HAVANA—Political leaders and other dignitaries from around the world joined Cuban mourners on Tuesday night in the packed Plaza of the Revolution—the site of so many fiery orations by Fidel Castro—to pay their last respects to the former Cuban leader in a service called “Song to Fidel”.
WASHINGTON—Few Cubans alive today can remember a time without Fidel Castro. In his day, he was one of the most influential, most provocative figures in the Western Hemisphere.
THAILAND’S Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha on Friday pledged to move ahead with a crackdown on zero-dollar tour operations while assuring efforts were under way to help cushion any impact on the tourism industry.
THAILAND is in urgent need of a boost in the capacity of fixed-line broadband infrastructure to off-load mobile- data traffic from the increasingly congested wireless network.
By Cathy Hobbs / Tribune News Service
SAINT LOUIS—At the request of environmental advocates, the Missouri conservation agency says it will consider amending the state regulation that allows for unlimited commerci al hunting of wild turtles.
MIAMI—The US government has amended regulations to allow Cuban government officials and members of the Communist Party to benefit from the softening of sanctions, including receiving cash remittances and other perks.
WASHINGTON—Beset by low natural-gas prices and tax advantages for its competitors, the nuclear-power industry is seeking new tax credits to help it find its footing in an increasingly challenging marketplace.
UNITED States President Barack Obama issued a presidential directive on Cuba on Friday that seeks to institutionalize and cement his policy changes toward the island and encourage further engagement even after he leaves office.
By Nancy A. Simon / Chicago Tribune/TNS
MENLO PARK, California—When Pope Francis joined Instagram at age 79 in March, a thought crossed the mind of the tech firm’s COO. For Marne Levine, the moment made the company’s value to the world even clearer.
RALEIGH—Hurricane Matthew and floods that have come after are jeopardizing crops, pitting farmers against rising water to claim commodities worth millions.
THAI tire maker Deestone Group remains committed to investing 7 billion baht under a three-year business plan through 2017, citing strong demand in both domestic and overseas markets.
RIYADH—Saudi Arabia and Singapore have identified education and health as potential areas of cooperation.
MILWAUKEE—A new study suggests a significant relationship between caffeine and dementia prevention, though it stops short of establishing cause and effect. The study, published in The Journals of Gerontology, Series A: Biological Sciences and Medical Sciences, found higher caffeine intake in women age 65 and older was associated with reduced odds of developing dementia or cognitive impairment.
WHEN one reviews the charges and countercharges that have characterized the 2016 presidential election campaign, one topic that’s been left on the fringes is faith. That changed on Tuesday night, as two candidates, whose faith is central to their political philosophies, took to the debate stage.
WASHINGTON—Acrimony between Washington and Moscow heated up even further on Friday as Secretary of State John F. Kerry called for Russia to be investigated for war crimes because of its bombardment of civilians in Syria and the Obama administration publicly accused Vladimir Putin’s government of computer hacking that was “intended to interfere with the US election.”
The hard part was supposed to be over. After a half century of war, and after four years of grinding negotiations, the Colombian government and leaders of the country’s insurgency reached an accord in August to end a conflict in which more than 220,000 people were killed and 6 million displaced. The world watched September 26 as President Juan Manuel Santos and Rodrigo Londono, leader of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), signed the agreement, hailed as a blueprint for resolving war through dialogue and compromise.
ASIAN-American voters are siding strongly with Hillary Clinton in the presidential contest, as younger voters, in particular, abandon Donald Trump and the Republican Party, a new poll of those voters has found.
WASHINGTON—The strained relationship between Washington and Moscow deteriorated further on Saturday with new threats over Syria, but no sign of relief to widespread bloodshed there.
WASHINGTON—President Barack Obama’s top economic adviser says the White House will make a last-ditch sales pitch to Congress about his proposed trade deal with Asia: “What’s the alternative?”
MIAMI—Cuba will allow US air marshals on regularly scheduled commercial flights between the two countries, island authorities announced on Friday.
By Nicole Brodeur / The Seattle Times/TNS
MOST people think about charitable giving at two extremes: Either wealthy individuals writing checks with lots of zeros, or the rest of us pulling a $20 bill out of our wallets a few times a year to sponsor a friend’s race or drop into a Salvation Army kettle.
WASHINGTON—The GOP-led Congress has been angling for this moment: the chance to finally deliver President Barack Obama a stinging rebuke with the first veto override since he took office.
A growing chorus of politicians and national-security experts have questioned whether it would be safe to have Donald Trump’s finger on the nuclear button. But are they asking the right question?
By Mary Carol Garrity / Tribune News Service
A new route plan for Thai In-ternational Airways (Thai) will take about six months from October, President Charamporn Jotikasthira says.
