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☆ As Exxon eyes lithium, crucial decision looms on filtration technology
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-14 | by ( Ernest Scheyder | Thomson Reuters | Ernest Scheyder Is An Award-Winning Senior Correspondent Covering The Green Energy Transition | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

Choosing which DLE technology to license will be a crucial decision upon which Exxon's production of the battery metal will rely. The company has held talks with a range of DLE technology providers, including International Battery Metals (IBAT.CD) and privately held EnergySource Minerals. "We haven't chosen a (DLE) company yet. Because it not yet chosen a DLE technology, Exxon also has not yet forecast how much lithium it ultimately aims to produce. Exxon is also studying where else in the world it could produce lithium, Howarth said.

Persons: Dado Ruvic, Patrick Howarth, Howarth, we'll, Ernest Scheyder, David Gregorio Our Organizations: Exxon Mobil, REUTERS, Reuters, Rio Tinto, International Battery Metals, EnergySource, Exxon, Tetra Technologies, Thomson Locations: ., Arkansas, Sunresin, Rio, Los Angeles

☆ Australia's CBA Q1 profit flat as competition in home loan market intensifies
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-13 | by ( Himanshi Akhand | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Even though rate hikes since last year have boosted interest incomes and margins at Australian banks, rising cost of repayments has intensified competition in the home loan market, capping profit margins and hindering credit growth. Australia's biggest lender said cash net profit after tax was A$2.50 billion ($1.59 billion) for the quarter ended Sept. 30, same as the year earlier. CBA dominates Australia's A$2 trillion mortgage industry, which benefited from a property boom through COVID-19 restrictions. That had prompted Australia's "Big Four" banks to start offering cash payments for mortgage refinancing to lure borrowers. CBA's rivals National Australia Bank (NAB.AX), Westpac (WBC.AX) and ANZ Group (ANZ.AX) all posted higher annual profit earlier this month despite inflationary headwinds.

Persons: Edgar Su, CBA's, Matt Comyn, Australia's, Himanshi, Shilpi Majumdar Organizations: Commonwealth Bank of Australia, REUTERS, Commonwealth Bank of Australia's, Citi, CBA, National Australia Bank, Westpac, ANZ Group, Thomson Locations: Sydney, Australia, Australia's, COVID, Bengaluru

CBA said cash profit was A$2.5 billion ($1.6 billion) for the quarter, which was 3% better than a consensus estimate for the period, according to data aggregator Visible Alpha. "Home lending margins stabilised in the quarter," it added, without giving figures. Shares of CBA rose as much as 1% in morning trading, in line with the broader market (.AXJO) as analysts welcomed the better-than-expected margin outcome and a smaller-than-expected provision for potential loan impairments. Commenting on the bank's stabilising home loan margins, E&P Financial analyst Azib Khan said that "it would be helping on this front that CBA has been willing to forgo market share". For the year to September, CBA said it grew its mortgage book at 0.7 times the rate of the overall mortgage industry.

Persons: Brendan Sproules, Azib Khan, Himanshi, Shilpi Majumdar Organizations: Commonwealth Bank of, ANZ, Westpac, National Australia Bank, CBA, Citi, P, Thomson Locations: Bengaluru

That pushed net profit from the bank's institutional unit up 53% to overtake its retail unit, by dollar value, in the year to September, and helped the Melbourne-listed company grow overall profit 14% to A$7.4 billion ($4.7 billion), just missing a Visible Alpha consensus forecast of A$7.56 billion. But analysts expressed concern about a faster-than-expected narrowing of profit margin from the bank's retail unit, the only one of Australia's so-called big four lenders that has persisted with offering cash handouts to lure mortgage customers looking for a cheaper deal. The logo of the ANZ Bank is seen at Lambton Quay, in Wellington, New Zealand November 10, 2022. ANZ CEO Shayne Elliott denied forgoing margin to grow mortgages faster than the market, and challenged comments from other banks that have said they were intentionally slowing mortgage growth while competition eroded profit. ANZ declared a final dividend of 94 Australian cents per share, up from 74 cents a year ago.

