Major U.S. and European stock indexes were sharply lower in Monday’s trading over continuing fears of a trade war, Brexit, an upcoming U.S. Federal Reserve meeting and trouble with Facebook. The Dow Jones industrial average and the Standard & Poor’s 500 index were both down nearly 1.5 percent, while the …

Greenpeace says household brands including PepsiCo and Johnson & Johnson are refusing to disclose where they get their palm oil from despite vows to stop buying from companies that cut down tropical forests to grow the widely used commodity. The environmental group said Monday that in January it asked 16 …

Zimbabwe’s new leader has publicly named more than 1,800 companies and individuals accused of illegally stashing hundreds of millions of dollars overseas and not bringing the money home under a now-expired amnesty deal. President Emmerson Mnangagwa has vowed to fight corruption after the dramatic resignation in November of longtime leader …

U.S. drinkers overtook Britons as the world’s biggest buyers of Champagne in 2017, after British purchases fell heavily for the second-straight year following the vote to leave the European Union, industry data showed. Higher inflation since the Brexit referendum and slower wage growth have pinched the spending power of British …

Indonesian president Joko “Jokowi” Widodo has instructed ministers to keep fuel prices stable over the next two years, said Energy Minister Ignasius Jonan, which would, in effect, continue a controversial fuel subsidy scheme that analysts say has negatively impacted growth and the environment.  The Ministry said it would increase the …

When the Kushner Cos. bought three apartment buildings in a gentrifying neighborhood of Queens in 2015, most of the tenants were protected by special rules that prevent developers from pushing them out, raising rents and turning a tidy profit.   But that’s exactly what the company then run by Jared …

Regulation of cryptocurrencies must be considered, Bundesbank vice president Claudia Buch told Reuters, even though she does not believe they pose a threat to financial stability. Buch said that speculation on volatile virtual tokens does not pose a systemic threat because it is not financed through credit, but she said …

Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari will not attend the African Union summit in Rwanda this week, an official statement said Sunday, in a blow to plans to launch a major free trade treaty across 54 countries. The meeting in Kigali is intended to formally launch the African Continental Free Trade Area …

Air bags in some Hyundai and Kia cars failed to inflate in crashes and four people are dead. Now the U.S. government’s road safety agency wants to know why. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration says it’s investigating problems that affect an estimated 425,000 cars made by the Korean automakers. …

The pot revolution is alive and well in the state of Colorado where recreational cannabis has been legal since 2014. While the full impact of legal marijuana in Colorado has yet to be determined, what is clear is that cannabis has become a giant moneymaker for the state. And as …

Britain should consider a limited extension to its exit process from the European Union if needed to ensure details of its future relationship with the bloc are agreed, a committee of lawmakers said in a report. Prime Minister Theresa May formally notified the EU of Britain’s intention to leave by triggering Article 50 …

German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Chinese President Xi Jinping on Saturday discussed overcapacity in world steel markets and agreed to work on solutions within the framework of the Group of 20 industrialized nations, Merkel’s spokesman said. The two leaders emphasized close ties between the two countries, which are both facing planned …

A former midlevel employee of German industrial giant Siemens pleaded guilty Thursday of conspiring to pay tens of millions of dollars to Argentine officials to win a $1 billion contract to create national ID cards. Eberhard Reichart, 78, who worked for Siemens from 1964 to 2001, appeared in federal court …

White House trade adviser Peter Navarro said Thursday that President Donald Trump would soon consider new punitive measures against China for its alleged “theft” of intellectual property. U.S. officials, according to news accounts, are considering imposing as much as $60 billion in annual tariffs against Chinese information technology, telecommunications and …

HSBC will reveal a gender pay gap of 59 percent at its main U.K. banking operation, the biggest yet disclosed by a British bank, according to a copy of the lender’s report on the subject seen by Reuters on Thursday ahead of its publication. The bank will also disclose a …

Germany said on Thursday that any escalation of U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariffs on metal imports into a full-blown trade war could cause tangible damage to the global recovery, although the tariffs themselves should have only a limited effect. Trump last week ordered the imposition of duties on incoming steel …

Major U.S. airlines are hiring pilots at a rate not seen since before 9/11, and that is encouraging more young people to consider a career in the cockpit. Hiring is likely to remain brisk for years. Smaller airlines in the U.S. are struggling with a shortage that will continue as …

President Donald Trump’s decision to slap punishing tariffs on Chinese goods may prove to be a blessing in disguise for China, even as it prepares to retaliate, analysts said.   Trump’s trade offensive also has huge implications for the European Union and other countries, and that is making it impossible …

Cooking is Chris Spear’s passion. He’s been professionally cooking since he was 16. Over the years, he worked for big restaurants and reached a point where he had almost 100 employees reporting to him. That’s when he missed flexibility and wanted to be more creative. So, he quit working for …

Cooking is Chris Spear’s passion. He’s been professionally cooking since he was 16. Over the years, he worked for big restaurants and reached a point where he had almost 100 employees reporting to him. That’s when he missed flexibility and wanted to be more creative. So, he quit working for …

U.S. President Donald Trump claimed Wednesday that he made up information about a purported U.S. trade deficit with Canada during a meeting with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, without knowing whether such a deficit existed. Trump recounted his White House meeting with the Canadian leader last October while talking to …

President Donald Trump freestyled with the facts when talking trade with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. The Republican described the discussion during a fundraising speech in St. Louis on Wednesday.   According to audio obtained by The Washington Post, Trump insisted that the United States runs a trade deficit with …

President Donald Trump’s recently proposed tariffs on steel and aluminum have spurred a hot debate in the U.S. that doesn’t adhere to traditional party lines. Is the administration’s move a boon to American workers or the beginning of a trade war? VOA’s Plugged In with Greta Van Susteren examines the …

Amazon.com Inc.’s top television shows drew more than 5 million people worldwide to its Prime shopping club by early 2017, according to company documents, revealing for the first time how the retailer’s bet on original video is paying off. The documents also show that Amazon’s U.S. audience for all video …

The U.S. Senate voted 67 to 31 Wednesday to ease bank rules, bringing Congress a step closer to passing the first rewrite of the Dodd-Frank reform law enacted after the 2007-2009 global financial crisis. The draft legislation now heads to the U.S. House of Representatives where Republicans in the majority …