The U.S. economy likely slowed in the first quarter as growth in consumer spending braked sharply, but the setback is expected to be temporary against the backdrop of a tightening labor market and large fiscal stimulus. Gross domestic product probably increased at a 2.0 percent annual rate, according to a Reuters survey of economists, also…
read moreAmazon.com Inc. more than doubled its profit Thursday and predicted strong spring results as the world’s biggest online retailer raised the price for U.S. Prime subscribers, added U.S. football games and touted its cloud services for business. The results showed the broad strength of the company, which has been expanding far beyond shipping packages, the…
read moreThe Department of Health and Human Services lost track of nearly 1,500 migrant children it placed with sponsors in the United States, an agency official told a Senate subcommittee Thursday. The children were taken into government care after they showed up alone at the Southwest border. Most of the children are from Honduras, El Salvador…
read moreMuch remains to be done before a new North American Free Trade Agreement is reached, Mexican Economy Minister Ildefonso Guajardo said Thursday, tempering hopes for a quick deal as ministers met in Washington for a third successive day. Negotiators from the United States, Mexico and Canada have been working constantly for weeks to clinch a…
read moreA long-anticipated visit by U.S. President Donald Trump to the United Kingdom has been set for July 13. It will be a “working visit,” however, and not a more formal state occasion during which the president would have met Queen Elizabeth. The announcement was made Thursday, separately by White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders…
read moreA judge ruled Thursday that an independent official called a special master should be the first to examine documents seized by FBI agents from U.S. President Donald Trump’s personal lawyer, Michael Cohen. Barbara Jones, a former federal judge in the Southern District of New York who has overseen cases ranging from organized crime to corporate…
read moreThe U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee approved a bill Thursday that would protect from arbitrary dismissal the special counsel investigating Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. election. The measure, backed by 10 Democrats and four Republicans, would codify Justice Department regulations that the special counsel can only be fired by the attorney general or a designee…
read moreCiting national security and foreign affairs interests, U.S. President Donald Trump has decided to further delay the public disclosure of documents related to the 1963 assassination of President John Kennedy. Trump said in White House statement Thursday the Archivist of the United States, the agency responsible for maintaining the records, agreed with the president’s proposal…
read morePresident Donald Trump often likes to boast about how different he is from his predecessors in terms of style and substance. But it is unlikely any past president would envy the legal challenges facing Trump, from the Russia investigation to Stormy Daniels to the scrutiny law enforcement is giving his personal lawyer, Michael Cohen. VOA…
read moreFacebook Inc. shares rose Wednesday after the social network reported a surprisingly strong 63 percent rise in profit and an increase in users, with no sign that business was hurt by a scandal over the mishandling of personal data. After easily beating Wall Street expectations, shares traded up 7.1 percent after the bell at $171,…
read moreA bipartisan group of senators pushing legislation to protect special counsel Robert Mueller’s job are trying to win over reluctant Republicans ahead of a crucial committee vote. The Senate Judiciary Committee was expected to vote Thursday on the bill, which would give any special counsel a 10-day window to seek expedited judicial review of a…
read moreThe U.S. House approved a bill Wednesday that would reverse a federal judge’s order to spill more water from four Pacific Northwest dams to help migrating salmon reach the Pacific Ocean. The bill, approved 225-189, would prevent any changes in dam operations until 2022. It was sponsored by Republican Reps. Cathy McMorris Rodgers and Dan…
read moreU.S. President Donald Trump’s personal lawyer plans to assert his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination in a lawsuit filed against him by adult-film star Stormy Daniels. Michael Cohen said in a brief filed Wednesday in a California court that he decided to invoke his constitutional right after the FBI raided his home, office and hotel…
read moreConocoPhillips says it won a $2 billion arbitration award against Venezuela’s state oil company over the seizure a decade ago of investments in two projects in the OPEC nation. The award represents the equivalent of more than 20 percent of the cash-strapped Venezuelan government’s foreign currency reserves. The Houston-based company said in a statement the…
read moreThe World Bank has disputed U.S. government findings that billions of dollars of donor funds flowing into Afghanistan are at risk due to lack of oversight and transparency. The project in question is called Afghanistan Reconstruction Trust Fund, or ARTF, and is being administered by the World Bank. It is one of the largest sources…
read morePresident Trump’s choice to head the Department of Veterans Affairs may soon withdraw his name from consideration because he is frustrated by the confirmation process, The Washington Post reports. The newspaper cites two White House officials who say Rear Admiral Ronny Jackson is wavering between dropping out and defending himself against Democratic allegations of professional misconduct…
read moreKenya’s economy is expected to rebound to 5.8 percent growth in 2018 after electoral uncertainty and drought cut last year’s expansion to the lowest level in more than five years, Finance Minister Henry Rotich said Wednesday. The economy will benefit from increased investment in key areas like manufacturing, farming, housing and health care, he said.…
read moreRepublican Debbie Lesko has won the special election in Arizona’s 8th Congressional District, keeping the U.S. House seat in GOP control. The former state senator on Tuesday defeated Hiral Tipirneni, a former emergency room physician. Tipernini had hoped to replicate surprising Democratic wins in Pennsylvania, Alabama and other states in a year where opposition to…
read moreA U.S. federal judge has ordered the Trump administration to keep in place deportation protection for 700,000 young undocumented immigrants known as “dreamers.” In a sharp rebuke to President Donald Trump’s efforts to end the program known as Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, District Judge John Bates also ordered the Department of Homeland Security to…
read moreFirst lady Melania Trump is getting her turn in the spotlight Tuesday night as she and President Donald Trump host French President Emmanuel Macron and Brigitte Macron for a White House state dinner. The first lady planned all the details for the first such event of the Trump administration — from the menu to the…
read moreThe humble pecan is being rebranded as more than just pie. Pecan growers and suppliers are hoping to sell U.S. consumers on the virtues of North America’s only native nut as a hedge against a potential trade war with China, the pecan’s largest export market. The pecan industry is also trying to crack…
read moreVolkswagen and Nissan have unveiled electric cars designed for China at a Beijing auto show that highlights the growing importance of Chinese buyers for a technology seen as a key part of the global industry’s future. General Motors displayed five all-electric models Wednesday including a concept Buick SUV it says can go 600 kilometers (375…
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