Persons: NIM, Lucy Craymer, Shayne Elliott, we've, Byron Kaye, Rishav Chatterjee, Roushni Nair, Lisa Shumaker, Stephen Coates Organizations: ANZ, Westpac, National Australia Bank, midsession, ANZ Bank, REUTERS, UBS, Thomson Locations: Melbourne, Lambton Quay, Wellington , New Zealand, Sydney, Bengaluru

☆ Australia's TPG Telecom ends $4 billion fibre sale talks with Vocus
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-12 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

REUTERS/Jason Reed/File Photo Acquire Licensing RightsNov 13 (Reuters) - Australia's TPG Telecom Ltd (TPG.AX) said on Monday it had ended discussions with Macquarie-backed rival Vocus Group for the sale of some of its non-mobile fibre assets for about A$6.3 billion ($4.00 billion) as the parties failed to agree commercial terms. "The proposed transaction involved considerable complexity and, ultimately, the parties have been unable to reach alignment on the operating model and commercial terms," TPG Telecom said in a statement. In August, Vocus had made a non-binding offer to TPG Telecom to acquire certain Enterprise, Government and Wholesale (EGW) assets and associated fixed infrastructure assets, including wholesale broadband business Vision Network. The collapse of the fibre sale deal with Vocus is a second such setback for TPG Telecom, whose asset swap deal with bigger rival Telstra Group (TLS.AX) was blocked by the country's antitrust regulator and Australian Competition Tribunal. Under the asset swap deal, Telstra would have bought spectrum and transmission towers from TPG, while TPG would have kept selling 4G and 5G coverage using Telstra infrastructure.

Persons: Jason Reed, Vocus, Himanshi, Sandra Maler, Grant McCool Organizations: REUTERS, Australia's TPG Telecom Ltd, Vocus Group, TPG Telecom, Enterprise, Government, Wholesale, Vision Network, TPG, Vocus, Telstra Group, Australian Competition, Telstra, Thomson Locations: Sydney, Australia, Macquarie, Bengaluru

☆ Australia's ANZ sinks as record annual profit falls short of market forecasts
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-12 | by ( Rishav Chatterjee | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

The logo of the ANZ Bank is seen at Lambton Quay, in Wellington, New Zealand November 10, 2022. The banking group's Aussie commercial business recorded 11% revenue growth over the year with lending rising to record high of A$62 billion. ANZ intends to expand its commercial business with focus on its currency and payment sites while reducing costs, it said. ANZ declared a final dividend of 94 Australian cents apiece, up from 74 Australian cents apiece announced a year ago. ANZ, however flagged that the external environment will likely remain challenging adding that higher interest rates will impact economic activity as it sees "another year of cost-of-living pressures."

Persons: Lucy Craymer, Azib Khan, Rishav Chatterjee, Roushni Nair, Grant McCool, Lisa Shumaker Organizations: ANZ Bank, REUTERS, ANZ, Citi, P Capital, Suncorp, Thomson Locations: Lambton Quay, Wellington , New Zealand, Australia, Bengaluru

Livent CEO Paul Graves will take the top job at the newly minted Arcadium Lithium, if Allkem shareholders vote for the deal on Dec. 19. Merging the two companies would create the world's third-largest lithium producer by volume with assets spanning Australia, Canada and Argentina. Graves has said that one of his first priorities would be expanding Arcadium's footprint in Western Australia's world-class lithium districts. Under the deal, Allkem shareholders will get one share in the combined entity for each of their shares and the company will ultimately own 56% of the new firm. Livent shareholders will get 2.406 shares in the new firm, which will be called Arcadium Lithium, for each existing share.

Persons: Arcadium, Paul Graves, Kroll, Chile's, Graves, Albemarle, Livent Corp, Livent, Allkem, Scott Murdoch, Melanie Burton, Robert Birsel Organizations: JV, SYDNEY, Albemarle Corp, Liontown Resources, Hancock, Livent, FMC Corp, Galaxy Resources, Thomson Locations: Australia, U.S, Canada, Argentina, Western Australia, Sydney, Melbourne

They will have another opportunity on Dec. 6, when a fourth debate will take place in Alabama. With only five candidates qualifying for the stage - DeSantis and Haley were joined by U.S. "Everybody wants to talk about President Trump. I can tell you that I think he was the right president at the right time," she said. "I don't think he's the right president now."

