The GOP-led House Armed Services Committee narrowly defeated a bid by Democrats late Wednesday to compel the Air Force to detail how much has been spent on trips that President Donald Trump has made to his Florida estate and other properties he owns. Republicans denounced the measure as “gotcha politics” and an attempt to litigate the 2016 election. But Democrats fired back, saying Trump has invited the scrutiny by refusing to divest himself from his business empire or release his taxes. “This is different,” said Rep. Adam Smith, D-Wash., “This is unprecedented.” Rep. Tom O’Halleran, D-Ariz., authored the measure as an amendment to the annual defense policy bill being considered late Wednesday by the GOP-led House Armed Services Committee. Committee members voted 31-31 on the measure, but ties count as defeats. The amendment would have required the Air Force to regularly submit presidential travel expense reports to Congress. Each report …

President Donald Trump has met with relatives of Americans who were killed by alien criminals. The meeting Wednesday was aimed at eliciting support for two immigration bills that are expected to go for a vote in the House of Representatives this week. One would increase penalties imposed on criminals convicted of illegal reentry into the United States, and the other would withdraw federal funds for cities that give sanctuary to undocumented immigrants. VOA’S Zlatica Hoke has more. …

Many Americans in rural parts of the United States voted to elect Donald Trump as president in 2016, despite his stance against trade agreements. In the wake of the President Trump’s announcement to withdraw from the Trans Pacific Partnership Agreement, or TPP, and now curbing trade with Cuba, VOA’s Kane Farabaugh reports on how farmers in the Midwest state of Illinois are reacting, and adjusting, to the uncertain road ahead. …

The United States is set to implement new rules requiring visa applicants from six majority-Muslim nations to have a close relationship with a family member or business in the U.S. in order to be eligible to be admitted to the country. A State Department cable seen by the Associated Press and Reuters late Wednesday, but not made public, outlined how consular officials should proceed with the visa applications for people from Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen. Acceptable / unacceptable close relationships The acceptable close family relationships include a parent, spouse, child, adult son or daughter, son-in-law, daughter-in-law or sibling who is already in the United States. Relationships that do not meet the requirement include grandparent, grandchild, aunt, uncle, niece, nephew, cousin, brother-in-law, sister-in-law, fiancee or other extended family. An acceptable business relationship has to be “formal, documented,” and not created for the purpose of evading the travel ban.  …

U.S. immigration officials are waiting for guidance on how to enforce President Donald Trump’s revived travel ban, which could be implemented as early as Thursday morning. Officials at the departments of State, Justice and Homeland Security were still unclear on exactly who is to be allowed in from six Muslim-majority nations and who is to be kept out. Those six nations are Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen. The Supreme Court on Monday partly reinstated the travel ban, which was blocked by two lower courts on the ground that it is unconstitutional. The justices ruled that until they hold hearings on the ban, only visitors who can prove that they have a “bona fide relationship” in the United States will be admitted. But the court did not spell out what constitutes a bona fide relationship, leaving government lawyers to spell it out and U.S. customs and immigration officers scratching …

Nikki Haley, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, told a congressional panel Wednesday that the United States is now taking a more assertive role at the world body to hold North Korea, Syria, Venezuela and other authoritative regimes accountable. “Our friends and our rivals know that America has once again found its voice at the United Nations,” Haley told the House Foreign Affairs Committee. “The international community is now very clear about what the U.S. is for and what the U.S. is against.” Haley, a former South Carolina governor who has served in the U.N. post for five months, said she successfully pushed the U.N. Security Council to adopt additional measures against North Korea’s continued nuclear weapons development and missile tests, while drawing “a red line” against Syria’s use of chemical weapons that led President Donald Trump to launch a missile attack against the regime of President Bashar al-Assad. …

Samsung is investing $380 million in South Carolina to manufacture home appliances, creating an estimated 950 jobs over the next three years. State and company officials said Wednesday that Samsung is locating in the former Caterpillar plant in Newberry. Production is expected to start early next year.   The company says “premium home appliances” made in Newberry will include washing machines.   An event was to be held later Wednesday to celebrate the announcement.   Samsung Electronics America CEO Tim Baxter says the investment represents the South Korean company’s commitment to expanding its U.S. operations.   Samsung already operates a call center in Greenville County employing 800 people.   Gov. Henry McMaster says Samsung’s decision will “change the very fabric of the Newberry community.”   Rural Newberry County is home to fewer than 40,000 people.     …

President Donald Trump will attend Bastille Day celebrations in Paris on July 14, according to a statement from the White House. Trump accepted the invitation from French president Emmanuel Macron on Wednesday and “looks forward to reaffirming America’s strong ties of friendship with France.” The two leaders spoke by phone on Tuesday, when Macron offered the invitation. During the call, the White House said “the two leaders also discussed the current situation in the Middle East and reviewed the agenda for the upcoming G-20 Summit” in Hamburg. The two presidents last met in May, when they both traveled to Brussels for a NATO summit.       …

