As recently as last year, Rinat Akhmetshin could be seen regularly pedaling through downtown Washington, D.C., nattily dressed, with a pocket square and heavy-framed thick glasses, riding a retro hipster orange bicycle. He also showed an affinity for vintage motorcycles, which he parked for two years in the Washington driveway of renowned investigative reporter Seymour…
read moreRide-hailing apps such as Uber and Lyft have been so disruptive to New York City’s taxi industry, they are causing lenders to fail. Three New York-based credit unions that specialized in loaning money against taxi cab medallions, the hard-to-get licenses that allow the city’s traditional cab fleet to operate, have been placed into conservatorship…
read moreA court decision on President Donald Trump’s travel ban has reopened a window for tens of thousands of refugees to enter the United States, and the government is looking to quickly close it. The administration late Friday appealed directly to the U.S. Supreme Court after a federal judge in Hawaii ordered it to allow in…
read morePresident Donald Trump turned up the heat Friday on fellow Republicans in the U.S. Senate to pass a bill dismantling the Obamacare law, but with their retooled health care plan drawing fire within the party even one more defection would doom it. Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has planned for a vote next week on revised…
read moreTwo more participants have been reported in a notorious Trump Tower meeting that took place in June 2016 between members of Donald Trump’s presidential campaign team and a Russian lawyer, as discussion rages over whether the Trump campaign cooperated with any Russian efforts to influence last year’s U.S. presidential election. Two Russian Americans — Anatoly…
read moreUtah’s accelerated special election to replace Jason Chaffetz in Congress doesn’t seem to allow enough time for new political parties to get on the ballot, including one recently formed by the son of a former U.S. senator, a federal judge said Friday. Judge David Nuffer said at a hearing that he’s not ready to rule…
read moreThe White House said Friday that worsening tax revenues would cause the budget deficit to jump to $702 billion this year. That’s a $99 billion spike from what was predicted less than two months ago. The report from the Office of Management and Budget came on the heels of a rival Congressional Budget Office analysis…
read moreThe German Transport Ministry says the country’s motor transport authority will examine cars made by Daimler amid an investigation into suspected manipulation of diesel emissions controls. Daimler said in May that prosecutors would search several offices in Germany and it was cooperating with the probe. Company representatives met with a Transport Ministry commission Thursday following…
read moreKey U.S. lawmakers investigating charges of Russian meddling in the 2016 election want Donald Trump, Jr. to testify about his June 2016 meeting at Trump Tower in New York with a Russian lawyer thought to have information that could damage Democrat Hillary Clinton’s campaign. “The revelation that the Trump Campaign eagerly intended to possibly collude…
read moreIn another setback for President Donald Trump, a federal judge in Hawaii has further weakened his already diluted travel ban by vastly expanding the list of family relationships with U.S. citizens that visa applicants can use to get into the U.S. The ruling is the latest piece of pushback in the fierce fight set off…
read moreU.S. President Donald Trump says he, not the officials who work for him, will make the final decision on whether to do away with a law that protects more than 750,000 children of illegal immigrants from deportation. While visiting Paris Thursday, Trump was questioned about a remark by Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly that the…
read moreRadio Flyer is rolling its largest “little” red wagon into its hometown of Chicago in celebration of the company’s 100-year anniversary. Radio Flyer’s gargantuan wagon was the centerpiece for the company’s anniversary event Thursday in the city’s downtown area, the Chicago Tribune reported. The wagon was created 20 years ago for the brand’s 80th anniversary.…
read morePresident Donald Trump told reporters on Air Force One that the “media witch hunt” linking his 2016 presidential campaign to Russia was “bad for the country,” because “there’s no collusion, there’s no obstruction, there’s no nothing.” Trump accused Democrats of playing “their card too hard on the Russia thing, because people aren’t believing it,”…
read moreThe electricity supply to Gaza’s 2 million residents has dropped to unprecedented lows, with blackouts lasting for more than 24 hours, the territory’s power distribution company said Thursday, prompting fears of a humanitarian and environmental crisis. The Palestinian enclave needs at least 400 megawatts of power a day, but only 70 megawatts were available as…
read moreA House of Representatives Appropriations subcommittee has advanced a spending bill that would cut the State Department’s 2018 fiscal budget by 14 percent compared to this year’s budget. The proposed cuts are less than the 37 percent cut over several years proposed in the Trump administration’s budget. Ahead of Tuesday’s mark-up, Appropriations Committee Chairman Rodney…
read moreVenezuela’s crude and fuel deliveries to Cuba have slid almost 13 percent in the first half this year, according to documents from state-run oil company PDVSA viewed by Reuters, threatening to worsen gasoline and power shortages in the communist-run island. Cuba’s government since 2016 has reduced fuel allocations 28 percent to most state-run companies, and…
read moreCorruption is undermining all efforts to rebuild Ukraine in line with European Union norms, European Commission chief Jean-Claude Juncker said on Thursday, as President Petro Poroshenko vowed to pursue ever-closer integration with the bloc. Juncker and European Council President Donald Tusk were in Kyiv for a 24-hour summit with Poroshenko following the final ratification of…
read moreU.S. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell plans to unveil a revised health care bill to Republican colleagues Thursday, as he makes a push to achieve one of the top legislative goals for the party and President Donald Trump. McConnell last month withdrew an earlier plan after it became clear there was not enough support for…
read moreU.S. President Donald Trump says “something could happen” regarding the U.S. decision to withdraw from the Paris Climate accord, and he also dismissed the significance of a meeting last year between his son and a Russian lawyer. “Zero happened from the meeting,” Trump told reporters after talks with his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron in Paris.…
read morePresident Donald Trump defended his outreach to Russia in an interview with the Christian Broadcasting Network on Wednesday. Trump also defended his son, Donald Jr., a day after the release of emails that rocked official Washington. The emails revealed a meeting last year between Trump campaign officials and a Russian lawyer who offered damaging information…
read moreU.S. President Donald Trump arrives in France Thursday for Bastille Day celebrations that will see American and French troops marching together on Paris’ famed Champs Élysées. Ahead of the pageantry, the U.S. president will try to find common ground on issues of Syria and counterterrorism, in otherwise strained relations with France’s president, Emmanuel Macron. VOA…
read moreMcDonald’s is hoping to make a difference in its future seven seconds at a time. The company that helped define fast food is making supersized efforts to reverse its fading popularity and catch up to a landscape that has evolved around it. That includes expanding delivery, digital ordering kiosks in restaurants, and rolling out…
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