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Dec 19 (Reuters) - President Vladimir Putin on Monday ordered the Federal Security Services to step up surveillance of Russian society and the country's borders to prevent risks from abroad and traitors at home. Speaking ahead of Tuesday's Security Services Day - widely celebrated in Russia - Putin said the "emergence of new threats" increases the need for greater intelligence activity. "Work must be intensified through the border services and the Federal Security Service (FSB)," Putin said. Putin instructed the FSB to maximise their "use of the operational, technical and personnel potential" to tighten control of the society. "It is necessary to severely suppress the actions of foreign special services, quickly identify traitors, spies and saboteurs."

The deal, which includes significant raises for the employees, ends the grad students' five-week strike. Sarah Reingewirtz / Los Angeles Daily News via Getty ImagesOn Friday evening, United Auto Workers, the union representing the striking student workers, hailed the tentative agreement and praised Sacramento Mayor Darrell Steinberg for helping accelerate negotiations. The University of California said it would make health care accessible to the dependents of student employees and enhance paid family leave benefits. System president Michael V. Drake was pleased with Friday's outcome and recognized the workers' role in the system's lauded education and research. "Our Academic Student Employees and Graduate Student Researchers are central to our academic enterprise and make incredible contributions to the University’s mission of research and education," he said in a statement.

☆ India antitrust agency raids some steel firms for alleged price collusion-sources
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-17 | by ( Aditya Kalra | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

MUMBAI, Dec 17 (Reuters) - India's antitrust watchdog is raiding offices of small-scale steel companies for alleged price collusion of steel products used in construction, two sources with direct knowledge told Reuters. Among those raided were Rungta Steel and Shyam Steel, the sources said, as officials from the Competition Commission of India (CCI) conducted searches in states of West Bengal, Punjab, Tamil Nadu and Indian capital New Delhi on Saturday. In all around eight to nine offices of steel companies were searched, though names of other firms raided were not immediately clear. The CCI does not disclose any details publicly of its raid operations or cases related to alleged price collusion. Shyam Steel is a 30 billion Indian rupees ($362.73 million) group which manufactures several steel products.

☆ Bond-buying scars will open European can of worms
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-16 | by ( Pierre Briancon | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

LONDON, Dec 16 (Reuters Breakingviews) - The euro zone will soon have to pay for a decade of European Central Bank largesse. The first is to use provisions accumulated by national central banks over the past decade. But the central banks had wide differences in their approach to provisioning, meaning some may be left weaker than others. A central bank cannot be declared bankrupt, but operating with little or negative equity could hurt its credibility. And even if central banks don’t penalise them, they face the added risk that governments may tax them instead.

☆ A former Disney Imagineer started out carving iconic theme-park signs from wood. Now he's a craftsman making custom works of art for Disney fans that cost $50,000 and take 350 hours.
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-16 | by ( Zoe Rosenberg | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

A recent commission of a "Beauty and the Beast"-themed mantel face measuring 6 feet by 14 inches took Kinman, by his estimate, around 350 hours from August to November. 2022 — 'Beauty and the Beast' mantel face (private collection)Kinman's 'Beauty and the Beast' mantel face was for a private collection in Oregon. The other side of the mantel face depicts the characters Mrs. Potts and Chip. Here he's carving a door out of mahogany. He's also excited about a carving he's been commissioned to do of Scrooge McDuck sitting in his money room.

☆ Don't blame the Bahamas for FTX's implosion, foreign minister says as the disgraced company's lawyers hurl accusations of complicity
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-16 | by ( Jennifer Sor | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

FTX lawyers want to deny liquidators access to company records, claiming the Bahamian government could use it to swipe money away from FTX. But it isn't the fault of the Bahamas that FTX is embroiled in its financial troubles, according to foreign minister Fred Mitchell. Court-appointed liquidators for FTX's Bahamas-based business asked for key records within the crypto exchange, including access to company accounts and data. The Securities Commission of the Bahamas has disputed those claims, and Bahamas foreign minister Fred Mitchell denounced the accusations in a voice recording distributed via WhatsApp on Friday. Sam Bankman-Fried was arrested on multiple charges this week, including fraud, money laundering, and conspiracy after the collapse of his crypto exchange shed light on glaring accounting scandals.

