#obama-administration

#obama-administration

Cuba has agreed to allow China to build a spying facility on the island that could allow the Chinese to eavesdrop on electronic communications across the southeastern US, a source familiar with the intelligence told CNN.The US learned about the plan in the last several weeks, the source said, and it is unclear whether China has already begun building the surveillance facility.

The International Criminal Court was created two decades ago as a standing body to investigate war crimes, genocide and crimes against humanity under a 1998 treaty known as the Rome Statute.In the past, the United Nations Security Council had established ad hoc tribunals to address atrocities in places like the former Yugoslavia and Rwanda.

President Joe Biden's economic team is taking new shape midway through his first term and as he gears up for an expected reelection bid, with the White House Tuesday officially naming Federal Reserve Vice Chair Lael Brainard as his top economic adviser and nominating Jared Bernstein to serve as his chair for the Council of Economic Advisers.

Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken on Friday took the stage in NATO's newest member, Finland, to say that further strengthening Ukraine's defenses against Russia was a prerequisite for diplomacy to end the war in Ukraine and to warn against short-term cease-fires that might play to Moscow's advantage.

Brazil's presidential election on Sunday could reshape U.S. ties with Latin America's biggest country, leading to increased tensions or bridging divides over trade, climate change and safeguarding democracy.A victory by the far-right incumbent Jair Bolsonaro, who has questioned the electoral process and attacked institutions like Congress and the Supreme Court, could further strain an uneasy alliance at a time when democracy in the United States is also under strain.

1. Boeing must decide whether to make changes to its Starliner spacecraft or risk losing out on future contracts. 2. The cost of making modifications to the Starliner could be more expensive than the potential profits from future contracts. 3. There are a number of safety and reliability issues that must be addressed

On Monday, the Energy Information Agency released its annual figures for how the US generated electrical power during 2021.The year saw lots of changes as the country moved out of the pandemic, with coal, wind, and solar power all seeing large jumps compared to the previous year.Meanwhile, widespread drought conditions in the west caused a significant drop in hydroelectric production.

Former Cubs and White Sox pitcher Jeff Samardzija once insisted "you can always get a good nap in during the Sox game."It was meant as a compliment to Ken "Hawk" Harrelson, though Samardzija later had to explain himself to the Sox broadcaster.As baseball turns the first corner in its speeded-up season this Memorial Day weekend, White Sox and Cubs fans turn to their porches and patios to soak in warm summerlike breezes and perhaps sneak in a quick nap with the ballgame as mere backdrop.

The U.S. Supreme Court is seen on May 16.Alex Brandon/AP The U.S. Supreme Court Court on Thursday significantly curtailed the power of the Environmental Protection Agency to regulate the nation's wetlands and waterways.It was the court's second decision in a year limiting the ability of the agency to enact anti-pollution regulations and combat climate change.

The Secret Service said it was investigating how an intruder was able to enter the home of President Biden's national security adviser last month even though a full security detail was posted outside.Jake Sullivan, the national security adviser, was not harmed during the breach, the agency's spokesman, Anthony Guglielmi, said in a statement on Tuesday, adding that the identity of the intruder remained unknown.

A version of this story first appeared in CNN Business' Before the Bell newsletter.Not a subscriber?You can sign up right here.You can listen to an audio version of the newsletter by clicking the same link.As the dust settles around the shocking collapse of Silicon Valley Bank and analysts begin to assess the damage, an important question has emerged: Who should we blame for this mess?

Norfolk Southern CEO Alan Shaw pledged Tuesday the freight railroad will spend $6.5 million to help those affected by the release of toxic chemicals from its derailment nearly three weeks ago in East Palestine, Ohio.But in a plan released earlier this year, the company said it's planning to spend more than a thousand times that amount $7.5 billion to repurchase its own shares in order to benefit its shareholders.

