SEOUL (Reuters) – South Korea’s manufacturing activity weakened in March as slowing domestic demand offset robust overseas sales, a private-sector survey showed on Monday.
The purchasing managers index (PMI) for manufacturers in Asia’s fourth-largest economy, compiled by S&P Global, stood at 49.8 in Marchon a seasonally adjusted basis, down from 50.7 in February.
The fall below the 50-mark, which separates expansion from contraction, was the first in three months, with sub-indexes for output and new orders slipping to 49.8 and 49.9, respectively.
“March PMI data signalled that South Korea’s manufacturing sector saw a renewed deterioration in operating conditions. Both output and new order volumes declined, as firms mentioned that weak demand and a muted domestic economy held back production and sales,” said Usamah Bhatti, economist at S&P Global Market Intelligence.
“One bright light, however, was that export demand rose for the third month in a row and at a stronger rate.”
The survey showed export orders grew in Southeast Asia, North America and Japan. The findings align with official data on South Korea’s overall exports, which have risen since October thanks to chip-led demand.
However, domestic demand has been weakening due to interest rates staying at elevated levels for a prolonged period, raising some concerns about the pace of economic recovery.
Manufacturers’ stocks of finished goods and input purchases fell by the sharpest rate since December 2021 and April 2020, respectively, driven by firms’ efforts to reduce inventory levels to save costs.
Still, South Korean manufacturers turned more optimistic for the year ahead on hopes for a sustained improvement in demand, particularly in the semiconductor and automotive sectors, alongside a broader economic recovery.
(Reporting by Jihoon Lee. Editing by Shri Navaratnam)
People across Germany on Saturday joined the country’s traditional Easter marches that emerged from last century’s peace movement, with marchers this year calling for an end to fighting in Ukraine and the Gaza Strip.
The marches against nuclear weapons and in favour of peace have been held over Easter for more than 60 years. The main day of action is Saturday, with around 70 events scheduled to take place across the country.
In Berlin, some 3,500 people joined this year’s Easter March, according to police estimates.
More than 1,000 marched for peace in the northern city of Bremen, while several hundred joined demonstrations in Cologne, Duisburg, Saarbrücken, Leipzig and Kassel.
Marchers called for negotiations and diplomatic solutions to the Ukraine war, started by Russia on February 24, 2022, and fighting in Gaza, as well as an end to weapons deliveries for Kiev and Israel.
Israel launched a military operation in the Palestinian coastal area following the October 7 massacres led by the Palestinian extremist organization Hamas.
Participants in Berlin carried placards with slogans like “Friendship with Russia – Viva Palestine,” and “Genocide in Gaza,” referring to the high number of civilian deaths caused by Israel’s military incursion.
Others criticized the government in Berlin and people waved Russian and Palestinian flags.
The Easter Marches emerged from last century’s pan-European peace movement calling for nuclear disarmament and protesting the arms race, with the first Easter march held in Britain in 1958.
This year, marchers in Germany are also demanding a more fundamental rejection of the logic of war and militarization.
Pro-Palestinian activists take part in a demonstration, as part of an Easter march with the slogan “Leipzig wants peace”. Sebastian Willnow/dpa
People take part in the traditional Easter march under the motto “Warlike – Never Again” with signs reading “The 180 Degree Greens, Plowshares to Tanks”, “Warmongers to the Front”. Fabian Sommer/dpa
People gather on Roncalliplatz for the Easter march under the slogan “For a civil turnaround – end wars, stop rearmament!”. Christian Knieps/dpa
Sabine Rosenbrock (L) holds a placard at Roncalliplatz during the Easter march under the motto “For a civil turnaround – end wars, stop rearmament!”. Christian Knieps/dpa
People holding Palestinian flags and flags with doves of peace gather on Roncalliplatz for the Easter march under the motto “For a civil turnaround – end wars, stop rearmament!”. Christian Knieps/dpa
In the deal reached between Germany’s national rail operator Deutsche Bahn and the GDL trade union to end a punishing industrial dispute, the company confirmed to dpa on Tuesday that it has agreed to the union’s demand for a 35-hour work week.
“After a long struggle and a difficult wage dispute, we have found a solution and signed the agreements with the GDL a few hours ago,” said Martin Seiler, head of human resources at Deutsche Bahn, in Berlin on Tuesday morning.
