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Credit Suisse Group AG shares fell more than 25% Wednesday and hit a fresh record low, reflecting increasing concerns that troubles that hit regional U.S. banks have migrated across the Atlantic. Other major European banks took hits, with shares in France’s two major international banks, Société Générale SA and BNP Paribas SA, both down more than 10%. Shares in Germany’s Deutsche Bank AG slid 8%.

Swiss regulators said they would provide liquidity to Credit Suisse Group AG, if necessary, offering a lifeline to the lender hard hit by concerns over its financial health. Investor confidence in Credit Suisse crumbled Wednesday, unleashing worries that a banking crisis centered among U.S. regional banks had spread across the Atlantic and was poised to unleash substantial damage to markets and the economy.

☆ A 5,000-mile blanket of seaweed that can be seen from space threatens the beaches of Florida
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-15 | by ( Isobel Van Hagen | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

This year's seaweed bloom of 'Great Atlantic Sargassum Belt' is one of the largest on record. It is the largest seaweed bloom in the world — weighing approximately 20 million tons — and is visible from outer space. "It's incredible," Brian LaPointe, a research professor at Florida Atlantic University's Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute, told NBC News. Workers who were hired by residents remove sargassum seaweed from the Bay of Soliman, north of Tulum, Quintana Roo state, Mexico, Wednesday, Aug. 3, 2022. "I think I've replaced my climate change anxiety with sargassum anxiety," Patricia Estridge, CEO of Seaweed Generation, told The Guardian.

[1/2] Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti stands near a Los Angeles' flag during the opening ceremony of the “Wings of Los Angeles”, a bronze sculpture presented by Mexico's government at Griffith Park, in Los Angeles, U.S., June 6, 2022. REUTERS/Daniel BecerrilWASHINGTON, March 15 (Reuters) - The U.S. Senate confirmed President Joe Biden's nominee Eric Garcetti as ambassador to India on Wednesday, ending a nearly two-year nomination fight over allegations the former Los Angeles mayor mishandled workplace harassment complaints. Senators backed Garcetti by 52-42, as seven Republicans joined the majority of Democrats in supporting Garcetti and three Democrats joined most Republicans in voting no. "The United States-India relationship is extremely important and it's a very good thing we now have an ambassador," said Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, who led a congressional delegation to India last month. Los Angeles mayor from 2013 until a term limit pushed him from office last year, Garcetti is close to Biden and co-chaired his 2020 presidential campaign.

[1/3] A customer counts money before paying at a butcher shop, as inflation in Argentina hits its highest level in years, causing food prices to spiral, in Buenos Aires, Argentina September 13, 2022. REUTERS/Agustin MarcarianSAN FERNANDO, Argentina, March 14 (Reuters) - Argentina's annual inflation rate tore past 100% in February, the country's statistics agency said on Tuesday, the first time it has hit triple figures since a period of hyperinflation in 1991, over three decades ago. In Argentina's markets, shops and homes, the impact of spiraling prices is being felt keenly as one of the highest inflation rates in the world stretches people's wallets. Patricia Quiroga, 50, said 100% inflation was impossible to bear as she waiting on line to do her shopping. "I am tired, tired, just tired of all this, of the politicians who fight while the people die of hunger," she told Reuters.

☆ The pay gap has stalled and parenthood is a big reason why
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-14 | by ( Madison Hoff | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

Caregiving and parenthood could be contributing to the gap in earnings between men and women. It provides a striking way of thinking about the gender pay gap. Pew Research Center also looked at how the pay gap has evolved over time and found that it has stalled. For instance, a research paper from Patricia Cortés and Jessica Pan found that "by the 2010s, child-related inequality accounted for nearly two-thirds of the overall gender pay gap in the U.S." Additionally, according to a fact sheet from NWLC, there's a pay gap between mothers and fathers. A Pew Research Center survey asked US adults why they think the pay gap persists.

☆ Silicon Valley Bank’s U.K. Arm to Be Bought by HSBC
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-13 | by ( Patricia Kowsmann | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

HSBC said it would buy the U.K. arm of Silicon Valley Bank on Monday. HSBC will buy the U.K. subsidiary of Silicon Valley Bank for just over $1, after a frantic weekend for regulators who tried to find a way to protect the bank’s depositors after its U.S. parent collapsed. The deal meant the bank avoided being placed into insolvency, which the Bank of England had planned to impose if it couldn’t find a buyer. The central bank said the sale would support confidence in the U.K.’s financial system.

