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☆ Wall Street Journal demands immediate release of reporter arrested in Russia
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-01 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: 1 min

April 1 (Reuters) - The Wall Street Journal on Saturday demanded the immediate release of Evan Gershkovich, a Moscow-based correspondent who was arrested by Russia's FSB security service on suspicion of spying. "Evan's case is a vicious affront to a free press, and should spur outrage in all free people and governments throughout the world, the newspaper said in a statement on Twitter. loadingReporting by Maria Ponnezhath in Bengaluru; Editing by Daniel WallisOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Stellantis' Portugal plant to produce large series fully battery electric compact vans
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-31 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

March 31 (Reuters) - Carmaker Stellantis NV (STLAM.MI) said on Friday its Portugal plant would become the first assembly plant in the country to produce large series fully battery electric compact vans by 2025. Stellantis's Mangualde Production Center, which has made over 1.5 million vehicles, will produce battery electric light commercial vehicles for Citroën, Fiat, OPEL and Peugeot, the company said in a statement. Stellantis, the world's third-largest automotive group by sales, planned to spend over 30 billion euros ($32.53 billion) through 2025 to electrify its vehicle lineup and boost its software content to catch up with rivals, including Tesla Inc (TSLA.O). Stellantis was created through the $52 billion merger of Fiat Chrysler and Peugeot maker PSA in 2021. ($1 = 0.9223 euros)Reporting by Chandni Shah and Maria Ponnezhath in Bengaluru; Editing by Sandra MalerOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ EU's von der Leyen is in the running to be new NATO head -The Sun
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-31 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

March 31 (Reuters) - European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen is in the running to be the new head of NATO, The Sun newspaper reported on Friday, citing a diplomatic source. A number of NATO member states have suggested von der Leyen would take over the alliance this October, the report said. The Sun report, citing UK sources, also said Britain would likely veto von der Leyen, who was the former German defense minister, citing her poor track record in charge of Germany's Armed Forces. German newspaper Welt am Sonntag has reported that Spain's Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez and Britain's Defence Secretary Ben Wallace were among the leading candidates to succeed Stoltenberg. Reporting by Maria Ponnezhath in Bengaluru Editing by Chris ReeseOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Only verified accounts can vote in Twitter polls from April 15, says Musk
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-28 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: 1 min

March 27 (Reuters) - Elon Musk said on Monday only verified Twitter accounts would be eligible to vote in polls starting April 15, a move that the social media company's CEO believes will address advanced AI bot swarms. loadingMusk also said only verified accounts will be eligible to be in Twitter's For You recommendations, which displays a stream of tweets from accounts on Twitter. Twitter did not immediately respond to a Reuters' request for comment. Last year, Musk had said Twitter would restrict voting on policy-related polls to paying Twitter Blue subscribers. Reporting by Chandni Shah and Maria Ponnezhath in BengaluruOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ First Citizens in advanced talks to buy Silicon Valley Bank
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-27 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

March 26 (Reuters) - First Citizens BancShares Inc (FCNCA.O) was in advanced talks to acquire Silicon Valley Bank (SIVB.O), a person familiar with the matter told Reuters on Sunday. First Citizens could reach a deal as soon as Sunday to acquire Silicon Valley Bank from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp (FDIC), according to Bloomberg News, which first reported the development. The FDIC, which now controls the Silicon Valley Bank assets, and First Citizens did not immediately respond to Reuters requests for comment. It has since asked for separate offers for SVB Private and Silicon Valley Bank by March 24. Valley National Bancorp (VLY.O) was also a bidder for Silicon Valley Bank, according to a separate Bloomberg report on Saturday.

March 26 (Reuters) - Some parts of Twitter Inc's source code have been leaked and the social media platform owned by billionaire Elon Musk is seeking information on the person responsible, a legal filing showed. According to the filing, "various excerpts" of Twitter's source code, which is used to run the company online, were posted on Github, a Microsoft-owned platform for sharing code for software development, by a user named 'FreeSpeechEnthusiast'. Github said it took down the code on Friday at Twitter's request. It also did not comment on how long Twitter's source code had been publicly available. Twitter also did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

☆ SVB deal helps to steady banks amid credit crunch concerns
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-27 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

The sudden collapse of tech-focussed SVB earlier this month destabilised the sector and drew some of Europe's biggest banking names into investors' focus. In March, the Stoxx index of European bank shares .SX7P is down more than 18% and the U.S. KBW regional bank index .KRX has lost 21%, with investors on edge about what's next. In Europe, bank bonds are under pressure and credit default swaps, or the cost of insurance against defaults, uneasily high. First Citizens said it would take on assets of $110 billion, deposits of $56 billion and loans of $72 billion, and expand in California. It will share further potential losses with the FDIC and the FDIC retains some $90 billion in securities held for disposal.

