United States

• Thursday, March 22nd 2018 - 22:16 UTC

  Trump calls for reciprocity and reveals US$ 60bn tariffs in China imports

  

  President Donald Trump announced on Thursday his plans for tariffs on up to US$60 billion annually in Chinese imports, designed as retaliation for an administration report that will outline Beijing’s violation of U.S. intellectual property rights.

• Wednesday, March 21st 2018 - 20:25 UTC

  Powell's Fed confirms gradualism: anticipates 5 more modest rate increases in next 21 months

  

  The Federal Reserve is raising its benchmark interest rate to reflect a solid U.S. economy and signaling that it's sticking with a gradual approach to rate hikes for 2018 under its new chairman, Jerome Powell. The Fed said it expects to increase rates twice more this year. At the same time, it increased its estimate for rate hikes in 2019 from two to three, reflecting an expectation of faster growth and lower unemployment.

• Wednesday, March 21st 2018 - 10:07 UTC

  Facebook shareholder suing the company, which has lost US$ 50bn in value

  

  A Facebook shareholder is suing the social media giant for allegedly misleading investors in the Cambridge Analytica affair that's currently rocking the social network. Fan Yuan, who owns Facebook stock, filed a lawsuit Tuesday in the District Court of Northern California, located in San Francisco, on behalf of Facebook shareholders. Gizmodo first reported the lawsuit, which is seeking class action status. You can read the full complaint here.

• Wednesday, March 21st 2018 - 10:03 UTC

  Financial leaders reject protectionism, but prepare for a trade war

  

  The world’s financial leaders rejected protectionism on Tuesday and urged “further dialogue” on trade, but failed to diffuse the threat of a trade war days before U.S. metals tariffs take effect and Washington is to announce measures against China. Finance ministers and central bankers of the world’s 20 biggest economies, which represent 75% of world trade and 85% of global gross domestic product, discussed trade disruptions as a risk to growth at a two-day meeting.

• Wednesday, March 21st 2018 - 10:00 UTC

  Google pledges to combat fake news monitor misinformation during elections”

  

  Google has said it will invest US$300 million in helping news organizations to fight fake news and grow their businesses. The search engine giant will also invest in new technological tools to enhance online news consumption.

• Wednesday, March 21st 2018 - 06:49 UTC

  Trump congratulates Putin and announces coming summit; Republicans furious

  

  President Donald Trump congratulated Russian President Vladimir Putin on his re-election during a phone call on Tuesday and the two leaders agreed to hold talks soon. “We will probably get together in the not-too-distant future, so we can discuss arms, we can discuss arms race.” Trump told reporters before an oval office meeting with Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

• Monday, March 19th 2018 - 08:45 UTC

  Brazil's giant meat packer JBS sells feed-lot assets in several US states

  

  It took about eight months, but Brazil's giant meat packing industry JBS is finally free of its Five Rivers Cattle Feeding operations. The Greeley-based company in Colorado had planned since last June to sell its massive cattle feeding operations, which span six states including Colorado. The deal became final and closed on Friday.

• Friday, March 16th 2018 - 10:28 UTC

  Western leaders abhor nerve-agent attack and point to Russia: “no plausible alternative explanation”

  

  The leaders of France, Germany, the US and UK say there is “no plausible alternative explanation” to Russia having been behind the nerve agent attack in the UK. They condemned the “first offensive use of a nerve agent in Europe since the Second World War”, calling it an assault on UK sovereignty.

• Thursday, March 15th 2018 - 09:10 UTC

  US tariffs controversy: Temer urges a “friendly” solution before filing a complaint at WTO

  

  President Michel Temer said on Wednesday that Brazil will respond with caution to planned U.S. tariffs on steel and aluminum to avoid hurting ties with its second-largest trade partner. But if talks fail, the president emphasized, Brazil will not hesitate to take a complaint to the World Trade Organization.

• Wednesday, March 14th 2018 - 09:32 UTC

  CIA first woman chief an expert in “enhanced interrogation”

  

  Gina Haspel, 61, the newly nominated first-ever female director of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), is a career intelligence officer with more than 30 years' experience. Controversially, she ran a prison in Thailand where suspected al-Qaeda members were tortured by water-boarding in 2002.