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☆ Nebraska lawmakers pass restrictions on abortion, transgender medical care
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-19 | by ( Brad Brooks | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

May 19 (Reuters) - Nebraska lawmakers on Friday passed a bill that limits abortion and puts restrictions on gender-affirming medical care for transgender youth in a single piece of legislation that strikes at two highly divisive issues. It includes exceptions for medical emergencies when the mother's life is at risk, and in cases of rape or incest. The same bill also bans "gender-altering surgery" and places restrictions on hormone therapy and puberty-blocking drugs for transgender people under 19. Abortion and gender-affirming medical treatment for transgender youth are at the heart of the so-called culture war raging in American politics, with Republican-dominated legislatures across the country banning or putting sharp restrictions on both. Supporters of the bill said it was a means of protecting unborn babies from abortion and teenagers from undergoing irreversible medical procedures they may later regret.

☆ US regional bank stocks fall after Yellen says more bank mergers necessary
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-19 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

NEW YORK, May 19 (Reuters) - Shares of U.S. regional lenders fell on Friday after CNN reported that U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen told bank chief executives that more mergers may be necessary following a series of bank failures. Yellen also reaffirmed the strength and soundness of the country's banking system at the meeting with bank CEOs on Thursday in the aftermath of the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank, Signature Bank, and First Republic Bank. The KBW Regional Banking Index (.KRX) fell 3%, with shares of PacWest Bancorp (PACW.O) and Western Alliance (WAL.N) among the biggest losers as they shed 4% each. The regional bank crisis has been partly blamed by some on aggressive interest rates by the U.S. Federal Reserve, which forced some lenders to seek new capital to make up for a fall in the value of assets linked to interest rates. The debt ceiling dispute has weighed on market sentiment, including for regional bank stocks.

Japan takes center stage on Friday, with the April consumer price inflation report grabbing the data spotlight and the Group of Seven leaders summit in Hiroshima stealing the global political and economic limelight. The broad Topix index hit that milestone this week, and the Nikkei 225 index came within 0.5% of reaching it on Thursday. As Phil Suttle, a former World Bank economist, wrote on Thursday: "Japan is back!" G7 leaders begin a three-day summit in Hiroshima on Friday, with world market attention focused most on what they say about China. Here are three key developments that could provide more direction to markets on Friday:- Japan CPI inflation (April)- G7 leaders summit (Japan)- Fed Chair Jerome Powell speaksBy Jamie McGeever; editing by Deepa BabingtonOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Asian markets, particularly China's, will be hoping this sparks a recovery from Wednesday's decline following yet another batch of sub-par Chinese economic indicators. The Chinese yuan fell below 7.00 per dollar for the first time in nearly six months and with GDP forecasts being slashed, analysts reckon the yuan could be poised for more weakness. Citi's Chinese economic surprises index had its biggest fall in two years and one of the steepest on record. Economists polled by Reuters expect the unemployment rate to hold steady at 3.5% and net new job growth to slow to 25,000. They do not reflect the views of Reuters News, which, under the Trust Principles, is committed to integrity, independence, and freedom from bias.

☆ Lawmakers in three states consider abortion bans at 12 weeks or less
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-16 | by ( Julia Harte | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

In North Carolina, the Republican-controlled state Senate voted to override Democratic Governor Roy Cooper's veto of a bill banning most abortions after 12 weeks. The state House was expected to override the veto later on Tuesday evening. Near-total abortion bans have taken effect in 14 states since the Supreme Court ruling, according to the Guttmacher Institute, an abortion rights advocacy research group. The bill under consideration by the state House on Tuesday was a heavily amended version of that measure. Democratic lawmakers last week filed 1,000 amendments to the House version, ensuring that debate would last for dozens of hours, since lawmakers may speak for six minutes for and against each amendment.

