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☆ Biden to host India's Modi with human rights in mind -White House
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-10 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

WASHINGTON, May 10 (Reuters) - U.S. President Joe Biden will host Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi for an official state visit on June 22, the White House said on Wednesday, as Washington works to deepen ties with the world's largest democracy. Asked about human rights concerns in India, Jean-Pierre defended the visit, telling reporters that Biden believes "this is an important relationship that we need to continue and build on as it relates to human rights." During a February visit to Washington by India's national security adviser, Ajit Doval, the United States and India launched a partnership to deepen ties on military equipment, semiconductors and artificial intelligence. Washington has been pushing New Delhi to do more to punish Russia for the Ukraine invasion. While the United States has focused on "contributions toward coalition defense," he wrote, "New Delhi sees things differently.

☆ New Zealand's North Island hit by heavy rain, student missing in caves
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-09 | by ( Lucy Craymer | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

WELLINGTON, May 9 (Reuters) - A high school student is missing in Northland, New Zealand after getting into difficulty on a school trip to caves on Tuesday, according to police, as heavy rain and thunderstorms cause flash flooding and landslides across the upper North Island. Local newspaper the Northern Advocate said the student was missing inside one of the caves, which is described as having a canyon-like feel. Police rescue teams are in the area, which has been hit by heavy rain this morning with further rain expected this afternoon. "Auckland is experiencing widespread flooding and torrential rain. Heavy rain and thunderstorms are forecast to drench the region into the evening and potentially through to midnight.

☆ Helene von Roeder to become new CFO of Germany's Merck
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-08 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: 1 min

[1/2] People sit next to a Merck logo at SEMICON Taiwan in Taipei, Taiwan, September 14, 2022. REUTERS/Ann WangMay 8 (Reuters) - Germany's Merck KGaA (MRCG.DE) has appointed Helene von Roeder as the new chief financial officer and member of the Executive Board after Marcus Kuhnert has decided to step down, the drugmaker announced on Monday. The changes would become effective from July 1, the company added. German real estate company Vonovia (VNAn.DE) announced this month that von Roeder would be leaving its management board at her own request as of July 1. (This story has been refiled to make it clear that the company is Germany's Merck)Reporting by Anastasiia Kozlova and Amir Orusov Editing by Miranda MurrayOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ EU in Israel cancels Europe Day event over far-right minister's participation
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-08 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

JERUSALEM, May 8 (Reuters) - The European Union delegation in Israel on Monday cancelled its Europe Day diplomatic reception over the planned participation of far-right Israeli minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, who criticised the decision as a form of "undiplomatic silencing". Brussels marks May 9 as "Europe Day", honouring a 1950 French declaration that led to the founding of the body that became the EU. National Security Minister Ben-Gvir was set to represent the Israeli government at this year's event. "It is a shame that the European Union, which claims to represent the values of democracy and multiculturalism, is engaging in undiplomatic silencing," Ben-Gvir said in a statement. (This story has been refiled to say 'undiplomatic silencing,' not 'undemocratic silencing,' in paragraph 1)Writing by Henriette Chacar; Editing by Ari RabinovitchOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ California banking regulator says SVB oversight inadequate
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-08 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Regulators have since pledged tougher oversight of the banking sector while lawmakers have also complained that officials were too slow to address its poor risk management. Former SVB chief executive Gregory Becker is due to testify before Congress next week. According to the report released Monday, DFPI played a supporting role, with primary oversight for SVB conducted by the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco, which could devote more staff to supervision. SVB "was slow to remediate regulator-identified deficiencies, and regulators did not take adequate steps to ensure SVB resolved problems as fast as possible," according to the report. In just one eight-hour period on March 9, SVB depositors submitted withdrawal requests amounting to about $42 billion.

☆ Paraguay president-elect commits to 'strengthen' ties with Taiwan
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-05 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

May 5 - Paraguay's president-elect, Santiago Pena, said on Friday that he would continue to strengthen his country's "historic ties" with Taiwan following a call with his counterpart there after winning Sunday's election. Paraguay is Taiwan's only South American ally and the island - claimed by China as its own - has lost support from other Central American nations in recent years. We will keep strengthening the historic ties between Paraguay and the Republic of China (Taiwan), and look forward to working on mutually beneficial cooperation projects," Pena said on Twitter, referring to President Tsai Ing-wen. Taiwan faces an uphill battle to keep ties with the 13 countries that currently recognize it as a sovereign nation, amid pressure from China. (This story has been refiled to fix a typographical error in paragraph 1)Reporting by Daniela Desantis; Writing by Isabel Woodford; Editing by Jonathan OatisOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Werder without Bundesliga top scorer Fuellkrug against Bayern
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-04 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

