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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.

☆ Lawyers Seek New Trial for Man Texas Governor Pledged to Pardon
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-12 | by ( Elizabeth Findell | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

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☆ 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.

☆ People are ticked that delivery drivers complained about stingy tips in a viral New York Times article. Here are the 5 main reasons people don't think they should tip more.
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-11 | by ( Jacob Zinkula | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

Food delivery drivers are struggling to make ends meet, according to a recent New York Times article. While many delivery drivers said they benefited from larger tips during the beginning of the pandemic, some said this generosity has since faded. Why should sushi delivery drivers earn 10 times as much as pizza delivery?" (3) Drivers should be tipped based on how difficult their delivery wasSome commenters argued that food delivery drivers' tips should be based on how far — and what weather they had to endure — to make the delivery. "Someday, all of these gig workers will be too old to keep this kind of hustle up.

☆ 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.

☆ Sutherland Springs Shooting Victims, U.S. Reach Tentative $144.5 Million Settlement
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-05 | by ( Elizabeth Findell | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

A memorial for some victims in the mass shooting in Sutherland Springs, Texas, in 2017. Victims of a 2017 mass shooting at a church in Sutherland Springs, Texas, are set to receive $144.5 million from the government under the terms of a settlement agreement announced Wednesday. A federal judge in 2021 found that the U.S. Air Force was mostly responsible for the rampage, which killed 26 and injured 22. Officials there failed to add the shooter, a former airman who had been convicted of domestic assault, to a federal database that would have barred him from legally buying the gun he used in the attack.

[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.

☆ Rural America Grows Weary of Waiting for Its Mail
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-18 | by ( Elizabeth Findell | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Silverthorne, Colo., has reported mail-delivery delays of weeks or months. CRESTED BUTTE, Colo.—Residents of this small mountain town used to get their mail without incident, they said. A few years ago, something changed. Now, those who live in the ski community of 1,600, which has no home delivery of either mail or parcels, say they must wait in line for up to an hour during midday to pick up any package. In other Colorado towns, such as Silverthorne and Steamboat Springs, residents say mail delivery has ceased for weeks or months at a time.

☆ Rival Colorado Towns Fight Over a Frozen Dead Guy
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-17 | by ( Elizabeth Findell | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

NEDERLAND, Colo.—For more than 20 years, the tiny mountain town of Nederland has enjoyed a macabre claim to fame: a cryogenically immortalized grandfather lying under dry ice in a shed. The annual celebration that honors him, Frozen Dead Guy Days, drew tens of thousands of revelers from around the world.

☆ 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.

☆ Ohio Train Derailment Contamination Fears Spread Beyond East Palestine
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-25 | by ( Elizabeth Findell | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Weeks after a train derailment near the Ohio-Pennsylvania border left hazardous chemicals burning from railcars, fears of the potential impacts are being felt in places far from the accident. Grocery chain Giant Eagle, with hundreds of stores in five states including Ohio and Pennsylvania, pulled bottled water off shelves out of an “abundance of caution” because it was bottled 25 miles from the derailment.

☆ Texas Begins Arresting Migrant Women After Courts Toss Cases Against Men
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-17 | by ( Elizabeth Findell | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

AUSTIN, Texas—Operation Lone Star, the Texas program to exert more control over the border by arresting migrants on state charges, has jailed more than 8,600 men since it started in 2021. Within the past few months, a couple dozen women have begun to join them.

☆ El Paso Shooting Came After ‘Random’ Confrontation, Police Chief Says
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-17 | by ( Elizabeth Findell | Adolfo Flores | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

The shooting that killed one and injured three at an El Paso, Texas, mall Wednesday evening, steps from the Walmart where an attacker killed 23 people in 2019, was the result of a random confrontation between two groups who didn’t know each other, the city’s police chief said. “During the confrontation, a physical altercation took place,” Interim Police Chief Peter Pacillas said during a press conference Thursday afternoon. “During that fight…one person produced a handgun and shots were fired.”

☆ Shooting Rattles El Paso Mall Next to Scene of 2019 Rampage
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-15 | by ( Elizabeth Findell | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Members of law enforcement gather outside the Cielo Vista Mall in El Paso, Texas, following the shooting. One person was killed and three were wounded in a shooting at El Paso’s Cielo Vista Mall Wednesday evening—steps away from the Walmart where an attacker killed 23 people in 2019. Police in the West Texas border city said reports of an active shooter near the mall’s food court came in around 5:10 local time. One suspect was in police custody as police searched for a possible second suspect, said Sgt. Robert Gomez, a police spokesman.

"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.

☆ Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton Reaches $3.3 Million Whistleblower Settlement
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-10 | by ( Elizabeth Findell | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

AUSTIN, Texas—Texas taxpayers will pay $3.3 million to whistleblowers who reported alleged wrongdoing by their boss, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton , to law enforcement, under the terms of a mediated settlement agreement filed Friday. The settlement is contingent upon the funds being approved through the Texas Legislature, attorneys said. It would put an end to legal battling between Mr. Paxton and his former top deputies, who in 2020 accused him of using his office illegally to interfere with a federal investigation into a campaign donor.

☆ Texas Inmates Wage Hunger Strikes to Protest Solitary Confinement
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-10 | by ( Elizabeth Findell | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Solitary confinement keeps inmates in their cells 22 to 24 hours a day, with periodic removal for showers or solitary recreation. For 17 years, Guadalupe Constante has been alone in a 5-foot-by-9-foot cell, spending hours at a time pacing the small space, he said. The 44-year-old, who is midway through a 35-year sentence for aggravated robbery, is one of the Texas state prisoners held in solitary confinement because of membership in prison gangs. Last month, he and dozens of others stopped eating.

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