Month: July 2019

U.S., China to keep talking on trade after little progress in Shanghai SHANGHAI/WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. and Chinese negotiators ended a brief round of trade talks on Wednesday with little sign of progress and agreed to meet again in September, prolonging an uneasy truce in a year-long trade war between the world’s two largest economies. The talks were the first face-to-face meetings since U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping met in June and agreed to get negotiators back together to try to find a way out of…

PM Johnson faces first electoral test in vote for Welsh parliamentary seat LONDON (Reuters) - British Prime Minister Boris Johnson could see his working majority in parliament reduced to just one when voters in a rural Welsh parliamentary seat go to the polls on Thursday in his first electoral test as leader. Britain’s Prime Minister Boris Johnson speaks alongside Home Secretary Priti Patel during the first meeting of the National Policing Board at the Home Office in London, Britain July 31, 2019. Kirsty Wigglesworth/Pool via REUTERS The pro-European Union Liberal…

Bank of England to lean against market rate cut bets as Brexit nears LONDON (Reuters) - The Bank of England is likely to push back on Thursday against investors who bet that it will follow other central banks and cut rates in the coming months, even as the risk of a messy Brexit darkens growth prospects. FILE PHOTO: A man walks past the Bank of England in the City of London, Britain, February 7, 2019. REUTERS/Hannah McKay Economists polled by Reuters are almost certain that the BoE’s Monetary Policy Committee…

UK report cites Labour row as contributing to rise in anti-Semitic incidents LONDON (Reuters) - The number of anti-Semitic incidents in Britain rose in the first half of the year, according to a charity on Thursday that cited alleged anti-Semitism in the opposition Labour party as a contributing factor. FILE PHOTO: Britain’s opposition Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn speaks during a rally calling for a general election in London, Britain July 25,2019. REUTERS/Simon Dawson The Community Security Trust (CST) said in a report it had recorded 892 incidents, 10% up…

U.S. puts sanctions on Iranian foreign minister Zarif, who says they won't affect him WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States on Wednesday imposed sanctions on Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, targeting the country’s top spokesman and potentially hurting chances of diplomatic talks amid rising tensions between the two countries. FILE PHOTO: Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov (not pictured) and his Iranian counterpart Mohammad Javad Zarif attend a news conference in Moscow, Russia May 8, 2019. REUTERS/Evgenia Novozhenina Zarif, a critical figure in the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, dismissed the…