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David Zaslav, President and CEO of Warner Bros. Discovery talks to the media as he arrives at the Sun Valley Resort for the Allen & Company Sun Valley Conference on July 05, 2022 in Sun Valley, Idaho.Kevin Dietsch | Getty ImagesThe biggest decision for any big media chief executive officer is how much to lean in to the future.Warner Bros. Discovery Chief Executive Officer David Zaslav has chosen strategic limbo.Unlike previous WarnerMedia CEO Jason Kilar, who was outwardly future-focused and centered the company around HBO Max, Zaslav is pulling back from a streaming-first mindset to keep his company's theatrical and linear TV businesses going as long as possible.Zaslav on Thursday reiterated his stance that Warner Bros. Discovery isn't going to approach the streaming wars as a race to win the most subscribers. His comments come as Netflix has lost more than 60% of its value in the past year after subscriber growth stopped for the first time in a decade, causing media and entertainments to rethink their own streaming strategies.Warner Bros. Discovery formally announced it will release a combined HBO Max-Discovery+ product in the U.S. by mid-2023 and set a target of 130 million global subscribers by 2025. That's about 40 million more customers than subscribe to HBO Max and Discovery+ today and a far cry from the 221 million subscribers that already pay for Netflix worldwide.Zaslav made a point to say he is a believer in both movie theater releases and the longevity of traditional pay-TV as "a cash generator and a great business for us for many years to come" during his company's second-quarter earnings conference call on Thursday.But he's also committed to spending "significantly more" on HBO Max and adding Discovery programming to the streaming service. Zaslav also announced Thursday that Warner Bros. Discovery will develop a free, ad-supported service to pair with the combined HBO Max/Discovery+.Kilar made waves during the pandemic by deciding to put his entire 2021 film slate on HBO Max at the same time movies hit theaters. While that turned out to be a temporary move, Kilar later stood by the decision as simply the first to shift. "History is already looking at it quite favorably," Kilar said in an April interview with Deadline. "It worked. We were the first over the wall."Zaslav on Thursday, in stark contrast, made a point to emphasize the importance of theatrical release for big-budget movies by scrapping "Batgirl" this week, which Kilar had ticketed to launch directly on HBO Max. Launching expensive movies directly to streaming doesn't make economic sense, Zaslav said. "Batgirl" cost $90 million to make."Our conclusion is expensive direct-to-streaming movies, in terms of how people are consuming them on the platform, how often people buy a service for them, how they get nourished over time, is no comparison to what happens when you launch a film in the theaters," Zaslav said. "This idea of expensive films going direct to streaming, we can't find an economic value for it, and so we're making a strategic shift."It's not Zaslav's first reset during his tenure.Kilar also pushed the launch of CNN+, a $300 million effort to give CNN a digital streaming strategy. Similar to "Batgirl," Zaslav decided to kill the streaming service before it got a chance to prove itself as successful.Zaslav said Thursday he believed the strength of live news is on traditional pay-TV rather than streaming. That suggests CNN live programming won't be going to the HBO Max/Discovery+ product when it launches, or any time soon."We see live news as critical to the linear pay-TV service," Zaslav said.Choosing to push HBO Max while also trying to slow the decline of box office and linear pay-TV is a juggling act. But it's also the plight of the modern media CEO. Moving too far into the future cannibalizes cash-flow positive businesses.It may not be strategically clean. But it's the hand Zaslav is choosing to play."I've been around a long time," Zaslav said, adding that he "hung around" with former General Electric CEO Jack Welch when he ran NBCUniversal, where Zaslav worked. "Broadcast was dead in the '90s, or that's what people said. But in the end, that reach and the ability to drive advertising product was what kept it alive. We're big believers [in overall reach] and we think that's going to help us."WATCH: Paramount Global shares sink, Warner Bros. Discovery shelves 'Batgirl'Disclosure: CNBC is part of NBCUniversal.

Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav embraces the past as he plans his company's future.

Alex Jones steps outside of the Travis County Courthouse, to do interviews with media after he was questioned under oath about text messages and emails by lawyer Mark Bankston, in Austin, Texas, U.S. August 3, 2022. Briana Sanchez/Pool via REUTERSRegister now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.comAug 4 (Reuters) - U.S. conspiracy theorist Alex Jones should pay parents of a child killed in the 2012 Sandy Hook massacre at least $4.1 million for falsely claiming the shooting was a hoax, a Texas jury said on Thursday.The verdict followed a two-week trial in Austin, Texas, where Jones's radio show and webcast Infowars are based.The 12-person jury will next consider the parents’ request for as much as $75 million in punitive damages from Jones for spreading falsehoods about the killing of 20 children and six staff at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, on Dec. 14, 2012.Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.comThose deliberations are expected to begin on Friday.Jurors could still award the parents a large punitive damages verdict if they think Jones’ conduct was not highly damaging but still worthy of punishment, legal experts said."We are very pleased with the verdict, and we are looking forward to the punitive damages phase that starts tomorrow," Kyle Farrar, an attorney for the parents, said in an email.Lawyers for Jones did not immediately respond to a request for comment.Trial consultant Jill Huntley Taylor said it is not uncommon for a jury to award higher punitive damages than compensatory ones.“If jurors’ motivation for an award is their anger at the defendant, then they often award a bigger punitive damage number,” she said in an interview.Neil Heslin and Scarlett Lewis, separated parents of slain six-year-old Jesse Lewis, testified that Jones’ followers harassed them and sent them death threats for years in the false belief that the parents were lying about their son’s death.During closing arguments on Wednesday, Farrar urged jurors to end what he called their nightmare and hold Jones accountable for profiting off their son’s death.'100% REAL'Federico Reynal, an attorney for Jones, acknowledged during his closing argument that Jones and Infowars reported “irresponsibly” on Sandy Hook but said his client was not responsible for the harassment.Jones previously claimed that the mainstream media and gun-control activists conspired to fabricate the Sandy Hook tragedy and that the shooting was staged using crisis actors.He later acknowledged that the shooting took place and sought to distance himself from previous falsehoods during the trial, telling jurors it was “crazy” of him to repeatedly make the claim that the shooting was a hoax.He said that the shooting was “100% real.”In a surprising development, Heslin and Lewis' lawyers disclosed Wednesday that Jones’ lawyers had inadvertently sent them two years worth of his texts and failed to request them back in time.Gamble on Thursday denied a motion for a mistrial by Jones's lawyer who argued that attorneys for the plaintiffs should have immediately destroyed the records. The parents may now use the records as they wish.In the second phase of the damages trial, both sides will present arguments on Jones’ net worth. A finance expert is set to testify for the parents. Jones' company, Free Speech Systems LLC, declared bankruptcy last week. Jones said during a Monday broadcast that the filing will help the company stay on the air while it appeals.Judge Maya Guerra Gamble admonished Jones on Tuesday for not telling the truth about his bankruptcy and compliance with discovery during his testimony.The parents' lawyer also accused Jones of approaching the trial in bad faith, citing broadcasts where Jones said the trial was rigged against him and that the jury pool was full of people who "don't know what planet they're on."Heslin and Lewis joined other Sandy Hook parents in urging a judge to block Free Speech System from sending Jones or his companies any money until they get to the bottom of their finances. read more The parents claim that Jones took $62 million from the company while burdening it with $65 million in "fabricated" debt owed to PQPR Holdings, a company owned by Jones and his parents.Jones was set to stand trial in a similar suit in Connecticut in September, but that case is now on hold while the bankruptcy proceeds.The Sandy Hook gunman, Adam Lanza, 20, used a Remington Bushmaster rifle to carry out the massacre. It ended when Lanza killed himself with the approaching sound of police sirens.Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.comReporting by Jack Queen; editing by Amy Stevens, Noeleen Walder and Howard GollerOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Jury finds Alex Jones must pay $4.1 million for Sandy Hook hoax claims.

Malaysia's sovereign wealth fund Khazanah Nasional has defended its decision not to make an early investment in Southeast Asia's ride-hailing and food delivery superapp Grab.Chief Investment Officer Azmil Zahruddin told CNBC the fund's investment strategy was to focus on large investments — not direct startup deals. Khazanah could not close an early deal to fund the Malaysian-founded Grab.Other investors including Singapore's state-owned investor Temasek eventually took a stake in Grab and the ride-hailing giant moved its headquarters to Singapore. The company went on to raise $4.5 billion and listed on Nasdaq in late 2021 through a SPAC merger with Altimeter Growth Corp, making Grab the biggest listing in the U.S. by a Southeast Asian company.Khazanah came under criticism for what some have said was a "missed opportunity" for Malaysia.Anthony Tan, chief executive officer of Grab Holdings Inc., center right, and Tan Hooi Ling, co-founder of Grab Holdings Inc., celebrate on stage during a bell-ringing ceremony as Grab begins trading on the Nasdaq, in Singapore, on Thursday, Dec. 2, 2021.Ore Huiying | Bloomberg | Getty Images"You have to look at what Khazanah is and what its DNA is," Zahruddin said in an exclusive interview with "CNBC Squawk Box Asia" on Thursday. "Our DNA is that we manage large investments. [Venture capital] investing is not really what we do, and it's not really our expertise and skill set.""So what we try to do is, instead of trying to do those investments directly, we actually seed investments into VC funds who then invest into companies around the region."Zahruddin agreed, however, that it was important for Malaysia to support its entrepreneurs and retain its talent. He said Khazanah would continue to help Malaysian startups through an indirect approach of investing into funders that take a stake in these new companies and potentially investing in them directly after they have matured to a size that meets the fund's investment criteria. To that end, Zahruddin said Khazanah invested in Grab's competitor Uber through an intermediary funder which was willing to invest in Uber at an early stage. Khazanah's investment in the foreign-owned Uber instead of Grab, which was started by two Malaysians, raised eyebrows in the Malaysian investment community. Grab dominates ride-hailing in Singapore and operates across Southeast Asia. The company has been suffering losses since its listing last year and in its latest results for the first quarter, Grab posted a net loss of $435 million although revenue has risen to $228 million — up 6% year-on-year.Outlook for venture capital marketsZahruddin said the venture capital markets have been quite challenging and many endowment funds that have been active in venture capital have seen their investments fall by up to 40% in the past year. But Khazanah would continue to deploy funds into the technology sector and has been doing so in the past 10 years. "In hindsight, it is a good thing that we're not really able to do direct investments anyway, because that is something that is quite challenging for anyone who's been in VC," Zahruddin said.In hindsight, it is a good thing that we're not really able to do direct investments anyway, because that is something that is quite challenging for anyone who's been in VC.Azmil ZahruddinKhazanah NasionalKhazanah posted a nearly 80% drop in annual profits in 2021 to 670 million Malaysian ringgit, or $150.36 million. The year before profits also fell about 60% to RM $2.9 billion. The sovereign wealth fund said the fall in profits were due to its continued extension of financial assistance to its airlines and tourism investments suffering from Covid-19 disruptions. Last month, Khazanah announced it would explore new investment opportunities in Turkey following a meeting between representatives from the fund and the Turkey Wealth Fund in Istanbul.

Malaysia's sovereign wealth fund on why it did not invest in ride-hailing giant Grab.

A recent trend in the exchange-traded funds market suggests bond demand is far from cooling.Corporate, government and high-yield bond ETFs saw inflows last month after lower bond prices and higher yields contributed to the deceleration of fund outflows in May.Andrew McOrmond of WallachBeth Capital, an institutional execution service provider, believes the inflows can be attributed to short-term selling or cash investors want to put to work. "It's been people dipping their toes into the water," the managing director told CNBC's "ETF Edge" on Monday. "You're coming out of what's going to be a U-shaped recovery, I believe. It might already be if you compare it to Covid, which was a clear V [recovery]."It's a strategy that should continue to pay off for investors as they "play the recovery," according to McOrmond. However, at some point they may want to shift to equity ETFs, too.It's not just bond ETFs, it's equity ETFs tooMeanwhile, equity ETFs saw somewhat flat flows despite dividend funds' increasing popularity among investors.Ben Slavin, global head of ETFs at BNY Mellon, recommended the Invesco S&P 500 High Dividend Low Volatility ETF as an option for investors looking to mitigate risks."It's a way to play this market more defensively but also try to collect some income in a way that really avoids some of the risk, or the perceived risk, in the bond market," Slavin said in the same interview.Inflows last month show ETF structure dominance, Slavin added. The ETF market saw inflows as mutual funds experienced notable outflows. Slavin notes investors demonstrated little conviction on how to trade bonds and equities amid reported flows. However, some still uphold interest in actively-managed, fixed-income investments."Actively-managed fixed income is starting to attract more attention where at least certain retail investors and maybe to some degree some professionals, as well, are just saying, 'I'll leave it to an actively managed product or professionals," Slavin said.Disclosure: Ben Slavin's firm provides asset servicing for the Invesco S&P 500 High Dividend Low Volatility ETF.Disclaimer

What this 'play the recovery' strategy says about the hot bond market's future.

Air Lease logo is seen displayed in this illustration taken, May 4, 2022. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/IllustrationRegister now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.comAug 4 (Reuters) - Air Lease Corp's (AL.N) chairman said on Thursday the lessor will examine progress payments that the company makes to Boeing Co (BA.N) and Airbus SE (AIR.PA), as deliveries of aircraft get delayed due to labor and engine shortages."Now that we're experiencing these sustained delays from both Boeing and Airbus, we're going to look at that very carefully," Chairman Steven Udvar-Hazy said during an investor call.Both Boeing and Airbus did not immediately respond to requests for comment.Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.comReporting by Abhijith Ganapavaram in Bengaluru; Editing by Devika SyamnathOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Air Lease chairman says progress payments to Airbus, Boeing under scanner.

XPO Logistics announced Thursday that Mario Harik will be taking over the role of chief executive from Brad Jacobs after the company's spin-off of its high-tech truck brokerage business in the fiscal fourth quarter. Harik was also named president of XPO's less-than-truckload business. He had served as acting president since last October.Jacobs will remain as executive chairman at XPO and non-executive chairman at the spun-off company."There's no better person to do it than Mario," he said of his successor. "Mario is the third person I hired back in 2011. It was love at first sight."The company also reiterated its plan to sell off its Europe business and become a company focused only on LTL trucking, which lets multiple customers transport goods in the same truck. When Cramer asked Harik how customers' concerns about the Federal Reserve's inflation policy and a possible economic recession has impacted business, the incoming CEO said that the feedback has been mixed."We're seeing slightly softer demand than what we saw last year," Harik said.He added that demand from industrial customers has been stronger, since they're dealing with pent-up demand from their own customers as supply shortages ease. Industrial companies make up two-thirds of XPO's customers, according to Harik.Sign up now for the CNBC Investing Club to follow Jim Cramer's every move in the market.DisclaimerQuestions for Cramer? Call Cramer: 1-800-743-CNBCWant to take a deep dive into Cramer's world? Hit him up! Mad Money Twitter - Jim Cramer Twitter - Facebook - InstagramQuestions, comments, suggestions for the "Mad Money" website? madcap@cnbc.com

XPO Logistics CEO discusses stepping down as CEO with Mario Harik to succeed him.

A logo is pictured on the Credit Suisse bank in Geneva, Switzerland, June 9, 2022. REUTERS/Denis BalibouseRegister now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.comMEXICO CITY, Aug 4 (Reuters) - Credit Suisse (CSGN.S) is among the lenders owed the most money by embattled Mexican finance company Credito Real, which has begun bankruptcy proceedings for $2.6 billion in debts, a local business newspaper reported Thursday.Private documents show that Credit Suisse is owed over $100 million by Credito Real, according to a report from Mexican business paper El CEO. That would be the largest debt Credito Real owes to a foreign bank, the report said.Credit Suisse declined to comment about the report.Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.comThe news comes as media have reported that Credit Suisse was considering making sweeping cuts read more , and after Moodys rating agency downgraded the bank's unsecured debt ratings.Mexico's national development bank, NAFIN, is owed the most of any entity, with $119 million in unpaid debts, according to El CEO. NAFIN didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.Credito Real announced it was beginning bankruptcy proceedings in July after defaulting earlier in the year. read more Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.comReporting by Isabel Woodford; Edited by Michael WilliamsOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Credit Suisse at big risk from Credito Real bankruptcy - media.

Shipping containers are seen are at a terminal of the Port of Oakland, California, U.S., July 22, 2022. REUTERS/Carlos Barria/File PhotoRegister now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.comAug 4 (Reuters) - Stress on global supply chains eased in July to the lowest level since January 2021 as port congestion and other snags eased, the New York Federal Reserve reported on Thursday, in its latest update to a worldwide index of supply problems.It was the third straight month of declines in an encouraging sign for U.S. Federal Reserve policymakers who are keen for supply chain issues to ease in order to help tame inflation, which is running at a four-decade high in the world's largest economy.The regional bank's Global Supply Chain Pressure Index incorporates data on shipping costs, delivery times, backlogs and other statistics into a single measure compared to historical norms.Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.comThe index is now down more than 50% from last December's record high, but it still remains well above levels seen just before the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.Thursday's data tallies with a survey published earlier this week by the Institute for Supply Management, which showed a measure of the speed of U.S. supplier deliveries also improving.On a global level, a supplier delivery times index from S&P Global and JPMorgan shows delays have let up significantly this year. The index in July was the highest since November 2020, with higher readings indicating better delivery performance.Supply chain issues have become a key issue in the global recovery from the pandemic, and in the efforts of the Fed and other major central banks to quash inflation. They intensified earlier in the year as coronavirus lockdown measures in China and the war in Ukraine lengthened delivery times.Analysts at Morgan Stanley in Asia used the New York Fed index as a building block for their own tracker of supply chain pressures in China. That index had eased for a second month through June, supporting their view that non-commodity producer price indexes have already eased off their highs."They expect the downward trend to continue, easing import prices elsewhere in the world, especially for the U.S.," Morgan Stanley said in a note.The U.S. central bank and some other institutions have already begun to more swiftly raise interest rates in an effort to dampen demand for goods and services while hoping supply chains untangle in order to bring economies into better balance.Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.comReporting by Lindsay Dunsmuir and Dan Burns; Editing by Bill Rigby and Edward TobinOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Global supply chain stress at 18-month low in July, NY Fed's index shows.

Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.comWASHINGTON, Aug 4 (Reuters) - U.S. prosecutors on Thursday charged four current and former Louisville, Kentucky, police officers for their roles in the botched 2020 raid that killed Breonna Taylor, a Black woman who was in her home, in a case that sparked nationwide protests.The charges represented the Justice Department's latest effort to crack down on abuses and racial disparities in policing, following a wave of controversial police killings of Black Americans.Former Louisville Metropolitan Police Department Detective Joshua Jaynes and current Sergeant Kyle Meany were charged with civil rights violations and obstruction of justice for using false information to obtain the search warrant that authorized the botched March 13, 2020, raid that killed Taylor in her home, the Justice Department said. Current Detective Kelly Goodlett was charged with conspiring with Jaynes to falsify the warrant and then cover up the falsification.Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.comA fourth officer, former Detective Brett Hankison, was charged with civil rights violations for allegedly using excessive force, U.S. Attorney Merrick Garland said."Breonna Taylor should be alive today," Garland told a news conference. "The Justice Department is committed to defending and protecting the civil rights of every person in this country. That was this department’s founding purpose, and it remains our urgent mission."The death of Taylor, a 26-year-old emergency medical technician, was one in a trio of cases that fueled a summer of protests against racial injustice and police violence two years ago, in the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic."Today was a huge step toward justice," lawyers for the Taylor family said in a statement following the news.Louisville police on Thursday began the process of firing Meany and Goodlett, the department said in a statement. Hankison and Jaynes were previously fired by the department.The Justice Department also is conducting an investigation into whether the Louisville Metro Government and Louisville police engaged in a pattern or practice of abusing residents' civil rights.Preonia Flakes, Breonna's cousin, wipes Tamika Palmer's (Breonna Taylor mother's) tears, after the announcement that the FBI arrested and brought civil rights charges against four current and former Louisville police officers for their roles in the 2020 fatal shooting of Breonna Taylor, in Louisville, Kentucky, U.S. August 4, 2022. REUTERS/Amira KaraoudNO-KNOCK RAIDLouisville police were investigating alleged drug trafficking when they broke down the door of Taylor's home in a "no-knock" raid, leading her boyfriend, who was carrying a legally owned firearm, to shoot at the officers, who then fired 22 shots into the apartment, killing Taylor, prosecutors said.Hankison, prosecutors said, moved away from the door, firing 10 shots into Taylor's apartment through a window and a glass door that were covered with blinds and curtains.Hankison told a Kentucky grand jury that he opened fire once the shooting started. As he saw flashes light up the room, he said, he mistakenly believed one of the occupants was firing an assault-style rifle at his colleagues. Instead, mostly what he heard was other police firing their weapons. read more Prosecutors said Jaynes and Goodlett met in a garage days after the shooting to agree on a false story to cover for the false evidence they had submitted to justify the botched raid.Lawyer Stew Mathews, who represented Hankison at a trial in Jefferson County Circuit Court where he was acquitted in March of wanton endangerment, said he had spoken Thursday morning with the former detective as he was on his way to surrender to the FBI.Mathews said the federal charges looked similar to the previous state charges Hankison had faced. Until Thursday, Hankison had been the only officer to face charges in connection with the raid."I'm sure Brett will be contesting this just like he did the other indictment," Mathews said.Lawyer Thomas Clay, who represents Jaynes, could not be immediately reached for comment. It was not immediately clear if Meany and Goodlett had attorneys.The killing of Taylor, along with other high-profile 2020 killings of George Floyd in Minneapolis and Ahmaud Arbery in Brunswick, Georgia, sparked nationwide protests.Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.comReporting by Scott Malone in Washington and Colleen Jenkins in Winston-Salem, North Carolina; Editing by Daniel Wallis and Marla DickersonOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

U.S. charges four Kentucky police officers in Breonna Taylor killing.

World August 4, 2022 / 5:59 PM / CBS News As tensions simmer along the Ukrainian-Belarusian border, the chair for U.S. special envoy to Belarus remains empty. In a letter Thursday, Sens. Jeanne Shaheen, a New Hampshire Democrat, Roger Wicker, a Republican from Mississippi, Richard Durbin, an Illinois Democrat, Thom Tillis, a Republican from North Carolina and Lindsey Graham, a South Carolina Republican, called for action from the administration. "As Mr. Lukashenka tightens his authoritarian grip, the United States must remain a committed partner for all those pursuing a democratic future for Belarus," they state in the letter provided to CBS News. President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko, who was reelected in what the international community widely regarded as a fraudulent election in 2020, has been one of Russian President Vladimir Putin's staunchest allies since Russia's invasion of Ukraine in February.  The General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine announced that some of Belarus' special operations forces were holding a "combat readiness check" along the Belarusian-Ukrainian border, according to a Thursday Facebook post. Belarus currently allows Russian troops to use its territory. Lukashenko reaffirmed his commitment on July 3, saying Belarus stood fully behind Russia as part of its longstanding commitment to a "union state" with Moscow, per a Reuters report. The post of U.S. ambassador to Belarus was meant to be filled by Ambassador Julie Fisher after she was confirmed by the Senate in December 2020, but the Belarussian authorities did not allow that to happen. They denied the ambassador's visa and accreditation, leading to her serving as U.S. special envoy to Belarus from Vilnius, Lithuania. She stepped down from the role on June 9.  "Nomination of special envoy would be a strong signal of support for Belarusians thriving for independence and democracy in Belarus. We count on U.S. leadership to keep Belarus on the agenda and strengthen the international coalition for free Belarus," said Franak Viacorka, senior adviser to Belarus opposition leader Sviatlana Tsihanouskaya, to CBS News. The State Department has spoken out against human rights abuses by the Lukashenko regime. In May, Secretary Tony Blinken condemned a new amendment to the criminal code in Belarus that would allow for the use of the death penalty against political prisoners. The aftermath of Lukashenko's reelection led to mass protests followed by violent crackdowns. Between May 2020 and May 2021, at least 37,000 people were detained, many of them placed in administrative detention for up to 15 days, according to a May U.N. report. The report said Belarus violated international law, stating, "there was an active policy to shield perpetrators and prevent accountability, reflected in the level of reprisals, intimidation of victims and witnesses, attacks on lawyers and human rights defenders". On Wednesday, Belarussian journalist Iryna Slaunikava was sentenced to 5 years in prison for organizing activities that disrupt social order as the government crackdown on media continues. The Committee to Protect Journalists called the sentencing "another example of the deeply cynical and vindictive nature of the Belarusian government."  In: belarus Ukraine Russia Thanks for reading CBS NEWS. Create your free account or log in for more features. Please enter email address to continue Please enter valid email address to continue

Senators call on Biden administration to fill the vacant role of U.S. special envoy to Belarus.

