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EU flag and TikTok logo are seen in this illustration taken, June 2, 2023. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration//File Photo Acquire Licensing RightsBRUSSELS, Dec 1 (Reuters) - Chinese conglomerate ByteDance's TikTok has asked Europe's second highest court to suspend its designation as a gatekeeper under onerous new EU tech rules until judges rule on its challenge against the label. TikTok last month challenged the EU decision at the Luxembourg-based General Court, saying its designation risks undermining the DMA goal of protecting gatekeepers from newer competitors like itself. "We have applied for interim measures," a spokesperson said. The bar for the court to approve interim measures is very high.

Persons: Dado Ruvic, TikTok, Europe's, Foo Yun Chee, Barbara Lewis Organizations: REUTERS, Rights, Markets, Google, Apple, Microsoft, EU, Companies, Commission, Thomson Locations: Luxembourg

☆ Crypto stocks set to start December on high note as bitcoin hits near 19-month high
▼ + stars: | 2023-12-01 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Shares of bitcoin miners - whose profitability improves as bitcoin climbs - including Riot Platforms (RIOT.O), Marathon Digital (MARA.O) and TeraWulf (WULF.O) rose between 1.7% and 4%. "Higher crypto prices should lead to a boost in transaction volume and transaction revenues for Coinbase as we enter 2024," said CFRA Research analyst Michael Elliott. However, Elliott cautioned the crypto exchange faces both legal challenges and new regulations that are likely to take time to play out and will continue to result in volatility for the stock. The ETF approval bets have helped counter latest concerns after Changpeng Zhao, the founder of the world's largest crypto exchange, stepped down and pleaded guilty to breaking U.S. anti-money laundering laws. Among other gainers were U.S. software developer and bitcoin investor Microstrategy (MSTR.O), up nearly 3.5%, and ProShares Bitcoin Strategy ETF (BITO.P), which added 2.1%.

Persons: Dado Ruvic, Noelle Acheson, J.P.Morgan, Iris, Michael Elliott, Elliott, Changpeng Zhao, Microstrategy, Medha Singh, Sriraj Kalluvila, Krishna Chandra Organizations: REUTERS, Cipher Mining, Iris Energy, Marathon, CFRA, Thomson Locations: bitcoin, Bengaluru

☆ Meta must provide details on measures against child sexual abuse by Dec. 22, EU says
▼ + stars: | 2023-12-01 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: 1 min

EU flag and Meta logo are seen in this illustration taken, May 22, 2023. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo Acquire Licensing RightsBRUSSELS, Dec 1 (Reuters) - EU tech regulators on Friday ordered Meta Platforms (META.O) to provide details on measures taken to tackle child sexual abuse material on Instagram by Dec. 22. "Information is also requested about Instagram's recommender system and amplification of potentially harmful content," the European Commission said in a statement. The request for information was done under the EU's Digital Services Act (DSA), new tech rules requiring Big Tech to do more to police illegal and harmful content on their platforms. Reporting by Foo Yun Chee in Brussels and Charlotte Van Campenhout in Amsterdam;Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Persons: Dado Ruvic, Foo Yun Chee, Charlotte Van Campenhout Organizations: REUTERS, Rights, European Commission, EU's Digital Services, Big Tech, Thomson Locations: EU, Brussels, Amsterdam

☆ Alibaba dips on MS downgrade as PDD grabs spot of most valuable Chinese e-commerce firm
▼ + stars: | 2023-12-01 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Meanwhile, shares of PDD Holdings (PDD.O) have surged this week following stellar quarterly results from the Temu parent. The company closed with a market capitalization of nearly $196 billion on Thursday, surpassing Alibaba's market value of $190.45 billion. They also noted uncertainties from Alibaba's decision to scrap the spin-off of its cloud business. Morgan Stanley cut its price target on the stock to $90 from $110, the second lowest among analysts, as per LSEG data. PDD shares were down 2.1% at $144.4 but have surged almost 80% in 2023, handily outperforming its peers.