[1/2] Soccer Football - International Friendly - Germany v Belgium - RheinEnergieStadion, Cologne, Germany - March 28, 2023 Germany's Niclas Fullkrug scores their first goal from the penalty spot REUTERS/Wolfgang RattayBERLIN, May 4 (Reuters) - Werder Bremen will be missing injured Bundesliga top striker Niclas Fuellkrug when they host leaders Bayern Munich on Saturday, coach Ole Werner said on Thursday. "Fuellkrug has been ruled out," Werner told a press conference. Fuellkrug also missed the previous three league matches. Werder have 35 points, seven above the relegation playoff spot with four matches remaining. Bayern lead the title race with a one-point advantage over Borussia Dortmund.

NEW YORK, May 2 (Reuters) - The cost of insuring against further losses in regional U.S. bank stocks stood near a one-month high in options markets on Wednesday, even as shares of lenders saw a reprieve from their recent sell-off. Skew on the SPDR S&P Regional Banking ETF - a gauge of relative demand for puts versus calls - remained elevated, hovering near the highest level since the COVID-19 market slump, data from OptionMetrics showed. The SPDR S&P Regional Banking ETF rose about 1.9% to 39.64 in afternoon trade, though it is down 33% on the year and fell on Monday and Tuesday. "The fact that you didn't see the follow-through from some of these other regional banks, with what would appear to be such great news, really didn't inspire a lot of confidence in some of these regional banks," said Seth Hickle, a derivatives portfolio manager at Innovative Portfolios, referring to JPMorgan’s rescue of First Republic. "The problem with regionals are going to be rising interest rates,” said Matt Amberson, principal at options analytics firm ORATS.

☆ Leonardo posts lower Q1 profits and earnings, but orders rise
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-03 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

ROME, May 3 (Reuters) - Italy's state-controlled defence and aerospace group Leonardo (LDOF.MI) on Wednesday posted lower first-quarter profits and earnings, but reported a jump in orders and confirmed financial targets for 2023. Net profit stood at 40 million euros ($44.2 million) compared to 72 million euros 12 months earlier, while earnings before interest, taxes and amortisation (EBITA) fell year-on-year by 20.5% to 105 million euros. Revenues were flat at around 3 billion euros, while new orders rose by 28.5% year-on-year to almost 4.9 billion euros "in particular thanks to the excellent performance of helicopters," the company said in a statement. In a company-provided consensus forecast, they had expected a quarterly net profit of 48 million euros and EBITA of 120 million euros, but revenues were correctly predicted at around the 3-billion-euro mark. The 2023 guidance includes a forecast for new orders at around 17 billion euros, revenues in the 15-15.6 billion euro range, EBITA at 1.26-1.31 billion euros and group net debt of about 2.6 billion euros.

U.S. hotel operators who have been grappling over the past year with an uneven recovery in Chinese demand are now benefiting from pent-up-demand throughout Asia Pacific, particularly in Greater China. "While macroeconomic uncertainty persists, it has not weighed on travel demand to date. In fact, demand continued to rise across all customer segments in the quarter," Marriott CEO Anthony Capuano said on a call with investors. In the Greater China region RevPAR rebounded to 95% of pre-pandemic levels during the quarter while Mainland China RevPar fully recovered to 2019 levels. "First quarter hotel performance came in a bit better than expected and will likely be the high-water mark for the year," said CoStar Group National Director of Hospitality Analytics Jan Freitag.

☆ IMF raises Asia's economic forecast on China recovery, warns of risks
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-02 | by ( Leika Kihara | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

"Asia and Pacific will be the most dynamic of the world's major regions in 2023, predominantly driven by the buoyant outlook for China and India," the IMF said its regional economic outlook report. "As in the rest of the world, domestic demand is expected to remain the largest growth driver across Asia in 2023." Asia's economy is expected to expand 4.6% this year after a 3.8% increase in 2022, contributing around 70% of global growth, the IMF said, upgrading its forecast by 0.3 of a percentage point from October. "The costs of failing to bring inflation below target are likely to outweigh any benefits from keeping monetary conditions loose," the IMF said. "Insufficient tightening in the short term would require disproportionately more monetary tightening later to avoid high inflation becoming ingrained, making a larger contraction more likely."

