The Italian telecommunications company said late Sunday the offer from the CDP Equity and Macquarie Infrastructure and Real Assets (Europe) Ltd. consortium expires at the end of March. Since CDP Equity is a related party to TIM, the offer will be evaluated by TIM's related parties committee and subsequently by its board at a meeting on March 15 or at another date, the company said.
Iran Promises to Increase Cooperation With IAEA Over Nuclear Work
Iran made fresh promises to increase its cooperation with the United Nations atomic agency on Saturday, but International Atomic Energy Agency chief Rafael Grossi returned from Tehran with no breakthrough over a series of Western concerns about Iran's nuclear activities.
In a press conference on his return, Mr. Grossi said Iran had promised to allow the agency to reinstall cameras and other monitoring equipment at several important nuclear-related facilities. Iran removed the equipment last summer.
Russia's Wagner Troops Exhaust Ukrainian Forces in Bakhmut
CHASIV YAR, Ukraine-Shielded by a small hill from Russian positions a half-mile away, a Ukrainian soldier spotted via drone feed a new foxhole that appeared overnight northwest of the embattled city of Bakhmut.
Three troopers of Russia's Wagner paramilitary organization had crawled through no man's land to establish a firing position, likely for a grenade launcher. The drone's camera zoomed to Russian trenches behind.
Ukraine, Neighbors Sign Pact on Prosecuting the Crime of Aggression
LVIV, Ukraine-Representatives from seven countries agreed Saturday to establish an international center for prosecuting the crime of aggression, which they hope will be a first step toward going after the top Russian officials responsible for invading Ukraine.
At a summit in Lviv that brought together leaders from across the Western world, officials from Ukraine, the Baltic states, Poland, Romania and Slovakia signed the agreement to create the new center in The Hague.
Saudi Arabia and U.A.E. Clash Over Oil, Yemen as Rift Grows
DUBAI-When Abu Dhabi hosted a summit of Middle East leaders at a seaside palace in January, there was a glaring absence: Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. A month before, the United Arab Emirates' top leaders skipped a high-profile China-Arab summit in Riyadh.
Prince Mohammed and U.A.E. President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed al Nahyan steered clear of each other's events intentionally, Gulf officials said, even as the rulers of Jordan, Egypt, Qatar and others attended. The snubs exposed a growing rift between neighboring U.S. security partners that for years marched in lockstep on Middle East foreign policy.
Tunisian President Targets Sub-Saharan African Migrants, Mob Violence Follows
Tunisian authorities have arrested hundreds of sub-Saharan African migrants after President Kais Saied denounced immigration last month and said there was a "criminal plot" to change Tunisia's demographic makeup.
Following the speech, groups of Tunisian men attacked dark-skinned migrants, assaulting some and chasing many from their homes. More than 100 migrants have fled to the United Nations' International Organization for Migration building in Tunis, the country's capital.
GLOBAL NEWS
Fed's Rate Moves Put Manufacturing Sector at Risk
The American manufacturing sector is starting to show signs of weakness after two years of strong growth, as higher interest rates and a slowdown in exports threaten production.
New orders for manufactured goods contracted for the sixth straight month through February, according to surveys by the Institute for Supply Management. Manufacturing output is down 1.7% from its postpandemic peak in May 2022, according to a three-month moving average of Federal Reserve data. And the Commerce Department's measure of civilian capital equipment orders, excluding aircraft-the building blocks of business-was down 3.4% in January from its recent high in November 2021, after adjusting for inflation.
China Sets Conservative Growth Target as Challenges Loom
HONG KONG-China unveiled its lowest growth target in more than a quarter-century as Beijing faces challenges in the domestic and global economy following its emergence from three years of strict Covid-19 measures.
China's target of around 5% growth this year in gross domestic product, announced on Sunday by Premier Li Keqiang at the start of the country's annual legislative session, suggests that officials are less concerned about raw economic expansion as they turn their attention to other priorities.
U.S. Prepares New Rules on Investment in China
WASHINGTON-The Biden administration is preparing a new program that could prohibit U.S. investment in certain sectors in China, a new step to guard U.S. technology advantages during a growing competition between the world's two largest economies.
