Greece’s powerful Communist Party has vowed to step up protests against online auctions of homes with defaulted mortgages, putting more pressure on the government which has promised bailout creditors it will speed up the auction process. More than 2,000 protesters from the party’s labor union took part in a rally in central Athens against the…
read moreSub-Saharan Africa continues to appear at the bottom of Transparency International’s annual index, with the violent, chaotic East African nation of Somalia maintaining its 12-year streak as the lowest rated nation on the chart that tracks perceptions of corruption in 180 countries. The index also found that more than two thirds of the countries…
read moreGeneral Motors has proposed $2.8 billion of fresh investment into its South Korean operations over the 10 years as part of its plan to restructure the embattled unit, a South Korean senior government official said on Wednesday. The offer comes as the Detroit carmaker and the South Korean government discuss restructuring options at loss-making GM…
read moreThe White House says new restrictions on top security clearances set to go into effect Friday will not affect the work of senior White House adviser Jared Kushner. President Donald Trump’s son-in-law has been operating for more than a year with an interim clearance, and his position has given him access to some of the…
read moreU.S. President Donald Trump says he has directed the Justice Department to propose regulations to curb the use of rapid-fire devices that allow semi-automatic rifles to mimic the firing speed of fully automatic firearms. Trump made the announcement Tuesday, six days after a gunman opened fire in a Florida high school, killing 17 people. Students…
read moreAfter recommending a ban on devices that can make firearms more lethal and calling for stronger background checks on gun buyers, U.S. President Donald Trump is hosting a “listening session” Wednesday at the White House with students, parents and teachers who have been victimized by mass shootings in America. Among those taking part in the…
read moreSouth Korea’s cryptocurrency industry is anticipating much better times as the market regulator changes tack from its tough stance on the virtual coin trade, promising instead to help promote blockchain technology. The regulator said Tuesday that it hopes to see South Korea — which has become a hub for cryptocurrency trade — normalize the virtual…
read moreSouth Korea said on Wednesday it is signing free trade agreements with five Central American nations aimed at boosting market access for the Korean auto sector and electronics makers. Trade minister Kim Hyun-chong will meet representatives from Costa Rica, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua and Panama in Seoul on Wednesday to sign five separate bilateral pacts…
read morePresident Nicolas Maduro said Tuesday that Venezuela had received $735 million in the first day of a pre-sale of the country’s “petro” cryptocurrency, aimed at pulling the country out of an economic tailspin. Maduro is hoping the petro will allow the ailing OPEC member to skirt U.S. sanctions as the bolivar currency plunges to record…
read moreGeorge Clooney, Oprah Winfrey, Steven Spielberg and Jeffrey Katzenberg said Tuesday that they would each donate $500,000 to the “March for Our Lives” rally in Washington in support of gun control following last week’s shooting at a Florida high school that left 17 dead. Clooney and his wife, human rights lawyer Amal Clooney, were the…
read moreU.S. officials say Vice President Mike Pence was scheduled to meet with officials from North Korea earlier this month, but North Korea canceled the meeting at the last minute. The meeting was to have taken place on February 10, during Pence’s visit to South Korea for the opening ceremonies of Winter Olympics in PyeongChang, which…
read moreThere are no talks between China and the separatists from Pakistan’s Baluchistan province regarding the protection of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), a senator from the province told VOA. First reported by The Financial Times, several newspapers in Pakistan said that China has been quietly holding talks with Baluch (natives of Baluchistan) militants for more than…
read morePresident Michel Temer’s decision to throw in the towel on reforming Brazil’s loss-making pension system leaves the unpopular measure as a campaign issue for October’s elections and a major headache for his successor. Monday’s announcement that Temer was abandoning an overhaul of the social security system — billed as the centerpiece of his efforts at…
read morePresident Donald Trump on Tuesday encouraged Republicans to fight Pennsylvania’s new court-imposed map of congressional districts, issued a day earlier in a move expected to improve Democrats’ chances at chipping away at the GOP’s U.S. House majority. “Trump tweeted that Republicans should challenge the new map of Pennsylvania’s 18 congressional districts all the way to…
read moreState-run Kenya Electricity Generating Company (KenGen) plans to add 1,745 megawatts (MW) of electricity from geothermal sources by 2025, part of a government push to end power generation from fossil fuels. “You are aware that going forward, the government policy which all generators including KenGen and including independent power producers, is to eliminate generation from…
read moreThe U.S. special counsel probing Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. presidential election is accusing a London-based lawyer of lying to investigators about his contacts with Rick Gates, a former campaign aide to President Donald Trump, who had already been indicted in a money-laundering case linked to his lobbying efforts in Ukraine. The office of…
read moreThe White House is signaling it is open to expanded background checks on potential gun buyers. The statement comes as pressure builds for Washington to address gun violence following last week’s shooting at a Florida high school, where 17 people were killed. VOA’s Bill Gallo reports …
read moreU.S. President Donald Trump waged a new attack Tuesday on the notion that Russian interference tipped the 2016 presidential election in his favor, quoting former President Barack Obama as saying shortly before the vote that there was no evidence anyone could rig the outcome. The U.S. leader contended in a Twitter comment that Obama failed…
read morePresident Donald Trump on Monday endorsed former Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney’s run for a U.S. Senate seat in Utah, despite Romney often being critical of Trump. During the 2016 presidential campaign, Romney excoriated Trump as a “fraud” who was “playing the American public for suckers.” Trump responded that Romney had “choked like a dog”…
read moreU.S. President Donald Trump is again blaming his predecessor for mishandling Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election. “Obama was President up to, and beyond, the 2016 Election. So why didn’t he do something about Russian meddling?” Trump said Monday on Twitter. It was the latest in a series of presidential tweets. It’s been a…
read morePennsylvania’s high court issued a new congressional district map for the state’s 2018 elections on Monday, potentially giving Democrats a boost in their quest to capture control of the U.S. House unless Republicans can to stop it in federal court. The map of Pennsylvania’s 18 congressional districts is to be in effect for the…
read moreFor the first time in Ukraine’s history, U.S. anthracite is helping to keep the lights on and the heating going this winter following a deal that has also helped to warm Kyiv’s relations with President Donald Trump. The Ukrainian state-owned company that imported the coal told Reuters that the deal made commercial sense. But it…
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