US

Trump Stoking Hatred and Racism in Reelection Campaign
2019-07-18 06:12:54 UTC
NEW YORK (AP) — President Donald Trump has placed racial animus at the center of his reelection campaign, and even some of his critics believe it could deliver him a second term. Every successful modern presidential campaign has been built on the notion of addition, winning over voters beyond core supporters. But Trump has chosen division on the belief that the polarized country he leads will simply choose sides over issues like race. He intensified his attacks on Wednesday, blasting four young congresswomen of color during a rally in Greenville, North Carolina. The crowd responded by chanting, “Send her back!” echoing Trump’s weeken...
House Condemns Trump's Racist Attack on Congresswomen
2019-07-17 05:39:58 UTC
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. House of Representatives voted on Tuesday to condemn President Donald Trump for “racist comments” against four minority Democratic congresswomen, a symbolic vote aimed at shaming Trump and his fellow Republicans who stood by him. Tempers flared in the hours leading up to the vote that mainly split along party lines, the culmination of three days of outrage sparked by a Trump tweetstorm that diverted attention from all other business in Washington. Trump had told the group of congresswomen to “go back and help fix the totally broken and crime infested places from which they came.” All four lawmakers ...
We Need to Embrace Progressive Agenda, Not Trump Voters, Say 2020 Democratic Hopefuls
2019-07-14 23:13:09 UTC
PHILADELPHIA (Reuters) - Democratic presidential hopeful Elizabeth Warren told a room full of liberal activists on Saturday that the party needs to fully embrace polices such as higher taxes on the wealthy, wiping out student loan debt and criminal justice reform if they want to win the White House. The 70-year-old U.S. senator from Massachusetts said these ideas are not only supported by the activists gathered at the Netroots Nation conference in Philadelphia, the largest annual gathering of progressives in the United States, but by large majorities of the American public. “The progressive agenda is the American agenda,” she said . ...
Trump Slammed for Racist Attack on Congresswomen
2019-07-14 23:11:34 UTC
WASHINGTON - U.S. President Donald Trump on Sunday told a group of mostly American-born Democratic congresswomen to “go back and help fix the totally broken and crime infested places from which they came,” a comment that was condemned by Democrats as racist. New York Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand told reporters at an event in Iowa that Trump is "racist" and that he was "demeaning female members of the House of Representatives based on the color of her skin and their cultural heritage," while Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders wrote in a tweet that, "When I call the president a racist, this is what I'm talking about." Trump said in a series of thr...
Wyoming: It’s Not Ok to Be Gay, Join the KKK
2019-06-30 19:14:57 UTC
CHEYENNE, Wyo. (AP) — The leaflets distributed by students at a junior high school told pre-teens to “Join the KKK” and that “It’s not OK to be gay.” In the capital of the state known for the 1998 murder of gay college student Matthew Shepard, school officials have worked to respond to the spring incident. They’re holding community meetings and plan to hire a “diversity and cultural awareness” counselor while providing additional employee training. “We’ve got a pretty good plan to try to work on all of that,” said Boyd Brown, superintendent of Laramie County School District No. 1. Others aren’t so confident the Cheyenne school dis...
Steve Jobs Design Chief to Start Own Firm
2019-06-28 00:58:11 UTC
(Reuters) - Jony Ive, a close creative collaborator with Apple Inc co-founder Steve Jobs whose iPhone and other designs fueled Apple’s rise to become a $1 trillion company, will leave later this year to form an independent design company. Apple said Ive will continue work on its products at his new venture, but shares fell as much as 1.5% to $197.44 in after-market trading, wiping about $9 billion from the firm’s value. Ive spent nearly three decades at Apple, playing a leading role in the design of the candy-colored iMacs that helped Apple re-emerge from near death in the 1990s to the iPhone, regarded by many business experts as one...
