When Oregon lawmakers created the state’s legal marijuana program, they had one goal in mind above all else: to persuade illicit pot growers to leave the black market. That meant low barriers to entry that also targeted long-standing medical marijuana growers, whose product is not taxed. As a result, weed …
President Donald Trump’s administration is planning to impose tariffs on European steel and aluminum imports after failing to win concessions from the European Union, a move that could provoke retaliatory tariffs and inflame trans-Atlantic trade tensions. The tariffs are likely to go into effect on the EU with an announcement …
The two largest resort operators in Las Vegas would lose more than $10 million a day combined if housekeepers, cooks and others go on strike, a possibility starting Friday, the union representing thousands of casino workers said Wednesday. The Culinary Union detailed how it thinks a one-month strike would impact …
U.S. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross said Wednesday a U.S.-European Union trade deal could still be reached even if the United States imposes tariffs on EU steel and aluminum imports. EU and U.S. officials are holding last-minute negotiations two days before U.S. President Donald Trump decides to apply tariffs on …
China vows it will fight back if the United States goes through with plans to impose huge tariffs on Chinese goods. President Donald Trump’s administration said in a statement Tuesday it planned to impose 25 percent tariffs on $50 billion of Chinese goods that contain “industrially-significant technology.” It said the …
Anglo American unit De Beers is launching a company to sell laboratory-produced diamonds for jewelry in a departure from its century-old business model of promoting natural stones. Real diamonds created over thousands of years remain the priority, but De Beers is responding to customer demand for more affordable jewelry using …
Consumer confidence rebounded in May, but households were a bit pessimistic about their short-term income prospects even as they expected strong job growth to persist, which could restrain consumer spending. The Conference Board said on Tuesday its consumer confidence index rose 2.4 points to a reading of 128.0 this month …
The White House says it plans to impose 25 percent tariffs on $50 billion of Chinese goods that contain “industrially-significant technology” as trade talks between United States and China continue. The White House said Tuesday the proposed tariffs are in response to China’s practices with respect to technology transfer, intellectual …
In an effort to stem the outcry over the arrest of two black men at one of its stores, Starbucks will close 8,000 U.S. stores Tuesday afternoon for anti-bias training for its employees. On April 12, two black men went to a Philadelphia store and did not buy anything; instead, …
China told the World Trade Organization’s dispute settlement body on Monday that U.S. accusations that Beijing forced companies to hand over technology as a cost of doing business in China were groundless. U.S. President Donald Trump has accused China of stealing American ideas and announced a plan for a $50 …
New Zealand will slaughter more than 100,000 cows in an effort to eradicate a bacterial disease. The government and agricultural leaders announced Monday that it will spend over $600 million over the next decade to rid the country of Mycoplasma bovis, which causes udder infections, pneumonia, arthritis and other illnesses. …
Vietnam is imitating China in its efforts to grow economically and lags its larger neighbor only by about a decade, experts say. The two communist countries, though political rivals, have built up their state-controlled economies on job creation through factory work for export. China opened that effort to foreign investment …
New shops appear in New York City every day, but Phluid Project, which recently opened its doors on Broadway, is different. One of the first gender-fluid boutiques in the world, Phluid Project sells clothing for men, women and everyone in between. Both the clothes and the mannequins here are gender-neutral, …
Russian state gas giant Gazprom said Saturday it had signed a protocol with the Turkish government on a planned gas pipeline and agreed with Turkish firm Botas to end an arbitration dispute over the terms of gas supplies. The protocol concerned the land-based part of the transit leg of the …
Italy’s would-be coalition parties turned up the pressure on President Sergio Mattarella on Saturday to endorse their euroskeptic pick as economy minister, saying the only other option might be a new election. Mattarella has held up formation of a government, which would end more than 80 days of political deadlock, over concern about the desire …
Kenya built a reputation as a pioneer of financial inclusion through its early adoption of a mobile money system that enables people to transfer cash and make payments on cellphones without a bank account. Now, a proliferation of lenders are using the same technology to extend credit to the banked …
Italy’s prime minister-designate, Giuseppe Conte, a political novice and obscure law professor accused of padding his resume, put the finishing touches to his cabinet lineup Friday. And initial reaction from financial markets was far from approving. Italian government bond prices slumped and the country’s ailing banks saw their stock prices …
Military veterans who were discharged for relatively minor offenses say they often can’t get jobs, and they hope a recent warning to employers by the state of Connecticut will change that. The state’s human rights commission told employers last month they could be breaking the law if they discriminate against …
Here are the highest-paid CEOs for 2017, as calculated by The Associated Press and Equilar, an executive data firm. The AP’s compensation study covered 339 executives at S&P 500 companies who have served at least two full consecutive fiscal years at their respective companies, which filed proxy statements between January …
As tensions are easing over a potential trade war while negotiations between the U.S. and China continue, the uncertainty about tariffs and the eventual impact on the U.S. agricultural industry is taking a toll on U.S. farmers heading to the fields to plant this year’s crops. As VOA’s Kane Farabaugh …
The U.S. oil export infrastructure is straining to keep up as the country’s crude oil exports hit new highs and China snaps up more of it than ever before. U.S. crude production has surged to a record 10.7 million barrels a day, driven largely by growth from the Permian shale …
Brazil’s government said late Thursday that a deal had been reached with truckers to suspend a 4-day-old strike that caused fuel shortages, cut into food deliveries, backed up exports and threatened airline flights. Eliseu Padilha, chief of staff for President Michel Temer, told reporters in Brasilia that several unions that …
Even though the United States is one of the richest and most technologically advanced countries in the world, about 45 million Americans live below the poverty line. In Buffalo, New York, a once-prosperous city that has fallen on hard-times, one-third of its residents live in poverty. As Olga Loginova reports, …
Germany’s struggling Deutsche Bank is slashing thousands of jobs as it reshapes its stocks trading operation and refocuses its global investment banking business on its European base. The bank said Thursday it would cut its workforce from 97,000 to “well below” 90,000 and that the reductions were underway. It said …
Amazon, Starbucks, Vulcan and other companies have pledged a total of more than $350,000 toward an effort to repeal Seattle’s newly passed tax on large employers intended to combat homelessness. Just days after the Seattle City Council approved the levy, the No Tax On Jobs campaign, a coalition of businesses, …
This week marks six months since Zimbabwe President Emmerson Mnangagwa took office, after Robert Mugabe gave in to military pressure and resigned. During the weekend, the 75-year-old Mnangagwa told supporters that since he took over, a lot had improved. He says Zimbabwe’s annual foreign direct investment had been around $400 …