MoneyWatch August 4, 2022 / 5:42 PM / MoneyWatch Goldman Sachs said its credit card unit is under investigation by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, a federal agency tasked with protecting Americans from financial abuse.In a securities filing on Thursday, Goldman said the CFPB is examining a number of the company's credit card account management practices, including refunds, resolving billing errors, advertisements and reporting to credit bureaus. In a statement to CBS MoneyWatch, Goldman said the bank "is cooperating with the CFPB on this matter." The Wall Street firm, known for handling money for wealthy clients as well as offering corporate banking and advisory services, has more recently pushing into retail banking, including the rollout of its Marcus by Goldman Sachs personal loan unit in 2016. It's also waded into the credit card business via the Apple Card in 2019 and General Motors-branded cards through its Marcus division. While it's not clear what sparked the CFPB investigation, the bureau's database includes hundreds of consumer complaints about Goldman since 2019. Some involve problems receiving a refund or disputing fraudulent charges.  For instance, in one complaint, a consumer described buying a $640 airline ticket with their Apple Card. When the flight was canceled and they didn't get a refund, the consumer disputed the charge with Goldman. The bank denied the dispute and didn't provide a refund or an explanation for that decision, the consumer claimed. Other customer complaints involve fees and trouble using Goldman-branded credit cards because of locked accounts or other issues.  Thanks for reading CBS NEWS. Create your free account or log in for more features. Please enter email address to continue Please enter valid email address to continue

Goldman Sachs' credit card unit is under investigation by the feds.

Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy attends a joint news conference with Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda, as Russia's attack on Ukraine continues, in Kyiv, Ukraine July 28, 2022. Ukrainian Presidential Press Service/Handout via REUTERS Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.comKYIV, Aug 4 (Reuters) - Human rights group Amnesty International accused Ukraine on Thursday of endangering civilians by basing troops in residential areas during Russia's invasion in a report that Kyiv likened to Russian propaganda and disinformation.President Volodymyr Zelenskiy led fierce Ukrainian denunciations of Amnesty's allegations, accusing the group of abetting what he called Russia's unprovoked attacks on Ukraine. The human rights group, he said, was "trying to shift the responsibility from the aggressor to the victim".Amnesty workers witnessed Ukrainian forces "establishing bases and operating weapons systems" in some populated residential areas during visits to several frontline areas in Ukraine's east and south from April to July, the report said.Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com"We have documented a pattern of Ukrainian forces putting civilians at risk and violating the laws of war when they operate in populated areas," the report quoted Agnès Callamard, Amnesty International's secretary general, as saying.She called on the Ukrainian government to ensure that its forces were located away from populated areas or for all civilians to be evacuated from those areas first.Zelenskiy, in his nightly video message, said the group was trying to "amnesty the terrorist state" - a term he often uses for Russia."There are no conditions, and nor can there be, even hypothetically, under which any Russian attack on Ukraine becomes justified," said Zelenskiy, clearly agitated."Anyone who amnesties Russia and who artificially creates such an information context where some attacks by terrorists are supposedly justified or supposedly understandable, cannot fail to understand that, in doing so, they are helping the terrorists. And if there are such manipulative reports, then you share with them the responsibility for the killings of people."Ukrainian Deputy Defence Minister Hanna Malyar said failing to criticise Russia's actions in the report "is like studying the actions of the victim without considering the actions of an armed rapist".Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said he was "outraged" by the report, and urged Amnesty to "stop creating a false reality".Ukrainian officials say they take every possible measure to evacuate civilians from frontline areas. Russia denies targetting civilians in what it describes as a "special military operation".Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.comReporting by Max Hunder; Editing by Tom Balmforth, Christina Fincher, Ron Popeski and Daniel WallisOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Amnesty accuses Ukraine of basing troops in residential areas, angering Kyiv.

SINGAPORE — Futures in Asia-Pacific pointed to a lower open Friday as China conducts military exercises around Taiwan.On the economic front, investors are looking out for a Reserve Bank of Australia statement on monetary policy, the Reserve Bank of India's interest rate decision and a U.S. jobs report later in the day.The Nikkei futures contract in Chicago was at 27,900 while its counterpart in Osaka was at 27,860. That compared against the Nikkei 225's last close at 27,932.2.Japan Defense Minister Nobuo Kishi said Chinese missiles landed in Japan's exclusive economic zone and called the military drills a "serious problem," according to an NBC News report.SPI futures in Australia were at 6,891, lower than the S&P/ASX 200's last close at 6,974.9.The RBA is set to release its statement on monetary policy Friday."Of particular interest will be the interest rate levels assumed in the forecasts. We suspect a cash rate of 3% will feature," ANZ Research said in a note.Stock picks and investing trends from CNBC Pro:The Reserve Bank of India will announce its interest rate decision later as well.Overnight in the U.S., the Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 85.68 points, or 0.26%, to 32,726.82. The S&P 500 was about flat at 4,151.94 at the close. The Nasdaq Composite gained 0.41% to 12,720.58.Friday's jobs report is expected to show that 258,000 jobs were added in the U.S. last month, according to Dow Jones economist estimates. That's fewer than the 372,000 added in June.Currencies and oilThe U.S. dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of its peers, was last at 105.693 after a recent drop from about 106.5.The Japanese yen strengthened slightly to change hands at 132.66 per dollar. The Australian dollar was at $0.6968, climbing higher after a sharp fall from above $0.7 on Tuesday.U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude fell 0.7% to $87.92 per barrel early on Friday, continuing its fall after shedding 2.3% in the previous session.Brent crude futures ended 2.75% lower at $94.12 a barrel on Thursday. Both benchmarks touched their lowest levels in months.

Asia markets set to fall as China conducts military drills near Taiwan.

People watch a TV broadcasting a news report on the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak in North Korea, at a railway station in Seoul, South Korea, May 17, 2022. REUTERS/Kim Hong-Ji/File PhotoRegister now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.comSEOUL, Aug 5 (Reuters) - North Korea on Friday said all of its fever patients have recovered, marking the end of its first wave of the coronavirus pandemic, but challenges linger with economic hardships deepening and an unvaccinated population exposed to future resurgences, analysts said.While state media said the "anti-epidemic situation ... has entered a definite phase of stability", rather than boasting of victory, North Korea said it would "redouble efforts to maintain perfection in the execution of state anti-epidemic policies". read more The reclusive country has never confirmed how many people caught COVID-19, apparently lacking testing supplies. But it said around 4.77 million fever patients have fully recovered and 74 died since late April. It has reported no new fever cases since July 30.Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.comSouth Korean officials and medical experts have cast doubts on those figures, especially the number of deaths.Shin Young-jeon, a professor at Hanyang University's medical school in Seoul, said while the peak of the first COVID wave may have passed, the stated fatalities were nearly "impossible" and there could be up to 50,000 deaths."Their success, if any, should lie in the fact that the outbreak didn't lead to a political or social chaos. Whether their COVID response was successful was another problem."South Korea's Unification Minister Kwon Young-se, responsible for inter-Korean affairs, said this week there were "credibility issues" with the North's data but the COVID situation seemed "somewhat under control."GAMES RETURNIn a sign of easing outbreaks, the ruling Workers' Party hosted a large, mask-free event in late July, inviting hundreds of Korean War veterans. read more The national football league kicked off its season this week following a three-year halt, state media reported, as did swimming, yachting and bowling competitions.Most games appeared to be held without spectators, but a photo of a taekwondo match carried on Monday by the official Rodong Sinmun newspaper showed an audience wearing masks and sitting seats apart.Some analysts say challenges around the economy, food security and public health remain and could be further exacerbated if infections return as seen in Asian neighbours amid a spread of Omicron sub-variants.Still, leader Kim Jong Un has yet to lift strict movement restrictions, and the Chinese border remains shut, with no officials travelling abroad and diplomatic missions in Pyongyang vacant."Despite the weak medical infrastructure, each North Korean community has a designated doctor, and the socialist system's strict controls and concerted responses might help find out and isolate potential cases," said Lim Eul-chul, a professor of North Korean studies at Kyungnam University in South Korea.Cheong Seong-chang, a senior fellow at the Sejong Institute, said the North's outbreak was possibly less severe than expected, as the publicised fever cases could include large numbers from other seasonal epidemics.South Korea's spy agency said in May that some waterborne diseases such as typhoid or cholera were already widespread in the North before COVID hit. read more Cho Han-bum, a senior fellow at the Korea Institute for National Unification in Seoul, said Kim might have decided to seek herd immunity in the face of worsening food shortages and public sentiment due to restrictions.Experts said the pandemic and a nationwide lockdown would deepen the North's already dire food situation, and the World Health Organization said in June the COVID situation there could be getting worse."The North could be trying to ease the restrictions to let people go out and feed themselves, as food shortages become serious and there would be more outbreaks," Cho said.Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.comReporting by Hyonhee Shin and Soo-hyang Choi; Additional reporting by Hyun Young Yi and Joori Roh; Editing by Lincoln FeastOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

North Korea marks end of first COVID wave, but risks persist.

Peru's President Pedro Castillo adjusts the presidential sash after delivering his address to the nation, in Lima, Peru July 28, 2022. Ernesto Arias/Peru Congress/Handout via REUTERS Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.comLIMA, Aug 4 (Reuters) - Peru's Congress on Thursday forced President Pedro Castillo to stay in the country this week as he navigates a leadership crisis, without a prime minister and with a new Cabinet expected to be sworn in on Friday.Castillo had sought to travel to Colombia for the inauguration of left-wing President Gustavo Petro this week.The rejection of his travel request by the opposition-led Congress is unprecedented since Peru passed its current constitution in 1993.Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.comThis comes as some lawmakers are calling for Castillo to be impeached again. Castillo, who took office a year ago, has already survived two impeachment attempts and is facing mounting crises.Prosecutors have opened five criminal investigations against him, while his administration has seen unprecedented turnover in senior leadership roles, with his fourth prime minister resigning unexpectedly on Wednesday. read more A lawyer for Castillo said the President had testified in one of the five open cases against him on Thursday, but had invoked his right to remain silent.Among other issues, the probes are investigating whether he obstructed justice when he fired an interior minister and whether certain police and military appointments were improper.Castillo has denied allegations of wrongdoing and said he will cooperate with any probes. In Peru, a president can be investigated while in office but cannot be charged.Castillo, a peasant farmer and former school teacher, won the presidency on a leftist platform to lift the poor and fund new social programs.Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.comReporting by Marco Aquino; Editing by Daniel Wallis, Frances Kerry, Paulo Prada and Himani SarkarOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Peru's Castillo forced to stay in country as Cabinet crisis continues.

Tesla CEO Elon Musk gestures as he visits the construction site of Tesla's Gigafactory in Gruenheide near Berlin, Germany, August 13, 2021.Patrick Pleul | ReutersAt the Tesla 2022 shareholders' meeting on Thursday, investors asked CEO Elon Musk how the company plans to spend its money in coming years, and about his global economic outlook.Musk joked that "making macroeconomic prognostications is a recipe for disaster" but nonetheless estimated that "we are past peak inflation" and likely to see a "relatively mild recession," lasting for about 18 months.The CEO based his economic analysis on the commodity prices Tesla is being asked to pay for materials and goods it needs to make electric vehicles. "We do get a fair bit of insight into where prices of things are going over time because when you're making millions of cars, you have to purchase commodities many months in advance of when they're needed," he said.In the second quarter of 2022, Russia's war on Ukraine and the ongoing Covid pandemic in China hampered Tesla's Shanghai factory, and worsened supply chain snarls, parts shortages and labor problems throughout the auto industry.Musk was also asked how Tesla plans to use its capital in coming years. The CEO said Tesla will primarily increase its capital expenditures and research and development spending "as fast as we can do so without wasting it." He added that "a sort of share buyback is possible," depending on what Tesla's future cash flow looks like,Musk, who is also the CEO of SpaceX, said he "wouldn't want to commit" to Tesla share buybacks just yet, and that a force majeure event somewhere could change the equation. However, he reiterated that if Tesla's future cashflow is looking solid, and the world is "relatively stable," then a "share buyback is on the table."20 million cars a year in about 12 factories by 2030Overall, Tesla aims to produce 20 million vehicles annually by 2030, a lofty goal, and Musk said he thinks this will take approximately a dozen factories, with each factory producing 1.5 million to 2 million units per year.Currently Tesla operates vehicle assembly plants in Shanghai; Fremont, California; Austin, Texas; and outside of Berlin in Germany. It also produces batteries at a factory in Sparks, Nevada, that it jointly operates with Panasonic.Tesla recently produced its 3 millionth car, Musk said on Thursday, and is hoping to announce a new factory location later this year.At the same time, the company is recycling only 50 vehicle battery packs per week in Nevada, Musk revealed Thursday, explaining that the number is so low because most battery packs from Tesla cars are still in vehicles in use today.During the shareholder meeting, the celebrity CEO also repeated promises he has made in the past including that Tesla is closing in on the goal of "solving autonomy," and delivering a self-driving vehicle capable of operating as a robotaxi without any driver behind the wheel.He delighted shareholders by seeking their input on where to set up Tesla's next factory (many shouted "Canada") and by telling the room seemingly full of retail investors that they understood the company better than finance professionals including Wall Street analysts.But he also broke some disappointing news to shareholders, reiterating that Tesla is aiming to produce the Cybertruck in mid-2023 but will not be able to sell it with the same specifications and pricing that were originally given when the company unveiled the experimental pickup in 2019.Of the Cybertruck's anticipated higher price, Musk said, "I think there's no way to have anticipated quite the inflation that we've seen." Tesla will be "installing the production equipment, tooling and all, starting in the next couple of months" at its Austin, Texas factory where the shareholder meeting took place on Thursday.Musk boasted at the meeting that Tesla, and his re-usable rocket company SpaceX, are two of the places where engineering students most want to work today. Tesla received 3 million job applications last year, he said. He also revealed, "We do allow people to move from one company to the other if they would like," referring to his two businesses. "That's cool we support that."Audience members at the in-person meeting were selected through a random drawing, while other shareholders tuned in to video livestreams online. The live event attendees offered raucous jeers at shareholders who presented proposals that Tesla's board did not agree they should pass.One shareholder took the mic during a question-and-answer session, gave up his right to ask Elon Musk a question, and instead bashed the media for its treatment of Musk and thanked the CEO for "making the world a better place." The shareholder also said hello to his 6-year-old at home who he said was watching the business event back home. He received a standing ovation.Tesla bull and managing partner of The Future Fund, Gary Black, asked Musk about whether he may ever leave his role as CEO at Tesla. Musk said due to all the great people in his organization, he thought Tesla would do well even if he was "kidnapped by aliens." He later emphasized, "I'm not leaving to be clear."

Elon Musk predicts mild 18-month recession, teases possible share buybacks.

U.S. August 4, 2022 / 5:13 PM / CBS/AP Albert Woodfox, a former Black Panther and one of the "Angola Three," has died of complications from COVID-19, his brother told CBS News. He was 75.Woodfox and two other men became known as the "Angola Three" for their decades-long stays in isolation at the Louisiana Penitentiary at Angola and other prisons. Officials said they were kept in solitary because their Black Panther Party activism would otherwise rile up inmates at the maximum-security prison farm in Angola.   Albert Woodfox at his home in New Orleans, Louisiana.  The Washington Post via Getty Images Woodfox, the last of the group to be released, spent 43 years in solitary confinement after the 1972 death of prison guard Brent Miller. Woodfox was serving time for armed robbery and assault when he was convicted in Miller's killing. Inmates identified him as the one who grabbed the guard from behind while others stabbed Miller with a lawnmower blade and a hand-sharpened prison knife. Woodfox was placed in solitary immediately after Miller's body was found in an empty prison dormitory, and then was ordered kept on "extended lockdown" every 90 days for decades. Woodfox consistently maintained his innocence in the killing of Miller.  He was being held at the West Feliciana Parish Detention Center — awaiting a third trial in Miller's death after two earlier convictions were thrown out by federal courts for reasons including racial bias in selecting a grand jury foreman — when, in June 2015, Federal Judge James Brady intervened and barred the trial, ordering Woodfox's immediate release, CBS affiliate WAFB-TV reported at the time. The judge cited Woodfox's failing health and his belief that the state could not conduct a fair trial.In February 2016, Woodfox, then 69 years old, pleaded no contest to manslaughter and aggravated burglary and a judge ordered his immediate release. "After carefully considering all of the facts and circumstances surrounding this case and its procedural history, as it stands today – our team of prosecutors believes this plea is in the best interest of justice," Attorney General Jeff Landry said in a statement at the time."It is clear that the Federal District Court has signaled its intention to force Albert Woodfox's release without any admission of guilt. In the best interest of justice and with the recognition of 42 years of hard labor served, we achieved a conviction waving his right to appeal," Landry added. "Today's plea brings closure to the family of Brent Miller, justice for the people of Louisiana, and finality to this decades-long prosecution." Woodfox's brother told CBS News on Thursday that going forward, he hopes his brother's legacy will inspire continued prison reform.The other two members of the Angola Three were Robert King, who was released in 2001 after his conviction in the death of a fellow inmate was overturned; and Herman Wallace, who died a free man in October 2013, just days after a judge granted him a new trial in the guard's death.   In: Black Panthers Obituary Thanks for reading CBS NEWS. Create your free account or log in for more features. Please enter email address to continue Please enter valid email address to continue

Albert Woodfox, former Black Panther who spent decades in solitary confinement, dies at age 75.

The Warner Bros logo is seen during the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity in Cannes, France, June 22, 2022. REUTERS/Eric Gaillard/File PhotoRegister now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.comAug 4 (Reuters) - Warner Bros. Discovery Inc (WBD.O) on Thursday laid out a new strategy that will merge the HBO Max streaming service with Discovery+ while vowing to take aim at Marvel's "Captain America" and "Iron Man".The move, which confirms a Reuters report, will combine WarnerMedia's dramas, comedies and movies with Discovery's reality shows and comes as streaming services face a demand slowdown.As part of the new strategy, the company will assemble a team to create a 10-year plan for its DC comics-related franchise that includes "Wonder Woman", "Superman" and "Aquaman".Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.comThe approach was similar in structure to Walt Disney Co's (DIS.N) approach to the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Chief Executive David Zaslav said.In the first conference call after launching a comprehensive review of WarnerMedia's assets following the $43 billion merger with Discovery, executives explained how they planned to reset the company that once prioritized streaming video investments into one that will seek a diversified approach."We have every platform in the ecosystem, and in a world where things are changing and there's a lot of uncertainty ... that's a lot more stable and a lot better than having one cash register," Zaslav said in a conference call with analysts.The new plan also explores the opportunity for free ad-supported streaming services.Investors were not yet convinced as shares tumbled 11% after the company cut its core profit forecast."Launching a new ad-supported plan could be an effective move as long as the price points and offerings are well calibrated. This strategy is in line with what competitors like Disney and Netflix are doing," said Paul Verna, principal analyst at Insider Intelligence.Executives said the review found previously approved investments and strategies that would hurt 2022 earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) by $2 billion. These included an emphasis on making its theatrical slate available directly on the subscription streaming service and a costly investment in CNN+."I agree with their attitude that streaming is just one component in monetizing content but there is still a more significant albatross from streaming investments, especially in 2022, than might have been expected," said Benchmark analyst Matthew Harrigan.Warner Bros. Discovery expects adjusted EBITDA to range between $9 billion and $9.5 billion for 2022, down from its earlier estimates of $10 billion set prior to the merger closing. It forecast 2023 core profit to be $12 billion.The company, which reported combined results for the first time, also disclosed 92.1 million streaming subscribers at the end of the second quarter.This reflected a gain of about 1.7 million from the previous quarter but also a decline of about 300,000 subscribers in the United States and Canada and the elimination of 10 million subscribers due to some non-core customers and AT&T wireless subscribers who never activated their HBO Max service.Prior to the merger, HBO and HBO Max boasted a combined 76.8 million subscribers, including 48.6 million in the United States. Discovery+ ended the first quarter with 24 million subscribers.The newly merged company reported a second-quarter net loss of $3.4 billion and a slight decline in revenue.The net loss includes about $2 billion of amortization of intangibles, about $1 billion of restructuring and other charges, and $983 million of transaction and integration expenses, the company said.Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.comReporting by Dawn Chmielewski in Los Angeles and Chavi Mehta in Bengaluru; Editing by Kenneth Li and Sriraj KalluvilaOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Warner Bros. Discovery hits streaming-first push reset as DC chases Marvel.

Elon Musk's Twitter profile is seen on a smartphone placed on printed Twitter logos in this picture illustration taken April 28, 2022. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration//File PhotoRegister now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.comNEW YORK, Aug 4 (Reuters) - Twitter Inc (TWTR.N) on Thursday dismissed Elon Musk's claims in a Delaware court filing that he was hoodwinked into signing the deal to buy the social media company, saying that it was "implausible and contrary to fact."Musk made the claims in a countersuit filed under seal last Friday, which was made public on Thursday."According to Musk, he — the billionaire founder of multiple companies, advised by Wall Street bankers and lawyers — was hoodwinked by Twitter into signing a $44 billion merger agreement. That story is as implausible and contrary to fact as it sounds," the filing released by Twitter on Thursday said.Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.comTwitter's filing is the latest salvo in what is building up to be an increasingly acrimonious legal showdown between the world's richest person and the social media giant.The two sides head to trial on Oct. 17 after Musk sought to abandon his deal to acquire Twitter over what he says is a misrepresentation of fake accounts on the site.The San Francisco-based company is trying to force Musk to follow through on the deal and accuses him of sabotaging it because it no longer served his interests.A representative for Musk did not immediately respond to a request for comment.In the counterclaims made public Thursday, Musk accuses Twitter of stepping up efforts to conceal the true number of its users, as the market plummeted."As a long bull market was coming to a close, and the tide was going out, Twitter knew that providing the Musk Parties the information they were requesting would reveal that Twitter had been swimming naked," the counterclaims say.Twitter counters that Musk has not "pleaded a shred of evidence" for these "fact-free" allegations.'FACT-FREE' ALLEGATIONSMusk also claims that "Twitter’s misrepresentations run far deeper than simply providing incorrect numbers" about its spam or false accounts.While "Twitter touts having 238 million 'monetizable daily active users,' those users who actually see ads" is roughly 65 million lower, Musk says in the counterclaims.Twitter maintains that its SEC disclosures about monetizable daily active users were accurate.Musk, the chief executive of electric car company Tesla Inc (TSLA.O), offered to buy Twitter for $54.20 per share in April, saying he believed in its potential as a global platform for free speech.But he soured on Twitter as its stock price lagged his takeover bid, and began expressing skepticism that bot and spam accounts represented less than 5% of users.Musk sought to back out on July 8 without paying a $1 billion breakup fee, citing Twitter's failure to provide details on bot and spam accounts. Twitter sued him four days later.Earlier this week, Twitter issued dozens of subpoenas to banks, investors and law firms that backed Musk's takeover bid, while Musk issued subpoenas to Twitter's advisers at Goldman Sachs and JP Morgan over their work.Legal experts have said Twitter's requests suggested the company wanted to know why Musk turned against it, or whether he reneged on his obligation to obtain sufficient financing.Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.comAdditional reporting by Anirban Sen and Greg Roumeliotis, Editing by Deepa BabingtonOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.Tom HalsThomson ReutersAward-winning reporter covering U.S. courts and law from the COVID-19 pandemic to high-profile criminal trials and Wall Street's biggest failures with more than two decades of experience in international financial news in Asia and Europe.

Twitter rejects Musk's claims that he was hoodwinked.

Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.comSummaryBiden calls ruling unacceptableDefence lawyers say they will appealGriner weeps as she pleads for leniencyGriner's lawyers sought her acquittalUnited States has made Russia a prisoner swap offerKHIMKI, Russia, Aug 4 (Reuters) - A Russian court sentenced U.S. basketball star Brittney Griner to nine years in prison on Thursday after finding her guilty of deliberately bringing cannabis-infused vape cartridges into Russia, a ruling that U.S. President Joe Biden called "unacceptable."Griner was escorted out of the courtroom in handcuffs by police after the ruling, turning to reporters and saying: "I love my family".Griner, a two-time Olympic gold medallist and Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) star, was arrested in mid-February as she arrived to play for a Russian side during the WNBA offseason. Her case threw the Texan into the geopolitical maelstrom triggered when President Vladimir Putin sent troops into Ukraine on Feb. 24, propelling U.S.-Russian relations to a new post-Cold War low.Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.comHer sentencing could now pave the way for a U.S.-Russia prisoner swap that would include the 31-year-old athlete and an imprisoned Russian who was once a prolific arms dealer.Griner had admitted having the vape cartridges containing hashish oil but said she had made an honest mistake by inadvertently packing them.Before the verdict, she tearfully pleaded with a Russian judge not to "end her life" with a harsh prison sentence. The court also fined her 1 million roubles ($16,990). read more Biden, under pressure to bring home Americans held in Russia, called on Russia to free Griner immediately and said his administration would continue to work for her release."Today, American citizen Brittney Griner received a prison sentence that is one more reminder of what the world already knew: Russia is wrongfully detaining Brittney," he said in a statement."It's unacceptable, and I call on Russia to release her immediately so she can be with her wife, loved ones, friends, and teammates."National security spokesperson John Kirby later on Thursday urged Russia to accept a "serious proposal" Washington made weeks ago for Griner's release.Griner's lawyers said they would appeal a verdict they said was "absolutely unreasonable". Her defence team said the court had ignored all evidence they had presented, as well as Griner's guilty plea."She is very upset, very stressed," said Maria Blagovolina, partner at Rybalkin Gortsunyan Dyakin and Partners, after the hearing. "She can hardly talk. It's a difficult time for her."The Russian prosecutor had called for Griner to be sentenced to 9-1/2 years prison if she was found guilty of bringing illegal drugs into the country.'HONEST MISTAKE'Griner was detained at Moscow's Sheremetyevo airport on Feb. 17 with the cartridges containing hashish oil in her luggage. While she pleaded guilty, she said she had neither intended to bring a banned substance to Russia nor to hurt anybody."I made an honest mistake and I hope that in your ruling, that it doesn't end my life here," Griner said in court on Thursday before breaking down in tears."My parents taught me two important things: one, take ownership of your responsibilities and two, work hard for everything that you have. That's why I pled guilty to my charges."U.S. basketball player Brittney Griner, who was detained at Moscow's Sheremetyevo airport and later charged with illegal possession of cannabis, is escorted before a court hearing in Khimki outside Moscow, Russia August 4, 2022. REUTERS/Evgenia Novozhenina/Pool"I want to say again that I had no intent on breaking any Russians laws," she told the court. "I had no intent, I did not conspire or plan to commit this crime."Griner also referred to the international politics around her case, saying: "I know everybody keeps talking about political pawn and politics, but I hope that is far from this courtroom".Cannabis is illegal in Russia for both medicinal and recreational purposes.Griner's defence team had called for her to be acquitted. Alexander Boikov, one of her lawyers, said some of the case files had been drawn up in violation of the law.PRISONER SWAPThe United States has offered to exchange Russian prisoners for American citizens including Griner and former Marine Paul Whelan.One source familiar with the situation said Washington was willing to exchange convicted arms trafficker Viktor Bout, whose life helped inspire the 2005 Hollywood film "Lord of War" starring Nicholas Cage.Russian officials have said a deal has not been reached. They argue that Griner - known as "BG" to basketball fans - violated laws and should be judged accordingly.USA Basketball said in a message on Twitter it was disappointed at Thursday's ruling but it would remain engaged with the U.S. State Department in the effort to get Griner home."We will not be satisfied until BG is back in the U.S. and reunited with her loved ones, teammates and fans," it said.WNBA Commissioner Cathy Engelbert and NBA Commissioner Adam Silver said in a statement that the verdict against Griner was "unjustified and unfortunate."Griner appeared at the hearing in a grey T-shirt and round-rimmed glasses. Before taking a seat in the defendant's cage, she held up a picture of UMMC Ekaterinburg, the team she played for in Russia during the WNBA offseason.In her testimony last week, Griner expressed puzzlement as to how the vape cartridges ended up in her luggage as she was flying to Russia to join UMMC Ekaterinburg for the playoffs.Teammates and friends urged the Biden administration and Putin's government to negotiate her release. read more "I hope that, now that the sentencing has occurred, the trial is over, no more court, that the negotiations will proceed," her high school basketball coach Debbie Jackson told Reuters."I’m praying that both sides will negotiate in good faith and that Brittney and other Americans that are in Russian prison can come back home."($1 = 58.8500 roubles)Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.comReporting by Reuters Editing by Guy Faulconbridge, Andrew Cawthorne, Frances Kerry and Daniel WallisOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Russia sentences Griner to 9 years in prison, White House calls for her release.

Britain's Conservative Party leadership candidate Liz Truss attends a hustings event, part of the Conservative party leadership campaign, in Cardiff, Britain, August 3, 2022. REUTERS/Peter NichollsRegister now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.comLONDON, Aug 4 (Reuters) - Liz Truss, front-runner to be Britain's next prime minister, will set out her economic plans to finance sector officials on Friday, including scrapping legacy EU laws by the end of 2023. Foreign Minister Truss is up against former finance minister Rishi Sunak to win the votes of 200,000 members of the Conservative Party who will by Sept. 5 choose a replacement for Boris Johnson, forced to resign after a series of scandals.Her meeting with finance bosses will take place at Aviva's London offices and attendees will include Nigel Wilson, chief executive of Legal & General, and Amanda Blanc, Aviva chief executive, two sources told Reuters.Truss will lay out her agenda for attracting new investment, including reform of regulatory regimes known as Solvency II and MiFID which Britain introduced while a European Union member.Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com"For too long, we have allowed those who create wealth and high-quality jobs - dynamic businesses and hard-working people - to be weighed down by onerous EU bureaucracy," Truss said in a statement before the meeting."We haven't moved fast enough to take full advantage of Brexit. I’ll make it a priority to slash EU red tape and ensure we have the right tools in place to attract investment and deliver growth."The Bank of England warned on Thursday that Britain faces a long recession as energy price-driven inflation squeezes household budgets. Tackling that crisis and maintaining corporate confidence in the British economy will fall to Truss or Sunak in a month's time. read more Britain's financial sector, one of its most important tax-raising industries, was cut off from parts of the EU after Brexit and the government is already reviewing rules inherited from the bloc amid calls from banks for greater emphasis on keeping the City of London globally competitive.But bankers say there is no appetite for a "bonfire of regulations" given big changes cost money and can take years.They have called for cuts on taxes levied on bank balance sheets since the financial crisis, and want to make it easier to hire talent globally now that unfettered access to hiring EU nationals has ended.Truss said she will set up a group of business leaders to shape or recommend scrapping rules to make the industry more competitive and to help consumers.Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.comReporting by Andrew MacAskill and Carolyn Cohn; Editing by William James and Alexander SmithOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Liz Truss to set out economic plans to finance sector in bid to lead Britain.

Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.comWASHINGTON, Aug 4 (Reuters) - The United States pushed Moscow to accept a deal that aims to secure the release of two Americans detained in Russia after one of them, basketball star Brittney Griner, was sentenced on Thursday to nine years in prison on a drug charge. read more "It's a serious proposal. We urge them to accept it. They should have accepted it weeks ago when we first made it," said White House national security spokesperson John Kirby, without offering details.Washington has offered to exchange Russian arms trafficker Viktor Bout, who is serving a 25 year-prison sentence in the United States, for Griner and former U.S. Marine Paul Whelan, sources familiar with the situation have told Reuters.Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.comRussia had tried to add convicted murderer Vadim Krasikov, who is in prison in Germany, to the proposed swap, a source familiar with the proceedings also told Reuters.When asked on Thursday if Washington would be willing to reconsider Russia's request following Griner's sentencing, Kirby dismissed it: "I don't think we go so far as to even call it a counter-offer."U.S. basketball player Brittney Griner, who was detained at Moscow's Sheremetyevo airport and later charged with illegal possession of cannabis, sits inside a defendants' cage after the court's verdict in Khimki outside Moscow, Russia August 4, 2022. REUTERS/Evgenia Novozhenina/PoolWhelan, who holds American, British, Canadian and Irish passports, was sentenced in 2020 to 16 years in jail in Russia after being convicted of spying. Griner was convicted and sentenced on Thursday after she was convicted of bringing cannabis-infused vape cartridges into Russia.President Joe Biden has come under increasing pressure from families of Americans detained abroad to help bring them home. He is "receiving regular updates" about negotiations for the release of Griner, Whelan and others deemed wrongfully detained, said White House spokeswoman Karine Jean-Pierre.U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken spoke on the phone with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov last Friday and pressed Russia to take the deal. Kirby said that since then conversations had been ongoing at various levels.Blinken and Lavrov are currently both in Cambodia for a meeting of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). Kirby earlier told MSNBC that Blinken will likely try to speak with Lavrov again now Griner had been sentenced. read more "They are being wrongfully detained, they need to be let go. They need to come home," Kirby told reporters.Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.comReporting by Heather Timmons in Washington; Writing by Michelle Nichols and Ismail Shakil; Editing by Mary Milliken and Daniel WallisOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

U.S. pushes Russia to accept swap after Griner sentencing.

Troops perform a gun salute during the parade to mark the 90th anniversary of the founding of the Korean People's Revolutionary Army in Pyongyang, North Korea, in this undated photo released by North Korea's Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) on April 26, 2022. KCNA via REUTERS  Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.comUNITED NATIONS, Aug 4 (Reuters) - North Korea made preparations for a nuclear test during the first six months of this year, according to an excerpt of a confidential United Nations report seen by Reuters on Thursday."Work at the Punggye-ri nuclear test site paves the way for additional nuclear tests for the development of nuclear weapons," independent sanctions monitors reported to the U.N. Security Council North Korea sanctions committee."The DPRK continued to develop its capability for the production of fissile material at the Yongbyon site," the monitors wrote, referring to North Korea's formal name - the Democratic People's Republic of Korea. Yongbyon is North Korea's major nuclear facility, operating its first nuclear reactors.Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.comNorth Korea's U.N. mission in New York did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the U.N. report.The United States has long been warning that North Korea is ready to carry out a seventh nuclear test and says it will again push to strengthen U.N. sanctions on Pyongyang if it takes place.The U.N. monitors also said investigations had shown Pyongyang was to blame for stealing hundreds of millions of dollars worth of crypto assets in at least one major hack. The monitors have previously accused North Korea of carrying out cyber attacks to fund its nuclear and missile programs."Other cyber activity focusing on stealing information and more traditional means of obtaining information and materials of value to DPRK's prohibited programmes, including WMD (weapons of mass destruction), continued," the monitors wrote.North Korea has for years been banned from conducting nuclear tests and ballistic missile launches by the U.N. Security Council, which has strengthened sanctions on Pyongyang over the years to try and cut off funding for those programs."DPRK made preparations at its nuclear test site, although it did not test a nuclear device. In the first half of 2022, the country continued the acceleration (which began in September 2021) of its missile programmes," the monitors said.They said North Korea launched 31 missiles combining ballistic and guidance technologies, including six intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) tests and two missiles that it explicitly described as ballistic weapons.North Korea continued illicit imports of oil and exports of coal, evading sanctions, the monitors said.International talks aimed at convincing North Korea to give up its nuclear and ballistic missile programs have largely stalled since 2019.In recent years China and Russia have been pushing for an easing of sanctions on North Korea on humanitarian grounds - and in the hope Pyongyang can be convinced to return to negotiations.The U.N. monitors reported that while challenging to assess accurately, "there can be little doubt that U.N. sanctions have unintentionally affected the humanitarian situation" in North Korea.Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.comReporting by Michelle Nichols; Editing by Mary Milliken and Lincoln FeastOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

North Korea 'paves the way' for more nuclear tests, U.N. report says.

FILE PHOTO - Credit card is seen in front of displayed Master Card logo in this illustration taken, July 15, 2021. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/IllustrationRegister now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.comWASHINGTON, Aug 4 (Reuters) - Visa (V.N) and Mastercard (MA.N) on Thursday said they had suspended ties with the advertisement arm of MindGeek, owner of website Pornhub, after a lawsuit raised questions over whether the payment firms could be facilitating child pornography.A federal judge in California last week rejected Visa's motion to dismiss a lawsuit by a woman who alleges the company facilitated the distribution of child pornography on Pornhub and other websites run by its parent company MindGeek.Visa said "we strongly disagree with this decision" and that the company "does not permit the use of our network for illegal activity."Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.comA spokesperson for MindGeek said the company and all of its platforms, including Pornhub, "have never tolerated" child sexual assault content or any other illegal material."It is against our values, and it is against our commitment to ensuring the safest possible online experience for our users," the spokesperson said, adding the platform was confident in its safety measures.Both Visa and Mastercard in 2020 cut ties with Pornhub after The New York Times reported that many videos posted on the adult website depicted sexual assault of children. Pornhub denied the allegations.However, Friday's court ruling created new uncertainty about the role of TrafficJunky, MindGeek’s advertising arm, Visa said."Accordingly, we will suspend TrafficJunky’s Visa acceptance privileges based on the court’s decision until further notice."Likewise, Mastercard said on Thursday that new facts from the ruling "made us aware of advertising revenue outside of our view that appears to provide Pornhub with indirect funding."As a result, the company is "directing financial institutions to suspend acceptance of our products at TrafficJunky."Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.comReporting by Michelle Price; Editing by Sam HolmesOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Mastercard, Visa suspend ties with ad arm of Pornhub owner MindGeek.

Health August 4, 2022 / 8:15 AM / CBS News Dangerous ticks are on the rise Dangerous ticks are on the rise. Here's what you need to know. 02:47 There's a new warning about a rare virus caused by ticks, and it's not Lyme disease, CBS Philadelphia's Stephanie Stahl reports.A little boy from Luzerne County, Pennsylvania is recovering from a life-threatening infection also linked to a tick bite. Jamie Simoson says her 3-year-old son, Jonny, is improving. He's recovering from a severe infection caused by Powassan virus."Right now, he's doing really well," Simoson said. She spotted a tick a couple of weeks before Jonny got sick with a headache and high fever. She took him to the doctor but headed to the emergency room when he continued to deteriorate.Jonny was diagnosed with meningoencephalitis. "Meningitis means the covering of the brain gets inflamed and encephalitis means the brain cells themselves can get inflamed," Dr. Swathi Gowtham said. "And this virus can cause both."Gowtham says with no proven treatments, care usually includes fluids, oxygen and seizure medications. In Jonny's case, doctors decided to try IVIG therapy, an infusion of filtered antibodies from blood donors."What intravenous immunoglobulin is, it is other people's immune system," Gowtham said. "Jonny responded very well. Whether it is due to IVIG, I cannot really say, more studies need to be done."Jonny went home after nearly two weeks in the hospital. He receives rehabilitation, speech, occupational and physical therapy. "He has some clear left side weaknesses," Simoson said. "His speech has regressed just a little. And cognitively, I would say he's not necessarily where he was before. But we're really confident that the progress that he has made will just continue."And the family is raising awareness about tick-borne illnesses."If we could just help one person get treatment sooner or recognize a symptom sooner or prevent the tick in the first place," Simoson said, "everything that we went through would be worth it and he's going to be OK."Doctors say the best way to prevent tick bites is to use insect repellants. Powassan virus is difficult to diagnose and is rare. It's found mostly in the Northeast. In: tick bites Lyme disease Thanks for reading CBS NEWS. Create your free account or log in for more features. Please enter email address to continue Please enter valid email address to continue

Lyme disease isn't the only virus spread by tick bites. Beware Powassan virus.

U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi shakes hands with Japan's Prime Minister Fumio Kishida before their breakfast meeting at Kishida's residence in Tokyo, Japan August 5, 2022, in this photo released by Kyodo. Mandatory credit Kyodo via REUTERSRegister now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.comTOKYO, Aug 5 (Reuters) - Japan and the United States agreed on Friday to work together on maintaining peace in the increasingly tense Taiwan Strait, amid unprecedented military drills by China including five missiles that landed in Japan's exclusive economic zone.U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi is in Japan on the last stage of an Asian trip that included a brief and unannounced stop in Taiwan, the self-ruled island Beijing considers its own, in the highest-level visit by a U.S. official in 25 years.Her visit, during which she lauded Taiwan's democracy and pledged solidarity, infuriated China and touched off military exercises that a state broadcaster said would be the largest by China in the Taiwan Strait, including live firing on the waters and in the airspace around the island.Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.comFive missiles landed in Japan's exclusive economic zone (EEZ), prompting Tokyo to lodge a strong protest through diplomatic channels. read more One of Washington's closest allies, Tokyo has been increasingly alarmed about China's growing might in the Indo-Pacific and the possibility that Beijing could take military action against Taiwan.Pelosi met with Prime Minister Fumio Kishida at his official residence, where Kishida said the two allies would work together to maintain peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait, a key shipping route.Japan, whose southernmost islands are closer to Taiwan than Tokyo, has warned that Chinese intimidation of Taiwan is an escalating national security threat. read more "I have informed speaker Pelosi that the fact China's ballistic missiles had landed near Japanese water including EEZ threaten our national safety and security and that Japan had strongly condemned such actions," Kishida said."We also confirmed a continued close cooperation to maintain peace and stability in the Taiwan strait."Tensions between Japan and China ramped up another notch on Thursday when China announced that a meeting between the two nations' foreign ministers, set to take place on the sidelines of an ASEAN meeting in Cambodia, had been called off due to its displeasure with a G7 statement urging Beijing to resolve Taiwan tension peacefully. read more Pelosi arrived in Japan following a visit to South Korea on Thursday, where she vowed support to denuclearise North Korea. She will meet her Japanese counterpart Hiroyuki Hosoda, speaker of the lower house of parliament, later on Friday. read more While visiting Japan in May, U.S. President Joe Biden said he would be willing to use force to defend Taiwan - a comment that appeared to stretch the limits of the U.S. policy of "strategic ambiguity" towards the island. read more Kishida told Biden at the time that Japan would substantially increase its defence spending. His ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) has pledged to double military spending to 2% of GDP.Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.comReporting by Elaine Lies, Mariko Katsumura and Kentaro Sugiyama; Editing by David Dolan and Stephen CoatesOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Japan, U.S. to cooperate on maintaining peace, stability in Taiwan Strait.

U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman speaks during a panel with the Friends of Europe in Brussels, Belgium, April 21, 2022. REUTERS/Johanna Geron/File PhotoRegister now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.comWELLINGTON, Aug 5 (Reuters) - U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman met with Samoa's leader on Friday, discussing climate change, ocean security and opportunities to work together as Washington seeks to re-engage the region amid growing Chinese influence.The senior U.S. diplomat's visit is part of a multi-leg trip to Pacific nations. Sherman is now headed to Tonga.Sherman told media at a news conference that she was in the region to listen and learn from those she met and her meeting with Samoan Prime Minister Fiame Naomi Mata'afa had been productive.Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com"Our two countries share a commitment to important democratic values, including respect for human rights, a commitment to protecting freedom of expression, and freedom of religion or belief and a strong belief in the importance of a free and open press," said Sherman. "I look forward to our continued friendship."Sherman is one of a number of senior diplomats to visit the South Pacific nation of roughly 200,000 people this year as geostrategic competition in the region grows. Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi visited in May, followed by Australian foreign minister Penny Wong in early June. read more New Zealand's Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern travelled there earlier this week.Sherman confirmed Pacific Leaders had been invited to visit President Joe Biden at the White House in September, although a date for the visit has not yet been confirmed.Mata'afa expressed appreciation for the U.S. shift in its stance on climate change and its involvement in ocean governance. She said Samoa was excited to explore opportunities to work with the United States.Sherman's Pacific tour also includes World War Two commemorations in the Solomon Islands and visits to both Australia and New Zealand.Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.comReporting by Lucy Craymer; Editing by Sam HolmesOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

U.S. senior diplomat kicks off Pacific tour in Samoa.

Health Updated on: August 4, 2022 / 7:10 PM / CBS News U.S. declares monkeypox public health emergency U.S. declares monkeypox public health emergency 01:57 The Biden administration is declaring a public health emergency for the monkeypox outbreak in the United States, which now counts more infections from the virus than any other country in the world. Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra announced the decision at a briefing with top public health officials Thursday."This public health emergency will allow us to explore additional strategies to get vaccines and treatments more quickly out to the impacted communities. And it will allow us to get more data from jurisdictions so we can effectively track and attack this outbreak," Robert Fenton, the newly appointed White House national monkeypox response coordinator, said at the briefing.Over the last decade, nationwide emergency declarations like this have previously been made only for the COVID-19 pandemic, the opioid crisis, and the Zika virus outbreak in 2017. As it did for COVID-19, official said the move by Becerra to declare an emergency could unlock a broad swath of flexibilities in funding and regulations to respond to the spread of monkeypox.The public health emergency declaration could pave the way for the CDC to deploy more staff to respond to the outbreak, officials said, as well as to compel hospitals to share more data to track monkeypox patients. It could also help clear the way for resources to scale up vaccinations.  Since last week, the administration says it has distributed another 266,000 doses of the Jynneos monkeypox vaccine to states and territories that have ordered doses. Another 150,000 doses initially slated for delivery from vaccine maker Bavarian Nordic in October have been moved up to September. Federal health officials also told reporters that they were weighing a separate move that would allow the Food and Drug Administration emergency use authorizations that could ease access to treatments and vaccines for the monkeypox outbreak. One such authorization, first floated by a National Institutes of Health official earlier this week at a meeting with the World Health Organization, could allow for vaccinators to quintuple their supply by injecting smaller "intradermal" doses into the skin, instead of the "subcutaneous" method currently approved for Jynneos."We're feeling very good about the intradermal approach and probably, within the next few days, short period of time, we'll make a final decision about it," said FDA Commissioner Dr. Robert Califf.  Federal health authorities also have on hand millions of long-expired doses of Jynneos stockpiled years ago, which are now being tested by Bavarian Nordic. If found to be viable — which a spokesperson acknowledged to CBS News earlier this month was "highly unlikely" — the doses could be cleared under an emergency use authorization for use.Officials have said for weeks that they were mulling the move as the number of cases have swelled and demand for shots has far exceeded supply around the country. The move comes as a growing number of jurisdictions, including several states and cities, as well as the World Health Organization have all deemed the outbreak an emergency. Dr. David Agus answers monkeypox and COVID-19 questions 04:10 This week, President Biden also tapped officials from the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the CDC to helm the country's monkeypox response from the White House.On Wednesday, the CDC said it had tallied at least 6,617 infections across the country. All but two states — Montana and Wyoming — have reported spotting at least one infection. "We do expect cases will continue to rise, as we've had more access to testing, people had more access to testing, before they go down again," CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky said. The majority of infections are still believed to be spreading through close intimate contact among men who have sex with men. While no deaths have been reported, patients often endure at-times excruciatingly painful rashes and lesions that can last for weeks. The CDC currently estimates that between 1.6 and 1.7 million Americans are in the groups currently being prioritized for vaccine: people who are living with HIV, who are men who have sex with men, and others who are at high risk for HIV. Doctors have also responded to a handful of infections in other groups who are at higher risk of severe disease, like pregnant women and young children. Beyond freeing up additional levers in the federal bureaucracy to respond to the outbreak, officials said they hoped the declaration would raise awareness around the growing outbreak. "This is a very clear statement of the value of the lives of people who are in the LGBTQ community," said Dr. Demetre Daskalakis, the White House's deputy coordinator on the monkeypox response. Only around 10% of nation's monkeypox testing capacity is being used up right now, which works out to about 8,000 swabs from monkeypox cases per week. Officials say they expect the number of people with suspected monkeypox symptoms seeking out diagnoses, as well as doctors moving to test for the disease, will climb in the wake of the declaration. "I think along with moving forward and accelerating some of the work we're doing, I think it also represents an important commitment by the administration to the community," said Daskalakis.  Alexander Tin CBS News reporter covering public health and the pandemic. Thanks for reading CBS NEWS. Create your free account or log in for more features. Please enter email address to continue Please enter valid email address to continue

U.S. declares monkeypox outbreak a public health emergency.

