33 Democrats urge ban on investor-state dispute provisions in all U.S. trade deals

By David Lawder WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Democratic U.S. lawmakers on Wednesday urged the U.S. Trade Representative and State Department to eliminate investor-state dispute settlement provisions from current and future trade deals and to intervene on behalf of Honduras against a U.S. company’s nearly $11 billion claim against the country. In a letter to Secretary of…

Read More

North Carolina Republicans reach agreement on 12-week abortion ban

By Sharon Bernstein (Reuters) – Republican lawmakers in North Carolina said on Tuesday they had reached agreement on a plan to limit most abortions to the first trimester of pregnancy, a sharp drop from the state’s current limit of 20 weeks gestation. If passed, the proposed legislation would reverberate beyond North Carolina, limiting options for…

Read More

US Senator Rubio seeks probe of Ford’s Chinese partnership on nickel plant

By David Shepardson WASHINGTON (Reuters) -U.S. Senator Marcio Rubio on Wednesday asked the Biden administration to investigate Ford Motor Co’s plan to partner with PT Vale Indonesia and China’s Zhejiang Huayou Cobalt in a $4.5 billion nickel processing plant in Indonesia. Rubio, who is the top Republican on the Senate Intelligence Committee, said the venture…

Read More