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NEW YORK, Feb 7 (Reuters) - U.S. prosecutors on Tuesday asked a judge to postpone civil cases brought against FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried by federal regulators until a parallel criminal case against the former billionaire concludes. The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) have each filed civil fraud cases against Bankman-Fried over the collapse of his cryptocurrency exchange. Bankman-Fried has pleaded not guilty to criminal fraud charges in Manhattan federal court. Reporting by Luc Cohen in New YorkOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Feb 6 (Reuters) - A U.S. judge on Monday ordered regulators to reconsider part of the permit approving Lithium Americas Corp's (LAC.TO) Thacker Pass lithium mine project in Nevada, though the mixed ruling rejected claims that the project would cause unnecessary harm to the environment or wildlife. Chief Judge Miranda Du of the federal court in Reno, Nevada, ordered the U.S. Bureau of Land Management to determine whether the company has the right to dump waste rock at the site, a ruling based on a complex set of case law. Du's ruling can be appealed. Reporting by Ernest Scheyder; Editing by Christopher CushingOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Beijing condemned the shooting down of the balloon as an "obvious overreaction" and urged Washington to show restraint. Some U.S. Republicans have questioned why the balloon was not shot down before it was allowed to travel across the United States. Senior U.S. officials have offered to brief former Trump administration officials on the details of what the White House said were three China balloon overflights when Donald Trump was president. Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said China learned its balloon had drifted over the United States after being notified by Washington. On Sunday, Colombia's military said it sighted an airborne object similar to a balloon after the Pentagon said on Friday another Chinese balloon was flying over Latin America.

SummarySummary Companies Number of cases totals 57, court records showFeb 6 (Reuters) - Nearly 60 lawsuits claiming hair relaxer products sold by L'Oreal USA Inc and other companies cause cancer and other health problems will be consolidated in Chicago federal court, according to a Monday order from the Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation. At least 57 lawsuits have been filed in federal courts across the country over the products, which use chemicals to permanently straighten textured hair, court records show. The lawsuits allege the companies knew their products contained dangerous chemicals but marketed and sold them anyway. In a statement posted online after the first lawsuits were filed, L'Oreal said it is "confident in the safety of our products and believe the recent lawsuits filed against us have no legal merit." She estimates that thousands of women could end up suing over the products, which are typically marketed to women of color.

Part of the clash included a Hagens Berman partner accusing Quinn Emanuel of discounting her views based on her gender. Quinn Emanuel denied the allegation, calling it a "mystery." The two law firms on Friday night submitted their pitches to Donato about why he should appoint them solely rather than jointly to lead the consumer class. A representative from Hagens Berman did not immediately comment, and a Quinn Emanuel spokesperson declined to comment. Hagens Berman and Quinn Emanuel have been on opposite sides in other cases.

Companies Exelon Corp FollowWASHINGTON, Feb 6 (Reuters) - The FBI arrested two people, including a neo-Nazi leader, before they could attack Baltimore's power grid, officials said on Monday. The suspects, Brandon Russell and Sarah Clendaniel, were taken into custody last week, officials said in a briefing on Monday. The FBI said the plot was racially motivated but did not provide details. Russel provided instruction and location information for the planned attack while Clendaniel felt the plot "will lay this city to waste," Sobocinski told reporters. Baltimore Gas and Electric, a subsidiary of Exelon Corporation (EXC.O), which owns the targeted substations, said there was no damage to any of its equipment or outages.

The U.S. Department of Justice's bankruptcy watchdog has urged U.S. Bankruptcy Judge John Dorsey, who is overseeing FTX's Chapter 11, to appoint an independent examiner to investigate allegations of "fraud, dishonesty, incompetence, misconduct, and mismanagement" that are "too important to be left to an internal investigation." FTX says an examiner would merely duplicate work already being done by FTX, its creditors, and law enforcement agencies. FTX's founder Sam Bankman-Fried, who has been accused of stealing billions of dollars from FTX customers to pay debts incurred by his Alameda Research hedge fund, has pleaded not guilty to fraud charges. FTX's official creditors committee has sided with FTX, saying the proposed investigation is redundant. State securities regulators in Texas, Vermont and Wisconsin supported the Justice Department's bid, saying a neutral report would benefit creditors and customers.