Science August 4, 2022 / 10:27 AM / CBS News Tonga devastated by volcano and tsunami Officials say Tonga faces "unprecedented disaster" from volcano and tsunami 01:51 When Tonga's Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha'apai volcano violently erupted earlier this year, it spewed an unprecedented amount of water vapor into the atmosphere — and it will likely have noticeable effects on Earth's temperatures. The January 15 eruption near the Pacific archipelago nation caused a tsunami and a sonic boom that circled the Earth twice, and was described by the local government as "an unprecedented disaster." It sent not only ash into the stratosphere, but also enough water vapor to fill 58,000 Olympic-sized swimming pools, according to NASA. Scientists said it broke "all records" for the injection of water vapor since satellites began recording such data.  Images from drones, flights and even the International Space Station captured the remarkable scale of the blast.  This looping video shows an umbrella cloud generated by the underwater eruption of the Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha'apai volcano on Jan. 15, 2022.  NASA Earth Observatory image by Joshua Stevens using GOES imagery courtesy of NOAA and NESDIS The Microwave Limb Sounder instrument on NASA's Aura satellite, which measures atmospheric gases, found the blast delivered roughly 146 teragrams of water to the stratosphere, between about eight and 33 miles above the planet's surface. One teragram equals a trillion grams, and that extreme quantity increased the total amount of water in the stratosphere by about 10%. That's nearly four times the amount of water vapor estimated to enter the stratosphere from the 1991 Mount Pinatubo eruption in the Philippines. Scientists say that the unprecedented plume, which dwarfed the power of the Hiroshima atomic bomb, could temporarily affect Earth's global average temperature. "We've never seen anything like it," said Luis Millán, an atmospheric scientist at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, whose team said the water vapor readings were "off the charts."  This satellite image shows an intact Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha'apai in April 2015, years before an explosive underwater volcanic eruption obliterated most of the Polynesian island in January 2022. NASA Earth Observatory image by Jesse Allen, using Landsat data from the U.S. Geological Survey "We had to carefully inspect all the measurements in the plume to make sure they were trustworthy," said Millán.Since NASA began taking measurements 18 years ago, only two other eruptions, the 2008 Kasatochi eruption in Alaska and the 2015 Calbuco eruption in Chile, sent substantial amounts of water vapor to such high altitudes. Both dissipated quickly — and neither of those events compare to the huge amount of water released by the Tonga event.  Powerful volcanic eruptions usually cool surface temperatures on Earth because the resulting ash reflects sunlight. However, the Tonga eruption marks a stark contrast, because the water vapor it released can trap heat. It "may be the first volcanic eruption observed to impact climate not through surface cooling caused by volcanic sulfate aerosols, but rather through surface warming," researchers said.  An image from the ISS from Jan. 16, 2022, shows the ash plume from the Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha'apai volcanic eruption that occurred the day before.  NASA Experts say this water vapor could remain in the stratosphere for several years, potentially temporarily worsening the depletion of the ozone layer and increasing surface temperatures. The water could even remain for decades, but it should not have permanent effects. "The effect would dissipate when the extra water vapor cycles out of the stratosphere and would not be enough to noticeably exacerbate climate change effects," scientists say. Experts point to the underwater volcano's caldera, a basin-shaped depression that is about 490 feet deep, as the reason for the record-breaking eruption. If the caldera was shallower, the seawater would not have been hot enough to account for the water vapor measurements, and if it was any deeper, intense pressures could have muted the blast.  In: Tonga Volcano NASA Sophie Lewis Sophie Lewis is a social media producer and trending writer for CBS News, focusing on space and climate change. Thanks for reading CBS NEWS. Create your free account or log in for more features. Please enter email address to continue Please enter valid email address to continue

Tonga's volcano blasted enough water into the atmosphere to fill 58,000 Olympic swimming pools — potentially warming Earth.

The war in Ukraine is putting a massive strain on the global food supply.Ukrainian grain exports last month were a quarter what they were in February. Also as a direct result of the Russian invasion, the cost of fertilizers, with prices soaring for raw materials like ammonia, nitrogen, and nitrates, are up 30% since the start of 2022."This is going to be another major test of the food supply system," said Diane Charlton, assistant professor of agricultural economics at Montana State University. "We will have to watch very carefully what's happening in other parts of the world and consider ways to reduce risks of food shortages and conflict."Meanwhile, food prices in the U.S. are rising at historic rates, while prices for commodities like wheat and corn are at their highest levels in a decade. What's more, the U.S. Department of Agriculture predicts that food-at-home prices will see an increase of up to 4% by the end of 2022."It's particularly severe because we are just coming out of a recovery from a two-and-a-half-year pandemic that had severe implications on the prices of goods and services as well as the price of commodities," according to Johanna Mendelson-Forman, adjunct professor at the American University in the School of International Service.Despite the prospect of continued rising prices, however, experts don't expect food shortages to occur in the United States."It's important to realize that the U.S. doesn't import very much from Ukraine," explained Joseph Glauber, a senior research fellow at the International Food Policy Research Institute."We may see some shelves that are empty for various kinds of food products like we have for a while now as we recover from the pandemic," said Scott Irwin, chair of agricultural marketing at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. "But I can say with some real confidence that in the United States, the average consumer is not going to see a shortage of bread because of what's going on in Ukraine."Watch the video to find out more about how the war in Ukraine is impacting food availability around the world.

Here's why food shortages are unlikely to occur in the U.S.

U.S. Senator Kyrsten Sinema (D-AZ) walks to an elevator outside the Senate Chamber during a vote on Capitol Hill in Washington, U.S., May 19, 2022. REUTERS/Tom BrennerRegister now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.comWASHINGTON, Aug 4 (Reuters) - U.S. Senator Kyrsten Sinema said in a statement on Thursday night she has agreed to "move forward" on Democrats' climate, tax and healthcare legislation.Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.comReporting by Scott Malone; Editing by Mary MillikenOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Sen. Sinema agrees to 'move forward' on Democrats' energy, drugs bill.

A worker disinfects a dining room at a sanitary supplies factory, amid growing fears over the spread of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), in Pyongyang, North Korea, in this photo taken on May 16, 2022 and released by Kyodo on May 17, 2022. Mandatory credit Kyodo/via REUTERS Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.comSEOUL, Aug 5 (Reuters) - North Korea said on Friday all of its fever patients have recovered, its first such claim since the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic in the isolated economy, according to the state media KCNA.The reclusive state has never confirmed how many people have tested positive for COVID-19, but it said around 4.77 million fever patients have fully recovered and 74 died since late April and has reported no new fever cases since July 30.Instead of claiming a victory or an end to the COVID-19 situation, North Korea said its "anti-epidemic situation ... has entered a definite phase of stability".It said it would "redouble efforts to maintain perfection in the execution of state anti-epidemic policies and measures and integrally carry out the work to further tighten (its) anti-epidemic system."Such work would include strengthened monitoring of new COVID-19 sub-variants and measures to quickly mobilise its medical workers in case of a crisis situation, according to KCNA.Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.comReporting by Joori Roh; Editing by Sam HolmesOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

North Korea claims all fever patients have recovered since COVID outbreak.

U.S. Dollar banknotes are seen in this illustration taken July 17, 2022. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/IllustrationRegister now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.comSINGAPORE, Aug 5 (Reuters) - The dollar struggled to gain a footing on Friday after falling by its sharpest pace in two weeks, as investors remained on tenterhooks ahead of the widely anticipated U.S. jobs data and amid growing worries about a recession.The U.S. dollar index , which measures the greenback against a basket of currencies, fell 0.68% overnight, the largest fall since July 19, and last traded 105.79.Investors await the key U.S. nonfarm payrolls report due at 1230 GMT, which will provide hints of how the U.S. economy is faring. Economists expect an increase of 250,000 jobs for the month of July, after 372,000 were added in June. read more Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com"Payrolls just clearly seems to be on everyone's mind for tonight, so I think that's keeping things relatively subdued," said Ray Attrill, head of FX strategy at National Australia Bank.However, signs of softening in the labour market could already be underway, as overnight data showed that the number of Americans filing new claims for unemployment benefits increased last week. read more Against the weaker greenback, the euro surged 0.8% overnight and last traded $1.0238, though reprieve is likely short-lived as concerns about an energy crisis remain.A stand-off over the return of a turbine that Russia says is holding back gas supplies to Europe showed no sign of being resolved on Thursday, as Moscow said it needed documentation to confirm the equipment was not subject to sanctions. read more "We still expect EUR/USD to trade below parity, more than just briefly, over the next few weeks," said Joseph Capurso, head of international economics at Commonwealth Bank of Australia.Meanwhile, sterling held steady at around $1.2157 in the early Asia trade on Friday, recouping most of its losses following a grim signal from the Bank of England. The pound is down about 0.3% for the week, reversing gains made the previous two weeks.On Thursday, the BoE raised its benchmark rate by half a percentage-point to 1.75%, the highest since late 2008, but warned about a long recession ahead in Britain. read more "Beyond the knee-jerk reaction to the very pessimistic Bank of England view of the economy - which I think was what really drove the pound down initially - there's been no follow through effectively, and I don't think anybody wants to take a view on whether that rebound is appropriate or not, until (we) see how the U.S. dollar behaves tonight," said NAB's Attrill.Elsewhere, the dollar tumbled 0.69% against the yen overnight and is on track for a third straight weekly loss. It last traded 132.9 yen per dollar.Similarly, the risk-sensitive Aussie and kiwi stood at $0.6956 and $0.6290, respectively, after rising about 0.2% and 0.3% overnight.Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.comReporting by Rae Wee; Editing by Sam HolmesOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Dollar on backfoot ahead of key U.S. jobs data.

The Rocket Force under the Eastern Theatre Command of China's People's Liberation Army (PLA) conducts conventional missile tests into the waters off the eastern coast of Taiwan, from an undisclosed location in this handout released on August 4, 2022. Eastern Theatre Command/Handout via REUTERSRegister now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.comTAIPEI, Aug 5 (Reuters) - Taiwan's "evil neighbour" next door is showing off her power at our door, the island's premier said on Friday, referring to China's military drills taking place around Taiwan this week.China is arbitrarily destroying the world's most frequently used waterway with military exercises, Taiwan Premier Su Tseng-chang told reporters in Taipei, when asked about China's missile launches. China's actions are being condemned by neighbouring countries and the world, Su added.Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.comReporting by Yimou Lee; Writing by Martin Quin Pollard; Editing by Muralikumar AnantharamanOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Taiwan premier: 'Evil neighbour' next door is showing off her power at our door.

FILE PHOTO - Virgin Galactic's carrier airplane WhiteKnightTwo carrying a space tourism rocket plane SpaceShipTwo, takes off from Mojave Air and Space Port in Mojave, California, U.S. December 13, 2018. Picture taken December 13, 2018. REUTERS/Gene Blevins Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.comAug 4 (Reuters) - Virgin Galactic Holdings Inc (SPCE.N) on Thursday again delayed the commercial launch of its space flight to the second quarter of 2023 from the first quarter, sending the shares of the space tourism firm 6% lower after the bell.The company founded by billionaire Richard Branson had in May cited supply-chain crisis and labor shortage to put off the launch to the first quarter of 2023. Before that, it had delayed flights to the fourth quarter of 2022. read more "While our short-term plans now call for commercial service to launch in the second quarter of 2023, progress on our future fleet continues," Chief Executive Michael Colglazier said.Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.comVirgin Galactic had in February re-opened ticket sales to the public for space travel, setting prices at $450,000 per person with an initial deposit of $150,000. read more The company also reported a bigger net loss of $110.7 million in the second quarter compared to $94 million a year earlier.Last month, it entered into a pact with Boeing Co (BA.N) subsidiary Aurora Flight Sciences to build its new twin-fuselage carrier plane that will ferry its next-generation spaceship to space. read more Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.comReporting by Akash Sriram in Bengaluru; Editing by Arun KoyyurOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Virgin Galactic again delays commercial space flight to second quarter of 2023.

Senator Kyrsten Sinema, a Democrat from Arizona, speaks during a Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee confirmation hearing for Shalanda Young, director of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) nominee for U.S. President Joe Biden, in Washington, D.C., U.S., February 1, 2022. Bonnie Cash/Pool via REUTERSRegister now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.comWASHINGTON, Aug 4 (Reuters) - Democratic U.S. Senator Kyrsten Sinema said on Thursday she agreed to "move forward" on a $430 billion drug pricing, energy and tax bill, subject to a Senate arbiter's approval of the bill, which Democrats intend to pass over Republican objections.Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said earlier on Thursday the chamber would convene on Saturday to vote on a motion to proceed and then begin debate on the bill.The bill known as the Inflation Reduction Act, introduced last week by Schumer and Democratic Senator Joe Manchin, is a key priority for Democrats and President Joe Biden ahead of November's election battle for control of the U.S. Congress.Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.comThe act will help people save money on prescription drugs and health premiums, Biden said in a statement on Thursday."It will make our tax system more fair by making corporations pay a minimum tax," he said.With the 100-seat Senate split 50-50, Democrats plan to pass the bill without Republican support through a parliamentary process known as reconciliation.But they cannot afford to lose support from a single lawmaker. Sinema's agreement was a critical breakthrough. Another worry is COVID-19 - senators can only vote in person, so Schumer will need his full caucus to be present and healthy to pass the measure if Republicans remain unified in opposition.Sinema said she had reached an agreement with other Democrats to remove a provision that would impose new taxes on carried interest. Without the provision, private equity and hedge fund financiers can continue to pay the lower capital gains tax rate on much of their income, instead of the higher income tax rate paid by wage-earners.She cautioned that her agreement to "move forward" was subject to the review of the Senate parliamentarian. The parliamentarian has to approve the contents of the bill to allow it to move forward through the "reconciliation" process that Democrats plan to use to bypass the chamber's normal rules requiring 60 Senators to agree to advance most legislation.Schumer, in a statement, said, he believed he now had the votes to pass the bill."The agreement preserves the major components of the Inflation Reduction Act, including reducing prescription drug costs, fighting climate change, closing tax loopholes exploited by big corporations and the wealthy, and reducing the deficit by $300 billion," Schumer said.Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.comReporting by Scott Malone, Additional reporting by Shivani Tanna in Bengaluru; Editing by Daniel Wallis, Shri Navaratnam and Tom HogueOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Key U.S. Senator Sinema agrees to $430 bln drug, energy bill.

Apple supplier Foxconn, also known as Hon Hai Precision Industry, is based in Taiwan but has factories across mainland China.Sopa Images | Lightrocket | Getty ImagesBEIJING — Data show that Taiwan depends more on China for trade than it does on the U.S., even if U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi threw her weight behind Taiwan this week in a high-profile visit.Taiwan came under military and economic pressure from Beijing this week, after the democratically self-ruled island allowed the visit of Pelosi — the highest-ranking U.S. official to set foot on Taiwan in 25 years.The visit came despite warnings from China, which considers Taiwan part of its territory and maintains the island should have no right to conduct foreign relations. The U.S. recognizes Beijing as the sole legal government of China, while maintaining unofficial relations with Taiwan.Still, Taiwan's business and economic ties with mainland China and Hong Kong have grown so large that the region is by far the island's largest trading partner.Many large Taiwanese companies in high-tech industries such the world's biggest chipmaker — Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., or TSMC. — operate factories in mainland China.Last year, mainland China and Hong Kong accounted for 42% of Taiwan's exports, while the U.S. had a 15% share, according to official Taiwan data accessed through Wind Information.In all, Taiwan exported $188.91 billion in goods to mainland China and Hong Kong in 2021. More than half were electronic parts, followed by optical equipment, according to Taiwan's Ministry of Finance.Taiwan's exports to Southeast Asia were even greater than those to the U.S. — at $70.25 billion to the region, versus $65.7 billion to the U.S., the data showed.As a source of Taiwan's imports, mainland China and Hong Kong again ranked first with a 22% share. The U.S. only had a 10% share, ranking behind Japan, Europe and Southeast Asia.Growing trade with mainland ChinaIn recent years, Taiwan has bought an increasing amount of products from mainland China, and vice versa.Over the last five years, Taiwan's imports from mainland China have surged by about 87% versus 44% growth in imports from the U.S.Taiwan's exports to mainland China grew by 71% between 2016 and 2021. But exports to the U.S. nearly doubled, growing by 97%.Read more about China from CNBC ProComparable to Shanghai

Taiwan's trade with China is far bigger than its trade with the U.S.

The Turkish bulk carrier OSPREY S, Liberian-flagged cargo ship, is seen anchored off the shore of Tuzla in Istanbul, Turkey August 4, 2022. REUTERS/Umit BektasRegister now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.comSummaryThree grain ships due to leave Ukraine ports FridayFirst ship due to arrive in Ukraine since start of warEastern fighting "hell", says ZelenskiyAmnesty says Ukraine troops endangering civiliansNATO chief warns Putin not to go furtherISTANBUL/KYIV, Aug 5 (Reuters) - Three ships carrying a total of 58,041 tonnes of corn have been authorised to leave Ukrainian ports on Friday as part of a deal to unblock grain exports, as a Russian offensive forced Ukraine to cede territory in the east.The first vessel carrying Ukrainian grain allowed to leave port since the start of the war set sail from Odesa on Monday bound for Lebanon, under a safe passage deal brokered by Turkey and the United Nations.The Joint Coordination Centre in Istanbul, which groups Russian, Ukrainian, Turkish and U.N. personnel, said two ships would leave from Chornomorsk and one from Odesa on Friday.Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com"The three outbound vessels are estimated to depart in the morning from their respective ports," it said.From Chornomorsk, the Polarnet would leave for Karasu in Turkey with 12,000 metric tons of corn and the Rojen would take 13,041 tons of corn to Teesport in Britain.From Odesa, the Navistar would take 33,000 tons of corn to Ringaskiddy in Ireland.The Turkish bulk carrier Osprey S, flying the flag of Liberia, was expected to arrive in Ukraine's Chornomorsk port on Friday, the regional administration of Odesa said. It would be the first ship to arrive at a Ukrainian port during the war.As of Thursday afternoon, Osprey S was anchored in the Sea of Marmara, around 1 km (0.62 mile) off Istanbul's Asian coast, along with other ships waiting to cross the Bosphorus in to the Black Sea, according to a Reuters journalist.Russian President Vladimir Putin sent troops into Ukraine on Feb. 24, sparking the biggest conflict in Europe since World War Two and causing a global energy and food crisis. Ukraine and Russia produce about one third of global wheat and Russia is Europe's main energy supplier.EASTERN FIGHTING 'HELL'After five-months of fighting, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy this week described the pressure his armed forces were under in the eastern Donbas region as "hell".Moscow is seeking to control the largely Russian-speaking Donbas, comprised of Luhansk and Donetsk provinces, where pro-Moscow separatists gained control of territory after the Kremlin annexed Crimea to the south in 2014.Zelenskiy spoke of fierce fighting around the town of Avdiivka and the fortified village of Pisky, where Kyiv has acknowledged its Russian foe's "partial success" in recent days.The Ukrainian military said on Thursday Russian forces had mounted at least two assaults on Pisky but had been repelled.Ukraine has spent the last eight years fortifying defensive positions in Pisky, viewing it as a buffer zone against Russian-backed forces who control the city of Donetsk about 10 km to the southeast.Ukrainian General Oleksiy Hromov told a news conference his forces had recaptured two villages around the eastern city of Sloviansk, but had been pushed back to the town of Avdiivka after being forced to abandon a coal mine regarded as a key defensive position.The Russian defence ministry confirmed its offensive.Reuters could not immediately verify either side's assertions.The Ukraine war has displaced millions, killed thousands of civilians, and left cities, towns and villages in rubble. Kyiv and its Western allies have accused Russian forces of targeting civilians and war crimes, charges Moscow rejectsNATO CHIEF WARNS PUTINHuman rights group Amnesty International on Thursday said Ukraine was endangering civilians by basing troops in residential areas. read more Zelenskiy hit back at Amnesty saying the organisation was trying to "shift responsibility from the aggressor tot he victim." read more The White House said on Thursday that it expected Russian officials to try and frame Ukrainian forces for an attack on the front-line town of Olenivka last week that killed prisoners held by Moscow-backed separatists. read more Russia's deputy U.N. ambassador responded in a Twitter post, saying U.S.-made High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems were used in the attack.U.N. Secretary General Antonio Guterres said on Wednesday he will launch a fact-finding mission after Russia and Ukraine both requested an investigation. read more Putin says he launched his "special military operation" in Ukraine to ensure Russian security and protect Russian-speakers in Ukraine. Kyiv and the West describe Russia's actions as an unprovoked imperial-style war of aggression.NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said on Thursday the war was the most dangerous moment for Europe since World War Two and that Russia must not be allowed to win. read more Amid fears among some politicians in the West that Russia's ambitions may extend beyond Ukraine, Stoltenberg warned Putin that the response to such a move from the Western military alliance would be overwhelming."If President Putin even thinks of doing something similar to a NATO country as he has done to Georgia, Moldova or Ukraine, then all of NATO will be involved immediately," Stoltenberg said.The war has led previously non-aligned Finland and Sweden to seek NATO membership, with the request so far ratified by 23 of the 30 member states, including the United States.Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.comReporting by Reuters bureaux; Writing by Michael Perry; Editing by Stephen CoatesOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Three grain ships set to leave Ukraine; NATO chief says Russia must not win.

Japan's SoftBank Group Corp Chief Executive Masayoshi Son attends a news conference in Tokyo, Japan, Nov. 5, 2018. REUTERS/Kim Kyung-Hoon/File PhotoRegister now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.comSummaryCompaniesVision Fund public portfolio Q1 loss could top $10 bln -analystPrivate writedowns unlikely to reflect market weakness -analystGroup's financing options constrained amid portfolio slumpSoftBank has completed more than 60% of buyback programmeTOKYO, Aug 5 (Reuters) - Sliding valuations in the listed portfolio of SoftBank Group Corp's (9984.T) Vision Fund unit point to more pain for CEO Masayoshi Son when the group reports April-June earnings on Monday as investors go cool on the high-growth firms he favours.Vision Fund's public portfolio first-quarter loss could top $10 billion, Redex Research analyst Kirk Boodry estimated, after falls in robotics firm AutoStore Holdings Ltd (AUTO.OL), e-commerce firm Coupang Inc and artificial intelligence firm SenseTime Group Inc (0020.HK), whose shares fell by almost half on the last day of June.While there is limited visibility on valuations of Vision Fund's private portfolio, writedowns contributed to the record $26 billion Vision Fund loss reported in May as investor concern over prospects for high-growth stocks feeds through to private markets.Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.comThe extent of the reevaluation was underscored when Swedish payment firm Klarna last month raised capital at a valuation 85% lower than at a SoftBank-led funding round the year before.Writedowns in the private portfolio are unlikely to reflect the current weakness in valuations in the market, Jefferies analyst Atul Goyal said.Chief Executive Son had been investing rapidly through the second Vision Fund, in which he has a personal stake, but in May pledged to "play defence" and reign in spending amid market turmoil triggered by rising interest rates and political instability.The 64-year-old billionaire previously racked up personal losses betting on derivatives and publicly traded stocks through the SB Northstar trading arm, which has since been shuttered.Compounding uncertainty at the tech conglomerate is the departure of a string of Son's lieutenants. A key architect of SoftBank's push into investing in late-stage startups, Rajeev Misra, has stepped back from managing Vision Fund 2 to launch his own fund.The cost of insuring against a default in SoftBank's debt and its bond yields remains elevated, albeit off last month's highs, and analysts point to the conglomerate's constrained financing options given the portfolio weakness. read more "Within Vision Fund itself, in the public holdings they have they don't really have a lot of options," said Redex Research's Boodry.SoftBank has been reliant on its large and liquid stake in e-commerce firm Alibaba Group Holding Ltd (9988.HK) for financing. The group has now raised as much as $22 billion using the shares, the Financial Times estimated.The conglomerate is targeting an initial public offering for chip designer Arm in the United States following the collapse of a sale to Nvidia Corp (NVDA.O) but analysts question the prospects for the listing.SoftBank launched a 1 trillion yen ($7.5 billion) buyback last November, supporting shares which have fallen by about half from highs in March 2021, but had used more than 60% of the capital by late June.($1 = 134.1600 yen)Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.comReporting by Sam Nussey; Editing by Christopher CushingOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Vision Fund slide points to more pain for SoftBank's Son.

