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☆ Hunter Biden’s Lawyers to Meet With DOJ Prosecutors Overseeing Criminal Probe
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-21 | by ( C. Ryan Barber | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Hunter Biden hasn’t been charged with anything and has denied wrongdoing. Photo: ELIZABETH FRANTZ/REUTERSWASHINGTON—Defense lawyers for Hunter Biden are set to meet next week with the U.S. attorney in Delaware and at least one senior Justice Department official to discuss the continuing criminal investigation into President Biden’s son, according to people familiar with the scheduled gathering. In recent months, the younger Mr. Biden’s legal team approached the Justice Department about having a meeting to present its view of the evidence and receive an update on the status of the long-running investigation, the people said. The Justice Department routinely agrees to such meetings with defense lawyers in criminal investigations.

☆ US labor market cooling; leading indicator flashes recession
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-20 | by ( Lucia Mutikani | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +6 min

Though measured, the loss of labor market momentum added to slumping retail sales and manufacturing activity in heightening the risks of a recession as soon as the second half of the year. Jobless claimsNevertheless, the labor market is fraying around the edges. It also said contacts reported the labor market becoming less tight, noting "a small number of firms reported mass layoffs," which were "centered at a subset of the largest companies." Philly FedDespite cracks in the labor market, economists did not expect widespread job losses. The claims data covered the period during which the government surveyed business establishments for the nonfarm payrolls portion of April's employment report.

☆ Republican-led US House to vote on ban on transgender student athletes
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-20 | by ( Katharine Jackson | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

REUTERS/Elizabeth Frantz/File PhotoWASHINGTON, April 20 (Reuters) - The Republican-controlled U.S. House of Representatives is expected to vote Thursday on a bill that would ban transgender women and girls from competing in women's and girls' school sports, weighing in on an issue that has riled social conservatives. The measure would change the civil rights law known as Title IX to require that a student's sex be "based on an individual's reproductive biology and genetics at birth." Enacted in 1972, Title IX prohibits discrimination on the basis of sex in educational programs or activities that receive federal funding. The White House on Monday said in a statement that the bill would effectively deny access to sports for transgender students, even at the elementary school level. On Wednesday, Florida education officials voted to ban classroom instruction on gender identity and social orientation in public schools through high school.

☆ U.S. Supreme Court turns away suit by Texas inmate held 27 years in solitary confinement
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-17 | by ( John Kruzel | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

[1/2] The U.S. Supreme Court building is seen in Washington, U.S., April 6, 2023. Hope, who is still in prison but as of last year no longer in solitary confinement, filed a civil rights lawsuit against prison officials in 2018. Following a 1994 prison escape, Hope was placed by prison officials in solitary confinement. Hope said he continued to be held in solitary confinement despite being deemed by Texas security officials in 2005 to no longer pose an escape risk. Texas asked the justices to consider the case moot since Hope is no longer held in solitary confinement, a request that was contested by Hope's lawyers.

[1/2] The U.S. Supreme Court building is seen in Washington, U.S., April 6, 2023. Two laws, the Federal Trade Commission Act and the Securities Exchange Act, funnel judicial review of adverse agency orders to federal appeals courts only after those orders become final. The Supreme Court's conservative justices have signaled wariness toward expansive federal regulatory power and the previously recognized duty of judges, under Supreme Court precedent, to give deference to that authority. Federal agencies have had their powers curtailed in recent Supreme Court rulings. Axon sued the FTC in 2020 in federal court in Arizona following an investigation by the agency into its 2018 acquisition of Vievu, a rival body-camera provider.

REUTERS/Elizabeth FrantzApril 13 (Reuters) - The International Monetary Fund is working closely with Suriname authorities to bring their financing program back, while looking for progress in government talks with China, a key creditor, an IMF official said on Thursday. The IMF and Suriname engaged in a financing program for nearly $700 million in late 2021, but it stalled after the first review was approved more than a year ago. "The authorities are here right now, we're having discussions with them," Chalk said, adding that he looks forward for a mission visit soon to "deepen those discussions." "Having some more progress on the debt restructuring talks with China would really help us with the program, and help the country," he said. Reporting by Rodrigo Campos and Jorgelina do Rosario; editing by Jonathan OatisOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ BoE's Bailey says bank reforms worked but questions about liquidity buffers
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-12 | by ( Huw Jones | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

