(Reuters) – Around 664,000 homes and businesses along the U.S. Gulf Coast from Texas to Florida were without power on Friday after severe storms battered the region overnight, according to data from power outage tracker and local utilities. Texas had the most outages with about 212,300 out now, down from around 236,000 earlier in the…
BEIJING (Reuters) -Chinese President Xi Jinping called Bill Gates “an old friend” and said he hoped they could cooperate in a way that would benefit both China and the United States, in Xi’s first meeting with a foreign entrepreneur in years. In a meeting at Beijing’s Diaoyutai state guest house, where China’s leaders have traditionally…
By Lisa Baertlein LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – United Parcel Service (UPS) union employees have voted overwhelmingly to authorize a strike should contract talks break down after the current agreement ends in two weeks, the International Brotherhood of Teamsters said on Friday. The Teamsters, representing some 340,000 UPS workers in the United States, said 97% of…
CAIRO (Reuters) – The United States and United Nations have said the situation in Sudan’s region of West Darfur could herald a repeat of past mass atrocities there as fighting in Sudan reached its third month. The war between Sudan’s army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces broke out on April 15 but quickly spread…
By Pablo Mayo Cerqueiro and Emma-Victoria Farr (Reuters) – German bus services firm Flix, owner of the Greyhound brand in North America and FlixBus in Europe, has stepped up preparations for a possible stock-market listing, two sources familiar with the matter told Reuters. Flix has invited investment banks to pitch to manage its share sale…
By Manya Saini and Saeed Azhar (Reuters) -Customers Bancorp said on Friday it acquired a $631 million venture banking loan portfolio from U.S. regulator Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) at about 85% of the book value. The portfolio belonged to failed lender Signature Bank, which was put under FDIC receivership in March, a source familiar…
By Sabine Siebold BRUSSELS (Reuters) – Rheinmetall will ramp up production of propellant powder for ammunition at its plant in the Bavarian town of Aschau by 500 to 600 metric tons per year, adding some 10% to its current global capacity of more than 6,000 tons, its CEO Armin Papperger said. Rheinmetall has already kicked…
By Manas Mishra and Leroy Leo (Reuters) – Humana Inc on Friday joined larger health insurer UnitedHealth in warning of a jump in medical costs this year due to higher-than-expected demand for surgeries and other medical procedures. Pandemic-driven restrictions and hospital staffing shortages had led to long delays in elective procedures such as hip and…
By Shreyashi Sanyal and Bansari Mayur Kamdar (Reuters) -European shares closed at a three-week high on Friday, underpinned by luxury and defensive stocks at the end of a week that was dominated by major central bank policy decisions. The continent-wide European STOXX 600 index rose 0.5%. The index gained 1.5% in the policy-packed week, its…
By David Shepardson (Reuters) -Two U.S. senators on Thursday urged the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) to reconsider its decision to tell automakers not to comply with a recently effective Massachusetts state “right to repair” law designed to allow customers access to vehicle data. Massachusetts voters approved a 2020 ballot initiative to allow independent…
