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☆ Dozens of POWs freed as Ukraine marks Orthodox Easter
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-16 | by ( ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +7 min

Ukrainian prisoners of war pose for a picture after a swap, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, at an unknown location, Ukraine. "The lives of our people are the highest value for us," Yermak said, adding that Kyiv's goal was to bring back all remaining POWs. At Easter, which from time immemorial has been a family holiday for Ukrainians, a day of warmth, hope and great unity. Others in the line echoed Zaluzhnyy's words about a wartime Easter being a symbol of hope. Despite the shared Orthodox holiday, Russian shelling and missile attacks continued to sow destruction in Ukraine, according to social media statements from Ukrainian regional officials.

☆ Missile Destroys Ukrainian Church Ahead of Orthodox Easter Celebrations
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-16 | by ( ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

What’s Slowing Down Self-Driving Car Technology? Car and tech companies have promised for years that fully self-driving cars were just around the corner. But experts say the technology is far from where it needs to be to fully replace drivers. Bart Ziegler, who wrote about self-driving tech for the WSJ's Journal Reports, joins host Zoe Thomas to discuss what is pumping the brakes. PHOTO: JUSTIN MERRIMAN/BLOOMBERG NEWS

☆ Ukraine brings home 130 military in Easter prisoner exchange
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-16 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

KYIV, April 16 (Reuters) - One hundred and thirty Ukrainian prisoners of war have been released and returned home in a "great Easter exchange", a senior Ukrainian presidential official said on Sunday, the day of Orthodox Easter. Ukrainian and Russian forces have held regular prisoner exchanges during Moscow's invasion, now in its 14th month. Yermak said those returning home included military, border guards, national guard members, sailors and employees of the state border guard. The exchange was the second large prisoner swap in the past week. On Monday, Russia and Ukraine said they carried out a major prisoner swap with 106 Russian prisoners of war being freed in exchange for 100 Ukrainians.

☆ PHOTO: Melania Trump Appears Relaxed by Husband's Side Post-Indictment
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-16 | by ( Alia Shoaib | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Melania Trump was photographed appearing relaxed by Donald Trump's side at Mar-a-Lago. Melania recently hit back at media reports that made "assumptions" about her life and opinions. In a photo posted to Instagram by a Mar-a-Lago visitor on Friday, the former first lady appears relaxed, smiling and resting her hand on her husband's arm. Melania recently hit back at media reports that made "assumptions" about her opinions and marriage. Several women, including Daniels and Playboy model Karen McDougal, have claimed to have had affairs with Trump during his relationship with Melania, which he has denied.

☆ Ukraine awaits US missile system after latest Russian strike
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-15 | by ( ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +4 min

The entrance to the Recknitztal barracks, home of the anti-aircraft missile group 24, on the left a mobile launch pad of the Patriot air defense system. The delivery of the Patriot air defense system promised by the U.S. was expected in Ukraine sometime after Easter, Ukrainian air force spokesperson Yuriy Ihnat said. Germany and the Netherlands also have pledged to provide a Patriot system each to Ukraine. Separately, a 48-year-old woman and her 28-year-old daughter died Saturday after Russian forces shelled a neighborhood of the city of Kherson, the regional administration said on Telegram. The southern port city was occupied by Russian forces in the early months of the war, but Ukrainian forces regained control of it in November, one of the most notable battlefield defeats for Moscow.

☆ Video shows New Mexico police were at wrong house seconds before killing homeowner
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-15 | by ( Joseph Ax | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Robert Dotson, 52, was killed by police in Farmington, New Mexico, on April 5, after officers responding to a domestic violence report arrived at the wrong house. An attorney representing the Dotson family could not be reached for comment on Saturday. An officer yells, "Hands up!," and the video shows Dotson raising what appears to be a handgun before officers open fire, dropping him in the doorway. Three children were upstairs at the time of the shooting, according to the released video. The Dotson family and their attorney watched the video prior to its public release, Hebbe said.

☆ Orthodox Christians await Holy Light in Jerusalem under heavy police restrictions
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-15 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

JERUSALEM, April 14 (Reuters) - Thousands of Palestinian Christians and pilgrims from around the world filled Jerusalem's Old City on Saturday to celebrate the Orthodox Holy Light ceremony, under a heavy Israeli police presence that has drawn anger from churches. Additional checkpoints around the Old City will also restrict access to the area around the church. Israel annexed East Jerusalem, which includes the walled Old City and its holy sites, after a 1967 Middle East War in a move not recognised internationally. Palestinians seek East Jerusalem as the capital of a future independent state in the occupied West Bank and Gaza. The Holy Sepulchre lies at the heart of the Old City's Christian Quarter in East Jerusalem.

