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☆ Pirro to replace Bastianini at Ducati for Americas GP
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-12 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

[1/2] FTR MotoGP rider Michele Pirro of Italy (L) talks to his mechanic during a free practice session ahead of the Malaysian Grand Prix in Sepang October 19, 2012. REUTERS/Bazuki Muhammad/File PhotoApril 12 (Reuters) - Ducati test rider Michele Pirro will replace the injured Enea Bastianini at this weekend's Grand Prix of the Americas in Austin, Texas, the factory team said. The clinic confirmed Bastianini would still need a few more weeks to fully recover, Ducati added. Pirro, 36, last raced at the Circuit of the Americas in 2016 as a stand-in for Danilo Petrucci at Pramac Ducati, finishing eighth. The fourth race of the season is the Spanish Grand Prix in Jerez on April 30.

WASHINGTON, April 11 (Reuters) - Ukrainian hackers claim to have broken into the emails of a senior Russian military spy wanted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation for hacking the Hillary Clinton campaign and other senior U.S. Democrats ahead of Donald Trump's election to the presidency in 2016. It wasn't immediately clear what information the hackers had managed to steal or how significant it was. Morgachev's inbox could potentially hold insight into Russia's hacking operations, including the operation against Clinton and the Democrats. It said his department was "dedicated to developing and managing malware," including the "X-Agent" spy software used to hack the DNC. In its message announcing the theft, the group said of Morgachev: "A very cool and clever hacker, but ... We hacked him."

☆ Escape to a Grand Hotel… for $10 (Tip Included)
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-06 | by ( Tara Isabella Burton | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

I’VE ALWAYS had a weakness for elegant, old-world hotels. Maybe I’ve read too much Stefan Zweig, the Austrian novelist who set his work (like his 1927 novella, “Twenty-four Hours in the Life of a Woman”) in such lavish places. Or perhaps I’ve viewed “The Grand Budapest Hotel,” Wes Anderson’s 2014 confectionery pastiche, too many times. ); or a suite named after an obscure writer who stayed for one night in 1883. Rarely, though, have I slumbered in one of these old-world gems.

Strikes have rolled through France, Portugal, Britain and Germany in recent weeks and could cause air travel disruption in parts of Europe through the Easter holidays, officials at airlines, airports and air traffic authorities told Reuters. There's no doubt about it," said Steven Moore, who is in charge of air traffic management operations at Eurocontrol. Airlines say they have to pay compensation without themselves getting compensated for air traffic delays. Consumer groups say air traffic control strikes are not new and airlines should be quicker to react and pay compensation. He called last week on the European Commission to do more to stop such strikes hitting overflights, by introducing minimum service rules, though industry experts say strikes are a national issue.

☆ Exclusive: Romania lifts Eurobond issuance ceiling, could still downsize targets
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-05 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

BUCHAREST, April 5 (Reuters) - Romania's Finance Ministry has raised its Eurobond issuance ceiling to account for indicative foreign debt plans worth 9.5 billion euros ($10.4 billion) from April until December 2024, treasury chief Stefan Nanu said. The ministry raised the maximum amount the ministry could borrow through its medium term note programme (MTN), a non-binding foreign debt issuance plan that allows debt managers to tap markets through standardised documents. The ministry sold foreign issues worth 55.6 billion euros during 2012-2023, nearly tapping out the MTN's current top value of 56 billion euros. The ministry has raised it by 6 billion euros, adding foreign issues worth 4.6 billion euros will mature this year and in 2024. "It is possible we will cut Eurobond issuance considering the way domestic funding goes."

☆ VW pledges to double down on EVs in China, urges extension of NEV tax breaks
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-01 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

"The market is flush with new, highly competitive players but strong competition simply motivates us to constantly innovate and improve," Mecha said. He added that despite softer short term demand in China, the company is confident that there would be a recovery. In February, Chinese electrified vehicle maker BYD outsold the Volkswagen-branded cars to be the best-selling passenger car brand in the world's largest auto market for the second month in four. In September, China extended the tax exemption on such vehicles by a year to the end of 2023. ($1 = 0.9226 euros)Reporting by Zhang Yan, Hongwei Li, Brenda Goh; Editing by William Mallard and Muralikumar AnantharamanOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Constellation Brands is pouring into the streaming business. The company, which owns beer, wine and spirits brands, is forming a partnership with media company Tastemade to create a content studio and produce shows that revolve around Constellation's brands. Discovery and Walt Disney Co.Its partnership with Constellation will take a similar form. "What was exciting about this partnership is we just got kind of unprecedented access to some story hunting within Constellation Brands," said Fitzgibbon. Constellation's leading brands include Corona, Modelo Especial, The Prisoner Wine Company, Kim Crawford, Svedka Vodka and others.

