ConocoPhillips says it won a $2 billion arbitration award against Venezuela’s state oil company over the seizure a decade ago of investments in two projects in the OPEC nation. The award represents the equivalent of more than 20 percent of the cash-strapped Venezuelan government’s foreign currency reserves. The Houston-based company …
your ad hereWorld Bank Disputes US Audit of Afghan Reconstruction Program
The World Bank has disputed U.S. government findings that billions of dollars of donor funds flowing into Afghanistan are at risk due to lack of oversight and transparency. The project in question is called Afghanistan Reconstruction Trust Fund, or ARTF, and is being administered by the World Bank. It is …
your ad hereWHO Joins Urgent Call to Stop Malaria’s Resurgence
The World Health Organization is joining a worldwide call to stop a resurgence of malaria that threatens much of the progress made over the past decade. To mark World Malaria Day, WHO is pushing for urgent action – and money – to get the global fight against this ancient scourge …
your ad hereKenya Economy Seen Rebounding After Election Slowdown
Kenya’s economy is expected to rebound to 5.8 percent growth in 2018 after electoral uncertainty and drought cut last year’s expansion to the lowest level in more than five years, Finance Minister Henry Rotich said Wednesday. The economy will benefit from increased investment in key areas like manufacturing, farming, housing …
your ad hereReport: Tennis Has ‘Significant’ Integrity Problems
Tennis faces “very significant” integrity problems, particularly at the lower levels of the sport, caused by the sharp increase in internet betting, an independent report concluded in its interim finding on Wednesday. The Interim Report of the Independent Review of Integrity said that its two-year investigation had not revealed widespread …
your ad hereFears Grow Over Malaria Resurgence, London Summit Urges Global Action
The theme of this year’s World Malaria Day, Wednesday April 25th, is Ready to Beat Malaria. Along with medical advances, beating the disease will take money. After sixteen years of steady decline, malaria cases are on the rise again globally, and experts warn that unless efforts to tackle the disease …
your ad hereWill Robot Baristas Replace Traditional Cafes?
There has been a long tradition of making and drinking coffee across cultures and continents. Now, a tech company in Austin is adding to this tradition by creating robot baristas to make the coffee-drinking experience more convenient. For a similar price of a cup of Starbucks designer coffee, a robot …
your ad hereHIV Discoverer Says Malawi On Track to Eradicate Virus
This year marks the 35th anniversary of the discovery of HIV, the virus that causes AIDS. Visiting Malawi this month, one of the pioneers of that research, the American scientist Jay Levy, said Malawi could be among the countries in Africa on track to eradicate the virus, though he said …
your ad hereUS Pecan Growers Seek to Break Out of the Pie Shell
The humble pecan is being rebranded as more than just pie. Pecan growers and suppliers are hoping to sell U.S. consumers on the virtues of North America’s only native nut as a hedge against a potential trade war with China, the pecan’s largest export market. The pecan industry …
your ad hereBeijing Auto Show Highlights E-cars Designed for China
Volkswagen and Nissan have unveiled electric cars designed for China at a Beijing auto show that highlights the growing importance of Chinese buyers for a technology seen as a key part of the global industry’s future. General Motors displayed five all-electric models Wednesday including a concept Buick SUV it says …
your ad hereUS Visits to Cuba Plunge Following Trump Measures
A steep drop in U.S. travelers to Cuba after a tightening of travel restrictions by President Donald Trump helped drive a 7 percent slide in foreign visitors to the Caribbean island in the first three months of 2018, Cuban official data showed on Tuesday. The U.S. restrictions and warning on …
your ad hereUS-China Trade Fight Reaches Top American Court in Antitrust Case
President Donald Trump’s trade fight with China moved inside the white marble walls of the U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday, where lawyers for both countries faced off over whether Chinese companies can be held liable for violating U.S. antitrust laws. The nine justices heard arguments in an appeal by two …
your ad hereRFK Funeral Train Photo Exhibit: Kennedy’s Final Journey
The assassination of Robert F. Kennedy 50 years ago this June fractured the nation just two months after the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. and five years after his brother John F. Kennedy was killed. But RFK’s funeral, particularly the train that took his body from New York City, following a …
