World
20th September
Alien enthusiasts gather in Nevada desert near secretive Area 51
RACHEL, Nev. (Reuters) – UFO enthusiasts began descending on rural Nevada on Thursday near the secret U.S. military installation known as Area 51, long rumored to house government secrets about alien life, with local authorities...
Powell to Trump: Now it’s your turn
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Tucked into Fed Chair Jerome Powell’s news conference on Wednesday was a not-so-subtle message for President Donald Trump: the economy is holding up because the U.S. central bank has acted to support it through a volatile patch, and whether that continues is now in the president’s lap. In a buck-stops-over-there-now performance, Powell...
Fed pumps more cash as key rate breaks above target
NEW YORK (Reuters) – The Federal Reserve injected another $75 billion into the U.S. banking system on Wednesday, restoring a measure of order after a bout of extreme volatility inside the bank funding market drove the central bank’s benchmark interest rate above its targeted range for the first time since the financial crisis. The ructions...
Parts shortage leads GM to lay off 1,200 temporarily in Canada
(Reuters) – The strike against General Motors Co’s (GM.N) U.S. operations has led to a parts shortage, the automaker said on Wednesday, and as a result it announced the temporary lay-offs of 1,200 workers at its Oshawa assembly plant in Canada. The plant, which makes the Chevy Silverado and GMC Sierra pickup trucks, ran out...
Trump and California go to war over clean cars
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. President Donald Trump and the state of California went to war on Wednesday over who should set the standards in the United States for vehicle emissions and electric cars, foreshadowing a legal battle over environmental policy issues that will affect the auto industry and consumers. Trump confirmed he would revoke California’s...
Toyota to expand plant in Brazil’s Sao Paulo state, joining Volkswagen, GM
SAO PAULO (Reuters) – Toyota Motor Corp (7203.T) on Thursday announced a 1 billion reais ($243.29 million) expansion at a plant in the Brazilian state of Sao Paulo, joining Volkswagen and General Motors in new investments in the region. Toyota said the funding would allow the Sorocaba plant, which builds the Etios and Yaris sedan...
Report: Olesen stays suspended by European Tour amid court case
Danish golfer Thorbjorn Olesen will remain suspended from the European Tour after a brief appearance in court Wednesday on charges of sexual assault, assault by beating and being drunk on an aircraft. No pleas were entered in court in London, according to the Associated Press, which received a statement from the European Tour about Olesen’s...
Tesla’s Model 3 earns insurance industry’s top safety rating
(Reuters) – Tesla Inc’s (TSLA.O) Model 3 electric sedan has earned the top safety rating from the Insurance Institute of Highway Safety (IIHS), becoming the first Tesla to do so. The IIHS has given the Model 3 its highest rating, top safety pick+. It said the Model 3 earned good ratings across the board for...
WTA roundup: Top seed Svitolina retires in Guangzhou
Top seed Elina Svitolina of the Ukraine was forced to retire from her match against Marie Bouzkova of the Czech Republic at the Guangzhou International Women’s Open on Wednesday in Guangzhou, China. Bouzkova was leading 6-4, 4-3 when Svitolina’s ailing right knee forced her to end the match. Bouzkova will meet Anna Blinkova in the...
Pennsylvania joins states opposed to merger of T-Mobile, Sprint
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Pennsylvania is joining more than a dozen states that have filed a lawsuit aimed at stopping T-Mobile US’s $26 billion purchase of Sprint, New York Attorney General Letitia James said in a statement on Wednesday. All told, attorneys general from 17 states and the District of Columbia have signed on to stop...
Trump caps California swing with visit to border wall
SAN DIEGO (Reuters) – President Donald Trump showed off a section of wall along the U.S. border with Mexico on Wednesday in a bid to illustrate his commitment to crack down on illegal border crossings as he raises money in California for his re-election campaign. The Republican president, who is on a three-day swing through...
‘Alexa, send $20 to my favorite presidential candidate’
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Amazon (AMZN.O) said on Wednesday it will make donating to a U.S. presidential candidate as easy as turning on the lights or replenishing a household’s toilet-paper stocks, via its Alexa digital assistant. Alexa Political Contributions, powered by Amazon Pay, the company’s payment system, will allow customers to contribute up to $200 to...
MLB notebook: Pirates’ Vazquez faces additional charges
Pittsburgh Pirates closer Felipe Vazquez told police he made sexual contact with a 13-year-old girl, and he now faces additional charges in Pennsylvania, authorities said. On Tuesday, Vazquez was arrested in relation to charges in Florida, where the girl and her family now live. But a criminal complaint released Wednesday in Pennsylvania shows charges have...
19th September
Italy and France agree migrants must be distributed around the EU
ROME (Reuters) – The European Union must introduce a new, automatic system of taking in migrants saved from the Mediterranean, the leaders of Italy and France said on Wednesday, as they sought to patch up bruised bilateral relations. Italy has long complained that it has been left alone to deal with the hundreds of thousands...
Repo chaos tests Wall Street confidence in NY Fed’s Williams
(Reuters) – Wild swings this week in U.S. money markets have raised fresh concerns about whether the New York Federal Reserve under John Williams has lost its deft touch with markets. The New York Fed had to intervene in cash markets this week when the repo rate, a key measure of liquidity in the global...
