A decade ago, the first inklings of the coming recession emerged as a housing bubble fueled by scant regulation, low interest rates and easy credit gradually began to crater and soon would take the rest of the economy along for the painful ride. By the time the Great Recession ended …

The U.S. and Mexican governments reached a new agreement to significantly shift their sugar trade mix, but U.S. sugar producers have failed to endorse the deal, leaving question marks over whether it could still sour broader trade relations. U.S. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross said the “agreement in principle” with Mexican …

More international visitors came to the U.S. than expected in April 2017, according to a new report released Tuesday in Washington.   The U.S. Travel Association’s Travel Trends Index shows that international travel to the U.S. grew by about 4 percent in April, compared with data for April 2016.   …

The European Union hopes six Balkan countries will agree at a summit on July 12 in Italy to create a regional common market that could be working within a year, a top EU official said Tuesday, in the bloc’s latest step to re-engage the region. The EU is eager to …

South Africa’s economy – one of Africa’s biggest – is in recession. A 0.7 percent decline in GDP in the first quarter of this year followed a 0.3 percent contraction in the last quarter of 2016, meeting the definition of a recession as two or more quarters of negative growth, …

The number of job openings advertised in the United States hit a record high of six million in April. Tuesday’s report from Labor Department said the pace of hiring went down at the same time. Analysts say the apparent contradiction may show that employers are having difficulty finding workers with …

Poland and Ukraine said Tuesday they are working toward developing a regional gas hub that would end Central and Eastern Europe’s dependence on Russian supplies and keep prices in line with European standards.   The region still relies to some extent on Russian natural gas and has been exposed to …

Qatar’s currency came under pressure on Tuesday as Gulf Arab commercial banks started holding off on business with Qatari banks because of a diplomatic rift in the region. Banking sources said some banks from Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain delayed letters of credit and other deals with …

Cities are pushing back on the possibility of losing millions of dollars in U.S. anti-terrorism grants under President Donald Trump’s spending plan — the third straight White House that has moved to cut the funding.   The proposed budget would cut cash for the program from $605 million to nearly $449 …

Global airlines made a full-throated defense of globalization on Monday at their largest annual gathering, vowing not to give up on climate change agreements and calling for a swift resolution of a diplomatic rift threatening air travel in the Middle East. Missing from the general meeting of the International Air …

The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday scaled back the Securities and Exchange Commission’s power to recover ill-gotten profits from defendants’ misconduct, handing Wall Street firms a victory and dealing another blow to the regulator’s enforcement powers. In a 9-0 ruling, the Supreme Court found that the SEC’s recovery remedy known …

U.S. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross on Monday extended the deadline for U.S.-Mexico sugar trade negotiations by 24 hours, and sources on either side of the spat said U.S. industry added new demands after the governments struck a provisional deal. Ross said extra time was needed to complete “final technical consultations” …

The Trump administration is considering letting companies use seismic air guns to look for oil and gas deposits below the Atlantic Ocean, outraging environmentalists and coastal towns and resorts. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) says it has gotten five separate requests to carry out the operations. NOAA admits …

Religious hospitals don’t have to comply with federal laws protecting pension plans, a unanimous Supreme Court ruled Monday in a case that affects retirement benefits for roughly a million workers nationwide. The justices sided with three church-affiliated nonprofit hospital systems being sued for underfunding their employee pension plans.   The …

The U.S. government is investigating complaints that air bag control computers in some Jeep Liberty SUVs can fail, preventing the air bag system from operating properly in a crash. The probe covers about 105,000 of the vehicles from the 2012 model year.   The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration says …

On the border of China and Kazakhstan, an international free trade zone has become a showpiece of Chinese President Xi Jinping’s signature Belt and Road initiative to boost global trade and commerce by improving infrastructure and connectivity. Chinese state media are filled with stories about the stunning success of Horgos, …

The productivity of American workers was flat in the first three months of this year, while labor costs rose at the fastest pace since the second quarter of last year. Productivity growth was zero in the January-March quarter after rising at a 1.8 percent annual rate in the fourth quarter, …

The Trump administration is considering possible sanctions on Venezuela’s vital energy sector, including state oil company PDVSA, senior White House officials said, in what would be a major escalation of U.S. efforts to pressure the country’s embattled leftist government amid a crackdown on the opposition. The idea of striking at …

The restaurant business can cause serious heartburn. It’s a mixed salad of bureaucracy, money, and paperwork that keeps some chefs from ever selling that first plate of food. But there may be hope as “restaurant incubators” offer chefs an alternative menu for success. Arash Arabasadi reports from Washington. …

The U.S. trade deficit rose in April to the highest level since January. The politically sensitive trade gap with China registered a sharp increase.   The Commerce Department said Friday that the U.S. trade gap in goods and services climbed 5.2 percent to $47.6 billion in April from March. Exports …

The price of oil has fallen sharply as investors bet that President Donald Trump’s decision to pull the United States out of the Paris climate agreement will increase the country’s oil and gas production. The cost of a barrel of crude slumped 2.4 percent, or $1.18, to $47.18 in electronic …

The heated debate over India’s cash ban continues, with critics saying it slowed an economy that was growing, while the government says economic momentum was barely affected. Critics say the scrapping of 86 percent of the country’s currency last November cost India its status as the world’s fastest growing economy. …

Long the preserve of geeky enthusiasts, bitcoin is going mainstream in Asia, attracting Mrs Watanabe — the metaphorical Japanese housewife investor — South Korean retirees and thousands of others trying to escape rock-bottom savings rates by investing in the cryptocurrency. Asia’s moms and pops, regular investors in stock and futures …

Exactly eight years after the Great Recession ended, the U.S. job market has settled into a sweet spot of steadily solid growth.   The 4.4 percent unemployment rate matches a decade low. Many people who had stopped looking for jobs are coming off the sidelines to find them. More part-timers …

A jail in Chicago is serving some of the best Italian pizza in town. Inmates are making gourmet pizzas for their fellow prisoners. It’s part of a training program called Recipe for Change in which the inmates can acquire skills to get jobs after they are released. VOA’s Deborah Block …