FORT LAUDERDALE, Florida— Hillary Clinton has a strong lead over Donald Trump among Florida Hispanics, an advantage that could make the difference in winning or losing the close contest for the state’s 29 electoral votes.
As flames leaped high in the battered northern Syrian city of Aleppo, hopes faded anew on Thursday for any revival of Syria’s broken cease-fire.
HYDERABAD, India—September 21 is observed as World Alzheimer’s Day as part of an international campaign to raise awareness about the disease that retards memory and other mental functions.
CHARLOTTE, North Carolina— Protests turned violent for a second night in Charlotte after Tuesday’s fatal police shooting of a black man. Late on Wednesday, North Carolina Gov. Pat McCrory declared a state of emergency for the city and deployed the National Guard and State Highway Patrol troopers to assist local police.
SAN JOSE, California—Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and his wife, Dr. Priscilla Chan, are investing at least $3 billion over the next decade to prevent, manage and cure diseases by the end of the century.
SELAH—Apple growers want every apple they harvest to be perfect, but it doesn’t always work out that way.
MAZDA Sales (Thailand) has set an ambitious short-term goal of increasing its market share to 8 percent by 2018, from 5 percent last year.
WITH the cauldron at the Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro extinguished, fans and critics alike are revisiting the perennial Olympic question: To whom is this enormously oversized effort to host the games really worth it? One beneficiary that was prominently featured in Rio is the world of global security and surveillance.
MUMBAI—Young Indians, under the age of 35 also popularly known as millennials, have emerged as one of the most important consumer segments buying diamond jewelery in India, accounting for close to half of the sectors overall revenues showing that the sparkling stone has not lost its sheen among the youth, who are also known to spend a lot more on everything from fancy gadgets to vacations.
ISTANBUL—As a cease-fire in Syria entered its third day, authorities said on Wednesday the government was to begin withdrawing forces from a strategic road in the besieged rebel-held area of Aleppo, a move that would open the way for United Nations (UN) relief shipments.
The Commerce Ministry is committed to helping Thailand become one of the leading exporters for innovative farm products and services under a 20-year strategic plan.
The recent crackdown on zero-dollar tour operations is having a short-term impact on the tourism industry, with the number of Chinese visitors expected to drop 20 percent this month.
ATOP official says full-year exports may eke out marginal growth of 0.3 percent, boosted by recovering shipments to traditional markets.
CHICAGO—Making the decision to help 15 years ago might end Garrett Goodwin’s life early. Goodwin, 39, was one of tens of thousands of people at the World Trade Center (WTC) right after the September 11, 2001, attacks. A trained medic, he traveled from Tampa, Florida, to New York to volunteer.
SAN JOSE, California—As word spread on Friday morning about Facebook’s censorship of an iconic photo from the Vietnam War, the fallout was immediate and global.
WASHINGTON—After days of hard-fought talks, the Obama administration and Russia announced a new plan aimed at imposing a cease-fire in Syria that would end the current bloodshed and create an opening for political talks but require difficult steps from all parties.
WASHINGTON—The likely collapse of the Islamic State (IS) caliphate in Iraq and Syria will deal a mighty blow to the terror group, but may scatter “hundreds of hardened killers” into Western Europe, top Obama administration officials said on Thursday.
HANGZHAO, China—President Barack Obama’s emissaries spent much of Sunday talking with Russian officials here about how to quell the violence in Syria, but the president all but shrugged his shoulders when asked about the prospects of a deal with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
WASHINGTON—President Barack Obama’s 10th and final trip to Asia while in office is unlikely to be the triumph of his major foreign policy initiative that he once envisioned.
DUBAI—Millennials in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Saudi Arabia, who tend to be higher spenders than their global peers, are driving a surge in e-commerce spending in the region, a study released by global payments technology company Visa revealed on Tuesday.
WASHINGTON—When the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) voted to approve Net neutrality rules last year, many people saw it as a done deal. Supporters cheered the decision as a victory for the free and open Internet, where the deep pockets of big companies couldn’t buy faster web speeds over struggling start-ups.
WASHINGTON—The Pentagon and US intelligence agencies now view Islamic State (IS) as a shrinking and increasingly demoralized military force, a sharp shift from the seemingly invincible extremist army that declared an Islamist caliphate two years ago.
WASHINGTON—The Senate will not vote on the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) this year because of “serious flaws” in the agreement, Majority Leader Mitch McConnell told a farm group, effectively ending President Barack Obama’s drive for congressional approval before he leaves office in January.
WASHINGTON—It sounds like something out of a prime-time TV drama.
RUTLAND, Vermont—Mayor Christopher Louras sees trouble ahead for this small city of about 16,000 at the foot of the Green Mountains.
