President Barack Obama’s administration has backed away from seeking legislation that would give U.S. law enforcement agencies access to individuals’ encrypted messages, the White House said on Saturday. “We are actively engaged with private companies to ensur... More »
The U.S. administration hopes to release the full text of a Pacific trade deal within the next 30 days, U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman said in an interview with CNN. The United States sealed the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) with 11 trading partner... More »
NEW YORK/WASHINGTON U.S. Democratic presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton on Thursday called for the breakup of large banks that take excessive risks as part of a sweeping plan to curb what she says are Wall Street abuses. Under the proposal, large financial fi... More »
WASHINGTON Space Exploration Technologies, or SpaceX, has slammed a bid by United Launch Alliance, a joint venture of Lockheed Martin Corp and Boeing Co, to get a waiver from a U.S. ban on Russian rocket engines for military use. Elon Musk, the billionaire fou... More »
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. Three years after landing in a giant Martian crater, NASA’s Curiosity rover has found what scientists call proof that the basin had repeatedly filled with water, bolstering chances for life on Mars, a study published on Thursday showed. Th... More »
MANCHESTER, New Hampshire U.S. Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton will outline specific steps she would take to curb gun violence if elected during scheduled campaign stops in New Hampshire on Monday. Clinton spoke out forcefully in favor of new... More »
ATLANTA A dozen Pacific nations closed in on a sweeping free-trade pact on Sunday in Atlanta but failed to finalize terms on the fifth day of round-the-clock talks, dashing hopes raised by an earlier breakthrough on protections for new biotech drugs. U.S. offi... More »
WASHINGTON Former Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said in a newspaper interview published on Sunday that more corporate executives should have been prosecuted for their actions leading up to the 2008 financial crisis. Bernanke told USA Today that the U.S... More »
WASHINGTON Jason Chaffetz, a rising star among congressional Republicans, on Sunday declared a bid to become speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, complicating further an internal party struggle to replace John Boehner when he steps down. In a challeng... More »
WASHINGTON U.S. Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump said on Sunday the Middle East would be more stable if Muammar Gaddafi and Saddam Hussein were still in power in Libya and Iraq, saying it’s “not even a contest”. Trump mentioned the countries i... More »
WASHINGTON The nine justices of the U.S. Supreme Court are set to wade into contentious social matters in their new term beginning on Monday including affirmative action, union powers and voting rights, and could add major cases involving abortion and birth co... More »
U.S. Democratic presidential front-runner Hillary Clinton, who has been vying with challenger Bernie Sanders for the support of organized labor, scored a win on Saturday with an endorsement from the National Education Association, a huge teachers union. The NE... More »
The U.S. jobs data were a bust, China remains a threat, the Fed won’t hike until, well, don’t ask, and bad news is good news for the stock market once again. Stocks plunged and then rallied back to gains on Friday after payrolls data showed not just declining ... More »
HAVANA Amnesty International on Tuesday declared a Cuban graffiti artist as the country’s only prisoner of conscience, demanding the release of a man held for “disrespect of the leaders of the revolution” over a satire of Fidel and Raul Castro. Danilo Maldonad... More »
UNITED NATIONS Russia appeared to seize the initiative in international efforts to end the conflict in Syria on Sunday as Washington scrambled to devise a new strategy for the war-ravaged country and France sent warplanes to bomb Islamic State targets. As lead... More »
WASHINGTON Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump said in an interview that aired on Sunday on the eve of the unveiling of his tax plan that a “large segment” of U.S. taxpayers would have a zero rate if he wins the White House. Trump’s campaign has ... More »
NEW YORK President Barack Obama will meet with Cuba’s President Raul Castro on Tuesday on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in New York, a White House official said on Sunday. The official was speaking aboard Obama’s plane as he flew from Wa... More »
WASHINGTON Blasting hard-line conservatives as “false prophets,” U.S. House Speaker John Boehner on Sunday said Congress will avoid a government shutdown this week and he will push through as much unfinished legislation as possible before leaving at the end of... More »
WASHINGTON Republican lawmakers jockeyed for position on Sunday in the race to replace House of Representatives Speaker John Boehner as conservatives sought to exert influence over the election and push their party’s leadership further to the right. The House ... More »
