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Ukrainian Air Force Commander Mykola Oleshchuk said the Kh-47 Kinzhal had been shot down on Thursday night over the region outside Kyiv. The Air Force said it had been taken down by a U.S. Patriot air defence system. Ukraine said the missile was fired during a drone attack on Kyiv and other cities in the early hours of Thursday. Ukraine's Air Force was previously seen as unable to shoot down ballistic missiles, which Russia used to strike residential areas and Ukraine's power infrastructure. The Air Force on Saturday said it shot down eight Shahed drones launched by Russia on the eastern and south-east Ukrainian regions in an overnight attack.

☆ Russian oil producer sets self-driving trucks to work on Arctic tundra
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-05 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

MOSCOW, May 5 (Reuters) - Driverless trucks produced by Russia's Kamaz (KMAZ.MM) have begun to carry cargoes across the snowy Arctic tundra for oil producer Gazprom Neft (SIBN.MM), the energy company said on Friday. Gazprom Neft said the trucks will service the Vostochno-Messoyakhskoye oilfield in the Gydan peninsula. Companies across the globe have poured billions of dollars into developing the driverless technology they say will increase road safety and alleviate truck driver shortages. Gazprom Neft is one of Russia's leading oil producers in terms of use of advanced technologies, including in tapping hard-to-recover oil. Kamaz also plans to use driverless trucks along the busy road between Moscow and St Petersburg, Russia's two largest cities.

☆ Cherry blossom mingles with barbed wire and trenches in Kyiv park
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-05 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

[1/5] A woman poses for a photo under cherry blossoms in a park in Kyiv, Ukraine, May 4, 2023. REUTERS/Alina Smutko/File PhotoKYIV, May 5 (Reuters) - Pink cherry blossom has brought a touch of spring to a Kyiv park still strewn with barbed wire and anti-tank barriers. The Ukrainian military positions in the park, including trenches and a bunker, are no longer in use. That's our destiny, that's the times we got assigned to live in. Reporting by Anna Voitenko, Felix Hoske and Andrii Pryimachenko; Writing by Alison Williams; Editing by Conor HumphriesOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Cubans, waylaid by weather and fuel shortage, march for May Day five days late
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-05 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

[1/2] People gather at the seafront Malecon to watch the International Worker's Day celebration in Havana, Cuba May 5, 2023. REUTERS/Alexandre MeneghiniHAVANA, May 5 (Reuters) - Cubans rallied on Havana's Malecon waterfront boulevard to celebrate International Worker's Day on Friday, five days after the planned May 1 event was called off due to foul weather and a fuel crisis that has crippled public transport on the island. "This year it was not possible, due to the fuel situation," said university professor Javier Sanchez, 24, as he cheered during the morning celebration. Though May 1 dawned clear in Havana, a wind and rain storm the previous day hindered preparations, leading Cuban officials to postpone the event until Friday. Cuban state-run media estimated that 100,000 Cubans had gathered on the Malecon by early Friday morning.

☆ US proposes new checks on land sales to foreigners near military bases
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-05 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

WASHINGTON, May 5 (Reuters) - Buying land near eight U.S. military bases could become more difficult for foreign companies and citizens under a Treasury Department rule proposed by the Biden administration on Friday. Grand Forks Air Force Base houses air and space operations and includes a unit that operates military drones. The Air Force, Republican senators and community members voiced opposition to the real estate deal. The Grand Forks City Council in February voted to terminate its development agreement with Fufeng, preventing it from building the mill. North Dakota Senator Kevin Cramer welcomed news of the proposed rule, which could have blocked the land sale to Fufeng.

☆ Kenyan police fire tear gas as anti-government protests resume
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-02 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

REUTERS/Thomas MukoyaNAIROBI, May 2 (Reuters) - Kenyan police fired tear gas at a small group of protesters in the capital Nairobi on Tuesday as the opposition took to the streets again in anti-government demonstrations following a one-month pause. Police said they had arrested 46 people "engaging in acts of criminality" and said the protests were unlawful. The Azimio La Umoja (Declaration of Unity) coalition said some of its members of parliament were stopped on their way to the president's office and met with teargas. Our protests will resume on Thursday," the coalition said in a statement. But he later announced that the protests would resume, accusing the government of not negotiating in good faith.

