In a double blow for Mexico, credit ratings agency Fitch downgraded the nation’s sovereign debt rating on Wednesday, citing risks posed by heavily indebted oil company Pemex and trade tensions, while Moody’s lowered its outlook to negative. The Mexican peso weakened as much as 1.3% on the news. Cutting Mexico’s rating to BBB, nearing junk…
read moreU.S. refiners warned the Trump administration that tariffs on imports from Mexico could deliver a punishing blow to refiners and raise the cost of gasoline just as the U.S. driving season kicks into high gear, according to sources familiar with the discussions. Trump surprised Mexico last week with a threat to impose 5% tariffs on…
read moreLazaro Hernandez, who has made a good living showing U.S. cruise ship passengers around Havana in his pink 1950s Chevrolet, says the new U.S. ban on cruises to Cuba will wipe out 90% of his business overnight. Hernandez is one of thousands of Cubans who benefited from the boom in American visitors to the Caribbean’s…
read moreDemocratic presidential hopeful Elizabeth Warren on Wednesday criticized U.S. President Donald Trump’s decision to impose tariffs on Mexico as “random dart throwing” that lacks a coherent strategy. Trump unexpectedly told Mexico last week to take a harder line on curbing illegal immigration or face 5% tariffs on all its exports to the United States, rising…
read moreDemocratic U.S. presidential hopeful Bernie Sanders on Wednesday told Walmart shareholders and top executives that the world’s largest retailer should boost the “starvation”-level wages it pays its workers and stop fueling income inequality. Speaking at Walmart’s shareholder meeting, the U.S. senator said: “Despite the incredible wealth of Walmart’s owners” the company pays “starvation wages.” He…
read moreCanada on Wednesday said it was preparing for the arrival of ultra-fast 5G internet service as it outlined plans to make more 5G spectrum available starting next year. The federal Innovation Ministry released a paper outlining changes to an auction expected next year, a decision on a higher frequency millimeter wave spectrum in 2021, and…
read moreAmazon said Wednesday that it plans to use self-driving drones to deliver packages to shoppers’ home in the coming months The online shopping giant did not give exact timing or say where the drones will be making deliveries. Amazon said its new drones use computer vision and machine learning to detect and avoid people or…
read moreNew York City Mayor Bill de Blasio (dih BLAH’-zee-oh) has picked up the first union endorsement of his longshot presidential bid. The New York Hotel and Motel Trades Council announced Wednesday that it is endorsing de Blasio and will send members to campaign for him in early voting states including New Hampshire, Iowa and South…
read moreThe trade war between the United States and China could cut world economic growth next year, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) warned Wednesday. IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde said U.S. President Donald Trump’s threat to tax all trade between the two countries would shrink the global Gross Domestic Product (GDP) by one-half of one percent.…
read moreRepublicans and Democrats are banding together to try and stop the Trump administration’s sale of weapons to Saudi Arabia. Democratic Sen. Bob Menendez of New Jersey and others are introducing 22 Senate resolutions to halt the sales. The move threatens to tangle up the Senate in a series of votes this summer. It’s unclear whether…
read moreDemocratic presidential hopeful Jay Inslee wants the U.S. to shape all foreign policy decisions around a commitment to combat the climate crisis, including willingness to use tariffs, other trade incentives and international finance rules to compel other nations to reduce carbon pollution. “Our goal is to re-establish American leadership in the fight against climate crisis…
read moreChina on Wednesday launched a rocket from a mobile platform at sea for the first time, sending a five commercial satellites and two others containing experimental technology into space. The Long March 11 rocket blasted off from a launch pad aboard a commercial ship in the Yellow Sea off the coast of Shandong province, marking…
read moreChristy Lee of VOA’s Korean Service contributed to this report. The escalating trade dispute between the United States and China could distract Beijing from dealing with nuclear North Korea and undermine its efforts to enforce international sanctions, potentially hampering the U.S. attempt to denuclearize the country, experts said. Even as the Trump administration pursues its…
read moreVietnam is likely to make concessions to the United States so it can escape a U.S. watch list of possible currency manipulators and head off a hit to its fast-growing economy led by exchange rate-sensitive exports, analysts who follow the country say. The Southeast Asian country, they forecast, will probably talk to the U.S. side…
read moreThe U.S. Internal Revenue Service is auditing Uber Technologies’s taxes for 2013 and 2014 and the ride-hailing company expects unrecognized tax benefits to be reduced within the next year by at least $141 million. In its full quarterly report on Tuesday, Uber said various state and foreign tax authorities were also looking into its taxes…
read moreThe U.S. House of Representatives on Tuesday passed legislation to end the threat of deportation that has long hung over undocumented immigrants known as “Dreamers” who entered the United States when they were children. By a vote of 237-187, the Democratic-controlled House approved the legislation despite opposition from the White House, which said the move…
read moreAt the Tribeca Film Fest in New York, filmmakers are mining current and historical events for inspiration. For tech-savvy youth, it’s one way to ensure the lessons of history won’t be forgotten. Tina Trinh reports. …
read moreLawmakers in Washington DC met Tuesday to discuss facial recognition software. Law enforcement says the technology helps to identify and track suspected criminals. But privacy advocates say the technology intrudes on the privacy of average citizens who aren’t lawbreakers. Arash Arabasadi reports from Washington. …
read moreThe top Republican on the House Judiciary Committee is calling for immediate hearings on the threat of meddling by Russia and others in the 2020 elections. “Congress should show the American people we are prioritizing the security of our democratic institutions above partisan posturing,” Republican Doug Collins of Georgia said Tuesday in a letter to…
read moreThe White House on Tuesday directed two more former aides, including top presidential adviser Hope Hicks, to defy subpoenas from Democratic lawmakers investigating whether U.S. President Donald Trump obstructed justice by trying to thwart the probe of Russian meddling in the 2016 election. House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerry Nadler said Hicks and Annie Donaldson, the…
read moreVOA’s Michael Bowman contributed to this story. President Donald Trump said Tuesday he is “more likely” than not to impose a new 5% tariff on imported products from Mexico next week. Trump offered his assessment at a London news conference with British Prime Minister Theresa May. He made his comments even as U.S. and Mexican…
read moreNo more Nutella?! French workers are threatening as much, bringing the world’s biggest Nutella factory to a near-standstill in a showdown over salary negotiations. Tensions have been mounting at the site in Villers-Ecalles in Normandy, where activists from the Workers’ Force union have been barring trucks from entering or leaving the factory for a week.…
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