From the president of Mozambique to the US Secretary of Commerce, greater US economic engagement in Africa is the dominant theme at this year’s business summit organized by the Corporate Council on Africa. VOA Correspondent Mariama Diallo was there and reports. …
read moreU.S. authorities moved on Thursday to seize a Picasso painting given to American movie star Leonardo DiCaprio and the rights to two Hollywood comedies, as they filed complaints to recover about $540 million they say was stolen from the 1Malaysia Development Berhad sovereign wealth fund. The U.S. Justice Department filing was the latest legal action…
read moreThe White House lacks a unified plan to increase the government’s borrowing cap as a likely September deadline is drawing near, said Mick Mulvaney, director of the Office of Management and Budget. A failure by Congress to raise the debt ceiling could send dangerous shock waves through the global economy. The federal government could be…
read moreAmerican tourists strolling the ample squares and narrow streets of colonial Havana may not know it, but from novelist Ernest Hemingway’s famed Floridita bar to Sloppy Joe’s eatery, they are probably patronizing businesses owned by Cuba’s military. It is that lucrative line of business that President Donald Trump will target when he rolls out his…
read moreForeign fishing in Indonesian waters has long been a concern for the government, for which it has recently taken a literally explosive approach: blowing up illicit fishing boats. But the country’s wildly popular Minister of Marine Affairs lobbied the United Nations last week to declare illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing (IUUF) an organized crime, signaling…
read moreAn influential conservative bloc of Republican lawmakers on Thursday said it opposed renewal of an internet surveillance law unless major changes were made in how the U.S. government collects and uses American data, reflecting disagreement within the majority party. A week ago, President Donald Trump’s administration and 14 Republican U.S. senators said they wanted the…
read moreThe Trump administration is suspending regulations aimed at cutting dangerous methane gas emissions from oil and natural gas wells. The Interior Department is indefinitely putting on hold methane trapping rules imposed on wells on federal lands. The Senate rejected the suspension last month, prompting the department to act on its own. An Interior official said…
read moreThe old rule “there is no crying in baseball” was not in effect Thursday night in Washington at the annual Congressional Baseball Game. The event held this year at Nationals Park, home of the major league Washington Nationals, was an emotional affair, coming a day after a gunman opened fire at the Republican team practice,…
read morePresident Donald Trump visited the Supreme Court on Thursday for the first time since taking office to attend a ceremony for Neil Gorsuch, the justice he appointed, as the court mulls what to do with his blocked ban on travelers from six Muslim-majority countries. The president and first lady Melania Trump were present in the…
read moreThe real estate firm owned by the family of Jared Kushner has withdrawn a request for a big tax break for one its buildings in Jersey City, New Jersey, the latest setback for the company in the area. The Kushner Cos. sent a letter withdrawing its application for a 30-year break from city taxes…
read moreThe US House of Representatives united in sadness Thursday, vowing to set aside political differences after a group of Republican Congressman and staffers were shot at a baseball practice. The news that third-ranking Republican leader Rep. Steve Scalise was one of the wounded paused the usually contentious Washington political debate. VOA’s Congressional reporter Katherine Gypson…
read moreU.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson this week defended the administration’s proposed budget cuts for U.S. diplomacy and foreign aid. He said the administration’s foreign policy goals can be accomplished with prudent spending. Lawmakers questioned the wisdom of increasing military spending at the expense of aid, development and diplomacy. VOA’s Zlatica Hoke reports. …
read moreA federal judge Wednesday ordered the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to reconsider its environmental review of the Dakota Access Pipeline, opening up the possibility that the line could be shut at a later date. U.S. District Judge James Boasberg in Washington said that the Army Corps did not adequately consider the effects of a…
read moreU.S. intelligence agencies have alleged that Russia interfered in the 2016 presidential election to benefit President Donald Trump. Law enforcement agencies and congressional committees are investigating Russian meddling and possible collusion with members of Trump’s campaign. Here is what is publicly known and not known: How did the investigations begin? Former President Barack Obama ordered…
read moreA suspect is in custody after gunfire erupted at a baseball field in Virginia, where Republican Representative Steve Scalise was shot and badly injured. The shooting took place shortly after 7am. as lawmakers were practicing for an annual Congressional baseball game set for tomorrow. Colleagues of Scalise immediately took to Twitter to express their shock…
read moreChina’s three big Internet-driven companies, Alibaba, Tencent, and Baidu, are set to influence a vast section of the country’s business because they control data concerning the consumer and social behavior of millions of people. The awesome power comes from the government’s drive to develop a “big data” industry, which is thriving in China. Several other players, including utilities…
read morePanama’s business community on Tuesday cheered the Central American country’s decision to establish full diplomatic ties with China and ditch Taiwan, hoping to deepen links with a key customer of the nation’s shipping canal. Although there was regret at the cost to Taiwan, an ally of various Central American nations, there was broad support for…
read moreMexico’s ancient civilizations cultivated crops such as maize, tomatoes and chilies for thousands of years before the Spanish conquerors arrived — and now those native plants could hold the key to sustainable food production as climate change bites, said a leading ecologist. José Sarukhán Kermez, who helped set up Mexico’s pioneering National Commission for the…
read moreDevelopments in Washington, D.C., on Tuesday include Attorney General Jeff Sessions testifying before the Senate Intelligence Committee, Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein saying only he could fire special counsel Robert Mueller and he saw no reason to do so, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson announcing release of American student from North Korea, and Trump supporters…
read moreWith a record-breaking 26.5 million people going hungry in the Horn of Africa, development banks are increasing their humanitarian funding to fill a gap left by traditional donors, a high-level mission said on Tuesday. Food rations for 7.8 million Ethiopians are due to run out in July due to funding shortages, while neighboring Somalia is…
read moreSheltering under planks on his boat moored at a waterside slum in Lagos, fisherman Thomson Pascal is trying to protect his six children from the rain flooding into what is now their new home. He is one of 30,000 residents who have been living in boats, shacks or in the open since bulldozers escorted by…
read moreCalifornia Gov. Jerry Brown was named Tuesday as a special envoy to states at the next United Nations Climate Change Conference, further elevating his international profile as a leader on the issue as President Donald Trump backs away from a key international agreement. Fiji Prime Minister Frank Bainimarama, incoming president of the conference, named Brown…
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