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☆ Djokovic hopes for positive news on U.S. tournaments participation
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-22 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

I will know soon," world number one Djokovic told reporters after practice in Belgrade. I'm thankful to the Indians Wells and Miami communities for their support. I'm looking forward to a positive decision coming soon, but it's not in my hands." "Last year I missed Indian Wells, Miami and the U.S. Open swing so it won't be the first time if it happens (again). "So I want to go back and connect with people and hopefully play my best tennis and get another trophy there."

The Supreme Court for the first time in this case is scrutinizing the scope of a much-debated 1996 federal law called Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, which protects internet companies from liability for content posted by their users. "These are not like the nine greatest experts on the internet," liberal Justice Elena Kagan said of the court's members, eliciting laughter in the courtroom. Kagan and conservative colleague Justice Brett Kavanaugh both suggested Congress might be better suited to adjust legal protections for internet companies if warranted. Conservative Chief Justice John Roberts questioned whether Section 230 should apply given that recommendations are provided by YouTube itself. President Joe Biden's administration urged the Supreme Court to revive the lawsuit by Nohemi Gonzalez's family.

Circuit Court of Appeals relied on another law, called Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act of 1996, that protects internet companies from liability for content posted by their users. This case marks the first time the Supreme Court will examine the scope of Section 230. Many websites and social media companies use similar technology to give users relevant content such as job listings, search engine results, songs and movies. Legal experts note that companies could employ other legal defenses if Section 230 protections are eroded. Many conservatives have said voices on the right are censored by social media companies under the guise of content moderation.

☆ Russia's war on Ukraine latest: Zelenskiy says Russia suffers extraordinary losses
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-20 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

DIPLOMACY* U.S. President Joe Biden will visit Poland over Feb. 20-22 to mark the first anniversary of Russia's invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24. * Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni will travel to Kyiv on Monday to meet Zelenskiy, a political source in Rome said on Sunday. Meloni, who took office in October, has said she planned to visit Kyiv before the anniversary of Russia's invasion. * The United States has concluded that Russia has committed "crimes against humanity" during its nearly year-long invasion of Ukraine, Vice President Kamala Harris said. * U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken warned China's top Chinese diplomat Wang Yi at a Munich conference of consequences should China provide material support to Russia's invasion, while Harris said Chinese support would reward aggression.

☆ Student-loan borrowers are gearing up to camp overnight outside the Supreme Court ahead of arguments on Biden's debt relief to 'make sure that the justices look into the eyes of borrowers'
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-20 | by ( Ayelet Sheffey | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

Advocates are planning to camp out at the Supreme Court the night before the student debt arguments. The Supreme Court will be taking on the two lawsuits that blocked Biden's debt relief on February 28. "We're going to move forward and stay in this fight"The Supreme Court will be taking on two lawsuits that blocked Biden's debt relief. One was filed by two student-loan borrowers who sued because they did not qualify for the full $20,000 amount of debt relief. "It's simple: our Administration is confident that our student debt relief program is fully legal," Biden wrote on Twitter.

☆ Ukraine presses U.S. Congress members for F-16 jets
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-19 | by ( Jonathan Landay | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

MUNICH, Germany Feb 19 (Reuters) - Ukrainian officials have urged U.S. Congress members to press President Joe Biden's administration to send F-16 jetfighters to Kyiv, saying the aircraft would boost Ukraine's ability to hit Russian missile units with U.S.-made rockets, lawmakers said. The conference - primarily focused on Ukraine - came days before the Feb. 24 anniversary of Russia's invasion. Support is building on both sides of the Atlantic for providing Ukraine with advanced NATO-standard jetfighters. Calls to supply Ukraine with advanced jetfighters follow agreements last month by France, Britain, the United States and Germany to supply Kyiv with modern battle tanks. Washington has provided some $30 billion in military aid to Ukraine since the beginning of what Moscow calls its "special military operation."

☆ Ukraine presses US Congress members for F-16 jetfighters -lawmakers
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-19 | by ( Jonathan Landay | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

MUNICH, Germany Feb 19 (Reuters) - Ukrainian officials have urged U.S. Congress members to press President Joe Biden's administration to send F-16 jetfighters to Kyiv, saying the aircraft would boost Ukraine's ability to hit Russian missile units with U.S.-made rockets, lawmakers said. The lobbying came over the weekend on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference in talks between Ukrainian officials, including Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba, and Democrats and Republicans from the Senate and House of Representatives. Kelly and three other lawmakers who spoke to Reuters about their talks with Ukrainian officials said they believed that support was building in Congress to provide Ukraine with F-16s, one of the world's most versatile multi-role jetfighters. Support is building on both sides of the Atlantic for providing Ukraine with advanced NATO-standard jetfighters. Calls to supply Ukraine with advanced jetfighters follow agreements last month by France, Britain, the United States and Germany to supply Kyiv with modern battle tanks.

