The first round of negotiations between the US, Canada and Mexico begins this week on what President Donald Trump has called “the worst trade deal ever.” He blames the 2-decades-old North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) for the loss of millions of manufacturing jobs in the US. Trump has vowed …
your ad hereChina: US ‘Baring of Fangs’ on Trade Will Hurt Both Sides
A decision by the United States to investigate China’s trade practices is a unilateralist “baring of fangs” that will hurt both sides, China’s state news agency Xinhua said Tuesday. U.S. President Donald Trump on Monday authorized an inquiry into China’s alleged theft of intellectual property that administration officials said could …
your ad hereTaylor Swift Wins Groping Trial Against DJ, Awarded Symbolic $1
Taylor Swift won her trial against a Colorado radio personality on Monday after a jury found that the former DJ assaulted and battered the pop star by groping her bare bottom, and awarded her the symbolic $1 in damages she had sought. Swift cried and hugged her mother as the …
your ad herePantone Creates ‘Purple Rain’ Hue to Honor Prince
A shade of purple named for the late superstar Prince was announced Monday by the icon’s estate. The “Purple Rain” hue created by the Pantone Color Institute was dubbed “Love Symbol (hash)2,” paying tribute to his custom Yamaha piano and the squiggly graphic Prince began using as his name …
your ad hereNorway PM Doubles Down on Tax Cuts in Bid for Second Term
With four weeks to go before an election that is too close to call, Norway’s Conservative prime minister, Erna Solberg, pledged on Monday to cut taxes to boost growth and job creation if she was re-elected. In power as head of a minority coalition government since 2013, Solberg is attempting …
your ad hereInternet Firms Move to Take Down Hate Speech, Violence
The internet domain registration of the neo-Nazi website Daily Stormer was revoked twice in less than 24 hours in the wake of the weekend violence in Charlottesville, Virginia, part of a broad move by the tech industry in recent months to take a stronger hand in policing online hate speech …
your ad hereCanada Suggests it Could Quit NAFTA Talks Over Dispute Mechanism
Canada laid down a tough line ahead of talks on modernizing NAFTA on Monday, suggesting it could walk away if the United States pushed to remove a key dispute-settlement mechanism in the trade deal. Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland, giving the most substantive outline yet of Canada’s goals, said she was …
your ad hereScience Experiments, Ice Cream Head for Space Station
A SpaceX capsule rocketed to the International Space Station on Monday, carrying tons of science research, plus ice cream. As has become customary on these cargo flights, SpaceX landed its leftover booster back at Cape Canaveral shortly after liftoff, a key to its long-term effort to recycle rockets and reduce …
your ad hereDowntown? Petula Clark Goes Down Farm
Grammy award-winner Petula Clark sang her global hit “Downtown” about as far from “where the neon signs are pretty” as she could at the weekend — to thousands in a field in rural England. It was the 84-year-old’s first outdoor festival in a career spanning, well, eight decades. “I’m always …
your ad hereEx-head of Mexico’s State Oil Company Denies Taking Bribes
The former head of Mexico’s state-owned oil company, a key campaign adviser to President Enrique Pena Nieto, has denied accusations that he took bribes from Brazilian construction company Odebrecht. Emilio Lozoya said Sunday via Twitter that he was never corrupt and suggested the allegations were made by executives seeking …
your ad hereMore Than Spectacle: Eclipses Create Science and So Can You
The sun is about to spill some of its secrets, maybe even reveal a few hidden truths of the cosmos. And you can get in on the act next week if you are in the right place for the best solar eclipse in the U.S. in nearly a century. Astronomers …
your ad hereThree CEOs Leave Trump Panel in Protest After Weekend Violence
The chief executives of Intel Corp, Merck & Co Inc and Under Armour Inc. resigned from U.S. President Donald Trump’s American Manufacturing Council on Monday, following Trump’s initially tepid response to weekend violence at a rally of white supremacists in Charlottesville, Virginia. “I resigned from the council to call attention …
your ad hereGuam’s Tourism Popularity Unhurt by North Korea Threats
Tourists haven’t been deterred from visiting the tropical island of Guam even though the U.S. territory has been the target of threats from North Korea during a week of angry words exchanged by Pyongyang and Washington. Chiho Tsuchiya of Japan heard the news, but she decided to come anyway with …
