US Republican Party Chooses Trump’s Handpicked Team to Lead It

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Houston, Texas — The Republican National Committee voted Friday to install Donald Trump’s handpicked leadership team, completing his takeover of the national party as the former president closes in on a third straight presidential nomination. Michael Whatley, a North Carolina Republican who has echoed Trump’s false theories of voter fraud, was elected the party’s new national chairman in a vote  in Houston, Texas. Lara Trump, the former president’s daughter-in-law, was voted in as co-chair. Trump’s team is promising not to use the RNC to pay his mounting personal legal bills. But Trump and his lieutenants will have firm control of themore

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Trump Raises Concerns About Possible US Ban on TikTok

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washington — U.S. presidential candidate Donald Trump raised concerns about banning TikTok ahead of a vote next week by the U.S. House of Representatives that would give TikTok owner ByteDance about six months to divest the popular short video app. The former Republican president seeking a return to the White House wrote late Thursday on social media site Truth Social that “if you get rid of TikTok, Facebook … will double their business,” and added he does not want Facebook “doing better.” The campaign did not immediately comment on whether Trump has a position on the legislation. Facebook parent Meta declinedmore

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Biden Announces Drastic Gaza Aid Measure, Warns Against Trump in State of Union Address

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US President Joe Biden used his third State of the Union speech Thursday evening to announce a dramatic measure to facilitate aid into Gaza, push funding for Ukraine’s war efforts and to warn the country of the threat posed by Donald Trump, his likely opponent in the November election. VOA’s White House Bureau Chief Patsy Widakuswara has this wrap-up of what may be the most consequential speech ahead of the president’s reelection bid. …

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Biden Targets China During State of Union Speech

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BEIJING — U.S. President Joe Biden on Thursday criticized China’s “unfair economic practices” and insisted he has done a better job standing up to Beijing than did former President Donald Trump, his rival in this year’s presidential election. In his State of the Union address, Biden also touted other aspects of his China policy, including “standing up for peace and stability in the Taiwan Straits” and revitalizing “our partnerships and alliances in the Pacific.” “I’ve made sure that the most advanced American technologies can’t be used in China … frankly for all his tough talk on China, it never occurred tomore

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Judge Denies Trump Relief From $83.3 Million Defamation Judgment

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NEW YORK — The federal judge who oversaw a New York defamation trial that resulted in an $83.3 million award to a longtime magazine columnist from Donald Trump refused Thursday to relieve the ex-president from the verdict’s financial pinch. Judge Lewis A. Kaplan told Trump’s attorney in a written order that he won’t delay deadlines for posting a bond that would ensure 80-year-old writer E. Jean Carroll can be paid the award if the judgment survives appeals. The judge said any financial harm to the Republican front-runner for the presidency results from his slow response to the late-January verdict in themore

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With Back-to-Back Actions, Biden Spotlights China Data Security Threat

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WASHINGTON — The Biden administration launched a series of actions against China in recent days, sustaining pressure against the United States’ key strategic rival even as it focuses on more urgent fronts, including the wars in Gaza and Ukraine. In the span of one week, the administration announced an executive order to protect Americans’ personal data from foreign adversaries, including China; launched an investigation into potential security threats posed by connected vehicles that use Chinese technology; and placed sanctions on Chinese entities for supporting Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine. The actions taken by President Joe Biden stand in contrast to the monthsmore

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Biden Deemed ‘Healthy, Active, Robust’ During Annual Physical Exam

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washington — U.S. President Joe Biden’s is a “healthy, active, robust 81-year-old male who remains fit to successfully execute the duties of the presidency,” his physician, Dr. Kevin O’Connor, said in a statement released by the White House on Wednesday, following Biden’s annual physical examination.  “The president feels well, and this year’s physical identified no new concerns. He continues to be fit for duty and fully executes all of his responsibilities without any exemptions or accommodations,” O’Connor said following Biden’s visit to Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland, earlier Wednesday.   The checkup included consultations with optometry, dentistry,more

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Trump Seeks to Block Stormy Daniels, Cohen Testimony at Hush Money Trial

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NEW YORK — Donald Trump is seeking to block porn star Stormy Daniels and his former lawyer Michael Cohen from testifying at the former U.S. president’s upcoming criminal trial on charges stemming from hush money paid to Daniels before the 2016 election. The case is the first of four indictments Trump faces to reach trial as he campaigns to regain the presidency. New York state prosecutors in Manhattan say Trump falsified business records to cover up Cohen’s $130,000 payment to Daniels for her silence about a 2006 sexual liaison she says she had with Trump. Trump denies having had sex withmore

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US Senate Republicans Block Democrats’ Bill Assuring Right to IVF

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WASHINGTON — Democrats on Wednesday failed in an attempt to rush legislation through the U.S. Senate guaranteeing Americans’ access to in vitro fertilization and other assisted reproductive technologies, after an Alabama court designated frozen embryos as children. The state Supreme Court ruling on February 16 that frozen embryos should be considered children prompted at least three Alabama providers to halt the IVF procedure that involves combining eggs and sperm in a laboratory dish for couples having difficulty conceiving. Alabama’s court ruling has raised concerns that those involved in IVF could face prosecution because embryos that are found to be nonviable aremore

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McConnell to Step Down as US Senate Republican Leader in November

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WASHINGTON — U.S. Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell’s said on Wednesday he would step down from his leadership role, leaving a power vacuum atop the party he has piloted for nearly 17 years, more than any other party leader in the chamber’s history.  “I turned 82 last week. The end of my contributions are closer than I prefer,” McConnell said on the Senate floor, his voice breaking with emotion. “Father Time remains undefeated. I’m no longer the young man sitting in the back hoping colleagues remember my name. It’s time for the next generation of leadership.”  The Kentucky lawmaker’s departure willmore

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Former President Trump Beats Former UN Ambassador Haley in Her State

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Former US President Donald Trump won the Republican Presidential Primary in the Southern state of South Carolina on Saturday, defeating former US Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley in her home state. But Haley vowed to continue her campaign through Super Tuesday in early March, when a block of US states will have their say in who runs against President Joe Biden in November. VOA’s Congressional Correspondent Katherine Gypson has more. Camera: Henry Hernandez and Ostap Yarysh …

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Republican Trying to Block Party From Paying Trump’s Legal Bills

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COLUMBIA, S.C. — At least one member of the Republican National Committee is working to slow Donald Trump’s attempted takeover of the organization by pushing to keep the committee neutral until Trump is officially the presidential nominee and avoid picking up his legal bills. Two draft resolutions are being circulated by Henry Barbour, a national committeeman from Mississippi, for consideration at the RNC’s upcoming March meeting in Houston. Barbour said support for the resolutions among RNC members is growing but he does not yet have the needed co-sponsors, and any resolutions would ultimately be nonbinding. The effort comes after Trump lastmore

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