The CFTC sued Binance, Zhao and its former top compliance executive with "willful evasion" of U.S. law, "while engaging in a calculated strategy of regulatory arbitrage to their commercial benefit." "Upon an initial review, the complaint appears to contain an incomplete recitation of facts, and we do not agree with the characterization of many of the issues alleged in the complaint," Zhao said in a statement. Firms such as brokers that facilitate U.S. customers' trading of such products are required to register with the agency. 'PIRATE SHIP'Founded in Shanghai in 2017, Binance sits at the heart of the global crypto industry. With a holding company based in the Cayman Islands, Binance has never revealed the location of its core exchange.

☆ Perenco UK says oil leak occurred at well site in Southern England
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-26 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

March 26 (Reuters) - Anglo-French oil company Perenco's UK unit said on Sunday that a limited oil leak occurred at one of its well sites in Wytch Farm in Dorset, southern England. Perenco UK said the spill was being contained and an investigation will be launched. BBC reported that a major incident was declared after about 200 barrels of reservoir fluid leaked into the water at Poole Harbour. Perenco UK produces about 40,000 barrels of oil equivalent a day, of which about 14,000 barrels is from Wytch Farm. Poole Harbour Commissioners (PHC) has activated an oil spill plan and the pipeline had been shut down, with booms placed on either side of the leak, BBC said.

☆ Tencent-backed Airwallex secures e-payment license in China
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-07 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

March 7 (Reuters) - Australian fintech company Airwallex said on Tuesday it has secured an online payment business license in China by acquiring Chinese company Guangzhou Shang Wu Tong Network Technology. The Tencent-backed firm also said it has become a third-party payment provider in China, gaining greater access to the local market. Airwallex, which allows customers to issue and pay international invoices and bills through its payments platform, last year secured $100 million in an extension of a funding round, sustaining its $5.5 billion valuation. The latest approval adds to the company's existing licenses across major markets including Australia, United Kingdom and the United States. Reporting by Aarati Krishna and Maria Ponnezhath in BengaluruOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Caterpillar reaches tentative deal with union, averting possible strike
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-01 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

March 1 (Reuters) - Construction equipment maker Caterpillar Inc (CAT.N) said on Wednesday it reached a tentative six-year labor agreement with a union that represents workers at its four facilities, possibly fending off a strike. Union workers had threatened to strike for wage increases, improved safety measures and better healthcare benefits once the existing six-year labor contract expires. The United Auto Workers (UAW) said its negotiating team had reached the tentative agreement before the contract ends on March 1. "Members at four locals in Illinois and Pennsylvania will review the tentative agreement and vote at upcoming ratification meetings," the UAW said in a statement, without giving any other details. In January, union workers at the four Caterpillar facilities voted almost unanimously to authorize a strike, according to one local union's Facebook page.

☆ U.S. Marshals Service suffers security breach
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-28 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

Marshals Service (USMS) suffered a ransomware security breach this month that compromised sensitive law enforcement information, a spokesman said on Monday. The Marshals Service notified the U.S. Department of Justice to the breach, and agents there began a forensic investigation, Drew Wade, chief of the Marshals Service public affairs office, told Reuters in an email. "The affected system contains law enforcement sensitive information, including returns from legal process, administrative information, and personally identifiable information pertaining to subjects of USMS investigations, third parties, and certain USMS employees," Wade said. The incident took place on Feb. 17, when the service "discovered a ransomware and data exfiltration event affecting a stand-alone USMS system", after which the system was disconnected from the network, Wade said. The USMS is a federal law enforcement agency within the Department of Justice.

