Washington is digesting the U.S. government’s starkest-ever warnings and most dire predictions to date on climate change. VOA’s Michael Bowman reports, the White House is issuing no calls for action in response to the National Climate Assessment, and President Donald Trump continues to mock the very concept of global warming. …
read moreA one-time foreign affairs adviser to President Donald Trump has been ordered to start serving a 14-day jail term on Monday for lying to investigators about his role in Russia’s interference in the 2016 U.S. election. George Papadopoulos had sought to delay his brief sentence while awaiting for an appellate court ruling in a separate…
read moreIt took Britain’s Theresa May and 27 other European Union leaders just 40 minutes to sign the Brexit deal after two years of tortuous negotiations, but the trials and tribulations of Britain’s withdrawal agreement approved Sunday in Brussels are far from over. As they endorsed the 585-page the agreement, and a 26-page accompanying political declaration…
read moreIn one government facility for immigrant youths, a 20-year-old woman who had lied that she was 17 sneaked a needle out of a sewing class and used it to cut herself. In another, cameras captured a boy repeatedly kicking a child in the head after they got into an argument on the soccer field. One…
read moreMark Robbins gets to work at 8:15 each morning and unlocks the door to his office suite. He switches on the lights and the TV news, brews a pot of coffee and pulls out the first files of the day to review. For the next eight hours or so, he reads through federal workplace disputes,…
read moreThe Trump administration is downplaying the significance of a report issued Friday that included dire predictions about the impact of climate change in the U.S. The White House said the study was largely based on “the most extreme scenario” and doesn’t account for new technology and other innovations that could diminish carbon emissions and the…
read moreU.S. stocks closed lower after a shortened session Friday, bumping the benchmark S&P 500 index into a correction, or drop of 10 percent below its most recent all-time high in September. Energy companies led the market slide as the price of U.S. crude oil tumbled to its lowest level in more than a year,…
read moreIt would have been easy to turn on their computers at home over plates of leftover turkey and take advantage of the Black Friday deals most retailers now offer online. But across the country, thousands of shoppers flocked to stores on Thanksgiving or woke up before dawn the next day to take part in…
read moreThe Trump administration is asking the U.S. Supreme Court to issue an unusually quick ruling into the military’s policy of restricting military service by transgender people. The administration Friday asked the Supreme Court to review lower court rulings blocking the military’s policy, seeking to bypass a federal appeals court currently considering the issue. Except in…
read moreA conservative writer and associate of Trump confidant Roger Stone says he is in plea talks with special counsel Robert Mueller’s team. Jerome Corsi told The Associated Press on Friday that he has been negotiating a potential plea but declined to comment further. He said on a YouTube show last week that he expected…
read moreEmboldened by a referendum voters approved this month, North Carolina’s soon-dwindling Republican majorities at the legislature will scramble to approve their preferred voter identification law before Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper can stop it. The GOP-dominated General Assembly returns to work Tuesday to decide how a new amendment to the state constitution requiring photo ID to…
read moreChina will go along with changes meant to update global trade rules so long as they protect Beijing’s status as a developing country, a Cabinet official said Friday. The deputy commerce minister, Wang Shouwen, said any changes also must address protectionism and abuse of export controls and security reviews — a reference to Beijing’s trade…
read moreCities in Russia, Japan and Azerbaijan are about to find out which one of them gets to host the 2025 World Expo, an event expected to draw millions of visitors and showcase the local economy and culture. The 170 member states of the Paris-based Bureau International des Expositions are voting Friday on whether to award…
read morePresident Donald Trump has returned to his West Palm Beach golf course on another sunny Florida day. Trump began his Friday on Twitter, saying Democrats and Republicans “MUST come together, finally, with a major Border Security package, which will include funding for the Wall.” He says it’s “time for action,” even though the idea is…
read moreSome of Amazon’s workers in Europe are protesting against what they call unfair work conditions, in a move meant to disrupt operations on Black Friday. Amazon Spain said around 90 percent of workers at a logistics depot in near Madrid joined a walkout Friday. Only two people were at the loading bay, spokesman Douglas Harper…
read moreThe problem with plastics is a well-known refrain by now: It never goes away and far too little of it is being recycled. That means it is turning up in every corner of our planet, from our beaches to our bodies. But one British firm has figured out a new way to recycle plastics, and…
read moreAs many as 3 million Malawians are expected to face food shortages this year because of drought and pests. To address the problem, Malawi and the United Nations are piloting a joint project to assess the health of crops using drones. Lameck Masina reports from Kasungu, central Malawi. …
read moreThe U.S. House Judiciary Committee has issued subpoenas for former FBI Director James Comey and former Attorney General Loretta Lynch to testify about investigations into the Trump campaign’s alleged ties to Russia and Hillary Clinton’s emails. Comey and Lynch have been ordered to appear before the House Judiciary, and Oversight and Government Reform committees on…
read moreZimbabwe’s finance minister has unveiled the country’s 2019 budget. Mthuli Ncube says the plan should help restore the economy of the southern African nation after years of recession. “Madam Speaker, ma’am, in conclusion, this budget should mark a turning point towards realizing the country’s vision 2030, as austerity will lead us to prosperity,” Ncube said.…
read moreAs wildfires raged this month in California, insurance claims experts at Travelers sat in a command center 3,000 miles (4,828 kilometers) away in Connecticut, monitoring screens showing satellite images, photos from airplane flyovers and social media posts describing what was happening on the ground. Real-time data and technology that were unavailable to property-casualty companies even…
read moreU.S. President Donald Trump started his Thanksgiving holiday by renewed his public debate over the independence of the country’s judicial system. In a teleconference Thursday with American troops overseas, Trump said a federal appeals court in California has become “a big thorn in our side.” The president’s remarks came one day after he and U.S.…
read moreOnce-admired auto executive Carlos Ghosn’s fall from grace deepened Thursday when directors of Nissan Motor Co. voted unanimously to fire the recently jailed businessman from his post as board chairman. Dismissed along with Ghosn was another director, Greg Kelly, whom the board accused of working with Ghosn to understate their incomes on formal declarations and…
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