Reuters

By Ricardo Brito

(Reuters) - Less that three months from the Olympic Games in Paris, Brazilian athletes from the devastated southern state of Rio Grande do Sul are giving up their dreams to compete and staying at home to help with the rescue of victims of the severe floods.

Rowers Evaldo Becker and Piedro Tuchtenhagen, due to compete in the qualifying phase for the Olympic Games in the lightweight double sculls category, decided to drop... (continue reading...)

(Reuters) - The U.S. federal budget surplus in April increased from a year earlier as a boost in tax receipts outpaced a rise in outlays, the Treasury Department said on Friday.

The surplus last month was $210 billion, up 19% from the $176 billion surplus in April 2023. Outlays rose 23% to $567 billion.

Receipts increased 22% to $776 billion due to higher tax revenue from individuals and businesses. Economists polled by Reuters had... (continue reading...)

(Reuters) - About one in eight adults have taken a drug belonging to the GLP-1 class of medications for weight loss and related conditions, a poll by Kaiser Family Foundation (KFF) showed on Friday.

The data also showed that 6% of those polled said they were currently using a GLP-1 drug, such as Novo Nordisk's diabetes drug Ozempic or weight-loss treatment Wegovy, or Eli Lilly's obesity drug Zepbound.

WHY IT'S IMPORTANT

The... (continue reading...)

By Clark Mindock and Ross Kerber

(Reuters) - Oklahoma's attorney general said he is firing the outside legal team hired to defend a state law prohibiting state pension systems from contracting with companies that limit investment in the oil and gas industry, days after a judge temporarily blocked the statute's enforcement.

Republican Attorney General Gentner Drummond in a statement on Thursday said he was firing counsel at the Plaxico Law... (continue reading...)

ATHENS (Reuters) - A Greek appeals court has sentenced a man who worked for a Turkish consulate to five years in prison on spying charges, legal sources said on Friday, in a case that had strained relations between the NATO allies.

The man, a Greek national employed with the Turkish consulate on the island of Rhodes, was arrested in 2020.

He had denied any wrongdoing and Turkey's foreign ministry had condemned the arrest, saying it... (continue reading...)