Even though the U.S. Postal Service delivers about 46 percent of the world’s total mail, competition is getting tougher every day. The post office is turning to technology to stay current. VOA’s Elizabeth Lee shows how the USPS is using virtual and augmented realities, along with email, to attract business. …
read moreThe Senate is beginning its immigration debate with a bill that encapsulates all of President Donald Trump’s immigration priorities.One of those is a shift from an immigration system based largely on family reunification to a policy that would be points-based, sometimes called merit immigration. Points-based systems are not new. Britain has one, and Germany is starting…
read morePartisan sniping dominated U.S. Senate deliberations one day after the chamber voted to launch debate on immigration reform, including the fate of undocumented immigrants brought to the United States as children. Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, a Kentucky Republican, on Tuesday signaled his intention to conclude the immigration debate by week’s end and accused Democrats of…
read moreWhen the Federal Reserve’s policy meeting ended last month, U.S. stock indexes were near record highs, market volatility was almost non-existent and policymakers chatted about the calm waters welcoming incoming central bank chief Jerome Powell. Now, Janet Yellen’s successor may instead be facing an early test of his leadership as the Fed weighs the significance…
read moreU.S. National Intelligence Director Dan Coats told the Senate Intelligence Committee Tuesday during its annual worldwide threats hearing that North Korea’s weapons of mass destruction will pose a significant danger to the U.S. and its allies in the near future. “North Korea will be the most volatile and confrontational WMD (weapons of mass destruction)…
read moreTurkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is taking a hard line against nations and foreign energy companies exploring for gas in the eastern Mediterranean, warning them not to “step out of line” and encroach on his country’s territorial rights. “Let them not think that the search for natural gas in Cypriot waters and opportunistic initiatives relating…
read moreU.S. President Donald Trump says he is considering tariffs, quotas, and retaliatory taxes on imports of steel and aluminum from countries such as China, Japan, and South Korea. The comments came during a wide-ranging trade discussion Tuesday between Trump and a bipartisan group of lawmakers at the White House. The president said U.S. steel and…
read moreAimin Liu’s food delivery job is an exercise of muscle memory and physical endurance. He scans the Chinese kitchen’s receipts and addresses before placing his hands on the padded handlebars of his e-bike. Lifting his body, he is off — as fast as the bike will allow, against the sting of the winter wind. The…
read moreFBI chief Christopher Wray told lawmakers Tuesday that investigators mostly completed their background security checks on a former aide to President Donald Trump months ago, long before the White House says it first learned about allegations that staff secretary Rob Porter had emotionally and physically abused two former wives. Wray laid out a timeline for…
read moreWith U.S. congressional primary elections just weeks away, top intelligence officials are warning that Russia appears intent on trying to disrupt the 2018 vote much as it did during the 2016 presidential election. The heads of six major intelligence agencies told the Senate Intelligence Committee on Tuesday that Moscow sees the midterm elections as a…
read moreGeneral Motors said Tuesday it will close an underutilized factory in Gunsan, South Korea, by the end of May as part of a restructuring of its operations. The move is a setback for the administration of President Moon Jae-in, who has made jobs and wages a priority. A GM statement said Monday the…
read moreHighlights from President Donald Trump’s budget for fiscal year 2019, released Monday. Defense Trump’s budget for 2019 shows the administration’s concern about the threat from North Korea and its missile program. The Pentagon is proposing to spend hundreds of millions more in 2019 on missile defense. The budget calls for increasing the number of strategic…
read moreCompanies selling some of the most lucrative prescription painkillers funneled millions of dollars to advocacy groups that in turn promoted the medications’ use, according to a report released Monday by a U.S. senator. The investigation by Missouri’s Senator Claire McCaskill sheds light on the opioid industry’s ability to shape public opinion and raises questions about…
read moreThe Interior Department is replacing an Obama-era regulation aimed at restricting harmful methane emissions from oil and gas production on federal lands. A rule being published in the Federal Register this week will replace the 2016 rule with requirements similar to those in force before the Obama administration changed the regulation. Interior had previously announced…
read moreU.S. President Donald Trump’s $4.4-trillion budget request to Congress includes $28 billion for the Department of Justice, the nation’s chief law enforcement agency. The proposed funding is largely in line with the department’s budget in recent years, but it reflects the Trump administration’s law enforcement priorities, including sizable increases in funding for national security programs,…
read morePresident Donald Trump’s administration on Monday revived its support for construction of a new FBI headquarters, saying it planned to ask Congress in 2018 for the remaining $2.175 billion needed to help pay for it. The funding request, tucked inside the president’s larger $1.5 trillion infrastructure plan, would help cover the cost to tear down…
read moreU.S. prosecutors on Monday announced charges against five former Venezuelan officials accused of soliciting bribes in exchange for helping vendors win favorable treatment from state oil company PDVSA, the latest case to stem from a $1 billion graft probe. The indictment by the U.S. Justice Department was filed in federal court in Houston, Texas, and…
read moreU.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson on Monday urged department employees to intervene if they witness sexual harassment, two days after U.S. President Donald Trump expressed sympathy for those accused of harassment and not given due process. “There is no form of disrespect for the individual that I can identify, anything more demeaning than for…
read moreU.S. President Donald Trump said on Monday he would push for a “reciprocal tax” against countries, including U.S. allies, that levy tariffs on American products, but officials did not provide details on how such a tax would be structured or what goods it would apply to. During his populist 2016 presidential campaign, Republican Trump railed…
read moreUber is testing a service in Nairobi that was inspired by residents’ use of the platform for errands and aims to tap into a new segment of the city’s active ride-hailing market, a regional executive said Monday. Amid the minibuses, safari 4x4s, taxis and Ubers on the roads of Kenya’s capital, tiny, boxy Suzuki Altos…
read moreThe invention of a machine that removes pumpkin seeds from the shell and sorts them is being celebrated in Cameroon as traders hope to boost production of the commodity in the Central African Country. Mariama Diallo reports. …
read moreThe Senate begins a rare, open-ended debate on immigration and the fate of the “Dreamer” immigrants on Monday, and Republican senators say they’ll introduce President Donald Trump’s plan. Though his proposal has no chance of passage, Trump may be the most influential voice in the conversation. If the aim is to pass a legislative solution,…
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