By Martin Petty (Reuters) – The United States and the Philippines have agreed on new guidelines for their 1951 Mutual Defense Treaty, following multiple requests by Manila to make clear the conditions under which Washington would come to its defence. WHY DID THE PHILIPPINES WANT CLARIFICATION? Though the United States has reassured the Philippines their…
By Karen Lema MANILA (Reuters) – The United States has laid out in clear terms the extent of its defence treaty commitments to the Philippines, issuing new guidelines that refer specifically to attacks in the South China Sea, including on its coast guard. The six-page “bilateral defence guidelines” agreed in Washington on Wednesday follow a…
By Lucia Mutikani WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The number of Americans filing new claims for jobless benefits increased last week as the labor market gradually softens amid higher interest rates, which are cooling demand in the economy. But borrowing costs could remain elevated for a while, with other data on Thursday showing labor costs surged in…
By Ernest Scheyder (Reuters) – Albemarle Corp plans to deploy new lithium filtration technologies in Chile as the government moves to broader control over its vast lithium sector and expand production of the metal used to make electric vehicle (EV) batteries, Chief Executive Kent Masters said on Thursday. While lithium for years has typically been…
By Timothy Gardner WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. company Westinghouse unveiled plans on Thursday for a small modular reactor to generate virtually emissions-free electricity that could replace coal plants or power water desalinization and other industries. Rita Baranwal, the Westinghouse Electricity Co’s top technology officer, said the reactor, dubbed AP300 for its planned 300 Megawatt capacity,…
(Reuters) -U.S. retailers replaced technology firms in cutting the most number of jobs in April, as companies show little signs of easing their belt-tightening drive in an uncertain economy. Higher interest rates to counter the impact of inflation have muddied the outlook for the U.S. economy, forcing Corporate America to undertake stringent measures to protect…
By Nivedita Balu and Niket Nishant (Reuters) – Canada’s Toronto-Dominion Bank Group on Thursday called off its $13.4 billion takeover of First Horizon Corp, triggering a near 40% fall in the U.S. regional bank’s shares. First Horizon and TD said in a statement they had mutually decided to end the deal because there was no…
COPENHAGEN (Reuters) – Denmark’s central bank raised its key interest rate by 0.25 percentage points to 2.85% on Thursday, following a rate hike earlier in the day by the European Central Bank. “The interest rate increase is a consequence of the increase by the European Central Bank of its main monetary policy rate, the deposit…
NEW YORK (Reuters) – Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said it was probably good policy that the largest banks are not doing big acquisitions, but said that JPMorgan Chase & Co’s acquisition of First Republic Bank was an exception. Regulators have to follow the law of going with the least-cost bid, Powell said. Regulators seized…
BERLIN (Reuters) – Inflation has passed its peak in Germany as energy prices have eased, German Economy Minister Robert Habeck said on Thursday, adding that the downward trend is expected to continue. Energy prices have eased from a 23% increase in January to a 19% rise in February and a 3.5% rise in March. “That…
