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On the other end, regional banks' shares stretched gains from a rebound on Friday, with PacWest Bancorp (PACW.O) jumping 19.9% after the lender sharply cut its quarterly dividend to boost capital. Shares of such banks tumbled for much of last week on worries tied to the collapse of First Republic Bank. "We're in an information vacuum right now, waiting for the next inflation data. Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway Inc's Class B shares rose 1.2% after posting a $35.5 billion first-quarter profit, reflecting gains from stocks such as Apple. The S&P index recorded seven new 52-week highs and two new lows, while the Nasdaq recorded 31 new highs and 23 new lows.

☆ Paraguay president-elect commits to 'strengthen' ties with Taiwan
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-05 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

May 5 - Paraguay's president-elect, Santiago Pena, said on Friday that he would continue to strengthen his country's "historic ties" with Taiwan following a call with his counterpart there after winning Sunday's election. Paraguay is Taiwan's only South American ally and the island - claimed by China as its own - has lost support from other Central American nations in recent years. We will keep strengthening the historic ties between Paraguay and the Republic of China (Taiwan), and look forward to working on mutually beneficial cooperation projects," Pena said on Twitter, referring to President Tsai Ing-wen. Taiwan faces an uphill battle to keep ties with the 13 countries that currently recognize it as a sovereign nation, amid pressure from China. (This story has been refiled to fix a typographical error in paragraph 1)Reporting by Daniela Desantis; Writing by Isabel Woodford; Editing by Jonathan OatisOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ This is a 3D printed 'fish fillet.' Would you eat it?
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-05 | by ( Jordan Hart | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Israel's Steakholder Foods and Singapore's Umami Meats teamed up to create grouper fish fillets in a lab. The process involves adding fish and plant cells to "bio-ink" for a unique 3D printer to create the fillets, Reuters reports. As the food technology industry makes strides in developing alternative nutrition sources, it's unveiling its latest invention — 3D printed fish fillets. "With our patent-protected printing capabilities, we know to 3D print exactly the same texture and flakiness of a real fish." Amir CohenBut don't expect to find the fish fillets at your local grocery store anytime soon.

☆ Flying high on obesity success, Novo's appetite for deals grows
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-04 | by ( Natalie Grover | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Its interest is largely in areas it has already invested in, including diabetes, obesity, cardiovascular disease and gene therapies, he said on a panel at the LSX World Congress conference. Since launching its popular Wegovy weight-loss drug in the United States in June 2021, Novo's shares have soared by 140%. The company has traditionally taken a wait-and-see approach to deals, often waiting for drugs to have success in later-stage trials before going for a deal. Since joining the drugmaker in 2018, the company has grown its business development capacity. "If you look at some of our competitors, there are hundreds of people in business development ... and we probably have 25," he said.

☆ Best rice dishes: 20 delicious specialties from around the world
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-04 | by ( Terry Ward | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +16 min

And while famous rice dishes such as sushi, fried rice and paella are among the most prominent in the global spotlight, there are so many more rice recipes out there to put on your radar – and seek out on your travels. Wali wa kukaanga, KenyaWali wa kukaanga is Kenya’s answer to fried rice, and translates to just that in Swahili. So it’s no surprise that the Polynesian island country’s most popular rice dish, alaisa fa’apopo, has ties to the coconut, too. Thai fried rice (Khao Pad), ThailandThai fried rice uses the layering of flavors that's characteristic of the country's cuisine. ArenaCreative/Adobe StockWhen it comes to fried rice, the Chinese version tends to steal the spotlight.

☆ US meatpacker JBS opens cleaning unit after outside firm fined for hiring kids
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-04 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

The new company, JBS Sanitation, will "immediately begin the transition" to cleaning 10 JBS USA facilities, which produce beef and pork, according to a statement issued this week. JBS Sanitation will also do in-house cleaning for Pilgrim's Pride Corp (PPC.O) and create "hundreds of union jobs," the statement said. JBS USA is the North American unit of Brazil's JBS SA (JBSS3.SA), which also owns most of Pilgrim's Pride. JBS USA did not immediately respond to questions about the costs of the launch on Thursday. JBS USA previously said it terminated contracts with PSSI at "numerous" facilities, including three plants where alleged child-labor violations occurred.

☆ Shrinking US cattle herd squeezes meatpacker profits
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-04 | by ( Tom Polansek | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

Cargill, the world's largest ground beef producer, expects cattle prices will rise further, but it is still a question whether higher beef prices will ruin consumers' appetites, company executives said. Big profits for meatpackers during the pandemic and soaring beef prices fueled concerns in the Biden administration about consolidation and profiteering in the sector. The companies say supply and demand determine cattle and beef prices. In 2023, "the cattle feeder can negotiate more of the consumer dollar," said Brett Gottsch, managing partner Gottsch Cattle Co, which raises cattle in Nebraska. Gottsch remains concerned about a lack of competition among meatpackers, though others said surging cattle prices show the market works.