WASHINGTON Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton said on Sunday the politically damaging “drip, drip, drip” of revelations about her use of a private email server is out of her control and she is unsure when the controversy might end. Clinton, who ... More »
WASHINGTON Former U.S. President Bill Clinton likened the controversy over his wife Hillary Clinton’s use of a personal email account while secretary of state to the same Republican and media tactics to stir controversy during his presidency, according to an i... More »
WASHINGTON The Obama administration said on Saturday it was allotting an additional $300 million to the effort to reduce HIV infection among girls and young women in 10 sub-Saharan African countries. The sum would help the main U.S. program for fighting AIDS i... More »
WASHINGTON The Pentagon’s Inspector General is investigating whether U.S. military personnel tried to get the U.S. government to pay them back for bills they racked up at casinos and strip clubs, using official travel charge cards. In May, the Pentagon watchdo... More »
WASHINGTON Republican presidential candidate Ben Carson said on Sunday that Muslims were unfit to be president of the United States, arguing their faith was inconsistent with American principles. “I would not advocate that we put a Muslim in charge of this nat... More »
FRANKFURT/HAMBURG Volkswagen (VOWG_p.DE) told U.S. dealers to halt sales of some 2015 diesel cars after regulators found software it designed for the affected vehicles gave false emissions data, the company said Sunday, announcing it had launched an investigat... More »
BERLIN The United States will increase the number of refugees it takes in by 15,000 over each of the next two years, bringing the total to 100,000 by 2017, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said after talks with his German counterpart on Sunday. The remarks m... More »
WASHINGTON Billionaire Donald Trump remains in first place in the race to win the Republican presidential nomination for 2016, but his support has fallen to 24 percent from 32 percent previously, a CNN/ORC poll released on Sunday shows. Former Hewlett-Packard ... More »
WASHINGTON Republican presidential frontrunner Donald Trump said on Saturday it was not his job to stand up for U.S. President Barack Obama after a man at one of his campaign events said he was a Muslim and “not even an American.” “Am I morally obligated to de... More »
NEW YORK/WASHINGTON A group of prominent Democratic Party fundraisers on Friday began circulating a letter to encourage a hesitant Vice President Joe Biden to enter the 2016 race for U.S. president. The letter, signed by nearly 50 people, calls the Obama-Biden... More »
WASHINGTON U.S. President Barack Obama nominated Eric Fanning to become the next secretary of the Army, the White House said on Friday, paving the way for the first openly gay leader of a military service branch in U.S. history. Fanning is currently serving as... More »
NEW YORK/WASHINGTON A group of prominent Democratic Party fundraisers on Friday began circulating a letter to encourage a hesitant Vice President Joe Biden to enter the 2016 race for U.S. president. The letter, signed by nearly 50 people, calls the Obama-Biden... More »
WASHINGTON The four leaders of the U.S. Congress asked members on Thursday to refrain from one of Washington’s favorite rituals when Pope Francis visits the Capitol next week: no trying to grab a handshake as he makes his way in. On Sept. 24, Pope Francis will... More »
NATIONAL HARBOR, Md. Boeing Co (BA.N) on Wednesday said it had rejected an unsolicited bid from Aerojet Rocketdyne Holdings Inc (AJRD.N) for United Launch Alliance, a 50-50 rocket launch venture of Boeing and Lockheed Martin Corp (LMT.N). “The unsolicited prop... More »
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. The first manned test flight of NASA’s new deep-space Orion capsule faces a likely two-year-year delay until 2023 due to development and budget concerns, officials with the U.S. space agency said on Wednesday. The capsule, along with its m... More »
WASHINGTON Days before a Republican presidential debate at the Ronald Reagan Library, an immigration advocacy group invoked the former president to attack the tough immigration rhetoric of certain candidates, including front-runner Donald Trump. A television a... More »
WASHINGTON U.S. Republican party presidential frontrunner Donald Trump said on Sunday high salaries paid to chief executives were a “joke” and a “disgrace” and said these were often approved by company boards stacked with the CEO’s friends. Trump, a real estat... More »
WASHINGTON Senior U.S. and Chinese officials concluded four days of meetings on Saturday on cyber security and other issues, ahead of Chinese President Xi Jinping’s visit to Washington later this month, the White House said. Cyber security has been a divisive ... More »
HAVANA Cuba and the United States on Friday set an agenda for improving relations, putting a priority on more easily attainable agreements while leaving aside difficult issues such as the U.S. trade embargo and naval base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba said. Official... More »
WASHINGTON A senior Pentagon official on Friday expressed concerns about Aerojet Rocketdyne Holding Inc’s reported $2 billion bid for United Launch Alliance (ULA), a 50-50 rocket launch venture of Lockheed Martin Corp and Boeing Co, and said the deal would req... More »
