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☆ France had hottest month of October since 1945
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-01 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

[1/2] A man enjoys the sunset on a warm and sunny autumn day on the beach of Calais, France, October 30, 2022. REUTERS/Pascal Rossignol/File PhotoPARIS, Nov 1 (Reuters) - October 2022 is set to be the hottest month of October in France since records started in 1945, national weather agency Meteo-France said in a statement. Meteo-France said that due to climate change, periods of unusual heat late or early in the year were set to become more frequent. Beach resorts across Europe have extended their season as the unseasonable warmth kept tourists coming to the seaside. Reporting by GV De Clercq; Editing by Alex RichardsonOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ How a hospitality startup founder hooked Google's VC firm to lead its $5.8 seed round with a 4-minute pitch
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-01 | by ( Ellen Nguyen | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Jason Shames founded Skipper in 2020 and raised $5.8 million in seed funding this August. Before raising an official seed round for the company, Shames received investments from family, friends, and Pear, an early-stage venture fund based in California. After the presentation, Shames told Insider, 70 lead firms reached out — including an investor at Gradient Ventures, Google's venture fund focused on early-stage companies primarily in the AI space. Wen-Wen LamIn August, Skipper announced a $5.8 million seed round led by GV. Shames knew Lam from his days running the travel company Jetaport.

☆ France's Thales says hackers claim to have stolen data
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-01 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: 1 min

PARIS, Nov 1 (Reuters) - French defence and technology group Thales (TCFP.PA) said on Tuesday the hacker group LockBit 3.0 claimed to have stolen some of its data and was threatening to publish it. Thales said the extortion and ransomware group had announced plans on the dark web to release the data on Nov. 7. Thales has opened an internal investigation and has informed the ANSSI national cyber security agency, but so far has not filed a complaint with the police, a company official said. The hackers have not provided proof they have obtained any Thales data, the official added. Reporting by GV De Clercq, Editing by Louise Heavens and Mark PotterOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ French bank SocGen to further reduce exposure to oil and gas production
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-24 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: 1 min

PARIS, Oct 24 (Reuters) - French bank Societe Generale (SOGN.PA) said in a statement that it planned to further reduce its exposure to the oil and gas production sector and was making good progress on its goal of a complete exit from coal. The bank said it now aimed to reduce its financial exposure to oil and gas production by 20% by 2025 compared to 2019, from an earlier target of minus 10% by 2025 compared to 2019. The bank also said it had made "good progress towards achieving a complete exit from the coal sector by 2030 for EU and OECD countries and by 2040 for the rest of the world". Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com RegisterReporting by GV De Clercq; Editing by Sudip Kar-GuptaOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Biotech firm Prime Medicine valued at $1.8 bln in strong debut
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-20 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Oct 20 (Reuters) - Biotechnology firm Prime Medicine (PRME.O) notched a valuation of about $1.8 billion in its Nasdaq debut on Thursday, braving tough market conditions that have forced several IPO-bound companies to slam the breaks on their listing plans. Shares of Prime Medicine started trading nearly 12% above their IPO price of $17 each. Its investors include Alphabet Inc's (GOOGL.O) GV, Newpath Partners, Moore Strategic Ventures and Samsara Biocapital, the firm's website showed. Prime Medicine sold 10.3 million shares in its upsized offering, raising $175 million in proceeds priced at $17 apiece, the midpoint of its proposed range of $16 and $18 per share. Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com RegisterReporting by Manya Saini in Bengaluru; Editing by Maju SamuelOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Prime Medicine dipped 10% in its public debut. We dug through the biotech's 283-page filing to find 5 key takeaways about the company's plan to commercialize gene editing.
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-20 | by ( Andrew Dunn | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +8 min

The gene-editing biotech Prime Medicine went public on Thursday. From a key patent to an uncertain timeline, here are five takeaways from Prime's filing. Its goal is to advance prime editing, a twist on CRISPR gene editing that could allow for a wider range of edits to DNA. Prime editing, another version of next-generation gene editing, works like a word processor, "searching for the correct location and replacing or repairing a wide variety of target DNA," the filing said. Jessica Rinaldi/The Boston Globe via Getty ImagesDavid Liu, a Harvard gene-editing scientist who co-invented base editing and prime editing, is Prime's largest shareholder.

☆ Russian submarine spotted off French coast end-September - French Navy
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-14 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: 1 min

PARIS, Oct 14 (Reuters) - A Russian submarine was spotted sailing on the surface off the Brittany coast at the end of September and was escorted by the French navy, the French navy said on its Twitter feed. It said British and Spanish warships had also been involved in monitoring the submarine's movements. BFM TV reported that the incident took place on Sept. 29. Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com RegisterReporting by GV De Clercq; Editing by Alex Richardson and Jonathan OatisOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ CRISPR pioneer Feng Zhang is building a secretive new startup to solve gene-editing's biggest problem — getting into more parts of the body
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-12 | by ( Andrew Dunn | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

CRISPR pioneer Feng Zhang is building a new gene-editing startup, Insider has learned. CRISPR pioneer Feng Zhang is in the process of launching yet another ambitious gene-editing startup, backed by approximately $200 million from some of biotech's biggest investors, Insider has exclusively learned. Aera was incorporated in September 2021, shortly after Zhang's research was published in Science. Aera is at least the seventh startup Zhang has cofounded, joining a list that includes base-editing biotech Beam Therapeutics, CRISPR company Editas Medicine, and gene-editing startup Arbor Biotechnologies. While the ARC protein seems tailored for brain delivery, Zhang's suite of proteins could reach other organs, Shepherd said.

