Economic News

By Michel Rose and Elizabeth Pineau PARIS (Reuters) – Hours before France’s top judges breathed new life into his widely denounced plans to make people work longer for their state pensions, President Emmanuel Macron was his usual defiant self.

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Societe Generale SA agreed to pay $105 million to settle U.S. investor litigation accusing the French bank of violating antitrust law by conspiring with rivals to rig Euribor, a key European interest rate benchmark.

ALGIERS (Reuters) – Syrian Foreign Minister Faisal Mekdad will arrive in Algeria on Saturday, Algerian state radio reported late on Friday, a visit that reinforces Damascus’ openness to the Arab world after it was isolated for more than a decade.

By Trevor Hunnicutt (Reuters) – Senior aides to U.S. President Joe Biden on Friday hailed progress toward resolving conflict in Yemen after “constructive” talks in Saudi Arabia with Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Twenty-three U.S. troops in Syria suffered traumatic brain injuries during two attacks in March by Iran-backed militants, the U.S. Central Command, which oversees U.S. forces in the Middle East, said on Friday.

BERLIN (Reuters) – Germany’s BDI industry association expects exports to grow by 2% in 2023, double its forecast in January, its president told the Rheinische Post newspaper in comments published on Saturday.

By Tim McLaughlin and Sarah N. Lynch BOSTON (Reuters) – A 21-year-old member of the U.S. Air Force National Guard suspected of leaking highly classified military intelligence records online will make his initial appearance before a federal judge in Boston on Friday.

By Tyler Clifford (Reuters) – Former U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said on Friday he will not enter the 2024 presidential race, which would have pitted him against his former boss Donald Trump for the Republican nomination.

By Steve Holland and Trevor Hunnicutt KNOCK, Ireland (Reuters) -U.S. President Joe Biden said on Friday he has decided to run for a second term and would formally announce his re-election campaign “relatively soon.”

BRASILIA (Reuters) – Brazil’s Planning Ministry announced on Friday a zero primary deficit target for 2024, but stated that 172 billion reais ($35.03 billion) in government spending depends on the approval of a proposed new fiscal framework.

By Andrew Chung WASHINGTON (Reuters) -Danco Laboratories, the manufacturer of the abortion pill mifepristone, on Friday asked the U.S. Supreme Court to block limits set by lower courts on access to the drug in a challenge by anti-abortion groups.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – International Monetary Fund Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva said on Friday debtors and creditors made “tangible progress” on debt restructuring issues this week, but called for early reprofiling of debts for countries facing problems.

By Hannah Lang, Chris Prentice and Ann Saphir

NEW YORK (Reuters) – With quarterly U.S. earnings just getting under way Friday with upbeat results from JPMorgan Chase & Co and other banks, estimates for the first quarter have improved slightly from a week ago, according to Refinitiv data released Friday.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration on Friday granted a long-awaited license to Elon Musk’s SpaceX for the first orbital launch of the company’s massive Starship rocket system, the regulator said in a statement.

HAVANA (Reuters) – Cuba’s President Miguel Diaz-Canel said the island’s ongoing gasoline shortages were caused by countries contracted to supply the fuel not complying with their requirements due to “a complex energy situation.”

By Aiden Nulty and Will Russell BALLINA, Ireland (Reuters) – U.S. President Joe Biden on Friday was set to wrap up his nostalgic three-day tour to Ireland, the longest ever by an U.S. leader, with a rally in the West of Ireland hometown of his great-great-great-grandfather.

By Brendan Pierson (Reuters) – The U.S. Department of Justice on Thursday said it would ask the U.S. Supreme Court to intervene in a dispute over the abortion pill mifepristone after U.S. District Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk in Amarillo, Texas last Friday suspended approval of the drug, effectively

(Reuters) – Billionaire Elon Musk is working on launching an artificial intelligence start-up that will rival ChatGPT-maker OpenAI, the Financial Times reported on Friday citing people familiar with his plans.

By Lananh Nguyen and Saeed Azhar NEW YORK (Reuters) – Citigroup Inc’s hiring of Andy Sieg, the incoming head of its wealth management unit, underscores the lender’s ambitions in the business as well as the uphill climb it faces in gaining share in a competitive market.