Over $200 billion potentially stolen from U.S. COVID relief programs, watchdog says

By Kanishka Singh WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Over $200 billion from the U.S. government’s COVID-19 relief programs were potentially stolen, a federal watchdog said on Tuesday, adding that the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) had weakened its controls in a rush to disburse the funds. At least 17% of all funds related to the government’s coronavirus…

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Panama pledges to purge more substandard ships from world’s largest registry

PANAMA CITY (Reuters) – The Panama Maritime Authority (AMP) said on Tuesday it would continue to clean up its fleet to prevent substandard Panama-flagged ships from being detained in foreign ports, a week after the country was added to an international watch list. Panama’s ships registry was last week added to the “grey list” of…

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One in seven Britons faced hunger in 2022, says food bank charity

By James Davey LONDON (Reuters) – One in seven people in the United Kingdom faced hunger last year because they did not have enough money, according to a report published on Wednesday by food bank charity the Trussell Trust. It said this equates to 11.3 million people, more than double the population of Scotland, and…

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US FDA declines to approve Regeneron’s higher-dose Eylea, shares tumble

By Khushi Mandowara (Reuters) – U.S. health regulators on Tuesday declined to approve a higher-dose version of Regeneron Pharmaceuticals’ drug Eylea for treatment of a disease that is leading cause of blindness among the elderly, the company said as shares fell on the setback to its effort to defend the blockbuster treatment against a fast-gaining…

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Australia eyes bigger budget surplus but warns economy still slowing

By Renju Jose SYDNEY (Reuters) – Australia’s budget surplus for 2022/23 will be bigger than the A$4.2 billion ($2.81 billion) projected in the May budget but high inflation and global challenges will “significantly slow” the domestic economy, Treasurer Jim Chalmers said on Wednesday. Strong jobs growth and bumper mining profits will swell government coffers, similar…

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Bankman-Fried loses bid to toss criminal charges over FTX’s collapse

By Luc Cohen NEW YORK (Reuters) -A federal judge on Tuesday rejected Sam Bankman-Fried’s bid to throw out most of the U.S. government’s criminal case accusing the FTX cryptocurrency exchange founder of orchestrating a multibillion-dollar fraud. The decision by U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan in Manhattan paves the way for an Oct. 2 trial of…

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