President Donald Trump on Wednesday rejected as “pure fiction” an NBC News report that a few months ago he suggested a tenfold increase in the U.S. nuclear arsenal, and questioned whether it was time to revoke the network’s government license to operate. Trump’s comments on the size of the U.S. nuclear arsenal, now at about…
read moreEconomic growth in sub-Saharan Africa is expected to be 2.4 percent in 2017, the World Bank said on Wednesday, down from the 2.6 percent projected in April. It said the downgrade was due to a number of reasons, including Nigeria’s failing to meet expectations but also broader conditions. “Regional per capita output growth is forecast…
read moreU.S. President Donald Trump and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau met at the White House Wednesday to discuss the renegotiation of the North American Free Trade Agreement amid growing animosity over how to reshape the pact. Trade experts predict the fourth round of the talks will probably stall as the U.S. aggressively pushes for controversial…
read morePresident Donald Trump said Wednesday that the country’s surging stock markets would grow even faster if Congress enacts his proposed overhaul of the country’s tax laws. Trump is heading to a Pennsylvania airport hangar to talk to a group of truckers about the tax plan, contending they would get “a $4,000 pay raise” with the…
read morePresident Donald Trump’s escalated a Twitter war Tuesday with a powerful fellow Republican who had warned that Trump’s temperament and rhetoric could risk a third world war. Trump mocked the height of Senator Bob Corker – the influential chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee. More from VOA’s Michael Bowman. …
read moreOn October 12, President Donald Trump is expected to announce whether his administration still finds Iran in compliance with the 2015 nuclear deal. VOA’s Margaret Besheer takes a look at the deal and what could happen if the president chooses not to certify Tehran’s compliance. …
read moreFinancial markets in Istanbul were pummeled this week as the tit-for-tat visa spat between the Unites States and Turkey escalated. Turkish stocks and currency values fell on Monday before rebounding in Tuesday’s trading. The Oct. 8 decision by the United States to place the NATO ally on the same list of pariah states as North…
read moreAttorneys for the Trump administration said a federal judge has no authority to second-guess a presidential permit for the Keystone XL oil pipeline as they seek to stop a lawsuit that would block the project. Justice Department attorneys are due in U.S. District Court in Montana on Wednesday to defend the administration’s March approval of…
read moreThe U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday threw out an appeals court ruling that struck down President Donald Trump’s previous temporary travel ban targeting several Muslim-majority nations countries that has now expired. In a one-page order, the court acted in one of two cases pending before the nine justices over Trump’s travel ban, a case from…
read moreTurkish President Tayyip Erdogan pledged gas, investment and support for the Balkans on Tuesday, in an apparent bid to expand influence in a region frustrated by the slow pace of EU accession. His two-day trip to Serbia — a mainly Orthodox Christian country at fierce odds with Turkey during Yugoslavia’s bloody collapse — could help…
read moreThe most powerful U.S. business lobby accused the Trump administration of making “poison pill proposals” to sabotage NAFTA on Tuesday, as Mexico’s foreign minister said the demise of the regional trade pact would hurt bilateral cooperation. The process of renegotiating the 23-year-old North American Free Trade Agreement has turned increasingly acrimonious. Mexico accuses U.S. President…
read moreA tough line from President Donald Trump has been met by a show of unity from both sides of Iran’s political divide, uniting hardliners who cast the United States as an implacable enemy with pragmatists who seek rapprochement with the West. Iran, which has kept up a steady drumbeat of angry statements for days, lashed…
read morePresident Donald Trump lashed out at Sen. Bob Corker as “Liddle’ Bob Corker” on Tuesday, escalating a feud with the Tennessee Republican who’s dubbed the White House an “adult day care center” and charged that Trump could be setting the nation on the path toward World War III. Fellow GOP senators, treading carefully, avoided siding…
read moreU.S. President Donald Trump attacked the country’s most popular sports league, the National Football League, on Tuesday for “getting massive tax breaks,” even though the league gave up its federal tax-exempt status two years ago. Trump has been waging a verbal war against more than 200 NFL players, most of them African-American, who at recent…
read moreNow that Jerry Jones of the Dallas Cowboys has become the first NFL owner with a public suggestion of repercussions for displays during the national anthem, players are opening up more about the delicate balance of team chemistry and politics in the locker room. And they’re not necessarily slamming the powerful and outspoken Jones for…
read moreEnvironmental groups are outraged over the Trump administration wanting to overturn an Obama-era plan to slash greenhouse gas emissions blamed for global warming. Environmental Protection Agency head Scott Pruitt announced Monday he will scrap the Clean Power Plan, declaring “the war on coal is over.” Climate change skeptic Pruitt made his announcement at a coal…
read moreGlobal unemployment this year stands at more than 201 million, an increase of 3.4 million compared to 2016, says the International Labor Organization. The ILO says the private sector, especially small and medium-sized enterprises, plays a crucial role in creating decent jobs around the world. The ILO study (World Employment and Social Outlook 2017: Sustainable…
read moreThe oldest serving senator, Dianne Feinstein, says she will run for re-election. “Lots more to do: ending gun violence, combating climate change, access to healthcare,” the 84-year-old California Democrat tweeted from a rarely used account, which her office confirmed was authentic. “I am all in!” she wrote. Gun control has been a top priority of…
read moreU.S. Environmental Protection Agency administrator Scott Pruitt says the administration of President Donald Trump will withdraw from Clean Power Plan set in motion by his predecessor Barack Obama. Addressing a crowd in Kentucky Monday, Pruitt said that he plans to sign a proposed rule Tuesday to withdraw from the plan, which was aimed at slowing…
read moreRussian operatives bought tens of thousands of dollars of advertising on the giant internet search engine Google last year in an attempt to help real estate mogul Donald Trump win the U.S. presidency, according to a new report from The Washington Post. People familiar with an investigation by Google told the newspaper the global technology…
read moreAmerican Richard H. Thaler was awarded the 2017 Nobel Prize for Economics — officially the Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel. The award committee said Thaler was chosen “for his contributions to behavioral economics.” “By exploring the consequences of limited rationality, social preferences, and lack of self-control,” Thaler “has shown…
read moreAnts and beetles in the kitchen? Normally that’d close down a restaurant immediately, but for a unique eatery in Bangkok, bugs in the beef ragu and pests in the pesto are the business plan. Tucking into insects is nothing new in Thailand, where street vendors pushing carts of fried crickets and buttery silkworms have…
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