Some of the nation’s largest recording studios have joined forces in an effort to stop a music streaming service aimed at fitness enthusiasts from using songs by Beyonce, Justin Bieber, Green Day and other stars. In a federal lawsuit filed in Atlanta, Sony Music Entertainment and more than a dozen …
your ad hereWinners, Losers of Trump’s Solar Panel Tariff
President Donald Trump on Tuesday signed into law a steep tariff on imported solar panels, a move billed as a way to protect American jobs but which the solar industry said would lead to tens of thousands of layoffs. The following are some questions and answers about the decision: What …
your ad hereSao Paulo Shuts Parks as Yellow Fever Outbreak Kills 70
Sao Paulo closed its zoo and botanical gardens Tuesday as a yellow fever outbreak that has led to 70 deaths is picking up steam. The big Inhotim art park, which attracts visitors from all over the world, also announced that all visitors would have to show proof of vaccination …
your ad hereUS Stresses Lebanon Must Cut Hezbollah from Financial System
Lebanon must cut Iran-backed Hezbollah from the financial sector, a U.S. official on combating illicit finance said Tuesday, two weeks after Washington began a new push to disrupt the militant group’s global financing routes. On a two-day visit to Lebanon, the U.S. Treasury’s Assistant Secretary for Terrorist Financing Marshall Billingslea …
your ad hereNAFTA Negotiators Open Key Round of Talks; Trump Cites Progress
U.S., Canadian and Mexican officials opened a key round of negotiations to modernize NAFTA on Tuesday as President Donald Trump, who has regularly threatened to quit the trade pact, said the talks were going “pretty well.” Trump, vowing to undo what he portrays as disastrous trade deals, has in recent …
your ad hereTrump Move to Tax Some Imports Creates Its Own Risks for US
President Donald Trump’s move Tuesday to tax imported solar cells and washing machines is meant to make good on his vow to reverse decades of U.S. support for free trade and to protect American jobs from foreign competition. But the tariffs — already denounced by China, Germany and Mexico — …
your ad hereSenate Confirms Powell as Next US Fed Chair
The Senate on Tuesday approved President Donald Trump’s selection of Jerome Powell to be the next chairman of the Federal Reserve beginning next month. Senators voted 84-13 to confirm Powell to lead the nation’s central bank, a post that is considered the most powerful economic position in government. …
your ad hereA Grammy Curse? Milli Vanilli’s Fab Morvan, Others Reflect
Winning the best new artist Grammy is a goal for most breakthrough performers, but for some of its recipients, it can create pressure to match previous success or surpass it. That’s why some feel that winning the award is a slight curse. The Recording Academy has been known for picking …
your ad hereNew Orleans Revives 1894 Tabasco Opera
Love, hate and hot sauce are themes of a 19th-century comic opera being produced this week as a kickoff to New Orleans’ 300th anniversary. It’s also the 150th anniversary for Tabasco sauce and the New Orleans Opera’s 75th. Tabasco: a Burlesque Opera had been stuck in an attic for more than …
your ad hereSurvey: US Mayors View Climate Change as Pressing Urban Issue
U.S. mayors increasingly view climate change as a pressing urban issue, so much so that many advocate policies that could inconvenience residents or even hurt their cities financially. The annual survey of big-city executives, released Tuesday by the Boston University Initiative on Cities, also reflected the nation’s sharp political divide. …
your ad hereDrug Companies Told to Do More to Tackle ‘Superbug’ Crisis
Drugmakers’ response to the threat posed by “superbugs” remains patchy even after years of warnings, according to the first analysis of individual companies’ efforts to tackle the antibiotic resistance crisis. The rise of drug-resistant bacteria is a growing threat to modern medicine with the emergence of infections resistant to even …
your ad hereSome Korean Foods May Taste Familiar During Olympic Games
Spam, trout, fried chicken, moon pies and anything slathered in mayonnaise — those are some of the flavors of South Korea’s home cooking that might seem just a bit familiar to the U.S. athletes and hordes of westerners preparing to descend upon the small Asian country for the 2018 Olympic …
your ad hereJapan: Trans-Pacific Trade Pact, Without US, to Be Signed in March
Eleven countries aiming to forge an Asia-Pacific trade pact after the United States pulled out of an earlier version will sign an agreement in Chile in March, Japan’s economy minister said on Tuesday, in a big win for Tokyo. Trade officials had been meeting in Tokyo to resolve rifts including …
