Category: Business

Afghanistan is set to exploit its unique agricultural climate by refining and exporting another kind of flower, orange blossoms! An Afghan investor found a way to extract the citrusy, floral bouquet from the delicate flowers to create perfumes. As VOA's Zabihullah Ghazi reports in Jalalabad,…

U.S. President Donald Trump predicted Sunday there would be a resolution of the U.S.-China standoff on tariffs on hundreds of billions of dollars of goods the world's two biggest economies are threatening to impose on each other. The U.S. leader said, without offering any direct…

Taiwan says it regrets that the "one China" policy insisted on by Beijing prevents it from providing much needed development aid to most countries in Africa. Taiwan was in a relatively good diplomatic position in Africa several years ago. Taiwan’s Deputy Secretary-General for International Cooperation…

The U.N. secretary-general and the Singaporean foreign minister voiced concerns about global trade tensions and rising protectionism during back-to-back meetings in Beijing on Sunday. Following remarks from his Chinese counterpart, Singaporean Foreign Minister Vivian Balakrishnan vowed to "double-down'' on free trade and economic liberalization in…

Some 30 percent of Air France flights were cancelled Saturday as strikes over pay rises appear to be intensifying. And that's just part of France's travel troubles this month. Most French trains will screech to a halt as a strike over President Emmanuel Macron's economic…

Following the success of West Virginia teachers in securing a pay raise, educators in Oklahoma and Kentucky are walking out of their classrooms, demanding that lawmakers increase education spending in their states. Arizona teachers may soon follow suit. From Washington, VOA's Jill Craig has more.…

Federal law enforcement authorities are in the process of seizing Backpage.com and its affiliated websites. A notice that appeared Friday afternoon at Backpage.com says the websites are being seized as part of an enforcement action by the FBI, U.S. Postal Inspection Service and the Internal…

The Trump administration is considering ways to require imported automobiles to meet stricter environmental standards in order to protect U.S. carmakers, The Wall Street Journal reported Friday. Responding to the story, White House spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders said President Donald Trump "will promote free, fair…

U.S. President Donald Trump and his administration said Friday that the United States was not engaged in a trade war with China, even as Trump threatened to impose tariffs on an additional $100 billion worth of Chinese goods and Beijing warned it was willing to…

U.S. stocks plunged again Friday over increasing concerns about a trade war between the United States and China. The Dow Jones industrial average lost 572 points by the close, shedding 2.3 percent. The Standard & Poor's 500 dropped nearly 2.2 percent, while the NASDAQ fell nearly…

Did March provide another month of blowout hiring? Was pay growth healthy? When the government issues its monthly jobs report Friday, those two questions will be the most closely watched barometers. Economists have forecast that employers added a solid 185,000 jobs in March and that…

The Trump administration says China is responsible for a trade war with the United States because of its long-term unfair practices. A senior White House economic adviser said Thursday no measures have been enacted, but the situation cannot continue. U.S. President Donald Trump said the…

Venezuela said on Thursday it was halting commercial relations with Panamanian officials and companies, including regional airline Copa, for alleged involvement in money laundering, prompting Panama to recall its ambassador. The resolution names Panamanian President Juan Carlos Varela and nearly two dozen Cabinet ministers and…

The trade dispute rumbling between China and the U.S. has raised the possibility consumers in Beijing may end up paying higher prices for American beef, liquor and tobacco if Beijing goes ahead with hikes on tariffs for such products. Below are thoughts shared with The…

President Donald Trump said Wednesday the United States is not in a trade war with China, after Beijing announced plans to impose tariffs on $50 billion worth of U.S. goods in response to a similar package announced by the United States. In a Twitter post…

Wall Street's three major indexes staged a comeback to close around 1 percent higher Wednesday as investors turned their focus to earnings and away from a trade conflict between the United States and China that wreaked havoc in earlier trading. After investors fled equities in the morning because…

A jury has awarded nearly $17 million to a former Ford engineer who sued the automaker for discrimination because he says two supervisors repeatedly berated and criticized him for his Arab background and accent. The Detroit Free Press reports that a federal jury in Michigan…

The possible closure of a major coastal tourism magnet in the Philippines for environmental cleanup will hurt business, but for a cause that helps everyone longer term, experts say. President Rodrigo Duterte said via the presidential website in March he would place Boracay Island under…

China announced Wednesday it plans to impose tariffs on $50 billion worth of U.S. goods in response to a similar package announced by the United States. The Chinese measures would boost tariffs by 25 percent on 106 U.S. products, including soybeans, aircraft and cars. China's…

The Trump administration on Tuesday raised the stakes in a growing trade showdown with China, announcing 25 percent tariffs on some 1,300 industrial technology, transport and medical products to try to force changes in Beijing's intellectual property practices. The U.S. Trade Representative's office unveiled a…

Nearly a dozen U.S. states and Washington, D.C., on Tuesday promised to defend federal automobile efficiency standards against a rollback proposed this week by Scott Pruitt, the head of the Environmental Protection Agency. "All Americans ... deserve to enjoy fuel-efficient, low-emission cars and light trucks that save money on…

The government of Aung San Suu Kyi is opening the economy and growth is rebounding in Myanmar, though the possibility of broader Western sanctions over the Rohingya refugee crisis is nevertheless giving some foreign investors pause, according to a senior IMF official. Shanaka Jay Peiris,…

Stock markets in Asia fell Tuesday, but did not suffer losses as steep as those Monday in U.S. markets where continued fears about a U.S.-China trade war and a verbal attack on an online retailer by President Donald Trump sent stocks lower. Markets in Japan…

First, the United States imposed a tax on Chinese steel and aluminum. Then, China counterpunched Monday with tariffs on a host of U.S. products, including apples, pork and ginseng.  On Wall Street, the stock market buckled on the prospect of an all-out trade war between…

For farmers trying to figure out how to heal a sick cow or grow tomatoes commercially in this Himalayan community, help is at hand in the form of a crumbling, earthquake-scarred library. In a rural area where searching for information online or paying for expert…

China raised import duties on a $3 billion list of U.S. pork, fruit and other products Monday in an escalating tariff dispute with President Donald Trump that companies worry might depress global commerce. The Finance Ministry said it was responding to a U.S. tariff hike…

Jonathan Garland's fascination with architecture started early: He spent much of his childhood designing Lego houses and gazing at Boston buildings on rides with his father away from their largely minority neighborhood.  But when Garland looked around at his architectural college, he didn't see many…

As the world's population heads toward 10 billion by midcentury, experts are wrestling with how to feed the world without wrecking the planet. It's not easy to find foods with lower environmental impact that still taste as good as the ones they are intended to…