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☆ DeSantis, Trump to collide in key state of Iowa
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-10 | by ( James Oliphant | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

Iowa could be particularly crucial for DeSantis, who is expected to jump into the 2024 White House race later in the spring. The state will hold the first Republican nominating contest early next year, and a win there would show DeSantis is a viable candidate against Trump. DeSantis will appear at events in Des Moines, the state capital, and the river town of Davenport that will be moderated by Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds. Craig Robinson, a former political director of the Iowa Republican Party, believes Iowa voters are eager to hear from DeSantis, who polls show to be Trump's biggest rival for the nomination. But the Midwestern state will remain as the first electoral test for Republican presidential candidates.

☆ Reaction to Biden's 2024 budget proposal
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-09 | by ( Katharine Jackson | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

REUTERS/Leah MillisWASHINGTON, March 9 (Reuters) - U.S. President Joe Biden on Thursday delivered a budget proposal that includes a robust spending agenda, higher taxes on the wealthy and plans to reduce the deficit, a document that forms the blueprint for his expected 2024 re-election bid. Here is reaction to Biden's budget proposal to Congress for the 2024 fiscal year:HOUSE BUDGET COMMITTEE CHAIR JODEY ARRINGTON, A REPUBLICAN FROM TEXAS:"His policies have led to 40-year record inflation, soaring interest rates, and the prospect of a sustained economic recession. Unfortunately, Biden’s latest budget is more of the same bloated bureaucracy at the expense of working families, while sticking our grandchildren with the bill." HOUSE DEMOCRATIC LEADER HAKEEM JEFFRIES, ON TWITTER:"The Biden budget plan protects Social Security, strengthens Medicare and invests in our children. SENATOR CHUCK GRASSLEY:"Even with near-record revenues, President Biden wants to raise taxes on every segment of America.

☆ UN warns of aid cuts over Taliban crackdown on women's rights
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-08 | by ( Michelle Nichols | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

The United States was the largest donor to the 2022 U.N. aid plan in Afghanistan, giving more than $1 billion. The Taliban administration, which seized power in August 2021 as U.S.-led forces withdrew from Afghanistan after 20 years of war, says it respects women's rights in accordance with its strict interpretation of Islamic law. "They systematically deprive women and girls of their fundamental human rights," United Arab Emirates U.N. "They say their elimination from public life is no better than fearing violent death," Otunbayeva told the Security Council meeting on Afghanistan, which coincided with International Women's Day. "Afghanistan under the Taliban remains the most repressive country in the world regarding women's rights," she said.

☆ Exclusive: As 2024 election approaches, White House jumps into states' abortion battles
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-06 | by ( Nandita Bose | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +7 min

The previously unreported, behind-the-scenes effort has caught the attention of state lawmakers for the level of support offered by the administration. In some cases, the White House is leaning on key lawmakers in states with important abortion-related legislative fights this session. North Carolina is a special focus where the White House thinks it has the opportunity to fend off restrictions, one of the White House officials said. Republicans have largely shrugged off White House efforts at beating back efforts to limit abortion rights. The White House sees three different approaches to defend abortions rights and has broken down states into what they call either "battleground," "extremist" or "proactive" states, White House officials and advisors say.

☆ Exclusive: Ukraine seeks US cluster bombs to adapt for drone use, lawmakers say
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-06 | by ( Jonathan Landay | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +6 min

They said Ukrainian officials urged U.S. lawmakers at last month's Munich Security Conference to press for White House approval. Ukraine hopes cluster munitions will give it an edge in the grinding fight against Russian forces in eastern Ukraine. But cluster munitions could be a step too far for the administration and some in Congress. A 2008 pact prohibiting the production, use and stockpiling of cluster munitions has been adopted by 123 countries, including most of NATO's 28 members. "And cluster munitions really are pretty lethal to mass formations as well as armor.

☆ Fed's Barkin says he could see rates at 5.5%-5.75%
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-03 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

PALO ALTO, California, March 3 (Reuters) - Richmond Federal Reserve Bank President Thomas Barkin said on Friday that he could envision a scenario where the central bank pushes the U.S. benchmark policy interest rate to the 5.5%-5.75% range that some in financial markets are now betting it will. Barkin said it's "entirely possible" that inflation cools faster than he expects, which would imply a shallower rate path. "But I think it's entirely possible that it persists, which would require us to do more," he added. By this time next year, Barkin said, he does not expect the Fed to have started any rate cuts. Reporting by Ann Saphir; Editing by Leslie Adler and Alistair BellOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Tennessee governor will sign bills restricting drag, transgender youth treatment
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-28 | by ( Jonathan Allen | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

Feb 28 (Reuters) - Tennessee Governor Bill Lee said he would sign into law bills that passed the legislature last week banning gender-affirming treatment for transgender youth and restricting drag performances in public. Lee said the drag bill, which comes into effect April 1, would protect children from being "potentially exposed to sexualized entertainment, to obscenity." Modern drag performances, which have long flourished in LGBT venues before becoming a more mainstream entertainment in recent years, typically do not involve nudity. One of the bills Lee will sign bans doctors from providing gender-affirming medical treatment, such as puberty blockers, hormone therapy and surgery, for transgender minors. The Tennessee bills are part of an upswing in recent months in Republican efforts to regulate the conduct of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer people.

