Calls Rise in US Congress to Designate Russia a State Sponsor of Terrorism

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As the war in Ukraine approaches the end of its fifth month and Russian attacks on civilian sites are reported on a near-daily basis, pressure is mounting on the Biden administration to officially designate Russia as a state sponsor of terrorism. This week, according to reporting by Politico, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi told Secretary of State Antony Blinken that if he does not exercise the power delegated to him by Congress to make the designation, lawmakers themselves will do so. Russia is already under crippling sanctions, imposed by the U.S. and a host of other countries, but official designation asmore

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Jan. 6 Probe: Trump ‘Chose Not to Act’ on Mob Violence

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U.S. lawmakers investigating the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol last year said then-President Donald Trump chose not to act for more than three hours as thousands of his supporters rampaged through the Capitol trying to block the certification of Joe Biden’s electoral victory. “President Trump sat at his dining table and watched the attack on television while his senior-most staff, closest advisers and family members begged him to do what is expected of any American president,” Representative Elaine Luria, a Democratic committee member, said. Representative Adam Kinzinger, another committee member, said Trump failed to act because the mobmore

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US Congress Moves Toward $52 Billion in Subsidies for Semiconductor Firms

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The Senate this week took a key step toward passing a bill meant to provide $52 billion in subsidies to the semiconductor industry in the United States, part of an effort that lawmakers have characterized as protecting the country from supply shortages such as those that struck during the coronavirus pandemic. The bill, called the CHIPS for America Act, also seeks to make the U.S. more competitive with China. Semiconductors, commonly known as chips, are essential elements of modern manufacturing. They are used in computers, cellphones and automobiles as well as in various other capacities. During the pandemic, chip shortagesmore

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Will Trump Be Prosecuted Over Role in January 6 Attack?

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As the congressional committee examining the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol wraps up its first round of public hearings this week, the Justice Department faces rising pressure to prosecute former President Donald Trump in connection with the bloody assault. The Justice Department has charged more than 800 Trump supporters involved in the riot and is investigating others tied to the plot. But it remains unclear whether the department will take the unprecedented step of charging a former president based on the findings of a committee. “We don’t know whether there will be prosecutions that are going tomore

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Senators Propose Changes to Electors Law After Capitol Riot

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A bipartisan group of senators agreed Wednesday on proposed changes to the Electoral Count Act, the post-Civil War-era law for certifying presidential elections that came under intense scrutiny after the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol and Donald Trump’s effort to overturn the 2020 election.  Long in the making, the package introduced by the group led by Sens. Susan Collins of Maine and Joe Manchin of West Virginia is made up of two separate proposals. One would clarify the way states submit electors and the vice president tallies the votes in Congress. The other would bolster security for state andmore

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Biden Announces Climate Actions, Pledges More

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President Joe Biden on Wednesday announced new steps to combat climate change and promised more robust action to come, saying, “This is an emergency and I will look at it that way.”  The president stopped short, though, of declaring a formal climate emergency, which Democrats and environmental groups have been seeking after one Democratic senator quashed hopes for sweeping legislation to address global warming. Biden hinted such a step could be coming.  “Let me be clear,” Biden said, “climate change is an emergency, and in the coming weeks I’m going to use the power I have as president to turnmore

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Ally of Ex-US President Trump Wins Republican Nomination for Maryland Governor’s Race

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A supporter of former U.S. President Donald Trump was selected by Republican voters in the eastern state of Maryland as their choice for governor. State legislator Dan Cox overwhelmingly won Tuesday’s preliminary elections, far outpacing his nearest opponent, Kelly Schulz, who once served in the cabinet of outgoing Republican Governor Larry Hogan. He is one of many Republican candidates endorsed by the former president ahead of the upcoming midterm elections who have supported Trump’s false claims that he lost the 2020 presidential election to Democrat Joe Biden due to a fraudulent process. Cox attended Trump’s “Stop the Steal” rally onmore

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US Capitol Riot Panel Expects to See Secret Service Texts

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The U.S. congressional panel probing the riot at the U.S. Capitol on January 6 of last year expects to be able to look at text messages sent by Secret Service agents from the day before the mayhem and as it unfolded, a member of the investigative committee said Sunday. “We expect to get them by this Tuesday,” Congresswoman Zoe Lofgren told ABC’s “This Week” show. “We need all of the texts from the fifth and sixth of January.” The riot unfolded as about 2,000 supporters of then-President Donald Trump, a Republican, stormed into the Capitol to try to block Congressmore

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Biden Vows ‘Strong’ Climate Action Despite Dual Setbacks

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President Joe Biden is promising “strong executive action” to combat climate change, despite dual setbacks in recent weeks that have restricted his ability to regulate carbon emissions and boost clean energy, such as wind and solar power. The Supreme Court last month limited how the nation’s main anti-air pollution law can be used to reduce carbon dioxide emissions from power plants. Then late Thursday, Democratic Senator Joe Manchin of West Virginia said he wants to delay sweeping environmental legislation that Democrats have pushed as central to achieving Biden’s ambitious climate goals. Biden, who has pledged to cut greenhouse gas emissionsmore

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Native American News Roundup July 10-16, 2022

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Here is a summary of Native American-related news around the U.S. this week: Interior secretary Haaland hears emotional testimony on boarding schools U.S. Interior Secretary Deb Haaland heard from former students of federally backed Indian boarding schools as part of a year-long “Road to Healing” initiative. At the Riverside Indian School in Anadarko, Oklahoma, July 9, elders from different states and tribes shared stories of physical and emotional punishment, sexual abuse and other indignities suffered as part of an educational program designed to sever children from families and tribes and assimilate them into mainstream U.S. society.   Tribal elders recallmore

