WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. has destroyed the last of its declared chemical weapons stockpile, President Joe Biden said on Friday, bringing to an end a decades-long effort to eliminate the deadly weapons first used on a large scale in World War One. As part of the Chemical Weapons Convention, which was ratified by the…
By Kanishka Singh WASHINGTON (Reuters) – A senior U.S. diplomat will travel to India in the coming days and engage with its civil society over free speech and marginalization of minorities, after Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s recent U.S. visit when he denied that abuse of religious minorities existed in his country. Uzra Zeya, U.S….
By Mike Stone and Nandita Bose WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The United States announced on Friday that it will send Ukraine cluster munitions – prohibited by more than 100 countries – as part of an $800 million security package, a move Ukraine said would have an “extraordinary psycho-emotional impact” on Russian forces. Jake Sullivan, President Joe…
BEIJING (Reuters) – The United States is seeking a healthy competition with China based on fair rules that benefit both countries, not a “winner-take-all” approach, U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen told Chinese Premier Li Qiang in a meeting in Beijing on Friday. Yellen, in prepared remarks, told Li she hoped her visit would spur more…
BRASILIA (Reuters) – Brazil’s lower house passed a bill on Friday aimed at raising the bar for companies to win challenges to their tax bills, delivering a win for the government of President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva as it strives to bolster revenue and achieve fiscal balance. The proposal, which has now advanced to…
By Nandita Bose and Steve Holland WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The White House on Friday said President Joe Biden and fellow NATO leaders will discuss at next week’s summit what steps Ukraine must complete to join NATO and that Kyiv has additional reforms to make, as it fights Russian invaders. Jake Sullivan, Biden’s national security adviser,…
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. President Joe Biden said on Friday that his decision to provide Ukraine with cluster munitions was a tough one, but that he believes Kyiv needs the weapons so Russia cannot halt the Ukrainian counteroffensive. “They’re trying to get through those trenches, and stop those tanks from rolling,” Biden said in an…
By Ross Kerber (Reuters) – A group of 15 Republican state attorneys general have questioned whether directors of BlackRock mutual funds are sufficiently independent of the world’s largest asset manager. In a letter dated July 6 and provided to Reuters on Friday by a representative of Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen, the group reviewed longstanding…
(Reuters) – A U.S. court of appeals on Friday rejected Venezuela’s bid to prevent six companies from joining a proposed court auction of shares in a Citgo Petroleum parent to enforce judgments for past expropriation of assets. The decision allows the six to move ahead with their about $3 billion in combined claims against Venezuela…
BRUSSELS (Reuters) – NATO allies have reached agreement to raise the alliance’s target for military spending to at least 2% of national GDP, two diplomats told Reuters late on Friday. The 31 allies agreed on “an enduring commitment to invest at least 2%” of their GDP into their militaries in the future, two diplomats said,…
