Oil price plunge on US-Iran peace hopes to give rupee, bonds some breather

By Dharamraj Dhutia and Jaspreet Kalra
MUMBAI, April 20 (Reuters) - The Indian rupee and government bonds this week will be comforted by a drop in oil prices even as shipping through the Strait of Hormuz remains at a standstill, days before a ‌ceasefire between the United States and Iran is set to expire.
Brent crude oil prices fell sharply on Friday and could experience ‌fresh volatility this week after U.S. President Donald Trump said his envoys would return to Pakistan for fresh talks with Iran, while threatenin

Iran war ceasefire pushes energy markets into twilight zone

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Trump agrees to two-week Iran ceasefire, drops threat to destroy 'whole civilization'

By Steve Holland, Parisa Hafezi, Enas Alashray and Ahmed Tolba
WASHINGTON/DUBAI/CAIRO, April 7 (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump agreed to a two-week ceasefire with Iran on Tuesday, less than two hours before his deadline for Tehran to reopen the Strait of Hormuz or face devastating attacks on its civilian infrastructure.
Trump's announcement on social media represented an abrupt turnaround from earlier in the day, ‌when he issued an extraordinary warning that "a whole civilization will die tonight

China and Russia veto UN resolution on protecting Hormuz shipping

By David Brunnstrom
April 7 (Reuters) - China and Russia on Tuesday vetoed a U.N. resolution encouraging states to coordinate efforts to protect commercial shipping in the Strait of Hormuz, calling the measure biased against Iran, while Washington's ambassador to the world body called on "responsible nations" to ‌join the U.S. in securing the waterway.
The 15-member Security Council voted 11 in favor of the resolution presented by Bahrain, with two against - China ‌and Russia - and two abstentions.
U.S. President Donald Tr

Iran rejects ceasefire as Trump ramps up threats ahead of deadline

DUBAI/WASHINGTON, April 6 (Reuters) - Iran said on Monday it wanted a lasting end to the war with the U.S. and Israel, and pushed back against pressure to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, while U.S. President Donald Trump warned the country could be "taken out" if it did not meet his Tuesday night deadline to reach a deal.
Responding to a U.S. proposal through mediator Pakistan, Tehran rejected a ceasefire ‌and said a permanent end to the war was necessary, the official IRNA news agency reported.
The Iranian response consisted

US appeals court voids $16.1 billion judgment against Argentina over YPF seizure

NEW YORK, March 27 (Reuters) - A U.S. appeals court on Friday struck down ‌a $16.1 billion judgment against Argentina for ‌seizing control of state-owned oil company YPF in 2012, a victory for Argentine President Javier Milei as he tries to stabilize the country's long-strained economy.
The decision was issued by the ‌2nd U.S. Circuit ⁠Court of Appeals in Manhattan.
Argentina had been seeking to overturn the $16.1 billion ⁠award in September 2023 by a lower court judge to former YPF shareholders Petersen Ener

Hyundai Motor aims to double China sales, launch 36 new models in North America

By Heekyong Yang and Joyce Lee
SEOUL, March 26 (Reuters) - Hyundai Motor on ‌Thursday said it would seek to ‌more than double its China sales in the medium term and it planned to launch 36 new models in the North American market by 2030.
Here are some details:
* At ‌its annual shareholder ⁠meeting, Hyundai Motor CEO JoseMunoz said the South Korean automaker aims ⁠to sell 500,000vehicles annually in China as part of its medium-term efforts,which would be more than double its current volumes. * In North ‌Americ

NASA rover detects some of the oldest evidence of water flowing on Mars

By Will Dunham
WASHINGTON, March 18 (Reuters) - Using ground-penetrating radar, NASA's Perseverance rover has detected underground remains of an ancient river delta on Mars in some of the oldest evidence yet obtained showing how water once flowed on the surface of Earth's planetary neighbor.
Researchers ‌said the six-wheeled rover revealed geological features up to 115 feet (35 meters) underground while traversing 3.8 miles (6.1 km) of terrain inside Jezero Crater, ‌an area in the Martian northern hemisphere believed

Exclusive-As India seeks Hormuz safe passage, Tehran asks for return of seized tankers, sources say

By Saurabh Sharma and Krishna N. Das
NEW DELHI, March 16 (Reuters) - Iran has asked India to release three tankers seized in February as part of talks seeking the safe passage of Indian‑flagged or India‑bound vessels out of the Gulf via ‌the Strait of Hormuz, three sources with knowledge of the matter told Reuters.
Indian authorities seized the three Iran‑linked tankers near ‌Indian waters alleging they had concealed or altered their identities and were involved in illegal ship‑to‑ship tran

Delays with ****** eX's Starship risk NASA moon landing timeline, watchdog says

By Joey Roulette
WASHINGTON, March 10 (Reuters) - ****** eX's Starship has accumulated at least two years of development delays since NASA picked the rocket as an astronaut moon lander in 2021, and is expected to require more ‌time to clear remaining hurdles before landing on the moon, NASA's inspector general said Tuesday as the agency ‌studies plans to speed up the program.
NASA has been working with an array of companies, most prominently Elon Musk's ****** eX and Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin, in its multibillio

