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☆ Prologium CEO: Working with France to determine battery project subsidies
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-09 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: 1 min

TAIPEI, June 9 (Reuters) - Taiwanese electric vehicle battery maker ProLogium is working with the French government to determine the total amount of subsidies for its project in the north of France, Prologium's CEO said on Friday. Vincent Yang told reporters in Taipei that the parties were in the final phase of talks and that he expected a joint announcement by the end of this year. He also said there would be many sources of funding including loans, equity, and investment from automakers. Reporting by Faith Hung in Taipei; Editing by Christopher CushingOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Persons: Vincent Yang, Faith Hung, Christopher Cushing Organizations: Thomson Locations: TAIPEI, France, Taipei

☆ Proposed debt ceiling deal would cut part of $80 billion IRS funding
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-30 | by ( Kate Dore | Cfp | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

A tentative deal to raise the debt ceiling limit includes up to $21.4 billion of IRS budget cuts, slashing part of the nearly $80 billion in agency funding enacted last August to boost taxpayer service, technology and enforcement. If unchanged, a separate deal would also repurpose $20 billion of IRS funding for fiscal years 2024 and 2025, according to the White House. Since the original $80 billion in IRS funding was for a 10-year period, White House officials on Sunday said they don't expect the budget cuts to fundamentally change the agency's near-term plans. But the IRS may need to request more funding during the latter years of the original timeline, they said. The $80 billion IRS funding has been a hot-button political issue since its enactment, and repealing the money was a theme throughout the 2022 midterm elections in the fall.

☆ Analysis: As sun sets on LIBOR, its successor rate may heighten bank risks
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-22 | by ( Gertrude Chavez-Dreyfuss | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

The transition to the Secured Overnight Funding Rate (SOFR) has been well-telegraphed for years and U.S. banks are mostly prepared for the new rate regime. Typically in a crisis, the cost of bank funding rises: rates on commercial paper and bond issuance increase as investors demand a premium to buy bank debt. This was highlighted by the New York Fed in a study released in December 2022 and updated last February. Bank funding costs have increased with the surge in interest rates since the Fed began tightening last year. "The transition has largely taken place and the rates on SOFR have risen in tandem with policy rate increases."

☆ Leaked Microsoft email instructs managers to give fewer 'exceptional rewards' as it halts raises and cuts the budget for stock awards and bonuses
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-10 | by ( Ashley Stewart | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

Microsoft plans to halt raises and cut its bonus and stock awards budget, according to an internal email. A separate internal email instructs managers to give fewer employees "exceptional rewards." Microsoft sent managers an email about the company's plan to halt raises and cut its bonus and stock awards budget instructing them to give fewer employees exceptional rewards. Microsoft's spokesperson declined to comment on the email to managers but confirmed the news about halting raises and cutting the bonus and stock award budget. Thank you for navigating a more conservative rewards budget coupled with recent workforce reductions and a challenging and dynamic environment this year.

☆ Republicans dismiss fears that their debt ceiling bill would make the housing crisis worse for 1 million families as 'scaremongering'
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-07 | by ( Eliza Relman | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

House Republicans' debt ceiling bill would cut significant funding from federal housing services. HUD Secretary Marcia Fudge said the agency would suffer "the most devastating impacts in HUD's history" if the funding cuts in the bill are made law. He went on, "It's being positioned as congressional Republicans are heartless because they want to pass these spending cuts. "The House bill reduces spending to the levels we had in 2022. The last I checked, 2022 was not a horrid apocalypse sweeping across our country," Cruz told Insider on Wednesday.

☆ Federal government to restore Hockey Canada funding
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-16 | by ( Steve Keating | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

BRAMPTON, Ontario, April 16 (Reuters) - The Canada government will restore funding to Hockey Canada after the body met three conditions to make the sport safer, said Minister of Sport Pascale St-Onge on Sunday, ahead of the women's ice hockey world championship gold medal game between the United States and Canada. Hockey Canada had its funding frozen last year when the national governing body came under scrutiny over its handling of sexual assault allegations. "Today marks an important milestone for Hockey Canada in our journey to earn and maintain the trust of Canadians," said Hugh Fraser, chair of the Hockey Canada Board of Directors. Hockey Canada must also review and implement the recommendations from the independent governance review led by Thomas Cromwell. CBC reported that Hockey Canada received $7.7 million from Sport Canada in the 2022 fiscal year.