Drowned Man’s Mother Feels a Hole That “Nobody Can Fill”
2019-06-26 18:04:49 UTC
SAN MARTIN, El Salvador (AP) — The mother of a man who drowned alongside his 23-month-old daughter while trying to cross the Rio Grande into Texas says she feels a hole that “nobody can fill.” Rosa Ramírez says she begged Oscar Alberto Martínez Ramírez not to leave, and if he had to, to leave young Valeria with her. The two were swept away by the current Sunday near Matamoros, Mexico, and Brownsville, Texas. A photo of the discovery of their bodies shows the girl tucked into Martínez’s shirt for protection and her arm draped over his neck. Ramirez told AP on Wednesday that the image is “tough” and “shocking.” But at the same time ...
Mueller Agrees to Testify Publicly on July 17
2019-06-26 01:55:23 UTC
WASHINGTON (AP) — Democrats say Robert Mueller has agreed to testify publicly July 17 before the House Judiciary and intelligence committees after both panels issued subpoenas to him Tuesday evening. House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler and House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff say in a joint statement that the special counsel has agreed to testify about the Trump-Russia report he issued in April. The Justice Department declined to comment. The committees have been in negotiations with Mueller for more than two months about his testimony. But he has been hesitant to testify and speak about the investigation b...
Shocking Images of Drowned Father-Daughter Highlights Migrants’ Deadly Journey
2019-06-25 23:57:20 UTC
MEXICO CITY (AP) — The man and his 23-month-old daughter lay face down in shallow water along the bank of the Rio Grande, his black shirt hiked up to his chest with the girl tucked inside. Her arm was draped around his neck suggesting she clung to him in her final moments. The searing photograph of the sad discovery of their bodies on Monday, captured by journalist Julia Le Duc and published by Mexican newspaper La Jornada, highlights the perils faced by mostly Central American migrants fleeing violence and poverty and hoping for asylum in the United States. According to Le Duc’s reporting for La Jornada, Óscar Alberto Martínez Ramír...
US Abruptly Calls Off Retaliation Strike Against Iran
2019-06-21 05:39:58 UTC
WASHINGTON (AP) — A U.S. official said the military made preparations Thursday night for limited strikes on Iran in retaliation for the downing of a U.S. surveillance drone, but approval was abruptly withdrawn before the attacks were launched. The official, who was not authorized to discuss the operation publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity, said the targets would have included radars and missile batteries. The New York Times reported that President Donald Trump had approved the strikes, but then called them off. The newspaper cited anonymous senior administration officials. The White House on Thursday night declined reque...
US, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Israel and Iran ‘Using Influence for Bad’
2019-06-22 21:38:00 UTC
The U.S. has ranked near Saudi Arabia and Russia in an international poll of countries which use their global influence for bad purposes. The Ipsos Mori study for King’s College London of 17,000 people in 24 countries found Iran is most likely to be seen as using its influence for bad at 31%. This is followed by Russia and Saudi Arabia both on 25%, Israel on 24% and the US on 22%. Countries seen as most likely to use their influence for good are Germany (32%) and Canada (37%), as well as the UN (35%). <img alt="Germany_and_canada_strongest_defender_of_the_'unalienable_rights'" src="/system/images/20416/large/Ger...
US Drone Shot Down After Entering Iran’s Airspace
2019-06-20 05:51:04 UTC
DUBAI (Reuters) - Iran’s elite Revolutionary Guards have shot down a U.S. “spy” drone in the southern province of Hormozgan, the Guards’ news website Sepah News said on Thursday. State news agency IRNA carried the same report, identifying the drone as an “RQ-4 Global Hawk’. “It was shot down when it entered Iran’s airspace near the Kouhmobarak district in the south,” the Guards’ website added. The RQ-4 Global Hawk unmanned aircraft system (UAS) can fly at high altitudes for more than 30 hours, gathering near-real-time, high-resolution imagery of large areas of land in all types of weather, maker Northrop Grumman says on its websit...
