Reuters

BAMAKO (Reuters) - Participants in Mali's national dialogue on Friday recommended extending the military-led transition to democracy by three years and allowing junta leader Assimi Goita to stand in the eventual election.

The West African country has been under military rule since a coup in 2020, and tensions have risen over the junta's failure to stick to a promised timeline for the return to constitutional rule.

Months-long nationwide... (continue reading...)

HAVANA (Reuters) - Cuba's government and independent online news site El Toque exchanged blows this week after state-run media accused the website of manipulating the black market currency exchange rate to impoverish Cubans and stoke unrest on the Caribbean island.

The El Toque site (eltoque.com) has enraged the administration of Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel by publishing a rate in Cuban pesos for the greenback far higher than the two official... (continue reading...)

By Blake Brittain

(Reuters) - Microsoft must pay patent owner IPA Technologies $242 million, a federal jury in Delaware said on Friday after determining that Microsoft's Cortana virtual-assistant software infringed an IPA patent.

The jury agreed with IPA after a week-long trial that Microsoft's voice-recognition technology violates IPA's patent rights in computer-communications software.

IPA is a subsidiary of... (continue reading...)

SAO PAULO (Reuters) - Brazil's orange production is expected to hit its lowest level in more than three decades in 2024/25, research center Fundecitrus said on Friday, as farmers grapple with adverse climate conditions and a citrus disease known as greening.

WHY IT'S IMPORTANT

Brazil is the world's largest producer and exporter of orange juice, whose global stocks have been hovering around historic lows after four consecutive seasons of... (continue reading...)

By Clark Mindock

(Reuters) - A federal appeals court on Friday dismissed a lawsuit by four Republican-led states that sought to block a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission rule requiring investment funds to categorize and disclose their proxy votes on issues including environmental, social and governance (ESG) matters.

A three-judge panel of the New Orleans-based 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals concluded that Texas, Louisiana, Utah... (continue reading...)