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☆ Trevi Fountain: Climate activists dump charcoal in Rome monument
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-22 | by ( Barbie Latza Nadeau | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +3 min

Rome CNN —Climate change activists turned the blue water of the Trevi Fountain in central Rome black with diluted charcoal on Sunday. Luisa Regimenti, councilor for personnel, urban security, local police and local authorities in the Lazio region, which includes Rome, condemned the act. In a written statement she said that it was the “umpteenth demonstrative act of eco-vandals” that hit “a symbol of Rome universally known in the world.”Climate activists from the group Last Generation stand inside the Trevi Fountain in Rome. It will cost time, effort and water.”Last Generation activists at the Trevi Fountain, Rome. “Charcoal in the water of the Trevi Fountain,” they tweeted Sunday.

☆ Two killed in Spain blast in suspected gender-based violence incident
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-16 | by ( Vincent West | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

[1/3] Police cordon off the area where a man and a woman died in a suspected bomb blast related to gender violence, according to the Basque regional security department, in Orio, northern Spain, May 16,... Read moreMADRID, May 16 (Reuters) - Two people - a man and woman - died in an explosion in the town of Orio in northern Spain, the Basque regional security department said on Tuesday, and media cited authorities as saying the incident was being investigated as likely gender-based violence. A Reuters witness said police had cordoned off an area around a sidewalk bench where the blast occurred, next to a children's playground. There were few signs of an explosion, with the bench, shrubs behind it and a bin nearby apparently undamaged. News agency EFE, quoting police sources, reported the preliminary investigation pointed toward a package held by one of the victims being the source of the explosion. Reporting by David Latona; Editing by Andrei KhalipOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Efe is one of more than 6 million first-time voters expected to cast ballots in the May 14 election. 'ANGRY AND HOPELESS'Erdogan's share of the vote among young and first-time voters is forecast to be lower than among other age groups, said Erman Bakirci from pollster Konda Arastirma. Describing young voters as a "very angry and hopeless" segment of Turkey's 85 million people, Bakirci said they would be crucial to the result because they are such a large block. "They see via internet and social media what their peers in Europe are doing and what opportunities they have," Bakirci said. Erdogan, who oversaw an economic boom in his first several years in power, has traditionally drawn support from Turkey's conservative voters in Turkey's Anatolian Islamic heartlands.

☆ China’s Tightening Grip on Foreign Firms Risks Hitting Investment
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-03 | by ( Jason Douglas | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Foreign investment in China will likely remain concentrated among a few big companies willing to maintain or expand their existing operations there. Photo: ROMAN PILIPEY/EPA-EFE/ShutterstockSINGAPORE—China’s moves to put pressure on foreign companies risk squeezing the flow of overseas capital its economy needs, as signs point to the country’s appeal waning as a destination for all but the largest global companies. By one measure, foreign direct investment into China dropped by almost half last year from a year earlier, hitting the lowest level in five years as Covid-19 lockdowns mauled its economy, while other gauges suggest the world’s second-largest economy is struggling to attract corporate newcomers.

☆ European Economies Are Finding New Ways to Pay for War on Their Doorstep
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-03 | by ( David Luhnow | Sandra Kilhof | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Danish lawmakers have canceled a 300-year-old religious public holiday to recoup the additional tax revenue. Photo: epa-efe/ShutterstockCOPENHAGEN—Denmark, a founding member of NATO, has no artillery, submarines or air-defense system. The small Nordic nation didn’t think it needed them because a ground war in Europe seemed far-fetched—until Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The conflict in its neighborhood has set it and similar European nations scrambling to plug gaps in their armory. Denmark, one of the richest nations per capita in the Western world, has pledged to boost military spending from about 1.4% of gross domestic product to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization’s target of 2% by 2030.

☆ Jon Rahm sets new PGA Tour earnings record with four months still to play
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-01 | by ( Jack Bantock | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +4 min

CNN —It’s been quite the year for Jon Rahm – and he’s got the prize money to prove it. A runner-up finish at the Mexico Open on Sunday took the Spaniard’s PGA Tour season earnings to $14,462,840, setting a new Tour record for money earned in a single season. With $49,486,883 in total earnings since joining the PGA Tour in 2016, Rahm looks set to pass the $50 million mark imminently upon his return. The American had finished joint-second, one shot shy, of Rahm at last year’s event, but improved his total by eight shots to end on 24-under and clinch his sixth PGA Tour title. Orlando Ramirez/Getty ImagesGiven his form, Rahm looks well-placed to add to his two majors and 11 PGA Tour titles this year, but the 28-year-old is keeping his feet firmly on the ground.

