U.S. President Donald Trump and key aides pressed lawmakers Sunday to not abandon an overhaul of the country’s health care law in the face of the Senate’s rejection last week of three measures to repeal or replace it. “Don’t give up Republican Senators, the World is watching: Repeal & Replace,” Trump said in a Twitter comment. Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell said it was “time to move on” to other issues after three Republican senators joined all 48 Democrats early Friday to defeat a slimmed-down repeal of Obamacare, former President Barack Obama’s signature domestic legislative achievement, on a 51-49 vote. Republican leaders viewed the vote as their last best effort to be able to advance the repeal effort and negotiate with the House of Representatives on how to dismantle the law, coming after two other attempts at revamping the law were defeated earlier in the week. But Trump budget chief …

Russian President Vladimir Putin is ordering 755 U.S. diplomats out  of the country in retaliation to new U.S. sanctions over Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election. Putin told a Russian television network, “More than a thousand people were working and are still working” at the U.S. embassy and consulates, and “755 people must stop their activities in Russia.” Putin said Moscow could take more retaliatory steps against the U.S. but said, “I am against it as of today.” The U.S. State Department called Putin’s order “a regrettable and uncalled for act” and says it is assessing how to respond. Moscow said the expulsion of hundreds of U.S. envoys by September 1 would leave both countries with the same number of diplomats  –  455. Earlier, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov told ABC News’ This Week , “I think this retaliation is long, long overdue.” He said Moscow has “a …

A young Ethiopian immigrant who has spent most of her life in the United States, has founded a project to give back to her country of birth. VOA’s Amber Wihshi has more. …

A steady stream of tourists left a North Carolina island Saturday under evacuation orders prompted by a widespread power outage, wiping out a significant chunk of the lucrative summer months for local businesses.  It could take days or weeks to repair an underground transmission line damaged early Thursday by construction crews working on a new bridge between islands. The construction company drove a steel casing into an underground transmission line, causing blackouts on Ocracoke and Hatteras islands. Cars lined up Friday to get on ferries, the only way off Ocracoke Island, after about 10,000 tourists were ordered Thursday evening to evacuate. A second order for visitors to Hatteras Island, south of Oregon Inlet, meant up to 60,000 additional people had to evacuate starting Saturday, primarily north over the inlet bridge. As of 2 p.m. Saturday, North Carolina ferries had evacuated about 3,800 people and 1,500 cars from both islands, according …

The U.S. Air Force flew two B-1B bombers over the Korean Peninsula Saturday, accompanied by South Korean and Japanese jet fighters. The U.S. Pacific Command said the mission was in “direct response” to North Korea’s “escalatory launch” of intercontinental ballistic missiles July 3 and July 28. “North Korea remains the most urgent threat to regional stability,” said General Terrence O’Shaughnessy, U.S. Pacific Air Forces commander. “Diplomacy remains the lead; however, we have a responsibility to our allies and our nation to showcase our unwavering commitment while planning for the worse-case scenario. If called upon, we are ready to respond with rapid, lethal and overwhelming force at a time and place of our choosing.” The 10-hour joint forces mission began at Andersen Air Force Base in Guam. U.S. Air Force bomber jets were joined by two Japanese F-2 fighter jets in Japanese airspace. The U.S. bombers then flew over the Korean …

President Donald Trump took to Twitter on Saturday morning to criticize Republican senators following their failed vote to repeal parts of the Affordable Care Act, better known as Obamacare. Trump said the Republican senators “look like fools.” He also suggested they alter rules that require 60 votes to break a filibuster, even though that would not have changed the results of the health care bill debate. Senate Republicans failed to gather the 50 votes needed to pass the “skinny” repeal bill that would have ended several key parts Obamacare, including the requirement that most Americans buy health insurance or pay a penalty. The bill was written through the budget reconciliation process, which meant, among other things, that it required only 50 votes for passage instead of a 60-vote filibuster-proof majority. A 50-50 tie would have let Vice President Mike Pence, in his role as president of the Senate, cast the …

