By Roberta Rampton | WASHINGTON WASHINGTON U.S. President Donald Trump will meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin next week at a summit in Germany that brings two world leaders whose political fortunes have become intertwined face-to-face for the first time. Both the Kremlin and the White House announced on Thursday that the pair will meet
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WASHINGTON The United States plans to sell Taiwan about $1.42 billion in arms, a proposal the Trump administration informed Congress about on Thursday, U.S. State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert said. “The administration had formally notified Congress of seven proposed defense sales for Taiwan. It’s now valued about $1.42 billion,” Nauert told reporters, saying the sales
Shares in the biggest U.S. banks rose on Thursday after they revealed buyback and dividend plans that topped analyst expectations after the Federal Reserve approved capital proposals in its annual stress test program. The S&P 500 Bank sector index .SPXBK rose as much as 3 percent to its highest point since March 17 and was
By James Oliphant | WASHINGTON WASHINGTON The top aide to U.S. Vice President Mike Pence is leaving the Trump administration and will be replaced by a longtime Republican political operative, Pence’s office said on Thursday. Josh Pitcock, who has served as Pence’s chief of staff, will be succeeded in August by Nick Ayers, who served
By Noel Randewich | MEXICO CITY MEXICO CITY A cable operator belonging to Mexico’s largest television network has won a legal case to stop the sale of Roku video streaming devices in the country on the grounds that the gadgets are often hacked to let users view pirated channels. Cablevision, a cable TV provider owned
A federal appeals court said the Environmental Protection Agency should not have been ordered by a lower court judge to assess how its air regulations affect coal industry jobs, in a defeat for Murray Energy Corp, a large coal miner. The 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond, Virginia, ruled on Thursday that in
By Jan Strupczewski | BRUSSELS BRUSSELS The European Union wants to set up a joint committee with Britain to oversee the management, implementation and enforcement of the yet-to-be-reached divorce agreement with London, documents by EU negotiators showed on Thursday. The committee, made up of British and EU representatives, would ensure the good functioning of the
By Barbara Lewis and Julia Fioretti | LONDON/BRUSSELS LONDON/BRUSSELS EU policymakers are unlikely to agree to Europe-wide rules on toxic smoke from burning building materials despite years of lobbying from fire fighters and safety experts, according to a draft report ordered by the region’s executive seen by Reuters. The debate has been going on in
LONDON Britain’s Johanna Konta beat French Open champion Jelena Ostapenko 7-5 3-6 6-4 on Thursday to set up a quarter-final with world number one Angelique Kerber in the Aegon International tournament at Eastbourne. Two days of rain delays at the south coast grass court event left a backlog of matches with Konta, who grew up
By Arshad Mohammed and Mica Rosenberg | WASHINGTON/NEW YORK WASHINGTON/NEW YORK President Donald Trump’s temporary ban on people from six predominantly Muslim countries and all refugees entering the United States is finally scheduled to take effect later on Thursday, but in a scaled-back form that still allows in some travelers. The rollout of the controversial
By Khaled al-Ramahi and Maher Chmaytelli | MOSUL/ERBIL, Iraq MOSUL/ERBIL, Iraq After eight months of grinding urban warfare, Iraqi government troops on Thursday captured the ruined mosque at the heart of Islamic State’s de facto capital Mosul, and the prime minister declared the group’s self-styled caliphate at an end. Iraqi authorities expect the long battle
LOS ANGELES Fans were crawling up the walls with excitement as the stars of “Spider-Man: Homecoming” swung into the wider Marvel Cinematic Universe series of films, which have dominated the global box office for years. British actor Tom Holland, who plays the web-slinging hero, showed up at the premiere accompanied by an actor in full
By Lisa Richwine | LOS ANGELES LOS ANGELES AMC Networks Inc on Thursday will release a $5-a-month subscription option designed for pay TV customers who want commercial-free versions of shows such as hit zombie drama “The Walking Dead,” company officials said. Called AMC Premiere, the on-demand offering also includes movies and exclusive content such as
LONDON The government will consider its options if Northern Irish politicians are unable to restore the British province’s power-sharing executive by a deadline set for later on Thursday, Prime Minister Theresa May’s spokesman said. “If, despite our collective efforts, it proves impossible to re-establish the executive we will need to consider the options to ensure
BANGKOK The United States plans to sell four Black Hawk helicopters to Thailand after initially suspending their sale following a 2014 military coup, Thailand’s army chief said on Thursday. “The United States government has approved our purchase order for the four helicopters,” army chief General Chalermchai Sitthisart told reporters, adding that the army already had