☆ World's longest bridge could transform Sicily. But not if the Mafia and earthquakes get in the way
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-30 | by ( Barbie Latza Nadeau | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +9 min

Since then, various plans, including a short-lived idea for a tunnel, have come and gone – like water under the bridge. If built, the bridge across the Straits of Messina would span two miles (3.2 kilometers) and would be the longest suspension bridge in the world. When Salvini became transport minister, he made it his priority, betting his legacy on the bridge. “The bridge over the Strait of Messina is a project that can break ground immediately. The recent arrest of Cosa Nostra boss Matteo Messina Denaro after 30 years on the lam in Sicily represented a victory.

☆ Merck Keeps Striking Out on Expanding Its Cancer-Drug Juggernaut
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-26 | by ( Jared S. Hopkins | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Merck says it has been doing deals and developing new drugs to reduce its dependence on Keytruda for sales. Photo: David Crosling/EPA-EFE/ShutterstockThe gold rush from pioneering cancer immunotherapy Keytruda is about to run out for Merck & Co.Keytruda, one of the world’s top-selling drugs, powered its maker for the past decade. The therapy’s annual sales neared $21 billion last year, about a third of Merck’s revenue. Yet a drop in sales looms after Keytruda’s main patent expires in 2028.

CNN —The editor-in-chief of Die Aktuelle, a German magazine that published a fake artificial intelligence (AI) interview with Michael Schumacher, has been “relieved of her duties,” a statement from publishing house FUNKE said, alongside an apology to the Schumacher family. Schumacher has not been seen in public since he suffered a brain injury in a skiing accident in December 2013. It in no way meets the standards of journalism that we – and our readers – expect from a publishing house like FUNKE,” FUNKE magazine managing director Bianca Pohlmann said in the statement. Only toward the end of the article does it become apparent that the interview was produced by AI. Hannibal Hanschke/EPA-EFE/ShutterstockSince the accident, the Schumacher family has kept updates about the health of the motorsport legend to a minimum to protect their privacy.

CNN —The family of seven-time Formula One champion Michael Schumacher is planning legal action after a German magazine published a fake artificial intelligence (AI) interview, a family spokesperson told CNN on Thursday. “I can confirm that Michael Schumacher’s family is planning to take legal action over a fake artificial intelligence interview by German outlet Die Aktuelle,” a Schumacher spokesperson told CNN on Thursday. German weekly magazine Die Aktuelle published a fake AI interview with Michael Schumacher. “Please understand that we do not comment on this topic,” Barkhausen told CNN on Thursday. Since the accident, the Schumacher family has kept updates about the health of the motorsport legend to a minimum to protect their privacy.

☆ Spanish extreme athlete emerges into daylight after 500 days living in cave
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-14 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

Beatriz Flamini, an elite sportswoman, mountaineer and climber, is said by her support team to have broken a world record for longest time spent in a cave. She was 48 when she went into the cave, and celebrated two birthdays alone underground. WOOLLY HATSFlamini spent her time underground doing exercises to keep her fit and busy, painting and drawing and knitting woolly hats. She took two GoPro cameras to document her time, and got through 60 books and 1,000 litres of water, according to her support team. A spokesman for Guinness was not able to immediately confirm whether there was a separate record for voluntary time living in a cave and whether Flamini had broken it.

[1/5] Javier Ramiro, Co-Chief Scientific Officer of Spanish indoor hops farming start-up Ekonoke controls the plantation of hops in Alcobendas, Spain, March 23, 2023. "We're on a mission to save the world's beer," Ines Sagrario, chief executive and co-founder of Ekonoke, told Reuters. Strict hygiene measures such as protective clothing for staff ensure the space remains pest-free, taking the pesticides on which traditional farming often depends out of the equation. The most obvious challenge indoor farming faces, he said, is its high energy cost. "Demand from breweries is quite inelastic; you can't make beer without hops and they don't want to produce less," Sagrario said.

REUTERS/Nacho DoceMADRID, April 5 (Reuters) - A 68-year-old Spanish TV actress said that her newly adopted daughter was conceived using her dead son's frozen sperm and is in fact her granddaughter, reigniting a debate over the bioethics of surrogacy and children's right to privacy in Spain. The weeks-old baby, named Ana Sandra, was born to a surrogate mother identified on Wednesday by the Lecturas magazine as a Cuban woman living in Miami, Florida. "This girl isn't my daughter, but my granddaughter," TV actress Ana Obregon told celebrity magazine ¡Hola! Obregon's only biological child, her son Aless Lequio, died of cancer in 2020 at the age of 27. Obregon rose to prominence in the 1980s and starred in Spanish sitcoms in the late 1990s and early 2000s.