☆ Sergio Ermotti returns as UBS CEO to steer Credit Suisse takeover
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-29 | by ( John Revill | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

[1/5] Sergio Ermotti, newly rehired CEO of UBS Group AG attends a news conference in Zurich, Switzerland March 29, 2023. "Sergio has already reduced risk and made the investment bank serve its clients and not its investment bankers as Credit Suisse did. Reuters GraphicsErmotti had earlier described the task of integrating UBS and Credit Suisse as "urgent and challenging". The Dutch executive was a notable absentee from the announcement of UBS's takeover of Credit Suisse on March 19. The next day, Hamers looked bleary eyed as he described the end of Credit Suisse as a "sad day" that nobody wanted.

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☆ Another SEAL parachuting death highlights the inherent danger of US special operators' go-to infiltration method
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-29 | by ( Stavros Atlamazoglou | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

Deadly accidentsNaval Special Warfare operators perform a free-fall jump in Alaska in September. The incident, which likely happened during as part of a pre-deployment workup, is still under investigation, according to Naval Special Warfare Command. Despite that danger, however, free-fall parachuting is also extremely valuable as an insertion method for special-operations units. The Navy SEAL community — especially the Naval Special Warfare Development Group, formerly known as SEAL Team 6 — is well-versed in free-fall operations. Most US special-operations units have recognized the value of free-fall parachuting and have incorporated it into their training.

The EU has progressively tightened limits since "Euro 1" in 1992. The Commission's proposal widens real-driving emissions (RDE) testing and adds continuous testing of emissions via an on-board monitoring system. Euro 7 would take effect in mid-2025 for cars and in mid-2027 for trucks and buses. The European Commission estimates Euro 7 could add up to 150 euros to car prices and 2,600 euros for trucks and buses. A Commission spokesperson declined to comment on executives' statements, but said Euro 7's real-driving emissions tests were important because of "scandals in the past about cheating devices".

☆ 'The first bank crisis of the Twitter generation': The pressure on banks is very different from 2008
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-27 | by ( Hannah Ward-Glenton | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +6 min

It is "unlikely" that European banks will undergo anything as serious as in 2008, according to economists. But a banking crisis today would look very different from 15 years ago thanks to social media, online banking, and huge shifts in regulation. This is "the first bank crisis of the Twitter generation," Paul Donovan, chief economist at UBS Global Wealth Management, told CNBC earlier this month, in reference to the collapse of Credit Suisse . watch nowRegulators shuttered Silicon Valley Bank on March 10 in what was the biggest U.S. bank collapse since the global financial crisis in 2008. Risk in the banking system today is significantly less than it has been at any time over the last 20 or 30 years.

REUTERS/Murad Sezer/IllustrationORLANDO, Florida, March 27 (Reuters) - The most extraordinary outcome of the March banking shock would be if the problem dissipated quickly. Many people hope the crisis of confidence infecting global banking this month can be repelled almost as quickly as it appeared. SAVINGS AND LOANS DEBACLEThe easy comparison for any banking or market turmoil is the GFC of 2007-08. But crises don't have to be equal to or worse than the world's most calamitous financial disaster in a century to be extremely damaging. But other banking crises follow the same playbook, even if their outcomes are not as extreme.

BERLIN, March 26 (Reuters) - Berlin votes on Sunday on making the city climate neutral by 2030, in a binding referendum that will force the new conservative local government to invest heavily in renewable energy, building efficiency and public transportation. "At the moment, climate policy is simply not sufficient to ensure a future worth living in our city," Jessamine Davis, a spokesperson for Climate New Start Berlin, told Reuters. "The new version will automatically apply if Berlin population votes if favour," Davis said. According to the initiative organizers, around 455,000 Berliners have requested to cast their votes via mail so far. In addition to a majority of positive votes, the initiative needs at least 608,000 "Yes" votes to make the results binding.

☆ NHL roundup: Bruins lock down Atlantic Division title
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-26 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +11 min

Hathaway has scored three goals since joining the Bruins in late February, two of which have been go-ahead tallies. Linus Ullmark made 11 of his 26 saves in the third period, improving to 11-1-0 in his last 12 starts. For the Lightning, Victor Hedman scored the lone goal and Andrei Vasilevskiy was credited with 32 saves. Leon Draisaitl had a goal and an assist, and Zach Hyman and Warren Foegele also scored for Edmonton. Ottawa captain Brady Tkachuk scored his seventh goal in seven games and Mark Kastelic and defenseman Thomas Chabot also tallied.

