Tag: news

Major Western measures to limit Russia’s oil profits over the war in Ukraine have taken effect. They bring uncertainty about how much crude could be lost to the world and whether they will unleash the hoped-for hit to a Russian economy that’s held up better than many expected under sanctions. Starting Monday, the European Union is banning most Russian oil and the Group of Seven democracies has imposed a price cap of $60 per barrel on Russian exports to other countries. The impact may be blunted because Russia has been able reroute much of its European seaborne shipments to China, India and Turkey, although at steep discounts. Plus, the price cap is near what Russian oil already cost.

India’s foreign minister has signaled that his country will continue to buy oil from Russia, even as Western governments press Moscow with a price cap on its oil exports. Subrahmanyam Jaishankar says it isn’t right for European countries to prioritize their energy needs but ask India to do something else. India, a major buyer of Russian oil, has so far not committed to the European Union’s price cap of $60 per barrel on Russian oil. The move is aimed at limiting the fossil fuel earnings that support Moscow’s military. Jaishankar was speaking to reporters in New Delhi after holding talks with his German counterpart, Annalena Baerbock, in which they discussed bilateral relations and Russia’s war in Ukraine.

The Supreme Court’s conservative majority is sounding sympathetic to a Christian graphic artist who objects to designing wedding websites for gay couples. But in arguments Monday, liberal justices suggested that allowing that discrimination could open the door to broader refusals by businesses to serve Black, Jewish or Islamic customers, interracial couples and many others. The Colorado case is the latest clash of religion and gay rights to land at the high court. A case involving a Colorado baker and a wedding cake for a gay couple ended with a limited decision five years ago and is to return to the court.

Facebook’s quasi-independent oversight board says an internal system that exempted high-profile users, including former U.S. President Donald Trump, from some or all of its content moderation rules needs a major overhaul. The report released Tuesday by the Oversight Board said the system “is flawed in key areas which the company must address.” The board opened its review after The Wall Street Journal reported that the system was being abused by many of its elite users, who posted material that would result in penalties for ordinary people, including for harassment and incitement of violence. Meta has agreed to respond to the report within 90 days.

The Biden administration has signed off on two new significant arms sales to Taiwan in approvals that are sure to rankle China. The State Department said late Tuesday that it had approved sales worth more than $425 million of spare aircraft parts to Taiwan to support its fleet of F-16 fighters, C-130 transport planes and other U.S.-supplied weapons systems. The package includes $330 million in standard replacement parts and $98 million in non-standard equipment. The sales were announced just weeks after President Joe Biden met his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping for talks in Indonesia in which China’s increasingly aggressive behavior toward Taiwan was a major issue.

President Joe Biden has signed legislation curbing the use of confidentiality agreements that block victims of sexual harassment from speaking publicly about misconduct in the workplace. The bipartisan Speak Out Act bars the use of nondisclosure agreements that employees or contractors are required to sign, often as a condition of employment. The new law is among workplace changes pushed in the wake of the #MeToo movement. The law applies to any nondisclosure agreements signed before a dispute has occurred. The law would make existing nondisclosure agreements unenforceable. It wouldn’t apply to agreements signed after a dispute or regarding any other allegations, such as racial discrimination.

China has rolled back rules on isolating people with COVID-19 and dropped virus test requirements for some public places. That is a dramatic change to a strategy that confined millions of people to their homes and sparked protests and demands for President Xi Jinping to resign. The move adds to earlier easing that fueled hopes Beijing was scrapping its “zero COVID” strategy. Experts warn that restrictions can’t be lifted completely until at least mid-2023 because millions of elderly people still must be vaccinated and the health care system strengthened. China is the last major country still trying to stamp out transmission of the virus while many nations switch to trying to live with it.

South Korea’s government has expanded its back-to-work orders against thousands of cargo truck drivers who are staging a nationwide walkout over freight fare issues. The government says a prolonged strike could inflict “deep scars” on the country’s economy. The orders were initially issued on some 2,500 cement truckers last week. But they were expanded Thursday to about 6,000 drivers transporting steel and 4,500 transporting fuel and chemicals. Police are also clamping down on unionists who threaten or disrupt colleagues who choose to work. The strike’s impact has so far been mostly limited to domestic industries like construction.