Persons: Dado Ruvic, Morgan Stanley, PDD, Alibaba, Morgan Stanley's Eddy Wang, Sruthi Shankar, Sriraj Organizations: REUTERS, Alibaba, PDD Holdings, Wall, Vipshop Holdings, Thomson Locations: China, Alibaba's, Bengaluru

☆ Ukraine conducts new attack on Russian railway deep in Siberia - source
▼ + stars: | 2023-12-01 | by ( Tom Balmforth | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo Acquire Licensing RightsKYIV, Dec 1 (Reuters) - Ukraine's domestic spy agency has detonated explosives on a Russian railway line deep in Siberia, the second attack this week on military supply routes in the area, a Ukrainian source told Reuters on Friday. The train had been using a backup railway line after an attack on a nearby tunnel a day earlier caused trains to be diverted, the source said. The Ukrainian source, who said both operations were conducted by the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU), gave a similar assessment of the damage, citing Russian Telegram channels. Russia's Trans-Siberian Railway is widely seen as more important for Russian freight transport than the Baikal-Amur Mainline. A Russian industry source who declined to be identified said the backup route was functioning and being used by trains carrying freight on Friday afternoon.

Persons: Dado Ruvic, Tom Balmforth, Gleb Stolyarov, Timothy Organizations: REUTERS, Rights, Security Service of Ukraine, Russian, Reuters, Russian Railways, Russia's, Railway, Timothy Heritage, Thomson Locations: Ukraine, Siberia, Ukrainian, Russia, Siberia's Buryatia, Mongolia, Russian, Buryatia, Moscow, Chertov, Russia's Baikal, Russia's, Baikal, Amur, Kyiv

☆ OpenAI delays launch of custom GPT store to early 2024
▼ + stars: | 2023-12-01 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo Acquire Licensing RightsDec 1 (Reuters) - ChatGPT maker OpenAI has delayed the launch of its custom GPT store until early 2024, according to an internal memo seen by Reuters on Friday. During its first developer conference in November, OpenAI introduced the custom GPTs and store, which were set to be launched later that month. The company is continuing to "make improvements" to GPTs based on customer feedback, the memo said. The GPTs are early versions of AI assistants that perform real-world tasks such as booking flights on behalf of a user. It is also expected to allow users to share their GPTs and earn money based on the number of users.

Persons: Dado Ruvic, OpenAI, Sam Altman, Arsheeya, Shailesh Kuber, Arun Koyyur Organizations: REUTERS, Reuters, Thomson Locations: Bengaluru

REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File photo Acquire Licensing RightsLONDON, Dec 1(Reuters) - The Ethereum blockchain's historical greenhouse gas emissions before a major software upgrade last year were equivalent to the yearly emissions of Honduras, a University of Cambridge study showed on Friday. From its launch in 2015 until the Merge, Ethereum's greenhouse gas emissions totalled 27.5 million tonnes carbon dioxide equivalent (MtCO2e), the study showed. Its current yearly emissions are around 2.8 kilotonnes carbon dioxide equivalent, the study found - around the same as five round-trip flights from London to New York. It is generally thought that blockchain is "a highly emitting technology," said Anna Lerner, executive director at the Ethereum Climate Platform, an organisation that seeks to use blockchain tech to accelerate climate finance. The annual emissions of Bitcoin, the largest blockchain and cryptocurrency, are therefore roughly equivalent to those of Cambodia in 2020, according to Climate Watch.

Persons: Dado Ruvic, Anna Lerner, Ethereum, Alexander Neumueller, Neumueller, Tom Wilson, Alexandra Hudson Organizations: REUTERS, University of Cambridge, Global, Climate Watch, Reuters, Alexandra Hudson Our, Thomson Locations: Honduras, Dubai, London, New York, Bitcoin, Cambodia

REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration Acquire Licensing RightsLONDON/NEW YORK, Nov 30 (Reuters) - After making hay when a summer bond rout propelled the U.S. dollar to 10-month highs, hedge funds are now pondering what lies ahead for the greenback. Five funds shared their views on the fate of the dollar. This does not represent recommendations or trading positions, which some hedge funds cannot reveal for regulatory reasons. He expects the U.S. economy to slow sharply which, alongside falling inflation, will likely hurt the dollar against some emerging market currencies. The Brazilian real, trading at 4.8908 per dollar , is up roughly 8% so far this year against the dollar.