REUTERS/Stefan WermuthMarch 25 (Reuters) - A U.S. judge has ruled that an online library operated by the nonprofit organization Internet Archive infringed the copyrights of four major U.S. publishers by lending out digitally scanned copies of their books. The San Francisco-based non-profit over the past decade has scanned millions of print books and lent out the digital copies for free. But Koeltl said there was nothing "transformative" about Internet Archive's digital book copies that would warrant "fair use" protection, as its e-books merely replaced the authorized copies publishers themselves license to traditional libraries. "Although IA has the right to lend print books it lawfully acquired, it does not have the right to scan those books and lend the digital copies en masse," he wrote. Internet Archive promised an appeal, saying the ruling "holds back access to information in the digital age, harming all readers, everywhere."

Illustration by Gene KimAs weed becomes legal in more states, how and if travelers can bring their stash on board remains up in the air. Traveling between states where marijuana is legal in both the origin and destination may sound straight-forward, but with overlapping jurisdictions and hard-to-enforce guidelines, it gets complicated. Under federal law, the possession and sale of marijuana is illegal. Despite President Joe Biden's recent pardons for anyone convicted of a federal crime for simple possession and his directive to review how marijuana is scheduled under federal law, marijuana is still classified as a Schedule I substance. And even though airports are locally owned and operated, air travel still falls under federal law.

REUTERS/Stefan WermuthMarch 24 (Reuters) - A U.S. judge on Friday ruled that an online library operated by the nonprofit organization Internet Archive had infringed the copyrights of four major U.S. publishers by lending out digitally scanned copies of the books. The San Francisco-based non-profit over the past decade has scanned millions of print books and lent out the resulted digital copies for free. But Koeltl said there was nothing "transformative" about the Internet Archive's digital book copies that would warrant "fair use" protection, as its ebooks merely replaced the authorized copies publishers themselves license traditional libraries. "Although IA has the right to lend print books it lawfully acquired, it does not have the right to scan those books and lend the digital copies en masse," he wrote. The Internet Archive in a statement promised an appeal, saying the ruling "holds back access to information in the digital age, harming all readers, everywhere."

A version that was leaked earlier this year showed that Brussels was preparing to shorten an additional period of intellectual property protection, known as data exclusivity, which comes on top of drug patent protection. "The duration of data exclusivity, which may be reduced, could actually have a catastrophic impact for Europe," he said. He said the intentions of Brussels lawmakers - improving patient access to innovative drugs while making the European pharma sector more competitive - were noble but any shortening of intellectual property protection would have the opposite effect. Bayer shares lag'HIGHLY ATTRACTIVE'In the United States, a different set of drug market rule changes are underway, with some of the highest-selling products set to see negotiated price discounts under the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA). Among the biggest drivers was the company's decision to prepare a U.S. launch of its next-generation stroke prevention drug asundexian on its own.

FRANKFURT, March 24 (Reuters) - Bayer (BAYGn.DE) said the focus of its drug research would shift away from women's health, a traditional pillar of Germany's largest drugmaker, to hone in on neurology, rare diseases and immunology. "When it comes to research and the subsequent clinical phases, we will no longer have an explicit focus on women's health," the head of Bayer's pharmaceuticals unit, Stefan Oelrich, told Reuters on Friday. The shifted focus comes as Bayer is due to have a change at the top in June. Bayer, which acquired a large women's health business under the 2006 takeover of Schering Pharma, will focus drugs research on oncology, cardiovascular disease, neurology, rare diseases and immunology, the company said in a statement. Research efforts in immunology could still yield products in women's health but Bayer's dedicated work on the therapeutic area overall had fallen short of expectations, he said.

☆ Swiss central bank hikes interest rates by 50 basis points despite Credit Suisse turmoil
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-23 | by ( Hannah Ward-Glenton | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

The Swiss national flag hangs from the Federal Palace, Switzerland's parliament building, in Bern, Switzerland, on Thursday, Dec. 13, 2018. Photographer: Stefan Wermuth/Bloomberg via Getty ImagesThe Swiss National Bank raised its benchmark interest rate by 50 basis points Thursday, taking it to 1.5%. The Swiss National Bank had hinted there could be further rate hikes on the horizon if inflationary pressures continued. The Swiss National Bank has been in the global spotlight in the last week after it agreed to lend embattled lender Credit Suisse up to 50 billion Swiss francs ($53.68 billion). Shares of the lender had plummeted on news that its biggest investor, Saudi National Bank, would not provide further financial assistance.

