No sign of Russian intent to change tack on Ukraine war, Blinken says

By Kate Lamb and Stanley Widianto JAKARTA (Reuters) – Russia shows no sign of changing direction in its war on Ukraine, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Friday, as foreign ministers from two dozen countries met in Indonesia’s capital for Southeast Asia’s annual security-focused gathering. Top diplomats from China, the United States and…

Read More

UK extends Activision deadline after receiving Microsoft’s ‘complex’ proposal

By Paul Sandle LONDON (Reuters) – Britain’s competition regulator on Friday extended its final deadline on Microsoft’s Activision Blizzard deal to Aug. 29 after its received a “detailed and complex” new proposal from Microsoft that claimed material changes in circumstance. The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) in April became the first and so far only…

Read More

FTC faces uphill battle in Microsoft/Activision appeal

By Mike Scarcella WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. Federal Trade Commission’s (FTC) bid to temporarily block Microsoft’s $69 billion purchase of “Call of Duty” maker Activision Blizzard must clear some key hurdles to succeed, legal experts said. U.S. District Judge Jacqueline Scott Corley on Tuesday gave the go-ahead to the largest-ever gaming industry deal, rejecting…

Read More

StanChart to sell five sub-Saharan Africa businesses to Access Bank

DUBAI (Reuters) – Standard Chartered said on Friday it has reached an agreement to sell its subsidiaries in five sub-Saharan African countries to Nigeria’s Access Bank, putting into motion a plan announced last year to divest those businesses. Standard Chartered will sell its shareholding in its subsidiaries in Angola, Cameroon, Gambia and Sierra Leone to Access….

Read More

One in four UK single parent households unable to afford food

By David Milliken LONDON (Reuters) – More than a quarter of Britain’s single parent households have recently run out of food and been unable to afford more, according to a survey from the country’s statistics agency which highlights the impact of surging inflation. Out of nearly 15,000 households surveyed between Feb. 8 and May 1,…

Read More

Czech lawmakers give initial backing to $7 billion budget savings package

PRAGUE (Reuters) – The Czech parliament’s lower house gave initial backing on Friday to the centre-right government’s package of spending cuts and tax hikes aimed at cutting the budget deficit in the next two years. The country’s public sector deficit has soared in recent years amid spending during the coronavirus pandemic, subsidies to shield the…

Read More

Kevin Spacey tells London court sexual assault accusation is ‘absolute bollocks’

By Sam Tobin LONDON (Reuters) -Kevin Spacey described an allegation he grabbed a man’s crotch as “absolute bollocks” on Friday, in combative exchanges with prosecutors at the Oscar-winning actor’s sexual assault trial. Spacey, 63, has pleaded not guilty at London’s Southwark Crown Court to 12 charges of sexual offences allegedly committed against four men in…

Read More

Cuba vows to take part ‘very constructively’ in EU summit with Latin America, Caribbean

By Catarina Demony and Miguel Pereira LISBON (Reuters) – Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel promised on Friday his country would take part “very constructively” in a European Union summit next week with Latin America and the Caribbean, just days after the EU’s parliament called for sanctions against him. Diaz-Canel met his Portuguese counterpart Marcelo Rebelo de…

Read More