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'REFUGE FOR WINTER' AND BEYONDVisitors and more permanent residents are also arriving from Germany, which was highly dependent on Russian gas before the Ukraine war and is anxious about possible winter energy shortages. Airlines will increase by 31% the number of seats available to the Canary Islands, the regional tourism office said. Airbnb, the short-term rentals firm, said searches for winter stays in southern Europe tripled between April and June. "Even before the energy crisis, we would have liked to be in Portugal because of the weather," the 28-year-old said. "But with the energy crisis, (being in Portugal) gives us more security because of the climate."

☆ Strike brings trains to standstill across Austria
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-28 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

The strike affected transport at all levels, from public transport to regional services and long-distance night trains, as well as rail freight lines. The head of the nation's rail network said services would be more or less back to normal by the following day. Wedged between eight countries including Italy, Germany, Switzerland, Hungary and the Czech Republic, Austria is an important hub for European rail travel. The main rail workers' union had called for a 400 euro ($417.88) monthly pay rise for the sector's 50,000 employees. The union called Monday's "warning strike" after a fifth round of negotiations fell through on Sunday.

☆ Austrian rail strike to go ahead on Monday
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-27 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: 1 min

ZURICH, Nov 27 (Reuters) - Austria's rail workers will stage a strike on Monday that will shut down all train traffic throughout the country after last minute pay negotiations fell through. Wedged between eight countries including Italy, Germany, Switzerland, Hungary and the Czech Republic, Austria is an important hub for European rail travel. The main rail workers’ union had called for a 400 Euro pay rise for the sector's 50,000 employees. After the fifth round of negotiations fell through on Sunday, it called the "warning strike" which will last for the whole of Monday and also affect cross-border rail traffic, including night trains. Reporting by Noele Illien; Editing by Frank Jack DanielOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Many in the art and insurance world, however, say it may be only be a matter of time before art works are vandalised, especially if protests spread beyond climate activism. The art insurance market globally earns around $750 million in premiums. PRESSURE ON PREMIUMSLosses and levels of insurance availability tend to dictate insurance premiums. Commercial museums and galleries, however, buy art insurance, and its use is also more prevalent among larger museums in the United States than in Europe. While five insurers contacted by Reuters said they were not yet factoring climate attacks into premiums, some artists say they already face increased costs.

☆ Europe's heatwave may have caused more than 20,000 'excess' deaths
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-24 | by ( Juliette Portala | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Summary Higher-than-expected excess deaths from Europe's heatwaveMany deaths due to high temperature may be under-reportedHeatwaves to become more frequent and intense in futureNov 24 (Reuters) - Summer heatwaves in France, Germany, Spain and Britain led to more than 20,000 "excess" deaths, a report compiling official figures said on Thursday. A heatwave in 2003 caused more than 70,000 excess deaths across Europe, largely in France, and led many countries to implement measures such as early warning systems, asking people to check on others and opening air-conditioned schools. France reported about half of the summer's excess deaths in Western Europe, with 10,420 fatalities in total. Excess deaths reached 3,271 in England and Wales during the summer, Britain's Office of National Statistics reported. Spain recorded 4,655 heat-attributable deaths between June and August while the German health agency reported 4,500.

☆ Stellantis to reorganise European dealer network from July 2023
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-24 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

MILAN, Nov 24 (Reuters) - Franco-Italian carmaker Stellantis (STLA.MI) said on Thursday it would reorganise its European dealers' network in July next year, starting from Austria, Belgium, Luxembourg and the Netherlands. As part of its efforts to cut costs and support investment for electrification, Stellantis last year said it would end all current sales and services contracts with European dealers for all of its 14 brands, from June 2023. Uwe Hochgeschurtz, Stellantis' chief operating officer for the 'Enlarged Europe' area, said the group aimed to promote a "sustainable" distribution model and all stakeholders would benefit. Stellantis said it ran a comparative economic simulation showing that, under the new planned distribution model, dealers would enjoy "at least equivalent profitability" and reduced exposure to risks. A spokesman for the company said Stellantis' light commercial vehicle brands would enter the new distribution structure from Jan. 1, 2024.

☆ ECB's Schnabel pushes back on smaller rate hikes
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-24 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

However Schnabel, the most influential voice in the hawkish camp, said this was premature and could even prove counter-productive. "Incoming data so far suggest that the room for slowing down the pace of interest rate adjustments remains limited, even as we are approaching estimates of the 'neutral' rate," she told an event in London. "The extraordinarily large degree of uncertainty surrounding such estimates implies that they cannot serve as a yardstick to inform the appropriate pace of interest rate adjustments. Dutch governor Knot expressed doubts over market expectations for the ECB's deposit rate, currently at 1.5%, to peak at 3%. In all honesty, I'm not sure about that," Knot told a hearing at the Dutch parliament.