Deutsche Bahn and train drivers’ union GDL presented the compromise at separate press conferences. Union head Claus Weselsky spoke of “a success, almost across the board.”
Deutsche Bahn said the work week is to be reduced from the current 38 hours to the 35 hours demanded by the GDL in several stages by 2029, with wages remaining the same.
However, employees who want to still work 38 hours per week or increase their working hours to up to 40 hours per week will receive a 2.7% increase in pay per hour, according to the terms of the deal.
From 2027, there will be a further optional reduction to 36 hours, from 2028 to 35.5 hours and from 2029 to 35 hours, the agreement states.
However, employees must register with their employer if they wish to take part in the reduced hours.
This is a major concession by Deutsche Bahn, which had proposed a 36-hour work week, but the union stuck to its 35-hour demand and accompanied that with several strikes.
There was only one point on which the union was unable to assert itself, Weselsky said: The GDL will not conclude any collective agreements for infrastructure employees in the future. Weselsky conceded that too few employees had taken part in the strikes in this area to justify such an extension.
Deutsche Bahn, meanwhile, ruled out renegotiations with the railway workers’ union EVG, the company’s head of human resources, Martin Seiler, said on Tuesday.
“We have existing collective agreements with EVG that run until the end of March next year,” Seiler said in Berlin on Tuesday.
“We have not agreed a renegotiation clause, and in this respect we see ourselves at the negotiating table with EVG in around a year’s time.”
Deutsche Bahn and EVG reached a wage agreement last summer, which includes a pay increase of €410 ($445) per month over a period of 25 months. In addition, structural increases in the pay scales were agreed for individual occupational groups, which will be applied after this contract period.
Travellers can look forward to strike-free rail transport at least for the current year.
Claus Weselsky, Chairman of the German Train Drivers’ Union (GDL), stands at a table with folders of signed collective agreements after a press conference on the agreement reached with Deutsche Bahn in the wage dispute. Carsten Koall/dpa
Claus Weselsky, Chairman of the German Train Drivers’ Union (GDL), talks to journalists at a press conference about the agreement reached with Deutsche Bahn in the wage dispute. Carsten Koall/dpa
Martin Seiler, Chief Human Resources Officer of Deutsche Bahn (DB), talks to journalists at a press conference about the agreement with the GDL in the wage dispute. Carsten Koall/dpa
In the deal reached between Germany’s national rail operator Deutsche Bahn and the GDL trade union to end a punishing industrial dispute, the company confirmed to dpa on Tuesday that it has agreed to the union’s demand for a 35-hour work week.
Deutsche Bahn said the work week is to be reduced from the current 38 hours to the 35 hours demanded by the GDL in several stages by 2029, with wages remaining the same.
However, employees who want to still work 38 hours per week or increase their working hours to up to 40 per week will receive a 2.7% increase in pay per hour, according to the terms of the deal.
From 2027, there will then be a further optional reduction to 36 hours, from 2028 to 35.5 hours and from 2029 to 35 hours, the agreement states.
However, employees must register with their employer if they wish to take part in the reduced hours.
This is a major concession by Deutsche Bahn, which had proposed a 36-hour work week, but the union stuck to its 35-hour demand and accompanied that with several strikes.
On Sunday there were reports that both sides had reached an agreement after months of a bitter dispute.
Both sides, in separate press conferences, are expected to release further details on Tuesday.
Thousands of Israelis demonstrated for the release of hostages held by the Islamist Hamas and against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his government on Saturday evening.
People in Tel Aviv shouted, “Time is running out, bring them home!” according to Israeli media reports.
The demonstrators set several small fires on the streets in the city centre and blocked a main traffic route.
Their calls were also directed against Netanyahu, whose critics say has failed to manage the crisis following the attacks by Palestinian Islamist Hamas on southern Israel in October, triggering the current war.
Protesters say Netanyahu is focusing more on ensuring his political survival than the release of the hostages kidnapped and taken to Gaza in the October 7 attacks. “Whoever abandoned them must bring them back!” they shouted.
Demonstrators demanded that Netanyahu’s government resign and new elections be held, as was the case in similar rallies held since the war broke out.
One speaker said: “My cousin Ofer has been a prisoner of Hamas for 169 days. And we have been prisoners of our government for 169 days.”
Up to 240 people were taken hostage by the Hamas militants who killed some 1,200 in their attacks. Israel responded with overwhelming ground and air attacks on Gaza, aiming to crush Hamas.
