A Senate committee approved legislation Thursday that would suspend U.S. financial assistance to the Palestinian Authority until it ends what lawmakers said is a long-standing practice of rewarding Palestinians who kill Americans and Israelis. Members of the Republican-led Senate Foreign Relations Committee voted 17-4 to pass the measure, sponsored by Sens. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C.,…
read moreResearchers in England are hoping to help root out modern-day slavery in northern India by using detailed satellite imagery to locate brick kilns — sites that are notorious for using millions of slaves, including children. A team of geospatial experts at the University of Nottingham use Google Maps and dozens of volunteers to identify potential…
read moreIn a change from chocolates and fizzy drinks, the French are starting to offer fresh oysters from vending machines in the hope of selling more of the delicacy outside business hours. One pioneer is Tony Berthelot, an oyster farmer whose automatic dispenser of live oysters on the Ile de Re island off France’s western coast…
read moreNigeria will legalize illegal mini refineries in the Niger Delta oil hub by the end of the year and supply them with crude at a reasonable price, the presidency said Thursday, fulfilling a demand from community leaders. On Monday, Niger Delta leaders threatened to pull out of peace talks with the government unless their demands…
read moreUnder a best-case scenario, a newly negotiated North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) would not be implemented before the end of next year or the start of 2019, Mexico’s economy minister said Thursday. Among other issues, NAFTA talks would focus on how to provide more certainty in dispute resolutions, Economy Minister Ildefonso Guajardo said in…
read moreDevelopments in Washington, D.C., on Thursday include President Donald Trump tweeting that the U.S.-Russia relationship is at a distinct low point, suggesting he may pressure China over trade and North Korea, the leaking of transcripts of contentious phone calls from January between the president and the leaders of Mexico and Australia, as well as a…
read moreWatching over his kids at a water fountain in Warren, Detroit’s largest suburb, Republican Jason Marchand says he approves of Trump — a president who has done things “that should have been done a long time ago” — and credits him for improvements in the auto industry. But he acknowledges that their views differ on…
read moreWomen in the United States are starting bushiness at one and a half times the rate of their male peers. Effective entrepreneurship could help cut the economic gap between women and men, which the World Economic Forum says could otherwise take decades to close around the globe. As VOA’s Jim Randle reports, experts say more…
read moreU.S. President Donald Trump may soon attempt to increase pressure on China to change its trade practices and do more to stop North Korea’s weapons programs. Reports in the financial press say President Trump may sign an order as soon as Friday to start an investigation of Chinese demands that foreign companies share technology…
read moreTwo phone calls described by President Donald Trump that didn’t actually happen represent the latest chapter in a long-running series of disputes revolving around the president’s rocky relationship with facts. White House press secretary Sarah Sanders on Wednesday found herself explaining that compliments Trump had described receiving in phone calls from the Mexican president and…
read moreOne of the key lawyers in President Donald Trump’s corner navigated a popular United States senator through crisis, produced a damning investigative report that drove a baseball star from the game and, early in his career, took on organized crime as a Justice Department prosecutor. John Dowd, a retired Marine Corps captain and longtime legal…
read moreThe Dow Jones Industrial Average set a sixth-straight record Wednesday, closing above 22,000 for the first time, but experts point out that whatever goes up must always come down. The Dow closed up a fraction at 22,016. Healthy earnings reports from computer technology giant Apple, the world’s largest publicly traded company, and airplane manufacturer Boeing…
read moreU.S. senators urging new congressional authorization for the use of military force (AUMF) in the Middle East and elsewhere made little headway convincing a skeptical Trump administration during closed-door discussions Wednesday, participants said. “There’s an unbridgeable difference between the administration and many members of this committee,” Democrat Chris Murphy of Connecticut told reporters as he…
read moreNew U.S. public-opinion surveys show that President Donald Trump’s approval ratings, already the lowest ever for an American president early in his White House tenure, are continuing to fall. Quinnipiac University said Wednesday that Americans, by a 61-to-33 percent margin, disapprove of Trump’s performance six months into his four-year term in the White House. Gallup,…
read moreU.S. Vice President Mike Pence accused Russia on Wednesday of working to “destabilize” the Western Balkans and divide the region from the West where he said its future lies. Pence spoke in Montenegro, which joined NATO this year in defiance of Russia, on the final leg of a tour designed to reassure Eastern Europe of…
read moreBipartisan groups of Republican and Democratic lawmakers are looking for ways to fix problematic parts of the U.S. health care law, even as President Donald Trump says he wants to let it collapse. Trump has voiced his anger that the Senate last week failed in three attempts to overhaul the law, passed during the first…
read moreIndia, one of the world’s largest markets for pharmaceuticals, is drawing up its first set of marketing rules for drugmakers, restricting gifts and trips offered to doctors and pharmacists to 1,000 rupees ($15), according to a draft proposal seen by Reuters. Such rules are common overseas, but are not set in stone in India, where…
read moreDevelopments in Washington, D.C., on Wednesday include President Donald Trump trying to limit legal immigration to the U.S., signing a bill that strengthens sanctions against Russia, Iran and North Korea, planning to enact trade action against China, and allegedly calling the White House a dump. Trump Joins Senators in Bid to Cut Legal Immigration —…
read moreAs the U.S. stock market hit a new all-time high Wednesday, key U.S. lawmakers staked out core positions for a looming battle that could impact economic performance for decades: reforming America’s complicated and much-maligned tax system. “Comprehensive tax reform represents the single most important action we can take now to grow the economy and to…
read moreAmazon is holding a giant job fair Wednesday and plans to make thousands of job offers on the spot at nearly a dozen U.S. warehouses. Though it’s common for Amazon to ramp up its shipping center staff in August to prepare for holiday shopping, the magnitude of the hiring spree underscores Amazon’s growth when traditional…
read moreFoxconn Technology Group is not saying whether it plans to invest $30 billion in the United States, as President Donald Trump claimed he was told by the company’s leader “off the record.” Trump announced to a group of small business leaders at the White House on Tuesday that Foxconn CEO Terry Gou told him privately…
read morePresident Trump’s White House is under new management. Retired Marine Corps General John Kelly has taken over as chief of staff after serving as the Secretary for Homeland Security. Kelly will be asked to use his military experience to bring a sense of order to a White House. …
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