☆ EU countries unhappy with 275 euro gas cap proposal
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-24 | by ( Gabriela Baczynska | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

The long-standing disagreements were holding up other policies to alleviate the acute energy crisis, such as the launch of joint EU gas purchases and a quicker permit process for renewables. Polish Climate Minister Anna Moskwa called the 275 euro blueprint put forward by the European Commission "a joke". "It could help us reduce gas prices and therefore reduce electricity prices, which is a major challenge in Europe this winter," he said. Energy minister Miriam Dalli said the strict conditions needed for the mechanism to kick in made it "next to impossible". But the issue of whether and how to cap gas prices has split the bloc.

Critical shortages of the ADHD drug Adderall and the antibiotic amoxicillin have left families reeling as the medicines their loved ones need become harder to find. In the case of amoxicillin, demand has become particularly acute amid a so-called tripledemic of Covid, respiratory syncytial virus, or RSV, and the flu that are converging this season. The Food and Drug Administration's website currently lists amoxicillin and Adderall, also known as mixed amphetamine salts, as being in short supply. NBC News reached out to two of the drugmakers responsible for producing both Adderall and amoxicillin. In 2020, Congress passed the Mitigating Emergency Drug Shortages Act, which aimed to address some of these issues.

☆ Austrian central bank defends compulsory mortgage-lending standards
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-22 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

VIENNA, Nov 22 (Reuters) - Austria should keep its recently introduced compulsory standards for mortgage lending, the Austrian National Bank (ONB) said on Tuesday, despite a recent call by the conservative finance minister for those standards to be reviewed. Faced with a sustained housing boom and banks' widespread flouting of recommendations on mortgage lending aimed at limiting risk, Austria introduced the compulsory standards in August, though banks are still allowed to deviate from them in up to 20% of cases. With interest rates now rising, however, Finance Minister Magnus Brunner has asked that the decision to introduce the compulsory standards be reviewed to make lending easier. "The newly adopted regulation contributes to safeguarding financial stability by curbing excessive developments in residential real estate lending," the ONB said in a statement on its semi-annual Financial Stability Report, referring to the binding standards. The regulation introducing those standards was issued by the Financial Market Authority (FMA), though the standards were developed by the Financial Market Stability Board, which brings together officials from the Finance Ministry, ONB and FMA.

☆ Ukraine to protest over Orban scarf showing part of Ukraine as Hungarian territory
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-22 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

KYIV/BUDAPEST, Nov 22 (Reuters) - Ukraine will summon the Hungarian ambassador to protest that Prime Minister Viktor Orban went to a football match wearing a scarf depicting some Ukrainian territory as part of Hungary, the Ukrainian foreign ministry said on Tuesday. Ukrainian media showed images of Orban meeting a Hungarian footballer wearing a scarf which the outlet Ukrainska Pravda said depicted a map of "Greater Hungary" including territory that is now part of the neighbouring states of Austria, Slovakia, Romania, Croatia, Serbia and Ukraine. Nikolenko said Ukraine wanted an apology and a rebuttal of any Hungarian claims on Ukrainian territory. In a Facebook post on Tuesday, Orban did not directly address the controversy over the scarf. Reporting by Pavel Polityuk and Anita Komuves, Editing by Timothy Heritage and Tomasz JanowskiOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Saudi Arabia win is statistically biggest World Cup shock, say Gracenote
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-22 | by ( Mitch Phillips | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

Appearing for the first time, England were favourites to win the 1950 World Cup in Brazil while the Americans were a semi-professional squad. England, featuring future World Cup winning manager Alf Ramsey in defence, dominated but lost to Joey Gaetjens' first-half header. It would be another 44 years before the U.S. would win another match at the World Cup. A Czech team who had reached the 2004 European Championship final were expected to go deep in the World Cup and opened with a 3-0 demolition of the United States, while Ghana, making their World Cup debut, had already lost to Italy. Wales did not appear in the World Cup again until Monday's 1-1 draw with the United States.

☆ Saudi Arabia’s victory over Argentina is the greatest upset in World Cup history, says data company
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-22 | by ( Alasdair Howorth | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +6 min

According to sports data group Gracenote, Argentina’s 2-1 defeat by Saudi Arabia in their Group C match is the biggest upset in World Cup history. All the pre-match talk focused on Messi, one of the world’s greatest ever players who is likely playing his last World Cup. According to Gracenote, the previous most surprising World Cup win was USA’s victory against England in 1950, in which the American team had a 9.5% chance of victory. David Cannon/Getty ImagesDiego Maradona had taken the world by storm at the 1986 World Cup, delivering a succession of spectacular individual performances as Argentina claimed its secondd title. Keystone/Hulton Archive/Getty ImagesAhead of the 1950 World Cup in Brazil, football had been fully professional in England for decades, though this was the English team’s first appearance at a World Cup having chosen not to appear in the previous three tournaments.

