Thailand’s cabinet has agreed to draft a law to regulate cryptocurrency trading, seeking to tax the largely unregulated market. Government spokesman Nathporn Chatusripitak said Tuesday the Ministry of Finance also proposed the new regulations to help prevent use of digital currencies in money laundering and fraud. He said details of the proposed regulations would be…
read moreCambodia is pushing ahead with new legislation in a bid to lure foreign investors to its vibrant casino and gaming industry, promoting the Kingdom as a key gaming center in South East Asia. The proposed legislation, expected to be passed after general elections this year, has been three years in the making and will oversee…
read moreSecretary-General Antonio Guterres called himself “a proud feminist” Monday and said all men should support women’s rights and gender equality. His statement was loudly applauded by hundreds of women and a sprinkling of men at the opening of the annual two-week meeting of the Commission on the Status of Women, a U.N. body that Guterres…
read moreThe daily commute from Mexico to California farms is the same as it was before Donald Trump became president. Hundreds of Mexicans cross the border and line the sidewalks of Calexico’s tiny downtown by 4 a.m., napping on cardboard sheets and blankets or sipping coffee from a 24-hour doughnut shop until buses leave for the…
read moreImmigrants from four countries and their American-born children sued the Trump administration Monday over its decision to end a program that lets them live and work legally in the United States. Nine immigrants and five children filed the suit in federal court in San Francisco alleging the decision to end Temporary Protected Status for El…
read moreThe U.S. national security adviser said Monday that Washington is “determined” to keep up its policy of maximum pressure on North Korea aimed at its denuclearization. General H.R. McMaster was in New York to brief ambassadors of the 15-nation U.N. Security Council, as well as Japan and South Korea. He told reporters afterward that the…
read moreU.S. President Donald Trump is blocking Singapore-based Broadcom, maker of computer and smartphone chips, from taking over U.S. chipmaker Qualcomm. Trump cited national security grounds in stopping the takeover, following the recommendation of the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS). The committee reviews national security implications when foreign entities purchase U.S. corporations.…
read moreEducation Secretary Betsy DeVos got a less than ringing endorsement from the White House on Monday after a pair of uncomfortable television interviews raised questions about her commitment to help underperforming schools and support for President Donald Trump’s proposal to curb school violence. Less than a day after DeVos was appointed to chair a…
read moreEurozone creditors are expected to disburse new loans to Greece this month and are working on debt relief measures, the head of the bloc’s finance ministers said on Monday, steps that should help underpin its economic recovery. Greece’s 86-billion-euro bailout program, its third since 2010, is due to end in August and international lenders are…
read moreAn adult film actress who said she had sex with President Donald Trump offered Monday to return the $130,000 she was paid for agreeing not to discuss the alleged relationship. Stormy Daniels — whose real name is Stephanie Clifford — is willing to repay the money she received as part of a 2016 agreement,…
read moreRepublicans on the House Intelligence Committee have completed a draft report concluding there was no collusion or coordination between Donald Trump’s presidential campaign and Russia, a finding that is sure to please the White House and enrage panel Democrats. After a yearlong investigation, Texas Rep. Mike Conaway announced Monday that the committee has finished…
read moreMexico’s powerful CCE business lobby on Monday urged the leftist front-runner for a July 1 presidential election to stop questioning major planks of the government’s economic agenda lest it damage investment. Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, who has led opinion polls by a wide margin for weeks, has gradually moderated his rhetoric and his leading advisers…
read moreA global financial body warns central banks should carefully weigh the risks before introducing their own virtual currencies, saying such innovations could risk destabilizing banking systems and unleash disruption across borders. But it said some forms of digital innovation could help by making trading in stocks and currencies more efficient. Monday’s report from the Bank…
read moreAustria’s Constitutional Court on Monday dealt a blow to the government’s plans to cut benefits for groups including refugees, striking down identical rules in one province and saying refugees deserve special treatment. Austria’s parliamentary election in October was dominated by Europe’s immigration crisis, when it took in some of the largest numbers of asylum-seekers in…
read moreThe White House on Sunday vowed to help provide “rigorous firearms training” to some schoolteachers and formally endorsed a bill to tighten the federal background checks system, but backed off President Trump’s earlier call to raise the minimum age to purchase some guns to 21 years old from 18 years old. Responding directly to last…
read moreThe main events in a political campaign used to happen in the open: a debate, the release of a major TV ad or a public event where candidates tried to earn a spot on the evening news or the next day’s front page. That was before the explosion of Facebook, Twitter and YouTube as political…
read moreWashington is abuzz over what could prove to be the biggest diplomatic breakthrough of recent decades: a meeting between U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. VOA’s Michael Bowman reports, almost no concrete details are known about the encounter, which was announced without warning last week and took much of the…
read moreU.S. President Donald Trump unleashed new attacks Sunday on two of his favorite targets, opposition Democrats and the national news media. In one of a string of Twitter comments, the U.S. leader contended that Democratic lawmakers were continuing “to obstruct the confirmation of hundreds of good and talented people who are needed to run our…
read moreLabor strikes. Nationwide protests. Bank failures. In recent months, Iran has been beset by economic problems despite the promises surrounding the 2015 nuclear deal it struck with world powers. Its clerically overseen government is starting to take notice. Politicians now offer the idea of possible government referendums or early elections. Even Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali…
read moreU.S. President Donald Trump says the United States is prepared to counter any future meddling in the 2018 and 2020 U.S. elections. But what would a U.S. counterattack look like, and is the Russian political system vulnerable to the same attacks that befell the 2016 elections? VOA’s Jane Bojadzievski takes a look at what that…
read moreChina said Sunday it does not intend to ignite a trade war with the U.S. because the move would be disastrous for the entire world. “There are no winners in a trade war,” Minister of Commerce Zhong Shan said on the sidelines of China’s annual parliamentary session. “China does not wish to fight a trade…
read moreComedian Kathy Griffin is embarking on her comeback, nine months after she provoked outrage — and lost much of her work — by posing with a fake severed head that appeared to depict President Donald Trump. Griffin announced on HBO’s Real Time With Bill Maher Friday night that she had just booked upcoming shows at New…
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