Fifteen states and Washington, D.C., are suing the Trump administration to stop plans to end the program that keeps young undocumented immigrants from deportation. The attorneys general filed their lawsuit Wednesday in a federal court in Brooklyn, New York. They argue that the decision to scrap the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals is unconstitutional because…
read moreA Belgium-based start-up is on its way to making the world a bit sunnier, by printing the first 3-D sunglasses out of recycled plastic. The Antwerp-based company w.r.yuma – pronounced “We are Yuma” and named after one of the sunniest places on earth – began a month-long online crowd-sourcing campaign on Kickstarter on Wednesday. After…
read moreThe U.S. Supreme Court stepped into Texas’ congressional redistricting debate this week, temporarily halting a lower court order to correct two districts found to be drawn with racially discriminatory intent. The Supreme Court’s stay is the latest turn in a contentious six-year battle over accusations of racially motivated redistricting in Texas. Given Texas’ sizable congressional…
read moreThe U.S. Supreme Court stepped into Texas’ congressional redistricting debate this week, temporarily halting an order to correct two districts that lower courts found disenfranchised minority voting rights. The court’s stay is the latest in the years-long battle over racially motivated redistricting in Texas that could have a significant impact on Republican Party control of…
read moreAid groups have criticized efforts by European leaders to stem the flow of migrants from sub-Saharan Africa, arguing Europe’s economy needs more workers. One nongovernmental organization in Italy has been trying to fill the gap by training African migrants to work as beekeepers and then pairing them with local honey producers in need of employees.…
read moreAs women pound the pavements of Abidjan selling their wares, direct manic traffic in blue police uniforms and host popular television shows, it’s hard to believe Ivory Coast has one of the world’s widest gender gaps. With stark inequalities in school, as well as in access to healthcare and jobs, the United Nations ranks French-speaking…
read moreDinosaurs roamed Washington this week as young Americans protested possible budget cuts for the Peace Corps and other national service programs funded by the federal government. About 100 young people wearing Tyrannosaurus rex costumes stalked the National Mall and other parts of the nation’s capital to dramatize their slogan, “Expansion, not extinction.” They said they…
read moreTreasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin is raising speculation that Harriet Tubman’s future on the $20 bill could be in jeopardy. In a CNBC interview, Mnuchin on Thursday avoided a direct answer when asked whether he supported the decision made by the Obama administration to replace Andrew Jackson on the $20 bill with Tubman, the 19th…
read moreForeigners who were barred from entering the U.S. during President Donald Trump’s first attempt to ban travel from seven Muslim-majority nations will get government help reapplying for visas under a lawsuit settlement reached Thursday. Civil rights lawyers and the Trump administration announced the deal in during a conference call in federal court in Brooklyn,…
read moreThe French government said on Thursday it would cap unfair dismissal payouts and give companies more flexibility to adapt pay and working hours to market conditions in a labor reform France’s biggest union said was disappointing. The reform, President Emmanuel Macron’s first major policy step since his election in May, is also the first big…
read moreIn the coming weeks, as Houston turns its attention to rebuilding areas devastated by Tropical Storm Harvey, people like Jay De Leon are likely to play an outsized role — if they stay around. De Leon, 47, owns a small construction business in Houston, and he and his 10 employees do exactly the kind of…
read moreMichigan is likely to be the state most hurt by changes to the NAFTA trade agreement, according to a Fitch Ratings report released Wednesday, as U.S. President Donald Trump renewed threats to scrap the deal. Trump has threatened three times in the past week to abandon the North American Free Trade Agreement, revisiting his view…
read moreA federal judge late Wednesday temporarily blocked most of Texas’ tough new “sanctuary cities” law that would have allowed police to inquire about people’s immigration status during routine interactions, such as traffic stops. The law, SB 4, had been cheered by President Donald Trump’s administration but decried by immigrants’ rights groups who say it could…
read moreOfficials who run a popular language and cultural immersion program in the north woods of Minnesota are warning that potential changes in visa rules could make it hard for them to hire enough instructors. The Minnesota program’s alert is part of a larger push by cultural exchange programs nationwide to draw attention to the possible…
read moreAn abattoir located among herding communities in Ethiopia’s eastern Somali region, known more for droughts and famine than business opportunities, is an unusual stop for a U.S. aid administrator. But USAID chief Mark Green stopped at the Jijiga Export Slaughter House (JESH) during a visit to the town of Jijiga on Wednesday to see the…
read moreKrassi Nikov evacuated his Houston home with more than 2 feet (61 cm) of water inside it Tuesday after Tropical Storm Harvey devastated Texas’ Gulf Coast. He now plans to collect on his flood insurance for the second time this year and rebuild. But the future of the federal-government-run flood insurance program on which Nikov,…
read moreA flood of Indian business in fast-growing Vietnam has solidified commercial ties to help Hanoi upgrade an alliance with a powerful Asian neighbor and offset dependence on its historic rival, the more massive China. Indian investment in Vietnam has reached $2 billion and bilateral trade hit $10 billion over the year ending in March on…
read morePresident Donald Trump is promising billions to help Texas rebuild from Harvey-caused epic flooding, but his Republican allies in the House are looking at cutting almost $1 billion from disaster accounts to help finance the president’s border wall. The pending reduction to the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s disaster relief account is part of a…
read moreTwo weeks before Harvey’s floodwaters engulfed much of Houston, President Donald Trump quietly rolled back an order by his predecessor that would have made it easier for storm-ravaged communities to use federal emergency aid to rebuild bridges, roads and other structures so they can better withstand future disasters. Now, with much of the nation’s fourth-largest…
read moreDefense Secretary Jim Mattis has emphasized the U.S. is “never out of diplomatic solutions” when it comes to the North Korean crisis, after President Donald Trump said that “talking is not the answer.” Mattis was responding to a question about Trump’s tweet Wednesday morning about dealing with the threat of North Korea following the country’s…
read moreThe U.S. economy rebounded sharply in the spring, growing at the fastest pace in more than two years amid brisk consumer spending on autos and other goods. The gross domestic product, the broadest measure of economic health, grew at an annual rate of 3 percent in the April-June quarter, the Commerce Department reported Wednesday.…
read moreU.S. sanctions on the finance boss of Venezuela’s oil company PDVSA have led to some exports to the United States being blocked as banks and investment funds refuse to provide letters of credit to potential buyers, three financial sources said. U.S. businesses are barred from dealing with a sanctioned person or company and one of…
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