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☆ Novartis buys Chinook for $3.5 bln in race to treat rare kidney disease
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-12 | by ( Ludwig Burger | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

June 12 (Reuters) - Novartis (NOVN.S) said it has agreed to acquire U.S. biotech firm Chinook Therapeutics (KDNY.O) for up to $3.5 billion to boost its late-stage drug development line-up, raising the stakes in the race for a rare kidney disease treatment. The other drug hopeful is iptacopan, which is being trialled against a number of rare genetic disorders, including IgAN and another kidney disease. IgAN is a progressive autoimmune disease that mostly affects young adults and which can lead to kidney failure that requires dialysis or organ transplantation. IgAN is the most common cause of kidney failure in Caucasian young adults, Novartis added. Additional reporting by Miranda Murray; Editing by Kim Coghill, Sonali Paul and Alexander SmithOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Persons: Novartis, Vas Narasimhan, Narasimham, atrasentan, Narasimhan, Kisqali, Roche, Vera, Muddy Waters, Miranda Murray, Kim Coghill, Sonali Paul, Alexander Smith Organizations: Novartis, Chinook Therapeutics, Vera Therapeutics, Sandoz, Chinook, Thomson Locations: Seattle, United States

☆ How tech companies are working to help detect AI-generated images
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-08 | by ( Jennifer Korn | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +10 min

In recent months, an AI-generated image of Pope Francis in a puffer jacket went viral and AI-generated images of former President Donald Trump getting arrested were widely shared, shortly before he was indicted. Some lawmakers are now calling for tech companies to address the problem. Reality Defender and Hive Moderation are working on the former. Other tech companies like Google appear to be pursuing a playbook that pulls a bit from both approaches. “We need everybody to participate.”For now, however, tech companies continue to move forward with pushing more AI tools into the world.

Persons: Jeffrey McGregor, “ We’re, we’re, ”, McGregor, ” McGregor, Pope Francis, Donald Trump, Vera Jourova, –, “, Dall, ChatGPT, ” Hany Farid, ” Farid, Tom Cruise deepfake, ” Ben Colman, Kevin Guo, ” Guo, —, Andy Parsons, Bing, Farid, ” Parsons Organizations: New, New York CNN, Microsoft, ” Tech, European, Google, Meta, Big Tech, Reality, University of California, CNN, Realty, “, Coalition, Adobe, CAI, BBC, Intel, Sony Locations: New York, EU, Berkeley

☆ Instagram, Google, and TikTok should warn users about AI-generated content and build safeguards, EU official says
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-05 | by ( Pete Syme | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Tech companies should "clearly label" apps which could spread AI-generated disinformation, Bloomberg reported. That's according to a top EU official, and a voluntary code that Google, Meta, and TikTok have signed up to. TikTok, Meta, and Microsoft have been urged to warn users about AI-generated content, Bloomberg reported. According to Vera Jourova, a European Commission vice president, those companies should now "clearly label" any services which could spread AI-generated disinformation, Bloomberg reported. But last month, Elon Musk officially signed off on Twitter's withdrawal from the voluntary code – which seems to have provoked European officials.

Persons: TikTok, Vera Jourova, Jourova, Microsoft's Bing, Bard –, Elon Musk Organizations: Bloomberg, EU, Meta, Microsoft, European Commission, Digital Services, Google, Twitter

☆ AI generated content should be labelled, EU Commissioner Jourova says
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-05 | by ( Foo Yun Chee | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

Unveiled late last year, Microsoft-backed (MSFT.O) OpenAI's ChatGPT has become the fastest-growing consumer application in history and set off a race among tech companies to bring generative AI products to market. "Signatories who integrate generative AI into their services like Bingchat for Microsoft, Bard for Google (GOOGL.O) should build in necessary safeguards that these services cannot be used by malicious actors to generate disinformation," Jourova told a press conference. "Signatories who have services with a potential to disseminate AI generated disinformation should in turn put in place technology to recognise such content and clearly label this to users," she said. Companies such as Google, Microsoft and Meta Platforms (META.O) that have signed up to the EU Code of Practice to tackle disinformation should report on safeguards put in place to tackle this in July, Jourova said. "By leaving the Code, Twitter has attracted a lot of attention and its actions and compliance with EU law will be scrutinised vigorously and urgently," Jourova said.

