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☆ 'Past Lives' director draws from real life for love story across continents, time
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-20 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

That scene re-creates a moment from director Celine Song's life that inspired her to make the film, her first feature, which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival to rave reviews. The Korean-Canadian director recounts visiting a bar with her American husband and a childhood sweetheart from Korea. This idea from the movie that we've all known each other from our past lives," Lee told Reuters. "I really hope that people come for the romance and for the love and the idea of just a simple story about love," she said. "But maybe they can leave with something bigger about life and about what connects us to each other as human beings."

☆ Iran's currency falls to record low as sanctions to continue
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-20 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

The reimposition of U.S. sanctions in 2018 by former President Donald J. Trump have harmed Iran's economy by limiting Tehran's oil exports and access to foreign currency. Since September, nuclear talks between Iran and world powers to curb Tehran's nuclear programme in exchange for the lifting of sanctions have stalled, worsening economic expectations for Iran's future. Over the last six months, Iran's currency has slumped nearly 60% in value, according to Bonbast.com. Meanwhile, the central bank said it was opening a new foreign exchange centre to ease access to foreign exchange and increase the volume of official transactions. Farzin was appointed in December as governor with the key job of controlling the value of foreign currencies, according to IRNA.

☆ Indonesia to repatriate alleged drug trafficker to Italy
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-19 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

NUSA DUA, Bali, Indonesia, Feb 19 (Reuters) - Indonesian authorities will repatriate alleged drug trafficker Antonio Strangio, an Italian and Australian dual national who was detained in Bali earlier this month, to Italy on Sunday, authorities said. "After coordinating with National Central Bureau in Rome, he must be sent to Italy immediately. He will be delivered from here to Italy, and there he will be called to account on his case until there is a ruling," Anggaito said. Strangio was arrested on Feb.3 in Indonesia's resort island of Bali which he was transiting on his way home to Australia. Reporting by Bernadette Christina and Sultan Anshori in Bali, Editing by Kirsten DonovanOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Father of accused July 4th gunman to be arraigned in Chicago suburb
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-16 | by ( Brendan O'Brien | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

His son, Robert Crimo III, is accused of opening fire on spectators watching an Independence Day parade in Highland Park, Illinois, last summer, killing seven people and injuring dozens. The younger Crimo pleaded not guilty in August to 117 counts, including 21 charges of first-degree murder. The alleged threat in September 2019 followed a prior incident in which police responded to an emergency call reporting that the younger Crimo had attempted suicide. The younger Crimo could not have legally applied for a FOID card in 2019 without a parent or guardian signing for him because he was under 21 at that time. Reporting by Brendan O'Brien in Chicago; Editing by Bernadette BaumOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ U.S., China, other nations urge 'responsible' use of military AI
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-16 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

However, the statement was a tangible outcome of the first international summit on military AI, co-hosted by the Netherlands and South Korea this week at The Hague. Signatories said they were committed to developing and using military AI in accordance with "international legal obligations and in a way that does not undermine international security, stability and accountability." Under Secretary of State for Arms Control Bonnie Jenkins put forward a U.S. framework for responsible military AI use. China representative Jian Tan told the summit that countries should "oppose seeking absolute military advantage and hegemony through AI" and work through the United Nations. "It paves the path for states to develop AI for military purposes in any way they see fit as long as they can say it is 'responsible'," she said.

☆ Syria quake response needs outstrip resources, Assad says
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-16 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

[1/2] People search under the rubble of a damaged building, in the aftermath of an earthquake, in rebel-held town of Jandaris, Syria February 15, 2023. "The scale of the disaster and the duties we must undertake are much greater than available resources," Assad said in his first televised address since the earthquake struck last Monday. The U.N. has said nearly 9 million Syrians were affected by the quake and launched a $400 million appeal to cover immediate humanitarian needs over the next three months. The quake eased Assad's international isolation after more than 11 years of civil war, with aid pouring in mostly from Arab states, including Saudi Arabia, which had funded the armed opposition to his government. Senior diplomats also met with him in Damascus including Jordan's foreign minister on Wednesday in the first such meeting since the war began.