[1/6] Spanish Labour Minister and Second Deputy Prime Minister Yolanda Diaz applauses as she presents new political platform 'Sumar' in Madrid, Spain, April 2, 2023. REUTERS/Isabel InfantesMADRID, April 2 (Reuters) - Spanish Labour Minister Yolanda Diaz launched her bid to become the country's first woman prime minister on Sunday at a packed event in Madrid, where the absence of two government ministers signalled a deepening rift among the progressive left. Today, I want to become our country's first female prime minister," Diaz told the crowd to a standing ovation. Although she has yet to release a detailed platform, Diaz outlined the broad outline of her manifesto, including a new "bill of rights" and a democratic, economic and social "contract" for the next decade. She also touted her ministry's accomplishments, such as raising the minimum wage and a pro-union labour law reform.

“I have argued for years that the biggest banks in the world are still too big to fail. In practice, however, the economic damage would be considerable.”Keller-Sutter was at the center of a government-orchestrated rescue of Credit Suisse by its larger rival UBS (UBS) earlier this month. They were designed to make it possible to wind down a big bank without destabilizing the financial system or exposing taxpayers to the risk of losses. Although some investors in Credit Suisse bonds lost everything, Swiss taxpayers are still on the hook for up to 9 billion Swiss francs ($9.8 billion) of potential losses arising from certain Credit Suisse assets. The rest is lent out at higher interest rates or invested, because that’s how big banks make most of their profit.

“I have argued for years that the biggest banks in the world are still too big to fail. In practice, however, the economic damage would be considerable.”Keller-Sutter was at the center of a government-orchestrated rescue of Credit Suisse by its larger rival UBS (UBS) earlier this month. Global standards for dealing with teetering “too big to fail” banks were key a part of the package of rules introduced after the global financial crisis. They were designed to make it possible to wind down a big bank without destabilizing the financial system or exposing taxpayers to the risk of losses. The rest is lent out at higher interest rates or invested, because that’s how big banks make most of their profit.

☆ Chinese companies have rushed to fill the gap in Russia left by brands exiting from the Ukraine war
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-25 | by ( Michelle Toh | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +7 min

Chinese manufacturers were already popular in Russia before the war, accounting for approximately 40% of the smartphone market in December 2021. Tough times for consumersAlthough Chinese brands are reaping the rewards of the Western embargo, the Russian market is shrinking as its economy slumps. If the war in Ukraine ends, Apple and Samsung will likely rebuild operations in the country — and quickly recapture smartphone sales, Stryjak said. Even then, with the return of international brands, Chinese players could retain their foothold, particularly given how long it could take to rebuild supply chains. “Stating this a bit harshly, but the Russian brands and the Chinese brands are kind of stand-ins for the real players,” said Le at Sino Auto Insights.

☆ Was the poet poisoned? Chile awaits new report on Neruda’s death
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-16 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

[1/4] A picture of Chilean poet and Nobel laureate Pablo Neruda is seen inside his museum house in the coastal sector of Isla Negra, Chile, April 26, 2016. REUTERS/Rodrigo GarridoFeb 15 (Reuters) - A third inquiry into the death of Chilean poet Pablo Neruda 50 years ago could shed new light on whether he was poisoned by political enemies, as alleged by some of his family. Rodolfo Reyes, a Neruda nephew, reiterated this week claims that his uncle - a member of the Communist party and the most important Chilean intellectual of the time - was poisoned. Previous tests have found no evidence Neruda, winner of the Nobel Prize for literature in 1971, was poisoned. Reporting by Fabian Andrés Cambero; Writing by Isabel Woodford; Editing by Tom HogueOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

A map of Turkey showing the city of Kahramanmaras in relation to the epicenter of the earthquake. A set of before and after images that show how a block in the downtown Kahramanmaras area was turned to rubble by the earthquake. For days, rescue teams and family members have been working through rubble of collapsed buildings throughout the city. Residential buildings Before Residential buildings After Google Maps Street View from November 2022; Adem Altan/Agence France-Presse, via Getty Images from Feb. 7, 2023On many blocks, only a few buildings remain. A set of before and after images that show another block of residential buildings destroyed, leaving the Clarion Hotel Kahramanmaras standing alone.