Feb 19 (Reuters) - Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said on Sunday that he and U.S. President Joe Biden will discuss possibly increasing U.S. troop presence in Poland and making it more permanent during Biden's upcoming visit to Warsaw. "We are in the process of discussion with President Biden's administration about making their (troop) presence more permanent and increasing them," Morawiecki said on CBS's "Face the Nation." Biden will visit Poland over Feb. 20-22 to mark the first anniversary of Russia's invasion of neighboring Ukraine. The United States bolstered its troop presence in Poland ahead of the Feb. 24, 2022, invasion and currently has roughly 11,000 personnel on rotation there, according to CBS. Biden said last June that the United States would set up a new permanent army headquarters in Poland in response to Russian threats.

Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act of 1996 frees platforms from legal responsibility for content posted online by their users. In a major case to be argued at the U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday, the nine justices will address the scope of Section 230 for the first time. A ruling against the company could create a "litigation minefield," Google told the justices in a brief. Some have targeted the way platforms monetize content, place advertisements or moderate content by removing or not removing certain material. A California appeals court dismissed the lawsuit, citing Section 230, because it sought to hold Twitter liable for content Murphy created.

MUNICH, Germany Feb 17 (Reuters) - Nearly 50 lawmakers from both major U.S. political parties on Friday attended the start of Europe's premier annual security conference to affirm bipartisan support for U.S. aid to Ukraine. But Lindsey Graham, a leading advocate of aiding Ukraine, said in Munich that China would be encouraged to invade Taiwan if the United States and its European allies failed to back Ukraine. But Republicans and some Democrats also say President Joe Biden's administration should better explain its Ukraine policy. The United States is Ukraine's leading military aid supplier at some $30 billion, including long-range artillery, air defence systems and advanced armored vehicles. There are now calls on both sides of the Atlantic for Ukraine to receive advanced Western fighter jets.

☆ Soros: Ukrainian victory would lead to 'dissolution of the Russian empire'
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-17 | by ( Elliot Smith | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

A Ukrainian victory in the war with Russia would result in the "dissolution of the Russian empire," billionaire fund manager George Soros told the Munich Security Conference on Thursday. In a prepared speech, the Hungarian-born investor and founder of the Open Society Foundations advocacy network said that a Third World War must be "avoided at all costs" and that "Europe's support for Ukraine must be preserved." He noted that U.S. President Joe Biden's administration is supplying Ukraine with weapons such as missiles, tanks and ammunition needed to withstand a Russian assault, but found that opposition from the now Republican-led House of Representatives "makes another large bipartisan funding package from the U.S. Russian private paramilitary contractor Wagner Group has been active on the ground in Ukraine, but its leader Yevgeny Prigozhin recently said current efforts to surround Ukrainian forces in the town of Bakhmut were being impeded by Moscow's "monstrous bureaucracy," furthering fissures between Wagner and the Kremlin. Prigozhin took a two-to-three year outlook on Russia securing control of the eastern Ukrainian region of Donbas and said of Bakhmut in a recent interview that "there are many roads out and fewer roads in."

The Justice Department, in a Feb. 7 filing, told the Supreme Court: "The anticipated end of the public health emergency on May 11, and the resulting expiration of the operative Title 42 order, would render this case moot." The Supreme Court in December left in place the Title 42 policy, granting in a 5-4 vote the request by Republican state attorneys general to put on hold U.S. District Court Judge Emmet Sullivan's November decision invalidating the emergency public health order. Title 42 was first implemented in March 2020 under Trump, a Republican, when the COVID-19 pandemic began. Biden, a Democrat, kept Title 42 in place after taking office in January 2021 despite fierce criticism from within his own party. Biden's administration sought to lift the policy after U.S. health authorities said last year it was no longer needed to prevent the spread of COVID-19.

Biden's private lawyer disclosed on Saturday that DOJ officials turned up classified documents related both to Biden's vice presidency and even his time in the US Senate. Garland's swift announcement came after earlier news that a second batch of classified documents was found on Biden's property. Here, a timeline lays out Biden's involvement with the classified documents — and how it sometimes overlapped with the turmoil around Trump's classified documents probe. January 14: White House says more classified documents were found in Biden's homeAdditional pages of classified documents were found in Biden's Wilmington home in a storage room next to the garage, The New York Times reported. January 21: DOJ finds 6 more pages of classified documents in Biden's homeFederal investigators searched Biden's Wilmington home on Friday and found half a dozen classified documents, according to Biden's personal attorney, Bob Bauer.