☆ King Charles draws on mother's inspiration for his first Commonwealth Day as head
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-13 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

LONDON, March 13 (Reuters) - King Charles drew on his mother's inspiration on Monday as he celebrated his first Commonwealth Day as symbolic head of the grouping with a service at London's Westminster Abbey, joined by other senior members of the British royal family. "The Commonwealth has been a constant in my own life, and yet its diversity continues to amaze and inspire me." The 74-year-old king was joined for the service by his wife Camilla, the Queen Consort, and his eldest son Prince William and his wife Kate. [1/5] Britain's King Charles and Camilla, Queen Consort, meets with choristers following the annual Commonwealth Day Service at Westminster Abbey in London, Britain. "Her late majesty loved the Commonwealth, and the Commonwealth loved her," said Commonwealth Secretary General Patricia Scotland.

☆ Marian Croak, who has 200 patents to her name including the technology behind Zoom, became one of the first Black women to be inducted into the Inventors Hall of Fame
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-13 | by ( Yoonji Han | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Marian Croak became one of the first two Black women to be inducted into the Inventors Hall of Fame. Her innovations in internet technology have enabled remote work, text donations, and voting for American Idol. Last year, she was inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame — among the highest honors for inventors, including Thomas Edison, Alexander Graham Bell, and the Wright brothers. Croak became one of first two Black women to receive that honor, alongside the late Patricia Bath, an ophthalmologist who created a device used during surgery to easily remove cataracts. As one of the first-ever Black women to be inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame, Croak recognizes the importance of diversity in a historically homogenous industry.

☆ U.K. Offers Aid to Silicon Valley Bank Customers
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-12 | by ( Patricia Kowsmann | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Silicon Valley Bank’s collapse is the second-biggest bank failure in U.S. history. The U.K. government said Sunday it was working on a lifeline for companies that had deposits locked up at Silicon Valley Bank ’s British arm following the collapse of its U.S. parent. In a statement, the U.K. Treasury said that it wanted to “avoid or minimize damage to some of our most promising companies,” adding the plan would ensure their short-term operational and cash flow needs were covered.

☆ A 5,000-mile blanket of seaweed that can be seen from space is threatens the beaches of Florida
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-12 | by ( Isobel Van Hagen | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

☆ Bank of England Shuts Silicon Valley Bank’s U.K. Subsidiary
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-11 | by ( Patricia Kowsmann | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

The U.K. arm of Silicon Valley Bank will stop making payments or accepting deposits after its parent’s collapse on Friday. The Bank of England said it would place Silicon Valley Bank’s U.K. subsidiary into insolvency procedure following the collapse of its parent in the U.S. In a statement late Friday, the BOE said Silicon Valley Bank’s U.K. arm will stop making payments or accepting deposits.

☆ Former owner of Portugal's TAP denies overpaying for Airbus planes
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-10 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

LISBON, March 10 (Reuters) - A former owner of Portugal's flag carrier TAP, David Neeleman, denied on Friday making a deal in 2015 to overpay for Airbus planes after prosecutors said last month they were investigating the complex leasing deal, as well as suggestions he had bought TAP shares with company money. "It is also completely absurd to say that TAP shares were bought with Airbus funds or with TAP's future cash flows," he wrote, adding that TAP exclusively used the $226 million from Airbus in ancillary benefits to pay salaries and for its cash needs. He said Atlantic Gateway had also injected its own funds into TAP and arranged a 90 million euro ($96.04 million) loan from Azul, the Brazilian airline that Neeleman founded, "on very favorable terms for TAP", saving TAP from immediate insolvency. Portugal in 2020 bought Neeleman's stake in TAP, which is under a 3.2 billion euro Brussels-approved bailout. ($1 = 0.9371 euros)Reporting by Andrei Khalip and Patricia Rua; Editing by Josie KaoOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Since the Senate on March 1 passed the bill - by unanimous consent - it now goes to the White House for Biden to sign into law or veto. The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment on his intentions. The debate was refueled last month, when the Wall Street Journal first reported that the U.S. Energy Department had concluded the pandemic likely arose from a Chinese laboratory leak, an assessment Beijing denies. Four other U.S. agencies still judge that COVID-19 was likely the result of natural transmission, while two are undecided. Representative Mike Turner, the Republican chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, said as he urged support for the measure.