☆ Big Oil made $200 billion in profit last year. Shareholders won big, clean energy missed out
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-08 | by ( Hanna Ziady | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +6 min

But the flood of cash has not delivered a commensurate boom in renewable energy investments, despite clear evidence that the world needs to move much faster with efforts to address the climate crisis. The record-setting results mark a dramatic turnaround for a sector that suffered brutal losses and slashed shareholder payouts in 2020, when pandemic lockdowns sharply reduced demand for energy and oil prices collapsed. An aerial view of the BP oil refinery in Whiting, Indiana on August 29, 2019. Tannen Maury/EPA-EFE/ShutterstockJust three years ago, BP unveiled a plan to slash oil and gas production by 40% from 2019 levels by 2030. It is also now aiming to cut carbon emissions from its oil and gas production by 20%-30% by 2030, down from the previous goal of 35%-40%.

☆ Central banks are fighting a war on inflation. They're not done yet
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-31 | by ( Julia Horowitz | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +6 min

London CNN —One of the main jobs of central banks is to keep prices under control, allowing households and businesses to plan for the future with some certainty on what things will cost. Tolga Akmen/EPA-EFE/ShutterstockPolicymakers face difficult questions about exactly when to pause interest rate hikes. The European Central Bank’s main rate is 2%, while the Bank of England’s is 3.5%. Still, investors are becoming increasingly confident that major central banks will change course soon. “Central banks are relatively close to the end,” Sels said.

☆ Spain says it is open to sending Leopard tanks to Ukraine
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-25 | by ( Belén Carreño | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

MADRID, Jan 25 (Reuters) - Spain's defence minister said on Wednesday Madrid was open to providing Ukraine with German-made Leopard 2 tanks, after Germany agreed to send the tanks and said NATO allies could do the same. Spain has 108 2A4 tanks, according to security and defence researcher Felix Arteaga of the Elcano think-tank. In late 2022, Spain delivered its largest package of defence materiel for Ukraine to date, sending to the logistics hub in Poland heavy weapons, long-range and anti-tank ammunition. Spain has sent four U.S.-made HAWK air defence systems and has committed to sending two more. It is also offering medical treatment to wounded Ukrainian soldiers, and air defence training at its air base in Toledo.

☆ Premarket stocks: Tech earnings could wreck Wall Street's party
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-24 | by ( Nicole Goodkind | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +7 min

New York CNN —Big Tech earnings are here, and investors are hoping they don’t wreck the good vibes on Wall Street. Three giant tech earnings reports this week — Microsoft (MSFT), Tesla (TSLA)and Intel (INTC) — could change that. In the year-ago quarter, earnings were $2.48 per share on $51.73 billion in revenue. Still, Wall Street expects Tesla’s earnings to grow, if not at the explosive pace of the past few years. Analysts at Goldman Sachs predict that tech growth will slow to 9% between 2021 and 2024 while the sales growth of the overall S&P 500 reaches 7%.

☆ Guatemala summons ambassador in Colombia for consultations in defense minister tussle
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-17 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

GUATEMALA CITY, Jan 17 (Reuters) - Guatemala summoned its ambassador in Colombia for consultations, Guatemala's foreign ministry said on Tuesday, a day after Colombia did the same in regard to a conflict over Colombia's defense minister. Guatemala on Monday accused Colombian Defense Minister Ivan Velasquez, who led a United Nations anti-corruption unit in the Central American country, of committing illegal acts. Colombian President Gustavo Petro came out to defend the minister, saying he would not accept any "order for the arrest" of Velasquez. Guatemalan President Alejandro Giammattei told Spanish news agency EFE on Tuesday that Velasquez was not facing "criminal prosecution." Arrest warrants were issued for several others as part of the investigation, including former Guatemalan Attorney General Thelma Aldana.

His image can be found on T-shirts at California markets, and fans still listen to his raspy voice singing the corridos, or Mexican ballads, that made Chalino Sánchez famous. The podcast "Ídolo: The Ballad of Chalino Sánchez." A plaque says, "You have died to the world but for us you will always live in our hearts," at a memorial to Chalino Sánchez in Culiacán, Sinaloa. A newspaper clipping announcing the concert by Chalino Sánchez in Coachella on Jan. 26, 1992. newspapers.comAfter the artist's involvement in the Coachella shooting while he was on stage, he catapulted to fame. Chalino Sánchez merchandise at the Paramount Swap Meet in Paramount, Calif. Eulimar Núñez / Noticias TelemundoAs Galindo narrates in the podcast, Sánchez's death seemed like the foregone conclusion of his Wild West kind of life.

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