Reuters

(Reuters) - Rivian Automotive named Javier Varela its chief operating officer on Friday, bolstering its ranks with the Volvo veteran as the electric-vehicle startup expands its production facility even as it grapples with a slowdown in demand.

Volvo said earlier this week that Varela would leave the Swedish truck maker after an eight-year stint that saw him rise to the role of deputy CEO and COO in 2022.

He will join Rivian in August,... (continue reading...)

By David Shepardson and David Lawder

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Treasury Department on Friday gave automakers additional flexibility on battery mineral requirements for electric vehicle tax credits on some crucial trace minerals from China, such as graphite.

The department said it would give automakers until 2027 to remove some hard-to-trace minerals like graphite contained in anode materials and critical minerals contained in... (continue reading...)

By Felix Light and Ali Kucukgocmen

TBILISI (Reuters) - Mariam Tsertsvadze, the co-founder of an animal charity in the Georgian capital, has managed only three or four hours of sleep a night in the past few weeks, but says she is full of energy.

Tsertsvadze has joined thousands of other Georgians in nightly protests in the centre of Tbilisi to voice their opposition to a government bill on "foreign agents" that critics have condemned as... (continue reading...)

(Reuters) - The U.S. services sector contracted in March, while a measure of prices paid by businesses for inputs jumped, a worrisome sign for the outlook on inflation.

The Institute for Supply Management (ISM) said on Friday that its non-manufacturing PMI fell to 49.4 last month from 51.4 in March, the lowest reading since December 2022.

A reading above 50 indicates growth in the services industry, which accounts for more than two-thirds... (continue reading...)

(Reuters) - Violence around the city of al-Fashir in Darfur, Sudan, has blocked a recently opened humanitarian corridor from Chad and time is running out to prevent starvation in the vast region, the U.N. World Food Programme said on Friday.

Attacks around al-Fashir, the Sudanese army's last holdout in Darfur and home to some 1.6 million residents, have led to dire warnings of a new wave of mass displacement and inter-communal conflict in Sudan's... (continue reading...)