WASHINGTON U.S. Federal Communications Commission on Friday started a non-binding 180-day countdown to review the proposed $56 billion merger of cable rivals Charter Communications Inc (CHTR.O) and Time Warner Cable Inc. (TWC.N) The FCC said it will collect th... More »
The U.S. Federal Communications Commission chief on Wednesday said 21st Century Fox Inc Chief Executive James Murdoch has told him the company planned to participate in the 2016 spectrum auction that hinges on broadcasters selling their airwaves. “I’ve talked ... More »
GUATEMALA CITY Guatemala looked bound for a presidential election run-off as results showed the three leading candidates splitting the vote on Sunday, prolonging political uncertainty just days after a graft scandal toppled the president. Otto Perez resigned a... More »
WASHINGTON Immigrants to the United States should “speak American,” former Republican vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin said on Sunday, adding her voice to a controversy triggered by Donald Trump’s criticism of fellow Republican White House hopeful Jeb Bus... More »
WASHINGTON Senator Bernie Sanders has opened a nine-point lead over fellow Democrat Hillary Clinton among party supporters in New Hampshire, according to an NBC News/Marist Poll released on Sunday. The survey showed that 41 percent of Democratic voters would b... More »
MARINETTE, Wis. Big investments, lean manufacturing techniques borrowed from the automotive industry, and a more engaged workforce have revamped the Wisconsin shipyard where Italy’s Fincantieri SpA builds the Freedom variant of the U.S. Navy’s coastal warships... More »
SAN JUAN Republican presidential candidate Marco Rubio told residents of Puerto Rico on Friday the island needed new political leadership as it grapples with its fiscal crisis, but protection under bankruptcy laws would not solve the U.S. territory’s problems.... More »
WASHINGTON Saudi Arabia is satisfied with assurances from U.S. President Barack Obama about the Iran nuclear deal and believes the agreement will contribute to security and stability in the Middle East, a senior Saudi official said on Friday. Saudi King Salman... More »
WASHINGTON Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton said on Friday she was sorry that her use of a personal email account while secretary of state had caused confusion, and blamed herself for “not thinking a lot” about the matter when she took the job... More »
ORLANDO, Fla. Two contractors hired to manage NASA’s vehicle fleet at the Kennedy Space Center defrauded the agency of at least $387,000 for unnecessary tire replacements, according to a lawsuit filed Wednesday by federal prosecutors in Florida. The complaint ... More »
WASHINGTON Japan’s Nikkei media group won U.S. antitrust approval for its $1.3 billion purchase of the Financial Times from Britain’s Pearson PLC, the Federal Trade Commission said on Wednesday. The transaction was on the list of deals that the FTC and Justice... More »
WASHINGTON President Barack Obama on Monday will officially restore Denali as the name of North America’s tallest mountain, siding with the state of Alaska in ending a 40-year battle over what to call a peak that has been known as Mount McKinley. The historic ... More »
WASHINGTON The White House is considering applying sanctions against companies and individuals in China it believes have benefited from Chinese hacking of U.S. trade secrets, the Washington Post reported on Sunday. The newspaper, citing several unidentified Ob... More »
WASHINGTON Republican presidential candidate Chris Christie pushed back on Sunday against “ridiculous” criticism of his proposal to track foreign visitors the way FedEx Corp tracks packages, saying government needs private-sector expertise to tackle illegal im... More »
WASHINGTON U.S. presidential candidate Bernie Sanders narrowed the gap with leading Democratic rival Hillary Clinton in a recent opinion poll in the political bellwether state of Iowa as support for the front-runner fell below 50 percent for the first time thi... More »
WASHINGTON President Barack Obama has invited Pakistan’s prime minister, Nawaz Sharif, for a meeting at the White House on Oct. 22, the U.S. National Security Council said on Sunday. The invitation came during a visit to Islamabad on Saturday and Sunday by Nat... More »
WASHINGTON U.S. Senator Jeff Merkley, a Democrat from Oregon, said on Sunday he would support the nuclear deal with Iran, moving President Barack Obama a step closer to having sufficient backing to ensure the deal stands. “I believe the agreement, titled the J... More »
(This 28 August 2015 story was refiled to add the dropped word “court” in the first paragraph) Planned Parenthood filed a complaint in Alabama federal court on Friday seeking to stop the state from defunding its health clinics after the release of covertly rec... More »
NEW YORK Traders priced in a more than 1-in-2 chance the U.S. Federal Reserve would raise interest rates in October after Atlanta Federal Reserve President Dennis Lockhart suggested the Fed could consider such a move. In over-the-counter trading, overnight ind... More »
MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter awarded $75 million on Friday to help a consortium of high-tech firms and researchers develop electronic systems packed with sensors flexible enough to be worn by soldiers or molded onto the skin of a pla... More »