Since the early days of the invasion, Mr. Putin has conceded, privately, that the war has not gone as planned. “I think he is sincerely willing” to compromise with Russia, Mr. Putin said of Mr. Zelensky in 2019. To join in Mr. Putin’s war, he has recruited prisoners, trashed the Russian military and competed with it for weapons. To join in Mr. Putin’s war, he has recruited prisoners, trashed the Russian military and competed with it for weapons. “I think this war is Putin’s grave.” Yevgeny Nuzhin, 55, a Russian prisoner of war held by Ukraine, in October.

Days before FTX’s bankruptcy filing last month, co-CEO Ryan Salame told Bahamian authorities that founder Sam Bankman-Fried may have committed fraud by sending customer money from the crypto exchange to his other firm, Alameda Research. According to a filing on Wednesday tied to FTX’s bankruptcy proceedings, Salame disclosed “possible mishandling of clients’ assets” by Bankman-Fried. FTX declared bankruptcy on Nov. 11. The indictment, unsealed on Tuesday, charged Bankman-Fried with eight criminal counts related to fraud, money laundering and improper use of customer funds. Like Bankman-Fried, Salame was a significant political donor, donating $20 million to Republican causes.

He described the slow rate of economic growth penciled in by Fed officials next year as still "modest." Only two of 19 Fed officials see the benchmark overnight interest rate staying below 5% next year, a sign of a still broad consensus to lean against inflation. In the U.S. Treasury market, which plays a key role in the transmission of Fed policy decisions into the real economy, yields were little changed to slightly lower. Powell said the speed of coming rate rises is less critical now than earlier in the year when the central bank was "front-loading" rate hikes to catch up with accelerating prices. "Our focus right now is really on moving our policy stance to one that is restrictive enough to ensure a return of inflation to our 2% goal over time, it's not on rate cuts," Powell said.

☆ ‘Call Me Miss Cleo’ Review: How to Sell a Scam
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-14 | by ( John Anderson | ) www.wsj.com time to read: +1 min

You don’t Venmo money to Nigerian princes. You don’t answer phone calls with an 876 Jamaica area code. You don’t give your Social Security number to anyone who claims your car warranty is running out. Miss Cleo was the public face of the company. But according to this HBO doc, not one of the culprits.

☆ Kevin McCarthy's impossible GOP math
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-14 | by ( Stephen Collinson | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +10 min

Republican leader Kevin McCarthy is far from assured of winning sufficient support in his party to become House speaker next month. The tiny GOP House majority that takes over in January, after a disappointing midterm performance, would mean a fragile governing mandate for any party at any point in American history. McCarthy’s impossible mathFrom a broader political perspective, it might be in McCarthy’s interest to stand up to the most extreme members of his conference. The path to the GOP majority went through comparatively moderate seats in places like New York that will be most at risk in the 2024 election. But it also reflected Greene’s growing personal power, after she broke with some radical GOP members and lined up to support McCarthy’s speakership.

☆ Photos: El Paso sees surge in border crossings
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-14 | by ( ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +2 min

Migrants, mostly from Nicaragua, are seen from Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, along the shore of the Rio Grande and below the US border wall on Tuesday, December 13. By Catherine E. Shoichet and Will Lanzoni, CNNAs a growing number of migrants arrive in the border city of El Paso, Texas, officials there say the situation is "unsustainable" and could intensify into a full-blown crisis. Many of the arriving migrants have told reporters they're from Nicaragua. El Paso Times reporter Lauren Villagran told CNN on Wednesday that she spoke with Nicaraguan migrants waiting outside in frigid temperatures. Deputy City Manager Mario D'Agostino told reporters in recent days about 2,500 migrants have crossed the border daily, noting that the situation is different than past surges of migrants across the border.

FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried (2nd L) is led away handcuffed by officers of the Royal Bahamas Police Force in Nassau, Bahamas on December 13, 2022. Days before FTX's bankruptcy filing last month, co-CEO Ryan Salame told Bahamian authorities that founder Sam Bankman-Fried may have committed fraud by sending customer money from the crypto exchange to his other firm, Alameda Research. According to a filing on Wednesday tied to FTX's bankruptcy proceedings, Salame disclosed "possible mishandling of clients' assets" by Bankman-Fried. FTX declared bankruptcy on Nov. 11. Like Bankman-Fried, Salame was a significant political donor, donating $20 million to Republican causes.

