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your ad hereToy Company CEO Leads Effort to Save Toys R Us
Toy company executive Isaac Larian says he and other investors have pledged a total of $200 million in financing and hope to raise four times that amount in crowdfunding in order to bid for up to 400 of the Toys R Us stores being liquidated in bankruptcy. The unsolicited bid …
your ad hereIn Russia’s Dying Arctic City, Residents Plead for Putin to Offer Lifeline
A little more than 40 hours after leaving Moscow’s Yaroslavsky station, the Vorkuta Express pulled into its terminus after a 2,000-kilometer journey through the taiga forests and tundra of Russia’s far north. The city lies 150 kilometers inside the Arctic Circle, seemingly at the edge of human habitation. Its monochrome …
your ad hereFirst Responders Learn Lessons from Mass Shootings, Acts of Terror
Tommy Mcilhon is a college student and enjoys attending large music festivals around the United States. The latest event he has attended is the South by Southwest (SXSW) music festival in Austin, Texas. Besides thinking about music, he thinks about the mass shootings in crowds over the last few years. …
your ad hereIn Russia’s Dying Arctic City, Residents Plea for Putin to Offer Lifeline
About 150 kilometers inside the Arctic Circle lies the Russian city of Vorkuta, a mining outpost that is rapidly being reclaimed by the elements. Many residents abandoned the city after the fall of the Soviet Union, but 70,000 people remain, largely cut off from the rest of Russia, seemingly trapped …
your ad hereFirst Responders Learn Lessons from Mass Shootings, Terror Acts
Spring has arrived in the United States, and that means the start of the busy festival season. Large crowds are expected to gather at fairs, festivals and outdoor concerts around the country. Given the recent spate of mass shootings and acts of terror in crowded areas, first responders say they …
your ad hereFacebook Under Fire for Data Misuse
Facebook is coming under intense criticism following reports that information from 50 million users was gathered by a voter data firm. Lawmakers are demanding answers, and Facebook stock has lost about $35 billion in its value. Michelle Quinn reports on the threats the company faces. …
your ad hereFed Signals at Least Three More Rate Hikes in 2018
U.S. Federal Reserve officials voted to raise the central bank’s benchmark interest rate by a quarter of a percent this week, signaling perhaps three or more rate hikes this year as economic conditions improve. But as Mil Arcega reports, rising rates mean higher borrowing costs for consumers, many who have …
your ad herePiece of Dead Sea Scroll on Public Display for First Time in Jerusalem
Several pieces of the ancient Dead Sea scrolls are on public display for the first time. Two of them are at the Denver Museum of Nature and Science, as part of an exhibit on life in biblical times. Another small fragment is being highlighted at Jerusalem’s Israel Museum, as we …
your ad here‘Beating’ Human Heart Cells Help Spur Drug Discovery
A British tech company is using donated human heart tissue to replicate the “beating” action of heart muscle to aid preclinical testing of new drugs. Faith Lapidus reports. …
your ad hereLive Screening and Q&A – Beyond the Unicorn
Silicon Valley is less than 3% black, with an even smaller numbers of Africans. The race gap is actually much larger than the gender gap, and it’s growing. Join us for a live screening of “Beyond the Unicorn,” a VOA documentary about the issue, followed by a Q&A session from …
your ad hereTrump Expected to Turn Up the Heat on China in Looming Trade War
U.S. President Donald Trump is expected at any time to fire a salvo directly at China in what could escalate into a full-scale trade war between the world’s two largest economies. Trade actions against China, partly in response to the theft and improper transfer of American technology to Chinese companies, …
your ad hereUS Congress Races to Pass $1.3 Trillion Spending Bill
U.S. congressional leaders have reached a deal on a $1.3 trillion spending bill as a budget deadline looms. Lawmakers now have until midnight Friday to approve it and prevent the year’s third government shutdown. Passage of the massive bipartisan effort seems certain. The bill, which will keep the government funded …
your ad hereFacebook Founder: We Made a Mistake in Trying to Protect User Data
Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg said in a rare television interview Wednesday that Facebook clearly made a mistake in its part in an illegal data collection scandal. “This was a major breach of trust. I am really sorry this happened. We have a basic responsibility to protect people’s data,” he told …
your ad hereUS, EU to Launch Fresh Round of Talks to Settle Trade Spats
The U.S. and the European Union are set to engage in a new round of talks to resolve trade disputes, including those over U.S.-proposed tariffs on steel and aluminum imports. “We have agreed to launch immediately a process of discussion with President Trump and the Trump administration on trade issues …
your ad hereUS Central Bank Slightly Bumps Up Interest Rate
Top officials of the U.S. central bank raised the key interest rate slightly Wednesday, amid strong job gains and moderate economic growth. The rate is one-quarter of a percentage point higher, putting it in a range between 1.5 and 1.75 percent. WATCH: Fed Signals at Least Three More Rate Hikes …
your ad hereRecord-Size US Offshore Oil Lease Sale Draws Modest Bidding
The largest lease sale in American history in the offshore Gulf of Mexico yielded $124.76 million in winning bids Wednesday, a modest response to the Trump administration’s effort to pump up investment in the region. The Interior Department had offered up more than 77 million acres (31.2 million hectares), an …
your ad hereUS Muslim Teen Author Writes Strong Female Characters
Maryam Durrani is a typical American teenager with a wild imagination and a knack for telling stories about dungeons, dragons, kingdoms and young girls. She wrote her first book in longhand at the age of 13. Later, after learning about a website called wattpad, an online community where readers and …
your ad hereAfrican Continental Free Trade Facing Slow Road, Many Challenges
Handshakes, smiles and jubilation accompanied the long-awaited launch of the African Continental Free Trade Area on Wednesday in Rwanda’s capital, Kigali. The trade bloc has been in negotiation since 2012, when the African Union first decided on a continent-wide plan. It aims to create a single market for goods and …
your ad hereMnuchin: US Will Take New Look at TPP After Other Trade Priorities
The United States will consider re-entry to the Trans-Pacific Partnership once Washington accomplishes its goals on other trading relationships, U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said Wednesday while on an official visit to Chile. Trans-Pacific Partnership is aimed at cutting trade barriers in some of the fastest-growing economies of the Asia-Pacific …
your ad hereUS Central Bank Expected to Raise Interest Rates Slightly
Top officials of the U.S. central bank are expected to raise the key interest rate slightly Wednesday at the end of two days of private meetings and debate. Economists surveyed by news organizations say the rate will probably go up one quarter of a percentage point, to a range between …
your ad hereInsurers’ New Business: ‘Active Shooter’ Policies for US Schools
Insurance broker Paul Marshall can count on his phone ringing in the aftermath of a school shooting. Since the Feb. 14 shooting at a Florida high school, where 17 people were killed and more than a dozen injured, seven South Florida school districts have bought $3 million worth of “active …
your ad hereEXCLUSIVE: Kaspersky Lab Plans Swiss Data Center to Combat Spying Allegations: Documents
Moscow-based Kaspersky Lab plans to open a data center in Switzerland to address Western government concerns that Russia exploits its anti-virus software to spy on customers, according to internal documents seen by Reuters. Kaspersky is setting up the center in response to actions in the United States, Britain and Lithuania …
your ad hereNestle Provides Lifeline for Struggling Kenyan Coffee Farmers
When Nestle executive Stephan Canz attended the German school in Nairobi in the early 1980s, it was surrounded by lush coffee farms. Today, the trees have long since been uprooted and replaced by a shopping mall and upmarket homes, driving a sharp drop in production of Kenya’s premium beans. “The …
your ad hereFrench Protests to Cause Widescale Train Disruption on Thursday
French commuters face major train service disruptions on Thursday due to an unexpectedly large walkout by railway workers angry at the government’s plans to shake up the state-owned and highly indebted SNCF rail company. Labor unions said last week they would launch rolling strikes in early April, but France’s transport …
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