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Total continuing claims for unemployment benefits ran at the lowest level in 28 years at the beginning of May, the Department of Labor reported Thursday morning in a new sign that the jobs market is still improving. The total number of unemployed workers receiving benefits fell to 1.9 million, the agency said, the lowest such mark since November of 1988, when the workforce was much smaller. Over the past month, the average number of continuing claims per week has clocked in at 1.95 million, the lowest number in 43 years.

President Trump, 24 hours from his self-imposed deadline for picking a new F.B.I. director, told reporters on Thursday that he was “very close” to choosing a successor to James B. Comey, and he named Joseph I. Lieberman, the former Democratic senator and vice-presidential nominee, as a finalist. But members of Mr. Trump’s staff — alarmed by his rapid embrace of Mr. Lieberman, a charming 75-year-old political operator with no federal law enforcement experience — have quietly urged him to take more time to make such a critical hire. By late Thursday, the president appeared increasingly likely to leave Friday for...

President Trump doesn’t think much of the naming of a special counsel to take over the Russia probe, even as the choice of Robert Mueller is garnering widespread praise. Trump’s tweet--“the greatest single witch hunt of a politician in American history”—encapsulates his view quite succinctly. He expanded on that in a news conference: “I respect the move, but the entire thing has been a witch hunt. There was no collusion between myself and my campaign..and the Russians, zero. I think it divides the country.” But in the short term, the hiring of the former FBI director to run the investigation...

Washington (AFP) – Two Chinese fighter jets intercepted an American military plane over the East China Sea, media in the United States have reported, citing US officials. NBC News said the US aircraft, a WC-135 Constant Phoenix, was conducting a routine mission in international airspace Wednesday when it was intercepted over the East China Sea by two Chinese Sukhoi Su-30 fighter aircraft. The WC-135 is a so-called “sniffer plane” designed to scan the atmosphere for signs of nuclear activity. NBC said the crew of the US plane described the encounter as “unprofessional,” although not necessarily dangerous.

“People don’t have enough to eat. People have no food. There’s great violence. And we will do whatever is necessary, and we’ll work together to do whatever is necessary to help with fixing that, and I’m really talking on a humanitarian level,” Trump said. Trump’s remarks came during a joint press conference with Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos at the White House. Western Venezuela shares a long border with Colombia. President Trump did not specify what kind of help the U.S. would provide but said the U.S. would work with Colombia and other countries. Congress recently approved $450 million in...

In his view, the political showdown that was always bound to happen — which, to me, he had predicted several years before — had finally taken place, albeit uglier, and with more finality, than he had ever expected. “They got the memo,” he said, with some forbearance. “If you strike the king, you better kill him.” By “they,” he meant Rupert Murdoch’s sons. And most particularly James Murdoch, who, two years ago, was elevated to CEO of his father’s company, who Ailes regarded as an impetuous, grandiose, self-satisfied rich kid. Wryly, he admitted bringing this feud on himself: “I made...

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At the urging of longtime friends and outside advisers, most of whom he consults after dark, President Trump is considering a "huge reboot" that could take out everyone from Chief of Staff Reince Priebus and chief strategist Steve Bannon, to counsel Don McGahn and press secretary Sean Spicer, White House sources tell me... "The advice he's getting is to go big — that he has nothing to lose," the confidant said.. One note of caution: Trump often talks about firing people when things go south and does not follow through on it. So it's possible these conversations are his way...

NEW YORK (AP) — Dozens of countries were hit with a huge cyberextortion attack Friday that locked up computers and held users’ files for ransom at a multitude of hospitals, companies and government agencies. It was believed to the biggest attack of its kind ever recorded. The malicious software behind the onslaught appeared to exploit a vulnerability in Microsoft Windows that was supposedly identified by the National Security Agency for its own intelligence-gathering purposes and was later leaked to the internet.

The Senate on Thursday easily confirmed President Trump’s nominee for United States trade representative. After months of delays, Robert Lighthizer sailed through in an 82-14 confirmation vote. The bulk of the Trump administration’s trade agenda has been in a holding pattern, leaving issues such as the renegotiation of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and the direction of future global deals up in the air while Lightizer waited for Senate approval... Republican Sens. John McCain (Ariz.) and Ben Sasse (Neb.) had written a letter to Lighthizer saying they would oppose his nomination because “your confirmation process has failed to...

