Exclusive-Proposed US port fees on China-built ships begins choking coal, agriculture exports

By Lisa Baertlein, Karl Plume and Timothy Gardner LOS ANGELES/CARLSBAD, Calififornia (Reuters) -President Donald Trump’s plan to revive U.S. shipbuilding using massive fees on China-linked ship visits to American ports is causing U.S. coal inventories to swell and stoking uncertainty in the embattled agriculture market, as exporters struggle to find ships to send goods abroad….

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State Dept denies deleting data on halted program tracking abducted Ukrainian children

By Daphne Psaledakis and Humeyra Pamuk WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. State Department on Wednesday denied that data collected in a government-funded program that helps track thousands of abducted Ukrainian children had been deleted, but acknowledged that the effort had been terminated as part of Washington’s sweeping freeze on almost all foreign aid. In a…

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Blackwater founder to help Ecuador ‘do what it takes’ on gangs, minister says

By Alexandra Valencia QUITO (Reuters) – Ecuador’s security forces will “very soon” receive advice from Erik Prince, the private security executive, on fighting criminal gangs that are attempting to increase violence ahead of an April presidential runoff vote, Interior Minister John Reimberg said. President Daniel Noboa, who is locked in a tight contest with his…

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Trump demands ‘accountability’ for his pursuers at Justice Department speech

By Andrew Goudsward WASHINGTON (Reuters) -President Donald Trump on Friday vowed to seek accountability for those who pursued him during his years out of power, speaking at the U.S. Justice Department whose prosecutors had brought some of those cases. In a rare political speech at the department’s Washington headquarters, Trump painted a dark picture of…

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Judge will not order Trump administration to restore canceled foreign aid contracts

By Brendan Pierson (Reuters) -A federal judge on Monday declined to order President Donald Trump’s administration to restore thousands of foreign aid contracts and grants that have been canceled since the president took office, though he found that the administration must speed up payments of close to $2 billion for already completed work. The ruling…

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