California Governor Calls Treatment of Native Americans Genocide
2019-06-19 05:57:07 UTC
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - California Governor Gavin Newsom on Tuesday apologized to Native Americans for violence and other wrongdoings they suffered during the state’s history and called their mistreatment genocide. The Democratic governor, in an executive order, called for the creation of a Truth and Healing Council to produce a report before the end of 2024 on the historical relationship between the state and Native Americans. Newsom delivered the apology during an appearance with tribal leaders at the California Indian Heritage Center near Sacramento, the state capital. “It’s called a genocide, that’s what it was, a genocide,” N...
US Weekly Jobless Claims Rise; Imported Inflation Weak
2019-06-13 18:19:18 UTC
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The number of Americans filing applications for unemployment benefits unexpectedly rose last week, which could add to concerns that the labor market was losing steam after job growth slowed sharply in May. Other data on Thursday showed import prices fell by the most in five months in May amid a broad decline in the cost of goods, the latest indication of muted inflation pressures. The import deflation supports expectations that the Federal Reserve will cut interest rates this year. U.S. central bank policymakers are scheduled to meet on June 18-19 against the backdrop of rising trade tensions. Financial markets...
US Ranks Last in the world for Maternity Leave
2019-06-13 18:25:15 UTC
NEW YORK, 13 June 2019 — Sweden, Norway, Iceland, Estonia and Portugal offer the best family-friendly policies among 31 rich countries with available data, according to a new UNICEF repot. Switzerland, Greece, Cyprus, United Kingdom and Ireland rank the lowest. The United States is the only country included in the analysis with no national paid leave policy for mothers or fathers, ranking it the worst for maternity leave. Produced by UNICEF’s Office of Research – The <a href="https://www.unicef.org/press-releases/sweden-norway-iceland-and-estonia-rank-highest-family-friendly-policies-oecd-and-eu"><em>report</em></a> ranks co...
US Economic Growth Continues to Slow
2019-06-07 16:37:19 UTC
NEW YORK (Reuters) - The U.S. economy is growing at a 1.4% annualized rate in the second quarter based on data that showed a weaker-than-forecast payrolls growth in May, the Atlanta Federal Reserve’s GDPNow forecast model showed on Friday. This was a tad slower than the 1.5% pace estimated by Atlanta Fed’s GDP program on Thursday. — US HIRING SLOWS WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. hiring stumbled in May as employers added just 75,000 jobs, a sign that businesses have become more cautious in the face of weaker global growth and widening trade conflicts. Last month’s modest job gain followed a much healthier increase of 224,000 in Apr...
Hunt for Shoppers: Luxury Brands Raising Stakes on Instagram
2019-06-07 16:10:35 UTC
PARIS (Reuters) - Big-spending luxury brands like Gucci, Louis Vuitton and Christian Dior are splashing out on everything from dance-fuelled fashion shows to teams of advisers as they target social media platforms in the hunt for young shoppers. Without the entry barriers of magazine advertising - where a one page glossy ad can cost tens of thousands of dollars - sites like Instagram, a fashionista favorite, have allowed unknown labels to find an audience with canny or eye-catching campaigns. But big bucks are changing the game as cash rich luxury goods groups like LVMH and Kering hike their social media budgets, giving them vast mea...
EU to Create a System to Get Around US Block on WTO
2019-06-06 20:49:33 UTC
BERLIN/GENEVA (Reuters) - The European Union is set to propose creating a shadow system to get around a U.S. block on appeals in disputes at the World Trade Organization (WTO), according to a draft proposal circulated to national lawmakers. U.S. President Donald Trump is blocking appointments to the WTO’s Appellate Body, saying its judges have overstepped their mandate and ignored their instructions. Trump’s critics say he resents their power over U.S. law. Unless the block is lifted, the world’s top trade court will have only one of its seven members left by December, leaving it unable to hear appeals in international trade disputes...
