Key Republicans voiced strong support Sunday for special counsel Robert Mueller’s handling of the investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 U.S. presidential election, but split on whether Congress needs to approve legislation to block President Donald Trump from firing Mueller. Senators Lindsey Graham of South Carolina and Susan Collins of Maine, breaking with some of their Republican colleagues in Congress, stated in separate Sunday news shows that they support legislation, mostly favored by Democratic lawmakers, to require a judicial review if Trump were to attempt to dismiss Mueller. Two prominent Republican lawmakers in the House of Representatives — Kevin McCarthy of California and Trey Gowdy of South Carolina — both said they approve of Mueller’s performance in the ongoing criminal investigation. But McCarthy said he sees no need to enact a law to prevent Mueller, a former director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Mueller’s fate is at the …

U.S. President Donald Trump touted the continued growth of the U.S. economy on Sunday, saying it is “better than it has been in many decades.” “Businesses are coming back to America like never before,” Trump said in a Twitter remark, a likely theme of his State of the Union address on Tuesday. “Unemployment is nearing record lows. We are on the right track!” He said, “Chrysler, as an example, is leaving Mexico and coming back to the USA,” an exaggeration of Chrysler’s expansion plans. Fiat Chrysler, the world’s eighth biggest auto manufacturer, says it is investing $1 billion to manufacture its profitable Ram pickup trucks in the midwestern state of Michigan, shifting the production from Mexico, but at the same time is not cutting any of its vehicle manufacturing jobs in Mexico. The U.S. jobless rate has held steady at 4.1 percent for the last three months, the lowest figure …

A second group of refugees to be resettled in the United States from Australia’s offshore immigration centers has left Papua New Guinea. Washington has agreed to take up to 1,250 migrants held in Australian-run processing camps in the South Pacific. In return, Canberra will accept a small number of Central American refugees. On Tuesday, 58 refugees flew out of Papua New Guinea (PNG), most having been held at the Australian-run detention camp on Manus Island for more than four years. The migrants, mostly from Afghanistan and Pakistan, had been told they would never be allowed to settle in Australia — part of Canberra’s long-running policy to combat human trafficking. Last year, 54 refugees from Australia’s two offshore immigration facilities, on Manus Island and the tiny Pacific republic of Nauru, were resettled in the U.S. Another group of 130 refugees on Nauru is expected to leave the island for the U.S. in …

U.S. President Donald Trump is claiming he would take a “tougher” attitude toward Brexit negotiations with the European Union than the approach now being used by British Prime Minister Theresa May. Without providing specifics, Trump says in an ITV interview to be broadcast Sunday night that he would have used different tactics. “Would it be the way I negotiate? No, I wouldn’t negotiate it the way it’s [being] negotiated… I would have had a different attitude,” he said. “I would have said that the European Union is not cracked up to what it’s supposed to be.” Britain is preparing to leave 28-nation bloc in March 2019. The complex negotiations have moved slowly and May’s Cabinet seems deeply divided over how best to separate. In the interview with Piers Morgan, Trump says he looks forward to visiting Britain – where he has been invited sometime for a state visit to be …

Without the use of traditional instruments and in an interconnected world, what makes a Chinese composition distinctively Chinese? The Juilliard School’s Focus! Festival 2018 seeks to challenge our preconceptions of the 1.4 billion-population nation, led by a cast of contemporary Chinese composers and acclaimed Juilliard orchestral students. VOA’s Ramon Taylor sat down with one of China’s most prominent young conductors and the festival’s founding director on the evolving commonalities and differences of orchestral music, East and West. …

The political network backed by conservative industrialists Charles and David Koch plans to spend $20 million to promote the tax overhaul recently signed into law by President Donald Trump. The investment marks an early focus of the Koch brothers’ 2018 political strategy. It comes as the conservative billionaires work to expand their sweeping efforts to promote a “free society” in America. Charles Koch and his chief lieutenants previewed their strategy on Saturday, the first day of a three-day private donor retreat at a luxury resort in the California desert. They previously announced plans to spend between $300 million and $400 million on politics and policy heading into the midterms when the GOP’s House and Senate majorities are at stake. ‘Increase the scale … 10 fold’ At an evening welcome reception, Koch called on his biggest donors to “increase the scale and effectiveness of this network by an order of magnitude …

