Equifax Inc promised to make it easier for consumers to control access to their credit records in the wake of the company’s massive breach after the top U.S. consumer financial watchdog called on the industry to introduce such a system. Equifax’s interim chief executive officer, Paulino do Rego Barros Jr., vowed to introduce a free…
read moreSuper Tuesday, the jam-packed day of presidential primary voting every four years, may get supercharged in 2020 with California joining the pack, bringing along its prize of the most delegates. Gov. Jerry Brown gave his stamp of approval Wednesday to a measure jumping California’s primary up to the beginning of March, three months earlier…
read moreSaudi Arabia’s decision to lift its ban on women driving cars may help to restore sales growth in an auto market dented by the economic fallout from weak oil prices, handing an opportunity to importers of luxury cars and sport utility vehicles. Carmakers joined governments in welcoming the order by Saudi Arabia’s King Salman that…
read morePresident Donald Trump announced a Republican tax reform plan Wednesday, intended to provide a “middle-class miracle” for many Americans and with changes to relieve corporations from what the White House called a “punitive” system. Trump unveiled details of the plan before an enthusiastic crowd in Indianapolis, Indiana, saying this was a “once in a generation”…
read morePresident Donald Trump said on Wednesday a foreign leader told him at the United Nations last week that the country would soon announce plans to build or expand five automobile industry factories in the United States. “I just left the United Nations last week and I was told by one of the most powerful leaders…
read moreThe South American trade bloc Mercosur could seek trade deals with Canada, Australia and New Zealand this year, an Argentine official said Wednesday, as largest members Brazil and Argentina seek to open their economies. Mercosur, which also includes Uruguay and Paraguay, is working with the European Union to finalize the political framework for a trade…
read moreWeather extremes and air pollution from burning fossil fuels cost the United States $240 billion a year in the past decade, according to a report Wednesday that urged President Donald Trump to do more to combat climate change. This year is likely to be the most expensive on record, with an estimated $300 billion in…
read moreThe Trump administration on Wednesday proposed admitting a maximum of 45,000 refugees next year, the lowest cap in decades, which officials said was necessary to ensure U.S. security as the government tightens its screening and vetting processes. That figure is the lowest cap since the modern U.S. refugee admissions system was established in 1980, and…
read moreA blueprint of a Republican tax overhaul plan proposes tax cuts to wealthy Americans, businesses and the middle class while protecting deductions such as those for mortgage interest and charitable contributions. The sweeping plan was unveiled Wednesday, the beginning of negotiations to revamp the U.S. tax code. It lacks critical details about the many tax…
read moreCBS says “60 Minutes” has landed the first television interview with House Majority Whip Steve Scalise since he was shot at a congressional baseball team practice in June. The network said Wednesday that Scalise will speak to Norah O’Donnell for the news magazine’s episode this Sunday. He’ll recount the attack from his vantage…
read moreU.S. Republicans and President Donald Trump suffered another setback on health care Tuesday when Senate Republicans decided to postpone a vote on their latest proposal to repeal and replace Obamacare. The decision came after a handful of Republicans said they would oppose the bill, likely dooming it to defeat in a Senate vote. VOA National…
read moreSwitzerland is the world’s most competitive economy for a ninth straight year, the Geneva-based World Economic Forum said on Wednesday. Since suffering a rare blip in 2008, when it was nudged into second place by the United States, the Swiss economy has maintained an efficient but unshakeable grip on the top spot in the WEF…
read moreFirebrand jurist Roy Moore won the Alabama Republican primary runoff for U.S. Senate on Tuesday, defeating an appointed incumbent backed by President Donald Trump and allies of Sen. Mitch McConnell. In an upset likely to rock the GOP establishment, Moore clinched victory over Sen. Luther Strange to take the GOP nomination for the seat…
read moreThe Commerce Department slapped duties of nearly 220 percent on Canada’s Bombardier C Series aircraft Tuesday in a victory for Boeing that is likely to raise tensions between the United States and its allies Canada and Britain. Commerce ruled that Montreal-based Bombardier used unfair government subsidies to sell jets at artificially low prices in the…
read moreThe acting chief of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration is stepping down while the agency awaits the Trump administration’s nomination of its permanent leader. A person familiar with the move said Chuck Rosenberg would leave the post October 1. The person, who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity to discuss personnel matters,…
read moreIt is not quite going back to the horse, even if the bicycle was the first contraption to replace beasts as a means of personal transport. This is a new two-wheeled animal, though, that millions of consumers in Beijing, Taipei, Singapore and cities across Asia are renting via phone apps to cover the last mile…
read moreThe top U.S. general said on Tuesday he has urged the Trump administration not to kick transgender service members out of the military despite President Donald Trump’s ban on transgender people serving in the armed forces. Marine Corps General Joseph Dunford, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, was asked by Democratic Senator Kirsten Gillibrand…
read moreDespite concerns about low inflation in the United States, the head of the U.S. central bank says raising interest rates gradually would be the most appropriate policy stance for the Federal Reserve. “It would be imprudent to keep monetary policy on hold until inflation is back to two percent,” Fed Chair Janet Yellen said Tuesday, while…
read moreMexican officials are tallying up the economic losses of the magnitude 7.1 earthquake that caused widespread damage in the capital, as the number of buildings that may need to be pulled down or need major repairs rose to 500. The death toll in the quake rose to 333, with 194 of those deaths in…
read moreFederal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen acknowledged Tuesday that the Fed is puzzled by the persistence of unusually low inflation and that it might have to adjust the timing of its interest rate policies accordingly. Speaking to a conference of economists, Yellen touched upon key questions the Fed is confronting as it tries to determine why…
read moreHackers breached the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s computer system last year by taking advantage of companies that used authentic financial data when they were testing the agency’s corporate filing system, according to sources familiar with the matter. The Federal Bureau of Investigation and the U.S. Secret Service have since launched an investigation into a…
read moreVoters in the southeastern state of Alabama go to the polls Tuesday to decide a closely watched U.S. Senate race that has aligned President Donald Trump with the Senate’s Republican leadership and tests his relationship with his base of supporters. Last month, Trump endorsed Senator Luther Strange, an establishment-backed Republican candidate who has trailed opponent…
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