The Republican-controlled U.S. House of Representatives may also pursue further cuts to food assistance to shrink the U.S. deficit. "It’s going to put millions of households at risk of hunger," said Eric Mitchell, president of the Alliance to End Hunger. The changes mean cuts of about $82 a month beginning in March for recipients of Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits, said Ellen Vollinger of the Food Research & Action Center, an anti-hunger group. But in December's spending bill fight, Congress negotiated a compromise to end them in February in exchange for a new summer food program for children. More than 76% of the current farm bill's $428 billion price tag went to food assistance programs that serve 41 million people annually.

☆ Republican lawmakers just revived a bill to end the student-loan payment pause and block debt cancellation before Biden's relief plan goes to the Supreme Court
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-16 | by ( Ayelet Sheffey | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

GOP lawmakers reintroduced a bill to end the student-loan payment pause and block Biden's broad debt relief. This comes just under two weeks before Biden's student-debt relief plan is headed to the Supreme Court. Bill Cassidy and John Thune reintroduced the Stop Reckless Student Loan Actions Act, which would end the ongoing student-loan payment pause and block President Joe Biden from canceling student debt broadly in connection with a national emergency. This comes just under two weeks before Biden's plan to cancel up to $20,000 in student debt is headed to the Supreme Court. House Republicans also recently suggested ending the student-loan payment pause as a proposal it would support in potential budget cuts, and over half of House GOP lawmakers, and nearly all Senate GOP lawmakers, filed amicus curiae briefs to the Supreme Court opposing student-loan forgiveness.

Brent crude futures fell by 82 cents, or 1%, to $85.79 per barrel by 0132 GMT, while U.S. crude futures fell by $1.04, or 1.3%, to $79.10 per barrel. The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) said after the previous session ended that it would sell 26 million barrels of oil from the SPR, a release that had been mandated by Congress in previous years. The DOE had considered cancelling the fiscal year 2023 sale after U.S. President Joe Biden's administration last year sold a record 180 million barrels from the reserve. Ceyhan is for endpoint for pipelines that carry oil from Azerbaijan and Iraq and about 1 million barrels per day (bpd) of crude can be exported from there. Crude production in the shale basins will rise by about 75,000 bpd in March to a record 9.36 million bpd, the EIA projected.

☆ Oil prices fall on U.S. crude reserve release
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-14 | by ( ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

OPEC+ has recently hinted it could impose deeper output cuts to spur a recovery in crude prices. Oil prices fell on Tuesday after the U.S. government said it would release more crude from its Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) as mandated by lawmakers, defying expectations from some traders that the release could be canceled or delayed. Brent crude futures fell by 70 cents, or 0.81%, to $85.91 per barrel by 0256 GMT, while U.S. crude futures fell by 93 cents, or 1.16%, to $79.21 per barrel. "Any higher-than-expected data may cause a renewed sell-off in risk assets, including oil," Tina Teng, an analyst at CMC Markets said. "Oil is on the defensive and it could get uglier if inflation proves to be harder to tame," OANDA's Moya said.

☆ Blackstone says India top Asian market, eyes infra investments
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-14 | by ( M. Sriram | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

MUMBAI, Feb 14 (Reuters) - India will continue to be Blackstone Inc's (BX.N) biggest market in Asia and the private equity giant may consider infrastructure investments there in the future, a top company executive said on Tuesday. Blackstone said it manages assets worth $50 billion in India, including in private equity and real estate. Private equity deals in India totalled $32 billion last year, a 27% drop from 2021. Even as Blackstone remains bullish on India, Gray said more certainty around tax and capital market laws will help increase foreign investments in India. China's share in Asia's total private equity deal value dropped to 28% in 2022 from 41% in 2021, the data showed.

☆ Senior Biden official says the US can't keep doing 'anything and everything' for Ukraine in the war: The Washington Post
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-14 | by ( Cheryl Teh | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

A senior official told The Washington Post that US aid for Ukraine may not go on indefinitely. The official said Biden's staff has told Ukraine the US "can't do anything and everything forever." Other officials told The Post aid to Ukraine might be harder to pass with a GOP-controlled House. The senior official told The Post the Biden administration has a "very strong view" that continually approving large aid packages for Ukraine will be difficult with a Republican-led House. But the senior official told The Post that Biden's undertaking did not "pertain to the amount of assistance" that the US might give Ukraine in the future.

