Iran is studying ways to keep exporting oil and other measures to counter U.S. economic sanctions, state news agency IRNA reported Saturday. Since last month, when U.S. President Donald Trump pulled out of the nuclear deal that lifted most sanctions in 2015, the rial currency has dropped up to 40 percent in value, prompting protests by bazaar traders usually loyal…
read moreFor evangelical Christian leaders like Jerry Falwell Jr., this is their political holy grail. Like many religious conservatives in a position to know, the Liberty University president with close ties to the White House suspects that the Supreme Court vacancy President Donald Trump fills in the coming months will ultimately lead to the reversal of…
read moreThe U.S. ambassador to Estonia says he has resigned over frustrations with President Donald Trump’s comments about the European Union and the treatment of Washington’s European allies. In a private Facebook message posted Friday, James D. Melville wrote: “For the President to say EU was ‘set up to take advantage of the United States, to…
read moreU.S. President Donald Trump said in a tweet on Saturday that Saudi Arabia’s King Salman had agreed to his request to increase oil production “maybe up to 2,000,000 barrels” to offset production from Iran and Venezuela. There was no immediate comment from Saudi authorities. The world’s top oil exporter plans to pump up to 11…
read morePresident Donald Trump said Saturday that he had received assurances from King Salman of Saudi Arabia that the kingdom will increase oil production, “maybe up to 2,000,000 barrels” in response to turmoil in Iran and Venezuela. Saudi Arabia acknowledged the call took place, but mentioned no production targets. Trump wrote on Twitter that he had…
read moreEditor’s note: A look at the veracity of claims by political figures President Donald Trump has elevated his tax cuts to an act of biblical proportions, misleadingly claiming at a White House speech Friday that they triggered an “economic miracle.” Not quite. Also Friday, the president’s top economics aide, Larry Kudlow, appeared on the Fox…
read moreThe Trump administration says a judge’s ruling requiring the government to reunite migrant children and their families who were separated at the U.S. border could result in the children being detained longer than currently allowed. “The government will not separate families but detain families together during the pendency [duration] of immigration proceedings when they are…
read moreJune 30 marks Asteroid Day, a U.N.-sanctioned campaign to promote awareness around the world of what’s up in the sky. In Milan, scientists are assembling a new telescope that uses “insect vision” to spot risky celestial objects. Faith Lapidus explains. …
read moreAs he drives along a rural Ohio road where cell phone service can be spotty, Rylee Cupp, 21, reflects on how he overcame reservations about Donald Trump to emerge as a strong supporter of the president. “Looking now, after everything I see that Trump has done,” he says, “and the positives that have happened to…
read moreCanada struck back at U.S. steel and aluminum tariffs on Friday, vowing to impose punitive measures on C$16.6 billion ($12.63 billion) of American goods and unveiling a C$2 billion aid package for affected industries and workers. Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland told a news conference the tariffs would come into effect on July 1. …
read moreSummit meetings can change the world. Back in the 1970s, West German Chancellor Willy Brandt used to say that it was of the highest importance for leaders to “get a smell of each other.” Chemistry between leaders was a useful factor in soothing fractious relations, he thought. On July 16, U.S. President Donald Trump and…
read moreU.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo discussed energy security at a meeting with Saudi Arabia’s Energy Minister Khalid Al Falih on Friday in Washington, the department said. No other details were provided in a department statement. The United States has pushed for Saudi Arabia and other Gulf countries to add to oil supply to counter…
read moreU.S consumers increased their spending just 0.2 percent in May, a disappointing result after two months of much stronger gains. The weaker reading could raise questions about the extent of economic growth overall in the current April-June quarter. The Commerce Department says the tiny rise in spending last month followed much stronger increases of 0.6…
read moreAfter a sharp sell-off, China’s yuan and stock markets attempted a modest recovery Friday, yet investors were grappling with some of their worst losses in years as a bitter Sino-U.S. trade row threatened to ruffle the world’s second-biggest economy. The yuan was set for its biggest monthly fall on record. Chinese stocks, on a downward…
read moreA federal judge in Chicago on Thursday ordered the U.S. government to release a 9-year-old Brazilian boy who was separated from his mother at the U.S.-Mexico border, saying their continued separation “irreparably harms them both.” Judge Manish Shah mulled his decision for just a few hours before finding that Lidia Karine Souza can have custody…
read moreBig Soda scored a major victory Thursday as California passed a law that bans local sugar taxes through 2030 in the most populous U.S. state, where cities including Berkeley have approved such levies. The law, signed by Governor Jerry Brown as a compromise in the face of a soda industry-backed ballot initiative, prevents any local government from imposing future…
read moreHundreds of protesters were arrested Thursday after staging a sit-in at a U.S. Senate office building in Washington to protest the Trump administration’s immigration policy. U.S. Capitol Police arrested 575 activists, mostly women, decrying President Donald Trump’s “zero-tolerance” policy on admission of undocumented immigrants. They chanted “What do we want? Free families!” and “This is…
read moreA U.S. delegation traveled to Kenya on Thursday to attend the inaugural economic summit of the American Chamber of Commerce, Kenya. About 500 delegates, including Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta and Gilbert Kaplan, U.S. undersecretary of commerce for international trade, other high-ranking government officials from both nations and representatives from nearly 30 major U.S. corporations, gathered at…
read moreHailing “great economic success” during the first 18 months of his administration, U.S. President Donald Trump is calling for more companies to be like Taiwan’s electronics component manufacturer Foxconn and invest in the United States. At a groundbreaking event for the foreign company’s latest and largest investment in the upper Midwestern state of Wisconsin, Trump…
read moreImporters of Iranian oil are facing pressure from the United States to find another energy source or be hit with sanctions. The Trump administration is threatening other countries, including close allies such as South Korea, with the sanctions if they don’t cut off Iranian imports by early November, essentially erecting a global blockade around the…
read moreMelting glaciers and rising seas in Greenland; raging fires in Northern California; a relentless drought in Somalia and the disappearing Amazon forests. Famine, Feast, Fire and Ice are the four installments in a virtual reality (VR) documentary on climate change by filmmakers Eric Strauss and Danfung Dennis. The series, showcased at AFI Docs, the…
read morePresident Donald Trump was highlighting his economic policies Thursday by taking part in the ceremonial ground-breaking for a $10 billion Foxconn factory complex that may bring thousands of jobs to a state he barely carried in the 2016 presidential election. But Trump’s celebration comes amid less-rosy economic news, with Harley-Davidson’s announcement it’s moving some motorcycle…
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