☆ Private school vouchers are shaping up to be huge part of the 2024 election as GOP candidates work to 'one up' each other on the issue
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-15 | by ( Kimberly Leonard | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +12 min

The GOP movement toward "school choice" is gaining momentum in many states. GOP presidential candidates have promised to send more public money to private schools. While battles over how classrooms should teach about race and LGBTQ topics have fired up the GOP base, the expansion of school vouchers is taking hold in red states. Spar said vouchers amounted to "using taxpayer money to go to private schools and home schools with practically no accountability." As Congress then turned its attention toward COVID pandemic relief, at least one bill that didn't pass had funding for private schools and homeschooling.

☆ Million dollar pay packets for women after new Australia deal
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-03 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

SYDNEY, April 3 (Reuters) - Top Australian women cricketers could earn more than A$1 million ($666,600) a year with increases from a new pay deal topped up by cash earned in India's Women's Premier League and The Hundred in England, Cricket Australia (CA) said on Monday. "I am particularly pleased this (deal) represents another major step forward in the rise of women's cricket," CA chief executive Nick Hockley said in a news release. The Memorandum of Understanding, agreed between CA and the Australian Cricketers' Association (ACA), also included an increase of 25% in the minimum and average CA contracts for women. That model has been kept in place for the next five years, with players sharing a total of A$634m over the period of the deal with another pool of A$57 million to fund performance-related pay. ($1 = 1.5002 Australian dollars)Reporting by Nick Mulvenney, editing by Peter RutherfordOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Germany to send additional 12 billion euros in military support to Ukraine
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-29 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

BERLIN, March 29 (Reuters) - The German government has agreed to send an additional 12 billion euros ($13.01 billion) worth of military support to Ukraine. The additional funding includes 3.2 billion euros to be disbursed in 2023 and credit lines for the period between 2024 and 2032 amounting to some 8.8 billion euros. "With the money, Ukraine can directly buy armaments with the support of the German government," three politicians representing the coalition government on the committee said in a statement. "It is important to support Ukraine as long as necessary," they said. Since the start of the Russian invasion, the German government has made available more than 14.2 billion euros in support for Ukraine, according to the foreign office.

☆ Millions of student-loan borrowers will experience 'devastating' delays in debt relief if a GOP proposal to cut spending goes through, Biden's Education Secretary says
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-20 | by ( Ayelet Sheffey | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Rep. Rosa DeLauro asked all federal agency heads how GOP spending cut proposals would impact them. Miguel Cardona outlining the "devastating" impact the cuts would have on student-loan borrowers. He said the cuts would delay student-debt relief and make it even harder to get customer service help. Education Secretary Miguel Cardona, in his response, elaborated on the "devastating effects" the GOP proposal would have on students and parents who rely on financial aid — especially student-loan borrowers. But the agency already has a lot on its plate with minimal resources, given Congress approved a budget last year that did not increase Federal Student Aid's funding.

☆ U.S. Importers Seize on New Shipping Rules to Fight Late Fees
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-03 | by ( Paul Berger | ) www.wsj.com time to read: +6 min

U.S. importers are fighting millions of dollars in fees imposed by the world’s largest ocean carriers with the help of a new federal law and a newly emboldened regulator. He said his company, Lion Energy LLC, which imports about 800 containers a year, felt it had little power to dispute the charges. Now, Mr. Frey and hundreds of shippers like him are turning to rules set out in the Ocean Shipping Reform Act, which passed Congress in June. The new shipping law endorsed an FMC rule published in 2020. But shippers are still able to challenge fees that predate the law under earlier FMC rules.

☆ Ukraine war live updates: Putin accuses West in state of the nation address; China’s top diplomat to visit Moscow
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-21 | by ( Karen Gilchrist | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

President Vladimir Putin will provide an assessment of Moscow's so-called "special military operation" in Ukraine and the impact on Russia's economy when he delivers his state of the nation address Tuesday. President Vladimir Putin provided an assessment of Moscow's so-called "special military operation" in Ukraine and the impact on Russia's economy during his state of the nation address Tuesday. Putin accused Ukraine and the West of provoking the conflict with the expansion of NATO and new European anti-rocket defense systems. "They started the war, and we used the force in order to stop it," Putin said according to a translation of the speech in Moscow. During the visit, Biden pledged to deliver a new package of U.S. aid to Ukraine worth $500 million.

