Tuesday delivered a string of high-profile victories for Democrats in gubernatorial races. Democrat Ralph Northam decisively won the Virginia governor’s race in what had become a nail-biter of a contest, defeating Republican Ed Gillespie in the election to replace outgoing Democratic Governor Terry McAuliffe. Northam, currently Virginia’s lieutenant governor, held a comfortable lead in many…
read moreThe U.S. Senate Banking Committee unanimously backed new sanctions targeting Chinese banks that do business with North Korea on Tuesday, just before President Donald Trump visits Beijing for the first time since taking office. As well as strengthening existing sanctions and congressional oversight, the measure will target foreign financial institutions — in China and elsewhere…
read moreU.S. lawmakers signaled they plan to ensure the United States complies with the 2015 Iran nuclear deal despite U.S. President Donald Trump’s misgivings about the pact, the European Union’s foreign policy chief said Tuesday. “I got clear indications that the intention is to keep the United States compliant with the agreement,” the EU’s Federica Mogherini…
read moreInflation in Venezuela’s crisis-hit economy was 826 percent in the 10 months to October and may end 2017 above 1,400 percent, the opposition-controlled National Assembly said Friday. The government stopped releasing price data more than a year ago but congress has published its own figures since January and they have been close to private economists’…
read moreUnless emissions can be drastically and quickly curbed, efforts by small island nations to adapt to climate change may be in vain, a leader of a group of small island nations said Tuesday. Hurricanes that hit the Caribbean this year were like nothing seen before, with Hurricane Irma so strong it was picked up by…
read moreThe United States and other countries hoping to host the 2026 World Cup should provide government guarantees on visa-free travel plus work permit and tax exemptions for their bids to be accepted, according to documents published by FIFA on Tuesday. The U.S wants to host the 2026 tournament in a joint bid with Canada and…
read moreIndian cuisine is often identified with spicy curries and a range of kebabs, but the government wants to propel a staple dish made with rice and lentils across the global stage. The dish recently came under the spotlight as a team of leading Indian chefs prepared a record 918 kilograms of the meal, called “khichdi,”…
read moreIndian cuisine is often identified with spicy curries and a range of kebabs, but the government wants to propel a staple dish made with rice and lentils across the global stage. The dish recently came under the spotlight as a team of leading Indian chefs prepared a record 918 kilograms of the meal, called “khichdi”,…
read moreCarter Page, a foreign policy adviser to Donald Trump as he ran for president last year, told campaign aides he had gained “incredible insights” from Russian lawmakers and “senior members” of President Vladimir Putin’s administration when he made a trip to Moscow in the midst of the U.S. election. Page wrote in a July 2016…
read moreThe U.S. Air Force is investigating why a 2012 domestic violence conviction of the Texas church gunman was not properly entered into the FBI database that would have stopped him from legally buying the automatic weapon he used in Sunday’s attack that killed 26 people. As VOA’s Jeff Custer reports, residents of the small town…
read moreA U.S. decision to cut funding for a demining program in Cambodia threatens to further worsen a feud between Phnom Penh and Washington. On Tuesday, it emerged through local media reports the U.S. had decided to discontinue annual funding in 2018, worth about $2 million, to clear explosive remnants of war in Cambodia. Prime Minister…
read moreVoters in the U.S. state of Virginia will elect a new governor Tuesday, one of a number of state and local elections that could provide an early indication of how the electorate views President Donald Trump and the Republican Party. Most polls show a tight race between Republican Ed Gillespie and Democratic Lt. Governor Ralph…
read moreThousands of Americans are planning to “scream helplessly at the sky” in a show of what organizers say is disgust and frustration at Donald Trump’s election as president exactly one year earlier. The unprecedented protest being played out in many American cities has been mocked by conservatives, sparking incendiary exchanges on the Internet that…
read moreRights advocates at home and abroad are calling on U.S. President Donald Trump to use his first presidential visit to China to address the country’s deteriorating human rights situation. Advocates are calling for the release of Liu Xia, the widow of the late Nobel Laureate Liu Xiaobo, and many other Chinese political prisoners including four rights lawyers who are either awaiting trial or verdicts. They are also calling for…
read moreThe restive Spanish region of Catalonia faces a potential $500 million financial hit in the fourth quarter as business-related travel dips following the attack in Barcelona and the uncertainty generated by the disputed independence referendum. In an interview Monday with The Associated Press at the World Travel Market in London, Catalonia’s top tourism official…
read moreTwo weeks ago the glitzy Ritz Carlton hotel in Riyadh was the site of an international conference promoting Saudi Arabia as an investment destination, with over 3,000 officials and business leaders attending. Now the hotel is temporarily serving as a luxury prison where some of the kingdom’s political and business elite are being held in…
read moreA revamping of the Federal Reserve’s leadership is widening with the announcement Monday that William Dudley, president of the New York Fed and the No. 2 official on the Fed’s key interest rate panel, will retire next year. Just last week, President Donald Trump chose Fed board member Jerome Powell to replace Janet Yellen…
read moreChipmaker Broadcom made an unsolicited $103 billion bid for Qualcomm on Monday, setting the stage for a major takeover battle as it looks to dominate the fast-growing market for semiconductors used in mobile phones. Qualcomm said it would review the proposal. The San Diego-based company is inclined to reject the bid as too low and…
read moreColombian President Juan Manuel Santos, in response to his name appearing in a trove of leaked documents about offshore investments, said he left a company registered in tax haven Barbados before taking a ministerial post with a previous government. The so-called Paradise Papers published on Sunday showed the investments of wealthy people and institutions ranging…
read moreU.S. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross on Monday defended his sizable business links to Russian President Vladimir Putin’s inner circle, saying “there is no impropriety.” Ross, a 79-year-old billionaire industrialist, has a 31 percent stake worth $2 million to $10 million in a shipping venture, Navigator Holdings, with connections to Putin’s son-in-law and an oligarch who…
read moreRepublican Ed Gillespie and Democrat Ralph Northam both claim momentum is on their side with one day to go before Election Day in Virginia’s high-stakes, closely watched race for governor. The candidates are racing across the state Monday after a weekend spent trying to trying to rally supporters ahead of the Tuesday vote. Northam…
read moreSpecial Counsel Robert Mueller pushed back on Sunday against Paul Manafort’s efforts to avoid house arrest, arguing that President Donald Trump’s former campaign manager needed to further detail the finances behind his proposed $12 million bail agreement. In a court memorandum, Mueller and his attorneys argued that the court should only agree to a bail…
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