TOKYO (Reuters) -Japan’s Panasonic Holdings Corp aims to ramp up production of battery cells used in electric vehicles by building at least two new factories in North America, it said on Thursday. The company, whose energy unit makes batteries for Tesla Inc, seeks to boost its auto battery capacity to 200 gigawatt hours per year…
By Daniel Trotta (Reuters) – Oklahoma’s governor has signed into law a bill making it a felony to provide gender-affirming healthcare to a minor. Indiana has enacted a law requiring teachers to tell parents when students ask to be called by a new name or different pronoun. North Dakota has approved a law that lets…
By David Milliken LONDON (Reuters) -Bank of England Deputy Governor Dave Ramsden said on Thursday that the rate at which the central bank reduces its holdings of government bonds was more likely to increase than decrease, as it unwinds its quantitative easing programme. The BoE is currently reducing its government bond holdings by 80 billion…
MOSCOW (Reuters) – Yevgeny Prigozhin, the chief of Russia’s Wagner mercenary group, on Thursday accused regular Russian army units of pulling back 570 metres north of the eastern Ukrainian city of Bakhmut, leaving his own fighters’ flanks exposed. Reuters was unable to verify his assertion and there was no immediate comment from the defence ministry….
By Kantaro Komiya and Tetsushi Kajimoto TOKYO (Reuters) – Japan’s government estimates it needs to raise about 3 trillion yen ($22.2 billion) in funds per year for a childcare policy Prime Minister Fumio Kishida has put forward to help reverse the declining birth rate, Jiji news agency reported on Thursday. The government in March laid…
MILAN (Reuters) – Shares in Italy’s Italian Design Brands (IDB), a hub of Italian furniture and lighting companies, jumped more than 3% on their Milan bourse debut on Thursday. At around 1000 GMT IDB’s shares were up 3.3% from the fixed price set in its initial public offering. The group, which offered newly issued shares…
By Danielle Broadway LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – As the Writers Guild of America strikes to bring about better pay and work security in a streaming TV world, a generation of diverse writers like Caroline Renard fear for the future of their careers. While there have been improvements in diversity within writers’ rooms in recent years,…
By Asif Shahzad and Mubasher Bukhari ISLAMABAD (Reuters) -Pakistan’s former Prime Minister Imran Khan, who is facing corruption charges, said on Thursday he would not join an investigation by the powerful anti-graft agency while he was out on bail. The National Accountability Bureau (NAB), which has in the past investigated, put on trial and jailed…
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. President Joe Biden and House of Representatives Speaker Kevin McCarthy, the top Republican in Washington, hope to finalize a deal on the debt ceiling after Biden returns from the Group of Seven meeting in Japan on Sunday. The debt ceiling bill Republicans have passed in the House and Democrat Biden’s 2024…
By James Oliphant WASHINGTON (Reuters) -Florida Republican Governor Ron DeSantis will officially enter the 2024 U.S. presidential race next week, according to two sources familiar with the decision, immediately becoming Donald Trump’s biggest rival for the Republican nomination and shaking up a contest that largely has been one-sided. DeSantis will likely file paperwork declaring his…
