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Oil giant Chevron is confirming that it will expand its operations in Venezuela, just days after President Donald Trump announced an ambitious deal to develop the nation's oil reserves and give the Pentagon a stake in the profits. Chevron said Wednesday that it has been assigned additional acreage in the Orinoco Belt, where the company has an established position. Joint venture plans include investing more than USD 7 billion over the next five years, more than doubling production to approximately 6,00,000 barrels a day compared to 2026. "Chevron's history in Venezuela spans more than a century, and our expanded position reflects our confidence in the country's deep resource potential and its ability to compete for investment within our portfolio for decades," CEO Mike Wirth said in a prepared statement. "With improved terms and additional acreage, we are strengthening a portfolio that we believe can deliver attractive low-cost oil growth, support energy supply and create ...
The North American Punjabi Association (NAPA) on Tuesday expressed concern over US immigration court data showing that 94.1 per cent of asylum cases were denied in June 2026, while only 5.5 per cent were granted. NAPA Executive Director Satnam Singh Chahal said the high denial rate raised concerns about the fairness of the US asylum system. "We support the enforcement of US immigration laws and strongly oppose fraudulent asylum claims. However, genuine asylum seekers must get a fair chance to present their cases and evidence," Chahal said. The figures were reported by the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC). He said a denial rate of more than 94 per cent was very high and needed an independent examination. According to the TRAC, 279 immigration judges were either fired or resigned during fiscal years 2025 and 2026. Hundreds of new and temporary judges have also joined the immigration court system. Chahal said reducing the backlog of immigration cases is important, b
US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent is meeting with finance ministers of the world's largest economies this week at a time when the United States has disrupted the international order with aggressive tariffs on major allies and an unpopular war on Iran that is keeping gas prices high for consumers. As Bessent opened meetings of the Group of 20 finance ministers in Asheville on Monday, he said he wants to focus on ways to grow the global economy and rein in mounting debt. But the event comes after hostilities renewed between the US and Iran, and as trade friction with Canada spiked following a breakdown in negotiations that led to escalating tariffs. Bessent told The Associated Press in an interview on Sunday that he plans to turn up pressure on Iran by sanctioning another bank, part of what he is calling "Operation Economic Outcast." He said the administration is prepared to exact "financial violence if we have to." Asked by reporters Monday how long it would take for the Iranian ..
The US economy grew at a sluggish 1.5 per cent pace from April through June. But consumer spending stayed strong. The Commerce Department reported Wednesday that growth in gross domestic product - the nation's output of a goods and services - decelerated from a 2.1 per cent pace from January through March. The second-quarter growth number was unchanged from the department's first estimate. Still, consumer spending - which accounts for about 70 per cent of US economic activity - increased at a healthy 3.4 per cent annual clip, up from 0.5 per cent in the January-March period. The reason for the lackluster growth number was imports. They are subtracted from growth because GDP is only supposed to count domestic US production. Imports rose at a 12.5 per cent annual pace from April through June, partly due to a surge in shipments of computer chips and other products that support artificial intelligence investment, and sliced 1.64 percentage points off second-quarter growth. But business