(Reuters) -Demand for power in Texas hit a record high on Wednesday as homes and business cranked up air conditioners during a lingering heatwave, according to data from the state’s power grid operator. ERCOT said power use reached a preliminary 81,351 megawatts (MW) at 6 p.m. CST (2300 GMT), topping the grid’s previous record of…
By Phil Stewart and David Brunnstrom WASHINGTON (Reuters) -China’s ambassador to the United States held a rare meeting at the Pentagon on Wednesday with the top U.S. defense official for Asia, the Pentagon said, in talks that followed U.S. criticism of Chinese reluctance to engage in military communications. A brief Pentagon statement said Chinese Ambassador…
By Foo Yun Chee BRUSSELS (Reuters) – Facebook owner Meta will contest EU antitrust charges at a closed hearing on Thursday in a bid to stave off a possible hefty fine after regulators charged it with tying its classified advertisements service to its social network, people familiar with the matter said. The European Commission sent…
By Patricia Zengerle WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Democratic and Republican senators renewed an effort to block any U.S. president from leaving NATO on Wednesday, as leaders of the alliance attended an eventful summit in Vilnius, Lithuania. The joint resolution, seen by Reuters, is a fresh effort by Congress to prevent the president from withdrawing from the…
By Raphael Satter WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The Biden administration’s nominee to lead the National Security Agency (NSA) says he will champion the mass surveillance power that has been used to collect data from foreigners and Americans alike and which has come under renewed scrutiny from lawmakers. Efforts to renew the spy power, known as Section…
By Helen Coster, Tom Hals and Jack Queen NEW YORK (Reuters) – An Arizona man filed a defamation lawsuit against Fox News on Wednesday, alleging the network spread a conspiracy theory that he played a key role in the violent storming of the U.S. Capitol by supporters of former U.S. President Donald Trump. Ray Epps,…
By Caroline Valetkevitch NEW YORK (Reuters) – U.S. stocks ended solidly higher on Wednesday, led by a gain of more than 1% in the Nasdaq after a report showed inflation subsided further with consumer prices registering their smallest annual increase in more than two years. The data underscored expectations the Federal Reserve may let interest…
By Steve Holland and Trevor Hunnicutt VILNIUS (Reuters) -U.S. President Joe Biden concluded a NATO summit on Wednesday denouncing Russian President Vladimir Putin as “craven” and promising Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy full support even without membership in the military alliance. Capping the two-day meeting of NATO leaders in Lithuania, on Russia’s doorstep, Biden praised the…
(Reuters) – Viasat said on Wednesday there was an anomaly during the deployment of its ViaSat-3 Americas satellite in space which may affect the performance of the satellite, sending the company’s shares down 20% after the bell. An unexpected event occurred during reflector deployment, the company said, adding that it had started a review. The…
By John McCrank NEW YORK (Reuters) – The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on Wednesday finalized rules aimed at increasing the resilience of the $5.5 trillion money market fund industry, but scrapped a proposed new pricing model that had been strongly opposed by asset managers. The SEC’s decision not to impose “swing pricing” represents a…