"Today I do not believe we face a systemic banking crisis. Bailey, however, echoed calls from his predecessor Mark Carney by saying there might be questions over the size of liquidity buffers required of banks in order to tide them over short-term shocks. This must beg the question of what are appropriate and desired liquidity buffers that create the time needed to take action to solve the problem." Data from the European Central Bank on Wednesday showed a slight weakening in liquidity buffers at banks it regulates, though they are still well above minimum requirements. Banks' holdings of liquidity have more than doubled since the global financial crisis, helping to contain fallout from the recent banking turmoil, de Cos said.

☆ Yellen says vigilant to downside economic risks, but don't 'overdo the negativism'
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-11 | by ( Andrea Shalal | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

REUTERS/Elizabeth FrantzWASHINGTON, April 11 (Reuters) - U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen on Tuesday said she remained vigilant to downside risks facing the global economy, given Russia's ongoing war against Ukraine and banking pressures, but the overall outlook was "reasonably bright." Yellen, speaking at a news conference, pushed back against warnings by the International Monetary Fund of bigger risks associated with severe financial tensions. "I wouldn't overdo the negativism about the global economy," Yellen said, when asked about a slightly trimmed IMF global growth forecast for 2023 which warned that a flare-up of financial system turmoil could slash output to near recessionary levels. She said the U.S. banking system remained sound, with strong capital and liquidity positions, and the global financial system is resilient due to the significant reforms enacted after the 2008 financial crisis. Yellen told reporters the global economy was in a better place than projected last fall, with energy and food prices having stabilized and supply chain pressures continuing to ease.

REUTERS/Elizabeth FrantzWASHINGTON, April 11 (Reuters) - The top defense and diplomatic officials from the United States and Philippines agreed on Tuesday to complete a road map in coming months to cover the delivery of U.S. defense assistance to the Philippines over the next five to 10 years. Experts say the United States sees the Philippines as a potential location for rockets, missiles and artillery systems to counter a Chinese amphibious invasion of Taiwan, which China claims as its own. Austin said that it was "too early" to discuss what assets the United States would like to station at Philippine military bases under a recently expanded Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement (EDCA). The joint statement said the United States expects to boost its allocated spending for EDCA sites to over $100 million by the end of 2023, against a previously announced $80 million. U.S.-Philippines relations have warmed considerably under Philippines President Ferdinand Marcos Jr, and the 2+2 meeting underlined that as the first of its kind in seven years.

☆ Morning Bid: Have payrolls resurrected the 'soft landing'?
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-10 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

[1/2] An employee hiring sign with a QR code is seen in a window of a business in Arlington, Virginia, U.S., April 7, 2023. Earnings for Citi, Wells Fargo and JP Morgan Chase & Co later in the week will be in focus for colour on financial conditions. Inflation figures due Wednesday can also help markets to gauge how aggressive the Federal Reserve may need to be. Friday's jobs data lifted yields, but didn't substantially shift a bigger picture view that hikes are all but finished and cuts are coming. China is running military exercises in the wake of Taiwan's president visiting the United States, while the U.S. scrambles to find the source of a damaging document leak.

[1/3] U.S. President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris stand on stage together after delivering remarks at the DNC 2023 Winter Meeting in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S., February 3, 2023. Biden could lose crucial votes if he were to drop Harris, who is both the first Black and Asian-American U.S. vice president. While the vice president has disappointed some inside her party, Democrats see opportunity in the 2024 race. He leans on her a lot," said Cedric Richmond, a former congressman and former senior adviser in Biden's White House. "That was not her assignment," said the third former White House official, referring to reducing migrant crossings at the U.S.-Mexico border broadly.

☆ Silicon Valley and Capitol Hill Build an Anti-China Alliance
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-17 | by ( Georgia Wells | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Photo: Elizabeth Frantz for The Wall Street JournalJacob Helberg, a member of the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission, is leading a group aimed at countering Chinese involvement in U.S. tech. A group of Silicon Valley executives, including investor Peter Thiel , and Washington lawmakers are quietly mobilizing against China’s involvement in the U.S. tech industry ahead of TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew ’s Capitol Hill testimony next week. They plan to meet for a private dinner on Wednesday to discuss China, national security and the intensifying competition between the tech sectors of the U.S. and China. Mr. Chew is scheduled to testify the following day.

