President Donald Trump’s son-in-law and daughter are holding onto scores of real estate investments — part of a portfolio of at least $240 million in assets — while they serve in White House jobs, according to financial disclosures released publicly late Friday. Jared Kushner, Trump’s senior adviser, resigned from more than 260 entities and sold…
read moreBoris Kiknadze, chief executive of Pawwwn, took a deep breath as he looked out to the crowd of Silicon Valley venture capitalists and began his pitch. With just 10 minutes to speak, Kiknadze rapidly described his business idea — Pawwwn, an online payment and management system to make transactions easier for pawnshop owners and their…
read moreRain-fed wildflowers have been sprouting from California’s desert sands after lying dormant for years — producing a spectacular display that has drawn record crowds and traffic jams to tiny towns like Borrego Springs. An estimated 150,000 people in the past month have converged on this town of about 3,500, roughly 85 miles (135 kilometers)…
read moreTwo Democrats facing tough re-elections in GOP states said Thursday they will vote for President Donald Trump’s Supreme Court nominee, even as the Senate Democratic leader strongly warned Republicans against changing Senate rules to confirm Judge Neil Gorsuch. Minority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York had tough words for his Republican counterpart, Majority Leader…
read moreEuropean Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker has criticized those, including U.S. President Donald Trump, who praise Britain’s secession from the European Union (EU), and champion similar movements in other member nations. Leaders of the European People’s Party met on Malta Thursday, a day after Britain triggered Article 50 of the Lisbon treaty, officially starting the process…
read moreHundreds of ships are switching off their tracking devices and taking unexplained routes, raising concern the trafficking of arms, migrants and drugs is going undetected. Ninety percent of the world’s trade is carried by sea. Every vessel has an identification number administered by the United Nations’ International Maritime Organization or IMO. But crews are able…
read moreHundreds of ships are switching off their tracking devices and taking unexplained routes, raising concern that the trafficking of arms, migrants and drugs is going undetected. New technology enables authorities to follow the routes of suspect vessels, but security experts say taking on the smugglers will require greater coordination. Henry Ridgwell reports. …
read moreSecretary of State Rex Tillerson’s visit to Turkey and his meeting with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan was a chance for the U.S. to boost ties with a key partner in the fight against the Islamic State terrorist group. It also requires careful diplomacy as Erdogan faces growing criticism from other NATO partners for his moves…
read moreU.S. President Donald Trump set the tone for a tense first meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping next week by tweeting on Thursday that the United States could no longer tolerate massive trade deficits and job losses. The White House said Trump would host Xi next Thursday and Friday at his Mar-a-Lago retreat in Florida.…
read moreZambia is attempting to convert the nation to energy-saving light emitting diode (LED) lightbulbs to help plug crippling power shortages that have hit mining and agriculture and imposed daily rationing on parts of the country. If all homes and industries switch to the longer-lasting bulbs, the country could save up to 200 megawatts of electricity…
read moreSeveral environmental groups filed lawsuits against the Trump administration on Thursday to challenge its decision to approve construction of TransCanada Corp’s controversial Keystone XL crude oil pipeline. In two separate filings to a federal court in Montana, environmental groups argued that the U.S. State Department, which granted the permit needed for the pipeline to cross…
read moreQatar Airways is offering loaner laptops to its business class passengers in the wake of a U.S. ban on them on flights from several countries. “As an award-winning and global airline we truly appreciate the importance of being able to work on board our aircraft and that is why I have insisted on offering only…
read moreA federal judge in Hawaii who temporarily blocked President Donald Trump’s revised travel ban hours before it was set to take effect issued a longer-lasting order Wednesday. U.S. District Judge Derrick Watson held a hearing Wednesday on Hawaii’s request to extend his temporary hold. Several hours later, he issued a 24-page order blocking the government…
read moreRussia pulled off an unprecedented and wildly-successful campaign to influence America’s political conversation during last year’s presidential campaign, according to experts who testified Thursday before the Senate Intelligence Committee. “Russia hopes to win the second Cold War through the force of politics, as opposed to the politics of force,” said cyber security expert Clinton Watts…
read moreU.S. economic growth was a little stronger that first thought in the last few months of 2016. Thursday’s updated report from the Commerce Department says the economy grew at a 2.1 percent annual rate in October, November and December. Growth was helped by stronger consumer spending. PNC Bank economist Gus Faucher says the world’s largest…
read moreShe has a West Wing office, facetime with world leaders and unrivaled access to the president. And as Ivanka Trump’s White House role grows, so does the backlash. Ivanka Trump, a first daughter with first-in-recent-history influence, has become fodder in a heated national conversation about gender politics and ideological beliefs. While she has won fans…
read moreA group of strawberry pickers from Bangladesh has won a case against Greece at Europe’s highest human rights court, after being shot at by employers for demanding unpaid wages. The Council of Europe’s Court of Human Rights ruled Thursday in favor of 42 Bangladeshi nationals, and ordered the Greek state to pay them damages of…
read moreProminent U.S. lawyer Alan Dershowitz said in an interview Thursday that President Donald Trump spoke to him “clearly” about a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, suggesting a shift in Trump’s stance. Trump broke with longtime U.S. policy last month when he withheld clear support for an independent Palestine, saying he could endorse a one-nation…
read moreThe vote by the U.S. Congress to repeal rules that limit how internet service providers can use customer data has generated renewed interest in an old internet technology: virtual private networks, or VPNs. VPNs cloak a customer’s web-surfing history by making an encrypted connection to a private server, which then searches the Web on the…
read moreA Native American tribe in Montana filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration Wednesday, challenging its decision to lift a moratorium on coal leases on public land without first consulting with tribal leaders. The Northern Cheyenne Tribe, located in southern Montana, said the administration lifted the moratorium without hearing the tribe’s concerns about the impact…
read moreBeijing’s reported economic retaliation against South Korea for deploying the U.S. Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) missile system continues to target certain sectors, like imports of Korean cosmetics, canceling K-pop concerts, and a ban on Chinese tour groups to South Korea. At Seoul’s Namsam Tower, smaller than usual crowds gather to watch the daily…
read moreMore than 200,000 people have signed an online petition calling for U.S. first lady Melania Trump to leave New York City and move into the White House or pay the cost of protecting her in the Trump Tower. The Change.org petition was started after a senior White House aide indicated the president’s wife and son,…
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