For just under one hour Tuesday, the White House physician methodically answered questions about the health of 71-year-old President Donald Trump, whom he declared “fit for duty.” While Trump, at 190 centimeters (almost 6 feet 3 inches) tall and weighing 108 kilograms (239 pounds) is the third-heaviest president in U.S. history (after William Howard Taft and…
read moreA French start-up has become the first company to start factory production of hydrogen-powered bicycles for use in corporate or municipal fleets. Pragma Industries, which is based in Biarritz, France and makes fuel cells for military use, has sold some 60 hydrogen-powered bikes to French municipalities including Saint Lo, Cherbourg, Chambery and Bayonne. At about…
read moreThe value of construction projects in Cambodia rose more than 22 percent to $6.4 billion in 2017 from the previous year, according to official figures released Tuesday that showed the impact of a boom driven by Chinese investors. The Ministry of Land Management, Urban Planning and Construction said it approved a total of 3,052 projects,…
read moreIn a wide-ranging hearing Tuesday on Capitol Hill, U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen told a Senate committee she did not remember hearing President Donald Trump use vulgar language to describe Haiti and African countries during a meeting last week with lawmakers at the White House. The U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee hearing follows a busy,…
read moreThe U.S. Justice Department says it will take what Attorney General Jeff Sessions called the “rare step” of asking the Supreme Court to overturn a California ruling barring the end of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program. The move is “rare” because the administration acted before current legal proceedings in a San Francisco appeals…
read moreThe House Intelligence Committee is poised to question Steve Bannon, the onetime confidant to President Donald Trump, following his spectacular fall from power after accusing the president’s son and others of “treasonous” behavior for taking a meeting with Russians during the 2016 campaign. Bannon is scheduled to testify before the panel on Tuesday, according to…
read moreFord’s plan to double its electrified vehicle spending is part of an investment tsunami in batteries and electric cars by global automakers that now totals $90 billion and is still growing, a Reuters analysis shows. That money is pouring in to a tiny sector that amounts to less than 1 percent of the 90 million…
read moreMobile apps that help women in the Indian countryside and tiny villages in Japan to open their homes to visitors from across the world are generating incomes, revitalizing remote communities and helping to curb migration to cities. A women’s organization in the western Indian state of Gujarat has tied up with Airbnb, the short-term home…
read moreThe next phase in data collection is right under your feet. Online clicks give retailers valuable insight into consumer behavior, but what can they learn from footsteps? It’s a question Milwaukee-based startup Scanalytics is helping businesses explore with floor sensors that track people’s movements. The sensors can also be used in office buildings to reduce…
read moreA Brazilian court on Monday ordered the world’s largest iron ore miner Vale SA to repair environmental damages its operations caused in land belonging to a community of descendants of escaped slaves in northern Brazil. Federal prosecutors announced the ruling in a statement that said the electricity transmission lines and a bauxite pipeline damaged soil…
read moreThe European Union’s trade tsar has no idea what Donald Trump will tell his audience at the World Economic Forum in Davos next week, but she is clear what the EU’s message to the U.S. president will be. America is shooting itself in the foot by withdrawing from global leadership on trade, Cecilia Malmstrom, the…
read moreMartin Luther King Jr.’s children and the pastor of an Atlanta church where he preached decried disparaging remarks President Donald Trump is said to have made about African countries, while protests between Haitian immigrants and Trump supporters broke out near the president’s Florida resort Monday, the official federal holiday honoring King. At gatherings across the…
read moreA Republican U.S. senator, who is one of President Donald Trump’s biggest critics, will this week deliver a speech comparing Trump’s treatment of the media to the behavior of former Soviet leader Joseph Stalin. According to excerpts of the speech obtained by media outlets, Senator Jeff Flake of Arizona will say in the Wednesday speech…
read moreThe International Monetary Fund has told the Ukrainian authorities that it does not support a draft law to create an anti-corruption court because the bill does not guarantee its independence, the newspaper Ukrainska Pravda reported on Monday. Slow progress in establishing a court to handle corruption cases while demonstrating independence and transparency has been one…
read moreFallout from U.S. President Donald Trump’s reported slur against impoverished, predominantly black nations further complicates a push for bipartisan immigration legislation that has eluded U.S. lawmakers for more than a decade. VOA’s Michael Bowman reports from Washington, a failure to reach a deal on thorny immigration topics could make a partial U.S. government shutdown more…
read morePresident Donald Trump denied he is a racist Sunday, three days after he reportedly referred to immigrants from Haiti, El Salvador and Africa as coming from “s—hole countries.” “I am the least racist person you will ever interview,” Trump responded to a reporter’s question at his Mar-a-Lago Florida resort. Trump said he is “ready, willing…
read moreMore than 12 million boxes of French baby milk products are being recalled from 83 countries for suspected salmonella contamination. The recall includes Lactalis’ Picot, Milumel and Taranis brands. The head of the French dairy Lactalis on Sunday confirmed that its products are being recalled from countries across Europe, Africa, Latin America and Asia after…
read moreU.S. President Donald Trump contended Sunday that a U.S. program to protect young immigrants from deportation is “probably dead,” saying that opposition Democrats “don’t really want it,” but just want to be able to talk about the issue. The fate of the program protecting nearly 800,000 immigrants from deportation who were brought to the U.S.…
read moreCrude oil prices reached a 30-month high this week. But the government agency that analyzes and disseminates energy information says the rally may have run its course. The Energy Information Administration predicts U.S. crude prices will stabilize to about 55 dollars a barrel for West Texas Crude and 60 dollars a barrel for Brent Crude,…
read moreTransgender whistleblower Chelsea Manning is seeking to become a U.S. senator representing the state of Maryland, according to federal election filings. She would run as a Democrat, challenging two-term Senator Ben Cardin in Maryland’s June primary. Manning would have to file with the state election board by February 27 to get her name on the…
read moreFollowing an outcry over a significant disparity in pay between co-stars, Mark Wahlberg agreed Saturday to donate the $1.5 million he earned for reshoots for All the Money in the World to the sexual misconduct defense initiative Time’s Up. Wahlberg said he’ll donate the money in the name of his co-star, Michelle Williams, who reportedly…
read moreCitizenship and Immigration Services says it has resumed accepting requests to renew a grant of deferred action under the Obama-era program that shields from deportation young immigrants brought to the U.S. as children and who remain in the country illegally. The decision comes four days after a federal judge, in a nod to pending lawsuits,…
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