Feb 3 (Reuters) - A federal appeals court on Friday overturned the conviction of a doctor accused of unlawfully prescribing addictive opioids in Arizona and Wyoming after the U.S. Supreme Court issued a ruling in his favor that made it harder to prosecute such cases. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that under last year's Supreme Court's decision, jurors were wrongly instructed on how to determine whether Shakeel Kahn knowingly prescribed powerful drugs in an illegal manner. He was at the center of a Supreme Court ruling in January 2022 that raised the bar for what prosecutors must prove to secure convictions of doctors accused of fueling the U.S. opioid crisis by turning their medical practices into "pill mills." One woman died of an oxycodone overdose after he prescribed her drugs, prosecutors said. He took his case to the Supreme Court, which held that prosecutors have to prove that doctors knew they illegally prescribed drugs in violation of the federal Controlled Substances Act.

NEW YORK, Jan 30 (Reuters) - A grand jury is hearing evidence in New York over former President Donald Trump's role in hush money payments to porn star Stormy Daniels during his 2016 presidential campaign, two sources with knowledge of the matter told Reuters. A grand jury could lay the groundwork for possible criminal charges against the former president by the Manhattan district attorney's office. Former National Enquirer publisher David Pecker testified before the grand jury, one source told Reuters. Pecker was seen entering the lower Manhattan building where the grand jury is empaneled, according to the New York Times, which first reported on the grand jury on Monday. The moves are an indication that the district attorney, Alvin Bragg, is closer to a decision on whether to charge Trump.

☆ Davos 2023 - Citi CEO Fraser says China opening up is good news for the market
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-18 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: 1 min

DAVOS, Switzerland, Jan 18 (Reuters) - China's opening up is important for the world and there is good news from market friendly measures taken there, Citi Group's chief executive Jane Fraser told a panel at the World Economic Forum's (WEF) annual meeting on Wednesday. It is quite a volatile time in the world, Fraser said, adding that central bank tightening is likely to continue. Reporting by Maha El Dahan; Writing by Nadine Awadalla; Editing by Louise HeavensOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Davos 2023: China to boost oil demand by up to 500,000 bpd, OPEC tells Sky News Arabia
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-17 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: 1 min

DAVOS, Jan 17 (Reuters) - Chinese appetite for oil is expected to raise demand by 500,000 barrels per day after the country curbed its COVID-19 restrictions, OPEC Secretary General Haitham al-Ghais told Abu Dhabi-based Sky News Arabia from Davos on Tuesday. Demand from India and China could compensate for shrinkage expected from developed countries, he added. Separately, Al-Ghais said it is still early to assess the impact of sanctions on Russian oil supply. Reporting by Nadine Awadalla and Yomna Ehab Editing by Clauda Tanios Editing by David GoodmanOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Traffic in Suez Canal normal after ship breakdown dealt with- SCA
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-09 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

[1/2] An aerial view of the Gulf of Suez and the Suez Canal are pictured through the window of an airplane on a flight between Cairo and Doha, Egypt, November 27, 2021. REUTERS/Amr Abdallah DalshCAIRO, Jan 9 (Reuters) - Shipping traffic in the Suez Canal was proceeding normally on Monday after tugs towed a cargo vessel that broke down during its passage through the waterway, the Canal Authority said. The M/V Glory, which was sailing to China, suffered a technical fault when it was 38km into its passage southward through the canal, before being towed by four tugs to a repair area, the Suez Canal Authority (SCA) said in a statement. The Suez Canal is one of the world's busiest waterways and the shortest shipping route between Europe and Asia. In 2021, a huge container ship, the Ever Given, became stuck in high winds across a southern section of the canal, blocking traffic for six days before it could be dislodged.

☆ Efforts under way to refloat ship stuck in Suez Canal, authority says
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-09 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

DUBAI, Jan 9 (Reuters) - Efforts are under way to refloat a cargo vessel carrying grain from Ukraine that has run aground in the Suez Canal, the chairman of the Suez Canal Authority told Al-Arabiya TV on Monday. The M/V Glory ran aground while joining the southbound convoy transiting through the canal and tug boats are trying to refloat the vessel, Osama Rabie told Al-Arabiya. The ship is a Marshall Islands-flagged bulk carrier, data from trackers VesselFinder and MarineTraffic showed. It departed Ukraine's Chornomorsk port on Dec. 25 bound for China with 65,970 metric tonnes of corn, according to the Istanbul-based Joint Coordination Centre (JCC) overseeing Ukraine grain exports. The Suez Canal is one of the world’s busiest waterways and the shortest shipping route between Europe and Asia.

