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☆ Oil prices cool off multi-month highs on recession fears
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-13 | by ( Shariq Khan | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

[1/2] The sun is seen behind a crude oil pump jack in the Permian Basin in Loving County, Texas, U.S., November 22, 2019. However, minutes from the Fed's last policy meeting indicated that banking sector stress could tip the economy into recession, which would weaken U.S. oil demand. Oil price declines were limited, however, as OPEC kept its forecast for global oil demand growth in 2023 unchanged. Signs of a demand recovery in China, the top importer of crude oil and products, provided more support for oil prices, Yawger said. The executive director of the International Energy Agency expects the move to tighten supply in the second half of the year and push oil prices higher.

☆ China's Zeekr launches electric SUV, targets Europe
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-13 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

REUTERS/Zoey ZhangCHENGDU, China, April 12 (Reuters) - Chinese electric vehicle maker Zeekr on Wednesday launched a compact, all-electric sport utility vehicle, as it targeted a premium market in China that has been dominated by German automakers. The Geely-owned [RIC:RIC:GEELY.UL] brand said it also planned to offer the SUV-styled Zeekr X and its Zeekr 001 EV sedan in Western Europe without saying when that would be. The company will start delivering the Zeekr X in China from June with a target of delivering 40,000 this year, An said. After Europe, Zeekr will target Asian markets outside China, An said without providing details. It sold 15,234 of its two existing models - the 001 sedan and the 009 multi-purpose vehicle - in the first quarter, accounting for just 2% of China's battery electric vehicle sales.

☆ KPMG fined 875,000 pounds for failures in Luceco audit
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-13 | by ( Huw Jones | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

LONDON, April 13 (Reuters) - KPMG has been fined 875,000 pounds ($1.09 million) for its audit of lighting manufacturer Luceco (LUCEL.L) for its financial year to Dec. 31, 2016, Britain's accounting watchdog said on Thursday. During 2016 Luceco was the parent of companies that produced and distributed lighting products and wiring accessories, with subsidiaries in China and other countries. "The breaches included failures in the design and performance of audit procedures, failures to adequately review and critically assess the audit evidence obtained, failure to document the audit work and failures by the respondents to apply professional scepticism," the Financial Reporting Council said in a statement. Smith, who no longer works at KPMG, was fined 50,000 pounds. Cath Burnet, head of audit at KPMG UK, said the accounting firm is committed to dealing with and learning from its historical cases and regretted that aspects of its 2016 audit of Luceco fell short of required standards.

☆ China's Zeekr launches SUV to boost premium EV sales
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-12 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: 1 min

Companies Zhejiang Geely Holding Group Co Ltd FollowCHENGDU, China, April 12 (Reuters) - Chinese electric vehicle (EV) maker Zeekr on Wednesday launched a new compact sports utility vehicle (SUV) as the Geely-owned (GEELY.UL) brand strives for market share in a premium segment previously dominated by German rivals. With a starting price of 189,800 yuan ($27,615.31), the Zeekr X SUV offers features such as the ability to unlock the car using facial recoginition technology and an in-vehicle refridgerator, CEO Andy An said at an event in China's southwestern city of Chengdu. The company will start delivering the Zeekr X from June this year, he added. ($1 = 6.8730 Chinese yuan renminbi)Reporting by Zoey Zhang and Brenda Goh Editing by Kenny Maxwell and David GoodmanOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Summary Dip in China consumer inflation points to weak demandU.S. inflation report due on WednesdayComing up: API data on US crude stocks at 4:30 p.m. Brent crude futures settled up $1.43, or 1.7%, to $85.61 a barrel. U.S. West Texas Intermediate futures rose $1.79, or 2.2%, to $81.53 a barrel. read moreA U.S. inflation report to be released on Wednesday is expected to help investors gauge the near-term trajectory for interest rates. OPEC output will fall by 500,000 bpd in 2023, then rise by 1 million bpd in 2024, after the group's output agreement expires, the Energy Information Administration forecast on Tuesday.

☆ France says pesticide ban will not hit grain exports
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-11 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

He said that EU countries including Germany and Bulgaria were also using the pesticide on grain exports to Algeria. The questions in Parliament followed a weekend report by l'Opinion newspaper that said French grain exports would come to a halt from April 25. With the deadline looming, French grain producers had called for a swift response from the government. "We are depriving ourselves of a quarter of the outlets for French cereals," Eric Thirouin, head of French grain growers group AGPB, told Reuters. Exports put at risk by the ANSES decision amount to about 4 billion euros ($4.37 billion) in trade surplus, compared with a total grain trade surplus of about 11 billion euros last year, he said.

