As tensions are easing over a potential trade war while negotiations between the U.S. and China continue, the uncertainty about tariffs and the eventual impact on the U.S. agricultural industry is taking a toll on U.S. farmers heading to the fields to plant this year’s crops. As VOA’s Kane Farabaugh reports, there is a lot…
read moreA short commute from New York City, Long Island has become the epicenter of President Trump’s vow to eradicate the gang known as Mara Salvatrucha, or MS-13, notorious for gruesome murder tactics rather than large numbers of homicides. But in one affected town, residents are skeptical that the gang — in operation on the East…
read moreTwo signatures. That’s all that’s needed to force a wide-ranging House debate — and votes — on border security and the immigration status of 700,000 undocumented young people brought to the U.S. as children. Since moderate Republicans opposed House leadership two weeks ago with a rare discharge petition to force a so-called “queen of the…
read moreU.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said North Korea stopped taking part in bilateral consultations that would have been necessary for a productive summit between President Donald Trump and Kim Jong Un. Pompeo provided additional insight into Trump’s decision to cancel the historic encounter in testimony before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. Moments after Presidents…
read moreU.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo says the Trump administration is not pushing for a regime change in Iran, but to achieve global consensus on how to get Tehran to “behave like a normal nation.” Pompeo told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee Thursday the administration is “well along” with plans to impose previous and new…
read moreSenior U.S. intelligence and law enforcement officials are set to give separate briefings to two sets of lawmakers Thursday in connection with the investigation into Russia’s meddling in the 2016 election. In the first session, Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, White House Chief of Staff John Kelly, National Intelligence Director Dan Coats and FBI Director…
read morePresident Donald Trump praised an NFL policy banning kneeling during the “The Star-Spangled Banner,” saying that “maybe you shouldn’t be in the country” if you don’t stand for the anthem. Trump spoke to “Fox & Friends”‘ in an interview that aired Thursday. The policy forbids players from sitting or taking a knee on the field…
read moreEven though the United States is one of the richest and most technologically advanced countries in the world, about 45 million Americans live below the poverty line. In Buffalo, New York, a once-prosperous city that has fallen on hard-times, one-third of its residents live in poverty. As Olga Loginova reports, the city offers an example…
read moreGermany’s struggling Deutsche Bank is slashing thousands of jobs as it reshapes its stocks trading operation and refocuses its global investment banking business on its European base. The bank said Thursday it would cut its workforce from 97,000 to “well below” 90,000 and that the reductions were underway. It said headcount in the stocks trading…
read moreAmazon, Starbucks, Vulcan and other companies have pledged a total of more than $350,000 toward an effort to repeal Seattle’s newly passed tax on large employers intended to combat homelessness. Just days after the Seattle City Council approved the levy, the No Tax On Jobs campaign, a coalition of businesses, announced it would gather signatures…
read moreCalifornia U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein says she no longer backs the death penalty, a reversal of decades-long support that comes during a primary campaign where her stiffest challenge is from a fellow Democrat who is trying to outflank her with the party’s base. “It became crystal clear to me that the risk of unequal application…
read moreStarbucks Corp. on Wednesday revealed details of the employee anti-bias training program that will take place behind closed doors at 8,000 U.S. company-owned cafes on the afternoon of May 29. Starbucks announced plans to shutter stores and corporate offices to train 175,000 employees after the controversial April 12 arrests of two black men, who were…
read moreU.S. President Donald Trump said on Wednesday “a different structure” is needed in trade negotiations with China, but he did not provide further details on the kind of change he seeks. “Our trade deal with China is moving along nicely,” Trump said in his Twitter post Wednesday morning, “but in the end we will probably…
read morePresident Donald Trump called Wednesday for a “radical change” to the structure of U.S. aid to countries deemed not sufficiently assisting the United States in keeping violent illegal immigrants from heading here. “We’re going to work out something where every time someone comes from a certain country, we’re going to deduct a rather large amount…
read moreShe’s a Yale-educated attorney and a romance novelist who served a decade in the Georgia legislature. Now Stacey Abrams has gained a shot at becoming the first black woman elected governor in U.S. history. Abrams, 44, easily won the Democratic nomination in Tuesday’s primary, and strong turnout among Democrats has fueled hopes she can take…
read moreThis week marks six months since Zimbabwe President Emmerson Mnangagwa took office, after Robert Mugabe gave in to military pressure and resigned. During the weekend, the 75-year-old Mnangagwa told supporters that since he took over, a lot had improved. He says Zimbabwe’s annual foreign direct investment had been around $400 or 500 million, but for…
read moreEthiopia’s state-run telecoms monopoly has agreed to allow some local firms to provide internet services through its infrastructure, a move seen as spurring competition and expanding the data market, officials said. Ethio Telecom has more than 16 million subscribers of internet services in the country of over 100 million people. It generated over 27.7 billion…
read moreU.S. President Donald Trump on Wednesday called the FBI’s use of an informant to talk to three of his 2016 campaign associates “SPYGATE,” saying it “could be one of the biggest political scandals in history!” The U.S. leader said on Twitter, “Look how things have turned around on the Criminal Deep State. They go after…
read moreTurkey’s currency has fallen to a record low against the dollar amid concerns about an outflow of investor capital and the country’s ability to manage the situation. The lira weakened to over 4.80 per dollar on Wednesday, down some 5 percent since the previous day. The drop puts pressure on the Turkish Central Bank…
read moreGeorgia Democrats gave Atlanta lawyer Stacey Abrams a chance to become the first black female governor in American history on a primary night that ended well for several women seeking office. Abrams set new historical marks with a primary victory Tuesday that made her the first black nominee and first female nominee for governor of…
read moreThe rate of incarceration in the U.S. is the world’s highest, leading to what many lawmakers and policy analysts say is a nationwide imprisonment epidemic. But the beginning of the end of that epidemic started Tuesday, Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, a Democrat from New York, told VOA. A bipartisan prison reform bill that passed the U.S.…
read moreHouseholds are feeling more stable, small businesses are making money and many expect to expand and hire in the coming year, signs of continued optimism in two key parts of the economy, the Federal Reserve reported Tuesday in a pair of annual surveys. Among more than 8,000 small businesses and more than 12,000 households covered…
read more