☆ US charges ex-Army employee at South Korean facility with bribery, fraud
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-15 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

NEW YORK, May 15 (Reuters) - A former civilian employee at a U.S. Army facility in South Korea has been arrested on charges of receiving $400,000 in kickbacks from military contractors, federal prosecutors in Manhattan said on Monday. Young Beom Kim, 62, was responsible for overseeing construction contracts at the Army Garrison Yongsan-Casey from 2017 to 2021. Kim, a U.S. citizen and resident of South Korea, pleaded not guilty to six counts of wire fraud, bribery and money laundering. Prosecutors also say he received kickbacks from a South Korea-based supplier of parts manufactured by U.S. and Chinese companies. Reporting by Luc Cohen in New York, editing by Deepa BabingtonOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Canada PM Trudeau visits Alberta as wildfires rage
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-15 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

[1/4] Smoke rises from the Paskwa Wildfire (HLW030) as it burns near the Wood Buffalo National Park boundary outside Fox Lake, Alberta, Canada May 14, 2023. The first 11 days of May have set seasonal heat records in several parts of Alberta, including Edmonton, according to Environment and Climate Change Canada. By Sunday afternoon, 89 fires were burning across Alberta, with 25 considered out of control and more than 19,000 evacuees. "Our peak burning period, which is when the temperatures are at their highest and the fuels are at their driest, is still in front of us," Alberta Wildfires official Josee St-Onge said at a briefing Sunday afternoon. "It's too soon to say when we're going to see the peak of this wildfire season.

☆ Mourinho dismisses PSG talk ahead of Europa League semi-final
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-10 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

[1/3] Soccer Football - Europa League - AS Roma Press Conference - Rome, Italy - May 10, 2023 AS Roma coach Jose Mourinho during the press conference. Despite talk of potentially take over the Ligue 1 club from Christophe Galtier in the 2023-24 season, Mourinho reaffirmed his loyalty to Roma, where he is currently under contract until 2024. "If they called, they didn’t find me," Mourinho told Sky Sport Italia on Wednesday before the pre-match news conference. During the news conference, Mourinho expressed admiration for the former Spain international, showering him with praise. Despite Roma reaching the semi-finals of a prominent European competition for the third consecutive season, Mourinho dismisses the notion that it puts pressure on the team.

☆ Cooler temperatures offer temporary reprieve for Alberta wildfires
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-09 | by ( Nia Williams | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

May 9 (Reuters) - Wildfires in Canada's main oil-producing province Alberta eased on Tuesday thanks to cooler weather, but thousands of people remained under evacuation orders and officials warned temperatures were expected to rise in coming days. The wildfires also forced oil and gas producers to shut in at least 319,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day (boepd), or 3.7% of the country's production. Officials said firefighters had made progress in southern and central Alberta where cooler temperatures and higher humidity slowed the blazes. The fire danger remains high in many parts of northern Alberta and the province is forecast to have high temperatures return by the end of this week. "We are not expecting the kind of winds we saw last week ... but certainly we are not taking it for granted," said Christie Tucker, information unit manager for Alberta Wildfire.

The scenes come as Title 42 is set to expire just before midnight on Thursday. But Brandon Judd, president of the National Border Patrol Council representing U.S. border agents, confirmed that agents distributed the handouts. Judd said border officials were working to process as many migrants as possible before Title 42 ends. The flyer also said migrants must report to border authorities before accessing El Paso shelters, an assertion advocates said was not true. But hours later, after seeing other migrants return with U.S. paperwork, he lined up at a border patrol station.

☆ No Business Plan? No Problem. ChatGPT Spawns an Investor Gold Rush in AI
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-08 | by ( Deepa Seetharaman | Berber Jin | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Before their startup had customers, a business plan or even a formal name, former Google AI researchers Niki Parmar and Ashish Vaswani were fielding interest from investors eager to back the next big thing in artificial intelligence. At Google, Ms. Parmar and Mr. Vaswani were among the co-authors of a seminal 2017 paper that helped pave the way for the boom in so-called generative AI. Earlier this year, only weeks after striking out on their own, they raised funds that valued their fledgling company—now called Essential AI—at around $50 million, people familiar with the company said.