☆ US Senators Menendez, Warren urge regulators to support new gun sale code
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-15 | by ( Ross Kerber | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Senators Bob Menendez and Elizabeth Warren on Wednesday called on federal regulators to issue guidance to speed the adoption of a new merchant category code (MCC) by payment networks to identify firearms sellers. The Republicans say the codes could be used to improperly track gun purchases. The letter noted reports that mass shooters had used credit or debit cards to buy the guns and ammunition they used. There are more than 40,000 U.S. gun deaths per year, and regulations around guns are again emerging as a major political issue. On Tuesday, U.S. President Joe Biden issued an executive order that reinforced background checks for gun buyers.

U.S. District Judge Jed Rakoff in Manhattan said the bank must turn over requested documents from 2015 to 2019, a period after JPMorgan had dropped Epstein as a client. The U.S. Virgin Islands has called Dimon "a likely source of relevant and unique information" about why JPMorgan kept Epstein on, and discussions on Epstein's referrals of prominent and wealthy potential clients. Lawyers for the U.S. Virgin Islands did not immediately respond to requests for comment. JPMorgan wants Staley to reimburse it for damages it might incur in the other lawsuits, and return eight years of compensation. The case is Government of the U.S. Virgin Islands v JPMorgan Chase Bank NA, U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York, No.

☆ TikTok data collection, influence operations potential draw U.S. NSA concern
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-07 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

REUTERS/Elizabeth FrantzWASHINGTON, March 7 (Reuters) - U.S. National Security Agency Director Paul Nakasone on Tuesday expressed concern during congressional testimony about Chinese-owned video app TikTok's data collection and potential to facilitate broad influence operations. Asked by Republican Senator Tommy Tuberville about any concerns he has about TikTok's influence on American children, Nakasone told a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing, "TikTok concerns me for a number of different reasons." Nakasone ended his comments by asserting that the TikTok platform could enable sweeping influence operations. The NSA, part of the Defense Department, is the agency responsible for U.S. cryptographic and communications intelligence and security. CFIUS and TikTok have been in talks for more than two years aiming to reach a national security agreement.

☆ 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.

REUTERS/Elizabeth FrantzWASHINGTON, Feb 28 (Reuters) - The United States does not expect Russia to make significant territorial gains in Ukraine in the near-term, a senior Pentagon official said on Tuesday, describing the front lines in the year-long war as a "grinding slog." Kahl made the remarks during a hearing focused on oversight of the billions of dollars in military aid Washington has provided to Kyiv. In October, the U.S. restarted on-site inspections in Ukraine to help keep track of the billions of dollars of weapons being provided to Kyiv. One of the weapons the U.S. has not provided -- despite public appeals by Ukrainian officials -- are F-16 fighter jets. Kahl was asked repeatedly by lawmakers about sending the jets to Ukraine.

The ruling authored by Jackson, who was confirmed last year by the Senate as the newest of the nine justices, was unanimous. Under that law, money orders that go uncashed can be generally taken by the state in which they are purchased. Circuit Judge Pierre Leval, later agreed with Delaware's view that they were not legally money orders but were "third-party bank checks." Jackson rejected that position, saying the financial instruments were similar to money orders in function and operation by allowing prepayment of a specified amount to a specific person. "And none of the differences Delaware identifies relates to the statutory text or ordinary meaning of a money order," Jackson wrote.

"If the debt limit is not raised or suspended before the extraordinary measures are exhausted, the government would be unable to pay its obligations fully," the CBO report said. "As a result, the government would have to delay making payments for some activities, default on its debt obligations, or both." CBO Director Phillip Swagel attributed the rise to higher interest rates that particularly are hitting the housing industry, coupled with slowing business investment. REUTERS/Elizabeth FrantzRepublicans, who control the House of Representatives, want to withhold a debt limit increase until Democrats agree to deep spending cuts. Democrats in turn say the debt limit should not be "held hostage" to Republican tactics over federal spending.

