Living in large cities has its downsides, and one of them is a lack of fresh organic locally grown produce. But growing vegetables is something everyone can do and it can be done in literally a handful of soil. Two amateur gardeners in the Swedish city of Gothenburg started small, but now see gardening as…
read morePresident Trump returns to New York City this week to meet with Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull. It will be his first trip back since taking office. A recent poll shows that Trump still retains strong support among Americans who voted for him. But in his hometown, the President’s homecoming is likely to be met…
read moreU.S. lawmakers have put the nation’s airlines on notice: Improve customer service or we will make you. The House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee held a hearing for top airline executives to testify, and to determine how Congress might respond after a passenger was violently dragged off an overbooked United Airlines flight. “Seize this opportunity,” committee…
read morePresident Donald Trump is giving “serious consideration” to moving the U.S. Embassy to Jerusalem from Tel Aviv, Vice President Mike Pence said Tuesday, the day before a scheduled White House visit by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. Trump is also “personally committed” to becoming the U.S. president who finally ends the long-running Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Pence said.…
read moreGreece reached a deal with its European lenders Tuesday for more reforms in exchange for a badly needed bailout installment so Athens could avoid possible bankruptcy. After months of often tough talks, Greek officials agreed to more pension cuts and tax increases. The European Commission and European Central Bank will bring the deal to their…
read moreMay Day is marked by marches in support of workers’ rights all around the world. In Washington, D.C., immigrants and allies rallied, not only in support of workers’ rights but to stand against President Donald Trump’s tough stances on immigration. VOA’s Aline Barros traveled to the rally in a van hired by a local business.…
read morePresident Donald Trump’s nominee to be the U.S. ambassador to China said on Tuesday he would do everything possible to address what he called China’s “unfair and illegal” sales of underpriced steel in the world market. “I want to do everything I can to make sure that we stop the unfair and illegal activities that…
read moreU.S. President Donald Trump, after failing to win congressional approval for many of his spending and policy priorities for the next five months, said Tuesday the government “needs a good ‘shutdown’ in September” when lawmakers will be debating the 2018 funding plan. In a tweet, Trump blamed the result of his first fight over federal…
read moreAfrican military expenditures have finally slowed down after more than a decade of steady increases, according to a new report on global defense spending. The main reason, the report found, is a drop in oil prices. “The sharp decreases in oil prices has affected quite a number of African countries, namely South Sudan and Angola. …
read moreRussian President Vladimir Putin denied Tuesday that Russia interfered in last year’s U.S. presidential election, saying such allegations are “simply rumors” that are being leveraged for political reasons in the United States. Putin’s denial came at a joint news conference in Sochi, Russia, with German Chancellor Angela Merkel after the two leaders met amid increasingly…
read moreIndia-based technology company Infosys said Tuesday it will create 10,000 jobs in the United States, growing its American footprint at a time when it has become a political target in the U.S. Infosys has been a big user of H1-B visas in the U.S., a program under which overseas firms, most often technology companies, move…
read moreU.S. President Donald Trump’s proposal for massive corporate tax cuts has sparked a sharp rebuke from Chinese officials, with some voicing concern that the move could trigger a tax war and prompt companies to pull out of China. Analysts, however, are skeptical the move could trigger a tax cut race between the world’s two…
read moreSwitzerland’s Federal Intelligence Service (FIS) on Tuesday defended its efforts to combat theft of business secrets after a Swiss man was arrested in Germany on suspicion of working for the spy agency. The 54-year-old man, identified only as Daniel M., was arrested on Friday. His lawyer told a Swiss newspaper he was suspected of trying…
read moreIvanka Trump’s first foray into self-help writing came in 2009 with “The Trump Card,” a breezy compilation of workplace advice, stories about her dealmaker dad and a hefty dose of celebrity namedropping. But in her second book, released Tuesday, Trump has gone from sassy to serious. “Women Who Work: Rewriting the Rules for…
read morePresident Donald Trump is getting mixed reviews after completing his first 100 days in office, a traditional point of assessment for a new president since Franklin Roosevelt moved swiftly to counter the Great Depression in the early weeks of his presidency in 1933. While some previous presidents had a more productive start than Trump, early…
read moreChanting “Yes, We Can” in Spanish and English, hundreds of people marched to the White House in observance of May Day. The march and rally, combined with a general strike, are intended to champion workers’ rights like other May Day demonstrations around the world. But this protest had the added impetus of protesting anti-immigrant policies…
read moreOystermen, pirates and police clashed violently more than a century ago over who could collect the Chesapeake Bay’s tasty and lucrative oysters. As the shellfish makes a comeback, a modern-day oyster war is brewing, this time between wealthy waterfront property owners and working-class fishermen. Over the past five years, oyster production has doubled on the…
read moreKenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta spoke at the annual May Day celebrations Monday in Nairobi, a day when many countries celebrate workers. But in sub-Saharan Africa, about three-fourths of those laborers work in the informal sector, without contracts or job protections, according to the International Labor Organization. Kenyatta pledged to tackle high unemployment during his May…
read morePresident Donald Trump got decidedly mixed reviews on his first 100 days in office. But he wasted little time in urging his supporters to expect some accomplishments in the months ahead. To mark his first 100 days in office, Trump held a campaign-style rally in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, among the supporters who have stuck with him…
read moreWith the U.S. economy on solid footing and unemployment at a near-decade low, the Federal Reserve remains in the midst of a campaign to gradually raise interest rates from ultra-lows. But this week, it’s all but sure to take a pause. The Fed is widely expected to keep its key short-term rate unchanged after having…
read moreThe new federal spending bill would spare – and even slightly increase – funding for three arts-related agencies that President Donald Trump had proposed eliminating: the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, the National Endowment for the Arts and National Endowment for the Humanities. The agreement announced Monday calls for the CPB’s budget to remain the…
read moreU.S. President Donald Trump, in an interview Monday, asked why the Civil War, one of the country’s seminal events, occurred in the 19th century. The history of the bloodiest war on U.S. soil is taught to school children across the country, but Trump remarked, “People don’t realize, you know, the Civil War, if you think…
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