Latest news with #USATreasury
Yahoo
19-07-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent speaks in Japan
US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent speaks at the USA National Day at the Osaka Expo in Japan. Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Al Jazeera
17-07-2025
- Business
- Al Jazeera
Can South Africa keep its G20 debt promise?
South Africa promised debt solutions for low income nations during its G20 presidency. Has it kept its word? Debt is holding back economic growth for many low income countries. When South Africa took over the Group of 20 presidency last year, it promised it would take on that challenge, improve food security and represent African nations from the head of the table. As the G20's finance ministers meet in Durban without the United States Treasury secretary and with just four months left in its term, has South Africa lived up to those promises? Can organisations like the G20 ever really bring about change? And in a transactional global economy, has South Africa's leadership role come just as organisations like this matter less?
Reuters
27-06-2025
- Business
- Reuters
US postpones sanctions against Serbia's NIS oil company for fourth time, Tanjug agency reports
June 27 (Reuters) - The United States has postponed sanctions against the Russian-owned Serbian oil company NIS ( opens new tab for a fourth time, Tanjug news agency reported on Friday. NIS has so far secured three waivers, the last of which was due to expire later on Friday. NIS, which is majority-owned by Russia's Gazprom Neft ( opens new tab and Gazprom ( opens new tab, operates Serbia's only oil refinery in the town of Pancevo, just outside the capital, Belgrade. The facility has an annual capacity of 4.8 million tons and covers most of the Balkan country's needs. Sanctions could jeopardise its supplies of crude. The U.S. Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control initially placed sanctions on Russia's oil sector on January 10, and gave Gazprom Neft 45 days to exit ownership of NIS. On February 26, Gazprom Neft transferred a stake of around 5.15% in NIS to Gazprom in an attempt to ward off sanctions. Gazprom Neft now owns 44.85% of NIS, while Gazprom has 11.3%. The Serbian government owns 29.87%, with the remaining shares held by small shareholders. NIS imports about 80% of its oil needs through Croatia's pipeline operator Janaf. The remainder is covered by its own crude oil production in Serbia.
New York Times
26-06-2025
- Politics
- New York Times
Ecuador Captures Gang Leader Whose Prison Escape Set Off Violence
Ecuadorean security officials on Wednesday captured the gang leader known as 'Fito' whose escape in 2024 set off violence across the country. President Daniel Noboa of Ecuador announced the capture of the gang leader, José Adolfo Macías, on social media. 'We have done our part to proceed with Fito's extradition to the United States. We are awaiting their response,' Mr. Noboa wrote in Spanish. Mr. Macías is wanted by the United States on accusations of trafficking drugs and smuggling weapons. Mr. Macías, 45, leads the powerful Los Choneros gang, one of Ecuador's most violent criminal organizations. The U.S. attorney in the Eastern District of New York indicted him earlier this year on seven counts, including cocaine distribution. He escaped prison in Guayaquil, Ecuador's largest city, in January 2024, when officers who had arrived to transfer Mr. Macías to a maximum-security prison discovered he was missing from his cell. The government declared a 60-day state of emergency while they searched for him, triggering riots in several prisons, gang attacks, kidnappings and bombings across the country. The U.S. Treasury Department placed sanctions on Mr. Macías and on Los Choneros in February of that year. On Wednesday, authorities found him hiding in an underground bunker in Manta, a city about 120 miles from Guayaquil, Interior Minister John Reimberg told reporters. The military released video footage of the operation, which involved the Ecuadorean police and armed forces, showing Mr. Macías shirtless and handcuffed as officers push him down to a tile floor. In the video, officers loaded Mr. Macías into an armored vehicle and put him on an Air Force plane to Guayaquil. In another video, taken by The Associated Press, he is being led off the plane wearing a dark blue shirt, gray shorts and flip-flops. He was being taken to prison, Mr. Reimberg said. Mr. Macías's escape came two months after Mr. Noboa's election. During his campaign for president, Mr. Noboa vowed to crack down on the gangs that had disrupted Ecuador's security. 'More will fall, we will reclaim the country. No truce,' Mr. Noboa wrote on social media on Wednesday. The U.S. Embassy in Quito, Ecuador's capital, congratulated officials for capturing Mr. Macías in a social media post. Mark A. Walsh contributed translation.
Reuters
21-06-2025
- Business
- Reuters
SNB's Schlegel still ready to intervene in forex markets despite U.S. list
ZURICH, June 21 (Reuters) - The Swiss National Bank is ready to intervene in foreign currency markets to hit its inflation target, Chairman Martin Schlegel said, despite Switzerland recently being added to a U.S. watch list on currency manipulation. The SNB, which cut its key interest rate to zero on Thursday, uses interest rates to steer inflation to its 0-2% target, Schlegel told broadcaster SRF. "We're also ready to be active on the currency markets," Schlegel said in the interview broadcast on Saturday. The U.S. Treasury this month put Switzerland on a list of countries being monitored for unfair currency and trade practices. Bern is seeking to avoid the 31% trade tariffs Washington has threatened against Switzerland, and Schlegel said the SNB conducts policy in the national interest. "Switzerland and the SNB are not currency manipulators," he said. "When we have intervened in the past, we have done it only to achieve our goal of price stability. Our motivation is not to gain an unfair advantage for Swiss exporters." There had been a "very good" exchange with U.S. officials the last time Switzerland appeared on the list, and there was a good understanding of why Switzerland was active in foreign currency markets, he said. Even if Switzerland did reappear on the list, that would mean further dialogue, Schlegel added. He also backed the government's proposals for stricter rules for UBS (UBSG.S), opens new tab, unveiled earlier this month, which could force the bank to hold $26 billion more in core capital. "This is not a radical solution," said Schlegel. "Everyone has an interest in UBS doing well, that UBS is a strong bank and that UBS is also a bank that is strongly capitalised and well prepared in terms of liquidity."
