Obama accuses Republicans of holding Lynch nomination ‘hostage’
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – President Barack Obama on Friday accused the Republican-led U.S. Senate of holding Loretta Lynch, his nominee for U.S. attorney general, as a “hostage” as lawmakers wrangle over a human trafficking bill bogged down in an abortion…
Potential U.S. presidential candidate Cruz to make speech Monday: website
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. Senator Ted Cruz, a leading conservative who has been considering running for the Republican presidential nomination, will make an important speech on Monday at Liberty University in Virginia, an aide told the Daily Beast we…
U.S. sets first major fracking rules on federal lands
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The Obama administration’s new rules governing fracking on federal lands drew swift criticism from all sides on Friday, with green groups calling the measures “toothless” and the energy industry slamming “unnecessary” regulation …
U.S. abortion politics snag effort to fix doctors’ Medicare pay
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Abortion politics in the U.S. Congress, already holding up a human trafficking bill and a key Obama administration nomination, are now also complicating bipartisan talks on a deal that would spare physicians from Medicare pay cut…
Congress panel asks Clinton to hand over email server
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – A Republican-led U.S. congressional panel has formally asked Hillary Clinton to hand over her private computer server, ramping up scrutiny over her use of a personal email address while secretary of state.
Embattled U.S. Secret Service gets deputy chief, new senior manager
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The Obama administration moved on Friday to shore up management of the scandal-hit U.S. Secret Service, the agency charged with protecting the president, by filling the vacant deputy director job and creating a new senior adminis…
U.S. moving additional artillery battalion to South Korea: Pentagon
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. Army is sending a field artillery battalion of about 400 soldiers and multiple-launch rocket systems to South Korea, a move the Pentagon said on Friday was part of a reorganization of the service and unrelated to any ten…
Walker cultivates 2016 image as fresh-faced alternative to Bush
CHARLESTON, South Carolina (Reuters) – Republican Scott Walker is cultivating an image on the nascent U.S. 2016 campaign trail as a regular guy who met his wife at a barbecue restaurant and buys discount clothes, a man-of-the-people approach that is in…
U.S. law enforcement investigating Rep. Aaron Schock’s campaign funds: CNN
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The Federal Bureau of Investigation, along with federal prosecutors in Illinois, is investigating U.S. Representative Aaron Schock’s accounting for campaign expenses and has sent out subpoenas related to donations to his politica…
Senators seek U.S. strategy to stop China’s South China Sea reclamation
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Leading U.S. senators expressed alarm on Thursday at the scale and speed of China’s land reclamation in the South China Sea and said a formal U.S. strategy was needed to slow or stop the work.