CBS Mornings August 4, 2022 / 1:16 PM / CBS News Airline passengers have been crammed into seats that have shrunk to as little as 16 inches wide in the past 30 years. Now, the Federal Aviation Administration wants to identify the minimum seat spacing necessary to safely evacuate an airliner in 90 seconds — and is asking for public feedback on the size and safety of airline seats. Seat pitch has shrunk from about 35 inches to 31 and in some cases as little as 28 inches.  Seat width is down as much as four inches over the last 30 years. Seat pitch has shrunk from about 35 inches to 31 and in some cases as little as 28 inches — allowing airlines to add more seats they can then sell.The group FlyersRights estimate only about 25% of passengers, one in four, actually fit in those seats.  More than half of the flyers (56%) in an Atmosphere Research June flyer survey were dissatisfied with the legroom in the economy section.The FAA said its review of 10 years of incidents found the overall level of evacuation safety was "very high." In 2019, to study the safe size of airline seats, the FAA used a simulated cabin that can be filled with smoke and plunged into darkness.The volunteer passengers who participated in simulated evacuations had varying seat sizes but during the study did not have to deal with real-life obstacles like bags, smoke, comfort animals or the dark.They were also in groups of 60 — fewer people than on many regional jets.After the stimulation, the FAA found that "seat size and spacing did not adversely affect the success of emergency evacuations." But because all participants were able-bodied adults under 60 then FAA Administrator Steve Dickson acknowledged the results are "useful" but "not necessarily definitive.Tennessee Democrat Rep. Steve Cohen, who authored legislation requiring the seat-size study, said he is worried about how quickly people could get out of their seats if they needed to because of their shrinking size."The American public is becoming more and more obese and the seats are getting smaller and smaller," Cohen told CBS News' Kris Van Cleave.Human behavior is a critical factor if a plane must be evacuated in 90 seconds or less. In 2016, when American Airlines flight 383 had an engine fire on takeoff, it took nearly two and a half minutes to get everyone off in part because passengers grabbed their luggage.The FAA says it is not asking for comments on what dimensions flyers might find more comfortable — only ones dealing with safety.Testing did show that having less than 28 inches between seats may have a negative effect on the ability to exit a plane in a hurry. The comment period is open for 90 days. Comments can be submitted online at regulations.gov

Tired of shrinking airline seats? The FAA is asking for passengers' input.

Flags are placed at the G7 summit in Taormina, Italy, May 26, 2017. REUTERS/Alessandro BianchiRegister now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.comBEIJING, Aug 5 (Reuters) - China's foreign ministry said on Friday it lodged solemn representations to relevant European countries and EU envoys over statements on Taiwan issued by the foreign ministers from the Group of Seven (G7) nations and the EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy.Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Deng Li lodged the diplomatic complaints on Thursday, the Chinese foreign ministry statement said.Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.comReporting by Beijing Newsroom; Writing by Martin Quin Pollard; Editing by Christian SchmollingerOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

China lodges complaint to European countries, envoys over G7 Taiwan statements.

A TV screen shows that China's People's Liberation Army has begun military exercises including live firing on the waters and in the airspace surrounding the island of Taiwan, as reported by Chinese state television, in Hong Kong, China August 4, 2022. REUTERS/Tyrone SiuRegister now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.comTAIPEI, Aug 5 (Reuters) - Taiwan's "evil neighbour" next door is showing off her power at our door, the island's premier said on Friday, referring to China's military drills taking place around Taiwan this week.China is arbitrarily destroying the world's most frequently used waterway with military exercises, Taiwan Premier Su Tseng-chang told reporters in Taipei, when asked about China's missile launches. China's actions are being condemned by neighbouring countries and the world, Su added.Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.comReporting by Yimou Lee; Writing by Martin Quin Pollard; Editing by Muralikumar AnantharamanOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Taiwan premier: 'Evil neighbour' next door is showing off her power at our door.

Health August 4, 2022 / 12:36 PM / CBS Boston Are "Novids" special or just lucky at avoiding COVID-19? 01:36 Boston — If you consider yourself a "Novid," in other words, someone who has never had COVID-19, are you mistaken, special, or just plain lucky? Researchers are trying to answer that question. It's estimated that more than 70% of Americans have been infected at some point during the pandemic, but we all know someone who says they've never had it. Data suggests millions of Americans who think they've never had COVID in fact have had it but didn't get tested because they had no symptoms or simply thought they had a regular cold or allergies. That said, there are some people who have managed to avoid COVID and researchers are studying them to try to find out why. For example, people who work from home, consistently wear masks and continue to socially distance are actively protecting themselves. But others may have genetic or immune system advantages that offer greater protection. Others may have had prior exposure to similar viruses or take drugs for other conditions that provide some defense.  Right now, scientists don't know who's at greater risk of infection and who's not, so make sure you stay up to date on the COVID-19 vaccine, which is everyone's best defense against this ever-changing virus. In: COVID-19 Featured Mallika Marshall, MD Mallika Marshall, MD is an Emmy-award-winning journalist and physician who has served as the HealthWatch Reporter for CBS Boston/WBZ-TV for over 20 years. A practicing physician Board Certified in both Internal Medicine and Pediatrics, Dr. Marshall serves on staff at Harvard Medical School and practices at Massachusetts General Hospital at the MGH Chelsea Urgent Care and the MGH Revere Health Center, where she is currently working on the frontlines caring for patients with COVID-19. She is also a host and contributing editor for Harvard Health Publications (HHP), the publishing division of Harvard Medical School. Twitter Facebook Thanks for reading CBS NEWS. Create your free account or log in for more features. Please enter email address to continue Please enter valid email address to continue

Are "Novids" special or just lucky at avoiding COVID-19?.

People wait in a room during a lockdown after a suspect fired shots at the Mall of America in Bloomington, Minnesota, U.S., August 4, 2022 in this picture obtained from social media. @Dragonf09912514/via REUTERS Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.comAug 4 (Reuters) - A suspect fled after firing shots at Minnesota's Mall of America, one of the largest shopping centers in the United States, forcing a lockdown Thursday, police said."We have secured the scene at the Mall of America and can confirm that shots were fired," police in Bloomington, Minnesota, tweeted Thursday evening. Police added that no victim had been located and the suspect fled on foot.In unconfirmed videos posted on social media, at least three gunshots could be heard, sending people in the vicinity running.On its own Twitter account, the mall in the Minneapolis suburb described the incident as "isolated" but urged people in the center to stay in the closest secure area. Police later tweeted the lockdown was being lifted.Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.comReporting by Colleen Jenkins and Donna Bryson. Edited by Michael Williams.Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Police report shots fired at Mall of America, no victim located.

People walk by the New York Stock Exchange on May 12, 2022 in New York City.Spencer Platt | Getty Images News | Getty ImagesInvestment bankers hit with a collapse in equity and debt issuance this year are in line for bonuses that are up to 50% smaller than 2021 — and they are the lucky ones.Pay cuts are expected across wide swaths of the financial industry as bonus season approaches, according to a report released Thursday by compensation consultancy Johnson Associates.Bankers involved in underwriting securities face bonus cuts of 40% to 45% or more, according to the report, while merger advisors are in line for bonuses that are 20% to 25% smaller. Those in asset management will see cuts of 15% to 20%, while private equity workers may see declines of up to 10%, depending on the size of their firms."There are going to be a lot of people who are down 50%," Alan Johnson, managing director of the namesake firm, said in an interview. "What's unusual about this is that it comes so soon after a terrific year last year. That, plus you have high inflation eating into people's compensation."Wall Street is grappling with steep declines in capital markets activity as IPOs slowed to a crawl, the pace of acquisitions fell and stocks had their worst first half since 1970. The moment epitomizes the feast-or-famine nature of the industry, which enjoyed a two-year bull market for deals, fueled by trillions of dollars in support for businesses and markets unleashed during the pandemic.In response, the six biggest U.S. banks added a combined 59,757 employees from the start of 2020 through the middle of 2022, according to company filings.Gloomy forecastNow, they may be forced to cut jobs as the investment banking outlook remains gloomy."We will have layoffs in some parts of Wall Street," Johnson said, adding that job cuts may amount to 5% to 10% of staff. "I think many firms will want their headcount to be lower by February than it was this year."Another veteran Wall Street consultant, Octavio Marenzi of Opimas, said that July was even worse than the preceding months for equities issuance, citing data from the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association.IPO issuance has plunged 95% to $4.9 billion so far this year, while total equity issuance has fallen 80% to $57.7 billion, according to SIFMA."You can expect to hear announcements regarding layoffs in the next few weeks," Marenzi said. "There is no indication that things are about to improve in investment banking."The European investment banks, which have lost market share in recent years to U.S. leaders including Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan Chase, will be the first to buckle, Marenzi said.Credit Suisse is weighing plans to cut thousands of jobs over the next few years as part of a strategic review, with a potential focus on support roles in the middle and back office, according to Bloomberg. The bank is finalizing its plans over the next few months. Salary bumpThe news hasn't been uniformly bad, however. Firms will have to boost workers' base salary by roughly 5% because of wage inflation and retention needs, Johnson said.What's more, there have been sections of Wall Street that have thrived in the current environment. High volatility and choppy markets may dissuade corporations from issuing debt, but it's a good setup for fixed income traders.Bond traders and sales personnel will see bonuses rise by 15% to 20%, while equities trading staff could see increases of 5% to 10%, according to the report. Traders at hedge funds with a macro or quantitative strategy could see bonuses rise by 10% to 20%.Investment banks, hedge funds and asset managers rely on consultants to help them structure bonuses and severance packages by giving them insight into what competitors are paying.Johnson Associates uses public data from banks and asset management firms and proprietary insights from clients to calculate the projected year-end incentives on a headcount-adjusted basis."My clients realize it will be a very difficult year," Johnson said. "The challenge is how you communicate this and make sure the right people get paid."

Job cuts and smaller bonuses loom for Wall Street amid collapse in IPOs and stock issuance.

Oil prices have fallen sharply from their recent peaks, but there's still a case for buying oil stocks, according to Bill Smead, chief investment officer at Smead Capital Management.That's because energy prices are likely to stay high or even increase further, he told CNBC's "Street Signs Asia" on Thursday.He described the slide in crude prices as "the first significant correction" in a bull market that started in the spring of 2020 after prices crashed."You have this huge move, you go from $20 a barrel to $120 and then you pull back — and now people are going, 'Oh yeah, that's all over, that's going to cure the inflation right there,'" Smead said.We like the oil stocks here. You can buy 'em here, Warren Buffett is buying it here.Bill SmeadChief investment officer, Smead Capital ManagementBut several factors suggest that prices are going to increase, he said.The U.S. has to replace 180 million barrels of strategic reserves that were drawn down to meet demand, and supply remains tight, he pointed out."What happens when China's economy gets open in full … get past their quarantines and just get out," he asked, suggesting that demand will come back up again.Covid flare-ups in China have spurred lockdowns this year, and caused consumption of energy to drop in the world's most populous country.Read more about energy from CNBC ProDemand will likely to spring back when more movement restrictions are eased."We like the oil stocks here. You can buy 'em here, Warren Buffett is buying it here," Smead said.Brent crude futures and U.S. West Texas Intermediate futures both soared to levels above $120 per barrel this year, but are now at $96.88 and $90.88 per barrel, respectively.Still, both benchmarks are more than 40% up from a year ago.— CNBC's Thomas Franck and Yun Li contributed to this report.

Energy prices have dipped, but oil stocks are still a buy, investor says.

A staff wearing a face shield sells fish at Japan's supermarket group Aeon's shopping mall as the mall reopens amid the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak in Chiba, Japan May 28, 2020. REUTERS/Kim Kyung-Hoon/File PhotoRegister now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.comSummaryJune household spending rises 3.5% y/y, stronger than forecastSpending up 1.5% m/m in June vs forecast +0.2%Real wages slip for 3rd straight monthTOKYO, Aug 5 (Reuters) - Japan's households increased spending for the first time in four months in June, as demand for travel services rose in a positive sign for broader recovery prospects.Spending jumped 3.5% in June from a year earlier, government data showed on Friday, posting its first year-on-year rise since January as households opened their purse strings for overnight stays, package tours and outdoor goods.The data, which was stronger than the median estimate for a 1.5% rise in a Reuters poll, showed people spent less on fish and vegetables, while also spending more on transportation.Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.comWhile the rise was larger than expected, it was unlikely to dispel worries that Japan's recovery will lag those seen in other major economies such as the United States, especially after COVID-19 infections saw a record surge in recent weeks.There will be cases where people give up travelling given the pandemic's rapid spread, even without new restrictions in place against it, said Atsushi Takeda, chief economist at Itochu Economic Research Institute."The momentum driving the recovery in travel will slow for the moment," Takeda added.Spending on overnight stays in June topped levels seen before the pandemic three years earlier by 4.5%, data showed.Separate data on Friday showed Japan's real wages extended declines for a third straight month in June, as consumer prices rose faster than nominal wages, which saw their strongest growth in four years, in a worrying sign for households' purchasing power."Wage growth remains subdued once we allow for the increases in working hours, and will not be enough to prompt the Bank of Japan to tighten monetary policy," said Darren Tay, Japan economist at Capital Economics.A private sector survey earlier this week showed growth in services sector activity stalling in July as rising inflation and uncertainty about the global economy hurt demand. read more Some analysts have started to warn that Japan's economic recovery may slow in the current quarter following an expected expansion in April-June due to a modest rebound in consumer demand after the government lifted COVID-19 curbs.Friday's data showed spending also rose from the previous month, gaining 1.5% on a seasonally-adjusted basis.That gain, which was stronger than a forecast 0.2% rise, marked a rebound from a sharp 1.9% decline in the previous month.Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.comReporting by Daniel Leussink; Editing by Sam HolmesOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Japan's households increase spending for first time in 4 months.

U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi shakes hands with Japan's Prime Minister Fumio Kishida before their breakfast meeting at Kishida's residence in Tokyo, Japan August 5, 2022, in this photo released by Kyodo. Mandatory credit Kyodo via REUTERSRegister now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.comTOKYO, Aug 5 (Reuters) - U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi said on Friday that her trip through Asia, which prompted an infuriated China to hold live-fire military drills in the waters off Taiwan, was never about changing the status quo in Taiwan or the region.Pelosi and a congressional delegation were in Japan on the last stage of an Asian trip that included a brief and unannounced stop in Taiwan, the self-ruled island that Beijing considers its own.Making the highest-level visit to Taiwan by a U.S. official in 25 years, Pelosi praised its democracy and pledged solidarity, enraging China. During a news conference in Tokyo, Pelosi addressed the diplomatic storm caused by the congressional visit to Taipei.Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com"We have said from the start that our representation here is not about changing the status quo in Taiwan or the region," she told a news conference after meeting with Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida.China's state broadcaster said the military exercises that began on Thursday and are set to end on Sunday, would be the largest conducted by China in the Taiwan Strait. The exercises have involved live fire on the waters and in the airspace around the island.Five missiles landed in Japan's exclusive economic zone (EEZ), prompting Tokyo to lodge a strong protest through diplomatic channels. read more One of Washington's closest allies, Tokyo has been increasingly alarmed about China's growing might in the Indo-Pacific and the possibility that Beijing could take military action against Taiwan.Kishida said earlier that the two allies would work together to maintain peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait, a key shipping route.Japan, whose southernmost islands are closer to Taiwan than Tokyo, has warned that Chinese intimidation of Taiwan is an escalating national security threat. read more Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.comAdditional reporting by Elaine Lies, Mariko Katsumura and Kentaro Sugiyama; writing by Elaine Lies; Editing by David Dolan, Stephen Coates & Simon Cameron-MooreOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Pelosi: Asian trip was never about changing status quo in Taiwan.

MoneyWatch August 4, 2022 / 4:20 PM / MoneyWatch U.S. gas prices fall for 7 straight weeks U.S. gas prices fall for seven straight weeks 03:21 American drivers are getting some relief at the pump, with gas prices dropping for seven consecutive weeks after reaching record prices in June. But there's both good and bad news behind the decline in gas prices, experts say. The average price for a gallon of gas dropped to $4.14 a gallon on Thursday, with prices falling 8 cents a gallon since Monday alone, according to AAA. The decline marks a significant retreat from the all-time record of $5.02 a gallon, which was reached on June 14. Gas prices are dropping for a number of reasons, including an increase in gasoline production and a decrease in the cost of crude oil, which is the primary determinant for costs at the pump, according to Ellen Wald, senior fellow at the Atlantic Council.  But there's another reason for the drop, according to Wald, which could indicate broader economic issues: Americans are cutting back on driving as a way to cope with inflation. "We have seen some of what we call 'demand destruction' — people choosing not to buy gasoline because it's so expensive," Wald told CBS News adding that "Fears we could be entering a global recession could be driving prices down." Amid recession fears in bear market, experts say 401(k) investors should think long term 04:58 The U.S. economy shrank in the second quarter, marking a second consecutive quarter of contracting GDP — often considered the hallmark of a recession. But that's not the entire picture taken into consideration by the National Bureau of Economic Research, the group that makes the official call on whether the U.S. has slipped into a recession. The NBER looks at a number of other economic indicators, including employment, which has remained strong this year.  Nevertheless, the GDP contraction has sparked a debate about whether the nation has entered a recession or is tipping toward one, with economists increasingly concerned about signs that consumers are cutting back on spending to cope with the hottest inflation in 40 years. Meanwhile, gasoline prices could continue to decline, at least in the near term, according to experts. The national average could dip to $3.99 a gallon within days, wrote Patrick De Haan, an analyst at Gas Buddy. "[I]n ~100 hours, we will see the national average fall to $3.999 per gallon, the lowest and first time since March 5," De Haan wrote on Thursday. "A handful of stations in the US could even fall to $2.99/gal by then." In: Gas Prices Thanks for reading CBS NEWS. Create your free account or log in for more features. Please enter email address to continue Please enter valid email address to continue

Gas prices have dropped for 7 straight weeks. Here's why that's good and bad news.

Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.comAug 5 (Reuters) - Thirteen people have been killed and 35 injured after a fire broke out on Friday at a night club in Thailand's Chonburi province, southeast of the capital Bangkok, a police official said.Police Colonel Wuttipong Somjai said by telephone that the fire at the Mountain B night club in the Sattahip district had started at about 1:00 a.m (1800 GMT Thursday) and that all the victims up to now were Thai nationals.Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.comReporting by Panarat Thepgumpanat Writing by Ed Davies; Editing by Christian SchmollingerOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Thai police say 13 people killed, 35 injured in night club fire.

A worker adjusts an ASEAN flag at a meeting hall in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, October 28, 2021. REUTERS/Lim Huey TengRegister now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.comPHONM PENH, Aug 5 (Reuters) - Southeast Asia's regional bloc ASEAN is "deeply disappointed" by the limited progress made by Myanmar's military rulers in implementing a peace agreement to end the conflict in the country, a communique issued by its foreign ministers said.The communique on Friday recommended that the Association of Southeast Asian Nations' summit in November assess progress on implementing the "five-point consensus" by military authorities in Myanmar "to guide the decision on the next steps".Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.comReporting by Narin Sun; Writing by Ed Davies; Editing by Christian SchmollingerOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

ASEAN 'deeply disappointed' by limited progress in Myanmar peace plan.

A worker carrying a broom passes stacks of containers at the IPC Containter Terminal of Tanjung Priok port in Jakarta, Indonesia, November 4, 2021. REUTERS/Willy KurniawanRegister now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.comJAKARTA, Aug 5 (Reuters) - Indonesia's economic growth accelerated in the April-June quarter amid an export boom driven by rising commodity prices, official data showed on Friday, but monetary tightening, rising inflation and a global recession risk threaten the outlook.Second-quarter gross domestic product (GDP) was up 5.44% on a year earlier, showing the fastest growth rate in a year, according to Statistics Indonesia data. That beat the median forecast of a 5.17% rise in a Reuters poll and the first quarter's 5.01% annual growth.Exports expanded nearly 20% on a yearly basis, picking up pace from 16.22% in the previous quarter, which the statistics bureau called "impressive".Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.comHousehold consumption, which accounts for more than half of GDP, recovered further after the lifting of COVID-19 restrictions, with the Eid al-Fitr celebration in May providing a further boost. However, investment slowed.By sector, food and beverages, mining, construction and transport and warehousing industries saw faster expansion than in the previous period.However, Indonesia's central bank said last month the rise in full-year 2022 GDP from 2021 would be at the lower end of the range of 4.5% to 5.3%. It previously forecast growth in the middle of that range.In lowering its forecast, it said a global economic slowdown would dent exports and a rise in inflation at home would slow the pace of recovery in consumption.Consumer prices in July were up 4.94% on a year earlier, marking a seven-year high in inflation and prompting calls by economists for Bank Indonesia to lift interest rates from pandemic-era lows.Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.comReporting by Stefanno Sulaiman, Gayatri Suroyo and Fransiska Nangoy; Editing by Bradley PerrettOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Indonesia GDP growth beats forecast in Q2, fastest in a year.