☆ Head of Sweden's No. 2 party calls for rethink of relations with EU
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-02 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

STOCKHOLM, May 2 (Reuters) - Sweden should seek more exemptions from EU laws as part of a reset in relations with the 27-member bloc, the head of the Sweden Democrats, the country's second largest party and an informal part of the government, said on Tuesday. Swedes are among the most positive in Europe regarding EU membership, with 68% in support, according to a survey by Gothenburg University in March. The Sweden Democrat's EU-sceptic stance was long seen as an obstacle to their acceptance into the political mainstream and the party dropped that demand in 2018. As part of the deal, the Sweden Democrats have been able to exercise considerable influence on policy, pushing for tougher immigration rules and watered-down ambitions on climate change. The Sweden Democrats have threatened to bring down the coalition if it doesn't cut taxes on fuels and stand up to the EU over asylum quotas.

Companies Ozone Networks Inc FollowNEW YORK, May 1 (Reuters) - A former employee of OpenSea, the world's largest marketplace for non-fungible tokens (NFTs), used inside knowledge of which assets would be featured on its homepage to make "free money," a prosecutor said on Monday as an insider trading trial wound to a close. Prosecutors have called it the first criminal insider trading case involving such assets. Prosecutor Thomas Burnett said in his closing argument that Chastain chose which NFTs to feature, and then profited illegally by selling his tokens shortly thereafter. They have said that his actions were not insider trading, and that the information he accessed was not OpenSea's property and had no inherent value to the company. Reporting by Luc Cohen in New York; Editing by Noeleen Walder and Conor HumphriesOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Ireland's Trinity College to drop philosopher Berkeley's name over slavery
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-26 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

DUBLIN, April 26 (Reuters) - Ireland's oldest university, Trinity College Dublin, has announced it will remove the name of philosopher George Berkeley from one of its main libraries over his ownership of slaves and efforts to "advance ideology in support of slavery". "George Berkeley's enormous contribution to philosophical thought is not in question," Trinity's Provost Linda Doyle said in a statement that confirmed Berkeley's work would still be taught at the university. It said it had not yet decided on a new name for the library, which was opened in 1967. The owners of Dublin’s Shelbourne Hotel in 2020 removed four historic statues from its entrance in the belief that they represented female slaves. Writing by Conor Humphries; Editing by Nick MacfieOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Global airline capacity constrained until 2025 says IATA's Walsh
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-19 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: 1 min

DUBLIN, April 19 (Reuters) - Global airline capacity will be lower than expected this year and stay constrained until 2025 at the earliest, said IATA head Willie Walsh, blaming delays in new aircraft deliveries and a lack of availability of spare parts, particularly for engines. "I can't see anything really improving or significantly improving probably until 2025 at the earliest and it may even go beyond that," Walsh told Reuters on the sidelines of a conference in Dublin on Wednesday. Reporting by Conor Humphries, writing by Sarah Young; editing by James DaveyOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ NXP CEO applauds EU Chips Act, seeks clarity on China restrictions
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-19 | by ( Conor Humphries | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

ENNISKERRY, Ireland, April 19 (Reuters) - The chief executive of Dutch-headquartered computer chip maker NXP Semiconductors (NXPI.O) on Wednesday applauded the passage of the EU Chips Act this week, but said the industry could use more clarity on export restrictions to China. Kurt Sievers said his company, which makes chips for the automotive industry as well for 5G telephone base stations, had been hit by successive rounds of U.S. export restrictions on China's Huawei. Around 38% of NXP's sales are to Chinese manufacturers, about half of which are processed and then re-exported to Western buyers. "A lot of that going forward could eventually move out of China, which doesn't harm us," he said. "I think it would be fantastic if there was a lot of synchronization between the U.S. Chips Act and the European Chips Act in terms of what to support such that it will be complementary," he said.

☆ Ryanair does not expect major disruption due to Boeing issues
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-17 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: 1 min

DUBLIN, April 17 (Reuters) - Ryanair (RYA.I) does not expect to see major disruption this summer on account of Boeing's (BA.N) decision to halt deliveries of 737 MAX jets over quality issues, a senior executive told Irish broadcaster RTE on Monday. The Irish airline in a statement on Friday said it was assessing with Boeing how the issue, related to certain components made by one of the U.S. firm's main suppliers, would impact the 24 737 aircraft which are scheduled for delivery in the remainder of April, May and June. "We don’t anticipate any major disruption this summer," Eddie Wilson, the head the largest airline in the Ryanair Group, Ryanair DAC, told RTE television. Writing by Conor Humphries, editing by Ed OsmondOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

BALLINA, Ireland, April 14 (Reuters) - U.S. President Joe Biden on Friday was set to wrap up his nostalgic three-day tour to Ireland, the longest ever by an U.S. leader, with a rally in the West of Ireland hometown of his great-great-great-grandfather. Biden started his tour on Wednesday in Belfast on a more serious note by urging political leaders there to restore their powersharing government. Biden will address a crowd in front of St Muredach's Cathedral, whose construction Blewitt was involved with in the 1820s. "It is a homecoming for him," said Joe Blewitt, a distant cousin of Biden's. Ahead of the visit the town was being decorated with U.S. flags, bunting and cardboard cutouts of Biden peering out of windows.

