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Weakened UK PM Sunak survives Conservative asylum law rebellion

By Andrew MacAskill and Elizabeth Piper LONDON (Reuters) -British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak defeated a Conservative rebellion on Wednesday over his plan to send asylum seekers to Rwanda, winning a costly victory that weakens his authority and deepens divisions in his party. Sunak faced down the rebellion by right-wingers in his Conservative Party by offering …

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Severe US cold snap prompts peak power and natural gas demand

By Deep Kaushik Vakil and Scott DiSavino (Reuters) -Freezing temperatures in several U.S. regions triggered peak power demand in parts of the country on Wednesday, after homes and businesses consumed a record amount of natural gas for heating and power generation. The severe winter storm dumped snow across a broad part of the country this …

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Taiwan reports first major Chinese military activity after election

By Ben Blanchard and Michael Martina TAIPEI (Reuters) -Taiwan’s defence ministry said it detected 18 Chinese air force planes operating around Taiwan and carrying out “joint combat readiness patrols” with Chinese warships on Wednesday, the first large-scale military activity after the Taiwanese election. China, which views Taiwan as its own territory, has over the past …

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Oil near flat as extreme cold’s hit to U.S. output offsets China data

By Stephanie Kelly NEW YORK (Reuters) -Oil prices were near flat on Wednesday as severe cold that disrupted some U.S. oil production offset disappointing economic growth in China that stoked worries about energy demand. Brent crude futures settled down 41 cents to $77.88 a barrel. U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude futures (WTI) gained 16 cents …

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Wall St ends lower, Treasury yields gain as strong data cools rate-cut hopes

By Stephen Culp NEW YORK (Reuters) -U.S. stocks followed their European counterparts to a lower close on Wednesday and U.S. Treasury yields resumed their uphill climb as robust economic data chilled bets that the Federal Reserve could begin reducing its policy rate as early as March. All three major U.S. indexes finished the session lower, …

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Dollar hits new one-month high as data weighs on rate cut hopes

By Chuck Mikolajczak NEW YORK (Reuters) -The dollar index hit a fresh one-month high on Wednesday after U.S. retail sales data signaled economic strength, dimming expectations for imminent rate cuts from the Federal Reserve. Retail sales rose 0.6% last month after an unrevised 0.3% gain in November, the Commerce Department’s Census Bureau said. Economists polled …

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Gold retreats to over one-month low after data dims rate-cut hopes

By Anushree Ashish Mukherjee (Reuters) – Gold prices fell to a more than one-month low on Wednesday as strong economic data strengthened dollar and Treasury yields and lowered market expectations of a U.S. rate cut in March. Spot gold was down 1.2% at $2,003.89 per ounce as of 01:55 p.m. ET (1855 GMT), lowest since …

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Apple overtakes Samsung as top seller of smartphones

(Reuters) -Apple ended Samsung Electronics’ 12-year run as the largest seller of smartphones in the world, after commanding a 20% market share in 2023, according to a report from International Data Corp. Samsung ended the year with a 19.4% share, followed by China’s Xiaomi, Oppo and Transsion, preliminary data from IDC’s Worldwide Quarterly Mobile Phone …

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On visit to Ireland, Chinese premier eyes deeper economic ties

By Padraic Halpin DUBLIN (Reuters) -China would like to deepen economic and trade cooperation with Ireland, particularly in areas of “huge potential” such as green technologies and the digital economy, Premier Li Qiang said on Wednesday during a trip to Dublin. Li, the most senior Chinese official to visit Ireland since his predecessor Li Keqiang …

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Russia is developing ties with N. Korea in all areas, including ‘sensitive’ ones – Kremlin

MOSCOW (Reuters) – Russia is developing its relations with North Korea in all areas, including “sensitive” ones, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Wednesday. North Korea’s foreign minister lauded comradely ties with Russia on Tuesday and then held rare talks in the Kremlin with President Vladimir Putin, who has been invited by Kim Jong Un …

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