Persons: Donald Trump's, Ron DeSantis, Nikki Haley, Trump, Haley, Tim Scott, Chris Christie, Vivek Ramaswamy, Ramaswamy, DeSantis, ISRAEL, Adrienne Arsht, Biden, Joe Biden, Benjamin Netanyahu, Bibi, Scott, Christie, James Oliphant, Joseph Ax, Tim Reid, Eric Beech, Nathan Layne, Gram Slattery, Jasper Ward, Caitlin Webber, Ross Colvin, Howard Goller Organizations: MIAMI, Republican, Republican Party, U.S, New, Trump, Former South Carolina, NBC News, Adrienne, Adrienne Arsht Center, Performing Arts, Democratic, Republicans, Israel, Hamas, Supreme, Senate, Social Security, Thomson Locations: Florida, Iowa, Alabama, New Jersey, South Carolina, Tuesday's, Miami , Florida, U.S, Israel, Miami, Princeton , New Jersey, Los Angeles

REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo Acquire Licensing RightsSYDNEY, Nov 9 (Reuters) - Proxy advisor CGI Glass Lewis on Thursday recommended Origin Energy (ORG.AX) shareholders vote in favour of a $10.5 billion bid from a consortium led by Canada's Brookfield (BN.TO), despite opposition from the target's largest shareholder. Brookfield and EIG Partners last week offered a "best and final" A$9.53 per share for Origin after raising a previous bid. Australia's largest pension fund AustralianSuper opposes the offer and intends to use its 15% stake to vote against the deal at a Nov. 23 shareholder meeting. Origin Energy shares traded 1.9% higher at A$8.905 at 2 p.m. AEDT (0300 GMT) and are up 5.1% since the close of trade on Nov. 2, when AustralianSuper rejected the improved offer. Reporting by Scott Murdoch and Lewis Jackson; Editing by Leslie Adler and Jamie FreedOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Persons: Dado Ruvic, Glass, Canada's Brookfield, AustralianSuper, Glass Lewis, Scott Murdoch, Lewis Jackson, Leslie Adler, Jamie Freed Organizations: Brookfield, REUTERS, Rights, Energy, EIG Partners, Services, Origin Energy, Australia Pacific LNG, Thomson Locations: Brookfield, Australia

The National Australia Bank Logo is seen on a branch in central Sydney, Australia, February 8, 2018. That has left NAB, ranked third for mortgages but first for business loans, in a prime position as the country's retail lenders look elsewhere for growth. We're not abandoning (mortgages), we're tilting towards our business bank." Larger mortgage rival Westpac (WBC.AX) also posted a higher annual profit on Monday, despite a decline in home loan profit. The company's net interest margin, a closely-watched bank metric of lending interest income minus payouts to deposit accounts, shrank to 1.71% as of Sept. 30, from 1.77% at March-end.

Persons: Daniel Munoz, Ross McEwan, We're, Azib Khan, Roushni Nair, Archishma Iyer, Shounak Dasgupta, Jamie Freed Organizations: National, REUTERS, NAB, SYDNEY, National Australia Bank, Westpac, P, Thomson Locations: Sydney, Australia, Bengaluru

☆ National Australia Bank's second-half cash profit falls as inflation persists
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-09 | by ( Roushni Nair | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

The National Australia Bank Logo is seen on a branch in central Sydney, Australia, February 8, 2018. But for the half-year ended Sept. 30, cash earnings sank as the impact of monetary policy tightening and inflationary pressures crippled households and the economy. The annual performance of its business and institutional banking divisions stood out with of 10.1% and 14.9% in cash profits respectively, while the personal banking division was a drag on its results, posting a 9.1% decline in cash earnings to A$1.45 billion. The bank reported a jump in its credit impairment charge for the year to A$802 million, up from just A$125 million a year ago, which it said reflected volume growth and worsening asset quality. The bank declared a final dividend of 84 Australian cents per share, up from 78 Australian cents apiece a year earlier.