☆ Teams are searching for Yukon UFO debris, Trudeau says
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-12 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

[1/2] Canada's Prime Minister Justin Trudeau speaks to media before discussing healthcare with Provincial and Territorial premiers in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, February 7, 2023. REUTERS/Blair GableOTTAWA/WASHINGTON, Feb 12 (Reuters) - Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Sunday that investigators are hunting for wreckage of the mysterious flying object shot down by a U.S. fighter jet over Yukon territory the day before. "Recovery teams are on the ground, looking to find and analyze the object," Trudeau told reporters before departing for a previously scheduled fund-raising event in Yukon. Schumer said American officials were "focused like a laser" on figuring out what the objects were and what if any threat they posed. "They do appear somewhat trigger-happy," Turner told CNN on Sunday.

☆ The White House reportedly asked Elon Musk for help expanding electric-vehicle usage even after the billionaire's past taunts of Biden on the issue
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-10 | by ( Ayelet Sheffey | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

The White House asked Elon Musk for help expanding electric vehicle charging stations, the Washington Post reported. Musk's Tesla sells the highest number of electric vehicles in the country. The billionaire has taunted Biden in the past over electric vehicles, and the Post said Tesla officials made no firm commitments. Sources told the Post that Tesla officials were open to the idea of expanding its charging stations but did not make any commitments. Biden's Energy Department also granted a battery recycling company $2 billion on Thursday, which would allow it to pave the way for production of over 1 million electric vehicles each year.

☆ With eye on China, U.S. Democrats want more resources for Indo-Pacific
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-09 | by ( Patricia Zengerle | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

WASHINGTON, Feb 9(Reuters) - Washington must commit more diplomatic and security resources to the Indo-Pacific to push back against China as Beijing seeks to create a regional sphere of influence and become the world's most influential power, U.S. Senate Democrats said on Thursday. The committee's chairman, Senator Robert Menendez, is expected to discuss the report at a hearing on Thursday where senior diplomat Wendy Sherman will testify on China policy. The Senate report says that vision is "commendable," but gives recommendations as to how the U.S. government should sharpen the aims of the strategy and do more to ensure there are enough resources available to back up its efforts. The report said the Biden administration must significantly increase funding for diplomacy and development across the U.S. government and dedicate a larger portion of the Department of State operating budget and foreign assistance to the Indo-Pacific. Its recommendations include working closely with Congress, including providing a detailed list of its plans for implementing the Indo-Pacific Strategy and advancing economic integration with countries in the region, including prioritizing a meaningful trade program with Taiwan.

☆ American small business pessimism on recession, inflation, isn't relenting
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-09 | by ( Eric Rosenbaum | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +10 min

That's according to the CNBC|SurveyMonkey Small Business Survey for the first quarter of 2023. The Q1 survey was conducted from Jan. 23-Jan. 30 among over 2,300 small business owners across the country. "Small business owners have a more difficult time gaining benefits of economies of scale," said Holly Wade, executive director of the NFIB Research Center, whose own recent surveying of small business owners finds persistent pessimism. The new CNBC|SurveyMonkey data finds 75% of small business owners saying they are still facing rising costs of supplies and just over half (51%) supply chain disruptions. Politics is a factor in Main Street outlook Politics plays a role in any small business survey, with a demographic that skews conservative.

☆ U.S. officials prepping legislation to revamp asylum system
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-09 | by ( Ted Hesson | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

"It's a total rethink of the approach and is not constrained by current laws," one of the DHS officials said. Blas Nunez-Neto, a top DHS policy official, is one of the people leading the legislative effort, according to one of the DHS officials and another person familiar with the matter. The new Biden asylum bill could also potentially incorporate a requirement that migrants seek asylum in countries they pass through if protections are available elsewhere, the third person familiar with the effort said. The Biden administration has said it wants to end Title 42 and replace it with a more established rapid deportation process known as "expedited removal." U.S. officials since last year have pressed Mexico to accept non-Mexicans via expedited removal once Title 42 terminates, two U.S. officials told Reuters.

[1/2] Semiconductor chips are seen on a circuit board of a computer in this illustration picture taken February 25, 2022. REUTERS/Florence Lo/IllustrationTOKYO, Feb 8 (Reuters) - Japan may opt for milder restrictions on chip production machinery sales in China than those implemented by the United States even though they agree on export curbs, an influential Japanese ruling party lawmaker told Reuters on Wednesday. "The United States is being strict, but there is a question of whether we have to exactly match that. Amari said he had been briefed by the Japanese government on the deal, which only the United states has so far publicly acknowledged. Reporting by Kiyoshi Takenaka, Tim Kelly and Mayu Sakoda; Editing by Bernadette BaumOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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