The Trump administration has cut funding to the U.N. agency that helps Palestinian refugees, calling the organization “irredeemably flawed.” The U.S. State Department ended decades of support to the organization Friday, saying “the administration has carefully reviewed the issue and determined that the United States will not make additional contributions to UNRWA (United Nations Relief…
read moreU.S. President Donald Trump notified Congress on Friday of his intent to sign a trade agreement with Mexico after talks with Canada broke up earlier in the day with no immediate deal to revamp the tri-nation North American Free Trade Agreement. U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer said U.S. officials would resume talks with their Canadian counterparts next Wednesday with the aim…
read moreCoca-Cola is hoping for a caffeine-fueled boost with the acquisition of British coffee chain Costa. Costa is Britain’s biggest coffee company, with over 2,400 coffee shops in the U.K. and another 1,400 in more than 30 countries, including around 460 in China, its second-biggest market. Coca-Cola said Friday it will buy the Costa brand from…
read morePorts and ground terminals in nearly every state handle goods that are now or will likely soon be covered by import tariffs. Port executives worry that this could mean a slowdown in shipping that would have ripple effects on truckers and others whose jobs depend on trade. The Associated Press analyzed government data and found…
read moreThe remains of the late Senator John McCain will lay in state in the U.S. Capitol Rotunda Friday as Americans continue to mourn the loss of the long-time legislator and war hero. McCain’s remains were flown Thursday to Washington from Arizona, the southwestern U.S. state he represented in Congress since he was first elected in…
read moreLawyers for President Donald Trump asked a judge to dismiss a lawsuit brought against his charitable foundation by New York’s attorney general, arguing that it was politically motivated. In the motion Thursday, Trump attorney Alan S. Futerfas argued that former New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman “made it his stated mission to `lead the resistance’…
read moreThousands of mourners have come to pay their respects to music legend Aretha Franklin, who will be laid to rest Friday in Detroit, Michigan. A star-studded roster of performers and speakers are scheduled to attend. From Washington, VOA’s Jill Craig has more. …
read moreTop NAFTA negotiators from Canada and the United States increased the pace of their negotiations Thursday to resolve final differences to meet a Friday deadline, with their Mexican counterpart on standby to rejoin the talks soon. Despite some contentious issues still on the table, the increasingly positive tone contrasted with U.S. President Donald Trump’s harsh…
read moreMicrosoft will begin requiring its contractors to offer their U.S. employees paid leave to care for a new child. It’s common for tech firms to offer generous family leave benefits for their own software engineers and other full-time staff, but paid leave advocates say it’s still rare to require similar benefits for contracted workers such…
read moreThe Senate Judiciary Committee has added former Solicitor General Theodore Olson and former White House counsel John Dean to the list of witnesses who will testify next week in the confirmation hearings for Brett Kavanaugh to serve on the Supreme Court. Olson served as solicitor general in the George W. Bush administration. He’s one of…
read moreArgentina’s Central Bank on Thursday increased its benchmark interest rate to 60 percent — the world’s highest — in an effort to halt a sharp slide in the value of the peso, which plunged to a record low. The peso fell more than 13 percent against the dollar, closing at an all-time low of 39.2…
read morePresident Donald Trump informed Congress on Thursday that he was canceling pay raises due in January for most civilian federal employees, citing budget constraints. But the workers still could see a slightly smaller boost in their pay under a proposal lawmakers are considering. Trump said he was axing a 2.1 percent across-the-board raise for most…
read moreThe current 115th Congress is the most racially and gender diverse in history, with more women serving in the Senate than ever before, according to data from Pew Research Center and Congressional Quarterly. Women and minorities each constitute just under 20 percent of all House and Senate members. But the percentage of female lawmakers is…
read moreEnvironmentalists are alarmed that President Donald Trump is following through on his campaign pledges to roll back Obama-era rules that tightened restrictions on greenhouse gases, promising the moves would lead to more American jobs and economic growth. At a recent rally in Charleston, West Virginia, under a “Trump Digs Coal” banner, the president announced plans…
read moreThe National Enquirer has long explained its support for Donald Trump as a business decision based on the president’s popularity among its readers. But private financial documents and circulation figures obtained by The Associated Press show that the tabloid’s business was declining even as it published stories attacking Trump’s political foes and, prosecutors claim, helped…
read morePresident Donald Trump said Wednesday the U.S. Supreme Court chief justice should tell the head of a national security court to question FBI and Justice Department officials about their use of a so-called Russia dossier as part of a collusion probe. Trump singled out Justice Department official Bruce Ohr in a message on Twitter, apparently…
read moreU.S. President Donald Trump has signed proclamations permitting targeted relief from steel and aluminum quotas from some countries, the U.S. Commerce Department said on Wednesday. Trump, who put in place tariffs on steel and aluminum imports in March, signed proclamations allowing relief from the quotas on steel from South Korea, Brazil and Argentina and on…
read moreAn attorney for a woman suspected of being a covert Russian agent said he’s confident she’s not “aware of or guilty of any crimes” in South Dakota as authorities have pursued an unrelated fraud investigation into her boyfriend. Defense lawyer Robert Driscoll told The Associated Press on Wednesday that Maria Butina, 29, knew “very little”…
read moreThe leaders of the United States and Canada expressed optimism on Wednesday that they could reach new NAFTA deal by a Friday deadline as negotiators prepared to talk through the night, although Canada warned that a number of tricky issues remained. Under pressure, Canada rejoined the talks to modernize the 24-year-old North American Free Trade…
read moreGermany announced a new agency on Wednesday to fund research on cybersecurity and to end its reliance on digital technologies from the United States, China and other countries. Interior Minister Horst Seehofer told reporters that Germany needed new tools to become a top player in cybersecurity and shore up European security and independence. “It is…
read moreMore than 100 hospitals across the United States are using virtual reality or VR, as a form of therapy for patients to help manage symptoms such as pain and anxiety. An increasing number of countries worldwide are taking an interest in VR and doctors are starting to develop international guidelines on how to apply and validate…
read moreThe U.S. economy expanded at a 4.2 percent annual rate in April, May and June, the Commerce Department said Wednesday. The second-quarter growth figure for gross domestic product was one-tenth of a percentage point higher than initial estimates. “The economy is in good shape,” said PNC Bank Chief Economist Gus Faucher. He wrote that this…
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