☆ German police use of software to fight crime unlawful, court says
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-16 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

BERLIN, Feb 16 (Reuters) - A top German court ruled on Thursday that police use of automated data analysis to prevent crime in some German states was unconstitutional, dealing a win to critics of the CIA-backed Palantir Technologies (PLTR.N) that provides the software. Provisions regulating the use of the technology in Hesse and Hamburg violate the right to informational self-determination under the German constitution, a statement from the constitutional court said. U.S.-based Palantir Technologies makes software for data analytics used by intelligence and law enforcement agencies around the world, according to its website. In comments to the Handelsblatt newspaper, Palantir's strategy chief in Europe, Jan Hiesserich, said the company merely provides the software for processing data, not the data itself. The German Society for Civil Rights (GFF), which brought the case against police data analysis, said Palantir software used innocent people's data to form suspicions and could also produce errors, affecting people at risk of police discrimination.

☆ U.S. concerned about debt Pakistan owes China, official says
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-16 | by ( Gibran Naiyyar Peshimam | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

ISLAMABAD, Feb 16 (Reuters) - The United States is concerned about debt owed to China by Pakistan and other countries, U.S. State Department Counselor Derek Chollet said on Thursday during a visit to Islamabad as the country dealt with an economic crisis. Pakistan, historically a close ally of Washington, has become increasingly close to China, which has provided billions in loans and is Islamabad's largest single creditor. Pakistan faces a crippling economic crisis, with decades-high inflation and critically low foreign exchange reserves depleted by continued debt repayment obligations. Cholett said Washington was talking to Islamabad about the "perils" of a closer relationship with Beijing, but would not ask Pakistan to choose between the United States and China. Officials from China and the United States will be part of a multi-country meeting of a new sovereign debt roundtable on Friday.

BERLIN, Feb 15 (Reuters) - This year's Berlin International Film Festival marks a resurgence for the global film industry after years in the doldrums due to the COVID-19 pandemic, industry expert Scott Roxborough said on the eve of the event. "The film industry is starting to come out of the pandemic, starting to revive itself," said Roxborough, Europe bureau chief of the Hollywood Reporter. "It's going to be here in Berlin where we really see the green shoots of the future of cinema." Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy will address Thursday's opening night gala by video link, the festival announced on Wednesday. One of China's biggest stars, her lengthy absence had prompted speculation she had fallen foul of China's leadership.

☆ Northwest Syria of 'greatest concern' after quake -WHO
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-15 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

"It's clear that the zone of greatest concern at the moment is the area of northwestern Syria," WHO's emergencies director, Mike Ryan, told a briefing in Geneva. We have to remember here that in Syria, we've had ten years of war. Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the head of the World Health Organization (WHO), speaks with a man as he visits quake survivors at a hospital in Aleppo, in the aftermath of the earthquake, Syria February 11, 2023. We've seen the deployment of emergency medical teams. We've seen all the things that we need to see in a disaster.

☆ A third of euro zone employees want more remote working -ECB study
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-15 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

FRANKFURT, Feb 15 (Reuters) - Nearly a third of euro zone workers want to work from home more frequently than their employer allows them to, and are willing to change jobs to be able to do so, a European Central Bank study showed on Wednesday. Businesses are still negotiating policies around working remotely, with the subject causing tension between unions and employers including at the ECB, which is offering fewer remote working days than its employees desire. "Workers are more willing to change jobs if they have remote work preferences that exceed those they perceive their employers to have," an ECB study showed. "30% of workers had work from home preferences that exceeded what they expected their employers to offer." Employees wanting greater remote work opportunities were more likely to seek fresh employment and actually change jobs, the study said.

☆ 'Executed' Russian Wagner fighter shown unharmed in new video
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-15 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

Feb 15 (Reuters) - A Russian mercenary shown on video this week ostensibly being executed for desertion by the Wagner private militia has appeared, unharmed, with Wagner's chief on another clip aired on Wednesday. Russian war correspondent Alexander Kots posted footage on his Telegram channel of the fighter, who had identified himself as Dmitry Yakushchenko, answering questions from journalists about time he had spent in Ukrainian captivity. Wagner, which promotes itself as Russia's premier fighting force, says it is the main unit fighting to seize the city of Bakhmut in Ukraine's Donetsk province. Wagner has adopted the sledgehammer as its symbol after reportedly using it to execute a defector from its ranks last year. A video posted on Monday by Grey Zone, a Telegram channel linked to Wagner, appears to show a man swinging a sledgehammer into Yakushchenko's head and Yakushchenko collapsing, although the video blurs at the crucial moment.

