Month: November 2017

Who’s the boss? That’s the awkward question after the departing head of a government agency charged with looking after consumer rights appointed a deputy to temporarily fill his spot. The White House then named its own interim leader. One job, two people — and two very different views on how to do it. The first …

When people come to the U.S. seeking protection because they have suffered persecution or are afraid they will suffer persecution, they are permitted to file for asylum regardless of their immigration status. U.S. law offers asylum to those people facing persecution in their home countries on the basis of race, religion, nationality, political opinion or …

The politically fraught trial of a Turkish-Iranian businessman accused of running a multibillion-dollar scheme to evade U.S. sanctions on Iran gets underway next week but is widely expected to start without the main suspect: Reza Zarrab. Zarrab is a 33-year-old multimillionaire of dual Iranian-Turkish citizenship with business interests in Turkey and the United Arab Emirates, …

The director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau resigned Friday and named his own successor, leading to an open conflict with President Donald Trump, who announced a different person as acting head of the agency later in the day. That means there are now effectively two acting directors of the CFPB, when there should only …

A U.S. company says it has been selling lethal weapons to Ukraine since last year, ahead of an expected decision by the Trump administration on whether to provide such weapons to Ukraine. “We started delivering our product to Ukraine last year and we are continuing deliveries up until now,” said Richard Vandiver, Chief Operating Officer …

The United States has called on Pakistan to arrest and charge an Islamist cleric accused of masterminding the 2008 attacks on India’s financial capital. Pakistani authorities acting on a court order Friday freed Hafiz Saeed from nearly 11 months of house arrest in the eastern city of Lahore. The detention had stemmed from the terrorism …

Wisconsin Senate candidate Kevin Nicholson, a consultant for Fortune 500 companies, doesn’t look much like the renegade outsiders whom political strategist Steve Bannon says he’s recruiting for his war on the Republican establishment. But Nicholson has Bannon’s backing anyway, thanks to his loyalty to President Donald Trump. As Bannon drafts his team of challengers to …

Attorneys for Michael Flynn, President Donald Trump’s former national security adviser, have told Trump’s legal team they can no longer discuss the probe by a special counsel, indicating Flynn may be cooperating with the investigation, The New York Times reported Thursday. Flynn’s attorneys and a spokesman for special counsel Robert Mueller did not immediately respond …

Authorities say the deaths of 12 of the 14 Florida nursing home patients who died after Hurricane Irma have been ruled homicides. The Sun-Sentinel of South Florida said autopsy results from the Broward County medical examiner’s office were released Wednesday. No arrests have been made. Police spokeswoman Miranda Grossman said the investigation would continue and …

Americans are celebrating the Thanksgiving holiday Thursday with parades, charity work and meals with family and friends. …

Almost 60,000 Haitians have until July 2019 to return to their country from the U.S. following a decision by the Trump administration to end their temporary protected status, granted to them in the wake of Haiti’s devastating 2010 earthquake. The Center for Immigration Studies says most of them have lived in the U.S. for 13 …

International humanitarian organizations are warning that millions of Yemenis face death by starvation because of the blockade of the war-ravaged country by the Saudi-led coalition. The United Nations says Yemen will face the largest famine the world has ever seen unless the blockade is ended and its borders are re-opened. VOA Diplomatic Correspondent Cindy Saine …