☆ Russia's Putin attends midnight Orthodox Easter service in Moscow
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-15 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

April 16 (Reuters) - President Vladimir Putin on Sunday attended an Easter service conducted by the Russian Orthodox Church, which has strongly backed the Kremlin leader's decision to invade Ukraine. Putin, dressed in a dark suit, white shirt and dark purple tie, stood to one side in Moscow's Christ the Saviour Cathedral, holding a lit red candle, live images of the midnight service showed. When Patriarch Kirill announced "Christ has risen", Putin joined the other members of the congregation with the reply "Truly he is risen". Kirill's statements backing Russia's invasion, which Kyiv and Western nations condemn as an act of aggression, have splintered the worldwide Orthodox Church. In January, Putin praised the church for supporting Moscow's forces fighting in Ukraine in an Orthodox Christmas message designed to rally people behind his vision of modern Russia.

☆ Celebrating Orthodox Easter
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-14 | by ( Dave Lucas | ) www.reuters.com time to read: 1 min

The Songkran festival, also known as the water festival, marks the start of Thailand's traditional New Year and is believed to wash away bad luck.

☆ OPEC+ cuts partly due to reshaping of global oil flows, IEA says
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-14 | by ( Ahmad Ghaddar | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

LONDON, April 14 (Reuters) - European Union and G7 restrictions on Russian oil exports led to a global shift in oil flows, with Asian refiners soaking up discounted Russian crude, in part explaining the recent OPEC+ decision to curtail output further, the West's energy watchdog said on Friday. "The rapid upheaval in global crude trade flows, may in part explain the recent decision by OPEC+ to cut production," the IEA said. Unlike Asian refiners, which benefited from heavy discounts on Russian crude, European refiners have not been given any price incentive to process Middle East crudes, the IEA said. Bottlenecks and logistical constraints which prevent some European refiners from handling very large crude carriers (VLCCs) and a rise in Middle East crude differentials to the region partly explain why Europeans shunned Middle Eastern medium sour. Higher energy costs for reducing sulphur content in crude to produce cleaner fuels, a process known as hydrotreating, was another reason, the IEA said.

☆ UK has 18% fewer jobs advertised online than a year ago: ONS
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-14 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: 1 min

LONDON, April 14 (Reuters) - The number of jobs being advertised online in Britain on April 6 was 18% lower than a year earlier, though up 1% from the week before, according to weekly data from recruiter Adzuna released by Britain's Office for National Statistics. The ONS also said debit card spending at pubs, restaurants and fast food outlets was 17 percentage points higher than a week earlier, based on transaction data from Revolut, reflecting the Easter holiday weekend. Reporting by David Milliken; editing by William JamesOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Nine killed in Russian strike, rescue teams sift through wreckage
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-14 | by ( Kai Pfaffenbach | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

Emergency services in eastern Donetsk Region, in a statement on Facebook, said the death toll stood at nine at midnight (2100 GMT), including a two-year-old child. Pavlo Kyrylenko, governor of Donetsk Region, told national television earlier that seven Russian S-300 missiles had been fired. Rescue teams searching for victims sifted through rubble through the night, using cranes, ladders and other heavy equipment in the shells of apartments and stairwells. [1/5] A man stands next to a residential building damaged by a Russian military strike, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Sloviansk, Donetsk region, Ukraine April 14, 2023. "The evil state once again demonstrates its essence," Zelenskiy wrote in a separate post accompanied by footage of a damaged building.

☆ European markets set to open higher as traders digest U.S. data
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-14 | by ( Hannah Ward-Glenton | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: 1 min

European markets are expected to open higher Friday as traders continue to digest U.S. data. Cooling inflation raised expectations that the Federal Reserve will pause its aggressive rate-hiking cycle. The pan-European Stoxx 600 index closed higher Thursday in a fourth consecutive uptick after the long Easter weekend. Investors are also looking ahead to the start of U.S. earnings season, with JPMorgan, Wells Fargo and Citi publishing results before U.S. stock markets open later in the day. U.S. stock futures were down slightly following the flurry of data and ahead of earnings reports, while Asia-Pacific markets largely rose on Friday.

