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Tag: United States

Canada, US Amend Decades-Old Pact After Surge in Irregular Asylum Seekers
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Canada, US Amend Decades-Old Pact After Surge in Irregular Asylum Seekers

By Anna Mehler Paperny and Ted Hesson(Reuters) - Canada and the United States on Friday changed a two-decade-old refugee agreement as part of their attempts to reduce the record influx of asylum seekers entering Canada via unofficial border crossings.The deal was the news highlight of U.S. President Joe Biden's first visit to Canada as president and could provide some relief to Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who is under pressure from political opponents to take action.The Safe Third Country Agreement, signed in 2002 and which came into effect in 2004, originally meant asylum seekers crossing into either Canada or the United States at formal border crossings were turned back and told to apply for asylum in the first "safe" country they arrived in.Now it applies to the length of...
South Korea’s LGES to Resume Arizona Battery Factory Plan With $5.6 Billion Investment
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South Korea’s LGES to Resume Arizona Battery Factory Plan With $5.6 Billion Investment

SEOUL (Reuters) - South Korea's LG Energy Solution Ltd (LGES) said on Friday it would invest 7.2 trillion won ($5.58 billion) to build a battery factory in Arizona, reviving a project paused last year due to adverse economic conditions.The world's third-ranked electric vehicle battery maker, which supplies Tesla Inc, Lucid Group Inc and other automakers, in June said it was reassessing what was then a 1.7 trillion won investment plan due to "unprecedented" economic conditions, just three months the plan's initial unveiling.Friday's announcement comes after LGES in January said it had been in "active discussion" with Tesla and electric vehicle startups to supply batteries from the proposed factory.(Reporting by Heekyong Yang and Hyunsu Yim; Editing by Christopher Cushing)Copyright 2023 T...
Biden to Have Brief Meeting With Trudeau Political Rival on Canada Visit
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Biden to Have Brief Meeting With Trudeau Political Rival on Canada Visit

(Reuters) - President Joe Biden plans to have a brief meeting with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's biggest political rival during an official visit to Canada that begins on Thursday, a senior administration official said.The official said Biden will have a "pull aside" with Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre, who was elected last year to spearhead the party's bid to oust the Liberals and Trudeau. It's not uncommon for a U.S. president to meet with the opposition leader during visits to Canada.Biden is also expected to meet and say hello to all the opposition leaders as part of the welcoming ceremony on Thursday.Biden is making a long-delayed visit to close ally Canada this week to express unity on Ukraine and the environment, but the pair are unlikely to make progress on toug...
U.S. Arrests Former Haitian Mayor Accused of Political Violence
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U.S. Arrests Former Haitian Mayor Accused of Political Violence

BOSTON (Reuters) - A former mayor of a rural town in Haiti was arrested on U.S. visa fraud charges on Wednesday, a day after a jury ordered him to pay $15.5 million over allegations he led a campaign of murder and other acts of violence against his political opponents.Federal prosecutors in Boston said Jean Morose Viliena, 50, illegally obtained a green card allowing him to live permanently in the United States by falsely claiming he had not ordered or carried out extrajudicial and political killings in Haiti.Prosecutors said that in fact, he personally committed or ordered the maiming, harm, humiliation or death of his adversaries after being elected to a four-year term as the mayor of Les Irois, Haiti, in December 2006.He successfully sought a visa in 2008. He now lives in Malden, Mas...
South Korea, US to Hold Largest Live-Fire Drills Amid North Korea Tension
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South Korea, US to Hold Largest Live-Fire Drills Amid North Korea Tension

SEOUL (Reuters) - South Korean and U.S. forces will hold their largest-ever live-fire exercises in June in a show of force to North Korea, which has ratcheted up tension with numerous missile launches, South Korea's defence ministry said on Wednesday.The exercises are part of a series of events marking the 70th anniversary of the alliance between the two countries this year."We've planned various anniversary programmes focusing on realising 'peace through strength' through action based on our strategic deterrence capabilities and the solid combined defence posture amid North Korea's evolving nuclear and missile threats," the ministry said in a statement."During the live-fire exercises, the combined forces will demonstrate the alliance's formidable firepower and mobility on an unpreceden...
US Declines to Force Lower Price on Cancer Drug Xtandi
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US Declines to Force Lower Price on Cancer Drug Xtandi

