Tesla shares dropped nearly 9 percent in value Friday, amid reports of CEO and co-founder Elon Musk meeting with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Musk wrote on Twitter last week of his plans to take the company private for a price of $420 per share, writing that he …

Stocks rose late in the day Friday as investors welcomed signs of progress in resolving the trade dispute between the U.S. and China. The Wall Street Journal reported that the countries hope to have a resolution by November. Industrial, health care and basic materials companies made some of the biggest …

Unions at Air France-KLM voiced concern after the company appointed Benjamin Smith as the new CEO with the support of the French state. The company said Thursday that Smith, who is 46 and was previously Air Canada’s chief operating officer, will fill the role by Sept. 30. Vincent Salles, unionist …

President Donald Trump says he’s asking federal regulators to look into the effectiveness of the quarterly financial reports that publicly traded companies are required to file. In a tweet early Friday, Trump said that after speaking with “some of the world’s top business leaders,” he’s asked the U.S. Securities and …

Many of Asia’s currencies are losing value against the U.S. dollar this year as China and the United States fight over trade, but analysts say policymakers are handling the dip better now than during past down cycles. China, India, Indonesia and Myanmar, to name just a few, have seen their …

Indonesia has spent more than $3 billion on preparations for the Asian Games, with the government projecting that it will produce immediate and long-term benefits for the country. While investments have been made in infrastructure development and in addressing the notorious traffic issues in the capital of Jakarta, some observers …

Egypt’s decades-long housing crisis continues to worsen, with activists and authorities alike expressing concern about a continuing explosion of illegal, unsafe construction that is one of the consequences. Photojournalist Hamada Elrasam provides a glimpse of conditions that have resulted from unmanaged growth. …

As summer comes to a close and kids prepare to head back to school, retailers are counting on novelty items such as scented markers and glitter glue to help win back some of the market share they’ve lost to iPads and popular electronic gadgets. VOA’s Jill Craig takes a look …

A potential ban on the popular herbicide glyphosate in Brazil over concerns it may cause cancer in humans would be a “disaster” for the country’s agricultural industry, Agriculture Minister Blairo Maggi said on Thursday. A Brazilian court ruled on Aug. 3 that new products containing the chemical could not be …

Finance Minister Berat Albayrak assured international investors on Thursday that Turkey would emerge stronger from its currency crisis, insisting its banks were healthy and signalling it could ride out a dispute with the United States. In a conference call with thousands of investors and economists, Albayrak — who is President …

A federal court in New York has charged 22 Chinese importers with smuggling nearly half-a-billion dollars in counterfeit goods into the United States from China. The fake products include such popular luxury items as Louis Vuitton bags, Michael Kors wallets, and Chanel perfume. Twenty-one of the defendants were arrested Thursday. …

Russia says the latest U.S. sanctions imposed on Russian, Chinese, and Singaporean companies are “destructive” and “useless.”   The U.S. penalized the three companies Wednesday, accusing them of helping North Korea avoid international sanctions. The Russian Foreign Ministry said Thursday the new U.S. sanctions come when “joint international efforts” are …

A small number of Turks are responding to their president’s call to boycott American electronic goods by posting videos in which they smash iPhones with bats, hammers and other blunt instruments. In one video , a man collects iPhones from several youths squatting in front of a Turkish flag, lays …

The United States economy, the world’s largest, is “crushing it,” White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow declared Thursday. “This is the hottest business economic environment in the world today,” Kudlow told reporters at the White House. “President [Donald] Trump completely changed the business environment here for the better,” Kudlow said. …

U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin says the United States is ready to impose more sanctions on Turkey if detained American pastor Andrew Brunson is not released from house arrest. Mnuchin made the statement Thursday during a Cabinet meeting with the president attended by journalists. “We have put sanctions on several …

A Chinese delegation will travel to the United States later this month to resume negotiations as a trade war intensifies between the world’s two biggest economies. China’s Commerce Ministry says Vice Minister Wang Shouwen will meet with David Malpass, an assistant U.S. Treasury secretary for international affairs. The ministry issued …

Mexico’s economy minister on Wednesday said that Mexico and the United States may not meet an August goal to finish bilateral talks to revamp the NAFTA trade deal, which is beset by disagreements over automobile trade rules and other issues. Top Mexican officials started their fourth week of talks with …

Singapore is the setting for new Hollywood movie ‘Crazy Rich Asians’ – an adaptation of a best-selling novel that explores the insatiable consumerism of new money and old-world opulence in a continent producing more billionaires than anywhere else. While the low-tax financial hub is often called a playground for the …

Toyota is likely to make 120,000 more cars a year in the Chinese port city  of Tianjin as part of a medium-term strategy that’s gathering pace as China-Japan ties improve, said four company insiders with knowledge of the matter. The Japanese auto maker’s plan to boost annual production capacity by …

HSN, once known as the Home Shopping Network, is getting an image makeover. A U.S. television network where shoppers can buy everything from electronics to kitchen gadgets, HSN is overhauling its lineup to offer more beauty products while adding streamed video content to win over shoppers without cable TV. A …

Brazil’s Samarco Mineração SA expects to pay up to 2 billion reais ($512.5 million) this year to 19,000 families affected by the 2015 mining disaster in the state of Minas Gerais, the foundation created to pay the  victims said Wednesday. The first families to receive payments will be “the most vulnerable,” said Roberto Waak, …

The White House on Wednesday condemned Turkey for boosting tariffs on U.S. imports, the latest confrontation between the two NATO allies. Ankara imposed stiffer levies on U.S. cars, alcohol, coal and other products — $533 million in new tariffs — in response to U.S. President Donald Trump’s imposition of doubled …

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has sent subpoenas to Tesla Inc. regarding Chief Executive Elon Musk’s plans to take the company private and his statement that funding was “secured,” Fox Business Network reported on Wednesday, citing sources. Subpoenas typically indicate the SEC has opened a formal investigation into a …

U.S. retail sales rose more than expected in July as households boosted purchases of motor vehicles and clothing, suggesting the economy remained strong early in the third quarter. Other data on Wednesday showed worker productivity growing at its fastest pace in more than three years in the second quarter, but …

Turkey on Wednesday announced tariff hikes on a range of U.S. goods in the latest back-and-forth move amid a deteriorating relationship between the two countries. The extra tariffs apply to imports of vehicles, alcohol, coal, rice and cosmetics. Turkish Vice President Fuat Oktay said on Twitter the increases were being …