☆ OpenAI closes $10 bln funding round at $27 bln-$29 bln valuation- TechCrunch
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-28 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: 1 min

April 28 (Reuters) - OpenAI, the company behind the ChatGPT chatbot, has closed a new funding round of over $10.3 billion, valuing the company between $27 billion – $29 billion, TechCrunch reported on Friday. (This story has been refiled to fix OpenAI's case in the headline)Reporting by Juby Babu in Bengaluru; Editing by Sandra MalerOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Cannabis stocks light up after a group of lawmakers again seeks to protect banks that work with legal marijuana businesses
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-27 | by ( Carla Mozée | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Cannabis stocks jumped Thursday as lawmakers sought again to pass a bill to protect banks that work with legal pot firms. The SAFE Banking Act of 2023 was refiled by Democrats and Republicans in the House and Senate. The Secure and Fair Enforcement, or SAFE, Banking Act was refiled late Wednesday by House and Senate lawmakers from both the Democratic and Republican parties. They say the proposal is aimed at dealing with safety concerns stemming from legal cannabis businesses being locked out of banking services. Merkley said there's now a path for the first time for the SAFE Banking Act to move through the Senate Banking Committee and to a Senate floor vote.

☆ Thousands rally in Jerusalem in favor of planned judicial overhaul
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-27 | by ( Dedi Hayun | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

[1/5] Right-wing demonstrators hold flags as they attend a protest calling on the Israeli government to complete its planned judicial overhaul, in Jerusalem, April 27, 2023. "The nation demands a judicial reform," demonstrators chanted. Demonstrations against the judicial overhaul plans, however, have gripped the country for weeks and have garnered large crowds in cities across the country, mostly and consecutively every Saturday night since the plans were announced. Recent polls have found the overhaul plans are deeply unpopular. "The nation demands a judicial reform," the crowd chanted in response.

Bosch said it plans to invest $1.5 billion to retool TSI's chip production facilities in Roseville, California to start producing silicon carbide chips by 2026. Bosch said the TSI facility would become the "third pillar" of in-house semiconductor production, along with two sites in Germany. The silicon carbide chips Bosch said it will manufacture at the TSI Roseville site are increasingly in demand by electric vehicle manufacturers. U.S-based Wolfspeed Inc (WOLF.N) is building new plants to make silicon carbide chips in New York State and in Germany. Bosch plans to acquire the buildings, machines and infrastructure of TSI as well as well as its commercial semiconductor business.

☆ Kenyan cult leader told followers to starve themselves ahead of world's end, sources say
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-26 | by ( Duncan Miriri | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

The deaths amount to one of the worst cult-related tragedies in recent history and the toll is expected to rise further, with the Kenyan Red Cross saying more than 300 people have been reported as missing. Cult leader Paul Mackenzie has been in police custody since April 14, held alongside 14 other cult members. At the morgue at Malindi hospital, dozens of people were seeking news of relatives they feared were among the dead. The Red Cross has donated a refrigerated container on a truck to help preserve some of the corpses as the morgue is now too full. Two emaciated women were found alive early on Wednesday and were being evacuated to Malindi's hospital, according to Red Cross staff in Malindi.

☆ Fox agrees to give more Murdoch docs to Smartmatic in its defamation case
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-26 | by ( Marshall Cohen | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +3 min

New York CNN —Fox News has agreed to give voting technology company Smartmatic additional documents about Fox Corp. Chairman Rupert Murdoch and other senior corporate executives. “We will produce the materials as quickly as we are able to,” Fox lawyer Winn Allen said. These materials will include deposition transcripts and exhibits, apparently from the recently settled defamation case involving Dominion Voting Systems, a Smartmatic lawyer said in court. The monster case pits Smartmatic against Fox News, Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani, Fox hosts Maria Bartiromo and Jeanine Pirro, and former host Lou Dobbs, who all promoted the baseless lie that Smartmatic rigged the 2020 election. An appeals court recently dropped Fox Corp. as a defendant, but Smartmatic refiled its lawsuit and is trying to re-add the parent company.

☆ Tucker Carlson's history of alleged workplace sexism stretches back to 2015, long before Abby Grossberg
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-26 | by ( Katherine Long | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +10 min

Possible rationales include Murdoch's contempt for Carlson's religiosity and Carlson's insistence on hewing to conspiracy theories about the January 6, 2021 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol. Internal correspondence unearthed in a defamation lawsuit against Fox News showed Carlson used sexist expletives to refer to a female Fox executive and a guest. The company last week agreed to pay $787.5 million to settle a defamation lawsuit brought by Dominion Voting Systems. Carlson was one of many Fox News hosts who promoted false election conspiracies, the subject of the defamation suit, on their shows. Fox News is still facing a similar defamation suit from another voting machine manufacturer.