☆ GM's Cruise recalls 300 self-driving vehicles to update software after bus crash
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-07 | by ( David Shepardson | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

WASHINGTON, April 7 (Reuters) - General Motors' (GM.N) robotaxi unit Cruise LLC is recalling the automated driving software in 300 vehicles after one of its driverless vehicles crashed into the back of a San Francisco bus. The March 23 collision was the fault of a software error in a Cruise automated vehicle (AV) that inaccurately predicted the movement of an articulated San Francisco Municipal Transit Authority bus, Cruise said on Friday. The crash caused moderate damage to the Cruise but did not result in any injuries. Cruise in September disclosed that it recalled and updated software in 80 self-driving vehicles after a June crash in San Francisco that left two people injured. NHTSA in December opened a formal safety probe into the Cruise autonomous driving system after it received reports of incidents in which self-driving Cruise vehicles "may engage in inappropriately hard braking or become immobilized."

☆ Dollar advances after US nonfarm payrolls data
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-07 | by ( Gertrude Chavez-Dreyfuss | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

Prior to the jobs report, the rate futures market had been betting that the Fed would pause at the May policy meeting. The market has now priced in a 68% chance the Fed will raise interest rates by 25 basis points (bps). Friday's data showed there were 236,000 new jobs in March, in line with forecasts of 239,000. Data for February was revised higher to show 326,000 jobs were added instead of 311,000 as previously reported. Against the yen, the dollar was up 0.3% at 132.075 yen while the euro was 0.2% weaker at $1.0905 .

[1/2] Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi speaks during the G20 leaders summit in Nusa Dua, Bali, Indonesia, Tuesday, Nov. 15, 2022. The amendments to the country's IT rules make it obligatory on platforms "not to publish, share or host fake, false or misleading information" about the government. The Guild again urges the ministry to withdraw this notification and conduct consultations with media organisations and press bodies." Digital rights organisation Internet Freedom Foundation (IFF) said undefined terms such as "fake", "false" and "misleading" in the amendment make them susceptible to misuse by authorities. Reporting by Sudipto Ganguly and Shivam Patel Editing by David GoodmanOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ China's Alibaba invites businesses to trial AI chatbot -media
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-07 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Alibaba has opened up registration for businesses to conduct testing for its AI application, STAR Market reported without specifying details. Alibaba Cloud did not respond immediately to an emailed request for comment. A formal launch is expected at an Alibaba Cloud event on Tuesday. Others to have joined the AI chatbot race include Baidu Inc (9998.HK), with its Ernie Bot application open only to trial users at the moment. Last week Alibaba announced that it will restructure into six standalone divisions, each with its own board and CEO.

☆ Turkey's Ziraat bank finalises $1.3 bln syndicated loan
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-07 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: 1 min

ISTANBUL, April 7 (Reuters) - Turkey's Ziraat Bank has finalised a $1.3 billion, 367-day syndicated loan in two tranches of $423 million and 779 million euros ($850.4 million), it said on Friday. It said the loan was coordinated by Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank PJSC and Emirates NBD Capital. ($1 = 0.9161 euros)Reporting by Ebru Tuncay Writing by Daren Butler Editing by David GoodmanOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Russia seizes Bakhmutka River's west bank, says UK defence ministry
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-07 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: 1 min

April 7 (Reuters) - Russia has seized the west bank of the Bakhmutka River, endangering a key Ukraine supply route, in its push to regain control of the devastated eastern city of Bakhmut, the British defence ministry said on Friday. "Russia has made further gains and has now highly likely advanced into the town centre ... Ukraine's key 0506 supply route to the west of the town is likely severely threatened," the ministry said on Twitter in a regular bulletin. loadingReporting by Akriti Sharma in Bengaluru Editing by David GoodmanOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ GM self-driving unit Cruise recalls 300 vehicles after crash
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-07 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: 1 min

WASHINGTON, April 7 (Reuters) - General Motors' (GM.N) self-driving unit Cruise is recalling the automated driving software in 300 vehicles after a March 23 collision with a San Francisco bus. The collision resulted from an automated vehicle inaccurately predicting the movement of an articulated San Francisco Municipal Transit Authority bus, Cruis said in a National Highway Traffic Safety Administration filing made public on Friday. Cruise said the software in the 300 vehicles was updated on March 25 to address concerns the system "may inaccurately predict the movement of articulated vehicles such as buses and tractor trailers". Reporting by David Shepardson Editing by David GoodmanOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

LONDON, April 6 (Reuters) - A group of investors with $1.1 trillion in assets under management has joined climate activist group Follow This in asking TotalEnergies (TTEF.PA) shareholders to push for more ambitious targets on emissions cuts. "These climate resolutions at Big Oil will show which investors are serious about resolving the climate crisis and which prefer to just talk about it." TotalEnergies has said its emissions will not register a big reduction by 2030 in absolute terms. In 2020, the last time TotalEnergies shareholders voted on a Follow This resolution, the activist received 17% of the votes. TotalEnergies' climate strategy was approved by about 90% of shareholder votes in 2021 and 2022.