☆ Twitter lays off at least 50 in relentless cost cuts, The Information reports
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-26 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

Feb 26 (Reuters) - Elon Musk's Twitter Inc laid off dozens of employees on Saturday in what is at least the eighth round of job cuts since Musk took over the social network in late October, the Information reported. In early November, Twitter laid off about 3,700 employees in a cost-cutting measure by Musk, who acquired the company for $44 billion. The Information reported that the latest job cuts aim to offset a plunge in revenue following Musk's takeover and further whittle down a staff that had shrunk by at least 70% to roughly 2,000. Musk in November said that the service was experiencing a "massive drop in revenue" as advertisers pulled spending amid concerns about content moderation. Reporting by Maria Ponnezhath in Bengaluru; Editing by Kim CoghillOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Twitter lays off at least 50 in relentless cost cuts- The Information
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-26 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

☆ UBS set to apply for China mutual fund license - WSJ
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-23 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

Feb 23 (Reuters) - Switzerland's biggest bank UBS Group AG (UBSG.S) is looking to apply for a mutual fund license in China, the Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday, citing people familiar with the matter. The Swiss bank is in informal talks with the China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) about its intention to apply, the report said. UBS plans to submit the application as soon as possible, the report said without mentioning a timeline. The company declined to comment, while CSRC did not immediately respond to Reuters' request for comment. Reporting by Nilutpal Timsina in Bengaluru; Additional reporting by Maria Ponnezhath; Editing by Sonia CheemaOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ FBI investigates hack of its own computer network
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-17 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

Feb 17 (Reuters) - The FBI is investigating a hack of its computer network, in an isolated incident that was now contained, the agency said on Friday. "The FBI is aware of the incident and is working to gain additional information," the agency said in an emailed statement to Reuters, without providing further details. CNN, which first reported the incident citing people briefed on the matter, said FBI officials believe it involved computers at its New York office which were used to investigate child sexual exploitation. The FBI breach is the latest in a series of high-profile U.S. government hacking incidents over the last decade. The OPM breach was later attributed to Chinese hackers.

☆ Pence to fight special counsel subpoena on Trump's 2020 election denial - Politico
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-14 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

Feb 14 (Reuters) - Former U.S. Vice President Mike Pence is preparing to resist a grand jury subpoena for testimony about Donald Trump's push to overturn the 2020 election, Politico reported on Tuesday. Pence and former national security adviser Robert O'Brien were subpoenaed by the special counsel leading investigations into classified documents found at former President Trump's Mar-a-Lago residence and efforts to overturn the 2020 election result, according to media reports last week. Pence will argue that his former role as president of the Senate - therefore a member of the legislative branch - shields him from certain Justice Department demands, Politico reported, citing two people familiar with his thinking. Pence's decision to challenge Special Counsel Jack Smith's request has little to do with executive privilege, Politico added. Reporting by Maria Ponnezhath in Bengaluru; Editing by Robert BirselOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Microsoft Outlook back up for most users after outage
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-07 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

Feb 7 (Reuters) - Microsoft Corp's (MSFT.O) Outlook was back up for most users, the company said on Tuesday, after an hours-long outage disrupted the email service application for users primarily in North America. The company said it had identified a recent change that might have caused issues within Outlook.com, without giving further details. The outage comes shortly after Microsoft's cloud platform, Azure, faced disruptions, taking down services such as Teams and Microsoft 365 used by millions around the globe. Many users took to Twitter to share updates and memes about the service disruption, with #Microsoft365 trending as a hashtag on the social media site. Reporting by Sneha Bhowmik and Akriti Sharma in Bengaluru; Additional reporting by Maria Ponnezhath; Editing by Dhanya Ann Thoppil and Anil D'SilvaOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ U.S. plans 200% tariff on Russian aluminum - Bloomberg News
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-06 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

Feb 6 (Reuters) - The United States is preparing to impose a 200% tariff on Russian-made aluminum as soon as this week, Bloomberg News reported on Monday, as Washington looks to mount pressure on Moscow over its invasion of Ukraine. Reuters reported last October that the Biden administration was weighing restrictions on imports of Russian aluminum in response to Moscow's military escalation in Ukraine. The White House declined to comment on the Bloomberg report, which cited unnamed people familiar with the plans. The latter agency is responsible for investigating anti-dumping and anti-subsidy cases and in September 2021, imposed a 62.2% tariff on imports of Russian aluminum foil after determining it was being sold under fair value. Aluminum prices spiked last year, along with other commodities exported by Russia, with London Metal Exchange three month aluminum prices reaching a record of over $4,073 per tonne in March.