☆ Harry Belafonte, singer, actor and rights campaigner, dies at age 96 -New York Times
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-25 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: 1 min

April 25 (Reuters) - Harry Belafonte, a singer, songwriter and groundbreaking actor who started his entertainment career belting "Day O" in his 1950s hit song "Banana Boat" before turning to political activism, died on Tuesday at age 96, the New York Times reported. (This story has been refiled to fix the case in the headline)Reporting by Brendan O'Brien; Editing by Doina Chiacu;Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Factbox: Countries rush to evacuate foreign citizens from Sudan
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-25 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +6 min

The Egyptian Foreign Ministry said on Thursday some 16,000 people had crossed from Sudan to Egypt, including 14,000 Sudanese citizens. The foreign ministry said those evacuated included not only French nationals but also Britons, Americans, Canadians, Ethiopians, Dutch, Italians and Swedes. Cyprus said it had activated a humanitarian rescue mechanism at Britain's request to let third countries use it for reception and repatriation of foreign citizens evacuated from Sudan. NETHERLANDSAbout 100 Dutch nationals have been evacuated from Sudan since Sunday, Foreign Minister Wopke Hoekstra said. IRANIran's foreign minister said on Saturday 65 Iranian citizens had left from Port Sudan, through Jeddah, to Iran.

Former U.S. President Donald Trump speaks at the National Rifle Association (NRA) annual convention in Indianapolis, Indiana, U.S., April 14, 2023. CARROLL SAYS TRUMP CALLED HER 'THAT ADVICE LADY'Carroll said her encounter with Trump at the Bergdorf Goodman store occurred in late 1995 or early 1996. It also includes two other women who have accused Trump of sexual misconduct, which Trump also denies. Trump pleaded not guilty to those charges on April 4 at a New York state courthouse, a three-minute walk from Tuesday's trial. Carroll is also suing Trump for defamation after he first denied her rape claim in June 2019, when he was still president.

☆ Thai authorities issue extreme heat warnings for dozens of provinces
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-22 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

REUTERS/Chalinee ThirasupaBANGKOK, April 22 (Reuters) - Thai authorities on Saturday warned residents across large swathes of country, including the capital Bangkok, to avoid going outdoors due to extreme heat. Parts of Asia are reporting extreme heat this month, with record-breaking temperatures seen in some countries. In Bangladesh and parts of India, extreme heat is leading to surge in power demand, causing power cuts and shortages for millions of people. Thailand's department of disaster prevention and mitigation said that temperatures will exceed 40 C in at least 28 provinces on Saturday. "What is happening right now is caused by climate change, influencing abnormal (weather) and a phenomenon that is called extreme weather," Mathinee Yucharoen, a researcher of coastal oceanography and climate change at Prince of Songkhla University, told Reuters.

Then on Monday, opposition politician Vladimir Kara-Murza was jailed for treason and spreading "false information" about Russia's war in Ukraine. loadingThe Kremlin says it has no say over court decisions and Navalny's treatment is a matter for the prison service. Putin has told Russians that the West is seeking to use traitors as a "fifth column" to sow discord and ultimately destroy Russia. ARREST WARRANTThe trend has accelerated since March 17, when Putin was accused of war crimes by the International Criminal Court. Russia's prison service did not reply to a request for comment.

☆ Potential modifications to the firing mechanism of the gun prompted dismissal of charges against Baldwin, source tells CNN
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-21 | by ( Chloe Melas | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +2 min

CNN —New information is coming to light as to what led prosecutors to dismiss involuntary manslaughter charges against actor Alec Baldwin. A source familiar with the case told CNN that the possibility of modifications to the firing mechanism of the gun was learned by the special prosecutors overseeing the case in New Mexico. The source spoke on the condition of anonymity, citing the sensitivity of the ongoing investigation. The new evidence presented has the potential to contradict the 2022 FBI forensics report on the gun, which had stated that the weapon could not be fired without pulling the trigger while the gun was cocked. CNN’s Josh Campbell contributed to this report.

☆ Alec Baldwin’s Involuntary Manslaughter Charges Dropped in ‘Rust’ Shooting
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-20 | by ( Katherine Sayre | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Video released by Santa Fe County Sheriff’s Office shows Alec Baldwin drawing the gun while rehearsing a scene on the set of “Rust.” A live round later discharged, striking and killing cinematographer Halyna Hutchins. Photo: Santa Fe County Sheriff’s OfficeProsecutors in New Mexico said Thursday they have dropped involuntary manslaughter charges against Alec Baldwin in the fatal shooting of a cinematographer on the set of the movie “Rust.”“This decision does not absolve Mr. Baldwin of criminal culpability and charges may be refiled,” special prosecutors Jason Lewis and Kari Morrissey said in a statement.

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