South African rand firms as markets await jobs data

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Japan's economy limps back to scant growth in Q4, raises test for Takaichi

By Makiko Yamazaki and Chang-Ran Kim
TOKYO, Feb 16 (Reuters) - ***** an's economy limped back to meagre growth in the fourth quarter, significantly missing market expectations in a key test for Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi's government as cost-of-living pressures ‌drag on confidence and domestic demand.
Fresh off a sweeping election victory, Takaichi's administration is preparing to ramp up investment through ‌targeted public spending in sectors seen as vital to economic security.
Monday's data bring sharp focus

Luigi Mangione will not face death penalty after US judge dismisses murder charge

By Jack Queen and Jonathan Stempel
NEW YORK, Jan 30 (Reuters) - Luigi Mangione will not face the death penalty after a U.S. judge on Friday dismissed murder and weapons charges against the accused killer of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, in a major blow to federal prosecutors.
U.S. District Judge Margaret Garnett in Manhattan said she felt constrained by Supreme Court precedents to dismiss the murder charge, calling it legally incompatible with the two ‌federal stalking charges Mangione still faces.
M

India to slash tariffs on cars to 40% in trade deal with EU, sources say

By Aditi Shah and Philip Blenkinsop
NEW DELHI/BRUSSELS, Jan 25 (Reuters) - India plans to slash tariffs on cars imported from the European Union to 40% from as high as 110%, sources said, in the biggest opening yet of the country's vast market as the two sides close in on a free trade pact that could come as early as Tuesday.
Prime Minister ‌Narendra Modi's government has agreed to immediately reduce the tax on a limited number of cars from the 27-nation bloc with an import price of more than 15,000 euros ($17,739),

Appeals court rejects Justice Department’s push to charge more people over Minnesota church demonstration

By Andrew Goudsward
WASHINGTON, Jan 24 (Reuters) - A U.S. appeals court rejected the Justice Department's bid to charge five more people accused of disrupting a Minnesota church service this month, according to court documents made public on Saturday, revealing the lengths the Trump administration ‌has gone to prosecute those involved in the demonstration.
The ruling by the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals is the latest ‌legal setback for the Justice Department as it pursues demonstr

Ukraine's grid operator says energy situation has 'significantly' worsened

KYIV, Jan 23 (Reuters) - Ukraine's energy situation "significantly" worsened on Friday after recent Russian air attacks, triggering emergency power outages in most regions, Kyiv's grid operator said.
The grim ***** sment followed a remark by Energy Minister Denys Shmyhal on Thursday that Ukraine's energy system had endured its most difficult day ‌since a widespread blackout in November 2022, when Russia began bombing the power grid.
In new comments on Friday, Shmyhal said the situation with ‌the grid remained diffi

U.S. vaccine panel chair questions polio recommendation for children

By Leah Douglas
WASHINGTON, Jan 23 (Reuters) - The chair of a U.S. government vaccine advisory panel questioned broad vaccine recommendations for polio and other childhood diseases and said promoting individual choice, not public health, is the key aim of the panel, drawing a rebuke ‌on Friday from the nation's top doctors group.
Kirk Milhoan, a pediatric cardiologist who was named chair of the Centers for Disease ‌Control and Prevention's outside Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices in December, made the comment

San Francisco blackout raises concerns about robotaxi reliability in a crisis

By Abhirup Roy
SAN FRANCISCO, Dec 27 (Reuters) - A widespread power outage in San Francisco that led to Waymo robotaxis stalling and snarling traffic earlier this month has raised concerns about the readiness of autonomous vehicle operators to tackle major emergencies like earthquakes and floods.
Driverless taxis from Alphabet unit Waymo, a ubiquitous feature on the city's streets, were stuck at intersections with their hazard lights turned on as traffic lights stopped working following a fire ‌at a PG&E substat

Return of immigration raids brings fear to ‘Mexican Capital of the Midwest’

By Heather Schlitz
CHICAGO, Dec 19 (Reuters) - Allyson Lopez had been hoping for business to bounce back at her dress shop in Chicago's Little Village neighborhood, which specializes in ballgowns for quinceaneras, a coming-of-age ritual in many Latino communities celebrating a girl's 15th birthday. Instead, this week brought the return of the federal immigration raids that have emptied the normally vibrant streets.
The first phase of the Department of Homeland Security deportation campaign, named "Operation Midway

Getty Images tried to sue an AI company for copyright infringement, but its claim was rejected in court.
Getty Images is widely known for the array of stock images it offers, but the multi-million dollar company recently faced a disappointing court ruling when it tried to protect its intellectual property from the company, Stability AI.
Reporting by Reuters investigated the lawsuit, in which Getty Images accused Stability AI of "training" its image generators from copyrighted Getty Images stock pictures. However, the major corporation largely lost its lawsuit, exposing a lack of protection f