What does a president who campaigned on an “America First” foreign policy do with the longest war in U.S. history? That is the dilemma for Donald Trump as the White House conducts a policy review of Afghanistan, where U.S. troops have fought for nearly 16 years. With Trump skeptical of committing more troops to what some see as an unwinnable war, one idea has come to the forefront: using Western companies to extract Afghanistan’s vast, untapped mineral deposits. How much is there? A 2010 U.S. study estimated more than $1 trillion worth of untapped mineral deposits, but Afghanistan’s violence, corruption and poor infrastructure would make mining extremely difficult. That’s part of the reason why, although U.S. officials have discussed using Afghanistan’s mineral wealth to bolster the government and economy, the plan has not gone anywhere. There are also concerns about whether such a move would feed into the Taliban narrative …

Weary Republicans in Washington may be ready to move on from health care, but conservatives across the United States are warning the GOP-led Congress not to abandon its pledge to repeal the Obama-era health law – or risk a political nightmare in next year’s elections.   The Senate’s failure this past week to pass repeal legislation has outraged the Republican base and triggered a new wave of fear. The stunning collapse has exposed a party so paralyzed by ideological division that it could not deliver on its top campaign pledge.   After devoting months to the debate and seven years to promising to kill the Affordable Care Act, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, Republican-Kentucky, simply said: “It’s time to move on.”   But that’s simply not an option for a conservative base energized by its opposition to the health law. Local party leaders, activists and political operatives are predicting payback …

Silicon Valley is the tech industry’s epicenter, but what is the epicenter of Silicon Valley? It might just be Coupa Café in downtown Palo Alto, Calif. For the tech community, this café is a meeting place of the who’s who of Silicon Valley, where the likes of the late Steve Jobs of Apple, Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg and Google co-founder Sergey Brin have all been spotted. Up-and-coming startup founders are able to buy their lattes with the digital currency Bitcoin before their pitch sessions with leading industry venture capitalists. The café is so well known among techies that a cup with the Coupa logo was featured as a prop in the 2010 film The Social Network. “I remember seeing Mark Zuckerberg sitting here and having meetings and people coming up,” said Eric Sokol, an associate professor of medicine at Stanford University. While Silicon Valley is famous for companies such as Facebook, …

The Illinois Department of Natural Resources is reintroducing a living fossil into its waterways. The alligator gar is a fish so old, it’s thought to have evolved during the Early Cretaceous period, more than a 100 million years ago. Alligator gar are the second largest freshwater fish in North America. Illinois fisheries biologist Randy Sauer says they disappeared from the state’s waterways in the 1990s, although they continued to thrive in southern U.S. rivers. “We want to restore the ecosystem because it is important to have top predators to balance the species below them in order to keep check on some more abundant species,” he said. Beyond that, alligator gar make for great big game fishing. The diamond-scaled animals, which breathe both air and water, can grow up to 2.7 meters and weigh more than 136 kilograms. In fact, Sauer says, their large size is what did them in originally in …

President Donald Trump and congressional Republicans suffered a major political setback Friday when the Senate rejected a partial repeal of Obamacare, one of the president’s key campaign pledges. The key vote against the plan was delivered by Republican Senator John McCain, who has clashed with Trump before. VOA National correspondent Jim Malone has more from Washington. …

Securing petrochemical plants and keeping chemicals out of the hands of terrorists were the topics of discussion at a recent Chemical Sector Security Summit in Houston, Texas. Security experts say the countries that are producing chemicals are shifting and that is one of many reasons developed and developing nations need to share best security practices. VOA’s Elizabeth Lee reports from Houston, a petrochemical hub in the United States. …

China has condemned North Korea’s latest launch of an intercontinental ballistic missile, joining criticism by the United States and South Korea. China’s foreign ministry said in a statement Saturday that the launch “defied” U.N. Security Council resolutions and “the common wish of the international community.” US, South Korea missiles U.S. and South Korean forces fired missiles into South Korean territorial waters in direct response to North Korea’s intercontinental ballistic missile launch Friday. A statement from the Eighth United States Army said the joint, live-fire exercise used the Army Tactical Missile System (ATACMS) and the Republic of Korea Hyunmoo Missile II. The weapons can be quickly deployed and provide deep-strike precision capability under all weather conditions, according to the military. A defense official told VOA the exercise began around 5:30 pm EDT. A White House statement released shortly afterward called the North’s missile test a “reckless and dangerous action” which will …