In reports provided to lawmakers Friday on Capitol Hill, the Treasury and Commerce departments said they were considering a new regulatory system to address U.S. investment in advanced technologies abroad that could pose national security risks, according to copies of the reports viewed by The Wall Street Journal.
EVs Boost Chip Demand Despite Semiconductor Makers' Woes
Chip sales that have declined across many customer segments are still enjoying one area of rising demand: cars.
Growing sales of electric vehicles-which tend to use more semiconductors than their gas-powered counterparts-coupled with greater automation of all vehicles, have kept producers of chips for cars busy. The long-term outlook for the market appears robust, Tesla Inc. suggested this past week, as Chief Executive Elon Musk detailed plans for his car company to scale up to 20 million vehicles a year by 2030, from around 1.3 million in 2022.
Energy Industry Wrestles Over Going Green Too Fast
While the race to develop cleaner energy intensified over the past year, an uneasy consensus emerged on a parallel track: At least in the short term, the world needs more oil and gas, too.
The dueling-and sometimes conflicting-imperatives are expected to be core topics in Houston starting Monday when oil executives, climate hawks and government officials gather at the industry's premier annual energy summit.
Biden Budget to Draw Battle Lines With GOP on Taxes, Spending Ahead of 2024 Campaign
WASHINGTON-President Biden this week will release his annual budget blueprint, a document that is unlikely to gain momentum in Congress but will shed light on his priorities ahead of an expected re-election campaign and set the stage for contentious negotiations with Republicans over government spending.
Mr. Biden, in his February State of the Union address, said his fiscal year 2024 budget will map out a plan to lower the deficit by $2 trillion over 10 years and extend the solvency of the Medicare Trust Fund by at least two decades. He pledged to achieve those goals without cutting Social Security or Medicare benefits or raising taxes on Americans making less than $400,000 a year.
Trump vs. DeSantis: A Shadow Presidential Contest Revs Up and Heads to Iowa
Former President Donald Trump and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis dug in this weekend for what is expected to be a bitter and personal race between the two for the 2024 GOP presidential nomination.
Mr. Trump revved up supporters Saturday at the Conservative Political Action Conference outside Washington-an event Mr. DeSantis skipped-while the governor appeared before Republican groups in Texas and gave a speech Sunday afternoon at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in California. The two will then descend on Iowa, which holds the first GOP nominating contest.
China Favors Chips, AI Executives Over Internet Tycoons at Top Political Meetings
A number of prominent Chinese internet executives have been left out of the country's top political meetings in Beijing this week, giving way to experts in artificial intelligence and semiconductors as Chinese leader Xi Jinping's priorities shift amid rising technology competition with the U.S.
Pony Ma, Robin Li and William Ding, the chief executives of Chinese internet companies Tencent Holdings Ltd., Baidu Inc. and NetEase Inc. respectively, are conspicuous in their absence from this year's list of delegates to the National People's Congress, China's legislative body, and the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, a political advisory body. Also missing was Lenovo Group Ltd. CEO Yang Yuanqing.
China's Military-Spending Growth to Accelerate to 7.2% This Year
BEIJING-China plans to boost its military spending by 7.2% this year, the government said Sunday, accelerating its military buildup as tensions rise with the U.S. and its allies over Taiwan.
Total military expenditures this year will reach the equivalent of about $224 billion, according to a draft budget report issued at the opening of the annual gathering of China's National People's Congress. That growth rate would be the fastest since 2019 and exceeds Beijing's target for gross domestic product growth this year.
China to Create New Top Regulator for Data Governance
SINGAPORE-China is set to create a new government agency to centralize the management of the country's vast stores of data, as Beijing seeks to address data-security practices by businesses and streamline its regulatory structure.
The new national data bureau is set to become the top Chinese regulator on various data-related issues, people familiar with the matter said, in a shift from the current structure in which multiple ministries share oversight.
Pentagon Sees Giant Cargo Cranes as Possible Chinese Spying Tools
WASHINGTON-U.S. officials are growing concerned that giant Chinese-made cranes operating at American ports across the country, including at several used by the military, could give Beijing a possible spying tool hiding in plain sight.
(MORE TO FOLLOW) Dow Jones Newswires
03-06-23 0643ET
