The euro zone economy may be building up an impressive head of steam that shows no signs of cooling, but what policymakers at the European Central Bank really want – higher inflation – is still largely absent. Industrial output in the bloc rose faster than anyone polled by Reuters expected in August, according to data…
read moreU.S. President Donald Trump is expected to withdraw his support for the Iran nuclear agreement Friday, but stop short of completely scrapping the deal. The U.S. leader is expected to outline a new strategy. Trump will likely declare that it is not in the U.S. national security interests to certify the 2015 deal that Washington…
read moreFollowing the U.S. decision Thursday to quit the United Nations organization for education, science and culture, Israel announced it too will withdraw. The United States stopped funding UNESCO after the Palestinian Authority was accepted into the agency as a full member. As a member subject to membership dues, the United States accumulated a $600 million…
read morePresident Donald Trump finds himself in turbulent times at the moment, facing critical foreign policy challenges on Iran and North Korea and the prospect of a stalled domestic agenda at home. Trump has also been busy feuding with a key Republican senator and lashing out at the media, as we hear from VOA National correspondent…
read moreIn a brash move likely to roil insurance markets, President Donald Trump plans to halt payments to insurers under the Obama-era health care law that he has been trying to unravel for months. Two people familiar with the decision described the plan late Thursday night, seeking anonymity because they were not authorized to speak…
read moreChina’s imports from North Korea fell 37.9 percent in September from a year earlier, marking the seventh consecutive month of decline, the customs office said Friday. China-U.S. ties have been strained by President Donald Trump’s criticism of China’s trade practices and by demands that Beijing do more to pressure North Korea over Pyongyan’s nuclear and…
read moreThe Trump administration acknowledged Thursday that billions more dollars are “urgently needed” to ensure a fair and accurate count during the 2020 Census. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross told a House panel that new cost estimates show the 2020 Census will cost $15.6 billion, about 27 percent more than earlier projections. Among the factors for the…
read moreThe wildfires burning through Northern California are sending visitors packing, threatening the $2 billion-plus spent annually by tourists on wine tours, fine food, limousine rides and much more, business leaders said. At the Inn on First bed and breakfast in the famous wine town of Napa, co-owner Jamie Cherry was encouraging callers to postpone rather…
read moreThe government of Peru’s President Pedro Pablo Kuczynski said Thursday that it will request special powers to legislate economic policies from the opposition-ruled Congress, after growth slowed sharply during his first year in office. During a presentation in Congress, Prime Minister Mercedes Araoz said her cabinet wants to legislate policies aimed at consolidating an incipient…
read moreNew research finds nearly 14 million people a year are losing their homes because of sudden onset disasters such as floods and cyclones. The Internal Displacement Monitoring Center, which analyzed the impact of sudden onset disasters in 204 countries and territories, warns that homelessness will continue to rise unless significant progress is made in managing…
read moreWashington has increased tensions in talks to renew the North American Free Trade Agreement by insisting that any new deal be allowed to expire after five years, two officials familiar with the negotiations said on Thursday. Canada and Mexico both strongly oppose the concept of a so-called sunset clause, a provision that had been floated…
read moreThe European Union’s Brexit negotiator said Thursday that that little progress was made with the U.K. in a fifth round of talks on the country’s departure from the EU in 2019, and that he cannot yet recommend broadening negotiations to include trade. Michel Barnier said that despite the “constructive spirit” shown in this week’s…
read moreThe House is on track to back President Donald Trump’s request for billions more in disaster aid, $16 billion to pay flood insurance claims and emergency funding to help the cash-strapped government of Puerto Rico stay afloat. Thursday’s hurricane aid package totals $36.5 billion and sticks close to a White House request, ignoring for…
read moreFrustrated by failures in Congress, President Donald Trump will try to put his own stamp on health care with an executive order Thursday that aims to make lower-premium plans more widely available. But the president’s move is likely to encounter opposition from medical associations, consumer groups and perhaps even some insurers — the same coalition…
read moreChina has a new richest man, according to the annual Hurun rich list of the country’s top movers and shakers. Xu Jiayin, the chairman of developer China Evergrande Group, has seized top spot – beating out more familiar faces such as Alibaba Group Holding Ltd’s Jack Ma and rival property magnate Wang Jianlin of Dalian…
read moreThe Trump administration says coal is back and nuclear energy is cool. Not at the expense of natural gas, wind and solar, insists an unusual coalition of business and environmental groups. Dow Chemical, Koch Industries and U.S. Steel Corp. are standing with environmentalists in opposing an Energy Department plan that would reward nuclear and coal-fired…
read moreThe ranking of the 50 most powerful women by Fortune magazine is out. The list include such stalwarts as General Motors Mary Barra and PepsiCo’s Indra Nooyi. But it also seven newcomers, including the first foreign-born Latina CEO on the Fortune 500, Geisha Williams. VOA Correspondent Mariama Diallo was at their annual gathering in Washington…
read morePresident Donald Trump is expected to announce Thursday that Iran is not complying with the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) negotiated by his predecessor Barack Obama to curb Iranian nuclear activities. Trump’s decision would trigger a 60-day deadline for Congress to set the next steps in dealing with Tehran. VOA’s Congressional reporter Katherine…
read moreBillionaire philanthopist Michael Bloomberg has pledged an additional $64 million for the initiatives intended to slash the number of U.S. coal power plants. Bloomberg’s charity announced Wednesday the money will be donated to environmental groups working to replace coal-fired plants with cleaner forms of energy production. The move came after the Trump administration said it…
read moreThe Somali musician Hassan-Nour Sayid — known by his stage name, Aar Maanta — and his band, the Urban Nomads, were supposed to be in Minnesota last week, where they were to kick off a monthlong internship of performances and workshops set up through the Cedar Cultural Center in Minneapolis. Visa delays, however, have led…
read moreU.S. President Donald Trump on Wednesday promised Americans they are “going to have so much money to spend” if lawmakers approve his tax reform plan. Trump, in an airport hangar in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, told a crowd of truckers that the typical American household would get “a $4,000 pay raise” with the changes he wants,…
read moreOver the past few years, Chinese companies have flooded the globe with investments, buying up everything from real estate to football clubs and entertainment companies. As a result, hundreds of billions of dollars in capital have flowed out of the country, draining China’s foreign exchange reserves. But that all has come to a halt this…
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