Just over 100 hostages were released during a ceasefire in November. Israel estimates some 100 hostages in Gaza are still alive.
The US, Egypt and Qatar have been mediating in ongoing negotiations to secure their release of the hostages in return for Palestinian prisoners being held in Israeli jails.
Several hundred people also demonstrated in front of Netanyahu’s official residence in Jerusalem on Saturday evening. “Decisive negotiations are taking place in Qatar these days,” said a speaker whose brother is among the hostages. “Israel’s government must not let this opportunity pass.”
People demonstrate against the Israeli government and demand the return of Israeli hostages taken by Hamas. Cindy Riechau/dpa
Port-au-Prince, Haiti — The U.S. Embassy in Haiti said Tuesday that it was closing down due to gunfire nearby, after months of ceaseless violence at the hands of gangs drove thousands of Haitians onto the streets to demand security.
“The Embassy is closed today. All personnel are restricted to Embassy compounds until further notice due to gunfire in the vicinity of the Embassy. Travel between the compounds is prohibited,” the embassy said in a statement posted to its official social media channels, adding that some routes to the secure compound could also be “impacted due to continued rapid gunfire.”
The embassy statement warned U.S. nationals in Port-au-Prince to avoid the area around the diplomatic compound completely, along with any “demonstrations and any large gatherings of people.”
Security Alert: U.S. Embassy Port-au-Prince, Haiti (July 27, 2023)
Location: Haiti
Events: Given the recent armed…
Posted by American Citizen Services – U.S. Embassy, Port-au-Prince, Haiti on Thursday, July 27, 2023
The embassy was shuttered a day after several thousand people — their faces covered to conceal their identities — marched through Haiti’s capital demanding protection from the violent gangs which have pillaged neighborhoods across the capital city and beyond for months.
Haitians’ daily lives have been disrupted by incessant gang violence that has worsened poverty across the country as it awaits a decision from the U.N. Security Council over a potential deployment of an international armed force.
“We want security!” the crowd chanted as it marched for two hours Monday from the troubled community of Carrefour-Feuilles to Champ de Mars in the downtown area and then to the prime minister’s official residence, where police broke up the demonstration with tear gas.
People march as tires burn during a protest against insecurity, August 7, 2023, near the prime minister’s official residence in Port-au-Prince, Haiti.
RICHARD PIERRIN/AFP/Getty
“I can’t work. I can’t go out. I’m like a prisoner in my own home,” said Wilene Joseph, a 36-year-old street vendor and mother of two who joined the march out of frustration.
“I worry about my kids being shot because bullets are flying from all directions all the time,” Joseph said of her children, ages 5 and 7. “The situation is unacceptable.”
Since the assassination of President Jovenel Moïse in 2021, experts say gangs have seized control of up to 80% of Port-au-Prince, killing, raping and sowing terror in communities already suffering endemic poverty.
From January to March, more than 1,600 people have been reported killed, injured or kidnapped, a nearly 30% increase compared with the last three months of 2022, according to the newest U.N. report.
On Monday, UNICEF announced an “alarming spike” in kidnappings, with nearly 300 confirmed cases so far this year, almost equaling the number reported for all of last year, and almost three times the total for 2021.
The agency noted that women and children are increasingly being kidnapped and used for financial or tactical gain. Among those kidnapped in late July was Alix Dorsainvil, a U.S. nurse from New Hampshire, and her young daughter.
What we know about the American mother and child kidnapped in Haiti
03:40
Dorsainvil works for El Roi Haiti, a Christian organization that offers medical care, education and other services. She and her daughter remain in the hands of their captors, who are demanding $1 million in ransom.
Parents of young children are particularly fearful that gangs will snatch them when they go to and from school. Nacheline Nore, 40, said her two boys, ages 10 and 8, have to call her every day as soon as they step inside their school, and she rides back home with them every afternoon: “You don’t know who’s going to be the next target,” she said.
Mario Jenty, a 36-year-old cell phone vendor who joined Monday’s march, said the increase in kidnappings is pushing Haitians into even deeper poverty. “They’re going to have to sell that home to pay for ransom, and there’s a chance they might not be released,” he said of the victims.
Jenty, who lives in Carrefour-Feuilles, said he would not allow gangs to take over his neighborhood. “I’m going to fight this,” he said. “I’d rather die than leave my community.”