Illinois Sen. Tammy Duckworth, the first sitting US senator to give birth while in office, offered a heartfelt Mother's Day message on Sunday, celebrating moms nationwide for growing the next generation for our nation.Hang in there, sister.We're in this together, and nobody has perfect work-life balance, everybody struggles, and so do the best that you can, the Democrat told CNN's Dana Bash on State of the Union.

The Justice Department moved Tuesday to end a consent decree with the Seattle Police Department, bringing to a close more than a decade of federal supervision of the police department.The Seattle consent decree was established under the Obama administration in 2012 after a Justice Department investigation found that the police department there had a pattern of using excessive force.

A business jet carrying a former White House official this month pitched up and down in midair, causing her death, after pilots turned off a system that stabilizes the plane, the National Transportation Safety Board said in a preliminary report.The pilots noticed several warnings related to system failures of the aircraft's flight control as it traveled from Keene, N.H., to Leesburg, Va., on March 3, and they followed steps on a checklist, which advised them to turn off a switch that controls a stabilizer function in the aircraft, according to the report.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis once strongly supported arming Ukraine to fight Russia, urging then-President Barack Obama to do so as a deterrent to Russian aggression in Eastern Europe a position at odds with his statements this week questioning the United States' involvement in the conflict.As a conservative congressman, DeSantis, now a potential presidential hopeful, urged sending defensive and offensive weapons to Ukraine in 2014 and 2015 and even voted to refuse to fund a new missile defense treaty with Russia until they withdrew from Ukraine, according to a review of DeSantis' past comments by CNN's KFile.

Editor's Note: Are you in Egypt?Send us your experiences, but please stay safe.The Obama administration did not use the word "coup" Use of the word would have legal ramifications resulting in the end of U.S. aid The U.S. priority is to preserve some space while trying to contain a combustible situation President Barack Obama's statement about the Egyptian military's seizure of power is as telling for what he doesn't say as for what he does: he doesn't mention the word coup.

A certain irony has threaded its way through the endless rulemaking filings, legal challenges, and political vicissitudes of the decades-long fight to stop U.S. fossil fuel power plants from spewing carbon dioxide emissions into the air.A recent example is last year's Supreme Court West Virginia v E.P.A. ruling.

Xi Jinping, China's leader, is scheduled to meet with President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia in Moscow this week in the most high-profile visit by any world leader to Russia since before the pandemic.Coming more than a year after Russia launched its invasion of Ukraine, the meeting will be watched closely by Western officials for any indications of how far China may be willing to go to act as a mediator in the conflict.

Maryland Rep. David Trone, who's poured millions of his own money into his congressional campaigns, is announcing his Senate candidacy on Thursday, accelerating what will likely be a competitive Democratic primary for the seat of retiring Sen. Ben Cardin.His announcement video opens with a ticking clock and Trone rattling off statistics about deaths from overdoses and mental illness and racial inequity in the criminal justice system.

On Tuesday evening, two news reports caught my attention.The first was an Emerson College poll of Republican primary voters in New Hampshire.Donald Trump holds an incredible 41-point lead over Ron DeSantis in the state that rescued Trump's primary campaign after a second-place finish in Iowa in 2016.

Man-made disasters come with an inevitable question.What preventable mistakes, what selfish neglect or lack of oversight, helped set the table for this catastrophe?That's certainly the case with the derailment of a train carrying toxic chemicals in eastern Ohio that turned the small town of East Palestine into a knot of dread.

President Biden's nomination to serve on the Federal Communications Commission has been stalled in the Senate for more than a year.For the sake of the nation's tech innovation, it's time to break the stalemate.Confirming Gigi Sohn would end the 2-2 deadlock on the FCC that is keeping Biden from fulfilling his campaign promise to restore net neutrality, ensuring that all internet traffic is treated equally.

(Rich Pedroncelli / Associated Press)

They're starting to line up to run for governor to replace lame duck Gov. Gavin Newsom when his term expires after 2026.Yes, already.The first in line Monday was Lt. Gov. Eleni Kounalakis, 57.A few hours later, former state Controller Betty Yee, 65, said she plans to run too.

