India’s Parliament on Wednesday approved a bill providing a 10 percent quota in government jobs for the poor members of upper castes who have been excluded from existing quotas for low-ranking castes. The Congress party and other opposition parties supported the legislation, but criticized Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government for …
Visitors to Singapore’s Orchard Road, the city’s main shopping belt, will find fancy malls, trendy department stores, abundant food courts — and a small farm. Comcrop’s 600-square-meter (6,450-square-foot) farm on the roof of one of the malls uses vertical racks and hydroponics to grow leafy greens and herbs such as …
The fight against poverty is getting help from a new direction: up. Satellite imagery is helping researchers map areas of extreme poverty. It may help officials identify faster and more accurately when development policies and programs are working, and when they aren’t. Eliminating extreme poverty by 2030 is the first …
For the women of Tuluroba village’s self-help group, the goal was simple: use their combined savings to buy cattle, fatten them and sell them to the beef industry for slaughter. But there was a problem. “We had no land to graze the cattle. Nor could we obtain a loan from …
China approved five genetically modified (GM) crops for import on Tuesday, the first in about 18 months in a move that could boost its overseas grains purchases and ease pressure from the United States to open its markets to more farm goods. The United States is the world’s biggest producer …
Venezuela’s opposition-run congress on Tuesday issued a resolution calling deals between state-run oil company PDVSA and U.S. and French companies announced this week illegal, since they had not been sent to lawmakers for approval. The body said the oilfield deals with France’s Maurel & Prom and little-known U.S. company Erepla violated …
The World Bank is downgrading its outlook for the global economy this year, citing rising trade tension, weakening manufacturing activity and growing financial stress in emerging-market countries. In a report titled “Darkening Skies,” the anti-poverty agency said Tuesday that it expects the world economy to grow 2.9 percent in 2019, …
Hospitals in Zimbabwe are turning away patients as a strike by doctors enters its sixth week. There is no end in sight to the strike, as President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s government says it cannot meet the doctors’ demands. The Parirenyatwa Group of Hospitals, Zimbabwe’s largest treatment center, is largely empty as …
U.S. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross said there is “a very good chance” that the United States and China will reach a trade agreement. Ross told CNBC he is hopeful such a deal would address “all the key issues.” Working-level trade talks between the United States and China began Monday in …
Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said on Monday that his crackdown against fuel theft was yielding positive results, even as the intervention sparked severe fuel shortages in parts of the country and long lines of angry motorists. In a bid to eliminate years of mounting theft, state oil firm …
A U.S. trade delegation has arrived in Beijing. The group is in China to hold two days of talks, beginning Monday, focusing on how best to carry out an agreement reached by U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping to postpone new tariff hikes. On December 1, the …
A surge in U.S. job creation and some reassuring words from the head of the U.S. central bank sent U.S. stocks soaring Friday. The Labor Department reported a net gain of 312,000 jobs in December, far more than economists predicted. The unemployment rate, however, rose slightly, to 3.9 percent. Many …
Marriott International Inc said Friday that fewer than 383 million customer records were stolen in a massive cyberattack disclosed last month, down from its initial estimate that up to 500 million guests were affected. The hotel operator also said that some 25.55 million passport numbers were stolen in the attack …
It sounds like a Hollywood caper: A group of investors and officials convince European banks to loan a total of $2 billion to a resource-rich African nation trying to rebuild after a bruising civil war. The money promptly disappears, and then this caper turns tragic. The government doesn’t learn …
Asian markets rebounded Friday on hopes that upcoming trade talks between the U.S. and China will calm a trade dispute that has rattled global markets. After a global sell-off triggered by Apple’s warning of lower revenues, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index climbed 2.2 percent to 25, 626.03 and the Shanghai …
American envoys are due in Beijing for talks Monday in a tariff battle over Chinese technology ambitions that threatens to hobble global economic growth. The two days of meetings are aimed at carrying out the Dec. 1 truce by Presidents Donald Trump and Xi Jinping that postponed additional tariff hikes, …
Stock markets around the globe dropped Thursday after tech giant Apple said that sales of its devices had fallen sharply in China last month, perhaps signaling a broader slowing in the world economy. The widely watched Dow Jones industrial average of 30 prominent U.S. stocks plunged 2.8 percent — more …
A federal judge says a New York City law forcing Airbnb and HomeAway home-sharing platforms to reveal detailed information about its business seems unconstitutional. Judge Paul Engelmayer on Thursday blocked the law from taking effect on Feb. 2, finding there’s a greater than 50 percent chance the companies would prevail …
Tesla made about 9,300 more vehicles than it delivered last year, raising concerns among industry analysts that inventory is growing as demand for the company’s electric cars may be starting to wane. If demand falls, they say, the company will enter a new phase of its business. Like other automakers, …
The sweet aroma of mutton smoke drifts through a maze of crumbling alleyways, a barbecue tang that for decades has lured meat-eaters from across Pakistan to the frontier city of Peshawar. The ancient city, capital of northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, has retained its reputation for some of Pakistan’s tastiest cuisine …
New Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro issued an executive order Wednesday making the Agriculture Ministry responsible for decisions concerning lands claimed by indigenous peoples, in a victory for agribusiness that will likely enrage environmentalists. The temporary decree, which will expire unless it is ratified within 120 days by Congress, strips power …
Lawyers for South Koreans forced into wartime labor have taken legal steps to seize the South Korean assets of a Japanese company they are trying to pressure into obeying a court ruling to provide them compensation. Lawyer Lim Jae-sung said Thursday the court in the city of Pohang could decide …
Rotting hides on the road are all that is left of three butchered cows. Such carnage is common in Venezuela’s cattle country, where thieves, squatters and government policy threaten a vital food resource. Venezuela’s severe economic crisis is felt keenly in cities — where food sources are limited — but …
Digital developments that have upended businesses throughout the global economy, from music to manufacturing, are also changing what the world trades and how manufacturers and merchants move and sell their goods. Experts tell VOA’s Jim Randle, the digital revolution presents significant opportunities, but also serious problems, for countries. …
Equities around the world rose Monday as possible progress in resolving the trade dispute between the United States and China engendered some investor optimism in what has been a punishing end of year for markets. The U.S. benchmark S&P 500 stock index advanced in light trading volume after U.S. President …
China’s factory activity shrank in December for the first time in more than two years, an official survey showed Monday, intensifying pressure on Beijing to reverse an economic slowdown as it enters trade talks with the Trump administration. The purchasing managers’ index of the National Bureau of Statistics and an …