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☆ Russia says missile strike in Poland caused by Ukrainian air defence
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-16 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Nov 16 (Reuters) - Russia said on Wednesday that an explosion in Poland on Tuesday had been caused by a Ukrainian air defence missile, and that Russian strikes in Ukraine had been no closer than 35 km (22 miles) from the Polish border. "The photos published in the evening of Nov. 15 in Poland of the wreckage found in the village of Przewodow are unequivocally identified by Russian defence industry specialists as elements of an anti-aircraft guided missile of the S-300 air defence system of the Ukrainian air force," the Russian defence ministry said in a statement. A NATO source said U.S. President Joe Biden had informed Group of Seven and NATO partners that the blast in Poland had been caused by a Ukrainian air defence missile. Russia's defence ministry also said it had not targeted Kyiv during yesterday's widespread strikes. Reuters journalists in the city reported missile strikes, including on residential buildings, and power outages across the city on Tuesday in some of the heaviest attacks in the nine-month conflict.

☆ TJX hits an all-time high as reason we own off-price retailer played out in the quarter
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-16 | by ( Zev Fima | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +8 min

Club holding TJX Companies (TJX) reported stronger-than-expected fiscal third-quarter 2023 earnings and U.S. sales before the opening bell Wednesday, boosting shares of the off-price retailer by nearly 4% to an all-time high. While U.S. customer traffic was down in the quarter, management noted that it improved sequentially and improved throughout the quarter. Speaking to the inventory glut at full-price retailers, TJX management said on their post-earnings call, "The marketplace is absolutely loaded with quality branded merchandise across good, better and best brands." That guide also represents a tightening around the $3.09 midpoint versus the $3.05 to $3.13 per share range provided with the prior quarter's release. This excludes new stores, stores closed permanently or closed for an extended period of time as well as e-commerce results.

☆ Tech investor Draper sours on China, says it has left the free market
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-15 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

[1/4] U.S. venture capitalist Tim Draper speaks to Reuters on his way to visit the National Space Organization in Taipei, Taiwan, November 14, 2022. REUTERS/Ann WangTAIPEI, Nov 15 (Reuters) - China is no longer a place to invest and has left "the free market" under President Xi Jinping, said U.S. venture capitalist Tim Draper, an early investor in Elon Musk's Tesla and SpaceX. "I used to be an investor in China," he told Reuters late on Monday after arriving in Taipei. "Then I got an early indication that China was going to leave the free market and I decided that that was not a place I wanted to invest," Draper said, without elaborating. "I'm just hoping that President Xi hasn't lost his mind completely," Draper said, referring to a potential Chinese attack on Taiwan.

☆ Factbox: Top takeaways from the Biden-Xi meeting in Bali
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-14 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

Xi too was explicit about Taiwan, calling it the "first red line" that must not be crossed in China-U.S. relations. The White House said Biden and Xi agreed to "deepen constructive efforts" to address issues such as climate change, health and food security. But according to the White House statement, Biden and Xi "underscored their opposition to the use or threat of use of nuclear weapons in Ukraine". Biden told reporters after the meeting there was no need for concerns about a new Cold War between the United States and China. At the same time, Biden warned Xi that such actions by North Korea would result in bolstered U.S. and allied military capabilities in Northeast Asia.

Business groups have urged courts to find that the natural disaster exemption extends to the pandemic because employers had no choice but to lay off workers when state and local governments forced businesses to close. Nor did lawyers for three former employees of the company who had sued over pandemic-related layoffs. A federal judge in Houston had denied the plaintiffs' motion for summary judgment, saying COVID-19 qualified as a natural disaster because it was not caused by humans and had infected millions of people. The court said Congress could have included terms such as "disease, pandemic or virus" in the WARN Act, and their absence suggested they were deliberately excluded. The case is U.S. Well Services Inc v. Easom, U.S. Supreme Court, No.