☆ Egypt's currency weakens more in wake of latest devaluation
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-05 | by ( Patrick Werr | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

The pound closed at 27.11 per dollar, according to the central bank, after fluctuating more than usual. Currency flexibility was a key component of the 46-month, $3 billion financial IMF package. After the central bank allowed the pound to depreciate sharply last March and October, it soon resumed trading within a band, moving only about 0.01 pounds per dollar per day. Egypt's pound and bondsHUGE BACKLOGDespite last year's devaluations a shortage of foreign currency has continued to hamper imports in recent months. Deutsche Bank said in a note that Wednesday's devaluation and an interest rate hike by the central bank last month "clearly show an approach to re-attract (structural) foreign inflows into local markets".

☆ Islamic State claims responsibility for Kabul attack
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-02 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

RIYADH/KABUL, Jan 2 (Reuters) - Islamic State on Monday claimed responsibility for an attack on Taliban forces in Kabul. A spokesman for Afghanistan's Taliban-run interior ministry said an explosion outside the military airport in the capital Kabul had caused multiple casualties. read moreThe interior ministry denied the casualty figures claimed by Islamic State and said it would release the official death toll. Islamic State has claimed several high-profile attacks in Kabul, including the storming of a hotel that caters to Chinese businessmen and a shooting at Pakistan's embassy that Islamabad called an assassination attempt against its ambassador, who escaped unharmed. Reporting by Nadine Awadallah and Mohammad Yunus Yawar; Editing by Andrew Cawthorne and Angus MacSwanOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Japanese firms sign multi-year agreements to buy LNG from Oman, U.S.
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-27 | by ( Yuka Obayashi | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

Global LNG supply has been tight since Russia invaded Ukraine and cut gas supply flows to Europe, leading European nations to import record amounts of LNG cargoes, straining global supplies and elevating prices. Mitsui and Itochu confirmed signing basic agreements with Oman LNG, but declined to give details. Other Japanese companies were also in talks with Oman LNG about term contracts, a government official told Reuters without naming the firms. If successful, they could take Japan's LNG imports from Oman above 3 million tonnes a year, he added. The agreements with Oman LNG were signed during a visit to Oman by Japanese industry minister Yasutoshi Nishimura.

☆ Al Qaeda releases video it claims is narrated by leader al-Zawahiri who was believed dead -SITE
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-23 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

CAIRO, Dec 23 (Reuters) - Al Qaeda has released a 35-minute recording the group claims was narrated by its leader Ayman al-Zawahiri, who was believed to have been killed in a U.S. raid in August 2022, SITE intelligence group said on Friday. The recording was undated and the transcript did not clearly point towards a time frame for when it could have been made. Al Qaeda has not named a successor. But Saif al-Adel, a mysterious, low-key former Egyptian special forces officer who is a high-ranking member of Al Qaeda, is seen by experts as the top contender. Reporting by Enas Alashray; Editing by Nadine Awadalla, Chris Reese, Michael Georgy and Jonathan OatisOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ European Union threatens sanctions over Twitter's ban of journalists
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-16 | by ( Julia Horowitz | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +3 min

London CNN —Elon Musk’s decision to suddenly ban prominent tech journalists from Twitter is fanning a fierce backlash in Europe. Germany warned of the impact on press freedom, while a senior EU official said Twitter must comply with the bloc’s rules or face possible sanctions. “The EU’s Digital Services Act requires respect of media freedom and fundamental rights. European leaders previously said they were watching how Musk’s takeover of Twitter would affect the platform. Thierry Breton, a top EU official, warned Musk in late November that the social media platform must take significant steps to comply with the bloc’s content moderation laws.

1 men’s tennis player Boris Becker has left for Germany after serving just eight months of his sentence in the UK, his lawyer said on Thursday, after UK media reported he had been released from custody and was due to be deported. Becker “has served his sentence and is not subject to any penal restrictions in Germany,” his lawyer, Christian-Oliver Moser, said in a statement. Boris Becker, originally from Germany, has lived in London since 2012 but does not have British citizenship. Becker made tennis history when he won Wimbledon aged 17 in 1985 and went on to win five more grand slam titles over the next 11 years. He has remained active in the tennis world since retiring from the sport, notably as the coach of Novak Djokovic and through frequent media appearances as a commentator and pundit.