WASHINGTON U.S. Federal Communications Commission Chairman Tom Wheeler on Wednesday called for an emergency meeting with Dish Network Corp and Sinclair Broadcast Group Inc over the continuing blackout affecting 129 TV stations. Sinclair, the largest U.S. broad... More »
DUBUQUE, Iowa Thousands of people are expected to stream into an events center here on the banks of the Mississippi River on Tuesday to see Donald Trump. When they do, his presidential campaign will be waiting, looking to convert casual gawkers into hardcore s... More »
(James Saft is a Reuters columnist. The opinions expressed are his own) By James Saft (Reuters) – Future risk-adjusted returns look poor from here, but if the Federal Reserve deploys its safety net they will be worse still. Monday’s savage markets selloff inev... More »
WASHINGTON President Barack Obama, fresh from vacation and nine rounds of golf in Martha’s Vineyard, launched into a busy two weeks promoting renewable energy and his nuclear deal with Iran. With the U.S. presidential election campaign and China’s slumping sto... More »
WASHINGTON U.S. Air Force Secretary Deborah James on Monday said a contract for a new long-range bomber would be awarded soon, and the project would not be considered a “new start” program that could be halted if Congress fails to pass a budget for fiscal 2016... More »
WASHINGTON Lawyers for the U.S. Justice Department on Monday filed a stinging rebuke to U.S. Senator Robert Menendez’s bid to have political corruption charges against him dismissed. Menendez, a New Jersey Democrat and former chairman of the Senate Foreign Rel... More »
U.S. Republican presidential candidate Jeb Bush on Monday said his use of the term “anchor babies” to describe U.S.-born children of non-citizen parents was taken out of context and not derogatory, saying he was referring solely to activity he views as fraudul... More »
WASHINGTON U.S. Chief Justice John Roberts on Monday temporarily allowed former Virginia Governor Robert McDonnell to remain out of prison as he fights his corruption conviction. In a brief order, Roberts said an appeals court ruling rejecting McDonnell’s bid ... More »
WASHINGTON Jostling for position in the U.S. presidential race, candidates on Monday blamed Wall Street elites, the Federal Reserve, exposure to China, and President Barack Obama’s spending policies for the market contagion from China’s stock-market plunge. As... More »
WASHINGTON Republican presidential candidate Jeb Bush on Tuesday attacked Democrat Hillary Clinton for her handling of Iraq as secretary of state, saying she must share the blame for the rise of Islamic State militants, in a prelude to a potential general elec... More »
WASHINGTON Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump on Tuesday said China’s devaluation of the yuan would be “devastating” for the United States. “They’re just destroying us,” the billionaire businessman, a long-time critic of China’s currency policy, sa... More »
NEW YORK Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton is giving the U.S. Justice Department her private email server and a thumb drive of work-related emails from her tenure as secretary of state, a spokesman for her campaign said on Tuesday. Clinton’s us... More »
WASHINGTON Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton has instructed her attorney to give the U.S. Justice Department her private email server and a thumb drive of work-related emails from her tenure as secretary of state, CNN reported on Tuesday, quoti... More »
NEW YORK U.S. Senator Charles Schumer of New York on Tuesday put forward a plan to pay for a new rail tunnel under the Hudson River linking New Jersey and New York City, following lengthy delays that have left commuters stranded and frustrated in recent weeks.... More »
WASHINGTON Republican presidential candidate Jeb Bush on Tuesday will launch an attack on Democrat Hillary Clinton’s handling of Iraq when she was secretary of state, saying she must bear some of the blame for the rise of Islamic State militants. Bush is to de... More »
(Corrects fifth paragraph to delete reference to President Barack Obama acting by executive order) By Jeff Mason and Valerie Volcovici WASHINGTON (Reuters) – President Barack Obama challenged America and the world to step up efforts to fight global warming on ... More »
WASHINGTON A speeding Wal-Mart truck driver who had been awake for 28 hours was held responsible on Tuesday for a 2014 highway crash that left “30 Rock” star Tracy Morgan with brain injuries and killed a fellow comedian, U.S. transport regulators said. The Nat... More »
WASHINGTON A House panel this week asked NASA to explain why it hasn’t launched an independent review of the explosion on June 28 of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, as it did after the earlier explosion of Orbital ATK Inc’s Antares rocket on Oct. 28. Both launches w... More »
WASHINGTON, August 3 Women’s health group Planned Parenthood, under attack by anti-abortionists posting hidden-camera videos online, will be the focus of a partisan showdown on Monday in the U.S. Senate, with any wider influence on voters from the charge still... More »