Persons: Bard, Vera Jourova, OpenAI's ChatGPT, Jourova, scrutinised, Foo Yun Chee, Kirsten Donovan Organizations: Companies, European Commission, Microsoft, Google, Meta, Twitter, Thomson Locations: BRUSSELS, EU

☆ Peru sees copper projects on track, to stay ahead of Congo on output
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-02 | by ( Marco Aquino | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

REUTERS/Marco AquinoLIMA, June 1 (Reuters) - Peru's key copper projects are moving forward and the country is optimistic about remaining the world's second-largest copper producer, its mining minister said on Thursday, fending off a rise in the ranks by the Democratic Republic of Congo. Mining Minister Oscar Vera expressed confidence Peru's copper industry can boost output of the key industrial metal as mines worth some $6 billion come online over the next two years. Congo's copper output has accelerated rapidly and pulled almost even with Peru, while a report this week said Congo could grab the No. 2 spot as Peru's output slows. Vera said Peru mining projects on the horizon include the $1.5 billion Zafranal mine and the $2.5 billion Yanacocha Sulfuros project controlled by Newmont Mining Corp (NEM.N).

Persons: Marco Aquino LIMA, Oscar Vera, Vera, Newmont, Marco Aquino, Kylie Madry, David Alire Garcia, Edmund Klamann Organizations: REUTERS, Democratic, Democratic Republic of Congo . Mining, Newmont Mining Corp, Aluminum Corp, Thomson Locations: Tapairihua, Peru's Andes, Democratic Republic of Congo, Peru, Congo, Chile

☆ Spain's Catholic Church finds hundreds of alleged child abusers over eight decades
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-02 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

MADRID, June 2 (Reuters) - An investigation by the Spanish Catholic Church into child sexual abuse by members of the clergy and non-clerical staff has so far identified 728 alleged abusers and 927 victims since the 1940s, according to its first report. "We acknowledge the harm caused," said Jose Gabriel Vera, the spokesman for the Spanish Bishops' Conference. "We want to know what went wrong in the selection of candidates for the priesthood, what went wrong during their training...what has led a person who decided to give himself to God, to give himself to sexual abuse," Vera said. According to the victims - most of them male - more than 63% of the alleged abusers have died. Reporting by Emma Pinedo and Miguel Gutierrez Editing by Andrei Khalip and Sriraj KalluvilaOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Persons: Jose Gabriel Vera, Vera, Emma Pinedo, Miguel Gutierrez, Andrei Khalip Organizations: Spanish Catholic Church, Bishops ' Conference, El, Thomson Locations: MADRID, Spain, El Pais, U.S, Ireland, France

☆ 31-year-old mom started her CBD business from home in Hawaii—3 years later, it brings in $100,000 annually
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-31 | by ( Morgan Smith | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +7 min

A friend recommended she try CBD oil, which is derived from hemp plants, the non-psychoactive cousin of marijuana. Young continued to take CBD oil on a regular basis and welcomed her second daughter, Ho'olehua, in 2019. In May 2020, Young was ready to sell her first product, a CBD oil that blends hemp flower and coconut oil, online. Now, 'Āina Organics is sold in 25 stores, in both California and Hawaii. After deducting the operating costs to maintain the business, Āina Organics's profit stands at about $50,000, according to tax documents reviewed by CNBC Make It.

Persons: Grace Young, Young, Keith Andrade, Ka'auwai, Andrade, Ho'olehua, Meleana, Alexandra Masihy, daydreaming, they'd Organizations: Omao Labs, USDA, Hawaii, Young, CNBC Locations: Kauai, Hawaii, California

☆ Dutch parliament chair calls on Twitter to prevent threatening messages on platform
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-31 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