☆ Biden administration set to propose largest Defense budget in US history as GOP pushes for spending cuts
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-11 | by ( John L. Dorman | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

The Biden administration is close to asking Congress for the largest-ever US defense budget, per Politico. Lawmakers in December authorized $858 billion in defense spending, more than what President Biden had requested. Lawmakers in December authorized $858 billion in national defense spending, a number that was $45 billion higher than what President Joe Biden had requested. While Biden has called for a clean debt limit increase, House Speaker Kevin McCarthy of California and his GOP conference are insistent on spending cuts. GOP leaders have not ruled out curtailing some Pentagon spending, but the more hawkish members of the Republican conference will be apt to push back against major defense cuts.

☆ More Money for Mental-Health Programs Gets Bipartisan Support in Many States
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-05 | by ( Dan Frosch | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Pediatric emergency-department cases requiring psychiatric care have roughly tripled in the past 10 years at the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s health system. Governors and lawmakers in a number of states are pushing for billions of dollars in funding increases for mental health this year, as Republicans and Democrats alike say that a shortage of available services has reached crisis levels. The budget proposals seek to address the nationwide scarcity of mental-health workers, the mental-health needs in schools and growing demand for emergency services. They represent a rare bipartisan point of agreement for more government action and underscore how dire many think the problem has become.

Companies U.S. Department of Energy FollowNEW YORK, Jan 26 (Reuters) - The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) on Thursday will announce over $100 million in funding to expand U.S. biofuels production, as the Biden administration works to cut greenhouse gas emissions from transportation and meet climate goals, the department told Reuters. The department plans to award $118 million to 17 projects designed to accelerate the production of biofuels, which can be made from biomass including agricultural waste, soybean oil and animal fats. The DOE's funding includes awards to universities and private companies ranging from $500,000 to $80 million for various pre-pilot, pilot and demonstration projects, the department said. About 16.8 billion gallons of biofuels were consumed in the United States in 2021, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. The Biden administration has said biofuels will be needed to lower emissions, including in the aircraft industry with lower-carbon sustainable aviation fuel.

☆ Microsoft in talks to invest $10 bln in ChatGPT owner -Semafor
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-10 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: 1 min

Jan 9 (Reuters) - Microsoft Corp (MSFT.O) is said to be in talks to invest $10 billion into OpenAI, the owner of ChatGPT, Semafor reported on Monday, citing people familiar with the matter. The funding includes other venture firms and will value San Francisco-based OpenAI at $29 billion, the report said. OpenAI made the ChatGPT chatbot available for free public testing on Nov. 30. A chatbot is a software application designed to mimic human-like conversation based on user prompts. Reporting by Aarati Krishna in Bengaluru; Editing by Savio D'SouzaOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ The U.S. passed a historic climate deal this year — here's a recap of what's in the bill
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-30 | by ( Emma Newburger | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +11 min

The IRA's provisions have major implications for clean energy and manufacturing businesses, climate startups and consumers in the coming years. As 2022 comes to a close, here's a look back at the key elements in the legislation that climate and clean energy advocates will be monitoring in 2023. Taking aim at methane gas emissionsSome pumpjacks operate while others stand idle in the Belridge oil field near McKittrick, California. Mario Tama | Getty ImagesThe package imposes a tax on energy producers that exceed a certain level of methane gas emissions. And the bill has a hydrogen production tax credit, which provides hydrogen producers with a credit based on the climate attributes of their production methods.

☆ In recent years, investors have poured billions into the burgeoning region of central and eastern Europe. Here's why they're so excited about this startup hotbed.
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-30 | by ( Stephanie Palazzolo | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

VCs have flocked to central and eastern European startups for their efficiency and technical talent. Central and eastern Europe includes countries like the Czech Republic, Hungary, Slovenia, Romania, Russia, and Ukraine, according to the World Atlas. The promise of central and eastern Europe starts with a surplus of strong engineering talent, Vaswani said. "Eastern Europe is the former Communist Bloc, and during communism, one of the dangerous things for the communist regimes were humanistic subjects," Bartos said. Additionally, central and eastern European startups are often more capital-efficient due to lower personnel and living costs, an advantage that founders like Jendruszak have leveraged firsthand.

