S. government of its top credit rating Friday, citing successive governments' failure to stop a rising tide of debt. Moody's lowered the rating from a gold-standard Aaa to Aa1 but said the United States "retains exceptional credit strengths such as the size, resilience and dynamism of its economy and the role of the U.S. dollar as global reserve currency.' Moody's is the last of the three major rating agencies to lower the federal government's credit. Standard & Poor's downgraded federal debt in 2011 and Fitch Ratings followed in 2023. In a statement, Moody's said: "We expect federal deficits to widen, reaching nearly 9% of (the U.S. economy) by 2035, up from 6.4% in 2024, driven mainly by increased interest payments on debt, rising entitlement spending, and relatively low revenue generation.' Extending President Donald Trump's 2017 tax cuts, a priority of the Republican-controlled Congress, Moody's said, would add $4 trillion over the next decade to

Wisconsin judge indicted for allegedly helping man evade immigration agents

A federal grand jury indicted a Wisconsin judge Tuesday on charges she helped a man in the country illegally evade US immigration authorities looking to arrest him as he appeared before her in a local domestic abuse case. Milwaukee County Circuit Judge Hannah Dugan's arrest and ensuing indictment has escalated a clash between President Donald Trump's administration and local authorities over the Republican's sweeping immigration crackdown. Democrats have accused the Trump administration of trying to make a national example of Dugan to chill judicial opposition to the crackdown. Prosecutors charged Dugan in April via complaint with concealing an individual to prevent arrest and obstruction. In the federal criminal justice system, prosecutors can initiate charges against a defendant directly by filing a complaint or present evidence to a grand jury and let that body decide whether to issue charges. A grand jury still reviews charges brought by complaint to determine whether enough ..

Trump's pardon attorney to review Joe Biden's end-of-term mercy decisions

Ed Martin Jr., who will be the Justice Department's new pardon attorney after President Donald Trump pulled his nomination to be the top federal prosecutor for Washington, said Tuesday that he plans to scrutinise pardons that former President Joe Biden issued on his way out of the White House. These are big moments, and so they have to be able to withstand scrutiny," Martin told reporters on Tuesday, his last full day as acting U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia. Biden pardoned his siblings and their spouses in January on his last day in office. He also pardoned Dr. Anthony Fauci, retired Gen. Mark Milley and members of the House committee that investigated the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol. None of them had been charged with any crime. The pardons were designed to guard against possible retribution by President Donald Trump. Trump pulled Martin's nomination last week amid bipartisan opposition and replaced him with Fox News host Jeanine Pirro, who is expected to be .

Trump starts his Mideast trip with visit to Saudi amid crush of problems

President Donald Trump is opening his four-day Mideast trip on Tuesday by paying a visit to Saudi Arabia's de facto ruler, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, for talks on US efforts to dismantle Iran's nuclear programme, end the war in Gaza, hold down oil prices and more. The crown prince will fete Trump with a formal dinner and host a gathering of members of the Gulf Cooperation Council, which is made up of Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. Saudi Arabia and fellow OPEC+ nations have already helped their cause with Trump early in his second term by stepping up oil production. Trump sees cheap energy as a key component to lowering costs and stemming inflation for Americans. The president has also made the case that lower oil prices will hasten an end to Russia's war on Ukraine. But Saudi Arabia's economy remains heavily dependent on oil, and the kingdom needs a fiscal break-even oil price of $96 to $98 a barrel to balance its budget. It's ...

House Republicans unveil Medicaid cuts of upto $880 bn to help cover tax

House Republicans unveiled the cost-staving centrepiece of President Donald Trump's "big, beautiful bill" late Sunday, at least USD 880 billion in cuts largely to Medicaid to help cover the cost of USD 4.5 trillion in tax breaks. Tallying hundreds of pages, the legislation is touching off the biggest political fight over health care since Republicans tried to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act, or Obamacare, during Trump's first term in 2017 -- which ended in failure. While Republicans insist they are simply rooting out "waste, fraud and abuse" to generate savings with new work and eligibility requirements, Democrats warn millions of Americans will lose coverage. A preliminary estimate from the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office said the proposals would reduce the number of people with health care by 8.6 million over the decade. Savings like these allow us to use this bill to renew the Trump tax cuts and keep Republicans' promise to hardworking middle-class families, sa

US advocates 'direct dialogue' between India-Pak after de-escalation

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio encouraged 'continued efforts to improve communication' between India and Pakistan

Trump names Fox News host Jeanine Pirro as top federal prosecutor in DC

President Donald Trump has said he is naming Fox News host Jeanine Pirro, a former county prosecutor and elected judge, to be the top federal prosecutor for the nation's capital after abandoning his first pick for the job. Pirro, who joined Fox News in 2006, co-hosts the network's show "The Five" on weekday evenings. She was elected as a judge in New York's Westchester County Court in 1990 before serving three terms as the county's elected district attorney. Trump tapped Pirro to at least temporarily lead the nation's largest US Attorney's office after pulling his nomination of conservative activist Ed Martin Jr. for the position earlier on Thursday. In a post on Truth Social, Trump said he was naming Pirro as the interim US attorney in Washington D.C., but didn't indicate whether he would nominate her for the Senate-confirmed position on a more permanent basis. "Jeanine is incredibly well qualified for this position, and is considered one of the Top District Attorneys in the Histor

Do not travel to Pakistan: US government issues advisory to its citizens

This latest travel advisory for US citizens came after India launched strikes on nine terror sites in Pakistan on Wednesday

US govt inefficient, AI can offset losing some public workers, says Musk

In a wide-ranging conversation on Sunday with financier Michael Milken, Musk also spoke about his brain-implant company, Neuralink, and ongoing developments at SpaceX, according to the person

JD Vance blends diplomacy, dealmaking and family time in global travels

When JD Vance was running for vice president, he walked across an airport tarmac in Wisconsin one August day when his campaign travels happened to intersect those of Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris and approached Air Force Two. Besides wanting to take a poke at Republican Donald Trump's rival for avoiding the press, Vance said, "I just wanted to check out my future plane. It's an aircraft he now knows well. In the opening months of Trump's term, Vice President Vance has travelled all over the globe family in tow to conduct top-level diplomacy for the administration, in addition to taking a number of domestic trips. His international forays have featured a mix of meetings with world leaders, sharply crafted speeches advancing US policy, soft power appearances to build goodwill and family time at tourist sites along the way. Diplomacy before family and cultural sights Vance's trips have included a five-day trip to Europe in February, a hastily reorganised trek to ...