Persons: Daniel Munoz, Ross McEwan, Roushni Nair, Archishma Iyer, Shounak Dasgupta, Jamie Freed Organizations: National, REUTERS, National Australia Bank, NAB, Thomson Locations: Sydney, Australia, Bengaluru

☆ Aussie 'big four' banks hike home loan rates after RBA decision
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-09 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

People use Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA) bank ATMs in Sydney, Australia May 3, 2018. The National Australia Bank (NAB.AX), ANZ Group Holdings (ANZ.AX) and Westpac Banking Corp (WBC.AX), the other three of Australia's "big four", had hiked their home loan rates on Wednesday by 0.25%. The rate hike by the National Australia Bank (NAB.AX) and ANZ Group Holdings (ANZ.AX) would be effective from Nov. 17, while Westpac Banking Corp (WBC.AX) would raise rates from Nov. 21, the lenders said in separate statements on Wednesday. CBA said its home loan variable rate change would be effective from Nov. 17. Reporting by Rishav Chatterjee and Upasana Singh in Bengaluru; Editing by Savio D'Souza and Rashmi AichOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Persons: Edgar Su, Rishav Chatterjee, Upasana Singh, Savio D'Souza, Rashmi Organizations: Commonwealth Bank of Australia, REUTERS, Thursday, National Australia Bank, ANZ Group Holdings, Westpac Banking Corp, Reserve Bank of Australia, Wednesday, CBA, Thomson Locations: Sydney, Australia, Bengaluru

A delay in the new mine's ramp-up would add to the growing stresses on the zinc raw materials supply chain. Low prices have resulted in a lengthening list of mine curtailments in recent months, resulting in falling smelter treatment terms and a rising refined zinc price. London Metal Exchange three-month zinc pricePRICE CASUALTIESThe LME zinc price hit a three-year low of $2,215 per metric ton in May, triggering a string of mine closures. By the end of September analysts at Macquarie Bank had already totted up closures totalling 300,000 metric tons of annual zinc capacity. It is designed to churn out around 345,000 metric tons a year of contained zinc, making it the single largest addition to zinc mine supply in 2024.

Persons: Ilya Naymushin, Boliden, Price, it's, David Evans Organizations: REUTERS, London Metal Exchange, Metals, Aeris Resources, Macquarie Bank, Fastmarkets, Study, Thomson, Reuters Locations: Angara, Novoangars, Russia, Swedish, Ireland, Queensland, Western Australia, Portugal, Mexico, Tennessee

☆ Abortion rights advocates, Democrats score wins in US elections
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-08 | by ( Joseph Ax | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

Nov 7 (Reuters) - Democrats and abortion rights advocates notched a string of electoral victories on Tuesday, including in conservative Ohio and Kentucky, an early signal that reproductive rights remain a potent issue for Democrats ahead of the 2024 presidential race. In Ohio, a state that voted for Republican Donald Trump by 8 percentage points in the 2020 presidential election, voters approved a constitutional amendment guaranteeing abortion rights, Edison Research projected. He also ran on protecting abortion rights, though he is powerless to overturn the state's near-total ban. Last year, abortion rights advocacy groups scored a series of victories by placing abortion-related referendums on the ballot, including in conservative states. Anti-abortion forces campaigned against the Ohio amendment as too extreme, while abortion rights groups warned that rejecting it would pave the way for a stringent ban to take effect.

Persons: Republican Donald Trump, Roe, Wade, Glenn Youngkin's, Andy Beshear, Edison, Joe Biden's, Biden, Beshear, Daniel Cameron, Megan Jelinger, Youngkin, Trump, Tate Reeves, Brandon Presley, Elvis Presley, Presley, Reeves, Cameron, Joseph Ax, Jason Lange, Eric Beech, Nandita Bose, Costas Pitas, Gabriella Borter, Colleen Jenkins, Aurora Ellis, Deepa Babington, Lincoln Organizations: Republican, Edison Research, Democratic Legislative, Democratic, Trump, Democrats, Kentucky, REUTERS, Ohio, Senate, Republican Mississippi, Biden, Edison, Thomson Locations: Ohio, Kentucky, U.S ., Virginia, Columbus , Ohio, U.S, Arizona, Florida

It said it would tender for a new external auditor as part of "best practice for audit firm rotation". PwC has audited Westpac since 2002, before which PwC partners and their ancestor firms had audited the bank since 1968. However, PwC's lead Westpac audit partner assumed the role less than two years ago, in December 2021, according to a Westpac governance statement this month. A PwC Australia spokesperson said the firm understood the board's decision and was proud of its time as Westpac's auditor. Renamed Scyne Advisory, roughly 1,400 of PwC Australia's more than 9,000 staff moved over to the new firm.

