Author: chicagoinquirer

By David Lawder WASHINGTON DC – U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said on Saturday that she is “probably done” serving at the highest levels of government after President Joe Biden’s term ends in January, but will likely meet again soon with her Chinese counterpart. Asked at the Texas Tribune Festival in Austin, Texas whether she was “done” when a new administration takes over in January, or might continue in her job or take on a new administration role, Yellen said: “Probably done, but … we’ll see.” The comments are the closest that Yellen, 78, has come to announcing her future…

LAGOS – Nigeria’s state-owned oil firm NNPC Ltd said on Saturday it will not be the sole buyer of gasoline from Dangote refinery but would step in if the facility sold above pump prices. The 650,000 barrel-per-day capacity Dangote refinery started producing gasoline earlier this week, raising expectations that this would end decades of the country relying on imports, which cost billions of dollars annually. The refinery had said NNPC would be the sole buyer of its petrol, also known as premium motor spirit (PMS) and that the government would set prices. However, NNPC said in a statement that Dangote…

WASHINGTON -More than 90 company executives, including the chief executives of Yelp and Chobani as well as the former CEOs of PepsiCo, Ford Motor Co and Yahoo!, endorsed U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris for the presidency in a letter released on Friday. Separately, more than 100 current and retired law enforcement officials also backed Harris in her contest against Republican former President Donald Trump ahead of the Nov. 5 presidential election. They cited her experience as a prosecutor and her commitment to curb gun violence. The company executives, which include the heads of top sports and investment companies, said they…

RABAT – Morocco has stopped 45,015 people from illegally migrating to Europe since January and busted 177 migrant trafficking gangs, Morocco’s state news agency MAP reported on Friday, citing interior ministry data. It did not give comparative data for the same period in 2023 and the interior ministry did not respond to a Reuters request for comment. Last year, Morocco stopped 75,184 people from illegally crossing to Europe, up 6% from a year earlier, government data showed. The Moroccan navy has also rescued 10,859 migrants at sea so far this year, MAP said, citing the interior ministry data. “In 2024,…

By Gabriel Araujo and Leonardo Benassatto SAO PAULO – Tens of thousands of cheering Brazilian fans of American-style football realized a life-long dream on Friday night, seeing in person some of the biggest stars of the sport’s top pro league in its first-ever game in the South American nation. Brazil, where soccer is king, is hosting the first regular season game for the National Football League’s Philadelphia Eagles, as they take the field against the Green Bay Packers at Sao Paulo’s Corinthians Arena. The gridiron contest also marks the first Friday night NFL season-opener since 1970. Nearly 45,000 people were…

by Camillus Eboh ABUJA – Nigeria’s oil regulator on Friday granted UTM Offshore Limited the first license to operate a floating liquefied natural gas plant, to tap flared gas from an ExxonMobil oil field in the Niger Delta. Such plants are springing up on the continent as Africa seeks to tap its gas resources. Nigeria has more than 209 trillion cubic feet of gas reserves, but loses over $1 billion in annual revenue due to gas flaring, government estimates show. The 2.8 million tons per annum (MTPA) floating vessel owned by UTM will tap flared gas from ExxonMobil’s Oil Mining…

by Rich McKay ATLANTA -Less than an hour after his 14-year-old son appeared in a Georgia courtroom on murder charges on Friday, Colin Gray found himself in the same courtroom seat, anxiously rocking back and forth as prosecutors accused him of bearing responsibility for the deaths caused by the boy’s rampage. The initial appearances by Colin Gray, 54, and Colt Gray, 14, in the Barrow County courtroom came two days after an attack that killed two students and two teachers at Apalachee High School in Winder, a city of 18,000 some 50 miles (80 km) northeast of Atlanta. Nine others…

by Trevor Hunnicutt WASHINGTON – Kamala Harris’s presidential campaign and the Democratic Party raised $361 million in August, leaving her with a clear cash advantage over Republican rival Donald Trump with two months to go before Election Day, the campaign said on Friday. It said the August haul left Harris with $404 million in cash on hand at the beginning of September. Trump’s campaign team said on Wednesday that it and the Republican Party raised $130 million in August, leaving $295 million cash on hand at the end of the month. The two candidates will spend more than $1 billion…

by Kanishka Singh and Steve Holland WASHINGTON -Republican former Vice President Dick Cheney said on Friday he will vote for Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris over Republican former President Donald Trump in the Nov. 5 U.S. elections, following a similar statement made by his daughter Liz Cheney this week. WHY IT’S IMPORTANT Trump and Harris are locked in a tight race for the Nov. 5 vote and face off in a debate next week. Some Republicans upset with Trump’s control over their party and his actions have recently thrown support behind Harris, including dozens of former staffers of former Presidents…

by Ted Hesson WASHINGTON – Biden administration officials are weighing whether to toughen an asylum ban to maintain lower levels of illegal crossings at the U.S.-Mexico border since the ban went into effect in June, a U.S. Department of Homeland Security official familiar with the matter told Reuters. The ban is designed to be lifted if the number of migrants caught crossing the southern border illegally drops below an average of 1,500 per day for one week, followed by a two-week waiting period. The change under discussion would lengthen the time the number of people caught must remain below that…