☆ Rainbow-themed badge adorns U.S. training facility at Qatar World Cup
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-14 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

Organisers of the World Cup, which is the first to be held in a Middle Eastern nation, say that everyone, no matter their sexual orientation or background, is welcome, while also warning against public displays of affection. Soccer players have raised concerns over the rights of fans travelling to the Nov. 20-Dec. 18 World Cup, especially LGBTQ individuals and women, whom rights groups say Qatari laws discriminate against. The rainbow badge, which will not be worn by the team during World Cup games, has been routinely displayed by U.S. Soccer no matter the occasion as a way to promote a spirit of inclusivity. "Our rainbow badge has an important and consistent role in the identity of U.S. Soccer," U.S. Soccer spokesman Neil Buethe said in an email to Reuters. "As a result, locations that we will manage and operate at the FIFA World Cup, such as the team hotel, media areas and parties, will feature both traditional and rainbow U.S. Soccer branding."

☆ Investors gobble up bonds as worst of inflation may be over -BofA
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-11 | by ( Lucy Raitano | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

Investors bought $2.6 billion of bonds in the week to Wednesday, BofA said, citing EPFR data. "Inflation shock" is over, but 'inflation stick' of briskly rising services and wage inflation is here to stay; inflation will come down but to remain above range past 20 years," BofA strategists, led by Michael Hartnett, said. Inflation shock, rates shock and recession shock defined the the 2022 bear narrative, Bofa said, adding that 2023 looks very different. "2023 bull narrative is 'peak CPI, peak Fed, peak yields, peak US dollar'; we say 'rent the pivot' as 'no recession, no rate cuts'," the bank's strategists said. BofA said U.S. 30-year Treasuries, small-cap industrials and resources, emerging market bonds, plus China/Japan and weak dollar plays were on its list.

☆ Israelis, Palestinians can fly on same flights to World Cup in Qatar
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-11 | by ( Associated Press | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +2 min

Soccer fans from Israel and the Palestinian territories will be able to fly directly to the FIFA World Cup in Qatar from Tel Aviv for the first time, soccer’s global governing body announced Thursday. The development is a breakthrough agreement for Israel and Qatar — two countries without diplomatic relations. The charter flights to Doha from Ben Gurion International Airport in Tel Aviv for the tournament starting Nov. 20 will be open to all Palestinians, FIFA said. Israel may still refuse to grant exit permits to residents of blockaded Gaza seeking to fly out of Tel Aviv to attend the World Cup. Israeli citizens cannot ordinarily fly directly to Doha or enter Qatar on their Israeli passports.

☆ U.S. extends protected migrant status to mid-2024 for six nationalities
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-11 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

SAN SALVADOR, Nov 10 (Reuters) - The United States has extended a protected status program that prevents migrants from being deported to mid-2024 for citizens of six countries, including Haiti and three Central American nations, its immigration service said on Thursday. The Temporary Protected Status (TPS) will be extended to June 30, 2024, for citizens of Haiti, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Sudan, Honduras, and Nepal, according to a document filed by the U.S. The TPS program provides recipients work permits and can protect them from deportation if their home countries go through extraordinary events such as natural disaster or armed conflict. The extension will affect about 392,000 people, of whom some 242,000 are citizens of El Salvador, according to USCIS data. "Thanks be to God," said Salvadoran Ambassador to the United States Milena Mayorga, tweeting a link to the document.

☆ Investors gobble up bonds as worst of inflation may be over - BofA
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-11 | by ( Lucy Raitano | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

LONDON, Nov 11 (Reuters) - Investors bought more bonds than at any time in the last four months in the week to Wednesday as signs emerged that inflation may have peaked, BofA Global Research said on Friday. Investors bought $2.6 billion of bonds in the week to Wednesday, BofA said, citing EPFR data. "Inflation shock" is over, but "inflation stick" of briskly rising services and wage inflation is here to stay; inflation will come down but to remain above range past 20 years," BofA strategists, led by Michael Hartnett, said. In the latest week, investors pulled $4.6 billion from equity funds and ploughed $2.4 billion into cash. Inflation shock, rates shock and recession shock defined the the 2022 bear narrative, Bofa said, adding that 2023 looks very different.