☆ Biden Irish tour moves to Dublin for parliamentary address, castle banquet
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-13 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

[1/5] U.S. President Joe Biden holds a toy Air Force One as he meets with U.S. embassy staff families in Dublin, Ireland April 12, 2023. REUTERS/Kevin LamarqueDUBLIN, April 13 (Reuters) - U.S. President Joe Biden, a proud Irish-American, took his three-day tour of Ireland to Dublin on Thursday for an address to parliament and a banquet at Dublin Castle as his focus shifted from Northern Irish peace to celebrating his heritage. It feels like I'm coming home," Biden told journalists on Wednesday afternoon as he toured Carlingford Castle, near the home of one of the Irish branches of his family. Biden will be guest of honour at a banquet at St Patrick's Hall in Dublin Castle on Thursday evening, an honour previously given to Queen Elizabeth II and U.S. President John F. Kennedy. Biden will be accompanied for some of his Dublin engagements by Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who is visiting Ireland before travelling to Vietnam and Japan.

☆ Irish regulator has month to make order on EU-US Facebook data transfers
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-13 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

DUBLIN, April 13 (Reuters) - Ireland's data regulator has one month to make an order on blocking Facebook's transatlantic data flows, European Union regulators said on Thursday. EU regulators led by Ireland's Data Protection Commissioner (DPC) Helen Dixon have been finalising a ban on the legal tool used by Facebook to transfer European user data because of concerns U.S. intelligence agencies could access the information. Dixon, who is lead regulator for Facebook parent Meta (META.O) because its European headquarters are in Ireland, last month said the ban could be in place by mid-May. While the statement did not say what the decision was, Dixon has said other regulators had not disputed her order to ban the data transfer mechanism. Officials have said a new EU-U.S. data protection framework, which aims to offer EU citizens the same level of data protection as under European law, may be ready by July.

Ambassador to the United Kingdom Jane Hartley greet U.S. President Joe Biden next to Joe Kennedy upon Biden's arrival at RAF Aldergrove airbase in County Antrim, Northern Ireland April 11, 2023. Ahern said he knew from experience that "knocking heads together" did not usually work in Northern Ireland and that Biden should point out the obvious case that, in any democracy, institutions of parliament were essential. Biden will travel later on Wednesday to County Louth - midway between Belfast and Dublin - where his great-grandfather was born. Biden will meet relatives from another side of his family in the western county of Mayo on Friday. Writing by Padraic Halpin; Additional reporting by Conor Humphries; Editing by Peter Graff and Alex RichardsonOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Biden heads to Northern Ireland at delicate political juncture
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-11 | by ( Conor Humphries | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

BELFAST, April 11 (Reuters) - U.S. President Joe Biden arrives in Belfast on Tuesday at a delicate political time in Northern Ireland as he helps mark the 25-year anniversary of a peace deal that largely ended 30 years of bloodshed there. Biden was expected to meet representatives from five Northern Irish parties in advance of his speech at Ulster University but was not planning to pressure them, a senior administration official said. Biden, who will float the possibility of closer investment ties between the U.S. and Northern Ireland to try to encourage an end to the impasse, clashed with the British government at times during the Brexit talks, drawing a rebuke from the DUP. Britain's MI5 intelligence agency recently increased the threat level in Northern Ireland from domestic terrorism to "severe" - meaning an attack is highly likely. "Since (Jonh F.) Kennedy there hasn't been as Irish American a president as Joe Biden and we're really looking forward to welcoming him home," Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar said on Sunday.

☆ Northern Ireland police recover suspected pipe bombs ahead of Biden visit
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-11 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

LONDON, April 11 (Reuters) - Police in Northern Ireland said on Tuesday they had recovered four suspected pipe bombs from a cemetery near the city of Londonderry following a public safety operation. The discovery comes hours before U.S. President Joe Biden is due to arrive in Belfast, about 110 kilometers (70 miles) southeast of Londonderry. Biden arrives in Belfast late on Tuesday at a delicate political time in Northern Ireland as he helps mark the 25-year anniversary of a peace deal that largely ended 30 years of bloodshed there. Pipe bombs are crude improvised explosive devices used in the past by militants in Northern Ireland and are often around the size of a hand grenade. In March, Britain's MI5 intelligence agency increased the threat level in Northern Ireland from domestic terrorism to "severe" - meaning an attack is highly likely - though the move was not thought to be linked to the anniversary.