Persons: Dado Ruvic, Jonathan Fader, Fader, Doug Greenig, Florin Court's, Greenig, Tara Hariharan, Hariharan, NWI, Carlos Calabresi, Michael Sager, Sager, Nell Mackenzie, Carolina Mandl, Dhara Ranasinghe, Kirsten Donovan Organizations: REUTERS, U.S, greenback, Swiss, Reuters, FLORIN, China Foreign Exchange Trade, Long, Garde, CIBC, Thomson Locations: U.S, American, Brazil, Colombia, Hungary, Poland, China, Asia, Brazilian, London, Carolina, New York

The French bank also did not comment on plans to end its research partnership with Morningstar after more than four years. The expansion of the equities business by BNP comes as its Wall Street peers have reduced investment banking headcount this year amid sluggish trading and dealmaking activities. In Asia, BNP competes with large Western banks including Morgan Stanley (MS.N), Goldman Sachs (GS.N), JPMorgan (JPM.N) and UBS (UBSG.S), as well as a host of local investment banks in the cash equities business. One of the sources said BNP could boost its Asia equities headcount by as much as 20 over the next year. The bulk of BNP's in-house equities research team, mainly in Hong Kong and Singapore, departed as a result of that deal.

Persons: Dado Ruvic, Morningstar, Jean, Laurent Bonnafe, Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs, Jason Yates, BNP's, William Bratton, Exane, Bratton, " Yates, Selena Li, Sumeet Chatterjee, Jamie Freed Organizations: BNP, Bank, REUTERS, Morningstar, Deutsche, JPMorgan, UBS, Thomson Locations: HONG KONG, Asia, Asia Pacific, Europe, U.S, Russia, Ukraine, Pacific, BNP's, Hong Kong, Singapore, China, South Korea, India

☆ US judge blocks Montana from banning TikTok use in state
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-30 | by ( David Shepardson | Companies Need To Integrate Climate Reporting Across Functions To Comply With California S New Law | Henry Engler | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo Acquire Licensing RightsCompanies TikTok FollowNov 30 (Reuters) - A U.S. judge late on Thursday blocked Montana's first-of-its kind state ban on the use of short-video sharing app TikTok from taking effect on Jan. 1, saying it violated the free speech rights of users. U.S. District Judge Donald Molloy issued a preliminary injunction to block the ban on the Chinese-owned app, saying the state ban "oversteps state power and infringes on the constitutional rights of users." TikTok users in Montana also filed suit to block the ban. During an October hearing, Molloy questioned why no other state had followed Montana in banning TikTok and asked if the state was being "paternalistic" in arguing the ban was necessary to protect the data of TikTok users. Montana could have imposed fines of $10,000 for each violation by TikTok in the state but the law did not impose penalties on individual TikTok users.

Persons: Dado Ruvic, Montana's, Donald Molloy, China's ByteDance, TikTok, Molloy, Bill Clinton, Donald Trump, David Shepardson, Chris Reese, Sonali Paul Organizations: REUTERS, U.S, District, Montana, Democratic, Biden, Thomson Locations: U.S, Montana

☆ Broadcom to lay off 1,300 VMware employees following takeover
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-30 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: 1 min

A smartphone with a displayed Broadcom logo is placed on a computer motherboard in this illustration taken March 6, 2023. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo Acquire Licensing RightsNov 30 (Reuters) - Chipmaker Broadcom (AVGO.O) will lay off about 1,300 VMware employees in California following its acquisition of the cloud-computing firm, Bloomberg News reported on Thursday. The chipmaker will also review strategic options for two business units of VMware, Insider had reported on Wednesday, citing a leaked email from CEO Hock Tan to employees. Broadcom closed its $69 billion acquisition of VMware on Nov. 22 after receiving regulatory approval from China. Reporting by Arsheeya Bajwa in Bengaluru; Editing by Shailesh KuberOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Persons: Dado Ruvic, Hock Tan, Arsheeya, Shailesh Organizations: Broadcom, REUTERS, Bloomberg, VMware, Thomson Locations: California, China, Bengaluru