☆ The ‘90s Blowout Is Back. Here’s How to Do the Big ’Do Right.
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-14 | by ( Fiorella Valdesolo | ) www.wsj.com time to read: +1 min

Topanga from “Boy Meets World.” Cher from “Clueless.” These are among the retro references name-checked in the blowout hair tutorials blowing up all over TikTok. (At last count, videos tagged #90sblowout had more than 84 million views on the app.) “[Social media] is really driving the trend,” explained Fekkai founder and CEO, Frédéric Fekkai, referencing Matilda Djerf (TikTok follower count: 1.3 million), an influencer whose signature fluffy blowout has become a frequent subject of viral posts. Jessica Gillin, a stylist at New York’s Jenna Perry Hair, sees her clients’ zeal for fluffy manes as just the latest expression of ’90s and Y2K nostalgia. “Big hair is femininity...it’s also power.”

RIYADH, Dec 7 (Reuters) - Saudi Arabia expects to post a second consecutive budget surplus in 2023, though down 84% from this year as an uncertain global economic outlook and lower crude prices look set to weigh on the top oil exporter's revenues. Spending is slightly lower than 1.132 trillion riyals this year. Revenues are expected at 1.13 trillion riyals, down from 1.234 trillion riyals in 2022 as oil prices are seen falling from this year's high levels. Public debt is seen falling 3.5% to 951 billion riyals next year, or 24.6% of GDP. Government reserves at the Saudi Central Bank are estimated to reach 399 billion riyals at the end of next year, the finance ministry said.

☆ Saudi Arabia approves 2023 budget, surplus seen shrinking - Saudi media
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-07 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: 1 min

RIYADH, Dec 7 (Reuters) - Saudi Arabia approved on Wednesday a 1.114 trillion-riyal ($296 billion) budget for 2023 expected to post a surplus of 16 billion riyals, Saudi media outlets reported. Saudi Arabia expects revenues of 1.13 trillion riyals next year, Saudi-owned Al Arabiya TV reported. Total revenues are forecast at 1.234 trillion riyals for 2022, while spending is 1.132 trillion riyals, meaning a surplus of 102 billion riyals, or 2.6% of GDP. GDP growth is forecast to slow to 3.1% in 2023 from 8.5% this year, an upwards revision of half a percentage point from a preliminary budget forecast. ($1 = 3.7600 riyals)Reporting by Aziz El Yaakoubi, Rachna Uppal, Nadine Awadalla, Alaa Swilam and Yousef Saba; Editing by Toby ChopraOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

“Spoiler Alert” opened in U.S. theaters Dec. 2. “Women Talking” opened in select U.S. theaters Dec. 2. “The Whale” opens in U.S. theaters Dec. 9. “Babylon” opens in U.S. theaters Dec. 23. “I Wanna Dance With Somebody” opens in U.S. theaters Dec. 23.

REUTERS/Imad Creidi/File PhotoDOHA, Nov 29 (Reuters) - QatarEnergy and ConocoPhillips (COP.N) on Tuesday signed two sales and purchase agreements to export liquefied natural gas (LNG) to Germany for at least 15 years from 2026, the first such supply deal to Europe from Qatar's North Field expansion project. The deal will provide Germany with 2 million tonnes of LNG annually, arriving from Ras Laffan in Qatar to Germany's northern LNG terminal of Brunsbuettel, QatarEnergy's chief executive said. "(The agreements) mark the first ever long-term LNG supply agreement to Germany, with a supply period that extends for at least 15 years, thus contributing to Germany's long-term energy security," Saad al-Kaabi said in a joint news conference with ConocoPhillips CEO Ryan Lance. The deal comes a few days after QatarEnergy signed a 27-year sales and purchase agreement with China's Sinopec. The North Field is part of the world's biggest gas field that Qatar shares with Iran, which calls its holding South Pars.

[1/6] QatarEnergy CEO and Qatar's Minister of Energy, Saad al- Kaabi and ConocoPhillips CEO, Ryan Lance attend the signing ceremony of two sales and purchase agreements to export liquefied natural gas (LNG) to Germany, in Doha, Qatar, November 29, 2022. The deal, the first of its kind to Europe from Qatar's North Field expansion project, will provide Germany with 2 million tonnes of LNG annually, arriving from Ras Laffan in Qatar to Germany's northern LNG terminal of Brunsbuettel, QatarEnergy's chief executive said. ICIS head of energy analytics Andreas Schroeder said the starting date of 2026 was late, as Germany needed LNG for 2023 and 2024. The deal comes a few days after QatarEnergy signed a 27-year sales and purchase agreement with China's Sinopec. The North Field is part of the world's biggest gas field, which Qatar shares with Iran.

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