☆ Here's the 9-page pitch deck that Altana, a startup building Google Maps for supply chains, used to a raise a $100 million
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-06 | by ( Emma Cosgrove | Alex Davies | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Altana Technologies is mapping global supply chains as Google Maps does the world. Altana CEO Evan Smith is building a new version of "Google Maps," but his 5-year-old startup has nothing to do with routes or directions. It's all about global supply chains. Smith told Insider. There, they sold supply-chain data but didn't translate it into any deeper meaning, Smith told Insider last year.

☆ Prime Medicine is gearing up for a $200 million IPO. We dug through the biotech's 282-page filing to find 5 key takeaways about the company's plan to commercialize gene editing.
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-28 | by ( Andrew Dunn | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +8 min

From an uncertain timeline to the clinic to a key patent, here are 5 takeaways from Prime's filing. The company's goal is to advance prime editing, a twist on CRISPR gene editing that could allow for a wider range of edits to DNA. Prime editing is another version of next-generation gene editing. Prime's filing comes in a difficult market for biotechs, but particularly for companies that have yet to start human testing. Jessica Rinaldi/The Boston Globe via Getty ImagesDavid Liu, a Harvard gene-editing scientist who co-invented base editing and prime editing, is currently Prime's largest shareholder.

☆ Airbus says bigger A220 jetliner makes sense at right time
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-23 | by ( Tim Hepher | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

Airbus CEO Guillaume Faury speaks during a visit of German Economy and Climate Protection Minister Robert Habeck at Airbus research facilities in Hamburg, Germany, January 18, 2022. A stretched version of the lightweight Canadian-designed airplane makes a lot of sense, "but we don't want to be right too early", Chief Executive Guillaume Faury told investors. Airbus has seized a commanding lead in the main part of the single-aisle market, most recently through the larger A321neo which Asam said would have an increasing proportion of sales. However, the industry's biggest single-aisle variant, the delayed A321XLR, is not emerging as quickly as Airbus hoped. Improvements in the range of the largest single-aisle jets like the A321neo have eaten into the lower end of the market traditionally reserved for bigger wide-body jets, where Boeing has for decades widely been seen as the market leader.

French President Emmanuel Macron delivers a speech at the Sub-Prefecture in Saint-Nazaire after a visit at the Saint-Nazaire offshore wind farm, off the coast of the Guerande peninsula in western France, September 22, 2022. Macron, who said in February that he wants France to have about 50 offshore wind farms by 2050, was visiting the country's first, built off Brittany, a project which took ten years to build and which started being connected to the grid this month. "It still takes too much time in France," Macron said, adding that he wants to halve the time it takes to develop renewable energy projects. Macron said he wants France to double the speed of building wind parks in France. Other plans include making it easier to find locations to build wind farms or install solar energy panels.

☆ France's Schneider to buy remaining Aveva shares in 31 pounds/share offer
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-21 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com RegisterThe logo of Schneider Electric is seen outside a company building in Nantes, France, September 20, 2022. Schneider said its offer of 31 pounds represented a premium of around 41 percent to Aveva's closing share price of 21.92 pounds on August 23 - before Schneider first stated its intentions to consider a full buyout. It took majority control of Aveva in 2017 in a reverse takeover that enabled the British company to retain its London listing. Schneider added that any interim dividend of up to 13 pence per AVEVA Share would still be paid to AVEVA Shareholders without any reductions. ($1 = 0.8809 pounds)Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com RegisterReporting by Benoit Van Overstraeten and Paul Sandle; Editing by GV De Clercq/Sudip Kar-GuptaOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Macron calls Ukraine referendums 'cynical' and 'a parody'
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-20 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

REUTERS/Sarah Meyssonnier/PoolNEW YORK, Sept 20 (Reuters) - Referendums planned in Russian-occupied Ukrainian regions on joining Russia will not be recognized by the international community, French President Emmanuel Macron said on Tuesday, as he called the plans "cynical" and "a parody." "If the Donbas referendum idea wasn’t so tragic it would be funny," he told reporters. Speaking in New York, Macron said the referendum proposals for eastern Ukraine were an additional provocation following Russia's invasion of its neighbor. "I think what was announced by Russia is a parody," Macon said. Russian-installed leaders in occupied areas of four Ukrainian regions set out plans for referendums on joining Russia, a move which Kyiv dismissed as a stunt by Moscow to try to reclaim the initiative after resounding losses on the battlefield.

☆ France clears Omicron-adapted COVID boosters for autumn vaccination drive
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-20 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Test tube labelled "COVID-19 Omicron variant test positive" is seen in this illustration picture taken January 15, 2022. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File PhotoPARIS, Sept 20 (Reuters) - France's HAS health authority on Tuesday followed the European Union's drug regulator and cleared two separate COVID-19 vaccine boosters updated to target the Omicron variant. Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com RegisterThe European Union's drug regulator gave a green light on Sept. 1, ahead of an anticipated rise in COVID infections this winter. The EU-wide recommendation is to authorise the vaccines for people aged 12 and above who have received at least primary vaccination against COVID. People close to those risk groups and health workers exposed to them should also receive a shot this autumn, it said.

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