WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Washington on Friday imposed sanctions on two entities based in China, accusing them supplying precursor chemicals to drug cartels in Mexico for the production of illicit fentanyl intended for the United States, the U.S. Treasury Department said in a statement. The Treasury said it also designated five people based in China and…
(Refiles to fix typo on first paragraph) LONDON (Reuters) – There is no evidence yet showing which animal the COVID-causing virus may have come from, the former head of the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said on Friday. George Gao, who was speaking at a London summit on preparing for pandemics, was…
By Khushi Mandowara and Bhanvi Satija (Reuters) -UnitedHealth Group Inc on Friday topped expectations for first-quarter results but shares fell 3% after the company failed to address investor worries over high costs next year due to policy changes for government-backed health insurance plans. U.S. health insurers have been under pressure since February when the government…
By Max Hunder KYIV (Reuters) -Ukraine barred its national sports teams from competing in Olympic, non-Olympic and Paralympic events which include competitors from Russia and Belarus, the sports ministry said in a decree on Friday. Ukraine’s deputy sports minister, who signed off on the move, told Reuters in an interview that it was a “bad…
By Humeyra Pamuk, Francesco Guarascio and David Brunnstrom HANOI (Reuters) – U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken arrived in Vietnam on Friday hoping for progress towards upgrading relations with a key trade partner that shares U.S. worries about China’s growing might. For Hanoi, it will be a delicate test: how to show openness to the…
(Fixes typo in first paragraph) By Joice Alves LONDON (Reuters) – European banks surged on Friday, rising to a one-month high, gaining support from U.S. lenders, which reported better-than-expected results in the first quarter. The STOXX 600 index of European banks gained as much as 3% to reach its highest since mid-March after JPMorgan, Citigroup…
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The leak of classified information was a “deliberate, criminal act,” the Pentagon said on Thursday. Pentagon spokesman Brigadier General Pat Ryder referred questions about the investigation to the Department of Justice. Ryder added the Pentagon had taken steps to review distribution lists and ensure that people receiving information had a need to…
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said on Friday that the International Monetary Fund has adequate resources to deal with global financing challenges but needs to follow through with “fair and simple” shareholding reforms that reflect the economic size of its member countries. Yellen also said in a statement to the IMF’s steering…
By Lawrence White LONDON (Reuters) -HSBC’s planned sale of its French retail banking business to Cerberus-backed My Money Group could fail due to interest rate hikes in France that boosted the amount of capital the buyer will need, the British bank said on Friday. The potential failure of the deal would undo one of HSBC’s…
By Joe Bavier WASHINGTON (Reuters) -Africa is facing a severe financing squeeze that, on the back of a series of unprecedented shocks, is disrupting economic growth and endangering its long-term development, the International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) top official for the region said. Sub-Saharan Africa was only beginning to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic’s economic fallout…
