JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken met China’s top diplomat to discuss thorny issues as part of efforts to nurture talks on the sidelines of regional diplomatic meetings in Indonesia, whose president called on rival powers Friday to avoid turning the region into a “competition arena.”

13 July 2023; MEMO: Iraq will start paying for its Iranian gas imports with oil, to circumvent the complicated mechanism agreed with Washington in order not to contravene US sanctions, the Prime Minister said on Tuesday, Reuters reports.

According to the report, Iraq cannot directly hand over cash to Iran, but payments must be held in a bank account and be used by Tehran to fund imports of food and medicines.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — As the six-month sprint to the Iowa caucuses begins, the sprawling field of Republican presidential candidates is facing growing pressure to prove they can become serious challengers to former President Donald Trump.

HONG KONG, July 14 (Reuters) - China's financial regulators have invited some of the world's biggest investors to a rare symposium next week, three sources said, seeking to encourage foreigners to keep investing in the world's second-largest economy despite its recent weakness and rising geopolitical tensions.

The meeting in Beijing next Friday will focus on the current conditions of U.S. dollar-denominated investment firms in China and the main challenges facing them, according to the sources who have direct knowledge of the matter and invitation documents reviewed by Reuters.

DEATH VALLEY NATIONAL PARK, Calif. (AP) — As uninviting as it sounds, Death Valley National Park beckons.

Even as the already extreme temperatures are forecast to climb even higher, potentially topping records amid a major U.S. heat wave, tourists are arriving at this infamous desert landscape on the California-Nevada border.

Daniel Jusehus snapped a photo earlier this week of a famed thermometer outside the aptly named Furnace Creek Visitor Center after challenging himself to a run in the sweltering heat.

WASHINGTON, July 14 (Reuters) - U.S. President Joe Biden's administration will cancel $39 billion in student debt for more than 804,000 borrowers, the Education Department said on Friday, describing the relief as the result of a "fix" to income-driven repayment (IDR) plans.

Borrowers will be eligible for forgiveness if they have made either 20 or 25 years of monthly IDR payments, the department said. The IDR program caps payment requirements for lower-income borrowers and forgives their remaining balance after a set number of years.

13 July 2023; MEMO: Zimbabwe and Iran signed 12 Memoranda of Understanding on Thursday to strengthen bilateral ties, as Iranian President, Ebrahim Raisi, wrapped up his three-nation African tour, Reuters reports.

Raisi, who visited Kenya and Uganda earlier in the week, met with Zimbabwean President, Emmerson Mnangagwa, in Harare.

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden and the Democratic National Committee raised more than $72 million for his reelection in the 10 weeks since he announced his 2024 candidacy, his campaign announced Friday, in a strong but not record performance by an incumbent.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Only about 1 in 10 U.S. adults give high ratings to the way democracy is working in the United States or how well it represents the interests of most Americans, according to a new poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Biden administration is making available $20 billion from a federal “green bank” for clean energy projects such as residential heat pumps, electric vehicle charging stations and community cooling centers.

Two programs, worth $14 billion and $6 billion, respectively, will offer competitive grants to nonprofits and other groups to invest in clean energy projects, with a focus on disadvantaged communities, the White House says.

DUBAI, July 14 (Reuters) - Standard Chartered (STAN.L) said on Friday it has reached an agreement to sell its subsidiaries in five sub-Saharan African countries to Nigeria's Access Bank, putting into motion a plan announced last year to divest those businesses.

Standard Chartered will sell its shareholding in its subsidiaries in Angola, Cameroon, Gambia and Sierra Leone to Access. It will also sell its consumer, private & business banking business in Tanzania to Access Bank, a subsidiary of Access Holdings (ACCESSCORP.LG).

SINGAPORE/WASHINGTON, July 14 (Reuters) - Bitcoin was hovering near its highest so far this year on Friday after crypto investors took encouragement from a legal victory in which the cryptocurrency XRP was ruled not to be a security.

A U.S. judge said on Thursday that Ripple Labs Inc did not violate securities law by selling its XRP token on public exchanges.