☆ COP27: Farm climate innovation commitments double to $8 billion
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-11 | by ( Aidan Lewis | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

SHARM EL-SHEIKH, Egypt, Nov 11 (Reuters) - An initiative led by the United States and the United Arab Emirates to help agriculture adapt to climate change and reduce emissions through innovation has doubled investment commitments to $8 billion and extended its reach, it said on Friday. The Agriculture Innovation Mission for Climate (AIM for Climate) was launched one year ago and seeks to accelerate innovation in "climate smart" agriculture globally up to 2025, as the world races to contain global warming below 1.5 degrees Celsius. At the COP27 climate change talks in Sharm el-Sheikh it announced commitments for $7 billion of investments from 42 governments, and $1 billion in innovation initiatives aimed at small-holder farmers in developing economies, new technologies, agro-ecological research and methane reduction. Farming is on the frontline of extreme weather but is also a major contributor to global emissions that cause warming. "I think there's just tremendous carbon sequestration capacity, there's tremendous opportunities to reduce methane, there's tremendous opportunities to convert agricultural waste into a variety of products that would significantly reduce the greenhouse gas footprint of agricultural production."

He'll hold his first face-to-face meeting with Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping at the G20, where he hopes to explore Xi's "red lines", talk to allies about punishing Russia for its Ukraine invasion and discuss containing North Korea after a barrage of missile tests. On Wednesday, Biden said U.S. aid for Ukraine will continue uninterrupted and any territorial compromise between the two countries is up to Ukraine. Putin will not attend the G20 summit in person but is due join one of the meetings virtually, an Indonesian government official said. They will address North Korea's "unlawful weapons of mass destruction and ballistic missile programs," the official said. Biden will "continue to urge the Egyptian government to release political prisoners and undertake human rights related legal reforms," said one of the officials.

WASHINGTON, Nov 9 (Reuters) - U.S. basketball star Brittney Griner was transferred last week from a detention center outside the Russian capital and is on her way to a penal colony, her legal team said on Wednesday. She was sentenced on Aug. 4 to nine years in a penal colony on charges of possessing and smuggling drugs. Griner had pleaded guilty but said she had made an "honest mistake" and had not meant to break the law. The souring of ties between Russia and the West has complicated the talks to secure Griner's release. Biden's national security adviser Jake Sullivan, in an earlier statement, described Griner's conditions as "intolerable" and the trial she had to go through as "another sham judicial proceeding."

The Indonesian navy has been trying to free the Djibouti-registered ship, Young Yong, which ran aground off Indonesia's Riau Islands on Oct. 26 near a gas pipeline. The Young Yong was among the vessels sanctioned. Capable of carrying 2 million barrels of crude oil, the stranded tanker is almost full, according to shipping data on Refinitiv Eikon. allows transactions to free sanctioned oil tanker, Young Yong, which has been stranded in Indonesian waters since Oct. 26CHALLENGESThere are operational challenges in refloating the ship like the risk of an oil spill and strong currents in the surrounding waters, said Jacob Hogendorp, managing partner of Global Salvage Consultancy. He added that part of the cargo onboard Young Yong would likely have to be transferred to another ship before refloating commences.