☆ Ukraine to protest over Orban scarf showing Hungary including part of Ukraine
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-22 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

KYIV, Nov 22 (Reuters) - Ukraine will summon the Hungarian ambassador to protest that Prime Minister Viktor Orban went to a football match wearing a scarf depicting some Ukrainian territory as part of Hungary, the Ukrainian foreign ministry said on Tuesday. "The promotion of revisionism ideas in Hungary does not contribute to the development of Ukrainian-Hungarian relations and does not comply with the principles of European policy," ministry spokesperson Oleg Nikolenko wrote on Facebook. Nikolenko said Ukraine wanted an apology and a rebuttal of any Hungarian claims on Ukrainian territory. Ukrainian media showed images of Orban meeting a Hungarian footballer wearing a scarf which the outlet Ukrainska Pravda said depicted a map of "Greater Hungary" including territory that is now part of the neighbouring states of Austria, Slovakia, Romania, Croatia, Serbia and Ukraine. Reporting by Pavel Polityuk, Editing by Timothy HeritageOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Rich countries driving the climate crisis have agreed to pay developing nations for damage. But collecting the money will be tough.
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-22 | by ( Catherine Boudreau | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

Developing nations won creation of a "loss and damage" fund for climate disasters. Climate diplomats left Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, with a historic deal — 30 years in the making — for rich countries to pay developing nations for the damages they are already facing from a warming planet. But the negotiators who gathered in the resort city along the Red Sea failed to hammer out a more aggressive plan to curb the greenhouse gas emissions that are driving the crisis. The agreement follows a decades-long push by a coalition of developing nations known as the G77+ China. That country, despite being the world's largest polluter, is considered a developing country by international institutions and therefore isn't obligated to contribute to climate finance.

☆ Surfboard wants to replace spreadsheets in customer support teams. We got an exclusive look at the 13-slide deck it used to raise $5 million.
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-21 | by ( Riddhi Kanetkar | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

The startup has designed a collaborative planning tool for customer support teams. London-based Surfboard launched in 2021 with the aim of making work more human, and efficient, for customer support teams. Typically in support teams, there are three main actors; the agents who do the customer support work, their managers, and the end customers — who usually have to wait a long time for services. In turn, Surfboard hopes that support teams save time otherwise spent manually altering spreadsheets, and curb lost revenue and employee churn. With the cash injection, it will develop its product and focus on customer acquisitions by investing in its marketing efforts.

☆ The unity of Europe has 'surprised me,' former chancellor of Austria says
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-18 | by ( ) www.cnbc.com time to read: 1 min

Share Share Article via Facebook Share Article via Twitter Share Article via LinkedIn Share Article via EmailThe unity of Europe has 'surprised me,' former chancellor of Austria saysSebastian Kurz, former chancellor of Austria, discusses the unity of Europe this year.

☆ Austria announces windfall tax on energy companies
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-18 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Companies Omv Ag FollowVerbund AG FollowVIENNA, Nov 18 (Reuters) - Austria's government on Friday announced plans to introduce a windfall tax on energy companies that will be of up to 40% for oil and gas firms. The tax will apply retroactively from July 1 of this year until the end of next year, it added. The threshold can be increased to 180 euros if those companies invest in renewables, the statement said. Kogler said the tax rate then would be 90%. That tax will apply from Dec. 1 of this year until the end of 2023, the statement said.

☆ European shares bounce as battered miners rise, ECB loan repayments eyed
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-18 | by ( Shreyashi Sanyal | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

The pan-European STOXX 600 index (.STOXX) rose 0.9%, with basic resources stocks (.SXPP) up 1.2% after falling more than 3% in the last two sessions. The European Central Bank gears up to start the biggest withdrawal of cash from the euro zone's banking system in its history, with banks expected to repay about 500 bln euros in TLTRO loans. The STOXX 600 has gained about 4.9% so far this month, driven by better-than-feared earnings and expectations of smaller rate increases by the Fed. Among individual stocks, Austrian hydropower producer Verbund (VERB.VI) jumped 8.2% to top the STOXX 600, while energy and environmental services provider EVN (EVNV.VI) gained 5.2%. Reporting by Shreyashi Sanyal in Bengaluru; Editing by Subhranshu SahuOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Around 60% of Credit Suisse's wealth business is exposure to what it calls growth markets such as the Asia-Pacific region and emerging markets, and the other main part is business with ultra-wealthy entrepreneurs. De Ferrari said some of the best opportunities come in the "high net" business, clients who have $5-25 million to invest. Credit Suisse had been rocked in early October by wild market swings and a social media storm. "Everybody said we love Credit Suisse. Key to wealth management's success as a core business at Credit Suisse is focusing on its offerings and its top 20 markets and exiting from some others, he said.