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Biden to Meet with Arab Leaders as US Seeks to Reassert Influence in Middle East

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U.S. President Joe Biden meets Saturday with Arab leaders in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, where he will lay out his vision for U.S. engagement in the Middle East. Biden will attend the GCC+3 Summit, meeting with members of the Gulf Cooperation Council – Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates – plus Egypt, Iraq and Jordan. He is also expected to discuss energy security with the leaders of the Gulf countries, but aides say there are not likely to be any announcements on oil output until next month’s meetings of OPEC+, a group of 13 OPEC membersmore

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Biden Vows to Work for Independent Palestinian State

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U.S. President Joe Biden met with Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas in Bethlehem on Friday before traveling to Saudi Arabia. Biden said he remains committed to an independent Palestinian state even if the time isn’t right to restart negotiations. Abbas condemned the Israeli occupation of the West Bank but said Palestinians are prepared to restart peace talks. Linda Gradstein reports from Jerusalem. …

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US House Votes to Restore Abortion Rights; Senate Odds Dim

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The U.S. House has voted to restore abortion rights nationwide in Democrats’ first legislative response to the Supreme Court’s landmark decision overturning Roe v. Wade.  The bill has little chance of becoming law, with the necessary support lacking in the 50-50 Senate. Yet voting marks the beginning of a new era in the debate as lawmakers, governors and legislatures grapple with the impact of the court’s decision.  The legislation passed 219-210. The House also passed a second bill to prohibit punishment for a woman or child who decides to travel to another state to get an abortion, 223-205.  “Just threemore

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Texas Sues to Block Federal Guidance on Abortions to Save Mother’s Life 

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Texas sued the federal government on Thursday over new guidance from the Biden administration directing hospitals to provide emergency abortions regardless of state bans on the procedure that came into effect in the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court’s reversal of its landmark 1973 Roe v. Wade decision. Republican Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton in the lawsuit argued the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services was trying to “use federal law to transform every emergency room in the country into a walk-in abortion clinic.” The lawsuit focused on guidance issued Monday advising that a federal law protecting patients’ accessmore

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Poll: Fewer Than Half of Republican Primary Voters Would Support Trump in 2024

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Just over half of Republicans likely to vote in their party’s 2024 presidential primary say that they would prefer someone other than former President Donald Trump as the party’s presidential candidate, a poll released on Tuesday by The New York Times and Siena College found.  After identifying Republicans likely to vote in the primary, the survey gave respondents a choice between Trump and five other potential GOP nominees. Only 49% of respondents chose Trump, despite the fact that the former president carried 94% of all Republican votes in the 2020 election, which he lost to current President Joe Biden.  Trump’smore

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Investigators: Trump Tweet Pivotal Motivation for Attack on US Capitol

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U.S. lawmakers’ investigation into the January 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol resumed Tuesday with an examination of former President Donald Trump’s encouragement to far-right extremist groups to subvert the democratic process. As VOA’s congressional correspondent Katherine Gypson explains, investigators argue Trump’s claims of election fraud directly led to the attack. Produced by: Katherine Gypson …

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Most Democrats Would Prefer Biden Not Run Again in 2024, Poll Finds

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A large majority of Democrats would prefer that their party nominate someone other than incumbent President Joe Biden as its candidate in the 2024 presidential election, a new poll from The New York Times and Siena College found.  The poll asked respondents who plan to vote in the Democratic primary elections whether they want the party to renominate Biden. Only 26% said that they would like to see Biden on the ballot again, compared to 64% who said they would prefer someone else.  The poll’s findings paint a grim picture for the incumbent president, whose standing with the public ismore

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New US Capitol Riot Hearing to Focus on Extremist Group Links to Trump, Associates

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The congressional panel investigating the January 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol last year is set to hear testimony Tuesday linking far-right extremist groups to the mayhem as they attempted to block the certification of Joe Biden’s victory in the 2020 presidential election over then-incumbent Donald Trump. The House of Representatives committee has yet to say who will testify at its latest high-profile hearing, but one is expected to be Jason Van Tatenhove, a self-described “propagandist” for the Oath Keepers, an anti-government militia. Its members were among about 2,000 Trump supporters who stormed the Capitol. Other testimony is expected tomore

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Ex-Trump Aide Bannon Offers to Testify in US Probe of January 6 Riot

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Donald Trump’s former close adviser Steve Bannon has told the congressional panel investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol that he is ready to testify, a change of heart days before he is due to be tried for contempt of Congress. In a letter to the committee seen by Reuters, Bannon’s lawyer, Robert Costello, wrote to say the former president would waive the claim of executive privilege that Bannon had cited in refusing to appear before the committee.  Bannon, a prominent figure in right-wing media circles who served as Trump’s chief strategist in 2017, is scheduled tomore

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US House January 6 Panel to Hold Next Scheduled Hearing This Week

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The select House of Representatives Committee investigating the January 6th attack on the United States Capitol by supporters of then-President Trump is set to hold its next scheduled hearing Tuesday. Committee members say the hearing will focus on white nationalist groups’ participation in the attack. As VOA’s Arash Arabasadi reports, the seventh hearing follows a closed-door session last week with a former top White House lawyer. …

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Blinken’s Talks in Bangkok to Focus on Myanmar

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U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken is in Bangkok, where Myanmar is expected to feature prominently in meetings Sunday with Thailand’s leaders. The main topic of their discussions will likely be the crisis in Myanmar, said U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Daniel Kritenbrink, adding the U.S. would continue to “condemn, in the strongest possible terms, the Burmese military regime’s brutal actions since the coup d’état, the killing of nearly 2,000 people and displacing more than 700,000 others.” Myanmar is also known as Burma. Blinken is to meet with Prime Minister Prayut Chan-ocha, Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Don Pramudwinai.more

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