Author: Robert Jones

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Senate has approved one of President Donald Trump’s top economic advisers for a seat on the Federal Reserve’s governing board, giving the White House greater influence over the central bank just two days before it is expected to vote in favor of reducing its key interest rate. The vote to confirm Stephen Miran was largely along party lines, 48-47. He was approved by the Senate Banking Committee last week with all Republicans voting in favor and all Democrats opposed. Miran’s nomination has sparked concerns about the Fed’s longtime independence from day-to-day politics after he said during…

PROVO, Utah (AP) — Prosecutors are preparing to file a capital murder charge Tuesday against the Utah man who authorities say held a “leftist ideology” and may have been “radicalized” online before he was arrested in the assassination of Charlie Kirk.Charges against 22-year-old Tyler Robinson are expected to come ahead of the first court hearing since he was accused last week of shooting Kirk, a conservative activist credited with energizing the Republican youth movement and helping President Donald Trump win back the White House in 2024. Investigators have been piecing together evidence, including a rifle and ammunition engraved with anti-fascist…

WASHINGTON (AP) — There’s bipartisan support in Congress for extending tax credits that have made health insurance more affordable for millions of people since the COVID-19 pandemic. But the credits are in danger of expiring as Republicans and Democrats clash over how to do it. Democrats are threatening to vote to shut down the government at the end of the month if Republicans don’t extend the subsidies, which were first put in place in 2021 and extended a year later when they controlled Congress and the White House. The tax credits, which are slated to expire at the end of…

WASHINGTON (AP) — Hours after the assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk, FBI Director Kash Patel declared online that “the subject” in the killing was in custody. The shooter was not. The two men who had been detained were quickly released, and Utah officials acknowledged that the gunman remained at large.The false assurance was more than a slip. It spotlighted the high-stakes uncertainty surrounding Patel’s leadership of the bureau when its credibility — and his own — are under extraordinary pressure. Patel now approaches congressional oversight hearings this coming week facing not just questions about that investigation but broader doubts…

Lisa Cook, governor of the US Federal Reserve, during the Thomas Laubach Research Conference hosted by the US Federal Reserve Board of Governors in Washington, DC, US, on Friday, May 19, 2023. Al Drago | Bloomberg | Getty ImagesA federal appeals court ruled Monday that President Donald Trump cannot fire Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook before the central bank’s policy committee votes on whether to lower interest rates.The ruling from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit means that Cook, a member of the Fed’s board of governors, can participate in the pivotal two-day meeting starting…

JERUSALEM (AP) — U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio says he will be seeking answers from Israeli officials about how they see the way forward in Gaza following Israel’s attack on Hamas operatives in Qatar that has upended efforts to broker an end to the conflict.Rubio told reporters on Saturday before leaving for Israel that President Donald Trump remained unhappy with the Israeli strike but that it would not shake U.S. support for Israel. “We’re going to talk about what the future holds, and I’m going to get a much better understanding of what their plans are moving forward,” Rubio…

A federal judge on Saturday said it appeared the Trump administration was making an “end run” around U.S. court orders prohibiting five African immigrants to be deported to their home countries by sending them first to Ghana, which was poised to then relocate them to countries where they could face torture or death.U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan ordered the government to detail Saturday night how it was trying to ensure Ghana would not send the immigrants elsewhere in violation of domestic court orders. One of the plaintiffs has already been shipped from Ghana to his native Gambia, where a U.S.…

With the Taliban barring women from college in her native Afghanistan, Bahara Saghari set her sights on pursuing higher education in the United States.Saghari, 21, practiced English up to eight hours per day for several years, eventually winning an offer to study business administration at a private liberal arts college in Illinois. She was hoping to arrive this fall, but her plans were derailed again, this time by President Donald Trump’s travel ban.“You think that finally you are going to your dream, and then something came up and like, everything’s just gone,” Saghari said.Thousands of students are among the people…

Stephen Miran, chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers and US Federal Reserve governor nominee for US President Donald Trump, during a Senate Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee confirmation hearing in Washington, DC, US, on Thursday, Sept. 4, 2025.Daniel Heuer | Bloomberg | Getty ImagesThe Senate is expected to vote Monday on President Donald Trump’s pick to join the Federal Reserve, Stephen Miran, one day before the central bank is set to meet to consider cutting interest rates.A procedural vote on Miran’s nomination to the Fed Board of Governors is expected to begin at 5:30 p.m. ET, before a…

ISTANBUL (AP) — An Israeli strike on a meeting of Hamas officials in Qatar has cast a cloud of growing concern across Turkey that it could be the next target.Turkish Defense Ministry spokesman Rear Adm. Zeki Akturk warned in Ankara on Thursday that Israel would “further expand its reckless attacks, as it did in Qatar, and drag the entire region, including its own country, into disaster.”Israel and Turkey were once strong regional partners, but ties between the countries ran into difficulties from the late 2000s and have reached an all-time low over the war in Gaza sparked by the Oct.…