White House spokesperson John Kirby said on Friday that while Washington was not directly involved, Saudi Arabia kept U.S. officials informed of the talks with Iran. NUCLEAR TALKSThe agreement comes as Iran accelerates its nuclear program after two years of failed U.S. attempts to revive a 2015 deal that aimed to stop Tehran producing a nuclear bomb. "Saudi Arabia is deeply concerned about Iran's nuclear program," he said. "If this new opening between Iran and Saudi Arabia is going to be meaningful and impactful, it will have to address the concerns about Iran's nuclear program - otherwise the opening is just optics." Friday's agreement also offers hope for more durable peace in Yemen, where a conflict sparked in 2014 has widely been seen as a proxy war between Saudi Arabia and Iran.

☆ Trial Targets Bankers Who Moved Money for Putin’s Cellist Friend
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-08 | by ( Margot Patrick | Patricia Kowsmann | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

The friendship between Russia’s President Vladimir Putin and cellist Sergei Roldugin, has been reported on for years. A trial of four bankers in Switzerland offers insight into how members of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s inner circle used Swiss bank accounts to sidestep U.S. sanctions. In spring 2014, companies owned by a concert cellist close to Mr. Putin opened bank accounts at Gazprombank Switzerland, an arm of the Russian state banking giant in Zurich. A Russian media company, whose bank-owner had just been sanctioned over Russia’s annexation of Crimea, paid the cellist’s accounts a stream of dividends.

☆ FBI chief says TikTok 'screams' of US national security concerns
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-08 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

WASHINGTON, March 8 (Reuters) - China's government could use TikTok to control data on millions of American users, FBI Director Christopher Wray told a U.S. Senate hearing on Wednesday, saying the Chinese-owned video app "screams" of security concerns. "This is a tool that is ultimately within the control of the Chinese government - and it, to me, it screams out with national security concerns," Wray said. The White House backed legislation introduced on Tuesday by a dozen senators to give President Joe Biden's administration new powers to ban TikTok and other foreign-based technologies if they pose national security threats. Other top U.S. intelligence officials including Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines, CIA Director William Burns and National Security Agency Director Paul Nakasone agreed at the hearing that TikTok posed a threat to U.S. national security. Nakasone on Tuesday expressed concern during Senate testimony about TikTok's data collection and potential to facilitate broad influence operations.

Senate Democratic Majority Leader Chuck Schumer has said the full Senate could vote on the legislation in the next few weeks. That would coincide with the 20th anniversary of the March 19, 2003, invasion of Iraq. For example, Republican then-President Donald Trump said the 2002 AUMF provided legal authority for the 2020 killing in Iraq of senior Iranian military commander Qassem Soleimani. Despite support from members of both parties in both the Senate and House of Representatives, there is also significant opposition. "Piecemeal repeal of those Iraq authorities is not a serious contribution to war powers reform," McCaul said in a statement.

WASHINGTON, March 8 (Reuters) - China will maintain its cooperation with Russia to continue trying to challenge the United States despite international concerns about the invasion of Ukraine, U.S. intelligence agencies said on Wednesday. "Despite global backlash over Russia's invasion of Ukraine, China will maintain its diplomatic, defense, economic, and technology cooperation with Russia to continue trying to challenge the United States, even as it will limit public support," they said in a report released as the Senate Intelligence Committee held its annual hearing on worldwide threats to U.S. security. "The next few years are critical as strategic competition with China and Russia intensifies in particular how the world will evolve, and whether the rise of authoritarianism can be checked and reversed," Haines added. Haines described "a grinding, attritional war" in Ukraine and said U.S. intelligence does not foresee the Russian military recovering enough this year to make major territorial gains. Reporting by Patricia Zengerle, Jonathan Landay, Michael Martina; Editing by Doina Chiacu;Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ This ETF only invests in women-led companies — and is expected to rise 20% this year
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-08 | by ( Ganesh Rao | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

The WCEO ETF is created to isolate this "female factor" by investing solely in women-led companies. "We created an algorithm, that in our view, would come closest to isolating the female factor," Lizarraga told CNBC Pro . This index has outperformed its FT Wilshire US Small Cap Index benchmark by more than 20 percentage points over the past five years. Lizarraga hopes that the WCEO ETF will enable investors to improve their allocation diversity and help demonstrate that investing in women-led companies can be profitable. In comparison, women are CEOs at 41 S & P 500 companies, according to the Catalyst, a workplace gender diversity charity, which is less than 10% of the benchmark.