Chestnut farmers are struggling to produce robust crop yields due to the effects of Earth's warming.
According to Ekathimerini, summer droughts across villages near Mount Pelion in Greece have disrupted chestnut production.
Giorgos Nanos, a professor at the Arboriculture Laboratory of the University of Thessaly's School of Agricultural Sciences, said, "This year is one of the worst for chestnut producers in Pelion," per the publication.
In 2024, Reuters reported that chestnut production in Greece dropped by 90%. It seems the situation has not improved since then. Many people in the area dep

By Charlie Devereux and Jesus Calero
MADRID, Dec 5 (Reuters) - Spain is investigating whether a recent swine fever outbreak in Barcelona could have been caused by a laboratory leak, the ‌Agriculture Ministry said on Friday.
The country, the European Union's top pork producer, is ‌trying to reassure trading partners after 13 wild boars tested positive for the virus in hills outside the city. The disease is harmless to humans but can be deadly for pigs and wild boars.
Genome ⁠sequencing by a Madrid ‌lab showed the strain was “very similar” to one first detected in Georgia in 2007 and now wide

Micron to exit consumer memory business amid global supply shortage

Dec 3 (Reuters) - Memory chipmaker Micron Technology said on Wednesday it will exit its consumer business, as it doubles down on advanced memory chips used in artificial intelligence data centers amid a ‌global supply shortage of the essential semiconductors.
Shares of the company were down 2.6% in afternoon ‌trading.
Micron's move to dissolve its consumer business comes against a backdrop of worldwide strain in memory supply chains, with tight availability of semiconductors ranging from flash chips used in smartphones to

Bondi orders law enforcement to investigate U.S. groups over accusations of domestic terrorism

WASHINGTON, Dec 4 (Reuters) - U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi on Thursday ordered federal law enforcement to step up investigations into ‌the anti-fascist antifa movement and other similar "extremist groups," and asked ‌the FBI to compile a list of entities that might be engaged in acts of domestic terrorism, according to an internal memo seen ⁠by Reuters.
The memo, ‌which was sent to prosecutors and federal law enforcement agencies, calls on ‍the Justice Department to prioritize investigating an

Trump administration orders enhanced vetting for applicants of H-1B visa

By Humeyra Pamuk
WASHINGTON, Dec 3 (Reuters) - The Trump administration on Wednesday announced increased vetting of applicants for H-1B visas for highly skilled workers, with an internal State Department memo saying that anyone involved in "censorship" of free speech be considered for rejection.
H-1B visas, which allow U.S. employers to hire foreign workers in specialty fields, are crucial for U.S. tech ‌companies which recruit heavily from countries including India and China. Many of those companies' leaders threw t

PARIS, Dec 4 (Reuters) - The European Union has reached a preliminary deal on how to regulate gene-edited crops in a move that could ease the development of new varieties in a region long ‌wary of biotech innovations in food.
The EU has debated for years how to regulate so-called new ‌genomic techniques (NGT), which can edit the genetic material of an organism without introducing traits from another species.
Proponents say the technology accelerates naturally-occurring mutations and offers a response to climate and environmental pressures, while critics bracket it with genetically modified o

Eight more suspected swine fever cases as Spain struggles to limit export damage

MADRID, Nov 30 (Reuters) - Eight more wild boar with suspected cases of African swine fever were discovered near Barcelona, La Vanguardia newspaper reported on Sunday, as Spain struggles to limit ‌the damage to a pork export industry worth billions of euros a year.
The newspaper cited sources close ‌to the Catalan agriculture ministry. Two cases have been confirmed, and 12 others have shown signs they may also have the disease but are undergoing tests to confirm this. If confirmed, it would bring the number of

SEOUL, Dec 1 (Reuters) - South Korea's exports rose in November for a sixth consecutive month, beating market expectations, as chip sales hit a record on strong technology demand while autos also ‌jumped after a U.S. trade deal.
Exports from Asia's fourth-largest economy, a bellwether for global ‌trade, rose 8.4% from the same month a year earlier to $61.04 billion, trade data showed on Monday, stronger than a median 5.7% increase tipped in a Reuters poll of economists.
That was also faster than a 3.5% rise ⁠in October.
Semiconductor exports rose 38.5%‌ to a record monthly high of $17.26 bi

By Matt Tracy
Nov 30 (Reuters) - President Donald Trump has commuted the seven-year sentence of former GPB Capital Holdings CEO David Gentile, with a ‌White House official on Sunday countering the claims at trial brought by the Biden ‌administration that led to Gentile's conviction last year.
Founded in 2013, GPB Capital Holdings used investor funds to take stakes in automotive, retail and other types of companies. It paid out regular ⁠annual distributions to investors ‌from returns on these holdings.
Former President Joe Biden's Department of Justice convicted then-CEO Gentile of securitie

BEIJING (Reuters) -‌China's ‌market regulator issued an anti-⁠unfair ‌competition compliance guidance for ‍smartphone makers and mobile application platform ‌firms in Shenzhen on Wednesday, Chinese ⁠state media reported on Thursday.
No firms ‍were ⁠named in the report.
⁠(Reporting ‌by Beijing ‌newsroom)

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