Florida Sen. Marco Rubio said Saturday that he has fired his chief of staff after receiving reports of “improper conduct” with subordinate staffers.   “By early this afternoon, I had sufficient evidence to conclude that while employed by this office, my Chief of Staff had violated office policies regarding proper relations between a supervisor and their subordinates. I further concluded that this led to actions which in my judgment amounted to threats to withhold employment benefits,” Rubio said in a statement.   Rubio’s office said it “will not be disclosing any further details about the incidents which occurred” at the wishes of those victimized. And Rubio’s office plans to notify appropriate congressional and Senate administrative offices of this situation. Rubio’s office did not immediately respond to requests early Sunday for details. …

President Donald Trump’s first year in office has at times been racially charged, from his push to temporarily ban citizens from certain countries to his comments after a race riot in Charlottesville, Virginia, when some said he didn’t swiftly condemn white supremacists. But no matter the controversy, he remains the U.S military’s commander-in-chief. At the president’s home base, Joint Base Andrews, just outside of Washington, airmen from all backgrounds are celebrating their diversity and sharing their stories of race relations with our Pentagon correspondent Carla Babb. …

President Donald Trump’s description of the climate on planet Earth doesn’t quite match what data show and scientists say. In an interview with Piers Morgan airing Sunday on Britain’s ITV News, the president said the world was cooling and warming at the same time and that claims of melting ice caps haven’t come true. TRUMP: “There is a cooling, and there’s a heating. I mean, look, it used to not be climate change, it used to be global warming. That wasn’t working too well because it was getting too cold all over the place.” Ten different climate scientists contacted by The Associated Press said the president was not accurate about climate change. Rutgers University climate scientist Jennifer Francis responded in an email: “Clearly President Trump is relying on alternative facts to inform his views on climate change. Ice on the ocean and on land are both disappearing rapidly, and we …

The FBI has released dozens of pages from its investigation into the death of Mikhail Lesin, files that largely corroborate earlier police and other reports about the circumstances behind the former Russian press minister’s 2015 death.  The 56-page file, released by the U.S. law enforcement agency on Friday, includes heavily redacted copies of the medical and toxicology exam of Lesin’s body, as well as the investigation by forensic experts into the closed-circuit video footage of the hotel where he lived in his final days.  Lesin’s death was declared accidental, due to blunt force injuries to the neck, torso, and lower and upper extremities, according to a final report released in October 2016 by the U.S. attorney’s office for Washington and city police. Acute ethanol intoxication was a contributing factor. A city police report released in December 2017 highlighted Lesin’s heavy drinking at Washington’s Four Seasons Hotel, and later at the …

Officials trying to settle differences over how to update the North American Free Trade Agreement have made some progress and hope politicians decide the talks should continue, Steve Verheul, Canada’s chief negotiator, told Reuters on Saturday. The United States, Canada and Mexico are due to finish the sixth of seven planned rounds of NAFTA discussions on Monday, with several major issues far from being resolved. U.S. President Donald Trump, who describes the $1.2 trillion pact as a disaster, has frequently threatened to walk away from it unless major changes are made. U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer, Canadian Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland and Mexican Economy Minister Ildefonso Guajardo will hold a news conference later Monday to announce the next steps. Asked whether he thought the three ministers would decide there is enough momentum to continue with the next round, Verheul said: “Well, that’s our hope.” Later in the day, he told reporters: …

President Donald Trump will deliver his first State of the Union address to a joint session of Congress Tuesday. Lawmakers and a worldwide TV audience expect to hear the president’s priorities for 2018 in domestic and foreign policy. Trump is looking to shore up public support after a controversial first year that saw a victory on tax cuts but also numerous distractions and controversies that led to historically low poll ratings. VOA National correspondent Jim Malone previews it from Washington. …

Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette has launched an investigation into how much Michigan State University officials knew about sexual abuse accusations by patients of former school faculty member and USA Gymnastics physician Larry Nassar. “It is abundantly clear that a full and complete investigation of what happened at Michigan State University, from the president’s office down, is required,” Schuette said at a news conference Saturday in East Lansing. “We will put a bright light at every corner of the university.” The university’s board of trustees urged the attorney general last week to consider appointing a neutral investigator “to promote bipartisan acceptance of the results.” Schuette, who is running for governor of the Midwestern state, took offense at the board’s request, telling reporters, “I don’t need advice from the board of trustees at MSU about how to conduct an investigation. Frankly, they should be the last ones to be providing advice, …