Persons: Loren Elliott, PwC, Lewis Jackson, Christopher Cushing, Robert Birsel Organizations: Westpac, Central Business District of, REUTERS, Rights, Westpac Group, PricewaterhouseCoopers, PwC's, Google, Uber Technologies, Facebook, Meta, PwC, Scyne Advisory, Scyne, Thomson Locations: Central Business District of Sydney, Australia, PwC Australia

☆ Tales That Crackle With Vitality, With or Without a Puppeteer
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-08 | by ( Laura Collins-Hughes | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Hurlin and his sound designer, the superb Dan Moses Schreier, are inviting us to take in their clues and envision a story as well. And why does her prim, princess-sleeved dress seem from a different wardrobe than the clothes hanging up? ***Over at La MaMa proper, on nearby East Fourth Street, my favorite festival performance of last weekend was Tom Lee’s mesmerizing “Sounding the Resonant Path,” upstairs at the Ellen Stewart Theater. Entering with an ax slung over one plaid-shirted shoulder, he walks slowly and deliberately along a curving wooden track, ostensibly alone. Never mind the puppeteer (Lee) seated just behind him, dressed in black and scooting along on a small, wheeled box.

Persons: Dan Moses Schreier, prim, Tom Lee’s, Ellen Stewart, Lee Organizations: La, Ellen, Ellen Stewart Theater Locations: bunraku

Renamed Scyne Advisory, roughly 1,400 of PwC Australia's more than 9,000 staff have moved over to the new advisory firm. It said it would tender for a new external auditor as part of "best practice for audit firm rotation". PwC has audited Westpac since 2002, before which PwC partners and their ancestor firms had audited the bank since 1968. However, PwC's lead Westpac audit partner assumed the role less than two years ago, in December 2021, according to a Westpac governance statement this month. A PwC Australia spokesperson said the firm understood the board's decision and was proud of its time as Westpac's auditor.

Persons: Lewis Jackson, PwC, Robert Birsel, Stephen Coates Organizations: REUTERS, Rights, Wednesday, Scyne Advisory, Scyne, Google, Uber Technologies, Facebook, Meta, WESTPAC, Westpac Group, Westpac, PwC's, Thomson Locations: Barangaroo, Australia

☆ Australia to investigate Optus internet and phone outage
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-08 | by ( Renju Jose | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

SYDNEY, Nov 9 (Reuters) - Australia said on Thursday it would launch an investigation into a 12-hour national outage at telco Optus that cut off internet and phone connections to nearly half of its population, hitting critical services including payments, transport and hospitals. The federal government would undertake a post-incident review into the outage, Communications Minister Michelle Rowland said, describing its impacts as "particularly concerning." Australia's media regulator will conduct a separate review into the outage after emergency triple zero ("000") calls went down on Optus landlines, Rowland added. Optus, owned by Singapore Telecommunications (STEL.SI), has not given the cause for the unprecedented outage, one of the biggest the country has witnessed. The outage happened 14 months after Optus was hit by one of Australia's biggest cyber breaches.

Persons: telco, Michelle Rowland, Rowland, Renju Jose, Jamie Freed Organizations: SYDNEY, Optus, Optus landlines, Singapore Telecommunications, Telstra, Australian Broadcasting Corp, Thomson Locations: Australia, Sydney

They argue that geopolitical tensions between the West and China risk the reliable supply of rare earth minerals. Aclara's Barua said that Western supply of rare earth elements will not develop if it depends on Chinese prices. "The price of any metal (rare earth or otherwise) that is coming from China or from western countries has the same pricing, so why should rare earth pricing be different?" The discussion on pricing has come up often in the Rare Earth Industry Association, said Veluri, who is also the president of the global organization with partners representing the whole rare earth value chain. "But for things like cobalt, copper, or rare earth metals there is a good strategic play to find with a mining partner."

