6 political parties first to nominate presidential candidates

US President Joe Biden (File image: Reuters) As Americans deal with the highest inflation in decades, President Joe Biden has declared that combating rising costs is a priority for his administration. Lately, he has cited one policy in particular as an inflation-fighting tool: shrinking the nation’s budget deficit. “Bringing down the deficit is one way to ease inflationary pressures in an economy,” Biden said this month. “We reduce federal borrowing and we help combat inflation.” The federal budget deficit — the gap between what the government spends and the tax revenue it takes in — remains large. But Biden has pointed out that it shrank by $350 billion during his first year in office and is expected to fall more than $1 trillion by October, the end of this federal budget year. Rather than stemming from any recent budget measures by his administration or Congress, the deficit reduction largely reflects the rise in tax receipts from strong economic growth and the winding … [Read more...] about Biden’s curious talking point: Lower deficits offer inflation relief

Crude oil price has rocketed upward since Russia launched its invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24 (Image: Reuters) India is in talks with Russia over a deal to buy oil at discounted rates, the chairman of India's state-run Hindustan Petroleum Corp. said on Thursday, at a time when much of the West is shunning Russian crude over the conflict in Ukraine. India, the world's third biggest oil importer and consumer, is struggling like much of the rest of the world with inflation at multi-year highs, and is keen to cut its import bill and protect consumers from soaring fuel prices. The country has already bought more than twice as much crude from Russia since Moscow's invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24 as it did in the whole of 2021, according to Reuters calculations, with sources saying Indian buyers were getting discounted prices. Also Read: India buying Russian oil: I will put my country's national interest, energy security first: FM Sitharaman But the comments from HPCL … [Read more...] about Indian government in talks with Russian over cut-price oil deal: HPCL

With his fluffy black dog in tow, Gilberto Rodriguez left Venezuela two months ago on a perilous eight-country journey, mostly on foot, with dreams of a better life in the United States. Leaving behind his wife and two children, aged six and eight, Rodriguez has slept rough, gone hungry, witnessed violence and paid bribes to police. But he smiles from ear-to-ear as he caresses his loyal canine companion of two years, whose name "Negro" means "Black" in Spanish. "He has also crossed everything just like us, he eats the same we eat, he's also a migrant," he told AFP in the town of Tecun Uman in eastern Guatemala, the sixth country stop on his north-bound route. Their journey so far has taken Rodriguez and Negro from Caracas to Colombia and through the perilous Darien jungle to Panama. Close There, they came across some of the criminal gangs that prey on migrants fleeing poverty and political upheaval in their home countries. "We were with some women and they … [Read more...] about Migrant’s perilous 8-country journey to US with pet dog