United States Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said on Thursday that his chamber is unlikely to approve a US ambassador to Cuba, sending a quick rebuff to President Barack Obama and his drive to normalize relations with the U.S. neighbor and longtime Cold War foe.
UK oil and gas giant BP said it has reached an $18.7 billion settlement of damages claims from the US government and five states after the 2010 Gulf of Mexico spill. The US Justice Department said it could be the largest settlement with a single entity in US history and the total value would top $20 billion.
President Obama formally announced on Wednesday that the United States and Cuba have both agreed to open embassies in each other’s capitals following more than a half-century of hostilities between the two nations.
President Barack Obama and visiting Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff sought Tuesday to cast their nations as natural partners collaborating closely on critical issues like climate and regional diplomacy, glossing over recent tensions over spying that have strained relations between the first and seventh world economies.
President Obama will announce on Wednesday that the U.S. and Cuba have reached an agreement to open embassies in Havana and Washington, an administration official has confirmed. The announcement marks a major step in ending hostilities between the longtime foes and an opportunity to re-establish formal diplomatic relations and apparently will be simultaneous from Havana.
U.S. Department of Agriculture's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service announced Monday that it is amending its regulations to allow imports of fresh (chilled or frozen) beef from (Argentina) and 14 states in Brazil. It's the first step in a process for these regions to gain access to the U.S. market for beef, the APHIS said in a statement.
Argentina announced that the United States APHIS (Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service) has allowed fresh beef imports from Argentina, lifting a 15-year ban which Buenos Aires had always considered 'unjustified' and bluntly 'protectionist' and as such had claimed before the WTO. In the same vein Argentina also anticipated it expected a similar decision from the US regarding Argentine lemons.
NBC has ended its relationship with real estate developer and TV personality Donald Trump and his Miss USA and Miss Universe pageants after he made comments insulting Mexicans when he began his run for president. The pageants, which are part of a joint venture between NBC-Universal and Trump, would no longer air on NBC due to the recent derogatory statements by Donald Trump regarding immigrants the company said in a press release.
The government of Argentina's campaign to strangle the Falkland Islands hydrocarbons industry is 'unacceptable' and taking action against British and international oil and gas companies has dangerous implications for global business, warned Foreign Office minister Hugo Swire on Monday reacting to an Argentine federal court ordering the seizure of UK and US assets involved in Falklands' operations.
Brazil's President Dilma Rousseff met Sunday with investors in New York on the first day of a long-delayed US visit aimed at overcoming strains caused by the NSA spying scandal. Revelations two years ago that the US National Security Agency electronically eavesdropped on Rousseff's email and other communications prompted her to angrily call off an official visit to Washington that had been set for October 2013.