CO-WORKING spaces and maker spaces are two items that can help engage millennials, and both are under development in Aberdeen.
The spate of arson and bomb attacks in the seven southern provinces last week may have cost as much as 33.4 billion baht in economic losses, according to an estimation by Anusorn Tamajai, dean of Rangsit University’s Faculty of Economics.
WASHINGTON—Sharp differences along lines of race and politics shape American attitudes toward the poor and poverty, according to a new survey of public opinion, which finds empathy toward the poor and deep skepticism about government antipoverty efforts.
A SUSTEK Computer (Thailand), the local operating unit of Taiwanese PC maker Asus, is aiming to boost its smartphone sales to make mobile handsets the core of its revenue engine.
wASHINGTON—Despite repeatedly stating President Barack Obama was “the founder of ISIS [Islamic State in Iraq and Syria],” Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump said on Friday morning his original comments were sarcastic.
WASHINGTON—Pursuing a return to public service came at a cost to Hillary and Bill Clinton, as their considerable joint income dropped by nearly two-thirds last year, when the former secretary of state began her run for president.
MIAMI—In the face of a surge in Cuban migrants arriving in the United States, Cuba is accusing Washington of politicizing migration policy between the two countries and encouraging “illegal and unsafe” migration from the island.
With domestic consumption sluggish or shrinking, Southeast Asia’s cement producers are expanding abroad in hopes of finding new revenue streams in countries where infrastructure needs are driving more demand.
NEW DELHI—Prime Minister Narendra Modi seems set to give India’s ties with Southeast Asia a boost in September, with plans to visit Vietnam against the backdrop of an international tribunal ruling against Chinese claims over the South China Sea.
BOGOTA, Colombia—Ten to 15 times a week, Jorge repackages a stash of bottles and pills and then sends a message to his network of couriers. There’s always someone willing to carry the package to Venezuela tucked into their luggage.
GREEN BAY, Wisconsin—With no prominent Wisconsin Republicans on hand, GOP nominee Donald Trump limped into Wisconsin on Friday and belatedly endorsed House Speaker Paul Ryan and 2008 nominee Sen. John McCain, trying to heal the wounds of a rough week of party infighting.
“I fully support and endorse Paul Ryan,” Trump said on Friday, prompting both cheers and boos from about 2,000 supporters here.
The real-estate mogul has seen his poll numbers plummet this week as he feuded with the family of a fallen soldier and with Ryan, the most popular politician of his party in this potential battleground state.
The difficult week for Trump has overshadowed potentially damaging news for Democrats and his rival Hillary Clinton, such as recent revelations about how the United States delivered $400 million to Iran as part of a nuclear detente deal. After pointedly declining to do so earlier this week and being drubbed by Wisconsin Republicans, Trump endorsed Ryan as the Janesville Republican goes into a primary on Tuesday with businessman Paul Nehlen. Such an endorsement, though a small win for Ryan, might come too late to fully undo the damage in Wisconsin.
Assembly Speaker Robin Vos, a Republican, wrote in a column on Friday morning on the web site Right Wisconsin that he was “heartbroken” to see Trump praising Nehlen and withholding support from Ryan.
PITTSBURGH—With college costs shooting through the roof and many parents unprepared for the burden of paying for it, high-school students across the country are being forced to make choices about where they will attend college and how to cut costs once they get there.
WASHINGTON—Donald Trump’s relations with the Republican Party—and his political fortunes—worsened dramatically on Wednesday, as party leaders fretted openly about the inability of his campaign staff to control him and even began to discuss what to do if their unpredictable nominee suddenly quit the race.
WASHINGTON—Immigrants contribute millions of dollars in taxes and create hundreds of thousands of jobs in all 50 states every year, according to statistics compiled by a new group that’s advocating for change in immigration laws.
WASHINGTON—To the extent Donald Trump has articulated a coherent foreign policy, it appears a dark shoot-from-the-hip unilateralism that puts him at odds with thinking that has dominated the Republican Party for generations.
A little rain can make a big difference in the prices of corn and soybeans.
TAMPA, Florida—Hillary Clinton has tapped Virginia Sen. Tim Kaine as her running mate, adding a well-liked swing-state moderate with broad governing experience to the Democratic ticket.
By Jim Puzzanghera | TNS
SECRETARY of State John F. Kerry wrangled for hours with senior Russian officials in Moscow on Friday, discussing a plan that includes first-time coordination between the US and Russia on air strikes targeting militant groups operating in Syria.
WASHINGTON—In the months following the September 11, 2001, attacks, Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) agents chased down tantalizing leads that a Saudi official and a princess in the Saudi royal family may have helped two hijackers settle in San Diego before the strike.
