Washington Financial News

By David Shepardson

WASHINGTON (Reuters) — Production at U.S. factories barely rose in August as motor vehicle output dropped and activity could plunge in the months ahead after the United Auto Workers (UAW) union embarked on strikes at three factories on Friday.

By Lucia Mutikani

According to the report, Pakistan's finance ministry has cited the exhaustion of the country's foreign exchange reserves as the reason for being unable to release salaries, extending the financial strain into September. This situation poses a significant challenge to officials working in costly cities like Washington, DC, and Hong Kong, as well as Singapore, as they face the prospect of going without salaries for yet another month. Top officials have confirmed, «The press attaches working in Washington, DC, and Hong Kong, as well as the press counsellor deputed in Singapore, continue to live without salary since June.» This is not the first time that Pakistan, facing financial constraints, has encountered difficulties in disbursing salaries.

It’s been a week of “step away" stories for President Biden, the most significant of which came from the normally sympathetic David Ignatius of the Washington Post. His argument was clear and gently put: Mr. Biden is an admirable figure who’s won great victories, but age has taken too much from him.

The weapon Beijing launched over the South China Sea traveled at speeds of more than 15,000 miles an hour as it circled the globe. Flying at least 20 times the speed of sound, it could reach anywhere on earth in less than an hour. The summer 2021 test flight ended with the missile striking near a target in China, but it sent shock waves through Washington.

WARSAW—Russia’s blockage of Ukrainian food exports has become a painful political issue next door in the European Union. EU authorities must decide Friday whether to extend a ban preventing Ukrainian grain from being sold in neighboring EU countries, an issue that has sparked a rift between Kyiv and Poland, one of the Ukrainian government’s strongest backers in the war. The temporary ban, aimed at keeping out cheaper exports, expires at midnight Friday.

Hunter Biden was indicted Thursday on federal firearms charges, the latest and weightiest step yet in a long-running investigation into the U.S. president’s son.

In a controversial note, Vivek Ramaswamy, Indian-American entrepreneur and Republican presidential candidate, has recently noted that he would fire over 75% of the federal work force if he is elected the US President. He further asserted that he will make a move to disband some major agencies like Department of Education, the FBI, the Food and Nutrition Service, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, if he comes to power, as per New York Times.

Within Denver’s Washington Park neighborhood, an enclave south of downtown where the median house listing price is just over $2 million, quintessential manicured American lawns roll out in front of historic brick bungalows, restored Victorians and contemporary new builds. Then there is Lisa Negri’s yard, which sits adjacent to her three-bedroom, two-bathroom bungalow where she’s lived since 2012. “It looks like nature," says Negri, 66, a retired engineer.

States and Native American tribes will have greater authority to block energy projects such as natural gas pipelines that could pollute rivers and streams under a final rule issued Thursday by the Biden administration

By Diane Bartz

(Reuters) -Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will meet X owner Elon Musk on Monday in Silicon Valley, an official in Netanyahu's office said on Thursday, and Musk said their talks would focus on artificial intelligence technology.

U.S. wholesale prices increases accelerated in August, a sign that inflation remains stubbornly persistent despite a series of sharp interest rate hikes by the Federal Reserve

U.S. wholesale prices increases accelerated in August, a sign that inflation remains stubbornly persistent despite a series of sharp interest rate hikes by the Federal Reserve

Efforts by the Biden administration to limit tailpipe pollution from automobiles face a crucial test as legal challenges brought by Republican-led states head to a federal appeals court

Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell swore in three members of the central bank’s governing board Wednesday, including Philip Jefferson as vice chair and Adriana Kugler to fill a vacant seat as the central bank’s first Latina governor

The U.S. Justice Department is pressing ahead with its antitrust case against Google

By Muyu Xu

Catching up with the wave of regulatory attention to artificial intelligence (AI), Brazil gets its work plan to discuss, analyze and, if necessary, amend the bill on AI regulation. 

Russia on Thursday said the United States was hypocritical to criticise President Vladimir Putin's summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un because Washington had sown chaos and sent weapons to allies across the world. «The United States has no right to lecture us on how to live,» Russia's ambassador to the United States, Anatoly Antonov, said in a statement. For the United States and allies, the burgeoning friendship between Kim and Putin is a concern: Washington has accused North Korea of providing arms to Russia, but it is unclear whether any deliveries have been made. The United States, Antonov said, had built up a coalition in Asia, expanded military drills near the Korean peninsula and was supplying billions of dollars of weapons to Ukraine. «It is time for Washington to throw its economic sanctions into the rubbish dump,» Antonov said.