House Bill 1911 passed with a vote of 6-2 in the House Committee on Homeland Security and Public Safety, allowing for the carry of handguns without a permit. Often called “Constitutional carry”, permitless carry is one of the eight priorities outlined by the Republican Party of Texas and is currently legal in fourteen states... HB 1911 will now move to the Calendars Committee where it will await scheduling for debate on the floor of the Texas House. Text of the legislation along with a record of actions taken can be found at www.capitol.state.tx.us.

While Schlussel stands by her description of the incident, Schlussel told us that she doesn’t believe what happened between the two amounted to sexual harassment by any legal definition. “I would never accuse him of that. Sexual harassment has a special meaning under the law, and I would never accuse him of that,” Schlussel, an attorney herself, said. Schlussel said the interaction happened in the early 2000’s when Hannity was in Detroit taping a show. “He tried to get me to go back to the hotel after the show after he and his executive producer Bill Shine treated me horribly,”...

Just as the fallout surrounding Bill O’Reilly‘s sudden ouster from Fox News began to fade from the media spotlight, another woman is coming forward with new allegations against the network’s next biggest star, Sean Hannity... Debbie Schlussel... claimed that while she was with Hannity in Detroit, he repeatedly invited her to his hotel room. When she declined the invitation, she claims, he didn’t have her back on his show... Sean Hannity released a statement to LawNewz.com strongly denying the allegations: “LET ME BE CLEAR THE COMMENTS ABOUT ME ON A RADIO SHOW THIS WEEK by this individual ARE 100% false...

"Yes, it was officially banned," said the political commentator and author. "But they can't stop me. I'm an American. I have constitutional rights." It appears UC Berkeley is in for another political brawl, this time with Ann Coulter, who tells The Hollywood Reporter that she'll speak at the famously progressive campus even though administrators are trying to prevent her from doing so... Coulter had accepted an invitation from two campus groups — the Berkeley College Republicans and BridgeUSA — to deliver a speech about immigration, the topic of one of her 12 New York Times best-selling books. "If that's banned,...

President Trump delivers remarks at Snap-On Tools and signs the Buy American, Hire American Executive Order in Kenosha, Wisconsin. President Donald J. Trump: "In America we honor work. We honor grit. We honor craftsmanship. We honor the men and women who turn dreams into reality with their own two hands. In America, we honor all of you. We are a nation of builders. We are the country that dug out the Panama Canal, that put a man on the face of the moon, and that linked our cities with majestic railroads and curving highways. We are the country that...

Rome (AFP) - Emma Morano, an Italian woman believed to have been the oldest person alive and the last survivor of the 19th century, died Saturday at the age of 117, Italian media reported... "She had an extraordinary life, and we will always remember her strength to move forward in life," the mayor of Verbania was quoted as saying... Morano's death means there is no one living known to have been born before 1900. "I eat two eggs a day, and that's it. And cookies. But I do not eat much because I have no teeth," she said in her...

White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer reported for U.S. Navy Reserve duty at the Pentagon Friday, donning his uniform, to fulfill his time in the public affairs office. Spicer, a commander in the Navy Reserve, is currently assigned to the Joint Staff’s naval reserve contingent in D.C. He joined the reserve in 1999, and graduated with a master’s degree in national security and strategic studies from the Naval War College in 2012. Spicer in the past has worked as a media planner for joint exercises in Guam, Germany and Sweden, and oversaw media coverage of Navy operations at McMurdo Station...

Amid rising complaints that his aides are saying different things about Syria and that his policy is confusing, President Trump emphatically cleared the air Tuesday. “We’re not going into Syria,” he told me in an exclusive interview. “Our policy is the same, it hasn’t changed. We’re not going into Syria.” The president, speaking by phone, called Syrian president Bashar al-Assad a “butcher” and a “barbarian” for using sarin gas on his own people, but said last week’s successful missile strike on an air base there was not the start of a campaign to oust the dictator. “Our big mission is...

The benchmark averages have surrendered earlier gains on news that China has deployed 150,000 troops to the North Korean border, and the U.S. is considering further sanctions against Russia. The reports caused the S&P 500 to falter at trendline resistance at 2,370 and the Dow Jones Industrial Average to fall back to support at the 50-day moving average.

Top White House advisers Steve Bannon and Jared Kushner purportedly met Friday to “smooth things over,” amid continuing reports about high-level, Trump administration turmoil. The meeting took place at President Trump’s Mar-a-Lago south Florida estate and was led by White House Chief of Staff Reince Priebus, who with Bannon was told by the president on Thursday to “work this out.” The White House is trying to downplay and dismiss reports about infight, as Trump attempts to capitalize on his efforts this week on Syria and the Senate on Friday confirming Judge Neil Gorsuch, the president’s Supreme Court nominee, to the...