☆ Fact Check-Fabricated Eric Trump tweet calling for the cancellation of Easter was created as satire
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-13 | by ( Reuters Fact Check | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

A screenshot posted on Twitter appears to show a tweet by former U.S. President Donald Trump’s son Eric calling for Easter to be cancelled until the “witch hunt” against his father is stopped. The purported tweet is dated April 9, 2023, and reads: “If my father was President he would immediately CANCEL EASTER until the WITCH HUNT was stopped! No such tweet was found on Eric Trump’s Twitter account (www.tinyurl.com/49jp7wec), and searches show that no news outlets reported on the purported tweet (www.tinyurl.com/s52rcj8j). He and his followers have previously referred to these legal troubles as a “witch hunt” (here). Eric Trump did not post a tweet calling for the cancellation of Easter.

☆ Fact Check-Series of holiday Google Doodle screenshots is not authentic
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-12 | by ( Reuters Fact Check | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

A tweet claims to show screenshots of the Google page customized with Doodles during Hanukkah, Ramadan and Transgender Day of Visibility, but not for Easter (here). However, Reuters found no evidence that the images juxtaposed on Google logos are authentic Google Doodles. GOOGLE DOODLESDoodles are not made for religious holidays per current guidelines, and the company has never created a Google Doodle for Transgender Day of Visibility, the Google spokesperson said. The Google Doodles archive includes all previous doodles used to mark special days around the world, including independence days, birthdays of notable figures and sports events (www.google.com/doodles#archive). Fact checking organizations including Snopes and Check Your Fact cite a now-deleted Facebook group campaigning for a Google Doodle related to Ramadan as the source of the Ramadan Google logo shared in recent posts (here), (here).

☆ Swiss parliament seeks elusive compromise over Credit Suisse rescue
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-12 | by ( Noele Illien | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

While the upper house approved the government's 109 billion Swiss franc ($120.82 billion) contribution to the rescue package, parliament's lower, and larger chamber, later rejected it. Seeking a compromise, the upper house passed changes to the measure on Wednesday morning, which the lower house will vote on later in the day. As they returned on Wednesday, the upper house passed changes, which include a proposal for Switzerland's federal government to draft an amendment to the country's Banking Act. Its aim would be to reduce the risks posed by systemically relevant banks, such as Credit Suisse and UBS for Switzerland, by, for example, raising capital requirements and restricting bonuses. A shotgun marriage which saw Credit Suisse taken over by rival UBS (UBSG.S) for 3 billion Swiss francs and propped up with more than 250 billion Swiss francs in guarantees and support has drawn widespread criticism.

☆ Opinion: I’m betting on Cousin Greg. But I’m not a serious person
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-12 | by ( Gene Seymour | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +6 min

By now, we should be used to HBO’s series pulling the rug out from beneath our expectations. Still, as more than one pundit observed of Logan’s death, this one shocked more than merely surprised. Not me, though I do miss Brian Cox already because few actors anywhere are as adroit at playing dyspeptic sociopaths. It would be at the very least ironic if “Greg the Egg,” the minion’s minion, stumbled into power as if he tripped on a sidewalk. I’ll say no more on this except to suggest that you all try to remember who in the end won that “Game of Thrones.” It’s not inevitable.

By Tuesday evening, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office announced it would prohibit non-Muslims from entering the holy site for the rest of Ramadan. “I see these visits as a raid on our holy site,” he said. That status quo is slowly being chipped away, says Sheikh Rani Abusibr, an Imam of nearly twenty-years at Al-Aqsa. There was a heightened security presence at the holy site when Easter, Ramadan, and Passover celebrations overlapped. Without the status quo arrangement being enforced, there are fears that an already tumultuous region could spiral out of control.

☆ European markets set to open mixed ahead of key U.S. inflation data
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-12 | by ( Hannah Ward-Glenton | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

European markets are keeping an eye on key U.S. inflation data. European markets are set to open mixed Wednesday as investors await key inflation data from the U.S. set for release later in the day. That data will likely determine the U.S. Federal Reserve's path in its tightening cycle. Investors will also be digesting the International Monetary Fund's latest global growth report, released Tuesday, which included its weakest medium-term growth forecast for more than 30 years. U.S. stock futures were flat in overnight trading Tuesday, while markets in the Asia-Pacific were mostly higher on Wednesday as investors turned their focus to March's highly anticipated inflation report.