Persons: Ramon Barua, Aclara's Barua, Veluri, Australia's, Tim Harrison, Harrison, Flavio Volpe, Volpe, Divya Rajagopal, Denny Thomas, Marguerita Choy Organizations: TORONTO, Reuters, Aclara, Earth Industry Association, Companies, Automotive Parts Manufacturers Association, Thomson Locations: China, Chile, West, Beijing, Badrinath, Denmark, Vietnam, Malaysia, Myanmar

☆ First US polls close as contests in Ohio, Virginia offer preview of 2024
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-07 | by ( Joseph Ax | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

Beshear faces Republican state Attorney General Daniel Cameron, who would be Kentucky's first Black governor. In Mississippi, Republican Governor Tate Reeves is seeking another four-year term. Last year, abortion rights advocacy groups scored a series of victories by placing abortion-related referendums on the ballot, including in conservative states. Anti-abortion forces campaigned against the Ohio amendment as too extreme, while abortion rights groups warned that rejecting it would pave the way for a stringent ban to take effect. Republican Governor Glenn Youngkin said he would pursue a 15-week abortion limit if Republicans take control of the legislature.

Persons: Ohioans, Andy Beshear, Republican Donald Trump, Daniel Cameron, Beshear, Tate Reeves, Brandon Presley, Elvis Presley, outraised Reeves, Joe Biden, Reeves, Cameron, Megan Jelinger, Glenn Youngkin, Trump, Biden, Joseph Ax, Jason Lange, Colleen Jenkins, Aurora Ellis, Deepa Babington Organizations: Abortion, Virginians, Republican, Kentucky, Beshear, Democratic, Trump, REUTERS, Ohio, Senate, Republicans, Reuters, Thomson Locations: Kentucky, Kentucky , Mississippi, Mississippi, Ohio, Columbus , Ohio, U.S, Arizona, Florida, Virginia, House

☆ Gold mining ETFs fail to keep pace with benchmark bullion fund
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-07 | by ( Suzanne Mcgee | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

The SPDR Gold Shares ETF (GLD.P), which tracks the price of gold, has rallied 9.82% this year, driven by concerns about inflation and economic growth as well as geopolitical turbulence. Yet those gains have not been reflected in the share prices of gold miners: the iShares MSCI Global Gold Miners ETF (RING.O) and the VanEck Gold Miners ETF (GDX.AX), which track the shares of gold producers, are up only 2.28% and 1.7% respectively. "Gold prices can only help so much, if you can't produce the gold in the first place," said Islam. Even Barrick Gold, which reported a 3% gain in gold production in the third quarter, said overall output in 2023 won't meet expectations. "Investors seem very wary of stocks as a whole, and gold miners have been tracking that rather than what's happening in gold itself," said Casanova.

Persons: Shannon Stapleton, Imaru Casanova, Casanova, Roxanna Islam, George Milling, Stanley, Suzanne McGee, Ira Iosebashvili Organizations: United States West Point Mint, REUTERS, Gold Miners, World Gold, Gold, Newmont Corp, State Street Global Advisors, Barrick, Thomson Locations: West Point , New York, Mexico

☆ Abortion rights at center of Ohio and Virginia elections
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-07 | by ( Joseph Ax | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

[1/2] Peter Range, the executive director of Ohio Right to Life, speaks to members of the Clark County Republican Party about the state's upcoming referendum on abortion rights, in Springfield, Ohio, U.S., October 26, 2023. In Mississippi, Republican Governor Tate Reeves is seeking another four-year term. Last year, abortion rights advocacy groups scored a series of victories by placing abortion-related referendums on the ballot, including in conservative states. In addition to Tuesday's amendment in Ohio that would enshrine abortion rights in the state constitution, similar ballot measures are advancing in several states for 2024, including swing states Arizona and Florida. Anti-abortion forces have campaigned against the Ohio amendment as too extreme, while abortion rights groups have warned that rejecting it would pave the way for a stringent ban to take effect.