Fed cuts interest rates, signals holding pattern for now
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. Federal Reserve cut interest rates again on Wednesday to help sustain a record-long economic expansion but signaled a higher bar to further reductions in borrowing costs, eliciting a fast and sharp rebuke from President Donald Trump. Describing the U.S. economic outlook as “favorable,” Fed Chair Jerome Powell said the rate...
Huawei promises smartest 5G phone, but who will be brave enough to buy?
FRANKFURT (Reuters) – Huawei [HWT.UL] launches what could be the world’s most powerful and feature-packed 5G smartphone on Thursday, but the fate of the device in Europe will hang on whether it can overcome a U.S. ban to give customers the Google software they expect. The Chinese telecoms giant will showcase its Mate 30 range...
AT&T, Dish not in talks over DirecTV deal: source
(Reuters) – AT&T Inc (T.N) and Dish Network Corp (DISH.O) are not in discussions over a deal due to regulatory issues, a source familiar with the matter said on Wednesday, after the Wall Street Journal reported on.wsj.com/2kS2Hbs the wireless carrier was considering parting ways with its satellite TV division DirecTV. AT&T has also considered a...
Asian shares edge higher after Fed, investors await BOJ
TOKYO (Reuters) – Asian shares edged higher on Thursday, tracking some modest Wall Street gains after the U.S. Federal Reserve cut interest rates as expected but offered mixed signals on the next easing, keeping investors cautious. The Treasury yield curve flattened as Fed Chairman Jerome Powell dashed hopes he would signal further easing while division...
In must-win South Carolina, Biden must seal the deal with black voters
GALIVANTS FERRY, S.C. (Reuters) – A marching band played and several hundred people roared for former U.S. Vice President Joe Biden at a South Carolina country general store this week, a stark contrast to the respectful but less enthusiastic applause given to several of his Democratic presidential rivals. Many voters at the folksy candidate event...
Fed cuts interest rates, signals holding pattern for now
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. Federal Reserve cut interest rates again on Wednesday to help sustain a record-long economic expansion but signaled a higher bar to further reductions in borrowing costs, eliciting a fast and sharp rebuke from President Donald Trump. Describing the U.S. economic outlook as “favorable,” Fed Chair Jerome Powell said the rate...
After Bolton fireworks, Trump picks low-key hostage negotiator to replace him
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. President Donald Trump picked U.S. hostage negotiator Robert O’Brien on Wednesday as his fourth White House national security adviser, turning to a low-key choice for the position after the boisterous tenure of John Bolton. O’Brien’s selection was a sign of U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s clout with the president, with...
UK parliament suspension not a matter for judges, PM Johnson’s lawyer tells Supreme Court
LONDON (Reuters) – Boris Johnson’s decision to suspend parliament is not a matter for judges and was not done for improper reasons, a lawyer for the prime minister said on Wednesday as he sought to persuade the British Supreme Court the five-week shutdown was lawful. Johnson asked Queen Elizabeth to prorogue, or suspend, parliament from...
Garments for lease: ‘rental’ apparel brings new wrinkles for retail stores
MADRID/NEW YORK (Reuters) – Lisa Batitto, 54, says she has virtually stopped buying clothes ever since she started renting them. The New Jersey-based museum publicist spends $277 a month on three subscriptions, including one from New York & Company, a women’s mid-price clothing chain with hundreds of U.S. stores. This is less than what she...
U.S. housing starts, building permits scale 12-year high
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. homebuilding surged to more than a 12-year high in August as both single- and multi-family housing construction accelerated, suggesting that lower mortgage rates were finally providing a boost to the struggling housing market. The report from the Commerce Department on Wednesday also showed permits for future home construction rose to levels...
New Zealand to be Middle-earth again in Amazon’s The Lord of the Rings series
WELLINGTON/SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – New Zealand will be home again to hairy feet and pointed-ear Hobbits after Amazon Studios confirmed the Pacific country will be the location for its new “The Lord of the Rings” series, a TV show widely tipped to be the most expensive ever made. The Amazon.com Inc unit said the multi-series...
Tesla takes on Porsche with battle on Germany’s toughest circuit
FRANKFURT (Reuters) – Tesla TSLA wants to steal Porsche’s bragging rights by testing its Model S on the northern loop of Germany’s Nuerburgring circuit, using a marketing tool that German carmakers have long used to tout the superiority of their products. Germany’s Auto Motor und Sport this week published photographs of a Tesla with “100D+”...
Trump orders more Iran sanctions as Saudi displays attack evidence
JEDDAH/DUBAI (Reuters) – U.S. President Donald Trump ordered a major increase in sanctions on Iran on Wednesday as Saudi Arabia displayed remnants of drones and missiles it said were used in a crippling attack on its oil sites “unquestionably sponsored” by Tehran. Trump gave no explanation in a Twitter post announcing the order, but it...
Brazil probe into Vale dam collapse to conclude within days, prosecutor says
RIO DE JANEIRO (Reuters) – A criminal investigation into the fatal collapse of a dam owned by mining firm Vale SA should be concluded in the coming days, a Brazilian prosecutor said on Tuesday, with charges to follow. “State prosecutors are working with the state police, federal prosecutors and federal police, and we’re of the...
Venezuela releases opposition lawmaker after four months in custody
CARACAS (Reuters) – Venezuelan authorities released opposition lawmaker Edgar Zambrano from custody on Tuesday, four months after his arrest on treason charges, a move his allies said was a result of popular pressure, not a sign of goodwill from President Nicolas Maduro. In a statement, the Supreme Court said a Caracas court with national jurisdiction...
