Major Defense Bill, Strongly Backed in Congress, Draws Trump’s Veto

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U.S. President Donald Trump vetoed a $740 billion bill setting policy for the Department of Defense on Wednesday, despite its strong support in Congress, raising the possibility that the measure will fail to become law for the first time in 60 years.Trump said he vetoed the annual National Defense Authorization Act, or NDAA, because it “fails to include critical national security measures, includes provisions that fail to respect our veterans and our military’s history, and contradicts efforts by my administration to put America first in our national security and foreign policy actions.””It is a ‘gift’ to China and Russia,” hemore

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Biden Introduces Connecticut Educator as his Education Secretary

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U.S. President-elect Joe Biden introduced Connecticut education commissioner Miguel Cardona as his education secretary nominee on Wednesday, touting him as a strong advocate of public schools who can lead the agency through struggles to educate students safely during the ongoing coronavirus crisis.   “We can do it if we give school districts, communities and states the clear guidance and resources that aren’t already in their tight budgets,” Biden said Wednesday in Wilmington, Delaware.     Biden said educating students safely “requires someone who understands the need to prevent the pandemic from further exacerbating the inequities in our education system.”  more

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For South Korea’s Graduating High Schoolers, Entrance Exam Results Bring Relief

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Twelve years of study boiled down into one eight-hour test for graduating high-school seniors — the suneung, South Korea’s college entrance exam, announced results on Wednesday.“I’m pretty satisfied with my results. I think I got what I worked for,” said Gi Tae Kim, a student who studied the liberal arts track at Daedong Taxation High School in Seoul. “Overall, I thought it was a bit easier than past tests.”Like U.S. students, many take annual aptitude and entrance exams more than once to improve their scores.“I thought that the Korean language section was alright. English was easy. The math and sciencemore

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For South Korea’s Graduating High Schoolers, Entrance Exam Results Brings Relief

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Twelve years of study boiled down into one eight-hour test for graduating high-school seniors — the suneung, South Korea’s college entrance exam, announced results on Wednesday.“I’m pretty satisfied with my results. I think I got what I worked for,” said Gi Tae Kim, a student who studied the liberal arts track at Daedong Taxation High School in Seoul. “Overall, I thought it was a bit easier than past tests.”Like U.S. students, many take annual aptitude and entrance exams more than once to improve their scores.“I thought that the Korean language section was alright. English was easy. The math and sciencemore

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Limited Funds or No English? No Problem at Community Colleges

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Community colleges — sometimes seen as a lesser alternative for college students — can get many students started on a more flexible and less costly path toward a degree.These schools offer an associate’s degree in two years that is transferable to many four-year institutions for a bachelor’s degree. Once called junior colleges, they popped up in the U.S. around the turn of the 1900s.The biggest draw of community colleges is their affordability.While the average tuition at public four-year schools for the 2017-2018 academic school year was $26,261, and $46,014 at private institutions, according to the National Center for Education Statistics,more

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Trump Threatens Not to Sign COVID-19 Aid Package, Government Funding Bill

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President Donald Trump threatened Tuesday not to sign a massive year-end bill passed by lawmakers that includes a $900 billion coronavirus aid package and $1.4 trillion in annual government funding. Trump said in a video that was tweeted out Tuesday night that the bill didn’t deliver enough aid to Americans. The bill provides for a $600 payment to most Americans. The president said he is asking Congress to “increase the ridiculously low $600 to $2,000, or $4,000 for a couple. I am also asking Congress to get rid of the wasteful and unnecessary items from this legislation and to send me amore

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Trump Pardons 15, Including Republican Allies

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President Donald Trump on Tuesday pardoned 15 people, including Republican allies, a 2016 campaign official ensnared in the Russia probe and former government contractors convicted in a 2007 massacre in Baghdad.Trump also commuted the sentences of five people. While it is not unusual for presidents to grant clemency on their way out the door, Trump has made clear that he has no qualms about intervening in the cases of friends and allies whom he believes have been treated unfairly. Despite speculation, though, not on the list were members of Trump’s own family, his personal attorney Rudy Giuliani and the presidentmore

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Major COVID-19 and Defense Spending Bills Target USAGM Powers

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Two bills approved by Congress awaiting President Donald Trump’s signature would limit the powers of Michael Pack, the president’s pick to lead the U.S. Agency for Global Media, which oversees Voice of America and four other international media organizations.    A massive spending measure for COVID-19 relief and U.S. government operations approved late Monday by Congress and a previously approved National Defense Authorization Act both include changes limiting the powers of the USAGM and its chief executive, but in different ways.  The two bills taken together could restrict Pack’s actions between now and January 20, when Democratic President-elect Joe Bidenmore

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Biden: Reversing Trump Immigration Policies Will Take Months

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President-elect Joe Biden says it will take months to roll back some of President Donald Trump’s actions on immigration, offering a slower timeline than he promised on the campaign trail and one that may rile advocates pushing for speedy action on the issue.His Tuesday comments echo those made by two of his top foreign policy advisers in an interview with Spanish wire service EFE on Monday, hitting the brakes on rolling back Trump’s restrictive asylum policies. Susan Rice, Biden’s incoming domestic policy adviser, and Jake Sullivan, his pick for national security adviser, as well as Biden himself, warned that movingmore

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