☆ US House Republicans target ESG investments in latest culture war salvo
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-28 | by ( David Morgan | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

The measure is the latest salvo in the Republican culture war against the use of issues that promote environmental interests, social equality and corporate responsibility in business and investment decisions. "Retirement plans should be solely focused on delivering maximum returns, not advancing a political agenda," said Republican Representative Andy Barr, who introduced the House resolution. "If Congress doesn't block the Department of Labor's rule greenlighting ESG investing in retirement plans, retirees will suffer diminished returns on the investment of their hard-earned money." The measure is widely expected to pass the House, where Republicans hold a slim 222-212 seat majority. Two Democratic absences could give Republicans the simple majority necessary to pass the measure and send it to Biden's desk.

☆ McConnell calls for higher US defense spending over the next year
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-28 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

WASHINGTON, Feb 28 (Reuters) - U.S. Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell called on Congress on Tuesday to increase defense spending in the coming year to confront what he termed growing threats from Russia and China. "In this environment, we need to continue to plus up defense," McConnell told reporters, adding that other NATO countries also need to increase their emphasis on defense. His remarks could put him at odds with Republicans in the House of Representatives who are considering proposals to keep defense spending at current levels in fiscal year 2024, which begins on Oct. 1, while cutting about $150 billion mainly from nondefense discretionary spending. "Our allies around the world are seriously focused now on having defense spending fit the need, and the need obviously by any estimation is going up." The military aid came on top of a record $858 billion in U.S. defense spending for the current fiscal year, which marked an increase from $740 billion and exceeded a request from Biden.

☆ Iran can make fissile material for a bomb 'in about 12 days' - U.S. official
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-28 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

REUTERS/Elizabeth FrantzWASHINGTON, Feb 28 (Reuters) - Iran could make enough fissile for one nuclear bomb in "about 12 days," a top U.S. Defense Department official said on Tuesday, down from the estimated one year it would have taken while the 2015 Iran nuclear deal was in effect. Back in 2018, when the previous administration decided to leave the JCPOA it would have taken Iran about 12 months to produce one bomb's worth of fissile material. Now it would take about 12 days," Kahl, the third ranking Defense Department official, told lawmakers. U.S. officials have repeatedly estimated Iran's breakout time - how long it would take to acquire the fissile material for one bomb if it decided to - at weeks but have not been as specific as Kahl was. While U.S. officials say Iran has grown closer to producing fissile material they do not believe it has mastered the technology to actually build a bomb.

WASHINGTON/BEIJING, Feb 27 (Reuters) - China must be more honest about the origins of the COVID-19 pandemic, the U.S. ambassador to China said on Monday, after reports that the U.S. Energy Department concluded the pandemic likely arose from a Chinese laboratory leak. The Wall Street Journal first reported on Sunday that the U.S. Energy Department had concluded the pandemic likely arose from a Chinese laboratory leak, an assessment Beijing denies. The department made its judgment with "low confidence" in a classified intelligence report recently provided to the White House and key members of Congress, the Journal said, citing people who had read the intelligence report. President Joe Biden's national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, said on Sunday there were a "variety of views in the intelligence community" on the pandemic's origins. "Certain parties should stop rehashing the 'lab leak' narrative, stop smearing China and stop politicizing the origins-tracing issue," foreign ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said.

☆ Canada's Trudeau denies report that Liberals told to drop candidate over China ties
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-27 | by ( Steve Scherer | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

The Chinese government preferred Han Dong, a Chinese Canadian, over another Chinese Canadian Liberal, who was passed over in favor of Han, said Global News, a national broadcaster, citing anonymous security sources in a story posted online. The article said the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) urged Trudeau's "team" to rescind Han's candidacy. "Dong is an outstanding member of our team and suggestions that he is somehow not loyal to Canada should not be entertained," Trudeau told a news conference in Mississauga. The Chinese embassy in Ottawa did not immediately respond to a request to comment on the Global report. Reporting by Steve Scherer; Editing by Alistair Bell and Stephen CoatesOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Enel Peru says state-run Chinese power firm eying possible purchase
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-24 | by ( Marco Aquino | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

LIMA, Feb 24 (Reuters) - The Peruvian unit of Italy's biggest power utility, Enel (ENEI.MI), said on Friday that state-owned China Southern Power Grid is carrying out "due diligence" on the local unit for a possible purchase offer on its energy distribution operations. Bloomberg reported earlier on Friday that the Chinese firm is weighing a possible bid for Enel's distribution business in Peru, which it said could be valued at some $3 billion. The Guangzhou-based power company's owner, state-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission of the State Council (SASAC), did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Part of that announcement included the plan to put up for sale Enel Peru's distribution and generation assets, which the state-controlled firm said was already under way at the time. On Friday, shares of Enel Distribucion Peru rose 25% on Lima's main stock exchange.