Vigilante justice on the rise in Haiti amid gang violence
05:14
Jenty joined the thousands of Haitians who yelled “Bwa kale!” on Monday as they marched, a reference to a violent uprising that began earlier this year, with civilians targeting suspected gang members. More than 200 people have been slain since then, and demonstrators vowed to keep the movement alive as gangs overwhelm Haiti’s understaffed and under resourced police department.
Last October, Haiti’s prime minister and other top-ranking officials requested the urgent deployment of an international armed force to help quell gang violence.
In late July, Kenya offered to lead a multinational police force, but the U.N. Security Council has yet to vote on a resolution to authorize a non-U.N. multinational mission. The U.S. said last week that it would put forward such a resolution.
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) — Several thousand people — their faces covered to conceal their identities — marched through Haiti’s capital on Monday demanding protection from violent gangs who are pillaging neighborhoods in the capital Port-au-Prince and beyond.
Haitians’ daily lives have been disrupted by incessant gang violence that has worsened poverty across the country as it awaits a decision from the U.N. Security Council over a potential deployment of an international armed force.
“We want security!” the crowd chanted as it marched for two hours from the troubled community of Carrefour-Feuilles to Champ de Mars in the downtown area and then to the prime minister’s official residence, where police broke up the demonstration with tear gas.
“I can’t work. I can’t go out. I’m like a prisoner in my own home,” said Wilene Joseph, a 36-year-old street vendor and mother of two who joined the march out of frustration.
“I worry about my kids being shot because bullets are flying from all directions all the time,” Joseph said of her children, ages 5 and 7. “The situation is unacceptable.”
Since the assassination of President Jovenel Moïse in 2021, experts say gangs have seized control of up to 80% of Port-au-Prince, killing, raping and sowing terror in communities already suffering endemic poverty.
From January to March, more than 1,600 people have been reported killed, injured or kidnapped, a nearly 30% increase compared with the last three months of 2022, according to the newest U.N. report.
On Monday, UNICEF announced an “alarming spike” in kidnappings, with nearly 300 confirmed cases so far this year, almost equaling the number reported for all of last year, and almost three times the total for 2021.
The agency noted that women and children are increasingly being kidnapped and used for financial or tactical gain. Among those kidnapped in late July was Alix Dorsainvil, a U.S. nurse from New Hampshire, and her young daughter. Dorsainvil works for El Roi Haiti, a Christian organization that offers medical care, education and other services. She and her daughter remain in the hands of their captors, who are demanding $1 million in ransom.
Parents of young children are particularly fearful that gangs will snatch them when they go to and from school. Nacheline Nore, 40, said her two boys, ages 10 and 8, have to call her every day as soon as they step inside their school, and she rides back home with them every afternoon: “You don’t know who’s going to be the next target,” she said.
Mario Jenty, a 36-year-old cell phone vendor who joined Monday’s march, said the increase in kidnappings is pushing Haitians into even deeper poverty. “They’re going to have to sell that home to pay for ransom, and there’s a chance they might not be released,” he said of the victims.
Jenty, who lives in Carrefour-Feuilles, said he would not allow gangs to take over his neighborhood. “I’m going to fight this,” he said. “I’d rather die than leave my community.”
Jenty joined the thousands of Haitians who yelled “Bwa kale!” on Monday as they marched, a reference to a violent uprising that began earlier this year, with civilians targeting suspected gang members. More than 200 people have been slain since then, and demonstrators vowed to keep the movement alive as gangs overwhelm Haiti’s understaffed and under resourced police department.
Last October, Haiti’s prime minister and other top-ranking officials requested the urgent deployment of an international armed force to help quell gang violence.
In late July, Kenya offered to lead a multinational police force, but the U.N. Security Council has yet to vote on a resolution to authorize a non-U.N. multinational mission. The U.S. said last week that it would put forward such a resolution.
___
Associated Press writer Dánica Coto in San Juan, Puerto Rico contributed.
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) — Several thousand people — their faces covered to conceal their identities — marched through Haiti’s capital on Monday demanding protection from violent gangs who are pillaging neighborhoods in the capital Port-au-Prince and beyond.
Haitians’ daily lives have been disrupted by incessant gang violence that has worsened poverty across the country as it awaits a decision from the U.N. Security Council over a potential deployment of an international armed force.