☆ The Science for Determining Climate-Change Damage Is Unsettled
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-26 | by ( Eric Niiler | Stacy Meichtry | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Flooding in Pakistan was cited in an agreement to set up a fund for nations harmed by the effects of climate change. Delegates at the recent COP27 climate summit in Egypt agreed to set up a fund to compensate poorer nations harmed by the effects of climate change. But figuring out the extent to which climate change causes the harm, and to which countries, is testing the limits of a new field known as attribution science. The United Nations loss-and-damage fund aims to transfer money from wealthy nations to poor nations deemed especially vulnerable to the effects of climate change. Some analysts expect the annual financing needs of the countries to reach $290 billion to $580 billion by 2030.

Enrico Letta said his centre-left Democratic Party would organise street protests on Dec. 17, while former Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte, leader of the left-leaning 5-Star Movement, called the cuts to the citizens' wage "inhuman." The budget allocates over 21 billion euros next year in tax breaks and bonuses to help firms and households pay electricity and gas bills. This comes on top of some 75 billion euros of similar measures approved this year. The curbs on the citizens' wage, which the rightist coalition says discourages people from seeking work, is particularly contentious. Meloni, who has always opposed the citizens' wage, insisted it was wrong "to put people who can work on the same level as those that can't."

☆ A plan to tax the rich to fund electric cars is on the ballot in California
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-08 | by ( Peter Valdes-Dapena | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +6 min

CNN —California has long been a leader among states, and even countries, in promoting a shift to electric cars, including with its plans to ban the sale of purely gas-powered cars by 2035. Opponents of the ballot initiative claim it’s really just an attempt by one tech company to benefit itself at the expense of other priorities. Opponents of the ballot initiative claim Lyft’s support is self-serving. But a rule like Prop 30, which would make it easier for just about anyone in California to buy an electric car, including Lyft drivers. And electric cars are too expensive for lower income residents to afford, so the financial support is needed, especially with sales of gas cars being banned in the future.

☆ The government has already canceled $800 million of debts for US farmers, and says that's 'just the first step' in its loan relief programme
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-19 | by ( Grace Dean | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

The USDA has canceled $800 million in debts for 13,100 farmers, it said Tuesday. The Inflation Reduction Act included $3.1 billion in assistance for distressed farm loan borrowers. The USDA said Tuesday's announcement was "just the first step" in aiding distressed farmers. This came from the $3.1 billion in assistance for distressed farm loan borrowers included in the Inflation Reduction Act, which President Joe Biden signed in August. The USDA said it would start processing up to $500 million more in debt relief for up to 23,000 more borrowers.

☆ America's best tool to fight inflation and prevent recessions is facing a dangerous death spiral
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-13 | by ( Austin Clemens | Erica Groshen | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +11 min

Threats to truthConsider the many benefits of having a source of trustworthy and publicly available economic data. Of course, private datasets, like those used by Opportunity Insights, the JPMorgan Chase Institute, and Earnest Research, complement federal statistics. In addition to competition from other sources, statistical agencies are facing a lack of money. Sustaining the future of statsThe good news is that statistical agencies are trying to keep up with the times. To continue producing this work, federal statistical agencies need a funding boost.

☆ Josh Hawley says Republicans should ban congressional stock trading as their top priority in 2023 after Democratic efforts falter
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-13 | by ( Warren Rojas | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Hawley says GOP leaders should make banning congressional stock trading their top priority. Congressional Democrats have floated various trading bans but haven't found a unifying fix. How about Congress pass an actual stock trading ban?" Fellow stock trading ban advocate Sen. Jeff Merkley announced a few weeks earlier that Senate Democrats were punting their own compromise bundle into the lame-duck session. Hawley's stock trading proposal, which only applies to congressional members and their spouses, currently has no cosponsors and is less comprehensive than many of the languishing Democratic proposals.

☆ TripActions raises equity at $9.2 bln valuation, gets Coatue's structured financing
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-12 | by ( Krystal Hu | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Oct 12 (Reuters) - U.S. corporate travel and expense company TripActions said it raised $304 million from investors in equity and debt-like structured financing on Wednesday, as the company gears up for expansion and a public listing. The company said the funding includes $154 million in equity financing from investors including Andreessen Horowitz and Premji Invest, which valued the startup at $9.2 billion, up from its last round of $7.5 billion. The $150 million structured financing comes from Coatue Management’s new fund targeting late-stage startups as the IPO market remains shut. The company has filed confidentially for an initial public offering (IPO) that could land next year, sources told Reuters. “We are investing for the company to be ready to be a public company."

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