Author: Disha Mishra

(Reuters) – President Joe Biden is calling for tighter cybersecurity standards for federal agencies and contractors in a new executive order due to be published in the coming days, pushing reforms designed to address repeated Chinese-linked cyber operations and cybercriminal operations, according to a draft of the order seen by Reuters. The order is set to land in the waning days of Biden’s presidency, during which several high-profile, Chinese-linked hacks occurred, according to the U.S. government and cybersecurity research groups. The alleged activity targeted critical infrastructure, government emails, major telecom firms and, most recently, the U.S. Treasury Department. Beijing has…

(Reuters) – U.S. Special Counsel Jack Smith, who led the federal cases against Donald Trump on charges of trying to overturn his 2020 election defeat and mishandling of classified documents, has resigned, as the Republican president-elect prepared to return to the White House. Smith resigned on Friday from the Department of Justice, according to a court filing on Saturday to U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon, asking her to lift a court order she issued blocking release of his final report. Notice of Smith’s resignation came in a footnote in the filing, which said the Special Counsel had completed his work,…

Jan 12 (Reuters) – South Korea’s impeached president, Yoon Suk Yeol, will not attend the first hearing of the trial to determine whether he is removed him from office or reinstated, due to concerns about his safety, Yonhap News reported on Sunday, citing his lawyer. “The officials in the Corruption Investigation Office (CIO) and the police are trying to execute illegal and invalid arrest warrants through illegal methods, raising concerns about personal safety and mishaps,” lawyer Yoon Kab-keun was quoted as saying. “In order for the president to appear for the trial, the issue of personal safety and security must…

TOKYO, Jan 12 (Reuters) – Japanese Foreign Minister Takeshi Iwaya said on Sunday he planned to attend Donald Trump’s inauguration as U.S. president on Jan. 20, as Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba’s government hopes to maintain close ties with its security ally. “We aim to build a relationship of trust with the Trump administration securely,” Iwaya told a talk show on public broadcaster NHK. He said he was seeking a meeting with Senator Marco Rubio, Trump’s pick to be secretary of state. India and Australia also announced that their foreign ministers would attend the swearing-in as Trump returns to the White…

(Reuters) – A federal judge in Texas on Friday said American Airlines (AAL.O), opens new tab violated federal law by basing investment decisions for its employee retirement plan on environmental, social and other non-financial factors. The ruling by U.S. District Judge Reed O’Connor appeared to be the first of its kind amid growing backlash by conservatives to an uptick in socially-conscious investing. O’Connor said American had breached its legal duty to make investment decisions based solely on the financial interests of 401(k) plan beneficiaries by allowing BlackRock (BLK.N), opens new tab, its asset manager and a major shareholder, to focus…

(Forelines) – Six people lost their lives in a restaurant fire caused by a propane-butane cylinder explosion in the northwest Czech city of Most, according to emergency services on Sunday, quoted by Reuters. Eight people were injured in a powerful explosion late Saturday evening, prompting the evacuation of 30 individuals from a restaurant and nearby buildings, according to the Czech fire rescue service on the social media platform X. “According to initial information from witnesses, a heater overturned, causing a fire,” the fire brigade stated, as per Reuters.. According to Reuters report, the fire brigade stated that they rescued a…

(Reuters) – The foreign ministers of Japan and the United States said their countries’ ties were stronger than ever on Tuesday, even after Japan’s prime minister called U.S. President Joe Biden’s decision to block Nippon Steel’s $14.9 billion bid for U.S. Steel “perplexing.” Biden’s move last Friday was a jolt to U.S. efforts to boost ties just as neighboring South Korea’s political crisis potentially complicates a deepening trilateral relationship between Washington, Seoul and Tokyo formed to counter China’s growing military power. On Monday, Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba expressed confusion over Biden’s decision, but after meeting in Tokyo on Tuesday,…

Four members of the Islamic State, including two senior leaders, were killed in an airstrike carried out by Iraqi aircraft in the Hamrin Mountains in eastern Iraq, security officials said on Saturday. The Iraqi Security Media Cell, an official body responsible for disseminating security information, said in a statement four bodies of Islamic State (IS) militants were found in the area where Iraqi F-16 fighter jets carried out the strike on Friday. alib Al-Mousawi, an official at Iraq’s Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF) – a grouping of armed factions originally set up to fight Islamic State in 2014 that was subsequently…

JERUSALEM/CAIRO, Jan 11 (Reuters) – U.S. President-elect Donald Trump’s Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff will meet Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Saturday following his visit to Doha, an Israeli official said, amid efforts to secure a hostage deal and ceasefire in Gaza. A second Israeli official said some progress had been made in the indirect talks between Israel and Palestinian militant group Hamas, mediated by Egypt, Qatar and the United States, to reach a deal in Gaza. The mediators are making new efforts to reach a deal to halt the fighting in the enclave and free the remaining Israeli…

MOSCOW, Jan 11 (Reuters) – Russia’s Foreign Ministry on Saturday denounced new U.S. sanctions against Moscow’s energy sector as an attempt to harm Russia’s economy at the risk of destabilising global markets and said the country would press on with large oil and gas projects. A ministry statement also said that Russia would respond to Washington’s “hostile” actions, announced on Friday, while drawing up its foreign policy strategy. The statement said the measures amounted to “an attempt to inflict at least some damage to the Russian economy, even at the cost of the risk of destabilising world markets as the…