Foreigners who were barred from entering the U.S. during President Donald Trump’s first attempt to ban travel from seven Muslim-majority nations will get government help reapplying for visas under a lawsuit settlement reached Thursday. Civil rights lawyers and the Trump administration announced the deal in during a conference call in federal court in Brooklyn,…
read moreThe French government said on Thursday it would cap unfair dismissal payouts and give companies more flexibility to adapt pay and working hours to market conditions in a labor reform France’s biggest union said was disappointing. The reform, President Emmanuel Macron’s first major policy step since his election in May, is also the first big…
read moreIn the coming weeks, as Houston turns its attention to rebuilding areas devastated by Tropical Storm Harvey, people like Jay De Leon are likely to play an outsized role — if they stay around. De Leon, 47, owns a small construction business in Houston, and he and his 10 employees do exactly the kind of…
read moreMichigan is likely to be the state most hurt by changes to the NAFTA trade agreement, according to a Fitch Ratings report released Wednesday, as U.S. President Donald Trump renewed threats to scrap the deal. Trump has threatened three times in the past week to abandon the North American Free Trade Agreement, revisiting his view…
read moreA federal judge late Wednesday temporarily blocked most of Texas’ tough new “sanctuary cities” law that would have allowed police to inquire about people’s immigration status during routine interactions, such as traffic stops. The law, SB 4, had been cheered by President Donald Trump’s administration but decried by immigrants’ rights groups who say it could…
read moreOfficials who run a popular language and cultural immersion program in the north woods of Minnesota are warning that potential changes in visa rules could make it hard for them to hire enough instructors. The Minnesota program’s alert is part of a larger push by cultural exchange programs nationwide to draw attention to the possible…
read moreAn abattoir located among herding communities in Ethiopia’s eastern Somali region, known more for droughts and famine than business opportunities, is an unusual stop for a U.S. aid administrator. But USAID chief Mark Green stopped at the Jijiga Export Slaughter House (JESH) during a visit to the town of Jijiga on Wednesday to see the…
read moreKrassi Nikov evacuated his Houston home with more than 2 feet (61 cm) of water inside it Tuesday after Tropical Storm Harvey devastated Texas’ Gulf Coast. He now plans to collect on his flood insurance for the second time this year and rebuild. But the future of the federal-government-run flood insurance program on which Nikov,…
read moreA flood of Indian business in fast-growing Vietnam has solidified commercial ties to help Hanoi upgrade an alliance with a powerful Asian neighbor and offset dependence on its historic rival, the more massive China. Indian investment in Vietnam has reached $2 billion and bilateral trade hit $10 billion over the year ending in March on…
read morePresident Donald Trump is promising billions to help Texas rebuild from Harvey-caused epic flooding, but his Republican allies in the House are looking at cutting almost $1 billion from disaster accounts to help finance the president’s border wall. The pending reduction to the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s disaster relief account is part of a…
read moreTwo weeks before Harvey’s floodwaters engulfed much of Houston, President Donald Trump quietly rolled back an order by his predecessor that would have made it easier for storm-ravaged communities to use federal emergency aid to rebuild bridges, roads and other structures so they can better withstand future disasters. Now, with much of the nation’s fourth-largest…
read moreDefense Secretary Jim Mattis has emphasized the U.S. is “never out of diplomatic solutions” when it comes to the North Korean crisis, after President Donald Trump said that “talking is not the answer.” Mattis was responding to a question about Trump’s tweet Wednesday morning about dealing with the threat of North Korea following the country’s…
read moreThe U.S. economy rebounded sharply in the spring, growing at the fastest pace in more than two years amid brisk consumer spending on autos and other goods. The gross domestic product, the broadest measure of economic health, grew at an annual rate of 3 percent in the April-June quarter, the Commerce Department reported Wednesday.…
read moreU.S. sanctions on the finance boss of Venezuela’s oil company PDVSA have led to some exports to the United States being blocked as banks and investment funds refuse to provide letters of credit to potential buyers, three financial sources said. U.S. businesses are barred from dealing with a sanctioned person or company and one of…
read moreThe Kremlin on Wednesday confirmed that President Donald Trump’s personal lawyer reached out to them during the 2016 presidential campaign, seeking help for a business project in Russia. In a statement to the House Intelligence Committee investigating Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. presidential election and possible collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia, Trump’s…
read moreThe United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Zeid Ra’ad al-Hussein, warns freedom of the press in the United States is under attack from President Donald Trump, with potential national and global consequences. Zeid says words have consequences, actions have consequences and both must be chosen wisely. He says President Trump’s characterization of respected newspapers…
read moreU.S. President Donald Trump is traveling to the state of Missouri to try to build support for his goal of reforming the country’s tax code. Administration officials say the president will focus on explaining the need for tax reform, but not the specifics of a plan to do so, during a speech Wednesday in the…
read moreU.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said on Tuesday current policy regarding transgender personnel serving in the military would remain in place until he advises President Donald Trump on how to implement his directive on a transgender ban. Mattis said in a statement he would set up a panel of experts serving in the Departments of…
read moreThe Middle East and North Africa region loses about $21 billion each year because of an inadequate supply of water and sanitation, the World Bank said Tuesday, warning that urgent action is needed to prevent ripple effects on stability and growth. Poor management of water resources and sanitation in the world’s most water-scarce region costs…
read moreMexico sees a serious risk the United States will withdraw from NAFTA and is preparing a plan for that eventuality, Economy Minister Ildefonso Guajardo said Tuesday, calling talks to renegotiate the deal a “roller coaster.” U.S. President Donald Trump has threatened three times in the past week to abandon the North American Free Trade Agreement,…
read moreBrazil will seek China’s expertise and financing to complete its third nuclear power plant when President Michel Temer makes a state visit to Beijing on Friday, Brazilian government officials said Tuesday. The Brazilian nuclear energy company Eletronuclear will sign a cooperation agreement with China National Nuclear Corporation (CNNC), signaling their intent to establish a partnership…
read moreBrazil’s government has revised a decree that stripped protections from a reserve in the Amazon after environmental groups criticized the original order. The new decree announced late Monday still lifts the reserve designation from a gold- and copper-rich area larger than the Netherlands in two northern Brazilian states. But President Michel Temer’s administration clarifies…
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