Scorched by a 10-month drought that has killed crops and reduced residents to buying trucked-in water, Adigama’s young people are voting with their feet. At least 150 youth have left this agricultural village 170 kilometers northwest of Sri Lanka’s capital since the drought began, looking for jobs in the country’s cities, or overseas, village officials…
read moreAttorney General Jeff Sessions vowed Wednesday to continue fighting cities that refuse to cooperate with immigration authorities until local governments follow Miami-Dade County’s example and reverse policies. Sessions aimed much of his frustration at Chicago, which last week sued President Donald Trump’s administration for denying federal grant money to cities that don’t share information…
read moreU.S. President Donald Trump continues to face a barrage of criticism for his contention that both white supremacists and counterprotesters were to blame for the deadly violence that erupted last weekend in Charlottesville, Virginia. On Wednesday, the president announced that he had dissolved two business advisory committees made up of top American corporate executives, after…
read moreIreland’s finance minister rejected the European Commission’s demand that it retroactively collect 13 billion euros in taxes from Apple, saying this was not Dublin’s job in an interview with Germany’s Frankfurter Allgemeine (FAZ) newspaper. In the interview, extracts from which the FAZ published on Wednesday, Finance Minister Paschal Donohoe said the tax rules from which…
read moreLeaders of a New York Episcopal diocese say they’ll remove two plaques honoring Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee from a church property in Brooklyn. Bishop Lawrence Provenzano, leader of the Episcopal Diocese of Long Island, told Newsday the two plaques outside St. John’s Episcopal Church are being removed Wednesday. The United Daughters of the Confederacy…
read morePresident Donald Trump is saying “we’ll see what happens” with top strategist Steve Bannon. The president refused to express confidence in Bannon during an impromptu news conference Tuesday. “He’s a good person. He actually gets very unfair press in that regard,” Trump said. “But we’ll see what happens with Mr. Bannon.” Bannon…
read morePresident Donald Trump is renewing his attacks on e-commerce giant Amazon, and he says the company is “doing great damage to tax paying retailers.” Trump tweets that “towns, cities and states throughout the U.S. are being hurt — many jobs being lost!” The president has often criticized the company and CEO Jeff Bezos, who also…
read moreThe impact of the latest round of U.N. sanctions leveled against North Korea could be greater than the projected $1 billion cut in its export revenue if fully implemented, a high-profile North Korean defector told VOA’s Korean Service, and this would deal a significant financial blow to a regime intent on advancing its nuclear and…
read moreThe United States, Mexico and Canada are opening negotiations Wednesday to reform the North American Free Trade Agreement, a 1994 trade deal that was a major target in U.S. President Donald Trump’s run for office. Trump has called NAFTA “the worst trade deal in history,” and one that has unfairly swollen the U.S. trade deficit…
read moreNegotiators from Canada, Mexico and the United States will kick off an ambitious first round of trade talks Wednesday as the countries try to fast-track a deal to modernize the North American Free Trade Agreement by early next year. The key issues facing negotiators include: RULES OF ORIGIN: NAFTA says that in order for a…
read moreA Utah mayor overcame nearly $1 million in attacks from out-of-state groups to win a three-way Republican primary in a race to fill a seat in the U.S. House of Representatives vacated by Jason Chaffetz. Tuesday’s win puts Provo Mayor John Curtis on an easy path toward victory in the November special election. Republicans…
read moreFormer U.S. President Barack Obama tweeted a photo Saturday after deadly violence broke out in the city of Charlottesville, Virginia. It is now the most liked tweet ever on the social media platform. The photo shows Obama with his hand on a windowsill and his suit jacket slung over one shoulder, looking up at a…
read moreA U.S. court struck down two Republican-drawn U.S. congressional districts in Texas on Tuesday, saying they were discriminatory and ordering a remedy ahead of elections in 2018, court papers showed. In the case that has been contested in federal courts for about six years, a three-judge panel at U.S. District Court in San Antonio ruled…
read moreBrazilian lawmakers facing a dearth of financing for their re-election campaigns next year proposed on Tuesday creating a fund of 3.6 billion reais ($1.1 billion) in taxpayer money to help their parties foot the bills. The Supreme Court banned corporate donations to campaigns in 2015, drastically reducing political fund-raising. On top of that, a massive…
read moreFrom defiant lawsuits to reversing policies, U.S. cities and counties are zeroing in on their immigration rules to avoid losing millions in public safety dollars that the White House has threatened to withhold amid a high-stakes clash over sanctuary policies. President Donald Trump has made it a top priority to revoke federal dollars from so-called…
read moreInvestigators are working to identify and charge protesters who toppled a nearly century-old Confederate statue in front of a North Carolina government building, the sheriff said Tuesday. Durham County Sheriff Mike Andrews issued a statement that investigators are using video footage to identify those responsible for toppling the statue during a rally Monday night. Law…
read moreAlabama Sen. Luther Strange on Tuesday looked to support from President Donald Trump to help carry him to the victory — or at least a runoff — in the Alabama Senate Republican primary, while his GOP rivals continued to batter him as the candidate of the so-called Washington establishment. Alabama voters go to the polls Tuesday…
read moreVenezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro has ordered his army to conduct a “comprehensive” drill late this month in response to U.S. President Donald Trump’s threat last week of a possible military action in the South American country. “We must prepare ourselves so that no one dares to touch a single piece of sacred land of Venezuela,”…
read moreHerbie Mays is 3M proud, and it shows — in the 3M shirt he wears; in the 3M ring he earned after three decades at the company’s plant in suburban Cincinnati; in the way he shows off a card from a 3M supervisor, praising Mays as “a GREAT employee.” But it’s all nostalgia. Mays’ last…
read moreAmazon.com Inc is rolling out pickup points in the United States where shoppers can retrieve items immediately after ordering them, shortening delivery times from hours to minutes, the company said on Tuesday. The world’s largest online retailer has launched “Instant Pickup” points around five college campuses, such as the University of California at Berkeley, it…
read morePresident Donald Trump appears to have mistakenly retweeted a message from one of his critics saying “he’s a fascist.” Trump deleted his retweet Tuesday after about five minutes, but not before the message sent to his 35 million followers racked up a big response. Trump seems to have been trying to draw attention…
read moreFirst it was the leader of a major U.S. pharmaceutical, then the CEO of an athletic gear company, and before the day had ended, the chief executive of a $170 billion tech giant. Three of the nation’s top executives resigned from a federal panel created years ago to advise the U.S. president. Now, others are…
read more