☆ Oil prices dip 1% on China demand worries, U.S. midterm elections
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-08 | by ( Arathy Somasekhar | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

Companies Diamondback Energy Inc FollowNov 8 (Reuters) - Oil prices edged 1% lower on Tuesday on growing worries about fuel demand as COVID-19 outbreaks worsened in top crude importer China, and jitters about the outcome of U.S. Brent futures for January delivery fell $1.14 to $96.78 a barrel, a 1.2% loss, by 13:02 p.m. EST (18:02 GMT). It's a wait to see what the result is type of a situation here," said Bob Yawger, director of energy futures at Mizuho in New York. The ICE exchange, home to the Brent benchmark, has increased the initial margin rates for front-month Brent crude futures by 4.92%, making maintaining a futures position more expensive from the close of business on Tuesday. U.S. crude oil stocks were expected to have risen by about 1.1 million barrels last week, a preliminary Reuters poll showed on Monday.

HONG KONG, Nov 8 (Reuters) - Asian shares rose on Tuesday as U.S. stocks increased overnight before midterm elections and investors clung on to hopes that China would eventually relax its strict pandemic curbs even after the government reaffirmed its commitment to the zero-COVID policy. Wall Street ended sharply higher Monday as investors focused on Tuesday's midterm elections that will determine control of Congress, while shares of Meta Platforms jumped on a report of job cuts at the Facebook parent. Hong Kong's Hang Seng index (.HSI) and China's benchmark CSI300 Index (.CSI300) were up 0.3% and 0.14%, respectively. Investors are hoping China will gradually ease its zero-COVID policy and reopen to the world, even after health officials reiterated their commitment to the policy on Saturday at a press conference. Analysts said U.S. mid-term elections on Tuesday could impact markets.

☆ How Tuesday's election will impact the stock market — Watch the 'Republican portfolio' names
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-08 | by ( Patti Domm | In | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +9 min

There will be things about gridlock the market doesn't like," said Ed Mills, Washington policy analyst at Raymond James. Meanwhile, under a Republican president, the stock market on average gains 4.9% when Democrats control Congress, and the market gains 7.3% with a split Congress. Strategas Research says the stock market is signaling that Republicans may sweep the election . There are clear stock market winners from a Republican victory, at least in the House. Laperriere, in a note, wrote that tech, small cap and financial firms are most vulnerable to higher taxes and tougher regulations, and they could benefit from a Republican Congress.

☆ Asian stocks mixed as caution reigns ahead of U.S. midterms
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-08 | by ( Kane Wu | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

MSCI's gauge of Asia Pacific stocks outside Japan (.MIAPJ0000PUS) narrowed gains to rise 0.12% at 0517 GMT. "The thing to watch ... will be the U.S. midterms today and the CPI data tomorrow," said Redmond Wong, Saxo Markets' market strategist for Greater China, in a note on Tuesday. Japan's Nikkei 225 (.N225) gained as much as 1.44%, hitting an eight-week high, as investors scooped up chips and other technology stocks. Analysts said U.S. mid-term elections on Tuesday could impact markets. Brent crude fell 0.32% to $97.61 a barrel by 0526 GMT, while U.S. crude fell 0.38% to $91.44 a barrel.

☆ Factbox: Inflation, abortion top issues for U.S. voters casting midterm ballots, exit poll finds
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-08 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

REUTERS/Evelyn HocksteinWASHINGTON, Nov 8 (Reuters) - Inflation and abortion topped the list of issues motivating U.S. voters in Tuesday's midterm elections, followed by crime, immigration and gun policy, an exit poll conducted by Edison Research showed. * About three out of 10 voters said inflation was their top concern in deciding how to vote. * About three out of 10 voters said abortion was their top concern in deciding how to vote. * About one out of 10 voters said gun policy was their top concern in deciding how to vote. * About six out of 10 voters said abortion should be legal vs four of 10 who said it should be illegal.

