Religious Groups Divided Over Trump’s Executive Order

President Donald Trump holds up a signed executive order aimed at easing an IRS rule limiting political activity for churches Thursday The order also is created to allow religious groups to avoid a mandate to provide contraception coverage under President Barack Obama's health care law, the Affordable Care Act, potentially expanding an exemption that had been carved out in the courts. However, the nonprofit determined that the executive order, in its current state, would not affect the rights of the people.

Oregon port vote is latest local action on fossil fuels

In this Dec. 4, 2012, file photo, coal export opponents, from left, Wayne Spitzer, Ginger Hughes and April Beasley show their disapproval of a pro-coal speaker who was giving public testimony on a proposed Cherry Point coal export terminal near Bellingham, Wash., at the Spokane County Fair and Expo Center in Spokane, Wash. American Indian tribes and environmentalists in the Pacific Northwest have successfully fought a slew of fossil fuel export projects in recent years and pushed for local regulations to prevent new proposals.

.com | No ‘clean slate’ between the US and Russia – Tillerson

Relations between the United States and Russia, at their lowest level since the Cold War, will not restart "with a clean slate", Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said on Sunday. The former ExxonMobil CEO, who was decorated in 2013 by Russian President Vladimir Putin, had said previously that the relationship between the two nuclear powers had hit its lowest point since the Soviet collapse in 1991.

Trump’s dangerous credibility gap

When Donald Trump was merely a real estate mogul, he exaggerated flamboyantly and reporters considered it charming: He promoted Trump Tower as a 68-story building, even though it has only 58 floors. When Trump was a presidential candidate, he lied enthusiastically, but that didn't prevent him from winning: He insisted falsely that he opposed the Iraq war from the start, to cite only one of many instances.

Donald Trump Suffering From ‘Paranoid Delusion,’ GOP…

An explosive new report published Saturday by The Washington Post paints a portrait of Donald Trump whose "state of mind" has alarmed those close to him this week following the outraged public and congressional reaction after he fired FBI Director James Comey on Tuesday. In fact, one source told The Post, Trump may be suffering from a "paranoid delusion."

Trump’s America: The painful truth about teeth

Hundreds wait in below-freezing temperatures to get into the Eastern Shore Mission of Mercy free dental clinic in Salisbury, Maryland, on March 10. Hundreds wait in below-freezing temperatures to get into the Eastern Shore Mission of Mercy free dental clinic in Salisbury, Maryland, on March 10. Dee Matello, right, waits in subfreezing temperatures with hundreds of others for free dental care at a clinic in Salisbury, Maryland, on March 10. Matello, who owns a small vending machine business with her husband, says she hasn't seen a dentist in years.

EPA Paves Way for Stalled Mine in Alaska

U.S. environmental regulators have cleared the path for a stalled copper and gold mine in Alaska by agreeing to settle current lawsuits and other issues over the project, which had drawn environmental concerns over its potential impact on the world's largest sockeye salmon fishery. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, in a statement on Friday, said the settlement does not guarantee the proposed mining project in southwest Alaska's Bristol Bay region would ultimately win approval but that its review would now be carried out "in a fair, transparent, deliberate, and regular way."

Trump: Obama, Former Presidents Should Have Handled North Korea

The situation with North Korea should have been handled by former President Barack Obama and his predecessors, President Donald Trump said in an interview airing in part Friday, but he believes his own administration has handled it "very well, very firmly." "The North Korean situation a very, very dangerous one for South Korea, for Japan, frankly for China, and for the rest of the world," Trump told NBC News' Lester Holt in an interview recorded Thursday and airing in part on Friday's "Today" show.

Forum on China’s economic reach helps leader extend his own

China will seek to burnish President Xi Jinping's stature as a world-class statesman at an international gathering centered on his signature foreign policy effort that envisions a future world order in which all roads lead to Beijing. The Belt and Road Forum opening Sunday is the latest in a series of high-profile appearances aimed at projecting Xi's influence on the global stage ahead of a key congress of the ruling Communist Party later this year.

GOP Senator Suggests Shunned SCOTUS Nominee Replace Comey

In an exclusive interview with NBC's Lester Holt, President Donald Trump claims that he was going to fire former FBI director James Comey regardless of recommendations to do so, claiming responsibility for an action that sparked instant outrage with most Democratic and some Republican lawmakers. Acting FBI director Andrew McCabe says the Russia probe is still ongoing.

China’s Silk Road forum latest effort to boost Xi’s stature

China will seek to burnish President Xi Jinping's stature as a world-class statesman at an international gathering centered on his signature foreign policy effort envisioning a future world order in which all roads lead to Beijing. The "Belt and Road Forum" opening Sunday is the latest in a series of high-profile appearances aimed at projecting Xi's influence on the global stage ahead of a key congress of the ruling Communist Party later this year.

NYT: Trump Demanded Comey’s Loyalty, Got Pledge for ‘Honesty’

President Donald Trump demanded loyalty from James Comey over dinner in January but the former FBI director, whom Trump fired Tuesday, only promised "that he would be honest with him always," according to news reports Thursday. Trump said Thursday he fired Comey, 56, who was nominated in 2013 by President Barack Obama, because he was a "showboat" and "grandstander."