A blueprint of a Republican tax overhaul plan proposes tax cuts to wealthy Americans, businesses and the middle class while protecting deductions such as those for mortgage interest and charitable contributions. The sweeping plan was unveiled Wednesday, the beginning of negotiations to revamp the U.S. tax code. It lacks critical details about the many tax…
read moreCBS says “60 Minutes” has landed the first television interview with House Majority Whip Steve Scalise since he was shot at a congressional baseball team practice in June. The network said Wednesday that Scalise will speak to Norah O’Donnell for the news magazine’s episode this Sunday. He’ll recount the attack from his vantage…
read moreU.S. Republicans and President Donald Trump suffered another setback on health care Tuesday when Senate Republicans decided to postpone a vote on their latest proposal to repeal and replace Obamacare. The decision came after a handful of Republicans said they would oppose the bill, likely dooming it to defeat in a Senate vote. VOA National…
read moreSwitzerland is the world’s most competitive economy for a ninth straight year, the Geneva-based World Economic Forum said on Wednesday. Since suffering a rare blip in 2008, when it was nudged into second place by the United States, the Swiss economy has maintained an efficient but unshakeable grip on the top spot in the WEF…
read moreFirebrand jurist Roy Moore won the Alabama Republican primary runoff for U.S. Senate on Tuesday, defeating an appointed incumbent backed by President Donald Trump and allies of Sen. Mitch McConnell. In an upset likely to rock the GOP establishment, Moore clinched victory over Sen. Luther Strange to take the GOP nomination for the seat…
read moreThe Commerce Department slapped duties of nearly 220 percent on Canada’s Bombardier C Series aircraft Tuesday in a victory for Boeing that is likely to raise tensions between the United States and its allies Canada and Britain. Commerce ruled that Montreal-based Bombardier used unfair government subsidies to sell jets at artificially low prices in the…
read moreThe acting chief of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration is stepping down while the agency awaits the Trump administration’s nomination of its permanent leader. A person familiar with the move said Chuck Rosenberg would leave the post October 1. The person, who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity to discuss personnel matters,…
read moreIt is not quite going back to the horse, even if the bicycle was the first contraption to replace beasts as a means of personal transport. This is a new two-wheeled animal, though, that millions of consumers in Beijing, Taipei, Singapore and cities across Asia are renting via phone apps to cover the last mile…
read moreThe top U.S. general said on Tuesday he has urged the Trump administration not to kick transgender service members out of the military despite President Donald Trump’s ban on transgender people serving in the armed forces. Marine Corps General Joseph Dunford, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, was asked by Democratic Senator Kirsten Gillibrand…
read moreDespite concerns about low inflation in the United States, the head of the U.S. central bank says raising interest rates gradually would be the most appropriate policy stance for the Federal Reserve. “It would be imprudent to keep monetary policy on hold until inflation is back to two percent,” Fed Chair Janet Yellen said Tuesday, while…
read moreMexican officials are tallying up the economic losses of the magnitude 7.1 earthquake that caused widespread damage in the capital, as the number of buildings that may need to be pulled down or need major repairs rose to 500. The death toll in the quake rose to 333, with 194 of those deaths in…
read moreFederal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen acknowledged Tuesday that the Fed is puzzled by the persistence of unusually low inflation and that it might have to adjust the timing of its interest rate policies accordingly. Speaking to a conference of economists, Yellen touched upon key questions the Fed is confronting as it tries to determine why…
read moreHackers breached the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s computer system last year by taking advantage of companies that used authentic financial data when they were testing the agency’s corporate filing system, according to sources familiar with the matter. The Federal Bureau of Investigation and the U.S. Secret Service have since launched an investigation into a…
read moreVoters in the southeastern state of Alabama go to the polls Tuesday to decide a closely watched U.S. Senate race that has aligned President Donald Trump with the Senate’s Republican leadership and tests his relationship with his base of supporters. Last month, Trump endorsed Senator Luther Strange, an establishment-backed Republican candidate who has trailed opponent…
read moreEquifax CEO Richard Smith announced his sudden retirement Tuesday following a massive data breach at the credit reporting company earlier this year. Smith and Equifax says they learned of the hack in late July but waited until September 7 to inform its customers about the incident, which may have further compromised the personal information of…
read moreThe United States has asked China not to implement its new cybersecurity law and is concerned it could damage global trade in services, a U.S. document published by the World Trade Organization showed on Tuesday. China ushered in a tough new cybersecurity law in June, following years of fierce debate around the move that many…
read moreIt is no secret that the bulk of Ivanka Trump’s merchandise comes from China. But just which Chinese companies manufacture and export her handbags, shoes and clothes is more secret than ever, an Associated Press investigation has found. In the months since she took her White House role, public information about the companies importing…
read moreU.S. President Donald Trump voiced his support Tuesday for fans booing National Football League players who have been kneeling during the playing of the national anthem before games to protest racism in the country. At a Monday night game, Dallas Cowboy players, along with team owner Jerry Jones, knelt as a team on the field…
read morePolitical consultant Roger Stone, a longtime associate of U.S. President Donald Trump, said he has “no involvement” in alleged collusion with Russia linked to last year’s presidential election, ahead of his House intelligence committee for testimony Tuesday. In an opening statement released before the closed-door session, Stone says it is clear there was a foreign…
read moreHouse Democrats urged immediate action on the fate of 800,000 undocumented young people brought to the U.S. as children Monday, using an unusual procedural move that would force Republican leadership to bring a bill resolving their status up for a floor vote. “This is our number one priority, it must be done and we should…
read moreRepublican senators Monday introduced a bill that, if passed, would create a pathway to citizenship for potentially more than 2 million undocumented immigrants who came to the United States as children. Senators Thom Tillis, a Republican from North Carolina, along with co-sponsors James Lankford, a Republican from Oklahoma, and Orrin Hatch, a Utah Republican, announced…
read moreU.S. Speaker of the House Paul Ryan said Monday that Congress was committed to relief efforts in Puerto Rico, which was devastated by Hurricane Maria last week. “The stories and images coming out of Puerto Rico are devastating,” Ryan said in a statement. “Congress is working with the administration to ensure necessary resources get to…
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