Saudi Arabia, Russia and other members of OPEC+ pump more than 40% of the world's oil, or some 43 million bpd. Two OPEC+ sources told Reuters a preliminary agreement has been reached for a cut of more than 1 million bpd. This would include Saudi Arabia extending the voluntary cut of 1 million bpd it has had in place since July plus additional contributions from other members, sources said. "It depends on other group participants, could be near or more," the third source said when asked about the possible 1 million bpd cut. The OPEC+ meeting coincides with the opening of the United Nations' COP28 climate summit being hosted by OPEC member the United Arab Emirates.

Persons: Dado Ruvic, Helima Croft, Alex Lawler, Olesya Astakhova, Maha El Dahan, Ahmad Ghaddar, David Goodman, Jason Neely Organizations: REUTERS, OPEC, Reuters, Saudi, Brent, RBC Capital Markets, International Energy Agency, United Nations, United, United Arab Emirates, Thomson Locations: OPEC, MOSCOW, DUBAI, Saudi Arabia, Russia, United Arab

☆ Cognizant ropes in JLL for sale of its world's largest facility: sources
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-30 | by ( Sai Ishwarbharath B | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

JLL and SIPCOT did not respond to Reuters' requests for comment. The campuses sit on land spanning over 49 acres having 16,500 seats, according to the company's presentations done for green energy certifications. It is an attempt "by Cognizant and other IT firms to decentralize their talent models to lower-cost locations," said Peter Bendor-Samuel, CEO at research firm Everest Group. The focus on smaller cities also comes at a time when many IT employees are reluctant to move back to big cities after shifting to their hometowns during the worst of the pandemic. Reporting by Sai Ishwarbharath B; Editing by Dhanya Skariachan and Shweta AgarwalOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Persons: Dado Ruvic, Cognizant, SIPCOT, Peter Bendor, Samuel, Sai Ishwarbharath, Dhanya Skariachan, Shweta Agarwal Organizations: REUTERS, Rights, Software, Reuters, State Industries Promotion Corporation, Tamil, Everest Group, Thomson Locations: Chennai, Teaneck , New Jersey, Tamil Nadu

REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo Acquire Licensing RightsBRUSSELS, Nov 30 (Reuters) - Meta Platforms' (META.O) paid no-ads subscription service, which it rolled out in Europe this month, breaches EU consumer laws, Europe's largest consumer group said on Thursday as it took its grievance to consumer protection authorities. Meta has said it launched the paid no-ads subscription service, which applies to Facebook and Instagram, to comply with EU rules requiring companies to give users a choice on whether their data can be collected and used for targeted ads. It also took issue with the "very high subscription fee for ad-free services" which could deter users. The ad-free service cost 9.99 euros ($10.96) monthly for Web users and 12.99 euros for iOS and Android users. Meta has said these prices are in line with Google's (GOOGL.O) YouTube and Spotify's (SPOT.N) premium services and with Netflix (NFLX.O).

Persons: Dado Ruvic, NOYB, Meta, BEUC, Ursula Pachl, Pachl, Foo Yun Chee, Matthew Lewis Organizations: Meta, REUTERS, Rights, European Consumer Organisation, CPC, Facebook, EU, YouTube, Netflix, Thomson Locations: Rights BRUSSELS, Europe, Austrian, Brussels

☆ TikTok takes first steps in turning on Norwegian data centre
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-30 | by ( Victoria Klesty | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

The company, owned by China-headquartered Bytedance, has been trying to address concerns over whether the Chinese government could access the data of European citizens who use TikTok. Several countries, the European Parliament, European Commission and others have banned TikTok from staff phones due to those concerns. TikTok in March launched a data security regime called Project Clover to build data centres and store European user data locally. The Norwegian data centre will be in the town of Hamar where TikTok will store data spread over three buildings and the first phase will start operating from next summer. The Norway data centre will run completely on renewable energy and generate heat that could be re-used.