☆ Tesla can't build in northern Mexico if water is scarce, president says
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-24 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

MEXICO CITY, Feb 24 (Reuters) - Tesla Inc. would be denied permits to build a plant in the northern Mexican state of Nuevo Leon, where it has eyed investing, if water is scarce, Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said on Friday. Lopez Obrador called out arid Nuevo Leon for its water scarcity earlier this week, instead touting the benefits of Mexico's poorer southern region where he has sought to increase development. In 2020, he said he would withhold permits for a Constellation Brands (STZ.N) brewery in the northern state of Baja California after criticizing the project for consuming too much water in a dry zone. On Friday, the leftist leader praised Constellation for choosing to relocate to a state in southeastern Mexico. "They understood very well," Lopez Obrador said.

☆ Analysis: Decree adds to doubts about Mexican lithium industry's future
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-24 | by ( Carolina Pulice | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

Last Saturday, President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador signed his latest presidential decree on lithium, establishing a more than 900-square-mile (235,000 hectare) lithium mining zone in northern Sonora state, stating that existing concessions within it "remain safe." But the order also declared "no mining activity can be carried out related to lithium" within this area. Neither Lopez Obrador's office or Mexico's economy ministry, which was part of the decree, responded to a request for comment. Created last August, state-run LitioMx will likely launch further exploration efforts in the new mining zone, BTG Pactual analysts said in a research note. He emphasized the need to minimize political risks associated with the government's latest decree, if Mexican lithium has any hope of transforming its raw potential into a thriving industry with a long-term horizon.

☆ Iran says it has developed long-range cruise missile
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-24 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

"Our cruise missile with a range of 1,650 km has been added to the missile arsenal of the Islamic Republic of Iran," Amirali Hajizadeh, the head of the Revolutionary Guards Aerospace Force, told state TV. The television broadcast what it said was the first footage showing the new Paveh cruise missile. Iran has expanded its missile programme, particularly its ballistic missiles, in defiance of opposition from the United States and expressions of concern by European countries. Iran has said it had supplied Moscow with drones before the war in Ukraine. In November, the Pentagon said the United States was skeptical of reports quoting Hajizadeh as saying Iran had developed a hypersonic ballistic missile.

☆ Republicans to hold their first presidential debate in Wisconsin
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-23 | by ( Tim Reid | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

[1/2] Republican presidential candidate and former South Carolina governor Nikki Haley attends a campaign, after announcing her 2024 presidential campaign, in Urbandale, Iowa, U.S., February 20, 2023. REUTERS/Scott MorganFeb 23 (Reuters) - The U.S. Republican Party's presidential candidates will hold their first debate of the primary season in the battleground state of Wisconsin in August, the party announced on Thursday. The Republican National Committee's debates committee voted to hold the debate in Milwaukee, and wants all participating candidates to sign a loyalty pledge vowing to support the eventual White House nominee. Televised debates can play a critical role in making and breaking candidacies and shaping the perceptions of White House hopefuls in the minds of voters. Wisconsin is one of a handful of presidential swing states that will be crucial to the eventual nominee's hopes of winning the White House in the November 2024 election.

☆ U.S. Senator Jon Tester will again run in 2024, in boon for Democrats
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-22 | by ( Moira Warburton | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

Senator Jon Tester will run for reelection, he said on Twitter on Wednesday, in a major win for Democrats who are defending seats in several battleground states in 2024. Tester, who has represented Montana in the U.S. Senate since 2007, is a reliable moderate who has won three tight races in the past in the increasingly Republican state. Even with an incumbent's advantage, Tester will likely still face a tough battle for reelection. Upcoming races in states like Montana, West Virginia, Ohio and Arizona all present challenges to the Democrats' ability to hold onto their Senate majority going into 2025. Reporting by Moira Warburton in Washington; Editing by Richard Cowan and Alistair BellOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

WASHINGTON, Feb 22 (Reuters) - President Joe Biden said on Wednesday he did not read into Vladimir Putin's decision to temporarily suspend participation in a nuclear arms treaty as a signal the Russian president was considering using nuclear weapons, even though the U.S. leader called it a "big mistake." But I don't read into that that he's thinking of using nuclear weapons or anything like that," Biden told ABC News in an interview. Putin earlier this week backed away from the New START arms control treaty - a 2010 agreement that limits the number of Russian and U.S. deployed strategic nuclear warheads - and warned that Moscow could resume nuclear tests. "The idea that somehow this means they're thinking of using nuclear weapons, intercontinental ballistic missile, there's no evidence of that," Biden said. Moscow has demanded that British and French nuclear weapons targeted against Russia be included in the arms control framework, a position seen as a non-starter for Washington after over half a century of bilateral nuclear treaties with Russia.

