Oil settles up $2 on optimism about US debt ceiling, demand

By Laura Sanicola (Reuters) -Oil prices settled up about $2 on Wednesday as optimism over oil demand and U.S. debt ceiling negotiations outweighed worries about abundant supply. Brent crude futures settled up $2.05, or 2.7%, to $76.96 a barrel. West Texas Intermediate U.S. crude settled up $1.97 or 2.8% to $72.83. “Today’s strong oil trade…

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Russia says hypersonic missile scientists face ‘very serious’ treason accusations

By Tatiana Gomozova and Lucy Papachristou MOSCOW (Reuters) – Three Russian academics who have worked on hypersonic missile technology face “very serious accusations”, the Kremlin said on Wednesday, in a treason investigation that has spread alarm through Russia’s scientific community. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said he was aware of an open letter from Siberian scientists…

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Southern Europe braces for climate change-fuelled summer of drought

By Kate Abnett BRUSSELS (Reuters) -Southern Europe is bracing for a summer of ferocious drought, with some regions already suffering water shortages and farmers expecting their worst yields in decades. As climate change makes the region hotter and drier, years of consecutive drought have depleted groundwater reserves. Soils have become bone dry in Spain and…

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Bankman-Fried faces long odds of tossing charges despite Supreme Court decision

By Luc Cohen NEW YORK (Reuters) – FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried is hoping a recent Supreme Court decision limiting the scope of fraud prosecutions will bolster his defense as he fights charges stemming from the collapse of his cryptocurrency exchange. But legal experts said Bankman-Fried’s odds of getting the charges dismissed remain slim. On May…

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AI threatens humanity’s future, 61% of Americans say – Reuters/Ipsos

By Anna Tong (Reuters) – The swift growth of artificial intelligence technology could put the future of humanity at risk, according to most Americans surveyed in a Reuters/Ipsos poll published on Wednesday. More than two-thirds of Americans are concerned about the negative effects of AI and 61% believe it could threaten civilization. Since OpenAI’s ChatGPT…

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Massachusetts US attorney accused of election meddling and lying

By Sarah N. Lynch WASHINGTON (Reuters) -Rachael Rollins, the top federal prosecutor in Massachusetts, improperly used her U.S. Justice Department position to meddle in a local district attorney election by leaking to newspapers dirt about a political rival – one of many ethics violations cited in two reports by government investigators on Wednesday. The reports…

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