[1/3] Federal Reserve Board Chairman Jerome Powell speaks during a news conference following the announcement that the Federal Reserve raised interest rates by half a percentage point, at the Federal Reserve Building in Washington, U.S., December 14, 2022. The Fed's policy rate, which began the year at the near-zero level, is now in a target range of 4.25% to 4.50%, the highest since late 2007. In the U.S. Treasury market, which plays a key role in the transmission of Fed policy decisions into the real economy, yields were little changed. "It's not as important how fast we go," Powell said, noting the bigger question facing policymakers is where the endpoint of the Fed rate hikes is and how long it stays at that level. Any debate over easing rates would only happen when officials are confident inflation is moving down, he said.

☆ What to know about a judicial privacy bill Congress is passing with a major defense package
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-14 | by ( Tierney Sneed | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +11 min

But the legislation is also rankling court watchdogs who contend the bill could complicate efforts to scrutinize the judicial branch for ethics issues. The bill does not displace the ethical disclosure requirements judges already face, the congressional aide noted to CNN. And it extends the threat-monitoring programs that are being offered to Article III judges to administrative judges as well. Now that the bill has been added to the National Defense Authorization Act, a massive defense package that Congress passes annually, Paul’s options for scuttling it are limited. “Because, if I am sued, someone is going to be bringing it to a federal judge.

FTX attorney James Bromley told Dorsey that the Bahamian government has previously obtained information from FTX Digital Market's liquidators and used it to siphon digital assets away from FTX. The Securities Commission of the Bahamas (SCB) has previously disputed FTX's "misstatements" about the Bahamian government's response to FTX's collapse. Chris Shore, an attorney for the Bahamas-based liquidators, told Dorsey that the liquidators were not working at the direction of the Bahamian government. Dorsey began the hearing by asking whether FTX and the Bahamas liquidators could reach a compromise on data sharing before Bromley shot that suggestion down. "Unlike the Chapter 11 process, there is no transparency in the process in the Bahamas," Ray said.

☆ Nuclear fusion breakthrough: Scientists generate more power than used to create reaction
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-13 | by ( Catherine Clifford | In Catclifford | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +9 min

Fusion is the way that the sun makes power, but recreating a useful fusion reaction here on earth has eluded scientists for decades. The National Ignition Facility target chamber at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory is where scientists shoot lasers and watch and measure what happens when those lasers collide on a fuel source. Reaching ignition means the fusion experiment produced more energy from fusion than the laser energy that used to drive the reaction. "For the first time on Earth, scientists have confirmed a fusion energy experiment released more power than it takes to initiate, proving the physical basis for fusion energy. But it's proven extremely challenging to sustain a fusion reaction here on earth, and scientists have been trying for decades.

☆ Gross photos show how many droplets and aerosols blast out of a toilet each time you flush
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-13 | by ( Marianne Guenot | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Images showed a tall plume of tiny drops of toilet water being blasted into the air. Scientists have known for some time that tiny, invisible drops of water escape the toilet bowl after each flush. A cloud of smaller drops, called aerosols, floats further through the air, carrying the toilet water across the lab. A side-by-side view of the effect shows that these water drops are invisible to the naked eye. But the evidence doesn't show definitively that toilet water spritzing into the air has caused anyone to get sick.

Ashton also questioned how Mas’ud came to be in custody in the U.S. — something that remains unclear. Late last month, local Libyan media reported that Mas’ud had been kidnapped by armed men from his residence in Tripoli, the capital. He was convicted of 270 counts of murder, was given a life sentence and was the only person convicted for their involvement in Lockerbie. The release was met with scenes of jubilation in Libya, where al-Megrahi was greeted by thousands of well-wishers in the capital, Tripoli. He is among the victims’ family members who question the evidence used to convict al-Megrahi in 2001.

☆ 5 reasons to applaud the smart, speedy jury that convicted the Trump Organization of tax fraud
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-11 | by ( Laura Italiano | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +8 min

A Manhattan jury convicted Donald Trump's company of all 17 tax-fraud counts on Tuesday. But he would not implicate anyone named Trump — not Donald Trump, who he worked for since the 1980s. And not any of Trump's three eldest kids — Donald Trump Jr., Eric Trump, or Ivanka Trump, who have all served as Trump Organization executive vice presidents. Back during jury selection in late October, defense lawyers had the darnedest time finding Manhattan residents who didn't hate Donald Trump. They certainly did not look like Donald Trump's C-suite of well-paid, white-collar white men.

