BRASILIA, June 3 (NNN-MERCOPRESS) — Brazil’s Senate approved the bill making equal pay for men and women mandatory when they perform work of equal value or the same function, Agencia Brasil reported. The document is now ready for President Luiz Inácio Lula Da Silva to sign it into law.

OSLO, Norway (AP) — The Biden administration is retaliating for Russia’s suspension of the New START nuclear treaty, announcing Thursday it is revoking the visas of Russian nuclear inspectors, denying pending applications for new monitors and canceling standard clearances for Russian aircraft to enter U.S. airspace.

01 June 2023; MEMO: Russian President, Vladimir Putin, and Ukrainian President, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, are expected to visit Turkiye to meet with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan soon, Turkish media reports.

According to the report, both leaders are expected to visit Erdogan to discuss the situation of the war and the fate of the Black Sea Grain Initiative.

On Monday, Russia warned that the grain deal was in danger unless a UN agreement to overcome obstacles to Russian grain and fertiliser exports is fulfilled.

01 June 2023; MEMO: Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB) said, on Thursday, it had uncovered a US National Security Agency (NSA) plot using previously unknown malware to access specially made so-called backdoor vulnerabilities in Apple phones, Reuters reports.

The FSB, the main successor to the Soviet-era KGB, said several thousand Apple phones had been infected, including those of domestic Russian subscribers.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Fending off a U.S. default, the Senate gave final approval late Thursday to a debt ceiling and budget cuts package, grinding into the night to wrap up work on the bipartisan deal and send it to President Joe Biden’s desk to become law before the fast-approaching deadline.

WASHINGTON, June 2 (Reuters) - The U.S. Supreme Court has delivered the latest in a series of rulings undercutting organized labor, with some legal experts predicting that the decision will make unions that engage in strikes more vulnerable to lawsuits while others see a more modest impact.

SINGAPORE (AP) — As the United States and China vie to establish new partnerships and expand influence with Asia-Pacific nations, the top defense officials from both countries are preparing to try to win support this weekend from their regional counterparts, diplomats and leaders at a security forum in Singapore.

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, whose country is a stalwart American ally in the Pacific, is to give the keynote address Friday evening to open the dialogue at the Shangri-La Hotel hosted by the International Institute for Strategic Studies think tank.

01 June 2023; MEMO: Despite the Australian government's diplomatic efforts to secure the release of Wikileaks founder, Julian Assange, in the UK, US authorities have launched a new investigation into his case, Anadolu Agency reports.

The US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has sought an interview with acclaimed novelist, Andrew O'Hagan, who remained close to Assange while working as a ghost writer on the whistleblower's autobiography, The Sydney Morning Herald reported.

WASHINGTON (AP) — America’s surprisingly resilient job market may have delivered yet another month of solid hiring and pay gains in May, if economists’ forecasts prove to be correct. Still, some signs of cooling could emerge in the government report being released Friday.

GRIMES, Iowa (AP) — Former President Donald Trump kept up a steady drumbeat of criticism of his chief rival Ron DeSantis on Thursday, jumping immediately on remarks by the Florida governor on the campaign trail to try to highlight his own strength as the leading GOP presidential candidate.

01 June 2023; MEMO: Turkish archaeologists in Istanbul unearthed a fragment of the statue of Pan, who is known in ancient Greek mythology as the shepherd and the god of herds, authorities said, Anadolu Agency reports.

TOKYO, June 2 (Reuters) - The United States is seeking to secure supplies of TNT in Japan for 155mm artillery shells, as Washington rushes weapons and ammunition to Ukraine for a counteroffensive against Russian forces, two people familiar with the matter told Reuters.

For war-renouncing Japan, any procurement would test its willingness to court controversy to help Kyiv because export rules ban Japanese companies from selling lethal items overseas, such as the howitzer shells that Ukraine fires daily at Russian units occupying its southeastern regions.