☆ Analysis: Credit Suisse collapse threatens Switzerland's wealth management crown
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-22 | by ( John Revill | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +6 min

[1/3] Logos of Swiss banks UBS and Credit Suisse are seen in Zurich, Switzerland March 20, 2023. Switzerland's credibility as a stable, predictable country had been upended by moves like the decision to wipe out the holdings of Credit Suisse bondholders, he said. Under the takeover deal, holders of Credit Suisse AT1 bonds will get nothing, while shareholders, who usually rank below bondholders in compensation terms, will receive $3.23 billion. "In that sense I also see a prosperous future for the financial centre because we have hundreds of very well capitalised banks and very successful wealth management and asset management banks." Reuters Graphics Reuters GraphicsReuters GraphicsOthers were more skeptical about the future, highlighting a reluctance to confront mistakes at Credit Suisse or take responsibility for the aftermath.

☆ NHL roundup: Alex Ovechkin hits 40 goals for record 13th time
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-22 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +10 min

Mandatory Credit: Brad Mills-USA TODAY SportsMarch 22 - On a night he was honored for passing one NHL legend, Washington's Alex Ovechkin made history by eclipsing another. Before the game, Ovechkin was honored in a 20-minute on-ice ceremony for passing Gordie Howe for second place on the all-time NHL goals list on Dec. 23. On Tuesday, Ovechkin scored his 40th goal of the season, passing Wayne Gretzky for the most 40-goal seasons in NHL history with his 13th. Barrett Hayton scored the lone goal for Arizona (27-33-11, 65 points), which saw its four-game winning streak come to an end. Alex Chiasson and Filip Zadina scored regulation goals for the Red Wings, who earned just their third victory in their last 13 games.

☆ London stocks fall as hot UK inflation data spurs rate-hike fears; Fed in focus
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-22 | by ( Shashwat Chauhan | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

SummarySummary Companies UK inflation still in double-digit territoryReal estate stocks fall on rate-hike concernsBank stocks gain, help cut lossesFed decision awaited on Wednesday, BoE on ThursdayFTSE 100 down 0.2%, FTSE 250 off 0.3%March 22 (Reuters) - London's exporter-heavy FTSE 100 fell on Wednesday, with real estate stocks leading the retreat, as hotter-than-expected UK inflation data raised fears of more interest rate hikes and boosted the pound. The blue-chip FTSE 100 index (.FTSE) fell 0.2% after a near 2% bounce on Tuesday, with investors also waiting for the U.S. Federal Reserve's monetary policy decision later in the day. The pound rose sharply against the dollar after Britain's consumer price index (CPI) inflation unexpectedly rose to 10.4% in February. Real estate stocks fell (.FTUB3510) 2.2%, with British Land Company (BLND.L) down 4.2% after Morgan Stanley reduced its price target. ,Helping cut losses were banking stocks (.FTNMX301010), which gained 0.9% as fears of a crises appeared to ease.

☆ White Claw unveils branded vodka as it enters the spirits category
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-21 | by ( Stefan Sykes | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

White Claw is moving into spirits amid an industry-wide shift away from hard seltzers. The spiked seltzer brand announced Tuesday a new line of regular and flavored White Claw Premium Vodka. The bottles are available in select markets across North America and come in an unflavored option, as well pineapple, mango and black cherry. "We spent almost a decade researching and developing a new way to show drinkers what complexity looks, tastes, and feels like within the minimalist experience of vodka," said Anthony von Mandl, founder and chief executive of the Mark Anthony Group, which owns the White Claw brand, in a press release. The company says it's invented a new way to filter vodka to achieve a "minimal yet complex combination of aromas and sensations."

☆ Rapper Bad Bunny sued for $40 million over ex-girlfriend's voice recording
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-21 | by ( Stefan Sykes | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

Puerto Rican rapper Bad Bunny is being sued by his ex-girlfriend for $40 million over claims he used a recording of her voice without permission or compensation. De la Cruz and Bad Bunny dated on and off starting in 2011, according to the lawsuit. She alleges in the court documents that Bad Bunny offered her $2,000 to buy the recording in 2022 but she declined. Bad Bunny rose to prominence in 2018 after being featured on the Cardi B chart-topper "I Like It." Bad Bunny is set to headline the 2023 Coachella music festival next month.

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