From $7 for a Rohingya refugee to $750 for a North Korean “slave wife,” human rights activists have voiced concerns that it is becoming increasingly easy to enslave another human being as the cost plummets. The average modern-day slave is sold for $90-100 compared to the equivalent of $40,000 some 200 years ago, said Kevin…
read morePuerto Rico could face more than a decade of further economic stagnation and a steep drop in population as a result of Hurricane Maria, experts say. The stark estimates were presented this wee to members of a federal control board overseeing finances of a U.S. territory that is already in the 11th year of a…
read moreIn a Home Depot parking lot off I-45 in Houston, a group of about 20 men, mostly undocumented and Latino, spread across the sparse shade, waiting for a passing vehicle in search of manual labor: demolition, construction, painting. It’s midday and some have waited in front of the building supply store for several hours. Three…
read moreIt’s been more than two months since Hurricane Harvey destroyed or damaged tens of thousands of homes across Houston and east Texas, and cleanup is expected to last 20 months, overtaking Hurricane Katrina as the most expensive rebuilding effort in U.S. history. Undocumented workers are part of the daunting task of reconstructing America’s fourth-largest city.…
read moreA U.S. senator from Minnesota is the latest in a string of well-known personalities from entertainment and politics to be accused of sexual harassment. Democrat Al Franken is under fire after a radio newscaster said he kissed and groped her without consent during a tour to entertain U.S. troops in the Middle East in 2006.…
read moreAfter more than a decade of making cars and SUVs — and, more recently, solar panels — Tesla Inc. wants to electrify a new type of vehicle: big trucks. The company unveiled its new electric semitractor-trailer Thursday night near its design center in Hawthorne, California. CEO Elon Musk said the semi is capable of traveling…
read moreThe Venezuelan government and its state-owned oil company PDVSA have officially defaulted on billions of dollars’ worth of bonds, the latest chapter of the country’s deep financial collapse. The International Swaps and Derivatives Association, a group of banks and brokers that determines whether an entity like Venezuela has failed to make on-time payments on its…
read moreMegacities of the future will boast high-speed rail, superfast broadband, and green energy systems — but experts Thursday said they were failing to leave space for one thing: girls. Proposed by leaders worldwide, so-called Smart Cities are being built to cater for a growing global middle class but risk leaving girls without safe areas to…
read moreFrom Pataskala, Ohio, to Conroe, Texas, local government leaders worry that if Republican tax-overhaul plans moving through the U.S. Congress become law, it will be harder for them to pave streets, put out fires, fight crime and pay teachers. A tax plan approved by the House of Representatives on Thursday would sharply curtail a federal…
read moreMexico’s economy minister said on Thursday he did not agree with statements made by U.S. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross that it would be devastating for Mexico if the United States pulls out of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). “No, I don’t think so,” Ildefonso Guajardo said in a television interview when asked if…
read moreSenator John McCain warned President Donald Trump on Thursday against nominating any more defense industry insiders to top Pentagon posts, as his committee questioned an executive from Lockheed Martin about potential conflicts of interest. Concern over the close relationship between the Pentagon and arms manufacturers has existed for decades but appears to have intensified under Trump.…
read moreJared Kushner’s lawyer failed to give the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee documents President Donald Trump’s son-in-law and senior adviser received about a “Russian backdoor overture and dinner invite,” the committee’s leaders said Thursday. In a letter to Kushner’s attorney, Abbe Lowell, Senators Chuck Grassley and Dianne Feinstein, the Judiciary Committee’s Republican chairman and top Democrat,…
read moreFor months, President Donald Trump and his Republican allies have been pressing the Justice Department to investigate Democratic scandals. They want Attorney General Jeff Sessions to appoint a second special counsel to investigate a list of 14 allegations against former Secretary of State and presidential candidate Hillary Clinton and other former Democratic officials. …
read moreBusinesses striving to stamp out slavery from their supply chains should not dismiss struggling suppliers but train them to improve the lives of workers, and technology can play a part, leading companies including Apple and Walmart said on Wednesday. In recent years modern-day slavery has increasingly come under the global spotlight, putting ever greater regulatory…
read moreThe federal bribery trial of Democratic Sen. Bob Menendez ended in a mistrial Thursday when the jury said it was hopelessly deadlocked on all charges against the New Jersey politician and a wealthy donor. Prosecutors can seek to retry the lawmaker. U.S. District Judge William Walls declared the mistrial after more than six…
read moreDemocratic U.S. Senator Al Franken of Minnesota apologized to a Los Angeles newscaster Thursday after she said that he had groped her while they were on a 2006 goodwill trip to entertain American troops stationed in the Middle East. Leeann Tweeden, formerly a TV host, sports broadcaster and Playboy model, said that Franken, after he…
read moreA coalition of rights groups launched an online petition on Thursday urging IBM Corp to declare that it will not develop technology to help the Trump administration carry out a proposal to identify people for visa denial and deportation from the United States. IBM and several other technology companies and contractors attended a July informational…
read moreU.S. President Donald Trump pushed Thursday for adoption of a wide-ranging overhaul of the country’s complex tax laws as he met with the majority Republican caucus in the House of Representatives shortly before a scheduled vote on the issue. Republican leaders in the House have voiced optimism that they have enough votes to approve the…
read moreThe internal watchdog at the U.S. Justice Department said on Wednesday he hopes to complete his review by early spring into whether the Federal Bureau of Investigation erred when it announced it was reopening its investigation into Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton’s emails ahead of the 2016 presidential election. “We have interviewed dozens of people. We…
read moreTwo senior U.S. senators asked Secretary of State Rex Tillerson on Wednesday to explain “questionable management practices” at his department that they believe are weakening the country’s diplomatic power, adding to a chorus of concern in Congress. Republican Senator John McCain and Democratic Senator Jeanne Shaheen delivered a letter to Tillerson asking him to begin…
read morePresident Donald Trump said Wednesday that “America’s standing in the world has never been stronger” after his just-completed two-week trip to Asia. Trump stood in the White House and gave a recap of his five-nation tour, which he called “historic” and a “tremendous success.” “Everywhere we went, our foreign host greeted the American delegation ……
read moreThe Angolan economy is set to grow 1.1 percent this year as sub-Saharan Africa’s third-largest economy enjoys a mild recovery, the International Monetary Fund said Wednesday following a 10-day visit to the country. But Ricardo Velloso, the Brazilian economist who led the visit, said macroeconomic imbalances remain that need to be tackled by the new…
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