The withdrawal is the first by a foreign asset manager that has submitted an application for a China mutual fund license, as rising Sino-U.S. tensions cloud the prospects for foreign businesses in the world's second-biggest economy. China in 2020 removed foreign ownership caps in its mutual fund industry, allowing global asset managers such as BlackRock and Fidelity to set up fully owned retail fund units. It’s not publicly known how much the firm had planned to invest in the China business. Richard Tang, who was hired to lead Van Eck's China mutual fund unit, is on leave but has not officially terminate his role within the company, according to two sources. China only saw 1.8% growth in the size of its mutual fund market last year, ending a years-long streak of double-digit annual expansion.

☆ Record surge in films at Berlin festival marks industry revival post-COVID
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-15 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

BERLIN, Feb 15 (Reuters) - This year's Berlin International Film Festival, known as the Berlinale, marks a resurgence for the global film industry after years in the doldrums due to the COVID-19 pandemic, industry expert Scott Roxborough said on the eve of the festival. And, after a three-year pandemic lull, the volume of movies seeking distributors or financing is setting records, with 827 films from 121 countries chasing 1,168 buyers, according to the festival. "The film industry is starting to come out of the pandemic, starting to revive itself," said Roxborough, Europe bureau chief of the Hollywood Reporter. "It's going to be here in Berlin where we really see the green shoots of the future of cinema." One of China's biggest stars, her lengthy absence had prompted speculation she had fallen foul of China's leadership.

Ford can save up to $2.5 billion this year through better management of production schedules and a drop in commodity prices, the company's chief financial officer, John Lawler, said at an auto conference. The automaker posted dismal quarterly results earlier this month and blamed chip shortages, supply chain disruptions and production "instabilities" for adding to its costs. Lawler has said Ford faces $5 billion in higher costs this year and that the company will be "very aggressive" in reducing expenses in its manufacturing, supply chain and distribution operations. Longer term, the company aims to reduce dealer inventories and drive more transactions online, among other measures, according to Chief Executive Jim Farley. Making an EV more aerodynamic can save "thousands of dollars in battery costs," Farley said.

☆ Indonesia, China agree $1.2 bln cost overrun for high-speed train - official
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-13 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

JAKARTA, Feb 13 (Reuters) - Indonesia and China have agreed to a budget overrun to the tune of $1.2 billion for the first high-speed railway project in the Southeast Asian country, an Indonesian government official told parliament on Monday. The project was previously estimated to be $2 billion over budget, raising the total cost to 113 trillion rupiah ($7.36 billion), according to the consortium of Indonesian and Chinese state companies building the railway, known as PT KCIC. "We agreed on the cost overrun figure of $1.2 billion. Further details including an additional loan from the China Development Bank to cover the extra costs are to be finalised within a month, he added. ($1 = 15,190.0000 rupiah)Reporting by Bernadette Christina; Editing by Kanupriya KapoorOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Finland to discuss NATO ratification that may leave Sweden behind
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-10 | by ( Anne Kauranen | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

"Our position on Finland is positive, but it is not positive on Sweden," President Tayyip Erdogan said last week. A 53% majority of Finns polled on Feb. 2 for daily Ilta-Sanomat said they did not want Finland to wait for Sweden. For that to happen, Turkey and Hungary need to ratify the Finnish membership first and NATO to officially invite Finland as a member. Finland's Chancellor of Justice Tuomas Poysti told Ilta-Sanomat the process would leave Finland some room to wait for Sweden if need be, but not endlessly. Officially, Finland has reaffirmed time and time again that it wants to join NATO with Sweden.

[1/2] The German share price index DAX graph is pictured at the stock exchange in Frankfurt, Germany, February 8, 2023. Crude prices eased, with gold firmer as the dollar index fell 0.18%, while MSCI's U.S.-centric index of stock performance in 47 countries (.MIWD00000PUS) shed 0.44%. China's blue chips (.CSI300) rose 1.3%, pulling away from a one-month trough, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index (.HSI) gained 1.6%. Crude prices eased as oil infrastructure appeared to have escaped serious damage from the earthquake that devastated parts of Turkey and Syria, while U.S. inventories swelled and investors worried about central bank rate hikes. Gold prices rose for a fourth straight session as the dollar faltered, even as Fed officials indicated more rate hikes are warranted to rein in inflation.