☆ ChatGPT Fever Has Investors Pouring Billions Into AI Startups, No Business Plan Required
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-08 | by ( Deepa Seetharaman | Berber Jin | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

☆ Biden, McCarthy aim to break US debt-ceiling standoff as default crisis looms
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-08 | by ( David Morgan | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

Analysts do not expect an immediate deal to avert a historic default, which the Treasury Department has warned could come as soon as June 1. Forecasters warn a default would likely send the U.S. economy into deep recession with soaring unemployment. Outside observers including people who have participated in past fiscal negotiations and business lobby groups have laid out a range of potential compromises largely revolving around extending the debt ceiling past the November 2024 presidential elections while freezing spending. But it is not catastrophic," Democratic Senator Chris Coons said, referring to past shutdowns, adding, "default would be catastrophic." Worries about the standoff have already started to weigh on financial markets, but a default would have a far more immediate effect on average Americans.

☆ Texas deploys special border force to drive back expected migrant surge
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-08 | by ( Doina Chiacu | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

"They will be deployed to hot spots along the border to intercept to repel and to turn back migrants who are trying to enter Texas illegally," Abbott said at a news conference. The elite National Guard team will focus on any such surges that occur, identifying crossing points and shutting them down, he said. The Biden administration is sending 1,500 additional troops to help secure the U.S.-Mexico border this week. The government also will finalize by Thursday a new rule denying asylum to many migrants caught crossing the U.S.-Mexico border illegally. Abbott said he would continue busing migrants from small Texas border towns to big cities like Chicago and New York.

☆ Migrants stranded on Chile-Peru border repatriated to Venezuela
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-07 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

[1/3] Undocumented migrants from Venezuela who were in limbo at Chile-Peru border, stand at the airport while they board a special homecoming flight to Venezuela from Arica airport, Chile May 7, 2023. REUTERS/Alexander InfanteSANTIAGO, May 7 (Reuters) - Chile's government said that 115 Venezuelan migrants who had been stranded on the border with Peru were repatriated to Venezuela on a humanitarian flight Sunday. Hundreds of migrants, mostly Venezuelans seeking to return home, had been stranded in the country's northern border after being denied entry into Peru. The incident sparked diplomatic tensions as Peru sent police and soldiers to the border to block migrants. In a statement released Sunday, Chile's Foreign Ministry said the flight was the result of diplomatic efforts with the Venezuelan government and its "Return to the Homeland" plan.

WASHINGTON, May 7 (Reuters) - U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen on Sunday warned that a failure by Congress to act on the debt ceiling could trigger a "constitutional crisis," with consequences for financial markets and interest rates. Yellen in an interview on ABC News's "This Week" said debt ceiling negotiations should not take place "with a gun to the head of the American people," and reiterated a warning to lawmakers the government could pay its bills only through early June without increasing the limit, which the government hit in January. Deputy Treasury Secretary Wally Adeyemo also sounded the alarm on Sunday about the risks of a default during an interview on MSNBC's "The Sunday Show." "If we were to default on our debt, it would have a terrible impact on interest rates." Reporting by John Kruzel, editing by Deepa BabingtonOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Binance resumes Bitcoin withdrawals after temporary closure
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-07 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: 1 min

May 7 (Reuters) - Crypto exchange Binance said that it has resumed Bitcoin withdrawals after a brief closure due to a congestion issue. Binance had paused withdrawal of Bitcoin, the world's largest cryptocurrency, for more than an hour. Binance did not provide any further details on the issue. The world's largest crypto exchange on March suspended deposits and withdrawals on its platform due to technical issues that affected spot trading. Reporting by Yana Gaur in Bengaluru, editing by Deepa BabingtonOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ AI pioneer says its threat to world may be 'more urgent' than climate change
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-05 | by ( Martin Coulter | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