Passengers at an American Airlines gate at the Dallas/Fort Worth International airport in Dallas.Scott Mlyn | CNBCIt wasn't long ago that Amazon, Shopify and Peloton doubled their workforces to manage through the pandemic surge, while Morgan Stanley staffed up to handle a record level of IPOs, and mortgage lenders added headcount as rock-bottom rates led to a refinancing boom.On the flipside, Delta Air Lines, Hilton Worldwide and legions of restaurants slashed headcount because of lockdowns that rolled through much of the country and other parts of the world.Now, they're scrambling to reverse course.Companies that hired like crazy in 2020 and 2021 to meet customer demand are being forced to make sweeping cuts or impose hiring freezes with a possible recession on the horizon. In a matter of months, CEOs have gone from hypergrowth mode to concerns over "macroeconomic uncertainty," a phrase investors have heard many times on second-quarter earnings calls. Stock trading app Robinhood and crypto exchange Coinbase both recently slashed more than 1,000 jobs after their splashy market debuts in 2021.Meanwhile, airlines, hotels and eateries face the opposite problem as their businesses continue to pick up following the era of Covid-induced shutdowns. After instituting mass layoffs early in the pandemic, they can't hire quickly enough to satisfy demand and are dealing with a labor market radically different from the one they experienced over two years ago, before the cutbacks."The pandemic created very unique, once-in-a-lifetime conditions in many different industries that caused a dramatic reallocation of capital," said Julia Pollak, chief economist at job recruiting site ZipRecruiter. "Many of those conditions no longer apply so you're seeing a reallocation of capital back to more normal patterns."For employers, those patterns are particularly challenging to navigate, because inflation levels have jumped to a 40-year high, and the Fed has lifted its benchmark rate by 0.75 percentage point on consecutive occasions for the first time since the early 1990s.The central bank's efforts to tamp down inflation have raised concerns that the U.S. economy is headed for recession. Gross domestic product has fallen for two straight quarters, hitting a widely accepted rule of thumb for recession, though the National Bureau of Economic Research hasn't yet made that declaration.The downward trend was bound to happen eventually, and market experts lamented the frothiness in stock prices and absurdity of valuations as late as the fourth quarter of last year, when the major indexes hit record highs led by the riskiest assets.That was never more evident than in November, when electric vehicle maker Rivian went public on almost no revenue and quickly reached a market cap of over $150 billion. Bitcoin hit a record the same day, touching close to $69,000.Since then, bitcoin is off by two-thirds, and Rivian has lost about 80% of its value. In July, the car company started layoffs of about 6% of its workforce. Rivian's headcount almost quintupled to around 14,000 between late 2020 and mid-2022.Tech layoffs and an air of cautionJob cuts and hiring slowdowns were big talking points on tech earnings calls last week.Amazon reduced its headcount by 99,000 people to 1.52 million employees at the end of the second quarter after almost doubling in size during the pandemic, when it needed to beef up its warehouse capabilities. Shopify, whose cloud technology helps retailers build and manage online stores, cut about 1,000 workers, or around 10% of its global workforce. The company doubled its headcount over a two-year period starting at the beginning of 2020, as the business boomed from the number or stores and restaurants that had to suddenly go digital.Shopify CEO Tobias Lutke said in a memo to employees that the company had wagered that the pandemic surge would cause the transition from physical retail to ecommerce to "permanently leap ahead by 5 or even 10 years.""It's now clear that bet didn't pay off," Lutke wrote, adding that the picture was starting to look more like it did before Covid. "Ultimately, placing this bet was my call to make and I got this wrong. Now, we have to adjust." After Facebook parent Meta missed on its results and forecast a second straight quarter of declining revenue, CEO Mark Zuckerberg said the company will be reducing job growth over the next year. Headcount expanded by about 60% during the pandemic."This is a period that demands more intensity and I expect us to get more done with fewer resources," Zuckerberg said.Google parent Alphabet, which grew its workforce by over 30% during the two Covid years, recently told employees that they needed to focus and improve productivity. The company asked for suggestions on how to be more efficient at work."It's clear we are facing a challenging macro environment with more uncertainty ahead," CEO Sundar Pichai said in a meeting with employees. "We should think about how we can minimize distractions and really raise the bar on both product excellence and productivity."Few U.S. companies have been hit as hard as Peloton, whose fitness equipment and on-demand classes became an instant gym replacement during lockdowns and which has since suffered from massive oversupply issues and out-of-control costs. After doubling headcount in the 12 months ended June 30, 2021, the company in February announced plans to cut 20% of corporate positions as it named a new CEO.Banks and Wall Street bracing for a 'hurricane'Some of the Peloton products that were flying off the shelves in the pandemic were being offered as perks for overworked junior bankers, who were sorely needed to help manage a boom in IPOs, mergers and stock issuance. Activity picked up with such ferocity that junior bankers were complaining about 100-hour workweeks, and banks started scouting for talent in unusual places like consulting and accounting firms.That helps explain why the six biggest U.S. banks added a combined 59,757 employees from the start of 2020 through the middle of 2022, the equivalent of the industry picking up the full population of a Morgan Stanley or a Goldman Sachs in a little over two years.It wasn't just investment banking. The government unleashed trillions of dollars in stimulus payments and small business loans designed to keep the economy moving amid the widespread shutdowns. A feared wave of loan defaults never arrived, and banks instead took in an unprecedented flood of deposits. Their Main Street lending operations had better repayment rates than before the pandemic.Among top banks, Morgan Stanley saw the biggest jump in headcount, with its employee levels expanding 29% to 78,386 from early 2020 to the middle of this year. The growth was fueled in part by CEO James Gorman’s acquisitions of money management firms E-Trade and Eaton Vance.At rival investment bank Goldman Sachs, staffing levels jumped 22% to 47,000 in the same time frame, as CEO David Solomon broke into consumer finance and bolstered wealth management operations, including through the acquisition of fintech lender GreenSky.Citigroup saw a 15% boost in headcount during the pandemic, while JPMorgan Chase added 8.5% to its workforce, becoming the industry's largest employer.But the good times on Wall Street didn’t last. The stock market had its worst first half in 50 years, and IPOs dried up. Investment banking revenue at the major players declined sharply in the second quarter.Goldman Sachs responded by slowing hiring and is considering a return to year-end job reductions, according to a person with knowledge of the bank’s plans. Employees typically make up the single biggest line item when it comes to expenses in banking, so when markets crater, layoffs are usually on the horizon. JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon warned investors in June that an economic "hurricane" was on its way, and said the bank was bracing itself for volatile markets.Jamie Dimon, chief executive officer of JPMorgan Chase & Co., during a Bloomberg Television interview in London, U.K., on Wednesday, May 4, 2022.Chris Ratcliffe | Bloomberg | Getty ImagesZipRecruiter's Pollak said one area in finance where there will likely be a hemorrhaging of workers is in mortgage lending. She said 60% more people went into real estate in 2020 and 2021 because of record low mortgage rates and rising home prices. JPMorgan and Wells Fargo have reportedly trimmed hundreds of mortgage staffers as volumes collapsed."Nobody is refinancing anymore, and sales are slowing," Pollak said. "You're going to have to see employment levels and hiring slow down. That growth was all about that moment."The intersection of Silicon Valley and Wall Street is a particularly gloomy place at the moment as rising rates and crumbling stock multiples converge. Crypto trading platform Coinbase in June announced plans to lay off 18% of its workforce in preparation for a "crypto winter" and even rescinded job offers to people it had hired. Headcount tripled in 2021 to 3,730 employees.Stock trading app Robinhood said Tuesday it's cutting about 23% of its workforce, a little over three months after eliminating 9% of its full-time staff, which had ballooned from 2,100 to 3,800 in the last nine months of 2021."We are at the tail end of that pandemic-era distortion," said Aaron Terrazas, chief economist at job search and review site Glassdoor. "Obviously, it's not going away, but it is changing to a more normalized period, and companies are adapting to this new reality."Retail is whipsawing back and forthIn the retail industry, the story is more nuanced. At the onset of the pandemic, a stark divide quickly emerged between businesses deemed to be essential and those that were not.Retailers such as Target and Walmart that sold groceries and other household goods were allowed to keep their lights on, while malls filled with apparel shops and department store chains were forced to shut down temporarily. Macy's, Kohl's and Gap had to furlough the majority of their retail employees as sales screeched to a halt.But as these businesses reopened and millions of consumers received their stimulus checks, demand roared back to shopping malls and retailers' websites. Companies hired people back or added to their workforce as quickly as they could.Last August, Walmart began paying special bonuses to warehouse workers and covering 100% of college tuition and textbook costs for employees. Target rolled out a debt-free college education for full- or part-time employees and boosted staff by 22% from early 2020 to the start of 2022. Macy's promised better hourly wages.They hardly could have predicted how quickly the dynamic would shift, as rapid and soaring inflation forced Americans to tighten their belts. Retailers have already started to warn of waning demand, leaving them with bloated inventories. Gap said higher promotions will hurt gross margins in its fiscal second quarter. Kohl's cut its guidance for the second quarter, citing softened consumer spending. Walmart last week slashed its profit forecast and said surging prices for food and gas are squeezing consumers.That pain is filtering into the ad market. Online bulletin board Pinterest on Monday cited "lower than expected demand from U.S. big box retailers and mid-market advertisers" as one reason why it missed Wall Street estimates for second-quarter earnings and revenue.Retail giants have so far avoided big layoff announcements, but smaller players are in cut mode. Stitch Fix, 7-Eleven and Game Stop have said they'll be eliminating jobs, and outdoor grill maker Weber warned it's considering layoffs as sales slow.The travel industry can't hire fast enoughWith all of the downsizing taking place across wide swaths of the U.S. economy, the applicant pool should be wide open for airlines, restaurants and hospitality companies, which are trying to repopulate their ranks after undergoing mass layoffs when Covid hit.It's not so easy. Even though Amazon has reduced headcount of late, it's still got far more people working in its warehouses than it did two years ago. Last year the company lifted average starting pay to $18 an hour, a level that's difficult to meet for much of the services industry.Hilton CEO Christopher Nassetta said on the quarterly earnings call in May that he wasn't satisfied with customer service and that the company needs more workers. At the end of last year, even as travel was rebounding sharply, headcount at Hilton's managed, owned and leased properties as well as corporate locations was down by over 30,000 from two years earlier.It's easy to see why customer service is a challenge. According to a report last week from McKinsey on summer 2022 travel trends, revenue per available room in the U.S. "is outstripping not just 2020 and 2021 levels, but increasingly 2019 levels too."Delta Airlines passenger jets are pictured outside the newly completed 1.3 million-square foot $4 billion Delta Airlines Terminal C at LaGuardia Airport in New York, June 1, 2022.Mike Segar | ReutersAt airlines, headcount fell as low as 364,471 in November 2020, even though that wasn't supposed to happen. U.S. carriers accepted $54 billion in taxpayer aid to keep staff on their payroll. But while layoffs were prohibited, voluntary buyouts were not, and airlines including Delta and Southwest shed thousands of workers. Delta last month said that since the start of 2021 it has added 18,000 employees, similar to the number it let go during the pandemic in order to slash costs.The industry is struggling to hire and train enough workers, particularly pilots, a process that takes several weeks to meet federal standards. Delta, American Airlines and Spirit Airlines recently trimmed schedules to allow for more wiggle room in handling operational challenges."The chief issue we're working through is not hiring but a training and experience bubble," Delta CEO Ed Bastian said on the quarterly earnings call last month. "Coupling this with the lingering effects of Covid and we've seen a reduction in crew availability and higher overtime. By ensuring capacity does not outstrip our resources and working through our training pipeline, we'll continue to further improve our operational integrity."Travelers have been less than pleased. Over the Fourth of July holiday weekend, more than 12,000 flights were delayed due to bad weather and not enough staff. Pilots who took early retirement during the pandemic don't appear inclined to change their minds now that their services are once again in high demand."When we look at labor shortages related to travel, you can't just flip a switch and suddenly have more baggage handlers that have passed security checks, or pilots," said Joseph Fuller, professor of management practice at Harvard Business School. "We're still seeing people not opt in to come back because they don't like what their employers are dictating in terms of working conditions in a post-lethal pandemic world."— CNBC's Ashley Capoot and Lily Yang contributed to this report.WATCH: Big Tech reports earnings, most guide higher despite macro headwinds

The confusing job market: Tech and finance brace for the worst, retail is mixed, travel can't hire fast enough.

The Ronald Reagan Strike Group ship's the aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan (CVN 76), the guided-missile cruiser USS Antietam (CG 54) and the guided-missile destroyer USS Milius (DDG 69) conduct a photo exercise with the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force ship's the helicopter destroyer JS Kaga (DDH 184), the destroyer JS Inazuma (DD 105) and the destroyer JS Suzutsuki (DD 117) in the South China Sea August 31, 2018. Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Erwin Jacob V. Miciano/U.S. Navy/Handout via REUTERSRegister now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.comHONG KONG, Aug 5 (Reuters) - The long route of Nancy Pelosi's Tuesday flight over Borneo to Taipei and a U.S. aircraft carrier's complex passage through the South China Sea highlight the difficulties U.S. forces now face against a Chinese military keen to flex its muscles over Taiwan.U.S. military officials repeatedly talk of "routine" patrols to support a "free and open Indo-Pacific" but the realities are increasingly challenging amid the worst Taiwan tensions since 1996, according to diplomats, military attaches and security analysts.U.S. officials told Reuters this week they did not want to escalate matters with unnecessarily provocative deployments before House Speaker Pelosi - a staunch China critic and the third most senior U.S. politician - landed in Taipei on Tuesday on a U.S. Air Force plane.Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.comAnd they are keeping to that approach as the Chinese military launches live firing exercises in waters surrounding, and in some bisecting, Taiwan's territory, they say."We can't control Pelosi's travel, but we can control how we react," one defence official said.The U.S. Indo-Pacific Command in Hawaii did not immediately respond to Reuters' questions regarding its actions and strategies.The plane carrying Pelosi and her congressional delegation skirted the South China Sea - and its fortified islands - as it flew from Singapore on Tuesday, taking a longer route over the island of Borneo and eastern side of the Philippines."The natural flight path would be over the South China Sea but the place is now bristling with radars, sensors and jamming equipment on China's island bases, so it is something to avoid in the Pelosi context," said Singapore-based security consultant Alexander Neill."The way things are unfolding we can see the goal here is to avoid unmanaged escalations."After building up installations in the disputed Paracel and Spratlys archipelagos, Chinese coast guard vessels, warships and aircraft routinely patrol deep into the maritime heart of Southeast Asia, frequently shadowing U.S. and other navies.China's military modernisation in recent decades mean some security analysts say it would be unthinkable for U.S. aircraft carriers to challenge Chinese forces in the seas around Taiwan in the way they did a quarter of a century ago.Back then, one carrier sailed through the Taiwan Strait as another manouvered close by to end days of Chinese missile launches and military drills as Beijing protested Taiwan's first direct presidential election.More than half of the U.S. Navy's 111 currently deployed battle force ships are now within the Japanese-based Seventh Fleet's sphere of responsibility that straddles the western Pacific and Indian oceans, according to the tracking by the independent U.S. Naval Institute.Deploying ships en masse to the Chinese coast is another matter, given China's inventory of advanced cruise and ballistic missiles and its expansive surface fleet, regional security analysts say.Four powerful vessels - the aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan, the amphibious assault ship USS Tripoli and the guided missile cruiser USS Antietnam are east of Taiwan, Reuters has confirmed. Another assault ship - which also carries F-35 strike fighter aircraft - is at port nearby in Japan. read more Some security analysts say it was highly likely U.S. attack submarines were also close to such a formation.The passage of the Reagan strike group was particularly closely watched by regional security analysts in the days before Pelosi's mission.Radio Free Asia last month reported it was due to call in the central Vietnamese port of Danang in July after patrols in the southern South China Sea near China's fortifications in the Spratlys.Diplomats familiar with its route said the strike group turned around and instead headed for a five-day stop in Singapore starting July 22.The move came as China launched exercises between July 16 and 20 surrounding its bases further north in the Paracel islands, east of Danang and covering 100,000 square km, according to statements by local maritime authorities.Neither U.S. nor Vietnamese officials have commented on the switch, or the reason for it, but a U.S. Navy official told Reuters this week that schedules "often change" without confirmation or notice.The Reagan later headed through the tight sealanes of the Philippines' archipelago before reaching waters west of Taiwan, according to an official U.S. naval Facebook page.Singapore-based security scholar Collin Koh said the passage through the Philippines' San Bernadino strait by an aircraft carrier was unusual, instead of sailing north between the Philippines and south China coast."I think it shows some carefully calibrated deployments, designed to not unnecessarily provoke China even while ensuring they're moving to where they need to be."Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.comReporting by Greg Torode in Hong Kong and Idrees Ali in Washington; additional reporting by Marius Zaharia; Editing by Lincoln Feast.Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Analysis: Taiwan tensions reveal challenges for U.S. navy as Chinese threat grows.

Politics Updated on: August 4, 2022 / 5:46 PM / CBS News Air travel refund complaints soared Air travel refund complaints soared during the pandemic 05:49 Travelers who have ever had a flight delayed or canceled know that a compensatory flight credit doesn't always make the inconvenience easier to take. But under a new rule proposed by the Department of Transportation, getting a refund could become easier."If your flight is canceled or delayed three hours for a domestic flight or six hours for an international flight, you must get a refund within seven days of a refund request if you pay by credit card," said White House spokeswoman Karine Jean-Pierre on Thursday. "That refund policy also applies if they change your arrival airport, if they add more stops or if they downgrade the class you're flying in."Under the proposed rule, travelers would also be entitled to a travel credit or voucher that is "valid indefinitely" if they can't fly because of certain pandemic-related reasons. If an airline or ticketing agent had previously gotten "significant" government assistance during the public health emergency, it would be required to offer refunds instead of the credits or vouchers, the Department of Transportation said. The Department of Transportation announced the proposed rule Wednesday, citing significant traveler complaints from consumers with non-refundable tickets whose flights were canceled or who could not fly because of the pandemic.While the department had long held that passengers were entitled to an immediate refund back to their original method of payment for a canceled flight, CBS News senior travel editor Peter Greenberg reported that many carriers ignored that during the coronavirus pandemic. The department said in its announcement it was looking to formally define what it means for an airline to make a significant change and what constitutes a cancellation because of "inconsistency among carriers on when passengers are entitled to refunds.""When Americans buy an airline ticket, they should get to their destination safely, reliably, and affordably," said U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg. "This new proposed rule would protect the rights of travelers and help ensure they get the timely refunds they deserve from the airlines."Under the proposed rule, passengers would be entitled to a non-expiring voucher or flight credit if a pandemic leads to government-mandated bans on travel or closed borders.The department will accept comments from the public for 90 days before finalizing the rule. In: Flight Delays Flight Cancellations Thanks for reading CBS NEWS. Create your free account or log in for more features. Please enter email address to continue Please enter valid email address to continue

New rule would make getting a refund for a canceled or delayed flight easier.

A airport staff walks past a board showing departure statuses at Taoyuan International Airport in Taoyuan City, Taiwan, August 4, 2022. REUTERS/Ann WangRegister now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.comSEOUL, Aug 5 (Reuters) - Airlines have cancelled flights to Taipei and rerouted others to avoid airspace nearby that has been closed to civilian traffic during Chinese military exercises sparked by U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi's visit to Taiwan.China deployed scores of planes and fired live missiles near Taiwan on Thursday in its biggest-ever drills in the Taiwan Strait, set to run until noon local time (0400 GMT) on Sunday in six zones encircling much of the island. read more The airspace involved is comparatively small, but the disruption from the largest military exercises by China in the area since it fired missiles off the coast in 1996 is hampering travel between Southeast Asia and Northeast Asia.Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.comTemporary airspace closures and route changes during major military exercises occur regularly around the world.This situation is unusual in that China's exercises bisect Taiwan's claimed 12 nautical miles (22 kilometres) of territorial waters - something Taiwanese officials say challenges the international order and amount to a blockade of its sea and airspace. read more Korean Air Lines Co Ltd (003490.KS) and Singapore Airlines Ltd (SIAL.SI) said they had cancelled flights to and from Taipei on Friday due to the exercises, with the Korean carrier also cancelling its Saturday flights and delaying Sunday flights.Japan's ANA Holdings Inc (9202.T) and Japan Airlines Co Ltd (9201.T) are still operating flights to Taipei as normal, spokespeople for the airlines said, but are avoiding the affected airspace on those flights, as well as on routes to Hong Kong and Southeast Asia.Hong Kong's Cathay Pacific Airways Ltd (0293.HK) and Philippines Airlines said their flights were avoiding designated airspace zones around Taiwan, in a move that could lead to more flying time for some flights, while Vietnam's aviation regulator warned its airlines to avoid the area. read more Flight tracking service FlightRadar24 showed Taiwanese carriers China Airlines Ltd (2610.TW) and EVA Airways Corp (2618.TW) were still flying to and from the island as of Friday morning, as were cargo carriers FedEx Corp (FDX.N) and United Parcel Service Inc (UPS.N), though avoiding the areas affected by the military drills.Emirates, United Airlines Holdings Inc (UAL.O) and Turkish Airlines had flights en route to Taipei on Friday morning local time, Flightradar24 showed.Taiwan, along with mainland China and Hong Kong, is one of the few places in the world that still requires quarantine for arrivals because of COVID-19, triggering reduced demand for travel to the island that means there are far fewer flights than before the pandemic.OPSGROUP, an aviation industry cooperative that shares information on flight risks, said the exercises would affect major routes between Southeast Asia and Northeast Asia, leading to re-routings that could take longer and burn extra fuel.The airspace involved, however, is minor in its impact on the global aviation industry compared to the decision by most airlines to bypass overflight of other places like Russia, Ukraine, Afghanistan, North Korea, Iraq and Syria.The avoidance of Russian airspace, for example, has led to a near four-hour increase in flight times between Finland and Japan. read more Taiwan said on Wednesday it was negotiating with neighbouring Japan and the Philippines to find alternative aviation routes, the official Central News Agency (CNA) reported. read more Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.comReporting by Joyce Lee in Seoul and Jamie Freed in Sydney; Additional reporting by Maki Shiraki in Tokyo, Neil Jerome Morales in Manila, Khanh Vu in Hanoi and Twinnie Siu in Hong Kong; Editing by Kenneth MaxwellOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Airlines scrap, reroute flights as China fires live missiles in drills near Taiwan.

A pedestrian passes a "Help Wanted" sign in the door of a hardware store in Cambridge, Massachusetts, U.S., July 8, 2022. REUTERS/Brian Snyder/Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.comSummaryCompaniesNonfarm payrolls forecast to increase by 250,000 in JulyUnemployment rate seen unchanged at 3.6%Average hourly earnings expected to rise 0.3%WASHINGTON, Aug 5 (Reuters) - U.S. job growth likely slowed in July, but the pace was probably strong enough to keep the unemployment rate at 3.6% for a fifth straight month, offering the strongest evidence yet that the economy was not in recession.The Labor Department's closely watched employment report on Friday is expected to paint a picture of an economy muddling through despite back-to-back quarters of contraction in gross domestic product, the broadest measure of U.S. economic activity. Though demand for labor has eased in sectors like housing and retail that are sensitive to the higher interest rates being engineered by the Federal Reserve in its battle against inflation, industries like airlines and restaurants cannot find enough workers."The labor market is no longer tinder box hot," said Sung Won Sohn, professor of finance and economics at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles. "But it remains pretty healthy and does not meet the National Bureau of Economic Research's broad definition of a contraction in the economy."Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.comThe NBER, the official arbiter of recessions in the United States defines a recession as "a significant decline in economic activity spread across the economy, lasting more than a few months, normally visible in production, employment, real income, and other indicators."Still, government data last week showing a second straight quarter of negative GDP - which meets a popular rule-of-thumb definition for recessions - has fanned widespread debate over whether the U.S. economy is in fact in a downturn and has brought the employment report for July into even sharper relief for consumers, investors and policymakers.Reuters GraphicsNonfarm payrolls likely increased by 250,000 jobs last month after rising by 372,000 in June, according to a Reuters survey of economists. That would mark the 19th straight month of payrolls expansion but would be the smallest increase in that span and below the first half monthly average of 457,000 jobs. Estimates ranged from as low as 75,000 to as high 325,000.The cooling in job growth could ease pressure on the Fed to deliver a third straight three-quarters of a percentage point interest rate increase at its next meeting in September, though much depends on inflation and employment readings in the run up to that gathering.The U.S. central bank last week raised its policy rate by 75 basis points and officials have pledged more hikes are coming as it tries to rein in inflation running at four-decade highs. Since March, it has lifted rates from near zero to their current range of 2.25% to 2.50%."A slowdown in job growth should be welcome news for Fed officials, but a more material loosening of labor market conditions will be needed to take the heat off wage inflation," said Lydia Boussour, lead U.S. economist at Oxford Economics in New York.The economy contracted 1.3% in the first half of 2022, largely because of big swings in inventories and the trade deficit tied to snarled global supply chains. Still, momentum has cooled.Hours worked, levels of temporary workers and the breadth of job growth will be closely watched for clues on how soon the anticipated recession might begin. The average workweek has been hovering at 34.5 hours.BROAD SLOWDOWNThe moderation in hiring was likely across the board last month. But government employment, which remained in the hole by 664,000 jobs in June, is a wild card as state and local government education has not followed typical seasonal patterns because of COVID-19 disruptions.This could throw off the model that the government uses to strip seasonal fluctuations from the data."Normally, July state and local government education employment falls by 1 million," said Ryan Sweet, a senior economist at Moody's Analytics in West Chester, Pennsylvania. "This may not have occurred this year, and a smaller than normal decline will cause the seasonal adjustment factors to inflate the adjusted data."Reuters GraphicsEconomists are also eyeballing a possible drop in retail employment. High inflation - last measured at 9.1% year-on-year in June's Consumer Price Index - is forcing Americans to spend more on low-margin food products instead of apparel and other general merchandise, leaving retailers like Walmart Inc (WMT.N) carrying excess inventory and issuing profit warnings.But the rising cost of living and fears of a recession are forcing some retirees and others who had left the labor market to search for work. That has increased the supply of workers somewhat, keeping the unemployment rate steady near its pre-pandemic lows. Given 10.7 million job openings at the end of June and 1.8 openings for every unemployed person, economists do not expect a sharp deceleration in payrolls growth this year.With the labor market still tight, average hourly earnings are forecast rising 0.3%, matching June's gain. That would lower the year-on-year increase to 4.9% - the lowest since December - from 5.1% in June. Though wage growth appears to have peaked, pressures remain.Data last week showed annual wage growth in the second quarter was the fastest since 2001. read more Economists will also keep an eye on employment levels reported in the report's more-volatile household survey, which had dropped by 315,000 jobs in June. The number of people working part time for economic reasons, will also be under scrutiny after plunging to the lowest since 2001 in June.Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.comReporting by Lucia Mutikani; Editing by Dan BurnsOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

U.S. job growth seen slowing in July; but far from recession levels.

Andrea Garcia Lopez, 71, nicknamed "Granny Jordan" by TikTok users, plays basketball during an exhibition game in San Esteban Atatlahuca, Oaxaca, Mexico August 3, 2022. REUTERS/Jorge Luis PlataRegister now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.comSAN ESTEBAN ATATLAHUCA, Mexico, Aug 4 (Reuters) - Mexico has a new basketball star: 71-year-old Andrea Garcia Lopez.Nicknamed "Granny Jordan" by TikTok users, a video showing Lopez lighting up the court in her small remote town of San Esteban Atatlahuca in the southern state of Oaxaca has been viewed over 1 million times since it was uploaded by her grandson.In the video, Lopez, a local artisan with her gray hair platted in two long braids and sporting a long skirt, fakes out an opponent near the basket to make space for a shot which she expertly scores off the backboard.Lopez says she hopes to keep playing for many years, even if her knee is starting to act up a bit.Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.comReporting by Jorge Luis Platas; Writing by Stephen Eisenhammer and Marla DickersonOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Mexico's 'Granny Jordan' becomes viral TikTok basketball star.

Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.comPHNOM PENH, Aug 4 (Reuters) - The United States opposes any unilateral efforts to change the Taiwan status quo, especially by force, and its policy on Taiwan has not changed, Secretary of State Antony Blinken told Southeast Asian counterparts on Thursday.Cross-strait stability is in the interests of the whole region, he told a meeting in Cambodia, a day after U.S. house speaker Nancy Pelosi visited Taiwan. It was the highest-level U.S. visit in 25 years, infuriating China, which claims the self-ruled island as part of its territory."We and countries around the world believe that escalation serves no one and could have unintended consequences that serve no one's interests, including ASEAN members, and including China," Blinken said.Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.comOn Thursday, China fired multiple missiles as it conducted the largest-ever military drills around Taiwan, while Foreign Minister Wang Yi said China had made the utmost diplomatic effort to avert crisis, but would never allow its core interests to be hurt. read more Blinken is in Cambodia for a security-focused meeting of more than 27 countries expected to discuss a food crisis caused by the Russia-Ukraine war, stability in the Taiwan Strait, and the crisis in Myanmar.Blinken and ASEAN pledged during their meeting to upgrade ties to a comprehensive strategic partnership.U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken attends the ASEAN Foreign Ministers' Meeting in Phnom Penh, Cambodia August 4, 2022. REUTERS/Soe Zeya TunHe earlier met Qatar's foreign minister to talk about developments in Afghanistan and Iran and discussed Sri Lanka's economic crisis with his Indian counterpart Subrahmanyam Jaishankar.He later met Sri Lanka's new foreign minister, Ali Sabry and promised support for the country reeling from an economic and political crisis, which he said presented a new challenge and opportunity. read more Blinken said the United States backed Sri Lanka and the International Monetary Fund working out an equitable arrangement on debt restructuring."There's an opportunity in this moment, to create a more inclusive, representative, democratic, responsive government," Blinken said. "And to use this crisis to seize that opportunity to make something very positive about a very difficult situation."He told Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen the United States wanted "a strong, positive relationship" between the two countries, in a rare meeting at a time of strained ties over the long-serving leader's crackdown on the opposition and closer military ties with ally China.The United States has called for greater transparency from Cambodia's over development of its Ream naval base with China's help, which the U.S. sees as Beijing's attempts to build influence in the region.Blinken announced the United States would provide $25 million to Cambodia in food aid and agricultural cooperation critical to address food insecurity caused by what he called Russia's "aggression" in Ukraine.Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.comWriting by Kanupriya Kapoor; Editing by Martin PettyOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

U.S. opposes any effort to change Taiwan status quo , Blinken says.

TC Energy's logo is pictured on a smartphone in this illustration taken, December 4, 2021. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/IllustrationRegister now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.comAug 4 (Reuters) - TC Energy Corp (TRP.TO) said on Thursday it had struck a deal with a Mexican state utility to develop a $4.5 billion natural gas pipeline.The offshore Southeast Gateway Pipeline will supply natural gas to Mexico's central and southeast regions, the Canadian pipeline operator added.The deal with Comisión Federal de Electricidad (CFE) comes as Canada and the United States are having their most serious trade spat with Mexico over the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement. read more Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.comTC Energy said sanctioning of the pipeline would expand its secured capital program to $33 billion and could add to its 2021-2026 adjusted EBITDA growth outlook.Roberto Velasco, a senior foreign ministry official in Mexico, revealed last month that TC Energy had agreed with the country to build a $5 billion gas pipeline in the Gulf Coast state of Veracruz.(This story corrects paragraph 5 to say the announcement last month was made by a Mexican official, and not TC Energy)Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.comReporting by Ruhi Soni in Bengaluru;Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

TC Energy inks deal with Mexican utility to develop $4.5 bln gas pipeline.

Politics Updated on: August 4, 2022 / 7:59 PM / CBS News Rep. Liz Cheney faces uphill battle in Wyoming Rep. Liz Cheney faces uphill battle in Wyoming ahead of primary elections 04:47 Former Vice President Dick Cheney blasted former President Donald Trump, calling him a "coward" and labeling him a "threat" to the country in a new campaign ad for his daughter U.S. Rep. Liz Cheney."In our nation's 246-year history, there has never been an individual that was a greater threat to our republic than Donald Trump," Cheney said in the one-minute ad posted to his daughter's Twitter on Thursday. "He tried to steal the last election using lies and violence to keep himself in power after the voters rejected him." "He is a coward. A real man wouldn't lie to his supporters. He lost his election, and he lost big. I know it, he knows it and deep down, I think most Republicans know it," the 46th vice president added.  Cheney, who served under President George W. Bush, went on to praise his daughter, who is running against Trump-backed trial attorney Harriet Hageman in the upcoming Republican primary in Wyoming. Cheney said he and his wife Lynne are proud of their daughter, who he said is "standing up for the truth, doing what's right and honoring her oath to the constitution, when so many in our party are too scared to do so." "Liz is fearless," he added. "She never backs down from a fight. There is nothing more important she will ever do than lead the effort to make sure Donald Trump is never again near the Oval Office and she will succeed."The three-term congresswoman, who voted to impeach Trump, is currently serving as vice chair of the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol.She has been one of the most outspoken critics of Trump. In a primary debate last month, she said it was a "tragedy" that Trump and other Republicans wrongly claim the 2020 election was stolen. "If we embrace the lies of Donald Trump, if we tell the people of Wyoming something that is not true, we will soon find ourselves without the structure and the basis and the framework of our constitutional republic," Cheney said in her closing statement. In: dick cheney Wyoming Liz Cheney Thanks for reading CBS NEWS. Create your free account or log in for more features. Please enter email address to continue Please enter valid email address to continue

Former Vice President Dick Cheney calls Donald Trump a "coward" in latest campaign ad for daughter Liz.

An ibis bird perches next to the Reserve Bank of Australia headquarters in central Sydney, Australia February 6, 2018. REUTERS/Daniel MunozRegister now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.comSYDNEY, Aug 5 (Reuters) - Australia's central bank on Friday warned inflation was heading to three-decade highs requiring further hikes in interest rates that would slow growth sharply, making it tough to keep the economy on an "even keel".In its quarterly Statement on Monetary Policy, the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) jacked up its forecasts for inflation, downgraded the outlook for growth and foreshadowed an eventual rise in unemployment.Yet even with further increases in rates, inflation was not expected to return to the top of its 2-3% target range until the end of 2024, pointing to a long period of pain ahead.Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com"It is seeking to do this in a way that keeps the economy on an even keel," said RBA Governor Philip Lowe in the introduction to the 66-page statement."The path to achieve this balance is a narrow one and subject to considerable uncertainty."The central bank has already raised its cash rate four months in a row, taking it from an emergency low of 0.1 to a seven-year high of 1.85% and is flagging more to come."The Board expects to take further steps in the process of normalising monetary conditions over the months ahead, but it is not on a pre-set path," said Lowe.Markets see rates reaching 3.0% by Christmas and peaking around 3.30% in April next year.The hawkish outlook reflects the fact policy makers have been badly wrong footed by inflation which has surged on the back of rising costs for energy, food and construction.The RBA has had to lift its forecast peak for headline inflation to 7.75%, when as recently as May it had tipped 5.9%.Core inflation is seen topping out at 6% by the end of this year and then declining only gradually to 3% by late 2024.Lowe said these high levels risked getting built into wage- and price-setting behaviour, though so far longer-term inflation expectations had remained anchored to the 2-3% range.Forecasts for economic growth this year were slashed by a full percentage point to 3.25%, while 2023 and 2024 were trimmed by around a quarter point to 1.75%."A higher cost of living, rising interest rates and declining house prices are expected to weigh on growth and spending," said Lowe. After a bumper 2022, house prices are now on the retreat with Sydney seeing the fastest falls in 40 years.The bank has also been surprised by the strength of the labour market, which saw unemployment hit a 48-year low of 3.5% in June. The RBA now see the jobless rate falling to 3.25% by the end of this year, before rising slowly to 4% by late 2024.Annual wage growth is expected to pick up to 3.0% this year and 3.6% next, though that would still lag inflation. Wages could grow 3.9% in 2024 which would be the fastest in many years.All these forecasts are based on the assumption that interest rates rise ti around 3% by the end of this year, and decline a little in 2024.(Reporting by Wayne Cole)Keywords: AUSTRALIA ECONOMY/RBARegister now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.comOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Australia's central bank warns economy to slow sharply as inflation soars.

Labourers unload rice bags from a supply truck at India's main rice port at Kakinada Anchorage in the southern state of Andhra Pradesh, India, September 2, 2021. Picture taken September 2, 2021. REUTERS/Rajendra JadhavRegister now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.comSummaryRice output in India, China, Bangladesh, Vietnam at riskWeather damage to rice crops comes amid near record food pricesRice prices have eased this year even as wheat, soybeans peakedAfrican, Asian demand seen rising as harvest wraps upSINGAPORE/MUMBAI, Aug 5 (Reuters) - Adverse weather across top rice suppliers in Asia, including the biggest exporter India, is threatening to reduce the output of the world's most important food staple and stoke food inflation that is already near record highs.Rice has bucked the trend of rising food prices amid bumper crops and large inventories at exporters over the past two years, even as COVID-19, supply disruptions and more recently the Russia-Ukraine conflict made other grains costlier.But inclement weather in exporting countries in Asia, which accounts for about 90% of the world's rice output, is likely to change the price trajectory, traders and analysts said.Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com"There is an upside potential for rice prices with the possibility of production downgrades in key exporting countries," said Phin Ziebell, agribusiness economist at National Australia Bank."An increase in rice prices would add to already major challenges for food affordability in parts of the developing world," Ziebell told Reuters.Patchy rains in India's grain belt, a heatwave in China, floods in Bangladesh and quality downgrades in Vietnam could curb yields in four of the world's top five rice producers, farmers, traders and analysts told Reuters."Rice has remained accessible even as overall food prices reached record levels earlier this year," said U.N.'s Food and Agriculture Organisation economist, Shirley Mustafa."We are now witnessing weather-related setbacks in some key rice producing countries, including India, China and Bangladesh, which could result in lower output if conditions don't improve in the next few weeks," Mustafa added.World cereals prices have surged in 2022 despite relatively flat rice prices'PRODUCTION DROP IS CERTAIN'India's top rice producing states of Bihar, Jharkhand, West Bengal and Uttar Pradesh have recorded a monsoon rainfall deficit of as much as 45% so far this season, data from the state-run weather department shows.That has in part led to a 13% drop in rice planting this year, which could result in production falling by 10 million tonnes or around 8% from last year, said B.V. Krishna Rao, president of the All India Rice Exporters Association.The area under rice cultivation is down also because some farmers shifted to pulses and oilseeds, Rao said.India's summer-sown rice accounts for more than 85% of its annual production, which jumped to a record 129.66 million tonnes in the crop year to June 2022."A production drop is certain, but the big question is how the government will react," a Mumbai-based dealer with a global trading firm said.Milled and paddy rice stocks in India as of July 1 totalled 55 million tonnes, versus the target of 13.54 million tonnes.That has kept rice prices down in the past year together with India's record 21.5 million tonnes shipment in 2021, which was more than the total shipped by the world's next four biggest exporters - Thailand, Vietnam, Pakistan and the United States."But the government is hypersensitive about prices. A small rise could prompt it to impose export curbs," the trader said.In Vietnam, rains during harvest have damaged grain quality."Never before have I seen it rain that much during harvest. It's just abnormal," said Tran Cong Dang, a 50-year-old farmer based in the Mekong Delta province of Bac Lieu."In just ten days, the total measured rain is somewhat equal to the whole of previous month," said Dang, who estimated a 70% output loss on his 2-hectare paddy field due to floods.IMPORTS, PRICESChina, the world's biggest rice consumer and importer, has suffered yield losses from extreme heat in grain growing areas and is expected to lift imports to a record 6 million tonnes in 2022/23, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.China imported 5.9 million tonnes a year ago.The world's third-biggest consumer, Bangladesh, is also expected to import more rice following flood-damage in its main producing regions, traders said.The full extent of shortfalls in countries other than India has yet to be estimated by analysts or government agencies that often only publish output data later in the year.But the impact of unfriendly crop weather can already be seen in the slight rise in export prices from India and Thailand this week."Rice prices are already close to the bottom and we see the market rising from current levels," said a Singapore-based trader at one of the world's biggest rice merchants."The demand is picking up with buyers such as the Philippines and others in Africa looking to book cargoes."Two-year price percent change in key global food staplesRegister now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.comReporting by Naveen Thukral in Singapore and Rajendra Jadhav in Mumbai; additional reporting by Phuong Nguyen in Hanoi and Enrico Dela Cruz in Manila; Editing by Gavin Maguire and Himani SarkarOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Analysis: Global rice supplies at risk as harsh weather hits top exporters.

U.S. Dollar banknotes are seen in this illustration taken July 17, 2022. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/IllustrationRegister now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.comSINGAPORE, Aug 5 (Reuters) - The dollar crept higher on Friday but struggled to recoup its losses after falling by its sharpest pace in two weeks, as investors remained on tenterhooks ahead of U.S. jobs data and amid growing worries about a recession.The U.S. dollar index , which measures the greenback against a basket of currencies, was up 0.15% to 105.86, after sliding 0.68% overnight, the largest fall since July 19.Investors await the key U.S. nonfarm payrolls report due at 1230 GMT, which will provide hints of how the U.S. economy is faring. Economists expect an increase of 250,000 jobs for the month of July, after 372,000 were added in June. read more Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com"Payrolls just clearly seems to be on everyone's mind for tonight, so I think that's keeping things relatively subdued," said Ray Attrill, head of FX strategy at National Australia Bank.However, signs of softening in the labour market could already be underway, as overnight data showed that the number of Americans filing new claims for unemployment benefits increased last week. read more Against the weaker greenback, the euro held steady at around $1.0237, after surging 0.8% overnight. Butthe euro's reprieve from recent losses is likely short-lived as concerns about an energy crisis remain.A stand-off over the return of a turbine that Russia says is holding back gas supplies to Europe showed no sign of being resolved on Thursday, as Moscow said it needed documentation to confirm the equipment was not subject to sanctions. read more "We still expect EUR/USD to trade below parity, more than just briefly, over the next few weeks," said Joseph Capurso, head of international economics at Commonwealth Bank of Australia.Meanwhile, sterling dipped 0.14% to $1.21405 and is down about 0.35% for the week, reversing gains made the previous two weeks.On Thursday, the BoE raised its benchmark rate by half a percentage-point to 1.75%, the highest since late 2008, but warned about a long recession ahead in Britain. read more "The BoE's hike is not unexpected. Nevertheless, given its warning of persistently elevated inflation, this is a sobering reminder that central banks will continue to assault inflation despite downturn risks, inadvertently accentuating the threat of a hard landing," said Vishnu Varathan, head of economics and strategy at Mizuho Bank.Elsewhere, the U.S. dollar rose 0.21% against the Japanese yen to 133.215 per dollar , after tumbling 0.69% overnight.The risk-sensitive Aussie and kiwi remained little changed at $0.69645 and $0.6290, respectively.Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.comReporting by Rae Wee; Editing by Sam Holmes and Lincoln FeastOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Dollar on backfoot ahead of key U.S. jobs data.

Containers are seen at the Yangshan Deep-Water Port in Shanghai, China October 19, 2020. REUTERS/Aly Song/File PhotoRegister now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.comSummaryTrade data due on Sunday, Aug 7BEIJING, Aug 5 (Reuters) - China's export growth is expected to have slowed in July, adding to signs of weakening global demand, while imports likely picked up slightly, a Reuters poll showed on Friday.Exports likely grew 15.0% last month from a year earlier, narrowing from a 17.9% expansion in June, according to a median forecast in a Reuters poll of 20 economists."Final demand for Chinese goods is now softening. After a pandemic-induced surge, advanced economy retail sales are dropping back to trend," said Julian Evans-Pritchard, Senior China Economist at Capital Economics said in a note last week.Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.comExport momentum could moderate further in coming months, with China's official July factory survey signalling a contraction in orders."The robust export growth seen over the past two years is really behind us and is set to decelerate over the next few quarters as major developed economies enter recessions amid a more synchronized global slowdown," said Nomura in a note.Imports likely rose 3.7% in July versus a year ago, the poll showed, higher than the 1.0% growth in June, partly boosted by infrastructure investment."China's import momentum (is expected) to pick up in the second half, supported by demand for machinery, equipment, and commodities related to investment in infrastructure and strategic sectors," said Oxford Economics analysts in a note.In July, 3,876 major projects started construction, involving total investment of 2.4 trillion yuan ($355.25 billion), the Securities Times said on Thursday.With the economy on shaky ground after a sharp COVID-induced slowdown in the second quarter, authorities are doubling down on an infrastructure push, dusting off an old playbook to prop up the economy, pledging 800 billion yuan in new credit quota to fund big projects.China's trade surplus is likely to have narrowed to $90 billion in July from a record high of $97.94 billion in June.The trade data will be released on Sunday.($1 = 6.7559 Chinese yuan renminbi)Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.comPoll compiled by Devayani Sathyan and Jing Wang; Reporting by Liangping Gao, Ellen Zhang and Ryan Woo; Editing by Kim CoghillOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

China July export growth seen cooling, imports likely to rise: Reuters poll.

India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi speaks during the inauguration of a hydroelectric power plant in the state of Jammu and Kashmir, at Sher-i-Kashmir International Conference Centre (SKICC) in Srinagar, May 19, 2018. REUTERS/Danish Ismail - RC167CFE1A50Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.comMUMBAI, Aug 5 (Reuters Breakingviews) - India is set to take a seat at the global M&A table. Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government is preparing to give its antitrust enforcer a bigger say in overseas deals. India may have missed the boat to stymie Big Tech unions like Meta Platforms’ 2014 acquisition of WhatsApp, which boasts some 530 million users in the country today, but the new powers will nonetheless shake the world’s dealmakers.Under a refreshed competition law, expected to be presented to parliament as early as today, all deals exceeding $253 million for firms with “substantial business operations in India” would require permission from the competition commission, according to Bloomberg. In the past, India focused on a merged entity’s asset size and turnover as a criteria to intervene. If lawmakers subsequently come up with a broad definition of what is deemed substantial, authorities will have a freer hand.Antitrust blocks within the country are rare. In the first decade since India launched its merger control regime in 2011, the regulator approved over 700 filings; while it suggested some remedies for deals, it blocked none, lawyers at Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas say. Indeed, approval for Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Industries (RELI.NS) to acquire its closest retail rival Future Group, a deal later torpedoed by the latter’s creditors in April, gives an impression that officials have been asleep at the wheel.Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.comPressure to act is building as M&A activity in the $3 trillion emerging market giant grows. Deals involving an Indian target amounted to $121 billion in the first half of the year, per Refinitiv, almost 6% of the total global value. That puts the country fourth after the United States, China and the UK.Dealmakers can only hope India is a less complicating factor than its large neighbour. China has a track record of killing deals by withholding antitrust approvals: in 2018, for example, U.S. chipmaker Qualcomm was forced to walk away from its $44 billion acquisition of NXP Semiconductors (NXPI.O) after it failed to secure Beijing’s consent. At the time, the deal’s collapse was seen as collateral damage from China’s trade war with Washington. China may well have had concerns on patents or other business grounds but it left parties guessing, making it harder for companies to agree deals going forward.India’s rising status as a huge consumer market and growing centre for global innovation give it plenty of reasons to have a big voice in making or breaking deals. Companies around the world will be paying close attention.(The author is a Reuters Breakingviews columnist. The opinions expressed are her own.)Follow @ugalani on TwitterCONTEXT NEWSIndia is planning to overhaul its competition law so that companies will have to seek the country’s antitrust approval for many overseas mergers and acquisitions, Bloomberg reported on Aug. 4.All deals where the transaction value exceeds 20 billion rupees ($252 million) would require permission of India’s antitrust regulator if the firms have “substantial business operations in India,” according to a draft bill seen by the news agency.The bill could be presented to parliament as early as Aug. 5, the report added citing a person with knowledge of the matter who confirmed the document’s contents.Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.comEditing by Robyn Mak and Katrina HamlinOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.Opinions expressed are those of the author. They do not reflect the views of Reuters News, which, under the Trust Principles, is committed to integrity, independence, and freedom from bias.

India M&A veto plans will shake world’s dealmakers.

Boeing 737 MAX airplanes are stored on employee parking lots near Boeing Field, on June 27, 2019 in Seattle, Washington.Stephen Brashear | Getty ImagesThe aviation industry has been in disarray since the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic. Now, a perfect storm of strikes and staff shortages is forcing airlines to shore up their battle plans to offset a summer of travel chaos.Around 90,000 jobs were cut across U.S. airlines as worldwide mobility was brought to a standstill in 2020, while easyJet and Airbus were among the European companies shedding staff.Passenger numbers for leisure and business flights have since rebounded to exceed pre-pandemic numbers. However, those money-saving cuts have turned into havoc-causing shortages.British Airways on Tuesday suspended short-haul flight sales from London's Heathrow after the airport asked airlines to cut down passenger numbers.So, what are other airlines doing this summer?Schedule adjustmentsDutch airline KLM will limit the sale of tickets flying from Amsterdam in September and October after Schiphol Airport put a cap on the number of departing passengers.The airline "does not expect cancellations to be necessary" to meet the limits imposed by the airport, but warns that "fewer seats than usual will be available in the Dutch market."German carrier Lufthansa made adjustments to its schedule at the start of summer and canceled 3,000 flights from Frankfurt and Munich. The early changes were made with the aim to "relieve the overall system and offer a stable flight schedule," according to the airline.The airline also canceled over 1,000 flights due to a ground staff walkout in July. There is currently no capacity restriction on passenger numbers.Low-cost carrier easyJet made changes to its schedule in June after Amsterdam's Schiphol and London's Gatwick Airport announced passenger capacity caps. Since then "operations have normalised", according to easyJet, and performance is "now at 2019 levels."American Airlines made some "short notice" cancellations because of Heathrow's passenger cap, according to the company, but made no mention of future disruption when asked for comment by CNBC.Swiss International in July canceled some upcoming flights scheduled between July and October. The airline said the alterations had "become necessary due to known constraints in air traffic control in Europe, constraints at ground and airport service providers worldwide and also at SWISS."Business as usualDubai's Emirates airline hasn't made any alterations to its schedules or passenger numbers after it refused to comply with Heathrow's capacity restriction requests in July.Austrian Airlines is operating its summer flight schedule "as planned."Meanwhile, Irish airline Ryanair says it has "no plans to cap passenger numbers" and that capacity is currently at 115% of its pre-Covid numbers.Recovery does remain "fragile" however, according to Chief Executive Michael O'Leary.

International airlines launch battle plans to deal with summer of travel chaos.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken attends the East Asia Summit during the ASEAN Foreign Ministers Meeting in Phnom Penh, Cambodia August 5, 2022. REUTERS/Soe Zeya TunRegister now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.comPHNOM PENH, Aug 5 (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken told an Asian meeting of top diplomats on Friday that China's reaction to U.S. house speaker Nancy Pelosi's visit to Taiwan was "flagrantly provocative", a western official said.Blinken, speaking at the East Asia Summit in Cambodia, said China had sought to intimidate not only Taiwan, but neighbours too, after it launched the largest-ever military drills in the Taiwan Strait, the official said.Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.comReporting by David Brunnstrom; Writing by Kanupriya Kapoor; Editing by Ed DaviesOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

U.S. calls China reaction to Pelosi's Taiwan visit "flagrantly provocative".

Crime August 4, 2022 / 7:31 PM / CBS News A retired police lieutenant allegedly shot and killed an officer during training at a library in Washington, D.C., Thursday afternoon. It is not clear how or why the shooting happened, D.C. police chief Robert J. Contee said during a press conference. https://t.co/eIV0Yqecbw— DC Police Department (@DCPoliceDept) August 4, 2022 Authorities responded to a reported shooting at the Anacostia Library around 3:30 p.m. and found the female library officer had a gunshot wound, Contee said. She was taken to an area hospital where she died.The shooting happened at the end of training class for ASP Batons, which Contee described as an extendable baton. The training was being held in a room in the library's basement, Contee said, adding that about six people were in the room at the time of the shooting. The lieutenant leading the training, who retired from the D.C. Police Department two years ago, allegedly fired the fatal shot. Contee said it's not clear why there was a loaded weapon at the training. The retired lieutenant was taken to a homicide office for questioning. Authorities are still unsure how or why the shooting happened, the police chief added."Again it's a very tragic situation that we're dealing with here, and our condolences to the deceased library police officer and their entire agency," Contee said. The police chief did not identify the victim or the suspect. In: Shooting Washington D.C. Sophie Reardon Sophie Reardon is a News Editor at CBS News. Reach her at sophie.reardon@viacomcbs.com

Library officer shot and killed by retired D.C. police lieutenant during training, official says.

