Author: potus

Sen. Andy Kim, D-N.J., indicated Sunday that he is open to working with other Democrats to deny Republicans the votes necessary to keep the government funded ahead of a key deadline next month if the Trump administration continues reshaping federal agencies and programs.“In a few weeks, the Republicans are going to try to figure out how they move forward, and they have, for the last two years, needed Democratic votes for every single continuing resolution, and they should not count on that this time,” Kim said in an interview on NBC News’ “Meet the Press.” A continuing resolution, or CR,…

The Kremlin said Monday that U.S.-Russia relations were on the brink of collapse and refused to confirm whether Russian President Vladimir Putin had spoken with President Donald Trump, despite Trump saying so Sunday.Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov told a media conference Monday that relations with Washington “are balancing on the brink of a breakup” and reiterated that the war in Ukraine would last until Kyiv drops its ambitions to join NATO and withdraws from the four regions occupied by Russian forces.In remarks suggesting Moscow is maintaining its tough negotiating stance, Ryabkov said that “we simply imperatively need to get…

Incumbent Daniel Noboa seeks re-election, with Luisa Gonzalez seen as his main rival.Voters in Ecuador are set to pick their next president in a race dominated by the country’s security crisis and struggling economy. Polls opened at 7am local time (12:00 GMT) on Sunday and will close 10 hours later (22:00 GMT). Fifteen candidates are challenging hard-right incumbent President Daniel Noboa, the 37-year-old son of a billionaire banana magnate who ascended to power just 14 months ago. His top challenger is left-wing lawmaker Luisa Gonzalez, a 47-year-old protege of former President Rafael Correa. Gonzalez will have to dramatically outperform pre-election…

The State Department has given Congress formal notification that it plans to move forward with sales of more than $8 billion in weapons to Israel, bypassing an informal review process that was underway in a House committee.The move took place just days after President Trump met with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel and said the United States would “take over” the devastated Gaza Strip and turn it into a “Riviera of the Middle East.”The State Department formally notified Congress of its intention on Friday. That same day, the Pentagon put out two news releases, one saying it was selling…

A chorus of criticism greeted Friedrich Merz, the favorite to become Germany’s chancellor, last month when he broke a taboo against working with a hard-right party to pass legislation. But it was a lone voice of dissent that rocked the country’s political scene: Angela Merkel, the once-beloved former chancellor, who called Mr. Merz’s decision simply “wrong.”Ms. Merkel and Mr. Merz have famously jockeyed to lead Germany’s Christian Democrats for much of this century. Ms. Merkel won the early rounds, served 16 years as chancellor, and retired in 2021. Mr. Merz finally has a chance to win her old job in…

In 1962, not long after President John Kennedy created U.S.A.I.D., the federal agency tasked with administering foreign assistance, he welcomed its first mission directors to the White House. He noted the difficult politics of sustaining foreign assistance but called it essential to America’s role as leader of the free world. “There will not be farewell parades to you as you leave,” he said of their imminent deployments, “or parades when you come back.” The reward was the work itself and the larger cause of freedom it served.A nation’s foreign policy is a good window into its psyche. The America that…

For decades, some members of the white Afrikaner minority have been trying to convince anyone and everyone who would listen that they are the true victims in post-apartheid South Africa.They have made claims of mass killings of their people and widespread land grabs by a Black-led government that they insist is seeking retribution for the sins of the Afrikaner-led apartheid government. Their stories have been false or greatly exaggerated, but that hasn’t stopped them from being widely amplified and repeated online.Afrikaners, an ethnic group that descended from European — primarily Dutch — colonizers, have found a champion of their cause…

Office of Management and Budget Director Russell Vought has taken on the role of acting head of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, according to an OMB spokesperson and a source familiar with the situation.Vought, who was confirmed as OMB director Thursday despite strong opposition from Senate Democrats, replaces Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent as acting head. Bessent had been named to the role Monday, and shortly after, Democrats accused him of implementing “what appears to be an illegal stop work order.”Mick Mulvaney, President Donald Trump’s OMB director during his first term, took over the CFPB at the president’s behest in 2017.…

WASHINGTON — At the start of the week, President Donald Trump warned ominously that the U.S. will retake the Panama Canal or “something very powerful is going to happen.”By week’s end, he announced that he was killing off a prior mandate for government to buy paper straws, the environmentally friendly sipping utensil that dissolves “disgustingly” in the mouth, he wrote on his social media site.The two pronouncements bookended a frenetic seven-day period in which Trump also made himself head of the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts with creative sway over performances, signed an order banning transgender athletes from competing…

The National Institutes of Health announced Friday that the agency is making cuts to grants that support research institutions by limiting the amount of indirect funding for research projects to just 15%.In the agency’s announcement, the NIH’s Office of Policy for Extramural Research Administration, or OPERA, wrote that $9 billion of the $35 billion total spent on research grants in fiscal year 2023 was allocated from the agency for indirect costs, which cover things like equipment, operations, maintenance, accounting and personnel.When a scientist receives a federal NIH grant for a project — say $500,000 per year — the institution that houses…