AMSTERDAM, May 31 (Reuters) - The chairwoman of the Dutch parliament on Wednesday called on Twitter to act to stop threats being broadcast on the social media platform against the country's lawmakers. The leader of the Netherlands' anti-Islam Freedom Party, Geert Wilders, has been the frequent target of death threats on Twitter for more than a decade. Musk, a self-proclaimed "free speech absolutist," has said he bought Twitter to prevent the platform from becoming an echo chamber for hate and division. Although she is not a member of parliament, the Netherlands' Finance Minister Sigrid Kaag of the centre-left D-66 Party has also been subjected to online and offline threats. Reporting by Toby Sterling; Editing by Toby ChopraOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Persons: Vera Bergkamp, Geert Wilders, Elon Musk, Bergkamp, Sigrid Kaag, Kaag, Toby Sterling, Toby Chopra Organizations: Twitter, . company's Global Affairs, Freedom Party, company's Global Affairs, Netherlands ' Finance, Thomson Locations: AMSTERDAM, Netherlands

☆ Tens of thousands gather in Belgrade protest over mass shootings
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-19 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

[1/6] Serbia's main opposition parties protest against violence and in reaction to the two mass shootings in the same week, that have shaken the country, in Belgrade, Serbia, May 19, 2023. REUTERS/Marko... Read moreBELGRADE, May 19 (Reuters) - Tens of thousands marched through Belgrade on Friday in an anti-government protest following two mass shootings that killed 18 people, blaming the deaths on a culture of violence that critics say authorities have allowed to fester unchecked. Reuters estimated the protest, the third of its kind this month, drew a crowd in the tens of thousands. The government denies the opposition parties' allegations and accuses them of organising the protests for political gain. In a counter-rally in Pancevo, a town outside Belgrade, Vucic accused the opposition of trying to use the mass shootings for self promotion.

☆ Nina Gold on creating film stars, audition tapes, and why she'll never act
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-19 | by ( Thomas Page | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +8 min

This is the same Nina Gold who’s made a successful career casting some of the defining films and TV shows of this century. “I still don’t really understand what it is that makes acting good,” she says. For “Bad Sisters’” smarmy, abusive antagonist John Paul, Gold cast Claes Bang. For Gold and her team – rising to six people, depending on projects – it’s a lot of logistics and audition tapes. Gold cast Taylor-Johnson in his breakout role as John Lennon in “Nowhere Boy” (2009) at age 18-20, she guesses, but had been auditioning him since about the age of nine.

☆ 'Cash-stuffing' is a Gen Z trend taking TikTok by storm. Here's why the tech-obsessed generation is bringing this budgeting hack back.
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-16 | by ( Sawdah Bhaimiya | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Gen Z is bringing back an old-school budgeting hack that's been newly dubbed as cash-stuffing. It involves putting cash into envelopes so it can be reserved for specific expenses. This method has gained traction with younger consumers who are budgeting amid rising costs. Cash-stuffing is a viral TikTok trend that younger consumers have adopted to stay on top of their finances. Gen Z has overhauled this process to make it look more aesthetically pleasing with colorful dividers, envelopes, and pens to plan out their expenditures.

☆ Ecuadorean authorities detain former energy minister in bribery probe
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-15 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

QUITO, May 15 (Reuters) - Ecuadorean authorities have detained a former energy minister amid an investigation into alleged bribery linked to state oil firm Petroecuador, the attorney general's office said on Monday. An investigation of Xavier Vera, Ecuador's former minister of mines and energy, began last October following several corruption allegations, including that he arranged jobs at Petroecuador in exchange for bribes. "The attorney general's office, with the support from (Ecuadorean police) executed an arrest warrant against Xavier V., within an investigation for alleged bribery," the attorney general's office wrote in a message via Twitter, referring to Vera. He isn't running away from the investigation, he isn't running away from the process," Vera's lawyer, Carlos Sanchez, told local television channel Ecuavisa. Reporting by Alexandra Valencia in Quito Writing by Sarah Morland Editing by Matthew LewisOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Alphabet CEO to meet EU industry chief Breton, EU deputy chief May 24
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-12 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: 1 min