The European Union’s top court says Google has to delete search results about people in Europe if they can prove that the information is clearly wrong. Europeans have the right to ask search engines to delete links to outdated or embarrassing information about themselves, even if it is true, under a principle known as “right to be forgotten.” Two people asked Google to remove search results based on their names that linked to articles they said made false claims. Google refused because it didn’t know whether the articles were accurate or not. The European Court of Justice said Thursday that it disagreed. Google says it’s worked to balance “people’s rights of access to information and privacy.”

Japan has announced it will jointly develop its next-generation fighter jet with the U.K. and Italy. Tokyo is looking to expand defense cooperation beyond its traditional ally, the United States. The Mitsubishi F-X fighter jet, which Japan plans to deploy in 2035, will replace its aging fleet of Mitsubishi F-2 jets that it developed with the United States. The nations will merge their current plans for development of next-generation planes — the F-X and Britain’s Tempest, which is being developed with Italy. Japan has expanded defense partnerships in the Indo-Pacific and Europe. Japan and Australia also held security talks among their foreign and defense ministers later Friday.

President Joe Biden’s administration is providing nearly $36 billion to shore up a financially troubled union pension plan. The federal aid is intended to stop severe cuts to the retirement incomes of more than 350,000 Teamsters workers and retirees. The Biden administration says it’s the largest-ever federal payment to a union pension fund. The money for the Central States Pension Fund is part of a broader $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief package that Biden signed into law in 2021. Retirement plans have been under financial pressure because of underfunding and other issues. Without the federal assistance, Teamster members could have seen their benefits reduced by roughly 60{1b90e59fe8a6c14b55fbbae1d9373c165823754d058ebf80beecafc6dee5063a}.

Federal regulators opened their campaign to block Facebook parent Meta’s acquisition of a virtual-reality company in a San Jose, California, courtroom. In a landmark legal challenge Thursday to a Big Tech merger, the Federal Trade Commission has sued to prevent Meta’s acquisition of Within Unlimited and its fitness app Supernatural, asserting it would hurt competition and violate antitrust laws. Meta has been unsuccessful in its bid to have the case dismissed. CEO Mark Zuckerberg was dropped as a defendant, in the case, but he is expected to testify.

Ukraine’s finance minister says crucial Western financial aid is “not charity” but “self-preservation” as donor countries share the price of turning back Russian aggression. Serhiy Marchenko told The Associated Press in an interview Thursday that his country is protecting freedom and democracy far beyond its borders. He said he believes EU officials will resolve their dispute with Hungary that is holding up 18 billion euros in loans and would cover a large part of Ukraine’s looming budget gap. That outside financing is needed to avoid printing money at the central bank to cover basic needs like pensions, a practice that risks fueling already painful inflation.

The Treasury Department says it is imposing sanctions on a broad array of people and companies around the world for corruption and human rights abuses — from illegal fishing operations in Chinese waters to kickbacks in Guatemala. The sanctions on Friday are a recognition of International Anti-Corruption Day. Among those being sanctioned is the 15-member Russian elections commissionm, which oversaw a sham referendum in Russia-occupied Ukraine in September. Others sanctioned include a group of companies and people linked to illegal fishing operations and human rights abuses in Chinese waters, and a church founder in the Philippines charged with sex trafficking.

The World Trade Organization has rejected the 2018 import taxes that then-President Donald Trump imposed on foreign steel and aluminum, saying they violated global trade rules. Trump’s tariffs of 25{1b90e59fe8a6c14b55fbbae1d9373c165823754d058ebf80beecafc6dee5063a} on foreign steel and 10{1b90e59fe8a6c14b55fbbae1d9373c165823754d058ebf80beecafc6dee5063a} on aluminum outraged America’s long-standing allies, including the European Union and Japan. That’s because he relied on a little-used provision of U.S. trade law to declare their steel and aluminum a threat to U.S. national security. China and other trading partners challenged the tariffs at the 164-nation WTO. In a ruling issued Friday, the organization said it was not persuaded that the United States faced an international emergency that would justify the tariffs.

American Airlines and JetBlue are expanding their partnership in the Northeast even while the government tries to kill the airlines’ agreement. American and JetBlue said Friday they plan to add some new routes in New York and Boston next spring. And they will trade places on New York-to-Atlanta flights, with American dropping that route after JetBlue picks it up. The move comes while a federal judge is deciding the government’s lawsuit to block an American-JetBlue partnership in New York and Boston. The government says the deal reduces competition and will lead to higher fares. The airlines say it will let them improve service in the Northeast. The judge is expected to rule early next year.