Author: Fbiz

While the Trump administration explores options to curb North Korea’s nuclear development, efforts are under way in Congress to push for additional sanctions against the regime. The move comes amid growing speculation that the isolated state may soon conduct another nuclear test. South Korea believes North Korea is ready to carry out a nuclear test …

Qatar on Thursday denied it was violating a new labor law by blocking migrants from leaving the country, saying it was committed to enforcing reforms to improve the rights of millions of foreign workers. A new law making it easier for migrants to change jobs and leave the oil-rich Gulf state — where many of …

Workplaces have become less civil spaces than they once were. People don’t say please and thank you. Employees send e-mails and texts during meetings, ignoring the speaker and tuning out of the discussion. Others take too much credit for collaborative work.  The nasty looks and belittling comments reached a point at law firm Bryan Cave, …

El Salvador’s Congress on Wednesday approved a law prohibiting all metal mining projects in a bid to protect the poor Central American country’s environment and natural resources. The new law, which enjoyed cross-party support from 70 lawmakers, blocks all exploration, extraction and processing of metals, whether in open pits or underground. The legislation prohibits the …

Turkish banker Mehmet Hakan Atilla, a prominent ally of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, came to New York this week to school investors on his state bank’s plans to sell new dollar bonds. Instead, he was placed under arrest by U.S. authorities and accused of conspiring to violate U.S. sanctions on Iran by teaming with …

Online retailer Amazon has announced another move into a traditional brick and mortar business, drive-up grocery stores. The company announced the AmazonFresh Pickup service Tuesday, according to CNBC. The service, which is currently only available to Amazon employees, would allow Amazon Prime members to order groceries online, choose a pick up time and pick them …

Indonesia has the world’s fourth-largest population at almost 260 million, but only 10 percent are registered as taxpayers and only about one million actually submit a tax return. That’s a major reason for the country’s huge and growing deficit, which has stalled the present administration’s ambitious infrastructure plans. To jump-start the recovery of assets that …

Twitter Inc, trying to boost its sagging advertising revenue, will allow brands to buy commercials on its video streams for Periscope, signaling a major push to make money off the live-streaming platform, the company announced on Tuesday morning. With sponsors growing more wary of exactly what kind of online videos their ads are being placed …

Turkish and Gulf airlines are touting free WiFi and better in-flight connectivity for smartphones as they scramble to mitigate the impact of a ban on laptops in plane cabins bound for the United States. The restrictions could deal a blow to fast-growing Gulf airlines, which depend on business-class flyers stopping over in Dubai or Doha …

In New York, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell for the eight consecutive day on Monday.  Investors may have been discouraged by the failure of U.S. President Donald Trump to pass big changes to the health care insurance system that he promised during the campaign. U.S. stock indexes were down sharply in morning trading, but …

Transnational crime, or crimes committed across international borders, is growing at a faster pace than many realize, partly because the international community is not paying a lot of attention to it. That’s the conclusion from Global Financial Integrity or GFI, a non-profit Washington think tank that tracks illicit financial flows across borders. The group’s latest …

Just months ahead of local elections, the Cambodian government has ordered the microfinance industry to cap the interest rate on new loans at 18 percent a year. While borrowers will applaud that at least in the short term the decision has rocked the industry, which fears some firms will go bankrupt. The end result could …

A joint committee of ministers from OPEC and non-OPEC oil producers has agreed to review whether a global pact to limit supplies should be extended by six months, it said in a statement on Sunday. An earlier draft of the statement said the committee “reports high level of conformity and recommends six-month extension.” But the …

U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said on Friday he believes financial markets could improve “significantly” once they fully reflect the potential for U.S. economic growth from President Donald Trump’s economic policies. Mnuchin said at an event sponsored by news website Axios that optimism about U.S. growth from policies such as regulatory reform and tax reform …

The Trump administration will approve the Keystone XL pipeline Friday, senior U.S. officials say, ending years of delay for a project that has served as a flashpoint in the national debate about climate change.   The State Department will recommend the pipeline is in U.S. interests, clearing the way for the White House to grant …

Neda Saiyyada was among a handful of women in India whose company gave her six months of maternity leave last year instead of the mandatory three months. The extended leave helped the young mother enormously. “When I was pregnant, my biggest worry was that I will not be able to leave my child,” she said. …

Grumbling Venezuelans were lining up for scarce gasoline across the OPEC nation on Wednesday, due to mounting oil industry woes in the country with the world’s largest crude reserves. Venezuela, which also has the world’s cheapest gasoline, has wrestled with intermittent gasoline shortages in recent months, especially in the central coastal area. Long lines were …

Dozens of German companies including Siemens attended meetings in Bolivia this week to discuss building a coast-to-coast railway through Brazil, Bolivia and Peru that could speed up the export of corn and soybeans to Asia, German and Bolivian officials said on Wednesday. The massive, $10-billion project would involve building a 3,700-kilometer (2,299 miles) rail line …

Oil prices dipped on Wednesday as rising crude stocks in the United States underscored an ongoing global fuel supply overhang despite an OPEC-led effort to cut output. Prices for front-month Brent crude futures, the international benchmark for oil, were at $50.79 per barrel at 0451 GMT, down 17 cents, or 0.3 percent, from their last …

Brazil’s government plans to announce spending freezes of 30 billion to 35 billion reais ($9.7 billion to $11.3 billion) this week to help meet part of its 2017 budget deficit target, the Senate leader said on Tuesday. The rest of the shortfall will have to come from raised taxes and higher revenues from such sources …

The University of Southern California each year hosts the African Economic and Development Summit, bringing delegations of African business leaders, government officials and others to network with their counterparts in the U.S. But this year, the African summit has no Africans. All were denied visas. Michelle Quinn reports from Los Angeles. …

The World Bank reports Africa will receive the bulk of the $75 billion the International Development Association, or IDA, will spend to finance life-saving and life-changing operations over the next three years mainly in 30 of the world’s poorest, most fragile countries. The IDA is a part of the World Bank which supports anti-poverty programs …

There was bad news for the United Nations last week, as President Donald Trump announced he is seeking a 28 percent budget cut for diplomacy and foreign aid, which includes an unspecified reduction in funding to the United Nations and its agencies. VOA’s U.N. Correspondent Margaret Besheer reports that the potential cuts come as the …

China, the world’s third-largest bond market accounting for $9 trillion in debt instruments, has started the process of opening up to foreign investors. Two major investment banks, including Citigroup, have announced plans to join the fray and several others are expectantly watching the unfolding situation. It’s not a sudden desire to liberalize, but pressure from …

German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe spoke up for free trade at a major technology fair on Sunday with jabs clearly pointed at an increasingly protectionist United States. Both called for a free trade deal to be reached quickly between Japan and the European Union, in comments made after G-20 finance …

U.S. Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin said the meeting of finance ministers of the G20 countries was a success Saturday despite the ministers not reaching agreement on trade protectionism. “I will leave here confident that my colleagues and I are able to work in partnership to …foster and promote global growth and financial stability,” he said. …