Persons: Dado Ruvic, we're, Theo Bertram, TikTok's, TikTok, Bertram, Supantha Mukherjee, Jane Merriman Organizations: REUTERS, Green, European Commission, Reuters, British, NCC, Thomson Locations: HAMAR, Norway, Europe, China, Norwegian, Hamar, TikTok, Victoria, Stockholm

☆ Tech companies to sign agreement with UK government to tackle online fraud
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-30 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo Acquire Licensing RightsLONDON, Nov 30 (Reuters) - Eleven of the world's biggest tech companies, including Amazon.com (AMZN.O), Alphabet's (GOOGL.O) Google and Microsoft (MSFT.O), will sign an agreement with the British government on Thursday to step up their efforts to tackle online fraud, the interior ministry said. Under the "Online Fraud Charter," due to be signed at a meeting chaired by Interior Minister James Cleverly in London, the companies pledge to take further action to block and remove fraudulent content from their sites, the government said. "Fraud is now the most common crime in the UK, with online scammers targeting the most vulnerable in society," British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said in a statement. "By joining forces with these tech giants we will continue to crack down on fraudsters, making sure they have nowhere to hide online." The British government says fraud accounts for around 40% of all crime in England and Wales, with data from industry body UK Finance showing almost 80% of all authorised push payment fraud originates online.

Persons: Dado Ruvic, James, ByteDance's, Rishi Sunak, Kylie MacLellan, Matthew Lewis Organizations: REUTERS, Google, Microsoft, Interior, eBay, Facebook, YouTube, Finance, Thomson Locations: London, England, Wales

☆ ChatGPT one year on: From viral AI bot to OpenAI's boardroom battle
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-30 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo Acquire Licensing RightsNov 30 (Reuters) - We asked ChatGPT, OpenAI's viral chatbot, how it felt on its first birthday. The generative AI craze has disrupted several industries from cloud computing and customer service to movie editing and screenplay writing. Reuters GraphicsCHATGPT APP DOWNLOADSSix months after ChatGPT's website launch, OpenAI introduced the chatbot application to Apple's (AAPL.O) iOS in May and later on Android in July. With these applications running mostly on the cloud, vendors of cloud computing services, including Microsoft, Amazon and Alphabet, have also seen their shares surge. Microsoft (MSFT.O) and Alphabet (GOOGL.O) have invested billions to improve their cloud computing capabilities and take on more AI workloads as businesses embrace such tools.

Persons: Dado Ruvic, ChatGPT, Sam Altman, chatbots, Bard, Anthropic's Claude, Character.AI, Microsoft's, OpenAI, John Grisham, George R.R, Martin, Jonathan Franzen, Akash Sriram, Harshita Mary Varghese, Zaheer Kachwala, Jaspreet Singh, Sweta Singh, Saumyadeb Organizations: REUTERS, Microsoft, Reuters, Android, Nvidia, Nasdaq, TECH, Thomson Locations: Bengaluru

REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo Acquire Licensing RightsNov 29 (Reuters) - Microsoft will take a non-voting, observer position on OpenAI's board, CEO Sam Altman said in his first official missive after taking back the reins of the company on Wednesday. The observer position means Microsoft's representative can attend OpenAI's board meetings and access confidential information, but it does not have voting rights on matters including electing or choosing directors. The new OpenAI board is on an active search for six new members with expertise in fields from technology to safety and policy. OpenAI's chief scientist Ilya Sutskever will no longer be part of the board, Altman said. Apart from Altman, Brockman, Sutskever, D'Angelo, OpenAI's previous board consisted of entrepreneur Tasha McCauley, Helen Toner, director of strategy at Georgetown's Center for Security and Emerging Technology.

