Lawmakers from 19 states are trying to develop a plan in Arizona this week for carrying out a growing, but unlikely, national effort to amend the Constitution to require a balanced U.S. budget, a long-held goal of conservatives who believe out-of-control spending is harming the nation. The plan is to add an amendment to the…
read moreThe Trump administration has adequate legal authority to combat terrorist groups and doesn’t support a push in Congress for a new law permitting military action against the Islamic State and other militants, a senior White House official said Tuesday. The comments Tuesday by White House legislative director Marc Short came as Republican Senator Rand Paul…
read moreCalifornia and three other states sued President Donald Trump’s administration on Monday over his decision to end protections for people brought to the United States illegally as children, the latest bid by Democratic state attorneys general to salvage the policy. California Attorney General Xavier Becerra said Trump’s move to rescind the Deferred Action for Childhood…
read moreWhile U.S. stock indexes continue to see record breaking gains and U.S. employment numbers are encouraging, American farmers continue to struggle with high costs for fertilizer and seed at a time when demand and prices for their products are low. As VOA’s Kane Farabaugh reports, the economic hardship has a ripple effect beyond the farmers’…
read moreU.S. Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao will unveil on Tuesday streamlined safety guidelines for automakers that want to deploy self-driving vehicles, a person briefed on the matter said Monday, as members of Congress push their own proposals to remove regulatory barriers to the technology. The new Transportation Department policy is expected to offer the lighter regulatory…
read moreVenezuelan President Nicolas Maduro said at the end of a two-day visit to Algeria Monday that his country and the North African nation were working to achieve “equitable” oil prices. Maduro said his talks with Algeria’s second-ranking official, Council of the Nation President Abdelkader Bensalah, had a “good climate.” The Council of the Nation…
read moreRussian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov has urged the United States to start finding a way to resolve the problems between the two countries. “We called for a stop to the destruction of Russia-U.S. relations and … to start finding solutions to resolve problems that are mounting through no fault of ours,” said a Russian…
read moreInternational watchdog group Global Witness says powerful political elites and security forces have controlled and secretly exploited Zimbabwe’s diamond sector for a decade. Zimbabwe’s dreaded Central Intelligence Organization and the military are among the state actors accused of holding stakes in private diamond enterprises, trading the country’s precious stones on the international market. Global Witness…
read moreIndia will provide more assistance to Afghan defense forces and implement new development projects in the war-torn country. The announcement came at the first high-level meeting held between the two countries after U.S. President Donald Trump unveiled a new Afghan strategy in which he called on India to step up its role in Afghanistan. A…
read morePope Francis is urging President Donald Trump to rethink his decision to end a program protecting young immigrants from deportation, saying anyone who calls himself “pro-life” should keep families together. “If he is a good pro-life believer he must understand that family is the cradle of life and one must defend its unity,” Francis…
read moreHurricane Irma’s path of destruction up Florida’s Gulf Coast on Sunday threatens to disrupt a thriving state tourism industry worth more than $100 billion annually just months ahead of the busy winter travel season. Some of the state’s biggest attractions have announced temporary closures, including amusement park giants Walt Disney World’s Magic Kingdom, Universal Studios,…
read moreThe introduction of post-Brexit customs checks could cost traders more than 4 billion pounds ($5.28 billion) a year, according to a think tank report released on Monday. The British government has said it plans to leave the European Union’s customs union when it leaves the bloc, and it wants to negotiate a new relationship that…
read moreU.S. President Donald Trump declared Hurricane Irma a major disaster for the state of Florida Sunday, and ordered federal government officials to make a priority of supplying aid to the worst-hit areas of the country’s third most populous state. “I hope there aren’t too many people in that path,” Trump said. “We tried to warn…
read morePresident Donald Trump will preside over his first 9/11 commemoration in office on Monday, a mostly solemn and nonpartisan occasion that may highlight his muddled claims about the worst terrorist attack on U.S. soil. Trump and first lady Melania Trump planned to observe a moment of silence at the White House in remembrance of…
read moreMexico’s top diplomat will make a two-day visit to immigrant-friendly California amid strained relations between his country and the U.S. over President Donald Trump’s border wall and immigration and trade proposals. Mexico’s Foreign Relations Secretary Luis Videgaray is expected to meet Monday with Gov. Jerry Brown and state legislative leaders in California’s capital. He…
read moreThe former chairman of the world’s largest meatpacker, whose testimony implicated Brazil’s president in corruption, turned himself in to police Sunday after the country’s Supreme Court ordered his arrest. Joesley Batista has avoided prosecution under a plea bargain deal in which he described how meatpacking giant JBS had bribed dozens of politicians, including President…
read moreU.S. Senator John McCain, who recently returned to Washington after treatment for brain cancer, said on Sunday the disease is vicious but that the treatment is going well and he has more energy than before. “This is a very vicious form of cancer that I’m facing,” McCain, a Republican who ran unsuccessfully for president in…
read moreHundreds of people rallied Saturday outside the Trump International Hotel and Tower in New York City to protest the Trump administration’s decision to end a program protecting young immigrants from deportation. The protesters on Saturday waved signs that read “No one is illegal” and “Immigrants welcome” and chanted “Deport Donald Trump” and “No hate, no…
read morePresident Donald Trump ignored seething Republicans and made good on his deal with Democrats, signing legislation that links $15.3 billion in disaster aid to an increase in the U.S. borrowing limit. The law is a first installment in replenishing depleted federal emergency coffers. Trump signed it Friday as Hurricane Irma approached Florida and as…
read moreThe White House’s decision this week to repeal the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA), carries enormous repercussions for the nearly 800,000 beneficiaries: The undocumented young people who were brought to the United States as children. But the cost, which is difficult to quantify for a workforce faced with the real possibility of losing their…
read moreThe White House’s decision to repeal DACA, or Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, carries enormous repercussions for the nearly 800,000 beneficiaries who arrived in the U.S. as children. Over the next two years, more than 700,000 employed recipients will find themselves without a job. And for their employers, laying off a qualified workforce carries not…
read moreTwo back-to-back storms will have a significant impact on U.S. growth and productivity, according to economists tracking the impact of Hurricanes Harvey in Texas, and Irma — expected to make landfall in Florida this weekend. Despite the potential catastrophic loss in lives and capital, economists who spoke with VOA say the damage to the U.S.…
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