MOSCOW – A Russian court on Monday rejected an appeal by Alphabet Inc’s Google and upheld a 7.2 billion rouble ($73.39 million) fine over its failure to delete content Russia deems illegal, the Interfax news agency cited the court as saying. Google did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment. ($1 = 98.1000 roubles) (Reporting by Reuters in Moscow; Editing by Jan Harvey)
KYIV – Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy rejected a Russian offer of talks in Belarus on Sunday, saying Minsk itself was complicit in the Russian invasion, but leaving the door open to negotiations in other locations. The Kremlin said on Sunday its delegation was ready to meet Ukrainian officials in the Belarusian city of Gomel. [R4N2S105D] (Reporting by Pavel Polityuk; Writing by Olzhas Auyezov; Editing by Jan Harvey)
WASHINGTON – President Joe Biden has rejected his predecessor Donald Trump’s claim of executive privilege and ordered the National Archives to release White House visitor logs to the congressional panel investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol, according to a letter from the White House counsel. (Reporting by Steve Holland; Writing by Doina Chiacu; Editing by Andrew Heavens)
By Andrea Shalal WASHINGTON – The U.S. Treasury Department on Friday rejected an appeal by 18 Democratic lawmakers who want the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to end its practice of charging mostly middle and lower-income countries significant surcharges on larger loans that are not repaid quickly. The IMF has estimated that borrowing countries will pay over $4 billion in surcharges on top of interest payments and fees from the start of the pandemic through the end of 2022. Jonathan Davidson, the Biden administration’s assistant Treasury secretary for legislative affairs, told the lawmakers that the surcharges were meant to address the
By Jonathan Stempel NEW YORK – A U.S. judge on Friday rejected former pharmaceutical executive Martin Shkreli’s objections to being banned for life from the drug industry and having to repay $64.6 million after jacking up the price of a lifesaving drug. Lawyers for Shkreli, 38, had argued that the ban was overbroad and violated his right to free speech under the U.S. Constitution’s First Amendment by barring him from publicly discussing the drug industry, even on a blog. In imposing a permanent injunction, U.S. District Judge Denise Cote said Shkreli’s antitrust violations cost him that right when he intended
By Jonathan Allen -A U.S. judge in Georgia rejected plea agreements reached between federal prosecutors and two of the three white men convicted of murdering Ahmaud Arbery, saying she was not willing to be bound to the 30-year federal prison sentence set in the agreement. The unusual decision by U.S. District Judge Lisa Wood came after Travis McMichael, one of the three attackers due to face trial next week on federal hate-crime charges, admitted for the first time he had pursued the 25-year-old Black man because of his race. The decision means the parties must either return to court with
ROME – Italy has rejected a request by Venezuela for the extradition of Rafael Ramirez, a once powerful oil minister and former head of state oil company Petroleos de Venezuela, his lawyer said on Saturday. Authorities in Venezuela had asked Interpol to locate and arrest Ramirez in 2018 and subsequently demanded his extradition from Italy in 2020 in connection with embezzlement charges. Ramirez, who denies the corruption allegations, says President Nicolas Maduro’s administration is seeking to smear him over his anti-government comments. “The Italian Supreme Court has declared definitively inadmissible the extradition request,” Ramirez’s Italian lawyer Roberto De Vita told
MILAN – Companies have the right to protect their interests in Russia even at a time of rising tensions, a top Italian CEO said on Friday, rejecting criticism of a call he helped organise this week for business leaders with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Managers of big Italian companies, including power group Enel, the country’s top two banks Intesa Sanpaolo and UniCredit and insurer Generali, on Wednesday joined the virtual meeting with Putin, aimed at boosting business ties between the two countries. The meeting sparked controversy amid a build up of Russian troops on its border with Ukraine, and went
– French care home operator Orpea on Monday rejected allegations of resident mistreatment in a forthcoming book after extracts published in newspaper Le Monde sent its shares tumbling. The article included extracts from “Les Fossoyeurs” (The Gravediggers), a 388-page book by journalist Victor Castanet that alleges poor treatment of the group’s elderly residents at a site outside Paris. “We formally reject all of these accusations, which we consider to be false, outrageous and prejudicial,” the company said in a statement. It added that has already contacted its lawyers to take all necessary steps, including legal action. Orpea is one of
TRENTON, NJ – The Democrat led New Jersey Senate today decided to not extend Governor Phil Murphy’s emergency pandemic powers, dealing the newly re-elected governor a political blow on his health emergency policy today. Murphy initially asked for a 90-day extension, but through negotiations, the Senate introduced a conditional 45-day bill. In the end, the Senate, realizing the political ramifications of empowering the governor, even in the blue state of New Jersey could be dire in the next two election cycles decided not to stop Murphy’s pandemic powers from expiring Tuesday night. Earlier in the day, Murphy made it clear
New Hampshire Republican Gov. Chris Sununu officially declined to run for Senate Tuesday morning, opting instead to run for reelection in 2022. Sununu’s decision is a blow to national Republicans who publicly pressured him to run against incumbent Democratic Sen. Maggie Hassan and increase the GOP’s chances of retaking the equally divided chamber. Sununu was reelected in 2020 with 65% of the vote, outrunning former President Donald Trump by 20 points and cruising to a third two-year term. “My responsibility is not to the gridlock and politics of Washington, it is to the citizens of New Hampshire,” he said during
YouTube deleted one of former Texas Rep. Ron Paul’s channels Thursday and denied his appeal to reinstate it, only restoring the account after Paul voiced his frustrations on Twitter. Paul posted two screenshots on Twitter Thursday of emails sent to him by YouTube informing him his account “RonPaulInstitute” had been removed for “severe or repeated violations of our community guidelines.” A screenshot of another email appeared to show an automatic reply from YouTube informing Paul that his appeal to reinstate the account had been denied. “Very shocked that @YouTube has completely removed the Channel of my Ron Paul Institute: no
NEW YORK – New York Attorney General Letitia James today released the following statement after Justice Joel Cohen of the New York State Supreme Court rejected efforts by two members of the National Rifle Association (NRA) to intervene in the countersuit the NRA brought against Attorney General James following the lawsuit she filed to dissolve the organization in August 2020: “No matter who argues on its behalf, the fact remains that the National Rifle Association is fraught with fraud and abuse. Over a year ago, we laid out how the NRA went unchecked for more than a decade while top