The United States imposed sanctions Friday on six subsidiaries of a company key to Iran’s ballistic missile program, citing continued “provocative actions” like Tehran’s launch of a rocket capable of putting a satellite into orbit. Iranian state television reported Thursday that Iran had successfully tested a rocket that can deliver satellites into orbit, an action the United States and others say breaches a U.N. Security Council resolution because of its potential use in ballistic missile development. A joint statement Friday from the United States, France, Germany and Britain said the launch was inconsistent with a U.N. Security Council resolution calling on Iran not to conduct such tests. ​Six firms sanctioned The U.S. Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control imposed sanctions on six Iranian firms owned or controlled by the Shahid Hemmat Industrial Group. The move enables the U.S. government to block any company property under its jurisdiction and prevents U.S. …

The White House says President Donald Trump approves of Congress’ new sanctions against Russia and he intends to sign the bill. In a statement Friday, the press secretary said the president has reviewed the final version of the bill that outlines additional sanctions against a wide range of Russia industries. The bill also gives Congress the ability to block the president from lifting the Russia sanctions. The Trump administration had opposed the sanctions aimed at punishing Russia for interfering in last year’s U.S. presidential election. The White House argued that it needed flexibility in trying to improve relations between the two countries. But after months of investigations into contacts between Russian officials and members of President Trump’s campaign team, there was broad bipartisan support in both houses of Congress for more stringent measures. Russia responds with sanctions Russia responded earlier Friday to the sanctions with new measures targeting U.S. missions …

U.S. President Donald Trump’s choice for White House chief of staff, retired Marine General John Kelly, was one of the military’s longest-serving commanders before Trump named him secretary for the Department of Homeland Security. Kelly, 67, is known for his blunt-spoken style and is popular with military personnel. Trump described him in a tweet Friday as “a Great American and a Great Leader.” Kelly will replace Reince Priebus on July 31. He described the job Kelly has done as Homeland Security secretary as “spectacular” and said “he has been a true star of my administration.” Kelly has worked to carry out Trump’s election promises, including plans to build a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border, deport undocumented immigrants and tighten visa screening efforts to thwart potential terrorists. Kelly had described his top priority as Homeland Security secretary as closing the border to the “illegal movement of people and things.” Lost a …

Vice President Mike Pence visits three countries in Russia’s neighborhood beginning Monday to signal support for them and NATO while drawing a line against aggression.   Pence’s trip to Estonia, Georgia and Montenegro is viewed as a follow-up to President Donald Trump’s visit to Europe earlier this month. Then, Trump used stops in Poland and Germany to try to pull off a tricky balancing act of improving ties with Moscow while also presenting the U.S. as a check against Russia’s moves in the region.   Pence’s mission will be encouraging those countries to continue to ally with the West and resist Russia’s attempts to splinter the NATO alliance.   Defense Secretary Jim Mattis and Secretary of State Rex Tillerson have previously been dispatched to try to allay the concerns of countries near Russia that the U.S. really will stand behind NATO and support the sovereignty of non-member former Soviet republics. …

Attorney General Jeff Sessions is eager to use his aggressive work against the MS-13 street gang to help mend his tattered relationship with President Donald Trump. “I hope so,” he said Friday, trying to turn the corner from a week of sour performance reviews from his boss. “It’s one of many issues that we share deep commitments about,” he told The Associated Press from a private room in the headquarters of El Salvador’s national police force, where he had met law enforcement officials to talk about quashing the violent transnational gang. That common concern about MS-13 was on display Friday as Trump spoke about the gang in Long Island, where MS-13 violence has resurfaced with a vengeance, and as Sessions toured a gang stronghold, motoring around El Salvador’s graffiti-laced streets alongside rifle-wielding police officers who had tried to clear the neighborhood of gangsters before he arrived. MS-13 has roots both …