“We want security!” the crowd chanted as it marched for two hours from the troubled community of Carrefour-Feuilles to Champ de Mars in the downtown area and then to the prime minister’s official residence, where police broke up the demonstration with tear gas.
“I can’t work. I can’t go out. I’m like a prisoner in my own home,” said Wilene Joseph, a 36-year-old street vendor and mother of two who joined the march out of frustration.
“I worry about my kids being shot because bullets are flying from all directions all the time,” Joseph said of her children, ages 5 and 7. “The situation is unacceptable.”
Since the assassination of President Jovenel Moïse in 2021, experts say gangs have seized control of up to 80% of Port-au-Prince, killing, raping and sowing terror in communities already suffering endemic poverty.
From January to March, more than 1,600 people have been reported killed, injured or kidnapped, a nearly 30% increase compared with the last three months of 2022, according to the newest U.N. report.
On Monday, UNICEF announced an “alarming spike” in kidnappings, with nearly 300 confirmed cases so far this year, almost equaling the number reported for all of last year, and almost three times the total for 2021.
The agency noted that women and children are increasingly being kidnapped and used for financial or tactical gain. Among those kidnapped in late July was Alix Dorsainvil, a U.S. nurse from New Hampshire, and her young daughter. Dorsainvil works for El Roi Haiti, a Christian organization that offers medical care, education and other services. She and her daughter remain in the hands of their captors, who are demanding $1 million in ransom.
Parents of young children are particularly fearful that gangs will snatch them when they go to and from school. Nacheline Nore, 40, said her two boys, ages 10 and 8, have to call her every day as soon as they step inside their school, and she rides back home with them every afternoon: “You don’t know who’s going to be the next target,” she said.
Mario Jenty, a 36-year-old cell phone vendor who joined Monday’s march, said the increase in kidnappings is pushing Haitians into even deeper poverty. “They’re going to have to sell that home to pay for ransom, and there’s a chance they might not be released,” he said of the victims.
Jenty, who lives in Carrefour-Feuilles, said he would not allow gangs to take over his neighborhood. “I’m going to fight this,” he said. “I’d rather die than leave my community.”
Jenty joined the thousands of Haitians who yelled “Bwa kale!” on Monday as they marched, a reference to a violent uprising that began earlier this year, with civilians targeting suspected gang members. More than 200 people have been slain since then, and demonstrators vowed to keep the movement alive as gangs overwhelm Haiti’s understaffed and under resourced police department.
Last October, Haiti’s prime minister and other top-ranking officials requested the urgent deployment of an international armed force to help quell gang violence.
In late July, Kenya offered to lead a multinational police force, but the U.N. Security Council has yet to vote on a resolution to authorize a non-U.N. multinational mission. The U.S. said last week that it would put forward such a resolution.
___
Associated Press writer Dánica Coto in San Juan, Puerto Rico contributed.
Port-au-Prince, Haiti — The fate of an American nurse and her daughter kidnapped in Haiti last week remained unknown Tuesday as the U.S. State Department refused to say whether the abductors made demands. Around 200 Haitians marched in their nation’s capital on Monday, meanwhile, to show their anger over the abduction — the latest example of the worsening gang violence that has overtaken much of Port-au-Prince.
Alix Dorsainvil of New Hampshire was working for El Roi Haiti, a nonprofit Christian ministry, when she and her daughter were seized Thursday. She is the wife of its founder, Sandro Dorsainvil.
Witnesses told The Associated Press that Dorsainvil was working in the small brick clinic when armed men burst in and seized her. Lormina Louima, a patient waiting for a check-up, said one man pulled out his gun and told her to relax.
“When I saw the gun, I was so scared,” Louima said. “I said, ‘I don’t want to see this, let me go.'”
Search continues for U.S. mother and child kidnapped in Haiti
06:41
Some members of the community said the unidentified men asked for $1 million in ransom, a standard practice of the gangs killing and sowing terror among Haiti’s impoverished population. Hundreds of kidnappings have occurred in the country this year alone, figures from the local nonprofit Center for Analysis and Research in Human Rights show.
Dorsainvil first visited the country soon after the 2010 earthquake and “fell in love with the people,” according to El Roi Haiti, which said the pair were taken “while serving in our community ministry.”
Originally from New Hampshire, Dorsainvil has lived and worked as a nurse in Port-au-Prince since 2020 at the school run by El Roi Haiti, which aims to expand access to affordable education and teaches a faith-based curriculum, according to the organization.