☆ TikTok's chief to testify before Congress in March - WSJ
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-30 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: 1 min

Jan 30 (Reuters) - TikTok Chief Executive Shou Zi Chew will appear before a congressional committee in March, as House Republican lawmakers step up scrutiny of the Chinese-owned video-sharing app, the Wall Street Journal reported on Monday. Chew will appear before the House Energy and Commerce Committee on March 23, the Journal reported, citing a committee spokesman. Reporting by Maria Ponnezhath in Bengaluru, editing by Ed OsmondOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ TikTok CEO to testify before U.S. Congress over security concerns
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-30 | by ( David Shepardson | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

The news comes as the House Foreign Affairs Committee plans to hold a vote next month on a bill aimed at blocking the use of TikTok in the United States over national security concerns. "ByteDance-owned TikTok has knowingly allowed the ability for the Chinese Communist Party to access American user data," McMorris Rodgers said, adding that Americans deserve to know how these actions impact their privacy and data security. TikTok said on Friday "calls for total bans of TikTok take a piecemeal approach to national security and a piecemeal approach to broad industry issues like data security, privacy, and online harms". The U.S. government’s Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS), a powerful national security body, in 2020 ordered ByteDance to divest TikTok because of fears that U.S. user data could be passed onto China’s government. CFIUS and TikTok have been in talks for more than two years aiming to reach a national security agreement to protect the data of U.S. TikTok users.

☆ U.S. judge grants preliminary approval to Juul consumer settlement
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-21 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Jan 20 (Reuters) - Juul Labs Inc on Friday secured preliminary court approval of a $255 million settlement resolving claims by consumers that it deceptively marketed e-cigarettes, as the company seeks to resolve thousands of lawsuits. U.S. District Judge William Orrick in San Francisco said the proposed class action settlement resolving claims by consumers who said they overpaid for Juul's vaping products was "fair, reasonable, and adequate," according to a court filing. The settlement is part of a larger, global agreement by Juul to resolve thousands of lawsuits by school districts, local governments and individuals accusing it of contributing to a youth vaping epidemic. The company last month said it had reached settlements with about 10,000 plaintiffs covering more than 5,000 cases. It has not said how much it will pay, though the Wall Street Journal reported deal is valued at $1.7 billion.

☆ Canada settles residential school reparations class-action lawsuit
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-21 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

Jan 21 (Reuters) - Canada has reached an agreement to settle a class-action lawsuit seeking compensation for the loss of language and culture brought on by Indian residential schools, for C$2.8 billion ($2.09 billion). The settlement builds on the 2021 Gottfriedson Day Scholars settlement, that provided individual compensation to day scholars who attended a residential school but did not reside at the institution. Canada will provide the settlement amount to a non-profit trust, independent of the government, as part of the class settlement. The terms of the settlement are yet to be approved by the Federal Court. ($1 = 1.3380 Canadian dollars)Reporting by Rishabh Jaiswal and Maria Ponnezhath in BengaluruOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Musk says higher priced Twitter subscription won't carry ads
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-21 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

Jan 21 (Reuters) - Twitter owner Elon Musk tweeted on Saturday that a higher priced subscription of the social media platform will not carry advertisements. loadingThe billionaire also said that ads are "too frequent on Twitter and too big," and that steps will be taken to address those issues in coming weeks. Twitter earns nearly 90% of its revenue from selling digital ads and Musk recently attributed a "massive drop in revenue" to rights organizations that have pressured brands to pause their Twitter ads. Earlier in December, Musk announced that Twitter's Basic blue tick will have half the number of advertisements and that it will offer a higher tier with no advertisements by 2023. Reporting by Maria Ponnezhath in Bengaluru Editing by Alistair BellOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Ron Klain expected to step down as Biden's White House Chief of Staff - NYT
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-21 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: 1 min

[1/2] White House Chief of Staff Ron Klain arrives to attend a Senate Democratic lunch meeting at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, U.S., February 17, 2022. REUTERS/Elizabeth Frantz/File PhotoJan 21 (Reuters) - White House Chief Of Staff Ron Klain is expected to step down in coming weeks in the most significant changing of the guard since Biden took office two years ago, the New York Times reported on Saturday. Reporting by Maria Ponnezhath in Bengaluru Editing by Nick ZieminskiOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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