USA

Norwegian energy group Equinor said on Friday it had filed a civil suit in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia challenging a U.S. Department of the Interior order to suspend its Empire Wind project. "As part of that case, Empire plans to seek a preliminary injunction and allow construction to continue while the litigation proceeds," Equinor added. Last week, the Trump administration suspended leases for five large offshore wind projects that are under construction off the U.S. East Coast over what it called national security concerns, sending shares of offshore wind companies plunging. The suspension was the latest blow for offshore wind developers that have faced repeated disruptions to their multi-billion-dollar projects under U.S. President Donald Trump, w...

The US’s pursuit of a third oil tanker off the coast of Venezuela has intensified a blockade that the Trump administration hopes will cut off a vital economic lifeline for the country and isolate the government of President Nicolás Maduro. The US’s pursuit of a third oil tanker off the coast of Venezuela has intensified a blockade that the Trump administration hopes will cut off a vital economic lifeline for the country and isolate the government of President Nicolás Maduro. The US Coast Guard chased the US-sanctioned Bella 1 on Sunday as it was en route to Venezuela. It boarded Centuries, a ship owned by a Hong Kong-based entity, on Saturday — the first non-sanctioned vessel to be targeted. Another very large crude carrier, the Skipper, was intercepted on Dec. 10.  The moves...

Plata, the Mexican financial technology company, has secured a new financing of up to US$500 million arranged by Nomura Securities International, Inc. ("Nomura") It is the largest funding to date for a Mexican digital financial services company. The transaction also sets an important precedent: it marks the first time a Japanese top-tier investment bank participates in a financing of this scale within Mexico's digital financial sector, reflecting the growing international interest in Plata and in Mexico's financial system. The announcement comes as Plata continues to work towards launching operations as a bank, after having received its banking license authorization in December 2024. The company embarked on this extremely rigorous process ...

Europe must accelerate its rearmament in ‍response ‌to a stark shift in U.S. military doctrine, a ⁠French government official said ‌on Tuesday, calling Washington's new security strategy "an extremely brutal clarification" of its ideological posture. The U.S. National Security Strategy, made ⁠public last week, caused shock across Europe, with a broadside that ​said the continent was facing "civilisation erasure" ‌and that U.S. policy ⁠should include "cultivating resistance" within the European Union. "The new American security strategy is an extremely brutal clarification of ​the United States' ideological posture," Junior Army Minister Alice Rufo told lawmakers at the National Assembly's weekly question-and-answer session. "We live in a world of carnivores, ​Europe ‍is no is...

The Supreme Court seems likely to eliminate one of the remaining checks on money in politics, a decision in line with recent rulings favoring First Amendment free speech rights over fears about potential corruption. In a challenge involving Vice President JD Vance, the court considered on Dec. 9 whether to scrap a rule aimed at preventing wealthy donors from bypassing limits on what they can give candidates by funneling money through political parties. The rule was passed in 1974 as part of Congress' response to the Watergate scandal and upheld by the Supreme Court in 2001. During two hours of oral arguments, the court’s conservatives did not attack the GOP’s argument that the law and the campaign finance landscape have changed since 2001. "The coordinated party spending l...