Biden said the West was never plotting to attack Russia and the invasion was Putin's choice. "It is a big mistake," Biden said of Putin's decision before his session with eastern European allies known as the Bucharest Nine. We will defend literally every inch of NATO, every inch of NATO," he said. The Kremlin says it regards NATO, which could soon expand to include Sweden and Finland, as an existential threat to Russia. It said the leaders looked forward to further strengthening unity and collective defense at a NATO summit in Vilnius in July.

☆ Cuba suffers third major blackout in a week
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-21 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

HAVANA, Cuba, Feb 21 (Reuters) - Cuba on Tuesday suffered its third major blackout in little more than a week, leaving a vast swath of the center and east of the island without power, energy officials said on state-run TV. The blackout Tuesday spanned 430 miles (700 km) from Cienfuegos province in south-central Cuba to Guantanamo, on the far southeastern tip, leaving more than half of the country´s population of 11 million without power. On Saturday, another blackout cut power for millions of people from Matanzas, east of Havana, to Guantanamo, an outage power officials attributed to a "human operation error." The Minister of Energy and Mines said last week that rolling blackouts would resume and last until May while the country overhauls decades-old oil-fired power plants ahead of the summer season. Cold War-era embargo on Cuba, which complicates financing and purchase of parts, fuel and capital investment.

☆ Michigan Republicans tap election denier to lead state party
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-19 | by ( Nathan Layne | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

[1/2] Kristina Karamo, a candidate for the Michigan Republican Party's state party chair, speaks to delegates ahead of their vote on the key party leadership position, in Lansing, Michigan, U.S., February 18, 2023. "The election baggage is going to make it hard to move the party forward," said John Clark, a professor of political science at Western Michigan University. "We cannot wait to get work done as one Michigan Republican Party," said Karamo, a local Republican activist who ran an unsuccessful campaign for secretary of state in 2022. The state party chair's main responsibilities include guiding the party's messaging and raising millions of dollars to help fund mass mailing campaigns and support candidates. She has yet to concede he loss to Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson, who won November's election by 14 points.

☆ Pepsico recalls some Starbucks vanilla frappuccino drinks in U.S.
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-19 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

Feb 18 (Reuters) - Pepsico Inc (PEP.O) recalled more than 25,000 cases of Starbucks (SBUX.O) chilled coffee drink after glass was found in some of the bottles, the U.S. Food and Drug administration said in a notice. The voluntary recall, which was initiated on Jan. 28, covers more than 300,000 bottles of the Starbucks frappuccino vanilla chilled coffee drink, the FDA said. The FDA classified this as a Class 2 recall, which means the "product may cause temporary or medically reversible adverse health consequences or where the probability of serious adverse health consequences is remote", according the agency's website. Distributed nationwide by PepsiCo, the bottles with expiration dates Mar. Pepsico did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment on a Saturday.

☆ Mexico's Lopez Obrador orders ministry to step up lithium nationalization
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-19 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

MEXICO CITY, Feb 18 (Reuters) - Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador on Saturday signed a decree handing over responsibility for lithium reserves to the energy ministry, after nationalizing lithium deposits last April. During an event in Sonora, Lopez Obrador signed the decree that orders the energy ministry "to take the actions necessary to carry out" the nationalization process. It also declares 234,855 hectares (907 square miles) in Sonora as a mining zone known as Li-MX 1. "(Let's make) the nation be the owner of this strategic mineral," Lopez Obrador said during the event. Mexico holds important potential lithium deposits, a highly sought material for the production of electric vehicle batteries.

☆ Scotland's health minister Humza Yousaf to run for country's leadership
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-19 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

LONDON, Feb 18 (Reuters) - Scottish Health Minister Humza Yousaf said on Saturday he would run in the leadership contest to replace Nicola Sturgeon as Scottish National Party (SNP) leader and first minister. Yousaf becomes the first to publicly announce his intention to stand in the race after Sturgeon's surprise resignation earlier in the week saying she had become too divisive and too tired to carry on. loadingThe SNP has said it will choose a new leader within six weeks through a ballot of its members, which will close on March 27. Sturgeon, 52, said she was not leaving politics and that she would stay on until a successor has been picked. Reporting by Muvija M, additional reporting by Jahnavi Nidumolu; Editing by Kylie MacLellan and Alistair BellOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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