[1/4] NASA's next-generation moon rocket, the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket with the Orion crew capsule, lifts off from launch complex 39-B on the unmanned Artemis 1 mission to the moon, seen from Sebastian, Florida, U.S. November 16, 2022. REUTERS/Joe Rimkus Jr.Dec 11 (Reuters) - NASA's uncrewed Orion capsule hurtled through space on Sunday on the final return leg of its voyage around the moon and back, winding up the inaugural mission of the Artemis lunar program 50 years to the day after Apollo's final moon landing. The gumdrop-shaped Orion capsule, carrying a simulated crew of three mannequins wired with sensors, was due to parachute into the Pacific at 9:39 a.m. PST (1739 GMT) near Guadalupe Island, off Mexico's Baja California peninsula. They were the last of 12 NASA astronauts to walk on the moon during a total of six Apollo missions starting in 1969. "It is our priority-one objective," NASA's Artemis I mission manager Mike Sarafin said at a briefing last week.

☆ Serbs in Kosovo block roads, clash with police as ethnic tensions worsen
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-11 | by ( Fatos Bytyci | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

In recent weeks Serbs in northern Kosovo, a hotbed of Serb nationalism, have met attempts by Pristina which they see as anti-Serb with violent resistance. Barricades must be removed immediately by groups of Kosovo Serbs. For a second day on Sunday, trucks and other heavy-duty vehicles blocked several main roads in northern Kosovo that lead to two border crossings with Serbia. After Saturday's incidents, Goran Rakic, the head of the Serbian List party, which is supported by Belgrade, called on Serbs in northern Kosovo to show restraint and cooperate with NATO peacekeepers and EULEX. Kosovo declared independence from Serbia in 2008 with the backing of the West, following a 1998-1999 war in which NATO intervened to protect Albanian-majority Kosovo.

☆ A lost ecosystem revealed in Greenland by oldest environmental DNA
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-10 | by ( Ashley Strickland | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +5 min

A long time agoAn artist's illustration reconstructs Greenland's unique ecosystem as it existed 2 million years ago. Beth ZaikenScientists in Denmark have found the world’s oldest DNA sequences in sediment from the ice age. The core, taken from northern Greenland, revealed that the polar region was once abundant with plant and animal life 2 million years ago. Mastodons, reindeer, geese, lemmings and hares lived in an ecosystem that was a mix of temperate and Arctic flora and fauna. The fossil includes the head, neck and body together — a rare discovery for the marine reptiles, which didn’t preserve well in one piece.

☆ Kosovo police exchange fire with local Serbs blocking roads
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-10 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

[1/4] Kosovo Serbs block the road near the village of Rudine, North Mitrovica, Kosovo December 10, 2022. REUTERS/Ognen TeofilovskiMITROVICA, Kosovo, Dec 10 (Reuters) - Kosovo Serbs and country’s police exchanged gunfire on Saturday after a flareup of tensions in the volatile northern part of the country. Earlier in the day Serbs from Kosovo's north blocked main roads in the region to protest against the arrest of a former member of the Kosovo police who quit his post last month along with other ethnic Serbs. With a crisis mounting in the majority Serb north, Kosovo's president Vjosa Osmani on Saturday announced that local elections in that area would be delayed until April 23. "Serbia has instructed its illegal structures to set up barricades in the north Kosovo.

☆ Kosovo president delays local elections in volatile north
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-10 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

PRISTINA, Dec 10 (Reuters) - Kosovo's president on Saturday announced that local elections in majority Serb areas in the north would be delayed until April, a move aimed at defusing ethnic tensions that have intensified in recent months. Elections had been scheduled for Dec. 18 but Serbs said they would boycott the polls. Police in Pristina said Pantic was arrested for allegedly attacking election commission offices, police officers and election officials on Tuesday. Earlier, Kosovo police arrested another Serb, on suspicion of taking part in an armed attack on a police patrol. Reporting by Fatos Bytyci in Pristina, Ognen Teofilovski in North Mitrovica and Aleksandar Vasovic in Belgrade; editing by Ros RussellOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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