Australia’s government is expected to release annual spending plans on Tuesday with a focus on winning votes at elections due within a year. Cheaper craft beer plus personal tax cuts compensated by strengthening company tax revenue have been flagged as well as more investment on roads and rail to stimulate economic growth. Some media have …

Nestle is paying more than $7 billion to handle global retail sales of Starbucks’s coffee and tea outside of its coffee shops. The deal comes with a huge price tag for Nestle, but it could pay off big for the Swiss company. Its Nescafe and Nespresso don’t carry anywhere near the heft in America that …

A small band of Belgian monks are planning to start producing their own beer again, more than 200 years after invading French troops stopped all brewing at the abbey. The men from Grimbergen Abbey started making beer in 1128, but stopped in 1797 when the French took over the site and sold off the equipment. …

Afghanistan’s poverty rate has worsened sharply over the past five years as the economy has stalled and the Taliban insurgency has spread, with more than half the population living on less than a dollar a day, a survey published on Monday showed. The Afghanistan Living Conditions Survey (ALCS), a joint study by the European Union …

An innovative consumer awareness campaign will be launched this summer in several cities in the United States. The campaign is aimed at preventing the waste of food that costs the world billions of dollars and has severe consequences on global food security and the environment. Verónica Balderas Iglesias spoke with experts. …

The U.S. and China ended the second day of high level talks Friday aimed at avoiding a possible trade war. The U.S. delegation, headed by Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, will brief President Donald Trump Saturday and “seek his decision on next steps,” the White House said in a statement, adding that the administration had “consensus” …

President Trump reveled in the 3.9 percent U.S. unemployment rate Friday, following the release of figures by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. But some say that these numbers don’t tell the whole story. From Washington, VOA’s Jill Craig has more. …

The Trump administration has drawn a hard line in trade talks with China, demanding a $200 billion cut in the Chinese trade surplus with the United States, sharply lower tariffs and advanced technology subsidies, people familiar with the talks said Friday. The lengthy list of demands was presented to Beijing before the start of talks …

U.S. employers stepped up hiring modestly in April, and the unemployment rate fell to 3.9 percent, evidence of the economy’s resilience amid the recent stock market chaos and anxieties about a possible trade war. Job growth amounted to a decent 164,000 last month, up from an upwardly revised 135,000 in March. The unemployment rate fell …

Venezuela said on Thursday it would take over the country’s leading private bank, Banesco, for 90 days and announced the arrest of 11 top executives for “attacks” against the country’s rapidly depreciating bolivar currency. The detentions came on the heels of last month’s shock arrests of two Venezuelan executives working in the country for U.S. oil company Chevron Corp. Oil-rich Venezuela …

A federal grand jury in Detroit has indicted former Volkswagen CEO Martin Winterkorn with conspiracy and wire fraud in the car builder’s scheme to rig diesel emissions tests. “If you try to deceive the United States, then you will pay a heavy price,” Attorney General Jeff Sessions said Thursday. “The indictment unsealed today alleges that …

The U.S. trade deficit narrowed sharply in March as exports increased to a record high amid a surge in deliveries of commercial aircraft and soybeans, bolstering the economy’s outlook heading into the second quarter. While other data on Thursday showed a modest increase in new applications for jobless benefits last week, the number of Americans …

South Korea is looking into developing and financing economic projects with North Korea that could take effect if a nuclear deal is reached with the United States. South Korean Finance Minister Kim Dong-yeon said on Wednesday the government was “internally carrying out preparations” to organize, finance and implement possible inter-Korea projects. But he also emphasized …

President Trump plans to meet next week with leaders from U.S. and foreign carmakers on trade and changes to emission standards. “When the White House wants to meet with us about our sector and policy, we welcome the opportunity,” Alliance of American Automobile Manufacturers spokeswoman Gloria Bergquist said Wednesday. The time and agenda of the …

The International Monetary Fund censured Venezuela on Wednesday for failing to hand over essential economic data to the fund. “The [Executive] Board noted that adequate data provision was an essential first step to understanding Venezuela’s economic crisis and identifying possible solutions,” an IMF statement said. The board is giving Venezuela another six months to comply …

A Chinese company that manufactured Ivanka Trump shoes and has been accused of serious labor abuses is being celebrated in a blockbuster propaganda film for extending China’s influence around the globe.   The state-backed documentary “Amazing China” portrays the Huajian Group as a beneficent force spreading prosperity — in this case, by hiring thousands of …

When Andrew Chamberlain started in his job four years ago in the research group at jobs website Glassdoor.com, he worked in a programming language called Stata. Then it was R. Then Python. Then PySpark. “My dad was a commercial printer and did the same thing for 30 years. I have to continually stay on stuff,” …

With their manicured nails, immaculate makeup and matching handbags and stilettos, you would be forgiven for mistaking the five women seated in the cafe of the upscale Nairobi hotel for a group of senior female executives. Sipping white hot chocolate from delicate porcelain cups, they discuss their long working hours and challenges in finding time with their children, and …

Workers and protesters throughout the world observed May Day Tuesday with rallies and strikes demanding their governments address better working conditions and other labor issues. In addition to being an international day honoring workers or a traditional spring time festival, Tuesday is also International Worker’s Day in many countries. Russia In Moscow, about 120,000 people …

Pakistan has formally reopened a major trade route with landlocked Afghanistan after nearly four years. Authorities had closed the remote Ghulam Khan border crossing in North Waziristan in 2014 after launching a major army-led counter-militancy offensive in the tribal district, once condemned as the “epicenter” of international terrorism. Military officials say the Waziristan region has …

U.S. President Donald Trump is extending tariff exemptions on aluminum and steel exports from the European Union, Canada, and Mexico for at least another month. The temporary exemptions of the tariffs already imposed on such nations as China, Japan, and Russia, were to have expired Tuesday. But the White House says it is giving negotiators …

U.S. President Donald Trump has postponed a decision on imposing steel and aluminum tariffs on Canada, the European Union and Mexico until June 1, and has reached an agreement in principle with Argentina, Australia and Brazil, a source familiar with the decision said on Monday. The decision came just hours before temporary exemptions were set …

The head of popular messaging service WhatsApp is planning to leave the company because of a reported disagreement over how parent company Facebook is using customers’ personal data.  WhatsApp billionaire chief executive Jan Koum wrote in a Facebook post Monday, “It’s been almost a decade since (co-founder) Brian (Acton) and I started WhatsApp, and it’s …

U.S. consumer prices accelerated in the year to March, with a measure of underlying inflation surging to near the Federal Reserve’s 2 percent target as weak readings from last year dropped out of the calculation. The rise in the annual inflation gauges reported by the Commerce Department on Monday was anticipated by economists and Fed …

The third and fourth biggest U.S. wireless carriers, T-Mobile and Sprint, said Sunday they plan to merge, the third attempt they’ve made to join forces against the country’s two biggest mobile device firms, Verizon and AT&T. The deal, if it happens this time, calls for T-Mobile to buy Sprint for $26 billion in an all-stock …

From T-shirts, socks and toys to knives and lanterns, a store in upstate New York takes pride in only selling goods that are made in America. Olga Loginova from VOA’s Russian service talked to the store owner about his business, which emerged after the 2008 financial crisis. …