☆ Restaurant bookings, movie searches, and other tasks that Microsoft's Bing will be able to do, following an upgrade
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-04 | by ( Beatrice Nolan | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Microsoft said it's allowing third-party developers to build on top of Bing Chat, powered by OpenAI's GPT-4, to help people complete tasks. The company also plans to beef up Bing Chat's "memory," something that caused issues for Microsoft after the search engine launched. After Bing's chat feature launched, some users found they could provoke the chatbot into engaging in inappropriate and creepy conversations during long sessions. Bing users have engaged in over half a billion chats since its launch, the blogpost said. In March, just over a month after the company launched the AI version of its search engine, Bing exceeded 100 million daily active users.

Federal worker safety inspections have alleged poor maintenance or a lack of safety training at some Tyson plants where ammonia leaks injured workers. CNN interviewed eleven current or former Tyson workers across three different plants who experienced ammonia leaks. !”A safety sign hangs on a fence at a Tyson plant in Hope, Arkansas, in March 2023. Still, some Tyson workers who lived through ammonia leaks said they wished more had been done to protect them. That means that the data doesn’t necessarily cover Tyson plants or other meat facilities that hold smaller amounts of ammonia.

☆ Ukraine tried to assassinate Putin by drone, Kremlin says
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-03 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +6 min

Shortly after the Kremlin announcement, Ukraine reported alerts for air strikes over the capital Kyiv and other cities. "The Russian side reserves the right to take retaliatory measures where and when it sees fit," the Kremlin added. "When the enemy can achieve nothing on the battlefield, it strikes at peaceful cities," Ukrainian military spokesperson Serhii Cherevatyi said. Elsewhere, oil depots were ablaze in southern Russia and Ukraine alike as both sides escalated a drone war ahead of Kyiv's promised spring counteroffensive against Russian forces. Blinken said later the U.S. government had authorised another $300 million worth of arms and equipment for Ukraine.

☆ Dished up by 3D printers, a new kind of fish to fry
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-03 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

An Israeli foodtech company says it has 3D printed the first ever ready-to-cook fish fillet using animal cells cultivated and grown in a laboratory. Israel's Steakholder Foods has now partnered with Singapore-based Umami Meats to make fish fillets without the need to stalk dwindling fish populations. Steakholder Foods then adds them to a 'bio-ink' suited for special 3D printers. It has the flakiness of traditional fish and when fried and seasoned it is hard to tell the difference. "The number of scientists, you can imagine, working on fish stem cell biology is a small fraction of those working on animal cells and human cells."

☆ Sam's Club is testing out a robot that can grill and assemble your burger. And you can order and pay for it without even speaking to a human.
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-03 | by ( Ben Tobin | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Sam's Club recently unveiled a robot that can assemble a burger start-to-finish without humans. Walmart-owned Sam's Club is testing out a robot that can assemble your burgers — toppings, seasoning, and all — at a location in Fayeteville, Arkansas, not far from the company's headquarters of Bentonville. Sam's Club declined to comment when Insider reached out about the robot. Sam's Club does not have any current plans to roll out this robot nationwide, Tim Simmons, Sam's Club senior vice president and chief product officer, told Axios. Have you tried the Sam's Club burger or do you want to?

☆ France's BNP Paribas doubles profits in first quarter with Bank of the West sale
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-03 | by ( ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

BNP Paribas , the euro zone's biggest bank, saw profit more than double in the first quarter from a year ago, bolstered by the sale of its U.S. retail division while revenue beat estimates. This allowed the French bank to beef up its capital and liquidity buffers, at a time when European lenders strive to restore confidence in a sector battered by turmoil. In securities trading, revenue edged down 1.8% but still performed better than some peers including Deutsche Bank, which saw fixed-income trading decline by 17% in the first quarter. At U.S. bank Goldman Sachs, first-quarter sales from fixed income, currency and commodities (FICC) trading, usually a bright spot, plunged 17% to $3.93 billion, while equity trading revenue sank 7% to $3.02 billion. BNP's FICC trading over the period was up 9%.