CIA, other spy agencies set to shrink workforce under Trump admin plan

The White House plans to cut staffing at the CIA and other intelligence agencies, including the National Security Agency, Trump administration officials told members of Congress, The Washington Post reported Friday. A person familiar with the plan but not authorised to discuss it publicly confirmed the changes to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity. The administration plans to reduce the CIA workforce by 1,200 over several years, and cut thousands of positions at the NSA and other intelligence agencies. The Post reported that the reductions at the CIA include several hundred people who have already opted for early retirement. The rest of the cuts would be achieved partly through reduced hirings and would not likely necessitate layoffs. In response to questions about the reductions, the CIA issued a statement saying CIA Director John Ratcliffe is working to align the agency with Trump's national security priorities. These moves are part of a holistic strategy to infuse th

US labels Haitian gangs as terror groups as experts warn of impact on aid

The US on Friday officially designated a powerful gang coalition in Haiti as a foreign terrorist organisation, raising concerns the move could deepen the country's humanitarian crisis at a critical time. The Viv Ansanm coalition, which means Living Together, joins a list of eight Latin American criminal organisations under that category. Gran Grif, the biggest gang to operate in Haiti's central Artibonite region, also was added to the list, as reported by The Associated Press on Tuesday. The age of impunity for those supporting violence in Haiti is over, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in a statement Friday. The US Department of State warned that persons, including American citizens, that engage in certain transactions or activities with these entities, or these individuals may expose themselves to sanctions risk. But it's nearly impossible for aid groups and others to avoid dealing with gangs in Haiti. The Viv Ansanm coalition controls at least 85 per cent of the capital,

Rubio takes on 2 key security roles after embracing Trump's vision

Secretary of State Marco Rubio has been thrown into two top national security jobs at once as President Donald Trump presses forward with his top-to-bottom revamp of US foreign policy, upending not only longstanding policies that the former Florida senator once supported but also the configuration of the executive branch. Trump's appointment of Rubio to temporarily replace Mike Waltz as national security adviser is the first major leadership shake-up of the nascent administration, but Waltz's removal had been rumoured for weeks ever since he created a Signal group chat and accidentally added a journalist to the conversation where top national security officials shared sensitive military plans. So, just over 100 days into his tenure as America's top diplomat, Rubio now becomes just the second person to hold both positions. He follows only the late Henry Kissinger, who served as both secretary of state and national security adviser for two years under Presidents Richard Nixon and ...

Mangione wants murder case dropped, cites double jeopardy in CEO killing

Luigi Mangiones lawyers urging a judge Thursday to throw out his state murder charges in the killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, arguing that the New York case and a parallel federal death penalty prosecution amount to double jeopardy. If that doesn't happen, they want terrorism charges dismissed and prosecutors barred from using evidence collected during Mangione's arrest last December, including a 9 mm handgun, ammunition and a notebook in which authorities say he described his intent to wack an insurance executive. Mangione's lawyers also want to exclude statements he made to police officers who took him into custody at a McDonald's restaurant in Altoona, Pennsylvania, 230 miles (about 370 kilometers) west of New York City, after a five-day search. Among other things, prosecutors say the Ivy League graduate apologised to officers for the inconvenience of the day, and expressed concern for a McDonald's employee who alerted them to his whereabouts, saying: A lot of peop

From Tokyo to LA, workers observe May Day, many voice concerns about Trump

Shouting banzai! or live long, thousands of people gathered in a Tokyo park on Thursday and marched through the streets to the banging of traditional drums, as Japan kicked off celebrations to mark May Day. The holiday, also known as International Workers' Day or Labour Day, marks the struggles and achievements of workers and the labour movement around the world. Thousands of people are expected to attend rallies and marches across the US, including in Chicago, Los Angeles, New York and Philadelphia. For our children to be able to live with hope, the rights of workers must be recognised, said Junko Kuramochi, a member of a mothers' group who marched in Japan's capital. US organisers say their message this year is focused on fighting back against President Donald Trump's policies targeting immigrants, federal workers and diversity initiatives. Even in Japan, some said Trump's policies hung over the day like a shadow. One truck in the Tokyo march featured a doll that looked like ...

US govt expands grounds for cancelling international students' legal status

The federal government is expanding the reasons international students can be stripped of their legal status in the US, where thousands have come under scrutiny in a Trump administration crackdown that has left many afraid of being deported. Attorneys for international students say the new reasons allow for quicker deportations and serve to justify many of the actions the government took this spring to cancel foreign students' permission to study in the US After abruptly losing their legal status in recent weeks with little explanation, students around the country filed challenges in federal courts. In many cases, judges made preliminary rulings that the government acted without due process. Then the government said it would issue new guidelines for cancelling a student's legal status. An Immigration and Customs Enforcement document shared Monday in a court filing said valid reasons now include the revocation of the visas students used to enter the US. In the past, if a student's v