☆ Oil falls as earthquake impact on crude eases, rate hike fears rise
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-09 | by ( Laila Kearney | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Brent crude settled at $84.50 a barrel, losing 59 cents, or 0.7%. U.S. crude stocks rose last week to 455.1 million barrels, their highest since June 2021, the Energy Information Administration reported on Wednesday, which also pushed oil prices lower. The prospect of stronger demand from China provided some support to oil prices, as the world's second largest oil consumer ended more than three years of stringent zero-COVID policy. "Overall, this should push global demand up by 2.1 million barrels a day in 2023." A weaker U.S. dollar, which typically trades inversely with oil, also helped limit losses in crude prices.

☆ Abortion rights in Spain over the past decades
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-09 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Here is a timeline of abortion rights in Spain over the past few decades:1985Abortion is first decriminalised in the cases of malformed foetuses, rape, or potential mental or physical risks to the mother. The party's campaign promises include reforming the abortion law. 2013A new abortion law draft, even more restrictive than the one passed in 1985, is released. The draft allows abortion only in the case of rape or if the pregnancy poses a serious physical or mental health risk to the mother. 2022The left-wing coalition government reinforces abortion rights by eliminating parental consent for women aged 16-17 who wish to terminate their pregnancy.

LONDON, Feb 9 (Reuters) - Oil prices dipped in U.S. trading hours on Thursday after the country's oil inventories hit their highest in months and on signs that the Federal Reserve could keep raising interest rates. "Relentlessly rising U.S. commercial inventories and potentially entrenched inflation limit any immediate upside potential," said PVM analyst Tamas Varga. He said recovering Chinese demand and falling inflation were set to support oil prices in the second half of the year. Crude oil stocks in the United States rose last week to their highest since June 2021, helped by higher production, the Energy Information Administration said. read more GLOB/MKTSBut the prospect of stronger demand from China provided some support to oil prices, as the world's second largest oil consumer ended more than three years of stringent zero-COVID policy.

LONDON, Feb 9 (Reuters) - Oil prices were steady on Thursday, as optimism over recovering Chinese demand was offset by U.S. oil inventories hitting their highest in months and signs the U.S. Federal Reserve could keep raising interest rates. He said recovering Chinese demand and falling inflation were set to support oil prices in the second half of the year. Crude oil stocks in the United States rose last week to their highest since June 2021, helped by higher production, the Energy Information Administration said. read more GLOB/MKTSBut the prospect of stronger demand from China lent some support to oil prices, as the world's second-largest oil consumer ended more than three years of stringent zero-COVID policy. "We expect Chinese oil consumption to increase by around 1.0 million barrels a day this year, with strong growth emerging as early as late in Q1," analysts from ANZ bank wrote in a note.

☆ Huawei's Meng Wanzhou to take over as rotating chairperson -report
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-08 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

SHENZHEN, China, Feb 8 (Reuters) - Meng Wanzhou will begin her term as the rotating chairperson of Huawei Technologies (HWT.UL) on April 1, Shanghai Security News reported on Wednesday. Meng returned to China in September 2021 after nearly three years detention over alleged attempts by Huawei-linked companies to sell equipment to Iran in breach of U.S. sanctions. Meng, the daughter of Huawei founder Ren Zhengfei, was allowed to return home after reaching an agreement with U.S. prosecutors. Huawei’s website announced last year that Meng, the company's finance chief, would become rotating chairperson, but did not specify when her term would begin. In the role, she will act as the company's top leader and head Huawei's board of directors for six months.

☆ Britain says Microsoft's 'Call of Duty' deal could harm gamers
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-08 | by ( Paul Sandle | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

[1/2] Activision games "Call of Duty" are pictured in a store in the Manhattan borough of New York City, New York, U.S., January 18, 2022. REUTERS/Carlo Allegri/File PhotoSummarySummary Companies Deal raises concerns- regulatorAcquisition threatens Xbox and PlayStation rivalryMicrosoft says committed to addressing concernsLONDON, Feb 8 (Reuters) - Britain's antitrust regulator said Microsoft's (MSFT.O) $69-billion purchase of "Call of Duty" maker Activision Blizzard (ATVI.O) could harm gamers by weakening the rivalry between Xbox and Sony's PlayStation. The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) said the deal could result in higher prices, fewer choices and less innovation for millions of gamers, as well as stifling competition in the growing cloud gaming market. In December, the United States moved to block the deal, citing Microsoft's record of hoarding valuable gaming content. Microsoft, which has pledged to keep "Call of Duty" on PlayStation, said it would address the CMA's concerns.

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