☆ Feds announce $3.36 billion seizure of bitcoin, the second-largest recovery of crypto so far
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-07 | by ( Paige Tortorelli | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

The Department of Justice announced Monday that it seized about $3.36 billion in stolen bitcoin during a previously-unannounced 2021 raid on the residence of James Zhong. It follows the $3.6 billion in allegedly stolen cryptocurrency linked to the 2016 hack of the cryptocurrency exchange, Bitfinex. Silk Road was launched in 2011, but the Federal Bureau of Investigation shut it down in 2013. IRS-CI Special Agent in Charge Tyler Hatcher said Zhong used a "sophisticated scheme" to steal the bitcoin from the Silk Road marketplace. In October 2022, Binance, the world's largest crypto exchange by trading volume, suffered a $570 million hack.

☆ U.S. privately asks Ukraine to show Russia it's open to talks, the Washington Post reports
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-05 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

WASHINGTON, Nov 5 (Reuters) - The Biden administration is privately encouraging Ukraine’s leaders to signal an openness to negotiate with Russia and drop their public refusal to engage in peace talks unless President Vladimir Putin is removed from power, the Washington Post reported on Saturday. "Ukraine fatigue is a real thing for some of our partners," the Post quoted one unnamed U.S. official as saying. The White House National Security Council and the State Department did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the report. U.S. National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan said during a visit to Kyiv on Friday that Washington's support for Ukraine would remain "unwavering and unflinching" following next Tuesday's midterm congressional elections. Reporting by David Brunnstrom; Editing by Daniel WallisOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Factbox: No consensus in Congress on making daylight saving time permanent
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-05 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

Clocks in the United States will return to standard time at 2 a.m. EDT on Sunday with no consensus on the matter. The current system of daylight saving is good for business, energy efficiency, and the prevention of vehicle accidents." There's some strong science behind it that is now showing and making people aware of the harm that clock switching has. Congress created Daylight Saving decades ago as a wartime effort, now it is well past time to lock the clock and end this experiment." Permanent, year-round Standard Time is the best match for our biological sleep-wake cycle."

☆ President Raisi says Iran thwarted U.S. destabilisation
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-05 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

As Iranian authorities marked the anniversary this week of the seizure of the U.S. embassy in Tehran by radical students, President Joe Biden backed the protesters, saying: "We're gonna free Iran. In Syria, mass demonstrations against Iran's ally President Bashar al-Assad were confronted with force and the country spiralled into conflict which continues 11 years on. By contrast, Iranian cities were now "safe and sound", Raisi said, promising retribution for the unrest the country had seen. At least 14,170 people have been arrested, including 392 students, in protests in 136 cities and towns, and 134 universities, it said. The crisis has dragged Iran's currency to new historic lows.

Barrack was also acquitted of obstruction of justice and making false statements to FBI agents in 2019 about his interactions with Emirati officials and their representatives. Barrack raised money for Trump during the 2016 campaign and chaired Trump's 2017 inaugural committee. Also receiving a pardon was Paul Manafort, Trump's 2016 campaign chairman, who had been found guilty in 2018 of financial wrongdoing and sentenced to 7-1/2 years in prison. During his testimony, Barrack told jurors he never agreed to be a UAE agent or asked Trump for a pardon. Barrack's lawyers acknowledged that he sometimes sought feedback from Emirati officials, but that any impact on U.S. policy or public opinion was insignificant.

☆ Latest U.S. defense-intelligence report on UFOs to be made public soon
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-04 | by ( Steve Gorman | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

Nov 3 (Reuters) - A declassified version of the latest U.S. defense-intelligence report on UFOs - rebranded in official government parlance as "unidentified aerial phenomena" - is expected to be made public in the coming days. "We are collecting as much data as we can, following the data where it leads, and will share our findings whenever possible." The first such defense-intelligence UAP report to Congress in June 2021 looked at 144 sightings by U.S. military aviators dating back to 2004, most of them documented with multiple instruments. "We are working to mitigate these shortfalls for the future and to ensure we have sufficient data for our analysis." The forthcoming release of the latest Pentagon assessment comes after a first-of-its-kind panel organized by NASA opened a separate, parallel study on Oct. 24 of unclassified UFO sightings data from civilian government and commercial sectors.

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