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. government will not force Pfizer Inc and Astellas Pharma Inc to lower the price of their prostate cancer drug Xtandi using its emergency "march-in" authority, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) said on Tuesday.March-in rights, which have never been used before, allow the government to grant additional licenses to third parties for products developed using federal funds if the original patent holder does not make them available to the public on reasonable terms.Xtandi's wholesale cost is between $160,000-$180,000 per patient a year.Patient group the Union for Affordable Cancer Treatment first filed a petition calling on the NIH to use its authority to lower the drug's price in March 2016.The NIH said in a letter made public on Tuesday that its analyse...
Factbox-Ernie Vs ChatGPT on Global Leaders
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Factbox-Ernie Vs ChatGPT on Global Leaders

BEIJING (Reuters) - Baidu's unveiling of its Ernie bot last week thrust the Chinese search engine giant into a race against global tech peers Microsoft and Google who are also building powerful artificial intelligence-driven chatbots and products.Questions had remained over how Ernie and other Chinese chatbots in development would treat topics that are sensitive in mainland China, where authorities tightly censor the internet.Reuters' tests of ChatGPT indicated that the Microsoft-backed chatbot is not averse to answering such questions.Baidu last Thursday allowed users to apply for invitation codes to access Ernie, and Reuters tests on Monday showed it will decline questions about Chinese President Xi Jinping, saying it has not yet learnt to answer.These were some of the summarized answ...
Black Sea Drones Show U.S. Involvement in Conflict Against Russia, Says Kremlin
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Black Sea Drones Show U.S. Involvement in Conflict Against Russia, Says Kremlin

(Reuters) - U.S. drone flights over the Baltic Sea are a sign of direct U.S. involvement in conflict with Russia, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov was quoted as saying on Sunday.Last week, a U.S. drone crashed into the sea after being intercepted by Russian Su-27 fighter planes in the first known direct military encounter between the two sides since Russia launched its war in Ukraine last year."It is quite obvious what these drones are doing, and their mission is not at all a peaceful mission to ensure the safety of shipping in international waters," Interfax news agency quoted Peskov as saying in a TV interview."And in fact, we are talking about the direct involvement of the operators of these drones in the conflict, and against us."The United States said the Russian planes harassed the...
Exclusive-Amid U.S. Pressure on Fentanyl, Mexico Raises Drug Lab Raids Data
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Exclusive-Amid U.S. Pressure on Fentanyl, Mexico Raises Drug Lab Raids Data

By Drazen Jorgic, Jackie Botts and Stephen EisenhammerMEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Mexico's army has dramatically revised upward the number of drug lab raids it says it conducted under President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, according to government data and leaked military documents reviewed by Reuters.The documents, found among a trove of millions of emails leaked last year by the Guacamaya hacker group, show the upward revision being due to the army retroactively including hundreds of inactive labs on its seizures list under Lopez Obrador's presidency. Figures for the years of previous administrations were left unchanged.Mexico's army, in a response to a freedom of information request in February, now says it seized 635 synthetic drug labs during 2019, 2020 and 2021 - the first three years ...
Senior U.S. Envoy to Travel to Panama, Honduras in Coming Days
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Senior U.S. Envoy to Travel to Panama, Honduras in Coming Days

TEGUCIGALPA (Reuters) -A high-ranking envoy of President Joe Biden will travel to Panama and Honduras this month, the U.S. Department of State said on Thursday, days after Honduras said it would establish formal diplomatic ties with China.Chris Dodd, the U.S. special presidential adviser for the Americas, will visit the two Central American nations from March 17-21, the State Department said in a statement.In recent years, the United States has focused on migration and security challenges stemming from Central America, as well as trade and development priorities.Dodd, a former lawmaker, will meet with Honduran officials and private-sector representatives, officials and finance leaders in Panama, as well as attend the Inter-American Development Bank annual conference."These visits advanc...