LONDON, May 5 (Reuters) - Artificial intelligence could pose a "more urgent" threat to humanity than climate change, AI pioneer Geoffrey Hinton told Reuters in an interview on Friday. "I wouldn't like to devalue climate change. I wouldn't like to say, 'You shouldn't worry about climate change.' He added: "With climate change, it's very easy to recommend what you should do: you just stop burning carbon. Signatories included Stability AI CEO Emad Mostaque, researchers at Alphabet-owned DeepMind, and fellow AI pioneers Yoshua Bengio and Stuart Russell.

The latest case in point: The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp (FDIC) chose JPMorgan Chase & Co (JPM.N) as the winning bidder in an auction to buy collapsed lender First Republic Bank on Monday. FDIC officials, however, say would-be buyers risk losing out if they allow the value of an acquisition target to deteriorate over time while waiting for an FDIC receivership. SWEETENERSU.S. bank mergers were already sluggish as interest rates rose and recession loomed, analysts at Raymond James wrote in an Apr. The first quarter was the quietest opening to a year for bank deals in a generation, they said. Market volatility stops bank buyers from pulling together enough money to cover writedowns on struggling assets, which would be triggered by a traditional acquisition, said David Sandler, co-head of financial services investment banking at Piper Sandler Companies (PIPR.N).

☆ Apple's results send shares surging to nine-month high
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-05 | by ( Noel Randewich | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

With Apple's results helped by emerging markets like India, executives said gross profit margins for the current quarter would be better than forecast. Apple's stock market value climbed by over $100 billion to about $2.7 trillion, extending its lead over Microsoft, the world's second most valuable company, at $2.3 trillion. Apple's stock has recovered almost 40% from its closing low in January, and it is now down just 4.7% below its record high close in January 2022. By comparison, the S&P 500 remains down 15% from its record high close, also in January 2022. At least 13 analysts raised their price targets for Apple's stock following its report, with the median target climbing to $180 from $170 before the report, according to Refinitiv data.

Instead, fixed income, which was unpopular when rates were low, is back in favor and seeing strong capital flows into products like bond funds, said fund managers at the Milken Institute Global Conference this week. Attendees also discussed whether federal regulators should raise FDIC deposit insurance after First Republic Bank was seized and sold to JPMorgan, and how markets will react to even higher interest rates and potentially more market volatility. Others warned that companies will soon have to refinance their debt at higher rates, making them less attractive. Instead, thanks to higher interest rates, fixed income is once again playing a bigger role in portfolios. "The Fed has helped us put the income back in fixed income," said Anne Walsh, Chief Investment Officer for Guggenheim Partners Investment Management.

☆ Elon Musk Tries to Direct AI—Again
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-01 | by ( Berber Jin | Deepa Seetharaman | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

For at least a decade, Elon Musk has tried to steer the development of artificial intelligence—only to be outmaneuvered by rivals and former allies. He has now stepped up his efforts after the success of OpenAI, an organization he co-founded but then left after a power struggle. Mr. Musk has warned for years that poorly built artificial intelligence could have catastrophic effects on humanity. Since OpenAI’s ChatGPT became a viral sensation last November, Mr. Musk has denounced it as politically correct and warned it could lead AI to become too powerful for humans to control.

Its peak sales forecast is of more than $2 billion annually together from the maternal vaccine and an RSV shot for older adults. The case highlights how equitable global access will require better advance planning by drugmakers, governments and health organizations, health officials say. "They could have tried sooner," said Erin Sparrow, WHO's technical officer for the RSV vaccine, referring to Pfizer. Pfizer has yet to take a number of steps needed to make the vaccine available in developing countries, according to global health officials and the company. She still expects it to be several years before the RSV vaccine is launched in lower-income countries.

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