By Michael Martina WASHINGTON (Reuters) -When an alleged Chinese spy balloon traversed the United States in February, some U.S. officials were confident the incursion would galvanize the U.S. bureaucracy to push forward a slate of actions to counter China. Instead, the U.S. State Department held back human rights-related sanctions, export controls and other sensitive actions…
By Valerie Volcovici WASHINGTON (Reuters) -The Biden administration on Thursday unveiled a sweeping plan to slash greenhouse gas emissions from the U.S. power industry, one of the biggest steps so far in its effort to decarbonize the economy to fight climate change. The proposal would limit how much carbon dioxide power plants, which are the…
By Scott DiSavino NEW YORK (Reuters) -Oil prices fell about 2% to a one-week low on Thursday as a political standoff over the U.S. debt ceiling stoked recession jitters in the world’s biggest oil consumer, while rising U.S. jobless claims and weak Chinese economic data weighed. Brent crude futures fell $1.43, or 1.9%, to settle…
By Chris Prentice WASHINGTON (Reuters) -U.S. regulators on Thursday slapped units of Bank of Nova Scotia and HSBC Holdings Plc with civil penalties for widespread recordkeeping violations through employees’ use of personal devices and apps for work communications. The banks admitted they had failed to meet recordkeeping requirements for dealers registered with U.S. market regulators….
By Daphne Psaledakis and Maya Gebeily WASHINGTON/BEIRUT (Reuters) -A bipartisan group of U.S. lawmakers introduced a bill on Thursday intended to bar the American government from recognizing Bashar al-Assad as Syria’s president and to enhance Washington’s ability to impose sanctions – a warning to other countries normalizing relations with Assad. The bill, first reported by…
By David Shepardson WASHINGTON (Reuters) -The chair of a U.S. House of Representatives committee on China’s Communist Party and other lawmakers on Thursday raised “deep concern” and sought answers over reports Chinese-owned short video app TikTok censored an account that posted content from a film about pro-democracy Hong Kong tycoon Jimmy Lai. Representative Mike Gallagher…
By Ahmed Aboulenein WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Leaders of major insulin makers and pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) traded blame for the life-saving drug’s high price on Wednesday while testifying at a U.S. Senate committee hearing on making it more affordable. PBMs negotiate with drugmakers for rebates and lower fees on behalf of employers and other clients,…
(Reuters) – Twitter Inc on Thursday allowed users who subscribe to its Blue verification feature an early access to its encrypted messaging service. The social media platform, owned and run by Tesla CEO Elon Musk, said the service was now available to verified users who have the latest version of the app installed. A Twitter…
By Nate Raymond and Andrew Chung (Reuters) -The U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday overturned the bribery conviction of Joseph Percoco, an ex-aide to Democratic former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, in a ruling that further limits the ability of federal prosecutors to pursue corruption cases. The justices ruled 9-0 in favor of Joseph Percoco, Cuomo’s…
By Phil Stewart and Idrees Ali WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Lawmakers accused the Pentagon on Thursday of effectively undermining war crimes prosecution of Russia by blocking the sharing of U.S. military intelligence with the International Criminal Court at the Hague. U.S. Senator Dick Durbin, a Democrat, said at Senate hearing that he had been told by…