Royal Bank of Canada analysts said the results pointed to a strong performance at BNP's trading arm and good cost control. In securities trading, revenue edged down 1.8% but still performed better than some peers including Deutsche Bank (DBKGn.DE), which saw fixed-income trading decline by 17% in the first quarter. At U.S. bank Goldman Sachs, first-quarter sales from fixed income, currency and commodities (FICC) trading, usually a bright spot, plunged 17% to $3.93 billion, while equity trading revenue sank 7% to $3.02 billion. The first quarter net income, group share amounted to 4.44 billion euros, in line with expectations, and up from 1.84 billion a year earlier. The first tranche of 2.5 billion euros was approved in March, a sign analysts deemed reassuring as it took place shortly after the collapse of Credit Suisse.

The resumption of bilateral financial discussions comes ahead of Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida's planned visit to South Korea on Sunday and Monday for talks with President Yoon Suk Yeol. It also came as Asian policymakers, gathering for the annual Asian Development Bank (ADB) meeting this week in the South Korean city of Incheon, discussed regional economic challenges and ways to beef up buffers against various shocks. In a joint statement issued after their meeting on Tuesday, Asian finance leaders warned of risks to the region's economy and called for countries to stay vigilant to potential spillovers from the recent U.S. and European banking sector turmoil. Japan and South Korea will resume regular finance dialogue, likely to be held annually, at "an appropriate timing," Suzuki told reporters after the bilateral meeting. Choo is expected to visit Japan this year for another meeting with Suzuki, South Korea's finance ministry said.

The resumption of bilateral financial discussions comes ahead of Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida's planned visit to South Korea on Sunday and Monday for talks with President Yoon Suk Yeol. Japan and South Korea will resume regular finance dialogue, likely to be held annually, at "an appropriate timing," Suzuki told reporters after the bilateral meeting. Washington has pressed both countries to resolve these disputes to better counter rising threats from China and North Korea and other regional challenges. Under Yoon, South Korea has resumed trilateral military drills and agreed to more intelligence sharing on issues like tracking ballistic missile launches from North Korea. China's finance minister and central bank head were not present at a trilateral meeting, with their deputies attending instead.

SummarySummary Companies Japan, South Korea hold 1st bilateral finance meeting in 7 yearsTwo nations to resume regular finance dialogue, likely annualAsia policymakers to discuss safeguardsINCHEON, South Korea May 2 (Reuters) - Japan and South Korea held their first finance leaders' meeting in seven years on Tuesday and agreed to resume regular dialogue, as tensions in the region and slowing growth prod them to increase co-operation and mend strained relations. The resumption of bilateral financial discussions comes ahead of Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida's planned visit to South Korea next week for talks with President Yoon Suk Yeol. "Japan and South Korea are important neighbours that must cooperate to address various challenges surrounding the global economy, as well as the regional and international community," Japanese Finance Minister Shunichi Suzuki said at the meeting with his South Korean counterpart Choo Kyung-ho. Japan and South Korea will resume regular finance dialogue, likely to be held annually, at "an appropriate timing," Suzuki told reporters after the bilateral meeting. Choo is expected to visit Japan this year for another meeting with Suzuki, South Korea's finance ministry said.

☆ No, the IRS still isn't hiring an 'army' of armed auditors—here's how the agency is actually spending $80 billion
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-02 | by ( Ryan Ermey | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

Last month, the IRS released a plan for how the agency plans to spend nearly $80 billion in funding granted through the Inflation Reduction Act passed in August. The IRS is already spendingThe IRS has already started using a portion of the appropriation to beef up customer services. More audits for wealthy filersThe biggest sticking point in the funding plan is IRS efforts to close the $600 billion "tax gap," the difference between what Americans owe and what they actually pay. To that end, the agency plans to higher more staff in order to ramp up auditing efforts on wealthy families, large corporations and business partnerships. What is clear, Smith says, is that corporations are likely to receive the "majority" of the uptick in IRS scrutiny.

☆ Paraguay election result calms fear of another Taiwan ally falling (for now)
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-01 | by ( Lucinda Elliott | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

ASUNCION, May 1 (Reuters) - News of Santiago Pena's election victory in Paraguay will be cheered by officials in Taiwan, which faces an uphill battle against China's economic muscle to keep its remaining 13 allies worldwide, including its last in South America. "This is a relief to Taipei," a senior European diplomat told Reuters in Asuncion asking not to be named. Taiwan's embassy in Paraguay congratulated Pena for winning the election and said it would continue to work on the two countries' "fruitful relationship". Pena's victory - and a strong performance in congressional elections by the ruling conservatives - has dampened hopes of a swift foreign policy shift, Galli said. Rubén Ramírez, a former foreign minister for Paraguay told Reuters that discussions over the Taiwan relationship must remain a priority when the new government is sworn in.

