Month: November 2017

Air Force General John Hyten, top commander of the U.S. Strategic Command, said on Saturday that he would resist President Donald Trump if he ordered and “illegal” launch of nuclear weapons. His statement caused debate […]

U.S. Opioid Crisis Costs More than $500bn

The cost of the opioid epidemic was about $504 billion in 2015, approximately six times higher than other studies from previous years, newly released analysis from the White House Council of Economic Advisers (CEA) shows, […]

FBI Report on Black Extremists Raises Fears of Returning to Practices Used During Civil Rights Movement

Concerns that the Federal Bureau of Investigation will return to practices used during the civil rights movement, when it spied on activist groups without evidence that they had done something illegal, have arisen after the […]

Democrats Want to Use Tax Bill as Weapon against Republicans

Democrats see an opportunity in the passage of the House tax-reform bill to use it against them in the upcoming midterms. Democrats hope to tie the tax bill to the Republicans’ unsuccessful attempts to repeal […]

Hispanic Caucus Gets Frustrated with Kelly

The Congressional Hispanic Caucus, who were hopeful they could negotiate with Chief of Staff John Kelly on Dreamers, have grown frustrated with him due to inability to establish a good working relationship. “We all thought, […]

Tightened Scrutiny of Skilled Worker Visa Applicants

The Trump administration has decided to increase scrutiny in the process of applying for employment visas, which presents obstacles to employers seeking to hire foreign workers. This move comes as no surprise considering the fact […]

Mueller Subpoenaed Documents About Comey’s Firing

Over the past few months, the Department of Justice has been requested to hand over documents as part of Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s probe into Russian interference. Documents relating to the firing of former FBI Director […]

Trump Calls on Clinton to Run Again

President Donald Trump called his former presidential opponent Hillary Clinton the “worst and biggest loser of all time” and urged her to run again in 2020, Politico reports. “She just can’t stop, which is so […]

Trump Reverses Hunting Trophy Decision

After severe criticism, President Donald Trump’s decision to allow elephant hunting trophies to be imported was reversed on Friday and is to be reviewed before making changes to it. Earlier this week it was announced […]

Global Banks Concerned About Tax Bill Provision

The provision of the Senate tax bill intended to fight tax evasion by international corporations has raised global banks’ concerns, who fear this could hurt the banking industry. Initially, it seemed like banks would be […]

Trump Pays His Own Legal Bills

President Donald Trump no longer charges his legal bills in the Russia probe to his campaign, but rather pays for them himself. He is also working on a plan to use personal funds to help […]

NAFTA Enters Another Round of Talks

A fifth out of seven planned rounds of NAFTA talks opened in Mexico on Friday, but only a few hours into it, Canada complained of the United States’ unwillingness to compromise. The talks aimed at […]

Satellite Images Suggest North Korea’s Work on Ballistic Missile Submarine

North Korea is pursuing an aggressive schedule to build its first operational ballistic missile submarine, U.S. institute reported citing images taken earlier this month. According to 38 North, the satellite images show activity at North […]

Facebook, Twitter and Google Fighting Fake News with ‘Trust Indicator’

In a bid to assure their users of the reliability of the content and to fight fake new, several media outlets, as well as Facebook, Twitter and Google will use so-called “Trust Indicators” which will […]

GOP Tax Plan Approved by Senate Panel

The Senate Finance Committee approved on Thursday the chamber’s GOP tax plan to overhaul the tax code. The bill was approved in a party-line vote, 14-12, sending the proposal to the full Senate. “For the […]

Black Lives Matter Member Suing Church Because It Kicked out Fellow Demonstrators

Member of the movement Black Lives Matter (BLM), that campaigns against violence and systemic racism towards black people, will file a discrimination lawsuit against a Georgia church because it called the police and banned BLM demonstrators […]

Kushner Had Emails About WikiLeaks He Didn’t Turn over

The Senate Judiciary Committee said on Thursday that President Donald Trump’s advisor and son-in-law, Jared Kushner, did not disclose emails he had about WikiLeaks and Russian overtures to the Trump campaign. Chuck Grassley, chairman of […]

McCain Raises Concerns over Pentagon Nominee Lockheed Connections

Senator John McCain on Thursday threatened to delay the Lockheed Martin executive in line for the Pentagon‘s top policy job after the nominee avoided questions on future conflicts of interest, The Hill reports. Nominee John […]

Mueller to Interview White House Communications Director Hicks

Special counsel Robert Mueller is due to interview White House communications director Hope Hicks soon, an indication that the Trump-Russia investigation may be “very far along,” according to senior law professionals, Newsweek writes. Hicks has […]

Pentagon to Begin Research on Banned Intermediate Missile

According to U.S. officials, the Pentagon is laying the groundwork to build a type of missile banned by a Cold War-era pact unless Russia abandons its own pursuit of the weapons, The Wall Street Journal […]

U.S., Russia Feud over Syria Chemical Weapons Inquiry

After a bitter feud between U.S. and Russia, the United Nations Security Council failed on Thursday to renew the mandate of an independent committee investigating chemical-weapon use in Syria, The Wall Street Journal informs. The […]

Top Democrat Seeks Info from FBI on Russia Nuclear Bribery Case

Senator Dianne Feinstein, the top Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee, has asked for access to an undercover informant who helped the FBI chronicle bribery, kickbacks and money laundering inside Moscow’s nuclear industry as part […]

After Mistrial Menendez to Appear before Senate Ethics Panel

The probe into Senator Robert Menendez will proceed, said the Senate Ethics Committee on Thursday, after his trial on counts of bribery and corruption ended in a mistrial. “In 2012, the committee initiated a preliminary […]

Military and Economy Power Shift from North America to China and Russia, NATO General Says

NATO Supreme Allied Commander Transformation General Denis Mercier assessed that the risk for a major interstate conflict increased in recent years. While addressing to the Atlantic Council, he pointed to the shift in military and […]

DHS Official Resigns after Racist Comments

After being revealed on Thursday that Jamie Johnson, a former official of the Department of Homeland Security, had made inappropriate comments about black people, calling them lazy and promiscuous, Johnson resigned from his post. Johnson, […]

Senate Sends Multibillion Dollar Defense Bill to Trump

A $700 billion defense bill was passed on Thursday by the Senate, in response to President Donald Trump’s call for a stronger military. However, it remains unclear how exactly it would be funded considering the […]

Sergey Kislyak: List of Trump Officials I’ve Spoken with Is Too Long

The number of the people connected to President Donald Trump that have met or spoken to the former Russian ambassador to the United States Sergey Kislyak is very big, said the ambassador himself, but did not […]

November 16, 2017 Focus Washington

Mexico Economy Minister: U.S. Exit from NAFTA Would Not Be Devastating for Us

Mexico’s economy minister Ildefonso Guajardo does not agree with U.S. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross’s assessments that if the United Stated pulls out of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), that would be devastating for […]

November 16, 2017 Focus Washington

House Republicans Expect Big Tax Win

House Republicans are prepared to pass their tax reform package on Thursday, thus getting their first big legislative victory since President Donald Trump took office. The president is to visit Capitol Hill before the vote […]

November 16, 2017 Focus Washington

Trump Says His Foreign Policy Restored Respect to the U.S. on World Stage

Hours after returning home from the 12-day trip to Asia, President Donald Trump said that his “America First” foreign policy restored strength and respect to the U.S. on world stage. Trump stated that he made […]