Reuters

By Dan Williams and Nidal al-Mughrabi

JERUSALEM/CAIRO (Reuters) - Israel is waiting for Hamas to respond to proposals for a halt to the fighting in Gaza and a return of Israeli hostages before sending a team to Cairo to continue talks, a person close to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Tuesday.

With U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken due to arrive in Tel Aviv on Tuesday evening following a visit to Riyadh to help broker a... (continue reading...)

PARIS (Reuters) - Fashion company Hermes vowed to 'vigorously defend itself' in a lawsuit filed against it in California claiming it unlawfully allows only customers with "sufficient purchase history" with the company to buy its famed Birkin handbags.

"Obviously, we strictly respect antitrust laws wherever we operate, and we will vigorously defend ourselves in this case,” Hermes executive chairman Axel Dumas told the company's annual shareholder... (continue reading...)

By Tom Polansek

CHICAGO (Reuters) - Some U.S. farmers who once raised chickens for Tyson Foods to slaughter are shifting to sell eggs instead after the meatpacker closed six plants, a move that left local suppliers with limited options for work.

In one example, former Tyson suppliers in central Virginia formed a cooperative that will produce cage-free eggs for Indiana-based Dutch Country Organics on a dozen farms, after Tyson closed its... (continue reading...)

MADRID (Reuters) - The European Central Bank should start cutting interest rates in June if inflation continues its gradual decline as expected, European Central Bank policymaker Pablo Hernandez de Cos said on Tuesday.

Inflation has fallen quickly over the past year but the outlook further out remains clouded by rising energy costs, stubbornly high services inflation and continued geopolitical tensions. De Cos said that inflation was expected to... (continue reading...)

By Shariq Khan

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Traders are rushing to fill up storage tanks along the U.S. East Coast with distillate fuels, like diesel and heating oil, data from storage broker The Tank Tiger showed on Monday, a sign of deepening oversupply that is weighing on refiners' profits.

Largely warmer-than-expected winter weather in U.S. Northeast and Europe has cut distillates demand and hit refiners' margins across the globe in recent... (continue reading...)