South Korea indicated Wednesday it was open to talks on revising a 2012 trade pact with the United States after initial differences that followed President Donald Trump’s threat to terminate the accord unless it was renegotiated. After a day of talks in Washington, South Korea’s trade ministry said in a statement, “The two sides recognized…
read moreFederal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen said Wednesday that the Fed is committed to making sure that the regulations it imposes on the nation’s community banks are not overly burdensome, noting a proposed rule issued last week to simplify requirements governing how much capital these banks must hold. In remarks to a community banking conference…
read moreWith a cutoff date of Thursday for more than 150,000 undocumented immigrants who came to the U.S. as children, about three-quarters of those eligible to renew their temporary status have sent in their paperwork, official data released Wednesday show. That potentially leaves tens of thousands of people who received work permits and relief from possible…
read moreU.S. business groups expressed frustration on Wednesday with what they said are China’s efforts to tilt the economic playing field in favor of domestic companies, adding that World Trade Organization rules are insufficient to police all of Beijing’s trade practices. U.S. companies face increasing threats from Chinese investment rules, industrial policies, subsidies to state-owned enterprises,…
read moreDozens of tourists pack beach chairs at a Tunisian luxury hotel, where everything from the swimming pool to the wall paint, the furniture at the shiny reception hall, the police post at its gate and even its name is new. Nothing reminds holiday-makers of the day in June 2015 when an Islamic State militant shot…
read moreMost Americans believe their jobs are safe from the spread of automation and robotics, at least during their lifetimes, and only a handful says automation has cost them a job or loss of income. Still, a survey by the Pew Research Center also found widespread anxiety about the general impact of technological change. Three-quarters of…
read moreThe Interior Department is moving to delay an Obama-era regulation aimed at restricting harmful methane emissions from oil and gas production on federal lands. The rule, finalized last November, forces energy companies to capture methane that’s burnt off or “flared” at drilling sites on public lands during production because it pollutes the environment. An estimated…
read moreU.S. Senator Dianne Feinstein announced Wednesday she would introduce legislation to ban a type of device, known as a “bump stock,” used by the man who fired on concertgoers Sunday in Las Vegas, killing 58 people and then himself and leaving hundreds injured. Authorities said 12 of the rifles found in Stephen Paddock’s hotel room…
read moreAmericans are more likely to disapprove than approve of President Donald Trump’s handling of the Puerto Rico hurricane relief effort. According to a poll by the Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research, just 32 percent approve of how Trump is handling disaster relief in the U.S. territory, while 49 percent disapprove. “It took him…
read morePresident Donald Trump has passed Pope Francis to become the most followed world leader on Twitter, a social media tracker said Wednesday. Twitplomacy said Trump, with about 40 million followers, over the weekend took the top spot on its tracked list of about 890 accounts of leaders like heads of state and government. The pope’s…
read moreFord Motor Co.’s new CEO plans to cut $14 billion in costs, drop some car models and focus the company’s resources on trucks, SUVs and electric vehicles as part of a renewed effort to win over skeptical investors. Jim Hackett, who became Ford’s CEO in May, met with around 100 investors Tuesday in New York…
read moreNorth Korea’s U.N. ambassador accused the United States on Tuesday of imposing “an economic blockade” on his country and deploying nuclear assets on the Korean Peninsula aimed at toppling leader Kim Jong Un. Ja Song Nam said the U.S. push for countries to implement what he called “illegal and unjustifiable” U.N. sanctions on North Korea…
read moreThe outgoing head of the U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency urged analysts there to “speak truth to power” despite any political pressures they may face. Marine Lt. Gen. Vincent Stewart made the plea Tuesday at a change of command ceremony at DIA headquarters outside of Washington. “Speaking with honesty and integrity that which is a highly…
read moreReaction has been mixed to the United States informing the Cuban government that it is ordering the departure of 15 officials from the Cuban embassy in Washington. A senior State Department official told reporters Tuesday the Cuban diplomats have seven days to leave the country. The announcement comes less than a week after the U.S.…
read moreThe recovery of eastern Caribbean islands hardest hit by recent hurricanes, including Dominica, Barbuda, Turks and Caicos, the British Virgin Islands and Anguilla, could cost up to $1 billion, a senior U.N. official said Tuesday. “It’s going to be a large-scale rebuilding effort that will take time,” said Stephen O’Malley, the U.N. resident coordinator for…
read moreHouse Republicans and Democrats on Tuesday grilled Equifax’s former chief executive over the massive data hack of the personal information of 145 million Americans, calling the company’s response inadequate as consumers struggle to deal with the breach. Former Equifax CEO Richard Smith apologized for the compromise of such information as names, addresses, birth dates and…
read moreAmid an outpouring of grief and condolences as the death toll climbed higher from Monday’s mass shooting in Las Vegas, Nevada, one U.S. senator sent out a tweet, pointing an angry finger at his colleagues on Capitol Hill. Murphy represents Connecticut, where a gunman toting a semi-automatic rifle slaughtered 20 children aged six and…
read moreIndigenous people under threat from companies seeking to develop their land for agriculture, mining and energy projects will be supported with money and practical help through a major global partnership backed by philanthropic and government funding. The International Land and Forest Tenure Facility is the first initiative to provide grants to advance the rights of…
read moreThe U.S. Supreme Court plunged into the politically messy issue of redrawing congressional and legislative districts Tuesday, in a case that could have profound implications for both major political parties for years to come. The high court heard oral arguments in a case brought by Democratic voters in Wisconsin. They argued that a Republican redistricting…
read moreA U.S. senator wants to know how well the country’s top six voting machine manufactures protect themselves against cyberattacks, a move that comes just weeks after federal authorities notified 21 states that they had been targeted by Russian government hackers during the 2016 presidential election In a letter Tuesday to the CEOs of top…
read moreThe European Union insisted Tuesday that Brexit negotiations with Britain will not move on to the question of future relations until enough progress has been made on divorce issues, such as how much the country’s exit bill should be. Britain desperately wants talks to move on to future trade and security arrangements but EU Commission…
read moreAfter several years of struggling to make a living doing odd jobs in and around his village, 26-year-old Pushkar Singh came to New Delhi from the northern Uttarakhand state three months ago to hunt for a job. The high school dropout is willing to do anything — cook, work as a security guard, a peon in…
read more