your ad hereTrump Orders China Trade Investigation
U.S. President Donald Trump ordered his trade office Monday to investigate whether China is stealing American intellectual property, but Beijing warned in advance that both countries would end up losers in a trade war. Trump took a break from his working vacation at his golf resort in New Jersey to …
your ad hereLift Off for Africa’s First Airport Brewery
There is a new addition to Africa’s busiest air transport hub, O.R. Tambo International Airport near Johannesburg: the continent’s first airport-based brewery. Airport Craft Brewers is a reflection of South Africa’s burgeoning independent beer sector, with growing numbers of beer drinkers not satisfied with industrial, mass-produced beverages. The hectic international …
your ad hereNo More Bongs! Big Ben to Fall Silent for 4 Years of Repairs
The bongs will soon be gone. Big Ben — the huge clock bell of Britain’s Parliament — will fall silent next week as a four-year restoration project gets underway. The bongs of the iconic bell will be stopped after chiming noon on Aug. 21 to protect workers during a 29-million-pound …
your ad hereCash Crisis Exposes Rift Within Saudi-led Coalition in Yemen
Yemen’s Central Bank says the Saudi-led coalition is “strangling” the economy by preventing planes from flying in newly-minted cash, reflecting a struggling between the government and the United Arab Emirates, key members of the military alliance. Both are at war with the Shi’ite Houthi rebels, who control much of …
your ad hereChina Banning Coal, Iron, Seafood Imports From North Korea
China announced Monday it is banning imports of coal, iron ore, seafood and other products from North Korea in line with new United Nations sanctions approved earlier this month. Chinese leaders had pledged to fully enforce the sanctions, which China and the other members of the U.N. Security Council unanimously …
your ad hereFirst Walking Polymer Could Be Used in Robots
Synthetic polymers, primarily plastics, are used to make a host of items, from paint to plastic bottles to sunglasses and DVDs. Imagine what could be created with a plastic that can be made to shimmy, and even crawl. Now a new polymer has been developed that actually walks like a …
your ad hereWeb Hosting Company Boots White Supremacist Web Site
The web hosting company GoDaddy said on Sunday it had given The Daily Stormer 24 hours to move its domain to another provider after the extremist web site posted an article denigrating the woman who was killed at a white nationalist rally in Virginia. “We informed The Daily Stormer that …
your ad hereDecades After His Death, Elvis Is The King for Impersonators
Four decades since his death, Elvis Presley still reigns as The King — for impersonators. Few artists inspire people all over the world to dress up and perform passionately on stage like Presley. Impersonators from different generations and various countries paid tribute to their idol recently at a gathering in …
your ad hereChinese Newspaper Warns Trump Risks ‘Trade War’
A Chinese state newspaper warned Monday that President Donald Trump “could trigger a trade war” if he goes ahead with plans to launch an investigation into whether China is stealing U.S. technology. In a commentary by a researcher at a Commerce Ministry think tank, the China Daily said Trump’s possible …
your ad hereEgyptian Artist Creates Portraits Out of Burnt Tobacco
In a small studio littered with empty cigarette packets in Egypt’s second city, Alexandria, Abdelrahman al-Habrouk sits hunched over a sheet of paper making portraits with tobacco. The cigarettes fuel his art; he breaks them in half, painstakingly traces out monochrome images of celebrities or animals with the fine flakes …
your ad hereFirst American Woman to Conquer K2 Tells VOA Her Story
No American woman climber had sumitted the world’s second largest mountain called, K2, in Pakistan until July 28, 2017 when 52-year old Vanessa O’Brian led a team to the top of one the world’s most dangerous peaks. She described her adventurous trip to VOA’s Ayaz Gul upon her return to …
your ad hereAre Immigrants Driving the Motor City?
Beside rows of rusting shipping containers, a decorative wrought iron fence surrounds Taquería Mi Pueblo, one of the first family-run Mexican restaurants in southwest Detroit, Michigan. Its owner, Jalisco-native José de Jesús López, surveys the trees he planted and his ornamental roosters. “Everything was abandoned, a dump over there,” he …
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