Three Democratic members of Congress have been arrested on disorderly conduct charges at a protest outside Trump Tower. U.S. Reps. Raul Grijalva, of Arizona; Luis Gutierrez, of Illinois; and Adriano Espaillat, of New York, were among a small group of demonstrators who sat down in the street on New York’s Fifth Avenue on Tuesday…
read moreNew York’s Preet Bharara, who says he knows nothing more about why President Donald Trump fired him as U.S. attorney than on the day it happened, is about to step back into the spotlight with a podcast on justice issues. The podcast, “Stay Tuned with Preet,” debuts Wednesday with Leon Panetta as the first guest.…
read moreWith the United States poised to announce in the coming weeks how many refugees it will agree to accept in the new fiscal year, U.S. President Donald Trump told the United Nations on Tuesday that the U.S. will focus on keeping displaced people in their “home region” with an eye on eventual repatriation. “We seek…
read moreThe deficit in the broadest measure of U.S. trade rose to the highest level in more than eight years this spring, reflecting in part a drop in fines and penalties paid by foreign companies. The deficit in the current account increased to $123.1 billion, up 8.5 percent from an imbalance of $113.5 billion in the…
read moreToys ‘R’ Us, an iconic United States toy store, has filed for bankruptcy after struggling to compete with online retailers and racking up about $5 billion worth of debt. In a statement Monday, the company said it is voluntarily seeking relief through the U.S. bankruptcy process, but that its international holdings would not be affected.…
read moreAs many as three dozen domestic and international flights at New Zealand’s Auckland Airport have been canceled Tuesday as it struggles to deal with a weeklong fuel shortage. New Zealand’s main airport has lost 70 percent of its jet fuel supplies since a digger ruptured the main pipeline that carries fuel to the facility, forcing…
read moreA multi-million-dollar banking flap being investigated in Vietnam this month casts light on a tough corruption problem that nips at the Southeast Asian country’s explosive economic growth. The Vietnamese Ministry of Public Security last week began investigating three companies under state-owned gas and oil giant PetroVietnam on suspicion of trying to divert $5.2 million from…
read moreDuring his first official meeting at the United Nations, U.S. President Donald Trump said the organization is not reaching its full potential because of bureaucracy and mismanagement. Addressing leaders of more than 120 member nations on Monday, Trump praised U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres for his efforts to modernize the world body. Guterres said the old…
read moreTwo of Italy’s biggest coffee houses are reinforcing their brands with flagship cafes in Milan near the spot where U.S. rival Starbucks is set to begin operations next year. Lavazza opens its first flagship cafe in the coffee-obsessed city on Tuesday, not far from the renovated 19th century palazzo where Starbucks will open its first…
read moreMexico’s economy minister said on Monday a successful retool of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) would hinge on two or three complex areas that he called “elephants in the room,” just days before the next round of treaty talks in Canada. Speaking at an event in Mexico City, Ildefonso Guajardo said four chapters…
read moreThe WTO dispute settlement system is “deficient” and has often ruled in favor of free trade that overlooks details of a trade agreement, U.S. trade envoy Robert Lighthizer said on Monday. Speaking at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, Lighthizer, a trade lawyer, made clear that the administration was poised to push for major…
read moreThe White House reconfirmed Monday the United States is pulling out of the Paris Climate Accord — a decision President Donald Trump announced in June. “The Paris Climate Accord is simply the latest example of Washington entering into an agreement that disadvantages the United States to the exclusive benefit of other countries, leaving American workers…
read moreU.S. President Donald Trump, in his first address to the United Nations General Assembly, will harshly criticize North Korea, Iran and Venezuela. “He will speak in extremely tough terms about the North Korean menace and the threat it poses to our security and the security of all the nations in that room,” according to a…
read moreNEW YORK (AP) _ The Trump administration will press its concerns about unexplained incidents harming American diplomats in Cuba during a meeting this week in Washington, as the United States considers shuttering its recently re-opened Embassy in Havana. U.S. diplomats will host Cuban official Josefina Vidal, who has been the public face of Cuba’s diplomatic…
read morePeru’s prime minister said on Monday that the country’s new Cabinet will focus on reviving public investments as it seeks to mend fences with the opposition party that forced President Pedro Pablo Kuczynski to form a new government. Congress ousted the former Cabinet last week following a dispute over education reforms, fueling fears that political…
read moreU.S. central bank leaders are expected to hold the key interest rate steady this week, but they may begin trimming a huge bond-buying program that was intended to boost economic growth. Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen is scheduled to speak with reporters about those decisions Wednesday afternoon, following a two-day strategy meeting in the U.S.…
read moreEven though South Korean President Moon Jae-in seems to have more closely aligned with the hardline U.S. approach to pressure Pyongyang into giving up its nuclear program, his government in Seoul is planning to send $8 million in humanitarian aid to North Korea. “It is our government basic stance that (the government) will continue to…
read moreThe man tasked with overseeing Texas’ Hurricane Harvey rebuilding efforts sees his job as “future-proofing” before the next disaster, but he isn’t empowered on his own to reshape flood-prone Houston or the state’s vulnerable coastline, which has been walloped by three major hurricanes since 2006. Texas A&M Chancellor John Sharp will face the same…
read moreFlorida’s economy has long thrived on one import above all: People. Until Irma struck this month, the state was adding nearly 1,000 residents a day – 333,471 in the past year, akin to absorbing a city the size of St. Louis or Pittsburgh. Every jobseeker, retiree or new birth, along with billions spent by…
read morePresident Donald Trump took another swing at Hillary Clinton in the latest sign that his campaign fury hasn’t faded, retweeting a mock video that shows him smacking a golf ball that – in the next frame – seemingly strikes her in the back before she stumbles and falls down while boarding a plane. Trump…
read moreThe future of health care in America has been resuscitated again as a driving political issue in Washington. VOA’s Michael Bowman reports, two new plans at opposite ends of the ideological spectrum were unveiled last week to replace current federal law, the Affordable Care Act, commonly known as Obamacare. …
read moreScandal-hit Brazilian construction company Odebrecht said on Sunday it has sold its 33 percent stake in a massive subway project in Argentina’s capital Buenos Aires, but vowed to keep working in the country. Odebrecht is involved in a sprawling corruption saga and has already paid $3.5 billion in settlements in the United States, Brazil and…
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