Persons: Peter, Ohio, Joseph Ax, Andy Beshear, Republican Donald Trump, Daniel Cameron, Beshear, Tate Reeves, Brandon Presley, Elvis Presley, outraised Reeves, Joe Biden, Glenn Youngkin, Trump, Biden, Jason Lange, Colleen Jenkins, Aurora Ellis Organizations: Clark County Republican Party, REUTERS, Republicans, Democrats, White House, U.S, Republican, Kentucky, Beshear, Democratic, Trump, Voters, Senate, Reuters, Thomson Locations: Clark, Springfield , Ohio, U.S, Ohio, Virginia, Iowa, U.S ., , Kentucky, Mississippi, Arizona, Florida, House

SYDNEY, Nov 8 (Reuters) - Millions of Australians were left without a phone or internet connection on Wednesday after the country's second-largest telecommunications provider experienced an unexplained nationwide outage. "Our teams are working urgently to restore services. The government had sought further information from Optus including when they expected to restore services. Melbourne's train networks were forced to shut down for about 30 minutes due to the outage, resulting in delays during the morning rush, media reported. A cyber breach last year hit Optus, exposing personal details of millions of its customers, including their home addresses, driver licence and passport numbers.

Persons: telco, Michelle Rowland, Rowland, Renju Jose, Praveen Menon, Stephen Coates Organizations: SYDNEY, Optus, Singapore Telecommunications, Commonwealth Bank, CBA, Reuters, Federal Communications, ABC Radio, Thomson Locations: Sydney

☆ Peru miners say copper output could climb without impact from protests
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-07 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

REUTERS/Marco Aquino Acquire Licensing RightsLIMA, Nov 7 (Reuters) - The head of Peru's mining guild on Tuesday said that while copper mining investment might be slow to recover next year, the Andean country could still see growth in production of the metal if large-scale mines are not affected by social protests. Victor Gobitz, president of SNMP - the top mining guild for the world's No. 2 copper-producing country - said 2024 output could hit 2.7-2.8 million metric tons, up from 2.6-2.7 million tons forecast for this year and 2.45 million tons hit in 2022. Mining output was slammed by stoppages early this year during nationwide protests against the government of President Dina Boluarte after the ouster and arrest of her predecessor, Pedro Castillo. Peru's copper output has reached 1.77 million tons through the first eight months of this year, according to official data.

Persons: Marco Aquino, Victor Gobitz, Gobitz, Dina Boluarte, Pedro Castillo, Sarah Morland, David Gregorio Our Organizations: REUTERS, Rights, SNMP, BHP, Mitsubishi, El, Thomson Locations: Tapairihua, Peru's Andes, Teck

☆ Proxy firm ISS recommends vote in favour of Brookfield-led consortium's Origin Energy bid
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-06 | by ( Scott Murdoch | Thomson Reuters | Scott Murdoch Has Been A Journalist For More Than Two Decades Working For Thomson Reuters | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo Acquire Licensing RightsSYDNEY, Nov 7 (Reuters) - Proxy advisory firm Institutional Shareholder Services (ISS) has recommended investors vote in favour of a Brookfield-led consortium's $10.5 billion bid for Australia's Origin Energy (ORG.AX). Brookfield and EIG Partners has offered A$9.53 per share for Origin Energy. AustralianSuper, which holds a 15.03% stake, has said it believes the consortium's bid substantially "undervalues" Origin and will vote against the offer. Brookfield will take ownership of Origin's energy markets business if the vote is in favour of the bid, while EIG's MidOcean Energy will gain a 27.5% stake in Australia Pacific LNG (APLNG). In that scenario, EIG will own Origin and sell the energy markets business to Brookfield, meaning remaining shareholders, including AustralianSuper, will own only APLNG.

Persons: Dado Ruvic, Scott Murdoch, Paul Simao Organizations: Brookfield, REUTERS, Rights, Services, Origin Energy, EIG Partners, Shareholders, Energy, Australia Pacific LNG, Thomson Locations: Brookfield, Australia, Sydney

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