The same day Dorsainvil and her daughter were taken, the U.S. State Department advised Americans to avoid travel in Haiti and ordered nonemergency personnel to leave, citing widespread kidnappings that regularly target U.S. citizens.
New documentary “Fighting for Haiti” examines gang violence, political crisis in the country
06:49
The violence has stirred anger among Haitians, who say they simply want to live in peace. Protesters, largely from the area around El Roi Haiti’s campus, which includes the medical clinic, a school and more, echoed that call as they walked through the sweltering streets wielding cardboard signs written in Creole in red paint.
“She is doing good work in the community, free her,” read one.
Local resident Jean Ronald said the community has significantly benefitted from the care provided by El Roi Haiti. Such groups are often the only institutions in lawless areas, but the deepening violence has forced many to close, leaving thousands of vulnerable families without access to basic services like health care or education.
Earlier this month, Doctors Without Borders announced it was suspending services in one of its hospitals because some 20 armed men burst into an operating room and snatched a patient.
As the protesters walked through the area where Dorsainvil was taken, the streets were eerily quiet. The doors to the clinic where she worked were shut, the small brick building empty. Ronald and other locals worried the latest kidnapping may mean the clinic won’t reopen.
“If they leave, everything (the aid group’s programs) will shut down,” Ronald worried. “The money they are asking for, we don’t have it.”
State Department spokesman Matthew Miller wouldn’t say Monday if the abductors had made demands or answer other questions.
“Obviously, the safety and security of American citizens overseas is our highest priority. We are in regular contact with the Haitian authorities. We’ll continue to work with them and our U.S. government interagency partners, but because it’s an ongoing law enforcement investigation, there’s not more detail I can offer,” Miller wrote in a statement Monday.
In a video for the El Roi Haiti website, Alix Dorsainvil described Haitians as “full of joy, and life and love” and people she was blessed to know.
WASHINGTON — A trio of House Republican committee chairmen announced Monday that they are investigating the circumstances of the plea agreement that the Justice Department reached with Hunter Biden before it unraveled in court last week.
In a letter to Attorney General Merrick Garland, the three chairmen highlighted a provision in the pretrial diversion agreement that would have put the onus on the judge overseeing the case to determine over a 24-month period if the president’s son violated the terms of the plea deal. The judge — Judge Maryellen Noreika, who was appointed by former President Donald Trump — said last week that doing so would be outside the scope of her authority.
The congressional Republicans also took issue with a clause in the agreement that would have given Biden immunity from all other crimes in exchange for completing the pretrial diversion program.
“Taken individually, each of the provisions discussed above raises serious concerns about how the Department has handled this matter. But when considered together, the provisions appear to be even more troubling,” said the letter, signed by House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan of Ohio, House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer of Kentucky, and Ways and Means Committee Chairman Jason Smith of Missouri.
Biden pleaded not guilty to federal tax charges last week after the judge raised questions about the terms of the agreement. He had been expected to plead guilty to two charges of failure to pay taxes under a deal he struck with the government, but instead, he pleaded not guilty to those charges until the two sides can meet and address the questions posed by Noreika.
Biden’s lawyer, Chris Clark, responded to Noreika’s concerns about the pretrial diversion agreement provision in court last week, saying that because of tremendous political “Sturm and Drang” surrounding the case, that component of the agreement would help ensure it “wouldn’t become more politicized” if the government targeted Biden again in the future.
The Republican chairmen on Monday called the pretrial agreement “unusual” and said that combined with allegations presented by whistleblowers in related House GOP investigations into the Biden family, they believe the Justice Department “has provided preferential treatment toward Mr. Biden in the course of its investigation and proposed resolution of his alleged criminal conduct.”
The letter called on Garland to respond by Aug. 14 at 5 p.m. ET to their questions about other pretrial diversion agreements that included similar provisions as a point of comparison to Biden’s case, and for specific information about who inserted those provisions in the plea agreement. They also requested a briefing from Justice Department officials about the plea deal.
Neither Biden’s attorney nor the Justice Department immediately responded to requests for comment.
Rebecca Shabad
Rebecca Shabad is a politics reporter for NBC News based in Washington.
Rebecca Kaplan
Rebecca is a producer and off-air reporter covering Congress for NBC News, managing coverage of the House.