☆ Texts From Crypto Giant Binance Reveal Plan to Elude U.S. Authorities
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-05 | by ( Caitlin Ostroff | Patricia Kowsmann | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Binance exploded onto the crypto scene in 2017 and grew into the world’s biggest digital-currency exchange. It quickly ran into a problem. It largely operated from hubs in China and then Japan, yet a fifth of its customers were in the U.S., where authorities signaled a coming crackdown on unregulated offshore crypto players. Any lawsuit from U.S. regulators would be like “nuclear fall out” for Binance’s business and its officers, a Binance executive warned colleagues in a 2019 private chat.

☆ US Senate moves toward ending 'forever war' authorizations
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-01 | by ( Patricia Zengerle | Thomson Reuters | Award-Winning Journalist With More Than Two Decades Of Experience Covering International News | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

The Senate Foreign Relations Committee will take up the 1991 and 2002 Authorizations for the Use of Military Force, or AUMFs, Schumer said, paving the way for a possible vote in the full Senate before members leave for the April recess, Schumer said. "We need to put the Iraq war squarely behind us once and for all, and doing that means we should extinguish the legal authority that initiated the war to begin with," Schumer said. Democratic and Republican lawmakers from the Senate and House of Representatives introduced legislation to repeal the two longstanding AUMFs in early February. Under the Constitution, Congress, not the president, has the right to declare war. Previous repeal efforts have not succeeded, although some have made it through committees or been passed by one chamber of Congress.

☆ Bayer braces for falling profits in challenge for new CEO
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-28 | by ( Ludwig Burger | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

Bayer said in a statement that earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA), adjusted for special items, would likely be between 12.5 billion euros and 13 billion euros ($13.2 billion - $13.8 billion) this year, excluding the effect of currency swings. Bayer said this month it would replace its CEO early, recruiting former Roche (ROG.S) executive Bill Anderson, amid demands by some investors that Bayer should simplify its diversified structure and split into separate groups. A $6.4 billion provision remained on the balance sheet for glyphosate payouts, the larger of the two legal burdens. So Bayer should really not be on the buy list of many investors at the moment," said Molnar. Bayer saw herbicide sales jump 44% in 2022 after hurricane Ida damaged rival producers and constrained Chinese suppliers failed to plug the gap.

☆ Bayer sees lower 2023 operating profit on cost inflation
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-28 | by ( Ludwig Burger | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

FRANKFURT, Feb 28 (Reuters) - Agriculture and healthcare company Bayer (BAYGn.DE) said operating earnings would likely decline in 2023, hurt by higher costs and the reversal of last year's price boost for its glyphosate-based weedkillers. In a statement on Tuesday, Bayer said earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA), adjusted for special items, would likely be between 12.5 billion euros ($13.23 billion) and 13 billion euros this year, excluding the effect of currency swings. In his last presentation of the company's quarterly results, Chief Executive Werner Baumann said the company is active in the right areas of business. For 2023, "the company anticipates lower prices for agricultural herbicides as well as for some of its established pharmaceutical products," Bayer said, also citing high inflation-driven cost increases. ($1 = 0.9447 euros)Additional reporting by Patricia Weiss Editing by Friederike Heine, Kirsten DonovanOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

REUTERS/Elizabeth FrantzWASHINGTON, Feb 28 (Reuters) - The United States does not expect Russia to make significant territorial gains in Ukraine in the near-term, a senior Pentagon official said on Tuesday, describing the front lines in the year-long war as a "grinding slog." Kahl made the remarks during a hearing focused on oversight of the billions of dollars in military aid Washington has provided to Kyiv. In October, the U.S. restarted on-site inspections in Ukraine to help keep track of the billions of dollars of weapons being provided to Kyiv. One of the weapons the U.S. has not provided -- despite public appeals by Ukrainian officials -- are F-16 fighter jets. Kahl was asked repeatedly by lawmakers about sending the jets to Ukraine.

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