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President Donald Trump announced Thursday that he had signed a new executive order authorizing additional sanctions against North Korea by targeting individuals, companies and financial institutions that do business with the "criminal, rogue regime." Speaking before a meeting with South Korean President Moon Jae-in and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, Trump said his goal is the "complete denuclearization" of North Korea and added that the nation led by Kim Jong Un posed a “grave threat to peace and security in our world.” Trump noted that he'd signed the executive order just as China's central bank "has told their other banks...to immediately stop doing business with North Korea." The president praised Chinese President Xi Jinping for the "very bold move."

Donald Trump’s summer swoon appears to be over. After months of declining poll numbers, the president’s approval ratings have stabilized — and even ticked up slightly — over the past month. Following a low of 39 percent in the POLITICO/Morning Consult poll last month after his controversial reaction to the violent protests in Charlottesville, Virginia, Trump is back at 43 percent in this week’s survey. Other surveys show similar results: Trump bottomed out at 35 percent in Gallup’s weekly tracking poll in late August, but ticked up to 38 percent last week. Trump is at 40 percent in the RealClearPolitics average, up about 2.5 points from his low-water mark last month. Trump’s popularity still remains historically low for a first-year president. But he has earned positive reviews for his responses to two major hurricanes, Harvey and Irma. And while polls showed his decision to wind down the Obama-era Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals progr...

US President Donald Trump's daughter and adviser Ivanka Trump met External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj on Monday on the sidelines of the annual UN General Assembly session. Ivanka, who would be leading an American delegation to the Global Entrepreneurship Summit (GES) in India in November, discussed women's entrepreneurship and workforce development in the two countries. She seemed rather excited to meet the EAM and tweeted on Monday, "I have long respected India's accomplished and charismatic Foreign Minister SushmaSwaraj, and it was an honor to meet her today. UNGA" On the other hand, an unnamed Indian diplomat had told Bobby Ghosh in August, the editor-in-chief of the Hindustan Times: "We regard Ivanka Trump the way we do half-wit Saudi princes. It's in our national interest to flatter." He later added: “Yes, it is a shame that the US should be compared to a kingdom. But that is America's shame, not Modi's, or India's.”

The following are the highlights of President Trump's first speech at the UN General Assembly in New York today. He began his speech by talking about the vision of the UN, and also said that as a President, he will always put America first. He also said that the US will no longer be taken advantage of in matters of trade and otherwise. "Our citizens have paid the ultimate price to defend our freedom,” he said. They have also fought to defend other countries represented in the room. “It is an eternal credit to the American character,” that they have fought wars abroad but have not “sought territorial expansion” and not imposed their way of life on other people. “We want harmony and friendship, not conflict and strife,” Trump reiterated. He said that member states must work together to confront “rogue regimes”. He then quickly moved on to his most important part of the speech, North Korea. He said the “entire world” is t...

The Trump administration on Monday announced an end to protections for Sudanese immigrants, a move that advocates fear could be a sign of things to come. The Department of Homeland Security announced Monday afternoon that it would be ending Temporary Protected Status for Sudan after a 12-month sunset period. It opted to extend, however, Temporary Protected Status for South Sudan, which gained its independence in 2011, through May 2019. The decision was overdue. By law, decisions on TPS designations are required 60 days before an expiration deadline. With both countries' status set to expire on November 2, the decision was due September 3. DHS said it made a decision in time, but kept it quiet for more than two weeks and did not respond to requests for an explanation.

President Trump was impressed by a military parade on Bastille Day in Paris earlier this year, and during a press conference with French President Emmanuel Macron on Monday, he suggested America will hold its own military parades on future Fourths of July. Trump's proposal initially drew laughs from the crowd, but he doubled down on the idea after the snickers subsided. "We're actually thinking about Fourth of July, Pennsylvania Avenue, having a really great parade to show our military strength. You know, this year, we've spent $700 billion, more than we've ever spent, on the military," Trump said. "And I think we're really looking forward to doing that. Speaking with Gen. [John] Kelly and all the people involved. And we didn't do it this year but we certainly will be beginning to do that.

CNN is reporting that US investigators wiretapped former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort under secret court orders before and after the election. The government snooping continued into early this year, including a period when Manafort was known to talk to President Donald Trump. The timing would indicate that the President was being tapped on his conversations with Manafort even after he was elected. The FBI interest in Manafort dates back at least to 2014, partly as an outgrowth of a US investigation of Viktor Yanukovych, the former Ukrainian president whose pro-Russian regime was ousted amid street protests. Last year, Justice Department prosecutors concluded that there wasn't enough evidence to bring charges against Manafort or anyone of the other US subjects in the probe, according to sources briefed on the investigation.