☆ Climate activists throw liquid at Klimt painting in Vienna
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-16 | by ( The Associated Press | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +3 min

BERLIN — Climate activists in Austria on Tuesday attacked a famous painting by artist Gustav Klimt with a black, oily liquid and one then glued himself to glass protecting the painting’s frame. Members of the group Last Generation Austria tweeted they had targeted the 1915 painting “Death and Life” at the Leopold Museum in Vienna to protest their government’s use of fossil energies. After the attack, police arrived at the museum and the black liquid was quickly cleaned off the glass protecting the painting, Austria Press Agency reported. It’s one of the latest pieces of art to be targeted by climate activists to draw attention to global warming. Just Stop Oil activists also glued themselves to the frame of an early copy of Leonardo da Vinci’s “The Last Supper” at London’s Royal Academy of Arts, and to John Constable’s “The Hay Wain” in the National Gallery.

☆ Factbox: COP27: Counting the rising cost of climate disasters
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-16 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

How to get money to poorer countries after climate disasters has been a dominant theme at the COP27 climate talks in Egypt, and insurance is seen as one way to do that. On Monday, a G7-led plan dubbed "Global Shield" to provide pre-arranged insurance and disaster protection funding to countries suffering climate disasters was launched at the climate conference. Worst fires: Tubbs Fire Oct 2017, Camp Fire Nov 20182017 loss: $180 billion2017 deaths: 402018 loss: $148.5 billion2018 deaths: 103Total loss: $328.5 billion2. Harvey loss: $125 billionHarvey deaths: 88Irma loss: $65 billionIrma deaths: 134Maria loss: $107 billionMaria deaths: 4,600Total loss: $297 billion3. Hurricane Ian, Florida, Sept 2022The hurricane hit southwestern Florida and South Carolina, with a 4-metre high storm surge on the west coast of Florida.

☆ Euro zone predicted to have a deep recession and a difficult, slow recovery
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-16 | by ( Silvia Amaro | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +4 min

The euro zone economy is heading towards a recession, according to several economists. Daniel Roland | Afp | Getty ImagesThe euro zone is expected to plunge into recession in the coming months with economists warning "it will not be shallow." The 19-member zone that shares the euro currency has been under significant pressure since Russia's unprovoked invasion of Ukraine in February. Speaking earlier this month, ECB President Christine Lagarde highlighted that "the risk of recession has increased." Gas storageEven if the euro zone emerges out of recession in the first quarter of next year, economists say the subsequent months will still be hard.

☆ Climate activists attack glass screen protecting Klimt painting in Vienna
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-15 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

[1/4] Gustav Klimt's painting "Tod und Leben" is seen after activists of Last Generation Austria (Letzte Generation Oesterreich) spilled oil on it in Leopold museum in Vienna, Austria, November 15, 2022. Letzte Generation Oesterreich/Handout via REUTERSVIENNA, Nov 15 (Reuters) - Climate-change activists on Tuesday smeared and glued one of their hands to a glass screen protecting a Gustav Klimt painting in a Vienna museum to protest against oil drilling, on a day when entry was free thanks to an oil firm's sponsorship. One of Last Generation Austria's tweets said: "New drilling for oil and gas is a death sentence for humanity." Nonetheless we are shocked that the Leopold Museum was in focus here," the museum's museological director, Hans-Peter Wipplinger, told a news conference. While the museum sympathised with the activists' cause, it disagreed with the means employed, Wipplinger said.

☆ Climate activists throw black, oily liquid at Klimt painting in Vienna
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-15 | by ( ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

Gustav Klimt's painting "Tod und Leben" is seen after activists of Last Generation Austria (Letzte Generation Oesterreich) spilled oil on it in Leopold museum in Vienna, Austria, November 15, 2022. Climate activists in Austria on Tuesday attacked a famous painting by artist Gustav Klimt with a black, oily liquid and one then glued himself to glass protecting the painting's frame. After the attack, police arrived at the museum and the black liquid was quickly cleaned off the glass protecting the painting, Austria Press Agency reported. It's one of the latest pieces of art to be targeted by climate activists to draw attention to global warming. The British group Just Stop Oil threw tomato soup at Vincent van Gogh's "Sunflowers" in London's National Gallery last month.

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