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Iran targets e-commerce giant over photos of female employees without headscarves

Iranian authorities have shut down one of the offices of the country's biggest e-commerce company and launched judicial procedures after it published pictures online showing female employees not wearing the mandatory Islamic headscarf, semi-official media reported.

The move appears to be part of a new campaign launched last week to impose the Islamic dress code nearly a year after the morality police largely melted away in the face of widespread protests.

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China urges Japan not to disrupt chip industry after technology curbs take effect

China's government appealed to Japan on Monday not to disrupt the semiconductor industry after curbs on exports of Japanese chip-making technology took effect, adding to technology restrictions Washington and its allies have imposed on China on security grounds.

The Japanese restrictions that took effect Sunday limit Chinese access to tools for etching microscopically small circuits on advanced chips for smartphones, artificial intelligence and other applications. The Netherlands also joined the United States in limiting access to chipmaking tools that Washington says could be used to develop weapons.

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Cabinet begins successive sessions to pass 2023 state budget

The caretaker Cabinet convened Monday at the Grand Serail to discuss the much delayed 2023 state budget.

The Council of Ministers’ General-Secretariat received the budget draft law from the Finance Ministry last week, and cabinet will hold successive sessions to discuss and approve it.

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Official at automaker FCA US pleads guilty in scheme to withhold emission systems information

An official at automaker FCA US, formerly known as Chrysler Group, has pleaded guilty in federal court in a scheme to withhold emission systems information on more than 100,000 vehicles.

Emanuele Palma's plea to conspiring to violate the Clean Air Act was announced Thursday by the Justice Department. Palma, 43, is scheduled to be sentenced Oct. 17 in federal court.

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Biden visits Philly shipyard as he courts organized labor and pushes green jobs

Flanked by cranes and shipyard workers, President Joe Biden made the pitch Thursday that unions will be building America's renewable energy future — a courtship of organized labor at a moment when some major unions are weighing strikes that could disrupt the growth he wants to campaign on in 2024.

The president toured the Philly Shipyard, where there was a steel-cutting ceremony for the Acadia, a vessel that will help to build offshore wind farms. Biden ticked through the various union jobs being created by the project, promoting a message he has started to amplify as he seeks a second term.

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UK banking boss apologizes to populist politician Farage over the closure of his account

The chief executive of U.K. bank NatWest Group has apologized to populist politician Nigel Farage after he complained that his bank account was shut down because the banking group didn't agree with his political views.

Farage, a talk show presenter and former leader of the pro-Brexit U.K. Independence Party, said his account with the prestigious private bank Coutts, owned by NatWest Group, was closed down unfairly.

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Sri Lankan president's visit to India signals growing economic and energy ties

Sri Lanka and India signed a series of energy, development and trade agreements on Friday, signaling growing economic ties between the neighboring countries.

Sri Lankan President Ranil Wickremesinghe arrived in New Delhi a day earlier for the official visit, his first since taking up the top job last year after an economic meltdown forced his predecessor to flee.

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Stock market gains help pave way for IPO resurgence in 2023 after worst year since Great Recession

A strong stock market turnaround is helping spur a resurgence in companies going public a year after the number of Wall Street newcomers fell to the lowest level since the Great Recession.

Some 55 initial public offerings, or IPOs, have priced so far this year, raising $9.7 billion in proceeds, according to IPO tracker Renaissance Capital. Last year, 71 companies went public, raising $7.7 billion.

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Will BDL vice governors resign after yesterday's 'discouraging' meeting?

The Central Bank’s four vice governors – Wassim Mansouri, Bashir Yakzan, Salim Chahine and Alexander Mouradian – might resign, a central Bank vice governor said.

The vice governor told al-Akhbar newspaper, in remarks published Friday, that the vice governors' meeting with the Parliament's Administration and Justice Committee was not "encouraging."

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Turkey hikes interest rates to battle inflation

Turkey's central bank raised its key interest rate Thursday, another sign of commitment to a traditional path of battling inflation but still falling below expectations after critics blamed President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's economic policies for inflaming a cost-of-living crisis.

The 2.5 percentage point hike — putting the rate at 17.5% — came a month after the bank unleashed a 8.5% increase, a reversal after more than a year of rate-cutting prompted by Erdogan.

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