The EU’s justice commissioner is working on a proposal that could oblige member states such as Poland, which has clashed with Brussels over reforms to its courts, to pass tests on the independence of their judicial systems before receiving funding. Vera Jourova said there was agreement within the executive European Commission to work on ideas…
read moreThe global unemployment rate is stabilizing after years in a slump due to a faltering economy, the International Labor Organization reports in “World Employment and Social Outlook: Trends 2018.” However, unemployment — which the ILO says stands at more than 192 million people globally — is expected remain persistently high in many parts of the…
read moreThe NAFTA trade agreement’s future hangs in the balance this week as negotiators from the United States, Canada and Mexico try to settle major differences over revamping a pact that President Donald Trump has threatened to abandon. Senior officials from the three nations will meet in Montreal for a week starting on Tuesday in the…
read moreThe Trump administration announced Monday it was preparing to replace existing vehicle barriers along a stretch of the U.S.-Mexico border in New Mexico that officials call “an area of high illegal entry.” The notice published in the Federal Register said the area extends around 20 miles (32 kilometers) west of the Santa Teresa Port of…
read moreU.S. President Donald Trump has signed a bill reopening the government, ending a 3-day partial shutdown that was triggered in part by a partisan brawl over immigration. Late Monday, members of the House of Representatives voted to approve the the bill which the U.S. Senate passed earlier in the day. The so-called continuing resolution keeps…
read moreKid Rock has donated about $122,000 from sales of merchandise promoting his potential U.S. Senate campaign to a voter-registration organization. The Detroit-area rocker, whose real name is Robert Ritchie, teased the public for months. At a September concert, he was introduced as Michigan’s “next senator.” In October, he confirmed he wasn’t running. Kid…
read moreFor Republicans, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer is the face of the government shutdown. For immigration advocates, he’s their best hope. Perhaps the most powerful Democrat in Washington, Schumer has so far succeeded in keeping his party unified in a bid to use the government funding fight to push for protections for some 700,000 young…
read moreIn Davos this week, participants can experience “a day in the life of a refugee.” Or hear about ways to uphold the Paris climate accord and promote free trade. Or rub elbows with any number of leaders of African countries. Enter Donald Trump. The World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, is meant — pretentiously…
read moreThe Senate will vote at noon Monday on a bill to reopen the government through Feb. 8, though passage is not assured. Senate leaders Mitch McConnell and Chuck Schumer are continuing to negotiate on a deal to reopen the government and begin legislative work on protecting some young immigrants, but Schumer said “we have yet…
read moreSenate Republican Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has scheduled a vote at noon Monday on ending the U.S. government shutdown. Lawmakers would be voting on a measure to fund the government for at least another three weeks. Leaders and members from both parties spent all day Sunday meeting and negotiating and looking for a way to…
read moreThe U.S. government stayed partially shut down Sunday for a second day, with no immediate end in sight to the stalemate between Republican and Democratic lawmakers over federal spending and immigration issues. U.S. President Donald Trump, at the start of his second year in office, pressured Congress to resolve the standoff, suggesting on Twitter that…
read moreAustralia has filed a formal complaint with the World Trade Organization that accuses Canada of placing “discriminatory” rules on the sales of imported wine. Canada is Australia’s fourth-biggest wine market. Officials in Canberra say rules in Canada unfairly discriminate against overseas wine. An official protest has been lodged with the World Trade Organization (WTO) against…
read moreIran’s supreme leader has ordered the Revolutionary Guard to loosen its hold on the economy, the country’s defense minister says, raising the possibility that the paramilitary organization might privatize some of its vast holdings. The comments this weekend by Defense Minister Gen. Amir Hatami appear to be a trial balloon to test the reaction of…
read moreSaudi Arabia’s energy minister urged global oil producing nations on Sunday to extend their cooperation beyond 2018, but said this might mean a new form of deal rather than continuing the same supply cuts that have boosted prices in recent months. It was the first time that Saudi Arabia had publicly raised the possibility of…
read moreAfghanistan’s arts and architecture were once the pride of Asia. However, more than four decades of war have left many of the country’s traditional crafts on the verge of extinction. Now a Britain-based organization, Turquoise Mountain, is working to preserve Afghan heritage in the capital’s still surviving commercial district, Murad Khani. VOA Deewa service’s Munaza…
read moreDemonstrators gathered in cities across the United States, and around the world, to call for equal rights in pay and health care, to denounce sexual harassment and to encourage women to run for office. As VOA’s Kane Farabaugh reports, this year’s “Women’s March” isn’t just a protest. Organizers hope it’s a nationwide call to action.…
read moreDonald Trump, the presidential candidate, would not like the way Trump, the president, is crowing about today’s unemployment rate. He’d be calling the whole thing a “hoax.” Trump raised a red flag about declining jobless numbers during his campaign, denying President Barack Obama any credit. Trump noted that the jobless rate masks the true employment…
read moreThe women gathered across the US and around the world to call for equal rights in pay and health care, to denounce sexual harassment, and to encourage women to run for office. …
read moreU.S. President Donald Trump’s presidential campaign on Saturday issued a new video ad calling Democrats “complicit” in murders committed by illegal immigrants, during a government shutdown partly triggered by an impasse over immigration. The Trump campaign released the ad, titled “Complicit,” on the anniversary of the Republican president’s inauguration. It focuses on an undocumented immigrant,…
read moreLeading U.S. feminist thinkers from across the political spectrum are anticipating a tumultuous 2018 after last year’s groundswell of high-profile sexual harassment claims, which brought down major figures in the worlds of entertainment, business and politics. Preparing to mark the one-year anniversary of the January 21 Women’s March, which some activists have described as the…
read moreDemocrats and Republicans showed few signs of agreement Saturday, just hours after a funding bill was blocked in the Senate, beginning a partial shutdown of the U.S. government. Spending authority expired at midnight Washington time, triggering a halt of nonessential functions. Lawmakers are at odds over a range of military spending and immigration issues, including…
read moreThousands of women gathered in cities across the United States and around the world on the anniversary of the inauguration of President Donald Trump to call for equal rights in pay and health care, to denounce sexual harassment and to encourage women to run for office. Marchers also addressed such issues as racial equality, gun control, immigrant…
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