Oct 4 (Reuters) - Activity in Russia’s services sector expanded for the eighth month running in September, boosted by a sustained rise in client demand and new export orders, which rose at their fastest pace on record, a business survey showed on Wednesday.
The S&P Global Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) for Russian services fell to 55.4 in September from 57.6 in August, but stayed far above the 50 mark that separates expansion from contraction for the eighth consecutive month.
“Although expansions in output and new orders slowed on the month, the rates of growth remained sharp overall thanks to a sustained uptick in client demand,” S&P Global said.
Russia’s weakening rouble has added to inflationary pressure in recent months, forcing the central bank into a series of interest rate hikes to 13%.
“Input prices rose in line with higher wage bills, greater costs to service loans and exchange rate weakness.”
A sister survey on Monday showed activity in Russian manufacturing grew at its fastest pace in more than six years in September, while employment in the sector rose at its quickest rate in over two decades.
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Oct 19 (Reuters) - U.S. forces in Syria brought down two drones that were targeting them, leading to some minor injuries, U.S. officials said on Thursday, with Washington on heightened alert for activity by Iran-backed groups as regional tensions soar during the Israel-Hamas war.
The officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the attack took place on Wednesday against U.S. forces at Al-Tanf base, near Syria’s borders with Iraq and Jordan.
Lebanon’s Iran-aligned Al Mayadeen TV reported on Thursday that two U.S. military bases in Syria have come under attack.
Al Mayadeen reported a drone attack on the Al-Tanf base and a missile attack on the Conoco base in the countryside of the northern Deir al-Zor region.
U.S. military forces in Iraq were targeted on Wednesday in two separate drone attacks, with one causing minor injuries to a small number of troops even though the U.S. military managed to intercept the armed drone.
The United States has 2,500 troops in Iraq, and 900 more in neighbouring Syria, on a mission to advise and assist local forces in combating Islamic State, which in 2014 seized swathes of territory in both countries.
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WASHINGTON, Oct 18 (Reuters) - The Biden administration on Wednesday broadly eased sanctions on Venezuela’s oil sector in response to a deal reached between the government and opposition parties for the 2024 election - the most extensive rollback of Trump-era restrictions on Caracas.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken welcomed President Nicolas Maduro’s electoral concessions but said Washington has given him until the end of November to begin lifting bans on opposition presidential candidates and start releasing political prisoners and “wrongfully detained” Americans.
It also represents a significant step in the increased engagement of President Joe Biden’s administration with Maduro on issues ranging from energy to migration, a shift from Trump’s “maximum pressure” campaign against the socialist government.
Venezuela ruling party official Jorge Rodriguez, who leads the government’s negotiating team at talks with the opposition, said on state television later on Wednesday that the sanctions relief affected all oil activities.
Blinken said in a statement that the U.S. was acting “consistent with our longstanding commitment to provide U.S. sanctions relief in response to concrete steps toward competitive elections and respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms.”
The deal they announced said each side can choose its 2024 candidate according to its internal rules but did not reverse bans on some opposition figures - including Oct. 22 primary frontrunner Maria Corina Machado - that prevent them from holding office.
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Senator Michael Bennet on Tuesday sought information on how tech giants Meta (META.O), X, TikTok and Google (GOOGL.O) were trying to stop the spread of false and misleading content about the Israel-Hamas conflict on their platforms.
“Deceptive content has ricocheted across social media sites since the conflict began, sometimes receiving millions of views,” Bennet, a Democrat, said in the letter addressed to the company chiefs.
Visuals from older conflicts, video game footage, and altered documents are among misleading content that has flooded social media platforms since Hamas militants attacked Israeli civilians on Oct. 7.
The Senator’s comments come after European Union industry chief Thierry Breton blasted the companies, demanding they take stricter steps to battle disinformation amid the escalating conflict.
Meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram, said it had removed or marked as disturbing more than 795,000 pieces of content in Hebrew or Arabic in the first three days since the Hamas attack.
Bennet also slammed the four companies for having laid off staff from their trust and safety teams in the past year that were in charge of monitoring for false and misleading content.
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SINGAPORE/BEIJING, Oct 19 (Reuters) - As the U.S. tightens its restrictions on China’s semiconductor industry, Chinese manufacturers of tools used to make chips are benefiting, with orders from the country’s foundries accelerating in recent months.
It marks a turning point for the industry, reflecting acceptance that U.S. restrictions on technology imports are unlikely to ease and could get worse and that self-reliance - as urged by Chinese President Xi Jinping - is the way forward.
The Biden administration on Tuesday expanded measures aimed at China’s chip industry that seek to stop Beijing from receiving cutting-edge U.S. technologies to strengthen its military.
China’s foreign ministry said on Wednesday that it has lodged a stern rebuke over the latest chip restrictions, saying that they violated the principles of the market economy and fair competition.
Chinese companies have been stockpiling foreign-made chip equipment from Japan and the Netherlands, but those avenues are also set to close with those countries expected to join the U.S. in enacting restrictions in coming months.
Analysts said that Chinese manufacturers were getting better at producing equipment in areas such as etching and cleansing, where they compete globally with the likes of U.S. firms Applied Materials Inc (AMAT.O) and Lam Research Corp (LRCX.O).
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I subscribe for like one month a year if stuff I like has accumulated. It’s not worth more, I bet one moth will soon be $150, or “premium content” will only be available to long term subscribers.
GAZA, Oct 17 (Reuters) - An Israeli air strike on Tuesday killed hundreds of Palestinians at a Gaza City hospital crammed with patients and displaced people, health authorities in the besieged enclave said.
The reported strike was the bloodiest single incident since Israel launched an unrelenting bombing campaign against Gaza in retaliation for a deadly cross-border Hamas assault on southern Israeli communities on Oct. 7.
A civil defence chief in Hamas-ruled Gaza said on Al-Jazeera television that more than 300 people were killed at Al-Ahli al-Arabi Hospital.
“There are scores of dismembered and crushed bodies, baths of blood,” Izzat El-Reshiq, a senior Hamas member, said.
The violence raged as Washington announced that U.S. President Joe Biden would visit Israel on Wednesday to show support for its war on Hamas.
Israel has flattened parts of densely urbanised Gaza with air strikes, driven around half of its 2.3 million population from their homes, and imposed a total blockade on the enclave, halting food, fuel and medical supplies.
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