[1/4] Paraguayan presidential candidate Santiago Pena from the ruling Colorado Party gestures next to his wife Leticia Ocampos at the party headquarters as he and his running mate Pedro Alliana won Paraguay's presidential race, according to the preliminary official count, in Asuncion, Paraguay April 30, 2023. Still, Pena will be able to keep a cool head amid the tumult, his supporters say. "I think what characterizes him is that he has infinite tranquility," said Lea Gimenez, who served as Pena's deputy when he was finance minister and was later finance minister herself. Throughout the campaign the Colorado Party candidate has vowed to extend Paraguay's decades-long diplomatic relations with Taiwan, despite pressures to open up to China and its huge consumer demand for soybeans and beef. He became finance minister in 2015.

SummarySummary Companies ASEAN+3 finance leaders meet in Incheon, South Korea, TuesdayJapan hopes to propose strengthening currency swap linesExpansion will offer better safeguards vs pandemic, disastersINCHEON, May 2 (Reuters) - Asian finance leaders on Tuesday will debate ways to beef up regional safeguards to better address emergency funding needs during pandemics and natural disasters, as global recession fears and volatile financial markets cloud the economic outlook. Japan, which co-chairs this year's meeting of ASEAN+3 nations with Indonesia, hopes to discuss strengthening currency swap lines, Finance Minister Shunichi Suzuki told reporters on Friday. Japan is keen to propose a facility that enhances usage of existing currency swap lines, and allows members to tap funds in times of emergencies such as pandemics and natural disasters, said three sources with direct knowledge of the matter. But the swap lines have never been used, including during the COVID-19 pandemic, giving rise to calls from within the group to make the system more easily accessible in the event of shock events. The ASEAN+3 finance leaders, including Suzuki and Bank of Japan (BOJ) Governor Kazuo Ueda, are meeting on the sidelines of the ADB's annual meeting in Incheon in South Korea this week.

☆ How a writers’ strike might affect your favorite TV shows
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-01 | by ( Lisa Respers France | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +3 min

If production does come to a halt due to a writers’ strike, here’s where audiences may see an impact. Likewise, for variety shows such as “Saturday Night Live.”If past is precedent, you will see reruns in place of live shows. Programs like “Big Brother,” and “Celebrity Apprentice” helped to fill the gap of scripted shows whose productions paused during the strike. Andrew Cooper/NetflixMany shows on both linear and streaming platforms work far enough ahead that new episodes are already written. Some platforms, like Netflix, have promised they’ll be able to offer new TV shows and movies for quite some time.

☆ Paraguay's conservatives score big election win, defusing Taiwan fears
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-01 | by ( ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

Paraguayan presidential candidate for the Colorado Party, Santiago Peña (C), celebrates with his wife, Leticia Ocampos de Pea (R), and Paraguayan former President Horacio Cartes, after winning the presidential election in Asuncion on April 30, 2023. Norberto Duarte | AFP | Getty ImagesParaguay's ruling candidate Santiago Pena, 44, scored a big win in the country's presidential election on Sunday, tightening the conservative Colorado Party's political grip in the country and defusing fears about the end of diplomatic ties with Taiwan. "Thank you for this Colorado victory, thank you for this Paraguayan victory," Pena said in a speech. Colorado and right-wing party candidates also performed strongly in congressional elections and governor races, with some provinces recording a historic Colorado majority over opposition rivals. The Colorado Party has dominated politics in the landlocked South American country since the 1950s.

☆ Eva Longoria shares 5 essential Mexico experiences
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-30 | by ( Marnie Hunter | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +6 min

Editor’s Note: CNN Original Series “Eva Longoria: Searching for Mexico” airs on CNN Sundays at 9 p.m. ET/PT. Here are just five of the essential experiences Longoria recommends to Mexico visitors. “There are so many indigenous cultures still vibrant in Mexico,” Longoria said. El Tajín “is one of the best-preserved pre-Hispanic cities in Mexico,” Longoria says in the Veracruz episode. With a conchaActress reveals daily ritual when she's in Mexico City 00:40 - Source: Eva Longoria: Searching for MexicoExploring requires stamina – and maybe a little sugar and caffeine.

ASUNCION, April 30 (Reuters) - Paraguayans are readying to head to the polls on Sunday in what could be the biggest electoral challenge to the ruling conservative Colorado Party in over a decade and with the country's near 70-year ties with Taiwan potentially at stake. In the streets and news debates, the political build-up has been dominated by the economy, corruption allegations and the candidates' views on Taiwan. Paraguay is one of only 13 nations to maintain formal diplomatic ties with the democratically-governed island that China claims as its own. Pena has said he would maintain ties with Taiwan. In final campaign events, Alegre took aim at corruption charges that have dogged Colorado Party leader Horacio Cartes, who was sanctioned by the U.S. Treasury this year.

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