WASHINGTON Republican presidential candidates will test their messages in New Hampshire on Monday, with the exception of Donald Trump, in a pivotal week on the 2016 campaign trail that will be dominated by their first head-to-head debate on Thursday. Fourteen ... More »
WASHINGTON U.S. backers of the Iran nuclear deal are increasingly confident of enough Democratic support to ensure it survives review by Congress, despite fierce opposition by majority Republicans and a massive lobbying drive. By the time the House of Represen... More »
WASHINGTON President Barack Obama will unveil on Monday the final version of his plan to tackle greenhouse gases from coal-fired power plants, kicking off what is expected to be a tumultuous legal battle between federal environmental regulators and coal indust... More »
WASHINGTON The White House said it will launch the first ever rule on Monday to cut carbon emissions from power plants, a plan that opponents in the coal industry and their political allies will fight in the courts. In a fact sheet issued on Sunday, the White ... More »
WASHINGTON Donald Trump, the man to beat in this week’s first televised Republican presidential debate, said on Sunday he does not plan to attack his rivals and downplayed expectations for his performance, saying “I’m not a debater.” The combative real estate ... More »
CHICAGO A political battle over the use of fetal tissue in medical research has been reinvigorated by the release of undercover videos targeting Planned Parenthood officials. But the controversy comes just as interest in the use of fetal tissue is dwindling, s... More »
WASHINGTON The cybersecurity issues that led Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV to recall 1.4 million vehicles this month could pose a problem for cars and trucks from other automakers, the top U.S. auto safety regulator said on Friday. Mark Rosekind, who heads the ... More »
WASHINGTON Senator John McCain urged Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump on Monday to apologize to U.S. military families for saying prisoners of war are not heroes, in his first direct response to Trump’s remarks. Trump drew a barrage of criticism ... More »
NEW YORK U.S. presidential contender Hillary Clinton’s proposed plan to overhaul capital gains taxes aims to foster long-term growth by taxing some short-term investments at higher rates, an aide for her campaign said on Monday. Although details of the plan ha... More »
WASHINGTON Nancy Pelosi, the Democratic leader in the U.S. House of Representatives, wrote to colleagues on Monday backing the nuclear agreement with Iran, as congressional Republicans railed against a U.N. vote on the deal. “As you may be aware, I believe tha... More »
WASHINGTON U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry on Monday welcomed the “new beginning” of ties between the United States and Cuba but said many differences remained between the two nations and that full normalization will be a long and complex process. Kerry, in... More »
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. U.S. Republican presidential hopeful Jeb Bush vowed on Monday to cut government spending and more tightly limit lawmakers’ connections with lobbyists if he reaches the White House, part of an attempt to separate himself from a large pack of R... More »
WASHINGTON Democratic frontrunner Hillary Clinton will put the fight for higher wages for “everyday Americans” at the heart of her economic agenda on Monday, when she makes the first major policy speech in her White House bid. Clinton will argue that ensuring ... More »
MILWAUKEE Scott Walker jumps into the race for the 2016 Republican presidential nomination on Monday, needing to prove he has learned from early missteps and can appeal to voters beyond the conservatives who dominate the first nominating contest in Iowa. The W... More »
WASHINGTON Media baron Rupert Murdoch took issue on Sunday with Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump’s comments that many illegal immigrants from Mexico are bringing crime to the United States, tweeting: “Trump wrong.” Trump, a billionaire real estat... More »
WASHINGTON The top Senate Republican said on Sunday that Congress is likely to block any nominee that President Barack Obama names as ambassador to Cuba and retain broad economic sanctions, even as Obama moves to establish diplomatic and economic ties with the... More »
WASHINGTON Key Republicans distanced themselves on Sunday from presidential candidate Donald Trump’s denunciation of illegal immigrants from Mexico as rapists and criminals, saying he has become “a wrecking ball” for the party’s ability to win Hispanic voters.... More »
WASHINGTON The top Republican in the U.S. Senate cast doubt on Sunday on whether President Barack Obama would be able to win approval in Congress for any nuclear deal with Iran, and some Democrats also expressed reservations. “I think it’s going to be a very h... More »
PHOENIX Boasting of his rising poll numbers, real estate mogul Donald Trump on Saturday railed against his rivals in the 2016 presidential race and criticized companies such as Macy’s that cut ties with him over his inflammatory comments about Mexican immigran... More »
WASHINGTON Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton on Saturday scored a key endorsement from a large teachers union at a time when her chief rival is picking up support from organized labor. By backing Clinton, the American Federation of Teachers, wh... More »