Summertime is festival time across the United States, and the nation’s capital is no exception. Thousands of DC area residents recently flocked to the 37th Annual Washington Folk Festival at Maryland’s Glen Echo Park. The two-day event welcomed people of all ages with traditional music, dancing and crafts from local artists representing cultures from many parts of the world. Amber Wihshi has more. Faith Lapidus narrates. …

Three Chicago police officers have been indicted on charges that they conspired to cover up and lie about what happened when a white police officer shot a black teenager 16 times – which prompted outrage when a video of the killing was finally released. The indictment handed down Tuesday alleges that one current and two former officers lied about the events of Oct. 20, 2014, when Officer Jason Van Dyke killed Laquan McDonald.   The officers’ version of events contradicts what can be seen on police dashcam video, in which the teenager spins after he was shot and falls to the ground – seemingly incapacitated – as the officer continues to fire shot after shot into his body. The indictment further alleges that officers lied when they said McDonald ignored Van Dyke’s verbal commands and that one of the officers signed off on a report that claimed the other two …

The United States has yet to say whether President Donald Trump will accept an invitation by President Emmanuel Macron to attend France’s annual July 14 Bastille day celebrations, government spokesman Christophe Castaner said on Wednesday. “We confirmed this week the invitation and our services are working on the basis that president trump comes,” Castaner told reporters at a weekly news conference. “It’s neither confirmed today nor rejected.” Macron’s office said on Tuesday it had invited Trump on two occasions to attend the celebrations next month during which the U.S. military will take part to mark 100 years since it joined World War I. Macron appears to be broadly aligning his foreign policy with U.S. priorities of tackling terrorism while seeking better ties with Russia. However, he publicly clashed with Trump after the latter said he would pull out of a global accord on action to combat climate change. Diplomats said …

South Sudan has deported three U.S. citizens, two of whom served in the military and a third who deserted, U.S. and South Sudanese officials said Wednesday, another chapter in an unusual tale of unofficial foreign interventions in the country. Social media accounts and a magazine interview in the names of two of the men suggested they had recently been fighting pro-Russian forces in Ukraine. Craig Austin Lang, William Wright-Martinovich and Alex Zwiefelhofer were detained on June 21 trying to cross to South Sudan from Kenya, said Lieutenant Colonel Joe Buccino from America’s 82nd Airborne Unit. They were deported to Kenya, he added. Private First Class Zwiefelhofer was absent from the 82nd without leave, he said. “We are working with U.S. authorities in the area to return Private First Class Alex Zwiefelhofer to U.S. military control. They are in Kenya,” he said in an email. It was not clear when the …

President Donald Trump’s former campaign chairman, Paul Manafort, has registered with the Justice Department as a foreign agent for political consulting work he did for a Ukrainian political party, acknowledging that he coached party members on how to interact with U.S. government officials. Manafort says in a Justice Department filing Tuesday that his firm, DMP International, received more than $17 million from the Party of Regions, the former pro-Russian ruling party in Ukraine, for consulting work from 2012 through 2014.   Manafort is the second member of the Trump campaign to register as a foreign agent. In March, former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn registered with the Justice Department for work his consulting firm performed for a Turkish businessman that he said could have aided the Turkish government. Both registrations came after the work had been completed.   Manafort helmed Trump’s campaign for about five months until August and resigned …

Russian lawmakers are considering ways to block foreign media broadcasts in Russian if they break the law. The proposal is a tit-for-tat response to a bill introduced to the U.S. Congress in March that would give the Justice Department authority to investigate Russia’s English-language RT for potential violations of the Foreign Agents Registration Act. RT figured in a U.S. intelligence report about Russian meddling in the U.S. presidential election. Andrei Klimov, the head of a newly created panel of the upper house of the Russian parliament, said Wednesday it is pondering ways to oblige foreign media broadcasting in Russian to account for their activities in line with a Russian law on foreign agents. Klimov added that new legislation could authorize Russia’s communications watchdog to block broadcasts if they violate the law. …

Chinese authorities have released on bail three activists who had been detained after investigating labor conditions at a factory that produced shoes for Ivanka Trump and other brands. The three activists walked out of a police station in Ganzhou, a city in southeastern Jiangxi province, on Wednesday, the final day of their legally mandated 30-day detention period limit.   The activists were working with China Labor Watch, a New York-based group, and were investigating Huajian Group factories in the southern Chinese cities of Ganzhou and Dongguan.   One of the activists, Hua Haifeng, carried his 3-year-old son in his arms as he walked out with his wife and other family members.   “I will speak to everyone in a few days’ time after we organize. I’m happy to be out. I just want to spend some time with my family,” Hua told The Associated Press. “I appreciate the media following …