Days after the Pentagon announced it is withholding $50 million intended for Pakistan as part of its Coalition Support Fund, the South Asian country’s ambassador hinted at potential retaliation, possibly coaxing Washington to renegotiate access to the country’s air corridors, which Islamabad suggests have been taken for granted. Pakistan is ready to cooperate with the United States, Ambassador Aizaz Ahmad Chaudhry said, though Washington may now end up having to negotiate with Islamabad on the corridors and other tangible assets, he added. “All that Pakistan has done in the fight against terrorism has not been sufficiently factored” into the U.S. decision to reduce its support funds, Chaudhry lamented during a discussion this week at the Washington office of the London-based International Institute for Strategic Studies. Air rights up for negotiation? Pakistan has facilitated air and ground logistical support for U.S. troops in Afghanistan “like no one else,” Chaudhry said, adding …

Congressional Democrats are praising Republican Senator John McCain after he helped them defeat a proposed law Thursday night that would have repealed the seven-year old Affordable Care Act (ACA), also known as Obamacare. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said he and McCain have “been friends for a very long time” and McCain showed “amazing courage” in voting with the Democrats. “Last night was an amazing moment, and the credit goes to a lot of people, but at the top of the list are the three who showed amazing courage to resist the pressure and do what’s good for the country,” Schumer said. “John McCain is at the top of the list.” McCain, of Arizona, was one of three Republican lawmakers, including Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Susan Collins of Maine, who voted with Democrats in the 49-51 defeat of the Republican-led repeal effort. House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi similarly thanked …

Macedonian and United States troops have started two weeks of joint military manoeuvers in central Macedonia as part of the Balkan country’s drive to join NATO. About 300 U.S. soldiers with 120 military vehicles and tanks arrived on Friday from neighboring Bulgaria to participate in the “Dragoon Guardian 17” exercise that will run until August 10. They will be joined by some 100 Macedonian soldiers. Macedonia’s defense ministry says the main goal of the exercise is to strengthen military cooperation with the U.S. and to show that the Macedonian army is compatible with NATO standards. Macedonia wants to join NATO but was blocked in 2008 by neighboring Greece, a member of the alliance, due to a long-running dispute over Macedonia’s official name. …

The U.S. House of Representatives closed its summer session with a key legislative accomplishment Friday that included a gift for President Donald Trump.   House Republicans included a $1.6 billion request to build part of Trumps promised wall along the U.S.-Mexico border in a “mini-bus” package of bills.   “We must be vigilant in protecting our homeland. That’s our priority. This legislation funds the most critical functions of government. It secures our borders by providing funding for a wall on our southern border,” House Speaker Paul Ryan said in a statement Thursday hailing the passage of border wall funding.   “There’s some frustration on the part of some Republicans that they haven’t been getting things done this year,” Molly Reynolds, a fellow in Governance Studies at the Brookings Institution, told VOA. “So they see this security mini-bus as a way to show they have gotten something done on things that …

President Donald Trump’s new communications director ignited the smoldering tensions at the White House into a full-fledged conflagration Thursday, angrily daring Trump’s chief of staff to deny he’s a “leaker” and exposing West Wing backstabbing in language more suitable to a mobster movie than a seat of presidential stability. In a pull-no-punches, impromptu CNN interview that he said was authorized by the president, Anthony Scaramucci went after chief of staff Reince Priebus in graphic terms. “The fish stinks from the head down,” he said. “I can tell you two fish that don’t stink, and that’s me and the president.” Not even a week into his new job, Scaramucci accused unidentified senior officials of trying to sabotage him and committing a felony by leaking information. But the personal financial information that he said someone had “leaked” about him had simply been obtained through a public records request. Then in an expletive-laden …

U.S. economic growth accelerated in April, May, and June, expanding at a 2.6 percent annual rate, says a new report by the Commerce Department. The gross domestic product data, published Friday, says consumer and business spending helped boost growth.  IHS Markit economist Sara Johnson says U.S. growth was also helped by an accelerating global economy that improved American trade.   The GDP counts up all the goods and services produced in the nation, and is considered the broadest assessment of economic health. This report is based on preliminary data, and could be revised as more complete information becomes available. Such an adjustment was made in the GDP growth for January, February, and March, which showed growth back then was even slower than first thought.   U.S. President Donald Trump campaigned on a promise to boost economic growth to 3 percent or higher by cutting regulations, taxes, and a major health …