LONDON, April 6 (Reuters) - Banking sector turmoil has not dented demand for equities, with MSCI's world stock index up 7% so far this year. But under the surface, bad omens for world stocks are building. Central bank surveys show U.S. and European banks are already tightening lending standards, historically a predictor of dismal stock market performance. Credit tightening predicts poor stock market returns2/ MANUFACTURING SLOWDOWNRecessions starting in the United States tend to flow to the rest of the world and consequently global stocks. Seven mega-cap tech stocks were responsible for 92% of the S&P 500's first-quarter rise, Citi notes.

☆ U.S. says decentralized finance services being used for illicit transfers
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-06 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

WASHINGTON, April 6 (Reuters) - North Korea, cybercriminals, ransomware attackers, thieves and scammers are using decentralized finance (DeFi) services to transfer and launder their illicit proceeds, the U.S. Treasury Department warned on Thursday. In a new illicit finance risk assessment on decentralized finance, the Treasury found that illicit actors are exploiting vulnerabilities in U.S. and foreign anti-money laundering and combating the financing of terrorism (AML/CFT) regulation and enforcement as well the technology underpinning the services. DeFi services that fail to comply with these obligations to prevent money laundering and terrorism financing pose the most significant illicit finance risk in this domain, the assessment found. "Our assessment finds that illicit actors, including criminals, scammers, and North Korean cyber actors are using DeFi services in the process of laundering illicit funds," the Treasury's Under Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence, Brian Nelson, said in the statement. Nelson added that the private sector should use the findings of the assessment to inform their risk mitigation strategies and to take steps to prevent illicit actors from using decentralized finance services.

The economy gained a net 34,700 jobs, almost entirely in the private sector, and the unemployment rate held steady at 5.0%, Statistics Canada reported. Analysts surveyed by Reuters had forecast that a net 12,000 jobs would be gained in March and the unemployment rate would edge up to 5.1%. Since December, the jobless rate has stayed just a notch above the record low of 4.9% observed in mid-2022. Thursday's jobs figures as well as robust GDP data released last week are likely to complicate the central bank's plans to avoid further rate moves. There were 18,800 full-time jobs added in the month, and 15,900 part-time jobs.

The underlying trend though for the dollar remained tilted to the downside and Wednesday's U.S. private sector jobs numbers affirmed that. The ADP National Employment report showed U.S. private employers hired far fewer workers than expected in March, suggesting a cooling labor market. Private employment increased by 145,000 jobs last month. Economists polled by Reuters had forecast private employment increasing 200,000. Another report on Wednesday also indicated continued economic weakness, this time in the services sector.

☆ Meta releases AI model that can identify items within images
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-05 | by ( Katie Paul | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

The company's research division said in a blog post that its Segment Anything Model, or SAM, could identify objects in images and videos even in cases where it had not encountered those items in its training. Using SAM, objects can be selected by clicking on them or writing text prompts. Examples include a tool that spins up surrealist videos from text prompts and another that generates children's book illustrations from prose. The SAM model and dataset will be available for download under a non-commercial license. Users uploading their own images to an accompanying prototype likewise must agree to use it only for research purposes.

☆ Stocks falter as economic worries nag, big rate hike lifts kiwi dollar
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-05 | by ( Dhara Ranasinghe | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

[1/2] A stock broker looks at his screens at the stock exchange in Frankfurt, Germany, March 16, 2023. REUTERS/Kai Pfaffenbach/File PhotoSummary Graphic: World FX ratesGraphic: Global asset performanceWorld stocks pull back from 7-week highsNZ dollar rallies after big rate hikeLONDON, April 5 (Reuters) - World stock markets stumbled on Wednesday as signs that the economic outlook is weakening spurred caution, while a bigger-than-expected interest-rate hike from New Zealand lifted the kiwi dollar. European stocks fell with the broad STOXX 600 index pulling away from Tuesday's one-month highs (.STOXX). U.S. equity futures dipped , and Japan's Nikkei (.N225) fell 1.6% in its biggest one-day percentage fall since mid-March. Weak U.S. economic data this week has exacerbated recession worries, taking the edge off recent stock market gains.

☆ Dollar's crown to slip as peers catch up in rates race: Reuters poll
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-05 | by ( Hari Kishan | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

Median forecasts in the March 31-April 4 poll of 90 foreign exchange strategists showed the dollar ceding ground to all major currencies in a year. "Our take on the dollar is that we continue to look for further weakness over the next three to six months. With the dollar's expected retreat, the European single currency is finding its spot in the sun after briefly crossing below parity on lagging rate expectations in 2022. The safe-haven currency, which hit 32-year lows in 2022 again on rate differentials, was forecast to recoup that loss over the forecast horizon. Indeed, the 12-month median view for nearly all of the major currencies surveyed was identical with the March poll.

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