Casino mogul Steve Wynn has resigned as finance chairman of the Republican National Committee amid allegations of sexual harassment and assault. Wynn has been a prolific Republican donor and led the RNC’s fundraising efforts during President Donald Trump’s first year. RNC chairwoman Ronna McDaniel said in a statement Saturday that she accepted Wynn’s resignation. The Wall Street Journal reported Friday that a number of women said they were harassed or assaulted by Wynn, the chairman and CEO of Wynn Resorts. Wynn has denied the allegations. Wynn’s resignation was first reported by Politico.   …

U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson accused Russia of using energy as a “political tool” in Europe as he held talks with his counterpart Saturday in Warsaw, Poland. At a news conference with Polish Foreign Minister Jacek Czaputowicz following the discussions, Tillerson said the U.S. is opposed to the Nord Stream 2 natural gas pipeline, a proposed project that would connect Russia and Germany. Some Eastern European countries are also against the pipeline, which would give Russia a larger share of the natural gas market. “Like Poland, the United States opposes the Nord Stream 2 pipeline,” Tillerson said. “We see it as undermining Europe’s overall energy security and stability and it provides Russia yet another tool to politicize energy as a political tool.” Tillerson’s visit to Poland comes at a time when the U.S. is boosting exports of American liquefied natural gas (LNG) to central Europe and taking on Russia’s stronghold …

A defiant Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan warned Friday that he’s prepared to risk confrontation with the United States over Turkey’s military incursion into northern Syria, vowing to next target a Kurdish-held town where U.S. Special Forces are stationed. Speaking to members of his ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) in Ankara, a belligerent Erdogan shrugged off U.S. calls for Turkey to limit the incursion launched a week ago, saying the next town to be targeted after the Kurdish enclave of Afrin, where Turkish tanks have been grinding through winter mud, will be Manbij, raising the possibility of American troops being drawn inadvertently into the bruising fight between Turks and Syrian Kurds. The Reuters news agency reports that Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said Saturday the United States needs to withdraw from northern Syria’s Manbij region immediately, suggesting that an attack might be imminent.   On Wednesday, U.S. President Donald …

The United States needs to withdraw from northern Syria’s Manbij region immediately, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said on Saturday. President Tayyip Erdogan on Friday said Turkish forces would sweep Kurdish fighters from the Syrian border and could push all the way east to the frontier with Iraq, including Manbij – a move which risks a possible confrontation with U.S. forces allied to the Kurds. Speaking to reporters, Cavusoglu also said Turkey wanted to see concrete steps by the United States to end its support for the Syrian Kurdish YPG militia. Ankara said earlier it had been told by U.S. National Security Adviser H.R. McMaster that Washington would not provide the YPG with weapons anymore. …

In a surprise move, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency reversed itself Friday and stopped the approval process for the proposed Pebble Mine copper and gold mine project in southwest Alaska’s Bristol Bay region. “It is my judgment at this time that any mining projects in the region likely pose a risk to the abundant natural resources that exist there,” EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt said in a statement. President Donald Trump has championed increased domestic mining, and the EPA’s decision to halt the Pebble Mine’s approval process comes as a surprise. “Until we know the full extent of that risk, those natural resources and world-class fisheries deserve the utmost protection,” Pruitt said. The Obama administration blocked the proposed mine in 2014 over environmental concerns. Last year, Pruitt reversed that decision, allowing the Canadian company behind the mine project to apply for a permit from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. The …

The world marks Holocaust Remembrance Day on Saturday, the anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz Nazi death camp in 1945. The U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington hosted officials from around the world to remember the genocide. European Union Ambassador David O’Sullivan said that museums remembering the Holocaust are essential for future generations to learn about the past atrocities.   WATCH: EU Ambassador: New Generation Needs to Keep Memory Alive “The new generation also needs people, stories and places to keep the memory alive. To make sure we keep the promise made at the end of the Holocaust — Never Again,” O’Sullivan said. Museum officials also read a letter from Dr. Muhammad Al-Issa, secretary-general of the Muslim World League based in Saudi Arabia, who wrote, “Who in their right mind would accept, sympathize or even diminish the extent of this brutal crime?”   WATCH: Letter From Secretary General of …

Defense Secretary Jim Mattis on Friday praised the talks between North and South Korea but said they do not address the overarching issues in the standoff over Pyongyang’s nuclear and ballistic missile programs. More from VOA’s Bill Gallo, who is traveling with the secretary in Hawaii. …

The Trump administration on Thursday sent a one-page framework to Republicans in Congress addressing immigration questions that have divided Congress and the American people. Mike O’Sullivan reports that, with critics on both sides, the administration’s proposals face an uphill battle. …