Author: IA PressRoom

The Biden administration has been negotiating quietly with Iran to limit Tehran’s nuclear program and free imprisoned Americans, according to officials from three countries, in part of a larger U.S. effort to ease tensions and reduce the risk of a military confrontation with the Islamic Republic.The U.S. goal is to reach an informal, unwritten agreement, which some Iranian officials are calling a “political cease-fire.” It would aim to prevent a further escalation in a long-hostile relationship that has grown even more fraught as Iran builds up a stockpile of highly enriched uranium close to bomb-grade purity, supplies Russia with drones…

Canada has frozen all activity at the multilateral lender known as “China’s World Bank” after a top official resigned alleging the institution is run by Communist party members who “operate like an internal secret police”. Bob Pickard, the Canadian director-general for communications of the Beijing-headquartered Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, said he flew to Tokyo on Wednesday because he feared for his safety after raising concerns about what he claimed was the party’s infiltration of the lender.The controversy, which underlines the tensions in multilateral institutions trying to bridge the growing divide between China and the west, triggered an immediate response from Ottawa.“The…

© Reuters. FILE PHOTO: A worker polishes a bicycle steel rim at a factory manufacturing sports equipment in Hangzhou, Zhejiang province, China September 2, 2019. China Daily via REUTERS By Laurie Chen BEIJING (Reuters) – Strikes at Chinese factories have surged to a seven-year high and are expected to become more frequent as weak global demand forces exporters to cut workers’ pay and shut down plants, one rights group and economists say. Exports and factory output in the world’s second-largest economy tumbled in May, as looming downturns force the United States and Europe to pare back orders for goods made…

3/3 © Reuters. FILE PHOTO: An overweight woman sits on a chair in Times Square in New York, May 8, 2012. REUTERS/Lucas Jackson/File Photo 2/3 By Nancy Lapid (Reuters) – The American Medical Association (AMA) on Wednesday said it will advise doctors to pay less attention to body mass index (BMI) in determining if a patient is at a healthy weight, saying the measure does not predict disease risk equally well across racial and ethnic groups. BMI, a ratio of weight to height, has long been used to define underweight, “normal” weight, overweight, obesity and morbid obesity, despite mounting evidence…

© Reuters. FILE PHOTO: U.S. Representative Jim Jordan (R-OH) speaks, during a House Judiciary Committee hearing “Victims of Violent Crime in Manhattan” that examines how Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s policies may have led to an increase in violent crime By Ross Kerber (Reuters) – A U.S. congressional leader on Wednesday issued a subpoena seeking information from climate activists over antitrust issues, joining other Republicans who have criticized companies’ growing concern for environmental, social and governance (ESG) matters. Jim Jordan, chair of the House Judiciary Committee, wrote in a letter to a lawyer for Boston-based sustainability nonprofit Ceres that it…

Major cryptocurrencies fell on Wednesday, after the Federal Reserve kept interest rates unchanged at the end of its two-day June meeting, but senior officials suggested another 50 basis points of rate hikes remain on the table, if inflation doesn’t slow faster. Bitcoin BTCUSD dropped 3% over the past 24 hours to around $25,068 on Wednesday, according to CoinDesk data. The cryptocurrency gained more than 56% so far this year, but is still down more than 60% from its peak in 2021.  Ether…

Stock marketgetty “Bullish percent” represents the percentage of stocks in a particular index now trading in bullish point-and-figure chart patterns, that old school price analysis that the MBA’s at the big investment firms can’t stop chuckling over. “Oh no, not technical analysis again! Are the tarot cards next? Please!” Fine, let them keep poring over their boring balance sheets and only somewhat believable income statements and then ignoring all of that when it’s clear they missed out on the huge move up in 7 tech stocks. It’s funny to see all of that business school learning fly out the window…

White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre on Wednesday repeatedly dodged a question concerning whether President Biden would support “financial” reparations being paid to the descendants of Black slaves in the U.S.The question was posed by liberal reporter April Ryan, who noted the recent introduction of legislation by far-left Rep. Cori Bush, D-Mo., pushing for $14 trillion to be paid to reparations, and asked what the administration view was on “repairing a wrong for the descendants of Africans in this nation.””As it relates to reparations, I saw just moments ago Corey Bush’s resolution. We haven’t reviewed the proposal yet – some…

© Reuters. FILE PHOTO: Microsoft logo is seen on a smartphone placed on displayed Activision Blizzard’s games characters in this illustration taken January 18, 2022. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration By David Shepardson WASHINGTON (Reuters) -Time is running out on a deadline for Microsoft (NASDAQ:) to complete its $69 billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard (NASDAQ:), compelling the companies to ask a U.S. judge on Wednesday to quickly get the ball rolling on the Federal Trade Commission’s legal bid to block the deal. U.S. District Judge Edward Davila on Tuesday had set a June 22-23 evidentiary hearing in San Francisco and temporarily blocked the…

© Reuters. FILE PHOTO: Scientist Ottmar Edenhofer attends a Reuters interview in Berlin, Germany, September 19, 2019. REUTERS/Hannibal Hanschke/File Photo By Kate Abnett BRUSSELS (Reuters) – The European Union should commit to slash its net greenhouse gas emissions by as much as 95% by 2040, official advisers said on Thursday, as Brussels prepares a new goal to curb Europe’s contribution to climate change. The European Commission is drafting what would be the EU’s first legally binding emissions-cutting target for 2040, aimed at guiding the world’s third-biggest economy towards its aim to have zero net emissions by 2050. The EU’s advisory…