The move to integrate FedEx Ground, its outsourced package delivery arm, with the FedEx Express overnight air delivery business was announced almost a year after activist investor D.E. FedEx Express is already handling FedEx Ground's pickup and deliveries in Alaska and Hawaii - fueling concerns that Ground contractors in the lower 48 states could be let go. John Smith will become president and CEO of U.S. and Canada ground operations at FedEx Express and assume leadership of surface operations across the FedEx Express, FedEx Ground and FedEx Freight businesses from April 16. FedEx Freight will continue to provide freight transportation services as a standalone company under the Federal Express Corp banner, the company added. Shares in FedEx, which also announced a 10% dividend boost on Wednesday, were up about 2% in mid-morning trade.

☆ UK plans streamlined post-Brexit border checks
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-05 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

[1/2] Flags of the Union Jack and European Union are seen ahead of the meeting of European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, in Brussels, Belgium December 9, 2020. Olivier Hoslet/Pool via REUTERSLONDON, April 5 (Reuters) - Britain has set out plans to simplify and speed up post-Brexit border checks after repeated delays that the government previously blamed on the COVID-19 pandemic and then the war in Ukraine. "The Border Target Operating Model ... sets out a new model for importing goods into the UK from countries inside and outside the EU (the European Union)," the government said in the introduction to the draft proposals. Arrangements for goods moving into Northern Ireland from Great Britain will follow the deal Prime Minister Rishi Sunak struck with the EU in February on post-Brexit trade rules for the region, the government said. It plans to publish the final version by the end of the year after the six-week engagement period.

NEW DELHI/MUMBAI, April 5 (Reuters) - India's stockpiles of dairy products have recovered in the past two months, though some products could qualify for duty free imports during peak demand season, a senior government official said on Wednesday. "There is adequate inventory of skimmed milk powder (SMP)," said Rajesh Kumar Singh, secretary at the department of Animal Husbandry & Dairying. SMP stocks reached 109,000 tonnes in February, up by nearly 27,000 tonnes from December, ministry data shows. "But in the case of dairy products, especially fats, butter and ghee, etc, the stocks are lower than the previous year," Singh said. Butter and ghee stocks have fell to 36,000 tonnes in February, down from 75,000 tonnes a year earlier.

☆ Russia's Sibur exports LPG to Africa, Middle East and Asia as EU cuts buying
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-05 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

MOSCOW, April 5 (Reuters) - Sibur, the largest producer and exporter of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) in Russia, redirected exports to Africa, the Middle East and Asia in the past three months, industry sources said. In the first quarter of last year, countries outside EU and UK accounted for only 18%, or 43,000 tonnes, of LPG shipped from Ust-Luga. Redirecting quite a few of Sibur's LPG cargoes from the Amsterdam-Rotterdam-Antwerp (ARA) trading hub outside Europe has significantly increased the round trip for gas carriers, ship-tracking data shows. To avoid higher freight costs Sibur and trader Trafigura have engaged larger vessels to ship LPG outside the EU, three LPG traders told Reuters. Sibur LPG cargoes arriving from Ust-Luga are being sold to Trafigura, which reloads them at Paldiski to MGC (medium gas carriers, about 22,000 tonnes) or LGC (large gas carriers, 44,000 tonnes) vessels, the LPG traders said.

LONDON, April 3 (Reuters) - Emissions regulated under the European Union's carbon market from power and industrial sectors fell by 1.2-1.6% last year, preliminary data in the European Union Transaction Log database examined by analysts showed on Monday. Analysts at Refinitiv and ICIS said stationary emissions covered by the scheme, such as power plants and factories, totalled 1.316-1.320 billion tonnes of CO2 equivalent (CO2e) in 2022, down 1.2-1.6% from the previous year. While power sector emissions increased, that was offset by a decline in industrial emissions. There were also problems with French nuclear power output, requiring more power generation from fossil fuels to fill the gap. Some 93% of all installations covered by the ETS have reported their emissions so the data is incomplete.

