Category: Business

South Korea's cryptocurrency industry is anticipating much better times as the market regulator changes tack from its tough stance on the virtual coin trade, promising instead to help promote blockchain technology. The regulator said Tuesday that it hopes to see South Korea — which has…

South Korea said on Wednesday it is signing free trade agreements with five Central American nations aimed at boosting market access for the Korean auto sector and electronics makers. Trade minister Kim Hyun-chong will meet representatives from Costa Rica, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua and Panama…

Through medication and narcotics smuggling, ivory and people trafficking, oil theft and piracy, Africa is, by conservative estimates, losing about $50 billion a year in illicit financial flows — more, in fact, than it receives in official development assistance.  A report by the Paris-based Organization for Economic…

When Markus Rohner flew into Cape Town's airport this month, he found an unexpected line at the men's washroom. With the city facing an unprecedented water shortage, airport authorities had turned off all the sink taps but one, leaving visitors to wait in line to…

Standing by a towering equatorial forest, Jean-Noel Kouame’s new breeze-block house may be beyond the reach of Ivory Coast’s power grid, but it’s perfectly located for solar power entrepreneurs. Buoyed by success in East Africa, off-grid solar power startups are pouring into West Africa, offering…

For the first time in Ukraine's history, U.S. anthracite is helping to keep the lights on and the heating going this winter following a deal that has also helped to warm Kyiv’s relations with President Donald Trump. The Ukrainian state-owned company that imported the coal…

Brazil's political affairs minister Carlos Marun said on Monday that passage of a bill to overhaul the country's costly social security system has effectively ground to a halt in Congress and would become a campaign issue in this year's election. Marun spoke to reporters after…

Latvia's ABLV Bank sought emergency support Monday after U.S. officials accused it of helping breach North Korean sanctions while the country's central bank chief faced bribery allegations, turning up the spotlight on its financial system. The Baltic country, which is a member of the euro…

Latvian Prime Minister Maris Kucinskis assured the country and Europe "there is no sign of danger," after anti-corruption police arrested the head of the Latvian central bank Saturday. "For now, neither I, nor any other official, has any reason to interfere with the work of…

The Commerce Department is urging President Donald Trump to impose tariffs or quotas on aluminum and steel imports from China and other countries. Unveiling the recommendations Friday, Secretary Wilbur Ross said in the case of both industries “the imports threaten to impair our national security.”…

The uncovering of one of the biggest frauds at a state-owned bank in India has rocked the country's financial sector and brought scrutiny to a billionaire jeweler who counted Hollywood stars among his customers. The nearly $1.8 billion fraud reported at India's second-largest state-owned bank…

Iraq's prime minister was in Kuwait this week, selling his country as a promising investment opportunity. After years of war and sectarian violence, Iraq is moving toward stability and wants to attract the private sector to help fund its $88 billion reconstruction and recovery effort.…

Top U.S. and Mexican officials on Thursday expressed cautious optimism that the North American Free Trade Agreement will be renegotiated, speaking ahead of the next round of trade talks later this month. Asked on local television whether it was more likely the $1.2 trillion trilateral…

Shares in European plane maker Airbus flew higher on Thursday after the company reported improved earnings and was more upbeat about the future following problems to several of its key aircraft programs.   The company said that it surged to a net profit of 1…

Is that love in the air or french fries? White Castle, KFC and other fast-food restaurants are trying to lure sweethearts for Valentine's Day. It's an attempt to capture a bit of the $3.7 billion that the National Retail Federation expects Americans to spend on…

The U.S. on Wednesday reported its biggest increase in consumer prices in a year, pushing stocks lower in early trading. The consumer price index, which follows the costs of household goods and services, advanced by a half percentage point in January, up from two-tenths of…

Electric powered bicycles, known as “e-bikes,” are a common sight among New York’s immigrant delivery workers, who consider the bikes a necessity to make a living wage. The problem is, they’re illegal to operate in the city, creating a dilemma for these immigrants who feel…

As a student, Leah Wangari imagined a glamorous life as a globe-trotting flight attendant, not toiling in dirt and manure.   Born and raised in Kenya's skyscraper-filled capital, Nairobi, the 28-year-old said farming had been the last thing on her mind. The decision to drop…

Brasilia - It is one of the most expensive areas in the Brazilian capital - and one of the most sacred. A plot in downtown Brasilia - known as Santuário dos Pajés or Shrine of the Shamans - is at the center of a conflict…

In her village of Komalia, the fog swirls so thick at 7 a.m. that Akansha Singh can see no more than 15 meters ahead. But the 20-year-old is already cycling to her workplace, nine kilometers away. Halfway there she stops for two hours at a…

Valentine's Day is probably the most romantic holiday. In the United States, with people sending 190 million Valentine's Day cards and spending around $100 per person on gifts. Instead of going out for a restaurant dinner for the holiday, a new idea is taking hold.…

General Motors said Tuesday it will close an underutilized factory in Gunsan, South Korea, by the end of May as part of a restructuring of its operations.   The move is a setback for the administration of President Moon Jae-in, who has made jobs and…

Companies selling some of the most lucrative prescription painkillers funneled millions of dollars to advocacy groups that in turn promoted the medications' use, according to a report released Monday by a U.S. senator. The investigation by Missouri's Senator Claire McCaskill sheds light on the opioid…

It's a long way from Abidjan in the Ivory Coast to the interstate highway near Chicago where trucker Mamoudou Diawara relishes the advantages that come with traveling the open road. "Trucking is the freedom," Diawara says. "It is the freedom and the money is right.…

President Donald Trump is proposing a $4 trillion-plus budget for next year that projects a $1 trillion or so federal deficit and — unlike the plan he released last year — never comes close to promising a balanced federal ledger even after 10 years. And…

The invention of a machine that removes pumpkin seeds from the shell and sorts them is being celebrated in Cameroon as traders hope to boost production of the commodity in the Central African Country. Mariama Diallo reports. ...

Federal investigators are still looking at how CSX railway crews routed an Amtrak train into a parked freight train in Cayce, South Carolina, last weekend. But even if CSX should bear sole responsibility for the accident, Amtrak will likely end up paying crash victims’ legal…

Increasing demand for long-haul truckers in the United States is drawing more African immigrants onto America's roads. VOA's Arzouma Kompaoré hitched a ride with African truckers whose routes to success stretch across the United States. ...