BRUSSELS, May 12 (Reuters) - Alphabet (GOOGL.O) Chief Executive Officer Sundar Pichai will meet European Commission deputy chief Vera Jourova and EU industry chief Thierry Breton in Brussels on May 24, according to the European Commission's agenda on Friday. Breton is in charge of digital rules that will require Alphabet's Google and other tech giants to allow business users to access data generated on its platform, among other obligations. A list of don'ts include a ban on treating their services and products more favourably than rivals. Another set of new EU tech rules requires Google and other tech giants to do more to tackle illegal online content on their platforms. Reporting by Foo Yun Chee, Editing by Louise HeavensOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ The Wild Life and Times of a Soon-to-Be Former City Ballet Dancer
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-28 | by ( Gia Kourlas | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

“He’s such a technician and this classicist and also contemporary and free — he’s an investigator, you know?” Whelan said. He is engaged to the fashion designer Zac Posen, whom he met at City Ballet and became close with during the pandemic. Much of his life has been erratic and wild, fueled, in part, by drug and alcohol addiction. He started ballet training at 4 with the now-defunct Charleston Ballet Theater in South Carolina and performed as a child. “It was a really weird situation,” Vera Ball, his mother, said, “but, yeah, that’s what we had to do.”

☆ German energy regulator expects lower power reserve needs this winter
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-28 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

The Federal Network Agency, called Bundesnetzagentur, said it had cut the amount of winter power capacity needed in reserve for the 2023/24 season by 44% from 2022/23 to 4,616 megawatts (MW). Also, the slow pace of network expansion is hampering the delivery of wind power from the north of Germany to the industrial south. That amount of capacity could be raised by combining plants operating regularly in the market with domestic and foreign network reserve capacities and the "winter" reserve, it said. Under the network reserve schemes, Germany can draw year-round on domestic plants that were registered for closure but declared system-relevant. Some power plants abroad will also be contracted under one-off agreements, where a relevant tender runs until May 15.

The ruling Colorado Party has dominated Paraguayan politics for the last three-quarters of a century, in power for all but five years. "We never talked about politics before, because a win for the Colorado Party was a done deal," 40-year-old bank worker Gustavo Vera told Reuters in the capital. "There's more corruption in Paraguay than work... All I know is we have to work much harder to make ends meet." The U.S. Treasury earlier this year imposed sanctions on party chief Horacio Cartes and Vice President Hugo Velazquez, citing "rampant corruption." Alegre, on his third presidential campaign, has pulled together a broad alliance of independent parties to challenge the powerful Colorado political machine.

REUTERS/Edgar SuSINGAPORE, April 27 (Reuters) - Vera Liu, a Singapore property agent, was panicking in the wee hours of Thursday morning after new property taxes saw two of her deals fall through. Policymakers are growing concerned that foreign investors increasingly see Singapore property as a hot asset class, squeezing out locals. Christine Sun, the senior vice president of research & analytics at OrangeTee & Tie, called it a "freezing measure" for foreign buyers. Shares of Singapore property companies fell on Thursday, with City Development (CTDM.SI) and UOL Group (UTOS.SI), which have large Singapore footprints, hit hardest. "There's little impact on the other 90%," said Mak, who has been analysing Singapore property for more than two decades.

Fear that another tragedy could strike forced her to leave Istanbul because she couldn't afford a new apartment there, she said. However, seismologists said the February disaster has not changed the likelihood of an Istanbul quake, with the two areas on different faultlines. Any disaster in Istanbul would stagger Turkey's economy given the broader Marmara region accounts for some 41% of national GDP. Some 1.5 million homes are considered at risk in the city, Urban Planning Minister Murat Kurum said this week. According to official data, an average of more than three people live in each household, meaning up to 5 million live in these properties.

☆ Cash stuffing budgets are all the rage right now. 2 women explain their polar-opposite experiences.
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-13 | by ( Jacob Zinkula | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

But then she decided to try "cash stuffing," a budgeting trend she'd heard about on YouTube two months earlier. Cash stuffing involves using envelopes to divide up cash for rent, groceries, gas, and other things. Vera KentCash stuffing isn't a good fit for everyoneNot everyone is a huge fan of cash stuffing, however. The video took off, racking up over 166,000 views, but Kent said she didn't take to cash stuffing and quit only three weeks after she started. Have you tried cash stuffing and are willing to share your story?