your ad hereChina Online Quiz Craze Lures Prize Seekers, Tech Giants
It seems like a game everyone wins: Some of China’s biggest tech companies, looking to hook in new consumers, are using cash prizes to draw millions of contenders to mobile-based online quiz shows. Up to 6 million people at a time log into the free, live games on their smartphones …
your ad hereUS Health Official Urges Flu Vaccinations as Pediatric Deaths Mount
Of the 30 U.S. children who have died from the flu this season, some 85 percent likely will not have been vaccinated, said Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Dr. Brenda Fitzgerald, who urged Americans to get flu shots amid one of the most severe flu seasons in years. …
your ad hereRussia Cancels Release of ‘Insulting’ Film About Stalin’s Death
Russia said on Tuesday it had canceled the release of Death of Stalin, a dark, satirical movie from British director Armando Iannucci, saying many Russians would find it an insulting mockery of the country’s Soviet past. The film, which focuses on backstabbing and infighting among the Soviet leader’s closest allies as they vie for …
your ad hereFor Songwriter Marc Cohn the Grammys Aren’t in his Past
Marc Cohn is rightly proud of his Grammy Award but it’s not the most valuable thing in his house. The trophy sits in a heaving bookcase right above a copy of Bob Dylan’s “The Lyrics.” That thick volume was once owned by Dylan, who presented it to Cohn with a …
your ad hereChilean Poet, Physicist Nicanor Parra Dies at 103
Nicanor Parra, a Chilean physicist, mathematician and self-described “anti-poet” whose eccentric writings won him a leading place in Latin American literature, died Tuesday. He was 103. His death was confirmed by Chilean President Michelle Bachelet, who expressed her condolences. Her government ordered national flags to be flown at half-staff …
your ad hereChina, South Korea Protest US Tariffs on Washing Machines, Solar Panels
China and South Korea are protesting U.S. President Donald Trump’s decision to impose steep tariffs on washing machines and solar panels, a move that is fueling concerns in Asia that more U.S. protectionist measures are forthcoming. Trump said Tuesday that the U.S. was also considering raising tariffs on steel and …
your ad hereBig Pay Package for Musk, With Even Bigger Goals for Tesla
Elon Musk will remain at Tesla under a 10-year, all-or-nothing pay package that demands massive growth. The agreement, revealed Tuesday in a regulatory filing, requires that Tesla grow in $50 billion leaps, to a staggering $650 billion market capitalization. To put those demands in perspective, the electric car …
your ad hereSpacewalking Astronauts Give New Hand to Robot Arm
Spacewalking astronauts gave a hand to the International Space Station’s big robot arm Tuesday. As the federal government geared back up 250 miles below, NASA astronauts Mark Vande Hei and Scott Tingle successfully installed the new mechanical gripper. Because of the lingering effects of the government shutdown, the spacewalk got …
your ad hereFilms From Chile, Lebanon Up for Foreign-language Oscar
Movies from Chile, Lebanon, Russia, Hungary and Sweden are competing in the Academy Awards race for best foreign-language film. Five nominees announced Tuesday include Chilean director Sebastian Lelio’s drama with a transgender heroine, “A Fantastic Woman”; Lebanese filmmaker Ziad Doueiri’s forceful “The Insult”; and Russian director Andrey Zvyagintsev’s stark divorce …
your ad hereLegendary South African Trumpeter Hugh Masekela Dies
Hugh Masekela, the trumpeter, composer and anti-apartheid activist known as the “father of South African jazz” has died at the age of 78 in Johannesburg. A statement by released by his family Tuesday said Masekela, affectionately called “Bra Hugh,” passed away “after a protracted and courageous battle with prostate cancer.” …
your ad hereTeam USA Parade Uniforms Include Touch of American Frontier
Polo Ralph Lauren unveiled Team USA’s Olympic parade uniforms Monday and social media haters can leave the ugly sweater jokes back in Sochi. Roundly mocked in 2014 for a chaotic, patchwork cardigan sweater, the brand went classic red, white and blue this time around for the opening ceremony and white …
your ad hereNew Radiation Cancer Treatment Machine for Uganda
Uganda’s cancer patients can finally breathe a sigh of relief after the country got a new cobalt-60 radiation treatment machine. But, health officials say this may not be enough because of an ever increasing number of cancer cases in the country. Halima Athumani reports for VOA from Kampala. …
your ad here