Democrats Move to Hold Barr, McGahn in Contempt of Congress
2019-06-06 20:32:52 UTC
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A U.S. House of Representatives committee, seeking to advance probes of President Donald Trump, unveiled a measure on Thursday that would authorize court action to enforce congressional subpoenas of Attorney General William Barr and former White House Counsel Don McGahn over the Mueller report. The Rules Committee resolution was expected to go to a vote on the House floor on Tuesday, according to Democratic aides. If approved, the measure would put another aspect of the growing confrontation between Trump and House Democrats before the courts. The resolution also sets the terms for possible court action by othe...
US Senators Seek to Block Trump Saudi Arms Sales
2019-06-05 21:52:21 UTC
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Republican and Democratic U.S. senators said on Wednesday they would introduce legislation to block President Donald Trump’s plan for $8 billion in military sales to Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates without congressional review. Backers said the introduction of the 22 “resolutions of disapproval,” one for each of the 22 arms deals cleared by the Trump administration, was intended to “protect and reaffirm Congress’ role of approving arms sales to foreign governments.” The announcement followed furious rejection in Congress late last month of the administration’s declaration that a growing threat from Ir...
Poll: Biden, Sanders lead Trump in battleground state Michigan
2019-06-05 16:37:33 UTC
KALAMAZOO, Mich. (Reuters) - In an early sign of the potential weakness of U.S. President Donald Trump’s path to reelection, two Democratic presidential primary frontrunners are outshining the incumbent Republican in a poll of Michigan voters released on Wednesday. Michigan is set to be a key battleground state in the November 2020 election and will be critical to Trump’s hopes of getting reelected to another four-year term. The poll of likely voters found both former Vice President Joe Biden and U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders leading Trump by 12 percentage points if the vote were to be held today. Only 36% of likely voters in Michig...
US shared sensitive nuclear power information with Saudi Arabia
2019-06-05 06:08:32 UTC
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Trump administration granted two authorizations to U.S. companies to share sensitive nuclear power information with Saudi Arabia shortly after the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi in October, a U.S. senator who saw the approvals said on Tuesday. The timing of the approvals is likely to heap pressure on the administration of President Donald Trump from lawmakers who have become increasingly critical of U.S. support for Saudi Arabia since Khashoggi was killed in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul in October. Khashoggi, a native of Saudi Arabia, left in 2017 to became a resident of the United States where he...
Elon Musk Says Tesla deliveries Set to Top Record
2019-05-23 15:41:53 UTC
(Reuters) - Tesla Inc is on course to top its record for quarterly deliveries in the second quarter, beating the 90,700 it sent to customers in the final quarter of last year, according to an email from Chief Executive Officer Elon Musk to staff. Musk’s email, widely posted on social media and authenticated for Reuters by a source familiar with the matter, also said the company had on average produced 900 Model 3 cars per day this week, bringing it closer to a target of 7,000 per week. Demand for the Model 3 sedan and Tesla’s other cars has moved to the top of investors’ list of concerns around the company after it reported slack fir...
Trump Says Some Auto Imports Threaten National Security
2019-05-17 20:40:13 UTC
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - US President Donald Trump declared that some imported vehicles and parts pose a national security threat but delayed a decision for as long as six months on whether to impose tariffs to allow for more time for trade talks with the European Union and Japan. The unprecedented designation of foreign vehicles imported to the United States from some of its closest allies sparked anger from automakers, dealers and foreign governments after a White House document hinted it would seek voluntary export quotas on autos from U.S. trading partners. European Trade Commissioner Cecilia Malmstroem said on Twitter that “we com...
US Federal Appeals Court: Trump Administration Violated Federal Law
2019-05-17 20:13:17 UTC
RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — A federal appeals court ruled Friday the Trump administration acted in an “arbitrary and capricious” manner when it sought to end an Obama-era program that shields young immigrants from deportation. A three-judge panel of the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled 2 to 1 that the Trump administration violated federal law when it tried to end the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program without adequately explaining why. The ruling overturns a lower court ruling a judge in Maryland made last year, which Trump had previously praised via Twitter. Friday’s ruling will not have any immediate effect as other fed...