What to watch for in the Biden-McCarthy debt ceiling meeting

By Jarrett Renshaw and Trevor Hunnicutt WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. President Joe Biden meets Republican House Speaker Kevin McCarthy and other congressional leaders at the White House on Tuesday afternoon for closed-door talks as a potentially catastrophic June default looms. The 4 p.m. EDT (2000 GMT) meeting is not expected to produce anything close to…

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China’s car sales rise 2.1% in April as price war effect fades

BEIJING/SHANGHAI (Reuters) – China’s passenger vehicle sales rose by 2.1% in April from a month earlier, industry data showed, underscoring a slower pace of growth as the stimulus effect of price cuts and incentives faded. Car sales in April totalled 1.65 million units, 54.5% higher from a year earlier when COVID-19 lockdowns disrupted productions and…

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Australian lawmakers meet US envoy to seek release of Julian Assange

By Renju Jose and Kanishka Singh SYDNEY/WASHINGTON (Reuters) -A cross-party delegation of Australian lawmakers said on Tuesday they met U.S. Ambassador Caroline Kennedy, urging her to help drop the pending extradition case against WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange and allow him to return to Australia. The “Bring Julian Assange Home Parliamentary Group” said it had informed…

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China should set clear rules for due diligence sector amid probes – US business lobby

SHANGHAI (Reuters) – The American Chamber of Commerce in Shanghai said on Tuesday it was concerned about reports of investigations into U.S. due diligence and consulting firms in China and urged authorities to provide more guidance for the sector. “We are concerned by recent reports about investigations of US companies in China that specialize in…

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Analysis-Fears mount for the Arctic as cooperation with Russia stalls

By Humeyra Pamuk, Gloria Dickie and Gwladys Fouche WASHINGTON/LONDON/OSLO (Reuters) – For nearly three decades, the Arctic Council has been a successful example of post-Cold War cooperation. Its eight members, including Russia and the United States, have cooperated on climate-change research and social development across the ecologically sensitive region. Now, a year after council members…

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PayPal adjusted margin forecast cut eclipses higher profit expectations

By Manya Saini (Reuters) – PayPal Holdings Inc on Monday cut its outlook for annual adjusted operating margin, overshadowing its profit forecast raise, sending shares in the payments firm down 5% in extending trading. PayPal expects adjusted operating margin expansion of 100 basis points this year, compared with its earlier forecast of a 125-basis-point growth….

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AI pioneer says its threat to world may be ‘more urgent’ than climate change

By Martin Coulter LONDON (Reuters) – Artificial intelligence could pose a “more urgent” threat to humanity than climate change, AI pioneer Geoffrey Hinton told Reuters in an interview on Friday.  Geoffrey Hinton, widely known as one of the “godfathers of AI”, recently announced he had quit Alphabet after a decade at the firm, saying he…

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Biden meets Microsoft, Google CEOs on AI dangers

By Nandita Bose and David Shepardson WASHINGTON (Reuters) -President Joe Biden met with CEOs of top artificial intelligence companies including Microsoft and Alphabet’s Google on Thursday and made clear they must ensure their products are safe before they are deployed. Generative artificial intelligence has become a buzzword this year, with apps such as ChatGPT capturing…

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