In the dictionary, the word "tenacious" ought to be followed by a photo of Chicagoan Bessie Coleman, the first African American woman to earn a pilot's license.Coleman, also of Native American descent, moved to Chicago in her early 20s hoping to find and follow her dreams, but she discovered that no pilot training schools would admit her.

The Federal Housing Administration (FHA) on Wednesday morning announced a 30 basis point reduction in the annual premium charged to mortgage borrowers.The cut, widely anticipated by the industry, will result in mortgage insurance premiums (MIP) of 55 bps for most borrowers, down from 85.In a statement released Wednesday, the White House said the MIP cut will reduce housing costs by an average of $800 for roughly 850,000 homebuyers and homeowners in 2023.

Imagine a world without English majors.In the last decade, the study of English and history in college has fallen by a third.At Columbia University, the share of English majors fell from 10% to 5% between 2002 and 2020.According to a recent story in The New Yorker, The End of the English Major, this decline is largely a result of economic factors which departments get funded, what students earn after graduation, etc. Fields once wide open to English majors teaching, academia, publishing, the arts, nonprofits, the media have collapsed or become less desirable.

WASHINGTON  The Biden administration will give three Native tribes $75 million to move away from coastal areas or rivers, one of the nation's largest efforts to date to relocate communities that are facing an urgent threat from climate change.The three communities  two in Alaska, and one in Washington State  will each get $25 million to move their key buildings onto higher ground and away from rising waters, with the expectation that homes will follow.

NEW: Egypt is bracing for mass rival rallies on Friday A coup determination would force the administration to cut military aid to vital Mideast ally Egyptian President Mohamed Morsy was ousted July 3 by the military after mass protests Obama administration has delayed delivery of fighter jets to Egypt The Obama administration will not make a formal determination as to whether the ouster of Egyptian President Mohamed Morsy by the military was a coup, a senior administration official told CNN's Jill Dougherty on Thursday.

Those tensions came to a head earlier this month as Blue Dog members met for a lengthy debate over the reboot that culminated in a secret-ballot vote to reject the new name, according to interviews with nearly a dozen people familiar with the situation, on both sides of the dispute.Shortly after that vote, Reps.

The NHS, statins and partygate are among the topics across the front pages.The Guardian leads on an exclusive report that Health Secretary Steve Barclay has conceded to an increased pay offer for NHS workers, while The Independent splashes a special investigation into sky-rocketing A&E waiting times.

With their witching-hour Wednesday-morning signing of Carlos Correa, the New York Mets reportedly will be on the hook for something like half a billion dollars in player salary and luxury-tax penalties next season; the franchise has committed something in the neighborhood of $800 million in salary to nine guys just since free agency opened.

THREE RIVERS, Mich.We didn't forget your sign!This friendly assurance from Maddy, my favorite bartender at Rooster's Wing Shack  the best bar in this town, in case you're wondering  was a reference not to astrology (I doubt Maddy knows, or cares, that I'm a Pisces) but to a Bud Light promotional poster.

The American attempt at an industrial policy to build electric vehicles and batteries has, once again, fallen flat.The recently released list of firms selected for $2.8 billion of funding shows as much.They look more like late-stage R&D projects than companies ready to scale.Earlier this month, the Biden administration announced the first set of projects that will be funded by the President's Bipartisan Infrastructure Law to expand domestic production of EV batteries and the grid, and "for materials and components currently imported from other countries."

Jones grew up on his family's farm in Michigan before earning law and medical degrees from Duke University.After the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, he joined the Navy and served as a flight surgeon for a Marine helicopter squadron in Iraq.Afterward, he got a master's degree in public administration and served for a year as a White House fellow in the Obama administration, working with the secretary of Health and Human Services on improving care for veterans.

The Texas Tribune, one of the biggest nonprofit newsrooms in the country, announced on Wednesday that Sonal Shah will be its next chief executive.Ms. Shah, who has extensive experience in social innovation and nonprofits, will take over from Evan Smith, who was a founder of The Tribune in 2009 and has run it since.