By Alexandria Sage | SAN FRANCISCO SAN FRANCISCO Peer at the instrument panel on your new car and you may find sleek digital gauges and multicolored screens. But a glimpse behind the dashboard could reveal what U.S. auto supplier Visteon Corp (VC.N) found: a mess. As automotive cockpits become crammed with ever more digital features
Apple Inc’s (AAPL.O) iPhone turns 10 this week, evoking memories of a rocky start for the device that ended up doing most to start the smartphone revolution and stirring interest in where it will go from here. Apple has sold more than 1 billion iPhones since June 29, 2007, but the first iPhone, which launched
Hot, dry weather forecast for Thursday could stoke a fast-growing wildfire in central Arizona that firefighters are struggling to contain, authorities said. The blaze, dubbed the Goodwin Fire, has charred 21,000 acres and destroyed a number of homes since starting on Saturday in the Prescott National Forest, 70 miles north of Phoenix. Low humidity, temperatures
By Robin Emmott and Phil Stewart | BRUSSELS BRUSSELS European allies will tell U.S. Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis on Thursday they are willing to help step up NATO’s mission in Afghanistan – but only if the United States is clear on its strategy, diplomats said. The United States wants to send 3,000-5,000 more troops
By Elizabeth Piper | LONDON LONDON The opposition Labour Party lost a vote to try to force Theresa May to change her austerity agenda and increase public sector pay on Wednesday, in the first of many expected challenges to the prime minister’s ability to govern. May won by 323 votes to 309 in the first
Katie Ledecky claimed another national title in another year’s best time in winning the 200 meters freestyle at the USA Swimming national championships on Wednesday. The five-times Olympic gold medalist notched her 12th career national title with a time of one minute 54.84 seconds in Indianapolis as she ramps up for the worlds in Budapest.
By Kim Palmer | CLEVELAND CLEVELAND Ohio’s Republican-controlled legislature voted on Wednesday to freeze enrollment in the state’s Medicaid healthcare insurance for the poor, setting the stage for a showdown with Republican Governor John Kasich, who favors expanding the program. The proposed Medicaid freeze, which would deny coverage to hundreds of thousands of Ohio residents
By Susan Cornwell and Yasmeen Abutaleb | WASHINGTON WASHINGTON The top U.S. Senate Republican struggled on Wednesday to salvage major healthcare legislation sought by President Donald Trump, meeting privately with a parade of skeptical senators as critics within the party urged substantial changes. Republican leaders hope to agree on changes to the legislation by Friday
SYDNEY Australian police said on Thursday they have charged the Vatican’s treasurer, Australian Cardinal George Pell, with multiple sexual assault offences. “Cardinal Pell is facing multiple charges in respect of historic sexual offences,” Victoria state police deputy commissioner Shane Patton told a news conference in Melbourne. “There are multiple complainants relating to those charges,” he
By David Shepardson | WASHINGTON WASHINGTON U.S. President Donald Trump on Wednesday said he planned to nominate a Federal Communications Commission attorney to fill one of two vacant seats at the nation’s telecommunications regulatory agency. The White House said Trump would name Brendan Carr, a Republican who previously served as an adviser to FCC Chairman
SYDNEY The dollar languished at its lows for the year on Thursday as a drumbeat of hawkish comments from major central banks signaled the era of easy money might be coming to an end for more than just the United States. Support for the dollar eroded as investors realized the U.S. Federal Reserve might not
By Dan Whitcomb | LOS ANGELES LOS ANGELES The California Supreme Court on Wednesday refused to consider a challenge by business groups of the state’s cap-and-trade law, a ruling that environmentalists hailed as ending a legal fight that had cast a cloud over the program. The state supreme court did not issue a written opinion
Martin Shkreli’s lawyer did not run from his client’s troubled public image, describing him as a misunderstood genius, as he began his defense in the former drug company executive’s securities fraud trial on Wednesday. “You may not like Martin Shkreli,” Benjamin Brafman said in his opening argument in Brooklyn federal court, “and you may have
By Martyn Herman | LONDON LONDON It cost him five years of grand slam silverware, but Australian great Rod Laver says the decision to turn professional made him twice the player he was as an amateur. When Laver cleaned up all four grand slam titles in 1962 it seemed ludicrous to suggest he could get
By Dustin Volz and Joseph Menn | WASHINGTON/NEW YORK WASHINGTON/NEW YORK U.S. senators sought on Wednesday to ban Moscow-based cyber security firm Kaspersky Lab’s products from use by the military because of fears the company is vulnerable to “Russian government influence,” a day after the FBI interviewed several of its U.S. employees as part of