Persons: Dado Ruvic, Sam Altman, Satya Nadella, Altman, OpenAI, Bret Taylor, Larry Summers, Adam D'Angelo, Mira Murati, Greg Brockman, Greg, Ilya Sutskever, Sutskever, Ilya, Brockman, D'Angelo, OpenAI's, Tasha McCauley, Helen Toner, Akanksha, Krystal Hu, Sayantani Ghosh, Stephen Coates Organizations: REUTERS, Microsoft, U.S . Treasury, Reuters, Georgetown's Center for Security, Emerging Technology, Thomson Locations: OpenAI, Bengaluru, New York, San Francisco

☆ Italy's competition watchdog stops Intesa moving clients to mobile bank
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-30 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

Intesa Sanpaolo bank logo and stock graph are seen displayed in this illustration taken, May 3, 2022. Italy's AGCM antitrust authority opened a probe earlier this month into the way Intesa was transferring clients to Isybank after a raft of complaints which the watchdog said had now reached 5,000. It wants Intesa to only move clients who explicitly give their consent. Isybank targets 4 million Intesa customers under 65 who only access their banking services remotely. The group migrated the first 300,000 Intesa account holders in October and plans to shift another 2 million in March.

Persons: Dado Ruvic, Intesa, AGCM, Carlo Messina, Antonio Valitutti, Isybank, Valentina Za, Giulia Segreti, Christina Fincher, Jane Merriman, Susan Fenton Organizations: REUTERS, Bank of Italy, European Central Bank, Thomson Locations: Italy

Paxton said the claim was based on only two months of clinical trial data, and vaccine recipients' "absolute risk reduction" showed that the vaccine was just 0.85% effective. Infectious disease experts have said relative risk reduction is a more meaningful way to judge a vaccine's efficacy than absolute risk reduction. Relative risk shows how well a vaccine protects recipients relative to a study's control group. "Pfizer did not tell the truth about their COVID-19 vaccines," Paxton said in a statement. The status of the probe into Moderna and Johnson & Johnson was not immediately clear.

Persons: Dado Ruvic, Ken Paxton, Paxton, BioNTech, Biden, Johnson, Pfizer, Jonathan Stempel, Caroline Humer, Chizu Nomiyama, Daniel Wallis Organizations: Pfizer, REUTERS, Texas, Republican, Moderna, Johnson, Thomson Locations: Lubbock County, New York, Texas, Moderna

☆ Celsius Network faces roadblocks in pivot to bitcoin mining
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-30 | by ( Dietrich Knauth | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration//File Photo Acquire Licensing RightsNEW YORK, Nov 30 (Reuters) - Crypto lender Celsius Network may have to seek a new creditor vote on its proposed transformation into a bitcoin mining business, a U.S. bankruptcy judge said during a court hearing on Thursday. Celsius said last week that it had reduced its post-bankruptcy business plans to focus only on bitcoin mining, citing the skepticism of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) about its other planned business lines. The SEC did not definitively object to Celsius' bankruptcy plan before it was approved, but Celsius said the agency was unwilling to approve crypto lending and staking activity that the agency has opposed in the past. Celsius attorney Chris Koenig argued at Thursday's hearing that Celsius's court-approved bankruptcy plan gave the company flexibility to pivot to a mining-only business. Celsius creditors can expect a 67% recovery under the new plan, an increase from 61.2% under the Fahrenheit deal, according to court documents filed on Thursday.

Persons: Dado Ruvic, Martin Glenn of, Glenn, Chris Koenig, Koenig, Arrington, BRIC, Dietrich Knauth, Alexia Garamfalvi, Grant McCool Organizations: REUTERS, U.S . Securities, Exchange Commission, SEC, Bankruptcy, US Bitcoin Corp, Arrington Capital, Recovery Investment, US, Thomson Locations: U.S, Martin Glenn of New York

REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo Acquire Licensing RightsBRUSSELS, Nov 30 (Reuters) - EU countries and EU lawmakers on Thursday agreed to rules to protect laptops, fridges, mobile apps and smart devices connected to the internet from cyber threats following a spate of such attacks and ransom demands in recent years around the world. It sets out cybersecurity requirements for the design, development, production and the sale of hardware and software products. They must be more transparent on the security of hardware and software products for consumers and business users, and report cyber incidents to national authorities. Importers and distributors will have to verify that products conform with EU rules. The Commission has said the cybersecurity rules could save companies as much as 290 billion euros ($316 billion) annually versus compliance costs of about 29 billion euros.