your ad hereChina’s Lisu Aim to Save Crossbow Culture
Deep inside mountains along the China-Myanmar border, a 26-year-old ethnic Lisu villager, surnamed Zhang, sharpens his crossbow arrows to prepare for a hunt. For Zhang and many other Lisu, a mostly Christian minority who inhabit the border region, the crossbow is an indispensable part of their culture dating back to …
your ad hereEgypt’s Rice Farmers See Rough Times Downstream of Nile Mega-dam
Rice farmers in Kafr Ziada village in the Nile River Delta have ignored planting restrictions aimed at conserving water for years, continuing to grow a medium-grain variety of the crop that is prized around the Arab world. A decision thousands of kilometers to the south is about to change that, …
your ad hereAmazon Boss Bezos Supports Scrutiny of Big Companies
Amazon Chief Executive Jeff Bezos said Tuesday that it was right that big companies are scrutinized and that his firm would respond to any new regulations by finding new ways to please its customers. Bezos was speaking in Berlin, where he received an award from German media company Axel Springer, and …
your ad hereVenezuelan Banks Shrivel as Inflation Roars, Credit Dries Up
Venezuela’s hyperinflation has turned the struggling OPEC nation’s once-powerful banks into warehouses of useless cash that are worth a total of only $40 million, according to a Reuters analysis of regulatory data. Although banks such as Citigroup Inc and Spain’s BBVA are maintaining operations in the hopes of better times, …
your ad hereJames Comey’s Tell-all Book Sells 600,000 Copies in First Week
Fired FBI director James Comey’s memoir that details his private meetings with U.S. President Donald Trump sold some 600,000 copies in all formats in its first week, its publisher said on Tuesday, the latest in a series of best-selling political books. Comey’s “A Higher Loyalty: Truth, Lies, and Leadership,” has …
your ad hereFoy: ‘Crown’ Pay Gap Issue ‘Definitely Opened My Eyes’
Claire Foy says the controversy over her pay for the Netflix series The Crown has changed her approach to Hollywood. “It definitely opened my eyes to a lot. And I certainly won’t be naïve about those things,” Foy said in an interview Monday in Las Vegas. “It’s really opened my …
your ad hereEPA Proposes to Bar Use of Confidential Data in Rulemaking
The Environmental Protection Agency announced a new rule Tuesday that would stop it from relying on scientific research underpinned by confidential data in its making of regulations. EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt billed the measure as a way to boost transparency for the benefit of the industries his agency regulates. But …
your ad hereFuel Shortage Hits Sudan as Dollar Crisis Hampers Imports
Vehicles lined up for hours at gas stations in Sudan’s capital Tuesday as a fuel shortage caused by the government’s difficulty in importing it because of a foreign currency crisis hit home. Once an exporter of oil, Sudan was forced to begin importing it after the south seceded in 2011, taking with it three-quarters of …
your ad hereGovernment: Peru Poverty Rate Rises for First Time in 16 Years
Peru’s poverty rate increased last year for the first time since 2001, rising one percentage point to 21.7 percent, according to government data published Tuesday. Peru had slashed its poverty rate by an average of about 4 percentage points between 2006 and 2012 on surging prices for the country’s key …
your ad hereWorld Wine Output Falls to 60-Year Low
Global wine output fell to its lowest level in 60 years in 2017 due to poor weather conditions in the European Union that slashed production in the bloc, international wine organization OIV said. Wine production totaled 250 million hectolitres last year, down 8.6 percent from 2016, data from the Paris-based …
your ad here‘Handmaid’s Tale’ Returns to Television, Darker and More Chilling
“The Handmaid’s Tale” returns to television this week with its chilling portrait of a near future where women are turned into second-class citizens seeming even darker and more prescient than ever. That’s not by chance. As the Emmy-winning series moves away from Margaret Atwood’s dystopian 1985 novel, it delves further …
your ad hereIceland’s Reykjavik Tops Index for Green City Getaways
Iceland’s small, snowy capital, Reykjavik, has been crowned the greenest city for travelers, with the most green space per head of 50 cities surveyed, a travel agency said Tuesday. Auckland in New Zealand came in second, followed by the Slovakian capital Bratislava and Sweden’s Gothenburg, with Sydney in Australia taking fifth place in …
your ad here