☆ Israeli curbs on Orthodox Church crowds in Jerusalem for Easter draw ire
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-12 | by ( James Mackenzie | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

JERUSALEM, April 12 (Reuters) - Israeli police will curb the number of worshippers in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem for safety reasons during Orthodox Easter ceremonies on Saturday, drawing anger from church leaders who said they would not cooperate. However, the decision to limit access on Saturday to the Holy Fire, the most important Easter celebration for the Eastern Orthodox Church, angered church leaders who saw it as part of what they consider long-standing efforts by Israel to restrict the rights and freedoms of the local Christian community. Additional checkpoints around the Old City will also restrict access to the area around the church. But it reflected complaints from Christians that they are being gradually but systematically shut out of the Old City by Israeli authorities, who they say are upsetting longstanding status quo arrangements between the three communities. Additional reporting by Henriette Chacar and Emily Rose; Editing by Bernadette BaumOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ World stocks hope for Fed pause, dollar stalls
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-11 | by ( Herbert Lash | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +6 min

Gold climbed back up above the key $2,000 per ounce level as the dollar came off Monday's peak, while oil prices rose despite Chinese inflation data pointing to persistently weak demand. Investors are eagerly awaiting U.S. consumer prices data on Wednesday and producer prices on Thursday. The consumer price index is expected to show core inflation rose 0.4% on a monthly basis (USCPF=ECI) and 5.6% year-over-year (USCPFY=ECI) in March, according to a Reuters poll of economists. The dollar fell after a strong U.S. jobs report for March showed a resilient labor market, adding to expectations of another Fed rate hike. The dollar index fell 0.244%, with the euro up 0.41% to $1.0904 and the yen weakening 0.12% at 133.78 per dollar.

☆ Dollar dips ahead of inflation data due Wednesday
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-11 | by ( Karen Brettell | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

NEW YORK, April 11 (Reuters) - The dollar fell on Tuesday as investors waited on inflation data for further signs of whether price pressures are ebbing and what it means for further Federal Reserve interest rate hikes. Consumer price data on Wednesday is expected to show headline inflation rose by 0.2% in March, while core inflation rose 0.4%. (USCPI=ECI), (USCPF=ECI)"A lot of traders are focused on this inflation data," said Edward Moya, senior market analyst at OANDA in New York. Strong jobs data for March have added to expectations that the U.S. central bank will complete one more rate hike. European bond yields rose sharply on Tuesday, catching up after the break.

The consumer price index is expected to show core inflation rose 0.4% on a monthly basis (USCPF=ECI) and 5.6% year-over-year (USCPFY=ECI) in March. The two-year Treasury yield, which typically moves in step with interest rate expectations, rose 3.5 basis points to 4.043%. "We're just beginning to feel the pain of these much higher interest rates. The dollar fell after a strong U.S. jobs report for March showed a resilient labor market, adding to expectations of another Fed rate hike. The 10-year JGB yield fell to as low as 0.445%, its lowest since April 4, after hovering at 0.465% in the previous session.

The euro was up 0.52% at $1.0918 and the pound rose a similar amount to $1.2439 as most European markets returned from the long Easter weekend. "Bank earnings will also be important, they don't often reach across to FX markets directly, but they might, given the recent jitters," Foley added. Tuesday's moves were also affected by European markets' reopening after the break, said Simon Harvey, head of FX analysis at Monex Europe, given the limited liquidity on Friday and Monday with most European markets closed. He said algorithms trading currencies based on the difference between European and U.S. rates might have sold euros for dollars when U.S. Treasury yields rose after the jobs data while European bond markets were closed. European bond yields rose sharply on Tuesday, catching up after the break.

The euro was up 0.4% at $1.0903 and the pound was up 0.5% at $1.2439 as most European markets returned from the long Easter weekend. "Bank earnings will also be important, they don't often reach across to FX markets directly, but they might given the recent jitters," Foley added. Tuesday's moves were also affected by European markets' reopening after the break, said Simon Harvey, head of FX analysis at Monex Europe, given the limited liquidity on Friday and Monday with most European markets closed. He said algorithms trading currencies based on the difference between European and U.S. rates might have sold euros for dollars when U.S. Treasury yields rose after the jobs data while European bond markets were closed. European bond yields rose sharply on Tuesday catching up after the break.

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