DALLAS—A baby has been born with a Zika-related birth defect, officials in Harris County said on Wednesday. The baby’s mother was infected with the Zika virus in Latin America and passed the virus to the baby in the womb. The child is the first in Texas to be born with a birth defect linked to Zika.
By Anne Z. Cooke & Steven St. John / Tribune News Service
THE Bishop Arts District has done more to get northern local dwellers to go south of Interstate 30 than possibly anything in the history of modern Dallas.
A Chinese electric-bus maker has expressed interest in investing in an automotive assembly plant in Thailand to produce electric buses to serve the country’s transport system, Industry Minister Atchaka Sibunruang said.
WASHINGTON—The strong rebound in hiring last month, after almost zero new jobs were added in May, allayed worries that the long recovery in the labor market and the economy was coming to an abrupt end.
WASHINGTON—As the head of a party turned upside down by its nominating fight, Reince Priebus says Republicans need, “more than ever,” to have a unifying convention this month.
INDIAN RIVER COUNTY—Until a few years ago, county road-and-bridge improvements were limited to improving safety for drivers.
WASHINGTON—No matter how the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) investigation into the handling of sensitive information on Hillary Clinton’s personal computer server ends, it is likely to hurt her campaign for president.
WASHINGTON—After escalating one of the most lethal covert operations in United States history, President Barack Obama finally made a public estimate of the civilian cost of the nation’s secret drone program, which has targeted Islamic militants in remote corners of the globe. Human-rights groups immediately challenged the estimate and the amount of transparency from the administration, saying both were too limited.
WASHINGTON—The Pentagon on Thursday lifted a long-standing ban against transgender men and women serving openly in the military, removing one of its last discriminatory hurdles and placing gender identity on a par with race, religion, color, sex and sexual orientation.
By Myscha Theriault / Tribune News Service
By Michael Phillips / Chicago Tribune
BRITAIN’S vote to leave the European Union (EU) is evidence we’re living in an increasingly uncooperative world, Los Angeles money manager Jeffrey Gundlach said. That’s why he’s betting on gold, short-term bonds and other assets seen as safe havens, rather than on stocks.
Thai exports slipped for a second straight month in May, with the low value attributed to a slowdown in the global economy and low prices for farm products and oil.
DUBAI—The LuLu Group has further consolidated its retail presence in the Far East by opening the first LuLu shopping mall with a hypermarket in Malaysia.
HEATHER Cherry’s vision was fairly good, but the stay-at-home mom in rural Nevada was tired of reaching for her glasses when she wanted to see into the distance during a hike or fully enjoy the sight of wild horses grazing at the side of the road.
ORLANDO, Florida—President Barack Obama is a reluctant veteran of memorial services for mass murders, yet, no single one he’s presided over prepared him fully to mark the Orlando massacre.
U.S. Sen. Chris Murphy, groggy from a near 15-hour Senate filibuster that attracted national attention, said on Thursday he had a promise from Republican leaders that a vote will be held on two gun-control measures: expanding background checks and barring people on terror watch lists from purchasing guns.
PHILADELPHIA—Looking to raise millions for a bold expansion of early-childhood education, Philadelphia City Council on Thursday approved a 1.5-cent-per-ounce tax on sugar-sweetened and diet beverages, the first such tax imposed in a major US city.
A MAPLEWOOD man was charged in federal court on Wednesday with having defrauded Hmong elders, out of more than $1.3 million, in a scheme that promised property and homes in a new Southeast Asian homeland.
THE only handheld device dad needs this year for Father’s Day: a hulking sandwich filled with grilled pork chops, chicken thighs, soft-shell crab or garlic-slathered zucchini. These breadwinners, dreamed up by our food writers, let you bust out the backyard tongs without defaulting to steak and potatoes. Pair them with beer, and pops is going to wonder how he raised such an amazing kid.
Story & photos by Myscha Theriault / Tribune News Service
GLOBAL Internet giant Google, along with local firms All Nipon Airways (ANA) and Toyota Motor Corp., has emerged as the ideal workplace for Japanese millennial talent, according to a new survey that has spotlighted the nation’s shifting work culture.
THE next five years will bring a reshaping of the global gas trade, the International Energy Agency (IEA) said June 8 in its 2016 Medium-Term Gas Market Report.
SPRINGFIELD, Missouri—Ask Calvin Morrow, an evangelical Christian activist, if he’s going to embrace Donald Trump and his expression sours, as if he has just tasted milk well past its sell-by date.
WASHINGTON—US drone operators had been stalking the baby-faced British terrorist for days with infrared cameras and other sensors before the order came to kill him.
WASHINGTON—The United States announced on Friday that six US airlines have received permission to provide air service to Cuba beginning in the fall—another step that is likely to vastly increase the number of Americans traveling to the island, challenging its tourism infrastructure.
