Members of the U.S. International Trade Commission on Tuesday made three different recommendations for restricting solar cell and panel imports on Tuesday, giving President Donald Trump a range of choices to address injury to domestic producers. The recommendations range from an immediate 35 percent tariff on all imported panels to a four-year quota system that…
read moreThe head of the Environmental Protection Agency said Thursday he intends to replace the outside experts that advise him on science and public health issues with new board members holding more diverse views. In announcing the changes, EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt suggested many previously appointed to the panels were potentially biased because they had…
read moreHouse Republicans, straining to make last-minute changes to their far-reaching tax proposal, on Tuesday delayed the rollout by a day after they failed to finalize the details. The plan pushed by President Donald Trump and Republican leaders in Congress is a top legislative priority. The details originally were to be unveiled on Wednesday, but that…
read moreA top Ukrainian official says Russia should provide U.S. investigators with access to former Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych, who fled to Russia after his rule was toppled in Ukraine’s Maidan revolution of 2014. Dmitry Shymkiv, the deputy head of the administration of President Petro Poroshenko, said access to Yanukovych could prove vital to an understanding…
read moreArgentina’s President Mauricio Macri vowed to press ahead with reforms to the country’s tax, labor and retirement systems in a speech on Monday, a week after his “Let’s Change” coalition swept to victory at the polls in midterm elections. The government will present a tax reform proposal this Tuesday or Wednesday, and an amnesty plan…
read moreChile’s frontrunning center-right presidential candidate, Sebastian Pinera, on Monday unveiled a $14 billion, four-year spending plan focused on proposed reforms to the country’s tax and pension systems and new investments in infrastructure and hospitals. The former president, who governed from 2010 to 2014, said he would pay for his proposals by cutting “unnecessary” government spending…
read moreThe leaders of Azerbaijan, Turkey and Georgia launched an 826-km (500-mile) rail link connecting the three countries on Monday, establishing a freight and passenger link between Europe and China that bypasses Russia. The line, which includes 105 km of new track, will have the capacity to transport one million passengers and 5 million tons of…
read moreThe African Development Bank has called off a loan to Nigeria that would have helped fund the country’s budget, instead redirecting the money to specific projects, a vice president at the lender said on Monday. The African Development Bank had been in talks with Nigeria for around a year to release the second, $400 million…
read moreA new war authorization is “not legally required” to conduct combat operations against terrorist groups across the globe, top administration officials said Monday. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis and Secretary of State Rex Tillerson testified before the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations that the current authorization should not be repealed, even if Congress approves a new…
read moreFor nearly 40 years, Paul Manafort has been one of Washington’s top lobbyists, paid millions of dollars to represent controversial figures from around the globe who needed to burnish their standing in the U.S. capital, including the Philippines’ Ferdinand Marcos, Zaire’s military dictator Mobutu Sese Seko and most recently Ukrainian strongman Viktor Yanukovych. At the…
read moreThe special counsel investigation into possible collusion between President Donald Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign and Russia took a dramatic turn Monday with criminal indictments of two former Trump campaign officials, Paul Manafort and Rick Gates. Special Counsel Robert Mueller also revealed that a former Trump campaign aide, George Papadopoulos, pleaded guilty to lying to the…
read moreThe indictment against Donald Trump’s former campaign chief, Paul Manafort, and a longtime business associate alleged the two carried out an elaborate scheme that involved the use of a little-known outfit to mask years of lobbying on behalf of Ukraine’s former president, his pro-Russia political party, and the Ukrainian government. Manafort and his former business…
read moreThe White House went on the defensive Monday, distancing President Donald Trump from charges filed against two former campaign aides by Special Counsel Robert Mueller in connection with the probe into Russia’s attempt to influence last year’s presidential election. The pair, former campaign chairman Paul Manafort and longtime business associate Rick Gates, were named in…
read moreU.S. President is expected to nominate Federal Reserve Governor Jerome Powell as the next chairman of the central bank, senior administration officials said Monday. Powell is a Republican centrist who appears inclined to continue the Fed’s strategy of gradual interest rate hikes. But officials say Trump hasn’t made up his mind and could change it.…
read morePaul Manafort, who for a short time was U.S. President Donald Trump’s campaign chairman last year, turned himself in to authorities Monday, as part of the criminal investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election. A federal grand jury on Friday approved charges in the probe led by special counsel Robert Mueller. Manafort long…
read moreWashington braced Monday for the potential unsealing of the first criminal charges linked to Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. presidential election, as President Donald Trump reiterated his stance that the underlying investigations are a “witch hunt.” A federal grand jury on Friday approved charges in the probe led by special counsel Robert Mueller, according…
read morePresident Donald Trump’s plan for overhauling the U.S. tax system faced growing opposition from interest groups on Sunday, as Republicans prepare to unveil sweeping legislation that could eliminate some of the most popular tax breaks to help pay for lower taxes. Republicans who control the U.S. House of Representatives will not reveal their bill until…
read moreWashington is abuzz over news reports a grand jury has approved the first charges stemming from the special counsel’s probe of Russian meddling in last year’s U.S. election. VOA’s Michael Bowman reports, the exact charges and who stands accused of wrongdoing could be revealed at any moment. …
read moreThe governor of Puerto Rico, the U.S. territory that was devastated by a hurricane a month ago, called Sunday for the immediate cancellation of a contract to restore electrical power to the Caribbean island as questions grow about the small company that was awarded the work. Governor Ricardo Rossello said the board of the island’s…
read morePuerto Rico’s electric power company says it is canceling the $300 million contract with a Montana energy company hired to restore power to the storm-ravaged island. Earlier on Sunday Puerto Rico Governor Ricardo Rossello had called for the contract to be pulled. PREPA chief Ricardo Ramos calls the controversy surrounding the contract with Whitefish Energy…
read moreWashington is bracing for the first criminal charges linked to Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. presidential election, even as President Donald Trump continued to claim Sunday the investigations are a “Witch Hunt for evil politics.” A federal grand jury on Friday approved charges in the investigation led by special counsel Robert Mueller, according to…
read moreXavier Gabriel can take some credit if the tiny Catalan mountain town of Sort is one of the most famous in Spain. He runs a lottery shop called La Bruja de Oro, or The Golden Witch, in a town whose name, aptly, means “Luck” in Catalan. Its fortune in having sold many prize-winning tickets has…
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