Democracy in the United States is strong, but showing some cracks. That is the conclusion of a new survey of 1,571 political scientists. Almost all said that the United States performed well on some of the most important measures of democracy: free and fair elections, freedom of speech and judicial limits on executive power.

Some White House assertions about the travel ban - nonexistent terrorist attacks in Kentucky and Sweden, for example - had brief, albeit prominent, shelf lives. Others, like Mr. Miller's assertion about the seven countries, are already being repeated. Here are some of the more misleading claims Mr. Trump and his administration have made about the first iteration of the travel ban.

The furtive visit came as the Trump administration set off this week to reshape the nation's immigration policy, authorizing the expulsion of undocumented immigrants who have committed even minor offenses and making it easier to deport people immediately.

SEOUL, South Korea - The chief of North Korea's powerful secret police, long considered the right-hand man for the top leader, Kim Jong-un, has been dismissed on charges of corruption and abuse of power, the South Korean government said on Friday. The firing of the chief, Gen.

WASHINGTON - A day after the Trump administration put Iran on notice for its launch of a ballistic missile, a war of words erupted between the American president and the Iranian government, with President Trump insulting Tehran on Twitter and the Iranians responding in kind.

"The Trump administration condemns actions by Iran that undermine security, prosperity and stability throughout the Middle East and place American lives at risk," he said. Later, President Trump posted on Twitter that "Iran is rapidly taking over Iraq," its neighbor, "while the U.S. squandered three trillion dollars there. Obviously long ago."

The assault force, which also included elite troops from the United Arab Emirates, quickly found itself under intense fire from all sides - even from female combatants who unexpectedly took up weapons from assigned fighting positions - forcing the Americans to call in strikes from helicopter gunships and attack planes as the plan for a quick intelligence-collection mission spiraled out of control.

Before his inauguration, President Trump announced he would step down from his numerous Trump Organization companies before he took office. So far no regulatory filings have detailed if the president has removed himself from his roles at the businesses or when that could take place.

WASHINGTON - President Donald Trump began recasting America's role in the global economy Monday, canceling an agreement for a sweeping trade deal with Asia as one of his first official White House actions. After meeting with business executives to discuss the U.S.

Ms. Rice insisted that she was confident the Trump administration would have the information it needed by the time Mr. Trump was sworn in. The process has settled down in recent days with the arrival of Keith Kellogg, a retired three-star Army general whom Mr. Trump named as chief of staff of the N.S.C.

President-elect Donald Trump criticized U.S. intelligence officials during a television interview that aired Wednesday for their role in compiling a memo that suggested Russia might have compromising information on him. During an appearance on Fox News's "Fox & Friends," Trump backed away from a suggestion on Twitter this week that CIA Director John Brennan might have leaked the salacious allegations about him to the media, saying he accepted Brennan's denial.

The water crisis in Flint, which still affects thousands of that Michigan city's residents, emerged in surprising ways at the hearing for EPA nominee and Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt. In his remarks opening the hearing, Senate Environment and Public Works chairman John Barrasso (R-Wyo.)

"They have been known for a while - my positions are also known," Ms. Merkel said Monday in Berlin. "I think we Europeans have control of our destiny." Her clipped response came as officials and analysts struggled with how to interpret Mr. Trump's remarks, in which he predicted the further dissolution of the European Union and also criticized Germany - as well as how to react to them.

It's this quirk in how we think that unfairly enhances the reputation of Ronald Reagan and Bill Clinton while unfairly diminishing the presidencies of Jimmy Carter and both George Bushes. And if you think of the financial markets as the hyperactive cousin of the economy itself, this mental framework can cost you money.

When Donald J. Trump announced he was running for president in a 2015 speech calling Mexican immigrants criminals and rapists, Rachel McCormick declared to her husband, Irvi Cruz, "If he wins, we're leaving." She was an American-born high school teacher from the Philadelphia suburbs; he was a doting stay-at-home father who had immigrated illegally from Oaxaca, Mexico.

On Tuesday, the Justice Department announced the indictment of three former traders from some of the world's biggest banks, accusing them of a conspiracy to manipulate prices in a currency market. The next day brought a guilty plea from Volkswagen as well as criminal charges against six Volkswagen executives for their roles in the emissions-cheating scandal, the first major test of Ms. Yates's new policy.

WASHINGTON - President Obama surprised Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. on Thursday by bestowing the Presidential Medal of Freedom on him, calling Mr. Biden "my brother" in a tearful goodbye in the East Room of the White House.

On Thursday, Senator Patty Murray of Washington, the ranking Democrat on the committee that will hold the hearing, said she and Senator Lamar Alexander of Tennessee, the panel's Republican chairman, "have some concerns about missing information" on the financial disclosure forms that Ms. DeVos has filed with the Senate.

WASHINGTON - The Obama administration on Thursday will terminate the so-called wet foot, dry foot policy that allows Cubans who arrive on United States soil without visas to remain in the country and gain legal residency, a senior administration official said, in an unexpected move long sought by the Cuban government.

The Kremlin on Wednesday dismissed as "a total fake" allegations that Russian intelligence agencies collected compromising information about President-elect Donald Trump - a denial that was echoed by much of Russia's establishment. But when President Vladi­mir Putin's spokesman went further - saying the Kremlin "does not engage in compromising material" - it was widely greeted by the rolling of Russian eyes.