☆ Yellen wants bolder World Bank steps on climate change, global issues
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-09 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

[1/2] U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen arrives to a news conference during the Annual Meetings of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank in Washington, U.S., October 14, 2022. Yellen said countries urgently needed the World Bank and other multilateral development banks to evolve, given declining progress addressing global poverty that began even before the COVID-19 pandemic. "In today’s world, sustained progress on poverty alleviation and economic development is simply not possible without addressing the global challenges that face us all." She said Treasury was asking the Bank to identify concessional resources - low or zero-interest loans - to help countries tackle global challenges. The bank also needed new diagnostic tools to identify global challenges affecting development, and it needs to boost its financial capacity, she said.

WASHINGTON, Feb 7 (Reuters) - President Joe Biden pledged to work with the opposition party on Tuesday in a State of the Union speech that served as an olive branch to skeptical Republicans and a blueprint for his 2024 re-election bid. The White House has said Biden will not negotiate over that necessity; Republicans want spending cuts in exchange for their support. McCarthy said earlier on Tuesday that he would not rip up Biden's speech, referencing the actions of former Speaker Nancy Pelosi after Trump's 2020 State of the Union address. He said he urged Biden not to use the phrase "extreme MAGA Republicans" in his speech, a reference to Trump's "Make America Great Again" slogan. Some House Republican lawmakers have questioned Biden's victory in the 2020 presidential race against Trump, vowing to investigate his Cabinet and family.

"To my Republican friends, if we could work together in the last Congress, there is no reason we can’t work together in this new Congress," Biden, a Democrat, will say, according to excerpts of the speech released by the White House before the speech scheduled for 9 p.m. One test of that challenge will be the White House push to raise the $31.4 trillion debt ceiling, which must be lifted in the coming months to avoid a default. The White House has said Biden will not negotiate over that necessity; Republicans want spending cuts in exchange for their support. He said he urged Biden not to use the phrase "extreme MAGA Republicans" in his speech, a reference to Trump's "Make America Great Again" slogan. Some House Republican lawmakers have questioned Biden's victory in the 2020 presidential race against Trump, vowing to investigate his Cabinet and family.

☆ State of the Union brings brief unanimity on Social Security, Medicare. Why experts say there's still reason to worry
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-08 | by ( Lorie Konish | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +4 min

That would include Social Security and Medicare. The Republican Study Budget Committee, which included a host of House GOP leaders, has also suggested other changes — raising the retirement ages for both Social Security and Medicare, as well as changing the measurement for annual Social Security cost-of-living adjustments. More recently, former Vice President Mike Pence called for reforming Social Security with the creation of private savings accounts. Rep. John Larson, D-Conn., has led a House bill that would apply reapply payroll taxes on $400,000 in earnings while also making benefits more generous. Biden similarly proposed expanding benefits and increasing payroll taxes on high earners during his presidential campaign.

☆ Romney tells embattled Republican George Santos he 'shouldn't be in Congress'
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-08 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

Senator Mitt Romney (R-UT) speaks with reporters at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, U.S., September 6, 2022. Senator Mitt Romney told embattled fellow Republican Representative George Santos on Tuesday that should not be in Congress and shouldn't have taken a central seat at President Joe Biden's State of the Union address. "He shouldn't be in Congress and they're going to go through the process and hopefully get him out," Romney told reporters after the speech. "But he shouldn't be there and if he had any shame at all he wouldn't be there." Romney said he had told Santos as much.

WASHINGTON, Feb 7 (Reuters) - U.S. President Joe Biden will declare U.S democracy is bruised but "unbowed and unbroken" on Tuesday in a State of the Union speech that will serve as an olive branch to skeptical Republicans and a blueprint for his 2024 re-election bid. "To my Republican friends, if we could work together in the last Congress, there is no reason we can’t work together in this new Congress," Biden, a Democrat, will say, according to excerpts of the speech released by the White House ahead of the speech scheduled for 9 p.m. Biden's public approval rating edged one percentage point higher to 41% in a Reuters/Ipsos opinion poll that closed on Sunday. McCarthy said on Tuesday that he would not rip up Biden's speech, referencing to the actions of former Speaker Nancy Pelosi after former President Donald Trump's 2020 State of the Union address. He said he urged Biden not to use the phrase "extreme MAGA Republicans" in his speech, a reference to Trump's "Make America Great Again" slogan.

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