☆ Germany could block ChatGPT if needed, says data protection chief
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-03 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

BERLIN, April 3 (Reuters) - Germany could follow in Italy's footsteps by blocking ChatGPT over data security concerns, the German commissioner for data protection told the Handelsblatt newspaper in comments published on Monday. "In principle, such action is also possible in Germany," Ulrich Kelber said, adding that this would fall under state jurisdiction. Privacy watchdogs in France and Ireland said they had also contacted the Italian data regulator to discuss its findings. "We are following up with the Italian regulator to understand the basis for their action and we will coordinate with all EU data protection authorities in relation to this matter," said a spokesperson for Ireland's Data Protection Commissioner (DPC). The privacy regulator in Sweden said it has no plans to ban ChatGPT nor is it in contact with the Italian watchdog.

☆ Swiss prosecutor probes Credit Suisse takeover
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-02 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

SummarySummary Companies UBS agreed to acquire Credit Suisse last monthDeal orchestrated by Swiss authoritiesPoll shows Swiss economists disagree with dealGENEVA, April 2 (Reuters) - Switzerland's Federal Prosecutor has opened an investigation into the state-backed takeover of Credit Suisse (CSGN.S) by UBS Group (UBSG.S), the office of the attorney general said on Sunday. Credit Suisse and UBS did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Last month, UBS said it would acquire rival Credit Suisse for 3 billion Swiss francs ($3.3 billion) in a deal orchestrated by the Swiss government, the central bank and market regulator. A poll of Swiss economists found that nearly half think the takeover of Credit Suisse was not the best solution, and warned that the situation had dented Switzerland's reputation as a banking centre. Up to 30% of staff could lose their jobs due to the takeover, according to an unnamed senior UBS manager quoted in Swiss media.

☆ Norwegian wealth fund seeks Credit Suisse boardroom shake-up
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-02 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

[1/2] Chairman of the Board of Directors of Credit Suisse, Axel Lehmann, attends a news conference after UBS's takeover offer, in Bern, Switzerland, March 19, 2023. REUTERS/Denis Balibouse/File PhotoApril 2 (Reuters) - Norges Bank Investment Management will vote against the re-election of Credit Suisse (CSGN.S) Chair Axel Lehmann and six other directors at the Swiss lender's annual general meeting on Tuesday, the Norwegian wealth fund said on its website. "Shareholders should have the right to seek changes to the board when it does not act in their best interest," the Norges wealth fund said ahead of the April 4 meeting. In addition to Lehmann, Norges is also opposing re-election of Credit Suisse directors Iris Bohnet, Christian Gellerstad, Shan Li, Seraina Macia, Richard Meddings and Ana Pessoa. Credit Suisse declined to comment and UBS did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

☆ Up to 30% of jobs to be cut by enlarged UBS, Tages-Anzeiger reports
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-02 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

[1/4] The logo of Swiss bank UBS is seen in Zurich, Switzerland, March 20, 2023. REUTERS/Denis Balibouse/File PhotoGENEVA, April 2 (Reuters) - The bank created by the UBS (UBSG.S) takeover of Credit Suisse (CSGN.S) is poised to reduce its workforce by 20-30%, Swiss daily Tages-Anzeiger reported on Sunday, citing an unnamed senior UBS manager. The report said the bank could cut about 11,000 jobs in Switzerland. Jobs in its U.S. investment banking arm will also be affected, the report said, with UBS set for talks to terminate a deal that would have given Wall Street dealmaker Michael Klein control of much of Credit Suisse's investment bank. Reporting by Gabrielle Tetrault-Farber Editing by David GoodmanOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Montenegro run-off presidential election under way
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-02 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

[1/13] A man prepares to vote at a polling station during the run-off presidential election in Podgorica, Montenegro, April 2, 2023. REUTERS/Marko DjuricaPODGORICA, April 2 (Reuters) - Montenegrins went to the polls on Sunday in a run-off presidential election pitting incumbent Milo Djukanovic against a Western-educated economist pledging to lift the nation out of a crisis marked by no-confidence votes in two governments. He led Montenegro to independence from a state union with much larger Serbia in 2006 and to NATO membership in 2017. Although the presidential post in Montenegro is largely ceremonial, victory in the election would bolster the chances of the winner's party in June. After Russia's invasion of Ukraine last year, Montenegro joined EU sanctions against Moscow and expelled a number of Russian diplomats.

☆ More than 200 safely evacuated in smoke incident at Russian coal mine
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-02 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: 1 min

MOSCOW, April 2 (Reuters) - A total of 229 workers were evacuated from a coal mine in southern Russia on Sunday after it filled with smoke, a local official said, adding that there were no casualties. It was unclear what caused the incident, which happened at a depth of nearly 200 metres (650 feet) at the Obukhovskaya mine in the city of Zverevo. Reporting by Marina Bobrova and Mark Trevelyan Editing by David GoodmanOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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