Persons: Dado Ruvic, Jose Luis Escriva, Foo Yun Chee, Josie Kao Organizations: REUTERS, Rights, European Commission, Manufacturers, EU, Thomson Locations: Rights BRUSSELS

☆ Prosus reports $2 bln in core earnings, sees e-commerce profitability earlier
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-29 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration Acquire Licensing RightsAMSTERDAM, Nov 29 (Reuters) - Prosus NV (PRX.AS), a large technology investor, said on Wednesday its core headline earnings increased 118% in the first half of 2024, citing improved profitability in its stable of e-commerce investments. Core headline earnings for the half year ended on Sept. 30 were $2.0 billion, from $1.1 billion in the same period a year earlier, in line with a Nov. 20 trading statement. Core headlines earnings is a nonstandard measure the company says best reflects its group operating performance. It includes the massive stake Prosus owns in China's Tencent (0700.HK), which the company said has been sold down from 26.2% to 25% to fund a rolling share buyback program. Prosus says share buybacks benefit shareholders because the Tencent stake, now worth $98 billion, is worth about 30% more than Prosus itself.

Persons: Dado Ruvic, Prosus, Tencent, Toby Sterling, Jacqueline Wong Organizations: REUTERS, Rights, Prosus, HK, Thomson

☆ Prosus cuts India's Byju's valuation to under $3 billion
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-29 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration Acquire Licensing RightsMUMBAI, Nov 29 (Reuters) - Tech investor Prosus NV (PRX.AS) said on Wednesday it was valuing Indian education firm Byju's at under $3 billion, 86% less than its peak valuation of $22 billion last year, after the company struggled with governance and cash-flow problems. The disclosure, made by interim CEO Ervin Tu during Prosus earnings call, is the latest cut to Byju's valuation after several executives and board members quit and it delayed filing its 2021/22 financial results by a year. Over the past year, shareholders including Prosus and Blackrock have successively cut Byju's valuation to $11 billion in March, $8 billion in May and $5 billion in June. It has delayed publishing its financial results, prompting auditor Deloitte and three board members quit in June. Byju's filed the delayed but incomplete financial results earlier this month, and is looking to sell off entire business lines to raise cash.

Persons: Dado Ruvic, Ervin Tu, Prosus, Byju's, Sriram, Aditya Kalra, Miral Organizations: REUTERS, Rights, Tech, Prosus NV, Prosus, Blackrock, Atlantic, Deloitte, Thomson Locations: Rights MUMBAI, Silver

☆ Majority of Britons support rejoining the EU single market - poll
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-29 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration Acquire Licensing RightsLONDON, Nov 29 (Reuters) - A majority of Britons support rejoining the European Union's single market even though that would mean the restoration of the free movement of workers from the bloc, according to a poll published on Wednesday. Curbing immigration was a key reason Britons voted to leave the European Union in 2016. Support for joining the single market, which also guarantees the free movement of goods and services, was divided along political lines. For those respondents who voted to leave the EU and who would back the opposition Labour Party in an election tomorrow, 53% support single market membership, with 31% opposed. For those who voted for Brexit and intend to vote for the governing Conservatives, only 29% would support a return to the single market, with 54% opposed.

Persons: Dado Ruvic, Brexit, Keir Starmer, YouGov, Farouq Suleiman, Kate Holton, Nick Macfie Organizations: REUTERS, European Union, EU, Labour Party, Brexit, Conservatives, Labour, Thomson Locations: United Kingdom, Britain

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