WASHINGTON (Reuters) -U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken met the foreign ministers of Armenia and Azerbaijan in Washington on Monday as part of efforts to ease friction between the South Caucasus rivals. Tensions have flared anew after Azerbaijan installed a road checkpoint at the start of the Lachin Corridor, the only route linking Armenia to…
By David Shepardson and Nathan Gomes (Reuters) -General Motors Co on Monday said it had cut several hundred full-time contract workers over the weekend including at its engineering hub in suburban Detroit, the latest effort by the U.S. automaker to streamline operations. The contractors losing their jobs were within global product development at locations such…
By Shariq Khan BENGALURU (Reuters) – Oil prices dropped more than a dollar a barrel on Monday after weak economic data from China and expectations of another U.S. interest rate hike outweighed support from OPEC+ supply cuts that take effect this month. Brent crude fell $1.27, or 1.6%, to $79.06 a barrel by 11:21 a.m….
By Rocky Swift TOKYO (Reuters) -Japan’s Astellas Pharma said on Monday it agreed to buy U.S. drugmaker Iveric Bio Inc for about $5.9 billion in its biggest acquisition, giving it access to a range of ophthalmology treatments. The deal marks the fifth major overseas acquisition by Astellas, Japan’s third biggest drugmaker by sales, since 2019…
(Reuters) – JPMorgan Chase & Co, the biggest U.S. bank by assets, said on Monday it will buy most of First Republic Bank’s assets after U.S. regulators seized the troubled bank. The collapse marks the third major U.S. lender to fail in less than two months, after a week of panic which saw First Republic…
By Suleiman Al-Khalidi AMMAN (Reuters) -Syria has agreed to help end drug trafficking across its borders with Jordan and Iraq, according to a statement issued after a landmark meeting on Monday of Arab diplomats developing a roadmap to end Syria’s 12-year conflict. The foreign ministers of Syria, Egypt, Iraq, Saudi Arabia and Jordan met in…
(Reuters) – A union representing American Airlines Group Inc pilots said on Monday its members had approved a strike mandate ahead of the busy summer travel season, although the chances of an actual labor disruption remain slim. The Allied Pilots Association (APA), which represents 15,000 American Airlines pilots, held a strike authorization vote in April…
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. construction spending increased more than expected in March, boosted by investment in nonresidential structures, but single-family homebuilding remained depressed amid higher mortgage rates. The Commerce Department said on Monday that construction spending rose 0.3% in March after declining 0.3% in February. Economists polled by Reuters had forecast construction spending gaining 0.1%….
By Andrea Shalal WASHINGTON (Reuters) -The World Bank on Monday unveiled new methodology and improved safeguards for assessing the business climate in up to 180 countries after embarrassing revelations of data irregularities and favoritism toward China forced it to cancel its flagship rankings two years ago. The bank scrapped its “Doing Business” rankings in September…
By Daniel Wiessner (Reuters) – The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday agreed to examine how difficult it should be for financial whistleblowers to win retaliation lawsuits against their employers as the justices took up a long-running case involving Switzerland’s UBS Group AG. The justices will hear an appeal by Trevor Murray, a former UBS bond…