WASHINGTON, April 13 (Reuters) - Angola's next sovereign debt issuance will be an ESG bond of up to $1 billion, its finance minister told Reuters on Thursday, but she added that the southern African oil producer's government would not tap the market this year. "We are open to get funding from whoever is interested to participate," she said. But any ESG issuance will be the first one for us, so we want to start with the hard work." "We are very cautious about the moment to step into the markets because we want to stabilise our debt," she said, noting the current challenging market conditions. Reporting by Leika Kihara; Editing by Chizu NomiyamaOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Finding Object Lessons via the Spirits of a Famed Artistic Couple
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-11 | by ( Ray Mark Rinaldi | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: 1 min

This article is part of our Design special report previewing 2023 Milan Design Week. When Ambra Medda and Veronica Sommaruga teamed up to create AMO, they agreed their new design venture should aim for the stars. Ms. Medda is an industry insider, a founder of Design Miami and a noted matchmaker between designers and brands. Ms. Sommaruga, a well-respected authority on textiles, has held key creative roles with companies like Vera Wang, Calvin Klein and Hermès. “We wanted to go as high as we could go,” Ms. Medda said.

☆ Democrats choose Chicago, a target of years of GOP attacks about crime, for 2024 convention
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-11 | by ( Nicole Gaudiano | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

With Chicago, Democrats chose a 2024 convention site that signals the significance of the Midwest. But the city has also been at the center of Democrats' weakest spot with voters: crime. Crime was a defining issue of the city's latest mayoral election that upended the city's Democratic leadership. And Republicans have long hammered the city's crime rates to put Democrats on the defensive. "Chicago is a vibrant, metropolitan city with neighborhoods that reflect the diversity of America," said Natalie Edelstein, a spokesperson for the city's convention bid.

Uwe Oppitz of Rhenus Ports, who speaks for Energy Hub Port Wilhelmshaven, said that Wintershall Dea (WINT.UL) (BASFn.DE), Uniper (UN01.DE) and Tree Energy Solutions (TES) plan to spend a total of more than 5 billion euros at Wilhelmshaven. Energy Hub Port Wilhelmshaven comprises 30 companies, which include E.ON (EONGn.DE), RWE (RWEG.DE) and Orsted (ORSTED.CO), as well as Wilhelmshaven's home state of Lower Saxony. "Wintershall Dea plans to invest around 1 billion euros in the Wilhelmshaven site together with its partners," it said. And steelmaker Salzgitter (SZGG.DE) has already struck a deal with Uniper to receive green hydrogen for its steel mill processes, replacing essential fossil-fuel produced hydrogen. "We don't want to push green hydrogen to the side.

"From our point of view, Rostock with its overseas port and an existing ammonia terminal can become a hub for international hydrogen imports into eastern Germany," said Hans-Joachim Polk, board member for infrastructure and technology. In another cooperation, VNG is sounding out Algeria's state oil and gas producer Sonatrach with a view to possibly arranging green hydrogen imports into Rostock via Tunisian and Italian natural gas pipelines, Polk told a press briefing. As customers across Europe baulked at sky-high prices, VNG's gas sales fell 23% last year to 588 billion kilowatt hours (kWh). As well as gas sales to local utilities and industry, the group has a wide range of activities in high pressure and distribution gas pipelines, storage facilities and biogas. Reporting by Vera Eckert; Editing by Rachel More, Friederike Heine and Susan FentonOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Spain's conservatives seen winning general election, poll shows
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-27 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

[1/2] Spain's opposition People's Party (PP) leader Alberto Nunez Feijoo listens to Spain's Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez speak during a session at the Spanish Senate in Madrid, Spain, September 6, 2022. The conservative PP would win 32.4% of the vote, or between 139 and 143 seats in the 350-seat lower house, largely in line with where it stood in the previous GAD3 poll in November. PP head Alberto Nunez Feijoo has said he would rather not ally with Vox in parliament, but may have no other option. In May, Spain will hold municipal and regional elections that will help gauge support for the main political parties in the general election to be held in December. Reporting by Inti Landauro, editing by Andrei Khalip and Christina FincherOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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