Oil pump jacks are seen at the Vaca Muerta shale oil and gas deposit in the Patagonian province of Neuquen, Argentina, January 21, 2019. REUTERS/Agustin Marcarian/File PhotoRegister now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.comSINGAPORE, Aug 5 (Reuters) - Oil prices steadied in Asia trade on Friday, after hitting their lowest levels since before Russia's February invasion of Ukraine in the previous session, as the market juggled concerns of supply shortage and slower demand.Brent crude rose 13 cents, or 0.1%, to $94.25 a barrel by 0330 GMT, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude was up 27 cents, or 0.3%, at $88.81 a barrel,Oil prices have come under pressure this week as the market fretted over the impact of inflation on economic growth and demand, though signs of tight supply kept a floor under prices.Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com"OPEC's meagre supply hike highlights the limited capacity the market has to handle further shortages," ANZ Research analysts said.For September, OPEC+ is set to raise its oil output goal by 100,000 barrels per day. The hike is one of the smallest since OPEC quotas were introduced in 1982, OPEC data shows. read more The global crude oil markets remained firmly in backwardation, where prompt prices are higher than those in future months, indicating tight supplies.Supply concerns are expected to ratchet up closer to winter with the European Union sanctions banning seaborne imports of Russian crude and oil products set to take effect on Dec. 5."With the EU halting seaborne Russian imports, there is a key question of whether Middle Eastern producers will reroute their barrels to Europe to backfill the void," RBC analyst Michael Tran said."How this Russian oil sanctions policy shakes out will be one of the most consequential matters to watch for the remainder of the year," Tran added.For now, signs of an economic slowdown capped price recovery. Recession worries have intensified following the Bank of England's warning of a drawn-out downturn after it raised interest rates by the most since 1995. read more "If commodities are not pricing in an imminent economic recession, they might be preparing for a 'stagflation' era when the unemployment rate starts picking up and inflation stays high," CMC Markets analyst Tina Teng said.Investors are focused on the U.S. employment report to be released later in the day, which is expected to show nonfarm payrolls increased by 250,000 jobs last month, after rising by 372,000 jobs in June. read more Any signs of strength in the labour market could feed into fears of aggressive steps by the U.S. Federal Reserve to curb inflation.Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.comReporting by Jeslyn Lerh and Florence Tan; Editing by Himani SarkarOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Oil prices steady as market juggles supply shortage, demand worries.

Sanofi logo at the company's headquarters during the annual results news conference in Paris, France, February 4, 2022. REUTERS/Benoit Tessier/File PhotoRegister now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.comAug 5 (Reuters) - Innovent Biologics Inc (1801.HK) said on Friday Paris-based Sanofi SA (SASY.PA) would invest HK$2.42 billion ($307.88 million) in the biopharmaceutical group to jointly develop two cancer drugs in China.The all-cash investment by Sanofi unit Sanofi Foreign Participations B.V. will be at a price of HK$42.42 per Innovent share, representing a premium of about 29% to the stock's last close.Innovent said it had also entered into a licence agreement with Sanofi Foreign Participations for the commercialisation of the two oncology medicines.Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.comThe Jiangsu, China-based company said SAR408701, or tusamitamab ravtansine, would be used to treat lung, gastric and other cancers, while SAR444245, or non-alpha IL-2, was under phase-2 studies for skin cancer, head and neck tumours, among others.Sanofi will receive up to 140 million euros ($143.44 million) in milestone payments and royalties on net sales of the two drugs in China upon new drug application approvals, Innovent said.($1 = 7.8496 Hong Kong dollars)($1 = 0.9760 euros)Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.comReporting by Upasana Singh in Bengaluru; Editing by Subhranshu SahuOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

China's Innovent Biologics secures over $300 million investment from Sanofi.

People wearing protective masks make their way amid the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic at a business district in Tokyo, Japan August 4, 2020. REUTERS/Kim Kyung-HoonRegister now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.comTOKYO, Aug 5 (Reuters) - Japanese companies are temporarily shutting offices or suspending production as they battle a record wave of COVID-19, disrupting businesses in a country that has until now weathered the pandemic better than most advanced economies.Automakers Toyota Motor Corp (7203.T) and Daihatsu Motor Co last week halted production line shifts because of employee infections. KFC Holdings Japan Ltd (9873.T) has had to shut some fast-food restaurants and move staff to fill gaps, while Japan Post Holdings Co (6178.T) has temporarily shut more than 200 mailing centres.Japan's tally of COVID cases has surged past those of other countries as the full impact of the BA.4 and BA.5 variants dominating around the world hits home. Japan had more than 1.4 million new COVID cases over the past week, World Health Organization data showed.Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.comCompanies are scrambling to cope."We have divided the meal time into several time slots and have told workers to sit in one direction and not to talk at all," Subaru Corp (7270.T) CFO Katsuyuki Mizuma told reporters recently, describing how the automaker was trying to fend off infections and work stoppages.Newly diagnosed COVID cases reached an all-time high for Japan of almost 250,000 on Wednesday. Hospitalisations and deaths are on the rise too but not as drastically as in previous waves because of the prevalence of vaccinations and booster shots.Japan has had an enviable record in its response to COVID, avoiding the disruptive lockdowns and big death tolls that have accompanied the pandemic elsewhere.The country of 125.8 million people has had more than 32,000 deaths, a fraction of the tolls in the United States and Britain, for example.The latest outbreak will likely show whether it can maintain its flexible response aimed at "living with corona" and limiting the economic impact, particularly if the disruption now being felt gets worse of lasts for an extended period."There is still a shortage of semiconductors and the spread of the coronavirus is currently increasing," a Toyota spokesperson said last week."The future remains unpredictable."Health authorities advise that those who test positive should quarantine for 10 days and their close contacts should isolate for at least five.Toshihiro Nagahama, chief economist at the Dai-ichi Life Group, said production and retail would feel some pain as infected people and their close contacts stay at home."As infections and close contacts increase, that will certainly weigh on people's confidence to go out for meals, shopping and the like," he said.SUPPLY CHAINSThe disruption has particularly important implications for a job market at its tightest in decades, especially for the small and medium-sized enterprises that make up the majority of Japan's companies. read more Yoshiaki Katsuda an occupational health expert at the Kansai University of Social Welfare, said big companies can hire temporary workers to replace those who have to take time off but they are still vulnerable to supply chain headaches."If smaller companies that supply products ... have to shut down for a long period, then the production of bigger companies could be affected," he said.The wave of infections is snarling transport too.Railway operator Kyushu Railway Co (9142.T) suspended 120 train services in southern Japan last week when 53 crew members tested positive or where close contacts of cases. Mitsui O.S.K. Lines Ltd (9104.T) cancelled four ferry crossings in western Japan, and bus operator OdakyuBus Co Ltd slashed dozens of routes around Tokyo.The central government has devolved authority on infection controls to prefectural governments, letting them step up precautions as they see fit. Twelve prefectures have enacted the measures with a focus on curbing risks to the elderly.Support for Prime Minister Fumio Kishida has sagged in recent polls as COVID surged, but a strong showing for the ruling Liberal Democratic Party in elections last month has given him some breathing room, said Tetsuya Inoue, a senior researcher at Nomura Research Institute."For the moment, Mr Kishida and his administration are prioritising the maintenance of economic activities rather than to return to very strict measures against COVID," Inoue said.Inoue said that whatever the drag on the domestic economy that the wave of infections is causing, the bigger problem for Japan was lockdowns in China and the knock-on effects that they have on supply chains.Relief for Japan's companies and the wider economy could be in sight. Health experts project this wave of infection to peak early this month."Given current trends, it is unlikely that infections will continue to expand over the long term, and there is little need to impose strict behavioural restrictions," doctors at the Tokyo Foundation for Policy Research wrote in a recent paper.Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.comReporting by Rocky Swift, Satoshi Sugiyama, Mariko Yamazaki and Nobuhiro Kubo; Editing by David Dolan and Robert BirselOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Work stoppages and no chatting at lunch: Japan Inc grapples with COVID.

LONDON — European markets are set for a fractionally higher open Friday as investors track corporate earnings and await a key U.S. jobs report.Britain's FTSE 100 is seen around 11 points higher at 7,459, Germany's DAX is set to gain around 12 points to 13,675 and France's CAC 40 is expected to inch around 10 points higher to 6,523.Markets have endured a cautious week as investors reacted to a slew of corporate earnings. The pan-European Stoxx 600 closed the previous session fractionally above the flatline.The Bank of England on Thursday hiked interest rates by 50 basis points while forecasting U.K. inflation to peak above 13% in October and the economy to enter a prolonged recession in the fourth quarter.Friday's U.S. jobs report, due at 1:30 p.m. London time, will likely offer clues about the Federal Reserve's monetary tightening path and the state of the U.S. economy.Economists expect 258,000 jobs were added in July, down from 372,000 in June, according to Dow Jones. Unemployment is anticipated to hold steady at 3.6%. Stock futures stateside were cautiously higher in early premarket trading as Wall Street looks to eke out modest gains for the week.Stock picks and investing trends from CNBC Pro:Shares in Asia-Pacific were mostly higher overnight, with Taiwanese stocks leading gains in the region as investors shook off China's military drills following U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's visit to Taiwan.Earnings continue to drive individual share price movement in Europe. Allianz, the London Stock Exchange Group and WPP were among the companies reporting before the bell on Friday.On the data front, French industrial output, trade balance and current account figures for June are due Friday morning.Subscribe to CNBC PRO for exclusive insights and analysis, and live business day programming from around the world.

European stocks set for muted open; key U.S. jobs report ahead.

Politics Updated on: August 4, 2022 / 10:41 PM / CBS News CPAC kicks off annual gathering CPAC kicks off annual gathering of conservative activists in Dallas 06:01 DALLAS, TEXAS - AUGUST 04: Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán speaks at the Conservative Political Action Conference CPAC held at the Hilton Anatole on August 04, 2022 in Dallas, Texas. BRANDON BELL / Getty Images Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán called on conservatives in Europe and the U.S. to take back power from liberals, declaring  a "clash of civilizations" is underway.  The far-right leader, who addressed the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in Texas on Thursday, recently faced an international backlash over controversial remarks he made in late July, in which he said Hungarians "do not want to become peoples of mixed race." One former adviser, who has since resigned, referred to those comments as "a pure Nazi speech worthy of Goebbels." Orbán, who came to power in 2010, has increasingly clamped down on political opposition and press freedom, consolidating his power further over the last two elections. At CPAC, Orbán tried to preempt criticism, claiming "a Christian politician cannot be racist" and that those who consider him a racist or anti-Semite are "simply idiots." "I can already see tomorrow's headlines," Orbán said. "Far-right European racist and anti-Semite strongman, Trojan Horse of Putin, holds speech at conservative conference. But I don't want to give them any ideas, they know best how to write fake news."During his speech, Orbán also attacked Jewish billionaire George Soros, former President Barack Obama, "globalists," and the Democratic Party: "They hate me and slander me and my country, as they hate you." He also touted Hungary's aggressive illegal migration and anti-"gender ideology" policies. At one point, Orbán read the Hungarian constitution's definition of marriage being between one man and one woman, prompting applause from the CPAC audience. "Less drag queens and more Chuck Norris," he said.A day before his appearance at CPAC, Orbán and his delegation met with former President Donald Trump at his golf club in Bedminster, New Jersey. Taylor Budowich, a spokesman for Mr. Trump's leadership PAC Save America, tweeted pictures of the meeting. 45: Great spending time with my friend, Viktor Orbán, the Prime Minister of Hungary. We discussed many interesting topics—few people know as much about what is going on today. We were also celebrating his great electoral victory in April. pic.twitter.com/NpuBubQ6Je— Taylor Budowich (@TayFromCA) August 2, 2022 Hungarian Foreign Affairs Minister Péter Szijjártó also commented in a tweet that Hungarian-U.S. relations were "at their peak when Donald Trump was President" and expressed the hope that he'll be president again. .With an eye toward the 2024 U.S. presidential race, Orbán called on conservatives to mobilize on both sides of the Atlantic to take back political power.  "We must take back the institutions in Washington and in Brussels. We must coordinate the movement of our troops, because we face the same challenge," he said. "You have two years to get ready." In: Viktor Orban Thanks for reading CBS NEWS. Create your free account or log in for more features. Please enter email address to continue Please enter valid email address to continue

Hungarian leader Viktor Orbán declares at CPAC that "a Christian politician cannot be racist".

The Rocket Force under the Eastern Theatre Command of China's People's Liberation Army (PLA) conducts conventional missile tests into the waters off the eastern coast of Taiwan, from an undisclosed location in this handout released on August 4, 2022. Eastern Theatre Command/Handout via REUTERSRegister now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.comSummaryFour missiles fly over TaipeiTaiwan plays down concerns, likely to avoid panicPelosi, in Japan, joins PM Kishida in condemning ChinaTAIPEI, Aug 5 (Reuters) - Taiwan condemned its "evil neighbour" on Friday after China fired multiple missiles into its surrounding waters, as many as four of which flew over the island's capital Taipei in an unprecedented escalation during live-fire exercises.China launched its largest ever military drills in the seas and skies around Taiwan on Thursday, a day after U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi enraged Beijing by making a solidarity trip to the self-ruled island that China claims as its own.Japan's defence ministry, which is tracking the exercises, first reported that as many as four of the missiles flew over Taiwan's capital. Japan also said that five of nine missiles fired towards its territory landed in its exclusive economic zone (EEZ), also a first, prompting Tokyo to launch a diplomatic protest.Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.comLater, Taiwan's defence ministry said the missiles were high in the atmosphere and constituted no threat. It did not give details of their flight paths, citing intelligence concerns.Some Taipei residents, including Mayor Ko Wen-je, criticised the government for not putting out a missile alert, but one security expert said that could have been done to avoid stoking panic and playing into China's hands."It counteracted the effect of the Chinese Communist Party's psychological warfare," said Mei Fu-shin, a U.S.-based analyst. "The shock and fear were not as great as they could have been."There was little reaction to the missile firing in Taiwan on Friday. "It's the same as normal. I don't feel anything different," said Ping Chung, who owns a hostel on Liuqiu Island, near one of the areas where China is conducting the exercises.Asked to comment on the missiles, Taiwan Premier Su Tseng-chang did not directly respond, but referred to China as the "evil neighbour showing off her power at our door." read more Bonnie Glaser, a Washington-based Asia security specialist at the German Marshall Fund of the United States, described as "unprecedented" reports that ballistic missiles were fired over Taiwan."In my view, the larger threat is that China is doing a rehearsal for a blockade, demonstrating it can block Taiwan's ports and airports, and prevent shipping," she said.The drills are scheduled to continue until noon on Sunday.'ABYSS OF DISASTER'China has said its relations with Taiwan are an internal matter."The U.S.-Taiwan collusion and provocation will only push Taiwan towards the abyss of disaster, bringing catastrophe to Taiwan compatriots," said a Chinese defence ministry spokesperson.Responding to the Chinese drills, President Tsai Ing-wen said Taiwan would not provoke conflicts but would firmly defend its sovereignty and national security.Taiwan has been self-ruled since 1949, when Mao Zedong's communists took power in Beijing after defeating Chiang Kai-shek’s Kuomintang (KMT) nationalists in a civil war, prompting the KMT-led government to retreat to the island.Beijing says it reserves the right to bring Taiwan under China's control, by force if necessary.U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken told an Asian meeting of top diplomats on Friday that China's reaction to Pelosi's visit to Taiwan was "flagrantly provocative" and that China had sought to intimidate not only Taiwan, but neighbours too, a western official said. read more Pelosi, who is currently in Japan, told reporters that China could not isolate Taiwan by preventing Western officials from travelling there."This visit isn't about me, it's about Taiwan," she said.During a news conference in Tokyo, Pelosi addressed the diplomatic storm caused by the congressional visit to Asia, and most specifically Taiwan."We have said from the start that our representation here is not about changing the status quo in Taiwan or the region," she told a news conference after meeting Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida.The congressional delegation led by Pelosi visited Singapore, Malaysia, Taiwan and South Korea earlier this week before arriving in Japan for the last leg of the tour.Pelosi met Kishida at his official residence, where the Japanese prime minister said the two allies would work together to maintain peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait, a key shipping route. read more China's foreign ministry said it had summoned the Japanese ambassador in Beijing on Thursday over its participation in an "erroneous" Group of Seven (G7) nations statement on Taiwan, and also made complaints to EU envoys.Japan, whose southernmost islands are closer to Taiwan than Tokyo, has warned that Chinese intimidation of Taiwan is an escalating national security threat."I have informed speaker Pelosi that the fact China's ballistic missiles had landed near Japanese water including EEZ threaten our national safety and security and that Japan had strongly condemned such actions," Kishida said.Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.comReporting by Yimou Lee and Sarah Wu in Taipei; additional reporting by Elaine Lies and Tim Kelly in Tokyo, Greg Torode in Hong Kong, Ann Wang in Liuqiu Island; Writing by Tony Munroe and Raju Gopalakrishnan; Editing by Simon Cameron-MooreOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Taiwan slams 'evil neighbour' China after missiles fly over island.

Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.comAug 4 (Reuters) - U.S. conspiracy theorist Alex Jones should pay parents of a child killed in the 2012 Sandy Hook massacre at least $4.1 million for falsely claiming the shooting was a hoax, a Texas jury said on Thursday.The verdict followed a two-week trial in Austin, Texas, where Jones's radio show and webcast Infowars are based. The amount fell far short of the millions of dollars in compensatory damages that had been sought.Neil Heslin and Scarlett Lewis, separated parents of slain six-year-old Jesse Lewis, testified that Jones’ followers harassed them and sent them death threats for years in the false belief that the parents were lying about their son’s death.Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.comThe 12-person jury will next consider the parents’ request for punitive damages from Jones for spreading falsehoods about the killing of 20 children and six staff at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, on Dec. 14, 2012.Those deliberations are expected to begin after both sides on Friday present arguments on Jones’ net worth.The jurors, who voted 10-2 on compensatory damages, could still award the parents a large punitive damages verdict if they think Jones’ conduct was not highly damaging but worthy of punishment, legal experts said."We are very pleased with the verdict, and we are looking forward to the punitive damages phase that starts tomorrow," Kyle Farrar, an attorney for the parents, said in an email.Lawyers for Jones, who was not present in the courtroom while the verdict was read, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.Trial consultant Jill Huntley Taylor said it is not uncommon for a jury to award higher punitive damages than compensatory ones.“If jurors’ motivation for an award is their anger at the defendant, then they often award a bigger punitive damage number,” she said in an interview.During closing arguments on Wednesday, Farrar urged jurors to end what he called their nightmare and hold Jones accountable for profiting off their son’s death.'100% REAL'Alex Jones steps outside of the Travis County Courthouse, to do interviews with media after he was questioned under oath about text messages and emails by lawyer Mark Bankston, in Austin, Texas, U.S. August 3, 2022. Briana Sanchez/Pool via REUTERSFederico Reynal, an attorney for Jones, acknowledged during his closing argument that Jones and Infowars reported “irresponsibly” on Sandy Hook but said his client was not responsible for the harassment.Jones previously claimed that the mainstream media and gun-control activists conspired to fabricate the Sandy Hook tragedy and that the shooting was staged using crisis actors.He later acknowledged that the shooting took place and sought to distance himself from previous falsehoods during the trial, telling jurors it was “crazy” of him to repeatedly make the claim that the shooting was a hoax.He said that the shooting was “100% real.”In a surprising development, Heslin and Lewis' lawyers disclosed Wednesday that Jones’ lawyers had inadvertently sent them two years worth of his texts and failed to request them back in time.Gamble on Thursday denied a motion for a mistrial by Jones's lawyer who argued that attorneys for the plaintiffs should have immediately destroyed the records. The parents may now use the records as they wish.Jones' company, Free Speech Systems LLC, declared bankruptcy last week. Jones said during a Monday broadcast that the filing will help the company stay on the air while it appeals.Judge Maya Guerra Gamble admonished Jones on Tuesday for not telling the truth about his bankruptcy and compliance with discovery during his testimony.The parents' lawyer also accused Jones of approaching the trial in bad faith, citing broadcasts where Jones said the trial was rigged against him and that the jury pool was full of people who "don't know what planet they're on."Heslin and Lewis joined other Sandy Hook parents in urging a judge to block Free Speech System from sending Jones or his companies any money until they get to the bottom of their finances. read more The parents claim that Jones took $62 million from the company while burdening it with $65 million in "fabricated" debt owed to PQPR Holdings, a company owned by Jones and his parents.Jones was set to stand trial in a similar suit in Connecticut in September, but that case is now on hold while the bankruptcy proceeds.The Sandy Hook gunman, Adam Lanza, 20, used a Remington Bushmaster rifle to carry out the massacre. It ended when Lanza killed himself with the approaching sound of police sirens.Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.comReporting by Jack Queen; editing by Amy Stevens, Noeleen Walder and Howard GollerOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Jury finds Alex Jones must pay $4.1 million for Sandy Hook hoax claims.

Athletics - World Athletics Championships - Men's 100 Metres - Heats - Hayward Field, Eugene, Oregon, U.S. - July 15, 2022 Botswana's Letsile Tebogo reacts after winning REUTERS/Lucy NicholsonRegister now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.comAug 5 (Reuters) - Israeli Blessing Akawasi Afrifah stunned favourite Letsile Tebogo to win the men's 200 metres by a whisker in 19.96 seconds at the world under-20 championships in Colombia on Thursday.Tebogo drew comparisons to Usain Bolt when he coasted to victory in the 100m in a junior world record time of 9.91 on Tuesday but the Botswanan's hopes of a sprint double were dashed by Afrifah in a thrilling final.The 18-year-old, born in Israel to West African parents, stayed close behind Tebogo coming round the bend and a late surge saw him claim the title by six thousandths of a second in a photo-finish.Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com"I'm so emotional. I'm out of words," Afrifah told the World Athletics website."For a second, I thought 'Okay, I'm second, but I am very happy to be second to Tebogo'. I achieved my dream."Tebogo, 19, was given the same time, which bettered the championship record he set in the heats on Wednesday, and said he was more than happy with his run after a busy week of competition at Cali's Pascual Guerrero Stadium."This is the best race that I have ever run in my life so far," he said."I'm really grateful for the performance and it's not everybody who can run these fast times, four days in a row."Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.comReporting by Nick Mulvenney, editing by Peter RutherfordOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Israeli Afrifa stuns Tebogo to win 200m at world juniors.

Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.comTOKYO, Aug 5 (Reuters) - U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Friday praised Taiwan, pledged U.S. solidarity and said her trip through Asia, which led to unprecedented military drills by an angry China, was never about changing the regional status quo.Pelosi and a congressional delegation were in Japan on the last stage of an Asian trip that included a brief and unannounced stop in Taiwan, the self-ruled island that Beijing considers its own - and prompted an infuriated Beijing to hold live-fire drills in waters around Taiwan, with five missiles landing in Japan's exclusive economic zone(EEZ).Her stop in Taiwan, the highest-level visit by a U.S. official in 25 years, came as Tokyo, one of Washington's closest allies, has become increasingly alarmed about China's growing might in the Indo-Pacific and the possibility that Beijing could take military action against Taiwan.Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com"We have said from the start that our representation here is not about changing the status quo in Taiwan or the region," she told a news conference after meeting with Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida."The Chinese government is not pleased that our friendship with Taiwan is a strong one," she added."It is bipartisan in the House and in the Senate, overwhelming support for peace and the status quo in Taiwan."China has condemned Pelosi's trip, which took the delegation to Singapore, Malaysia and South Korea as well as Taiwan and Japan.Its state broadcaster said the military exercises, which began on Thursday - the day after Pelosi left Taiwan - and are set to end on Sunday, would be the largest conducted by China in the Taiwan Strait. The exercises have involved live fire on the waters and in the airspace around the island.Japan said that five of nine missiles fired towards its territory landed in its exclusive economic zone (EEZ). Tokyo lodged a diplomatic protest over the incident, which Defence Minister Nobuo Kishi termed "unprecedented." read more Pelosi lauded Taiwan's democracy, economic successes and - in a veiled dig at China - its human rights record, noting support by Taiwan, the first Asian government to allow same-sex marriage, for LGBTQ rights."The fact is, I have said it again and again, if we do not speak out for human rights in China because of commercial interests, we lose all moral authority to speak out about human rights any place in the world," she said."China has some contradictions - some progress in terms of lifting people up, some horrible things happening in terms of the Uyghurs. In fact, it's been labelled a genocide."U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi attends a news conference while flanked by U.S. Representative Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-IL) and Gregory Meeks (D-NY) at the U.S. Embassy in Tokyo, Japan August 5, 2022. REUTERS/Issei KatoHuman rights groups accuse Beijing of abuse against Xinjiang's Uyghur ethnic group, accusations China rejects.Delegation member House Foreign Affairs Committee chair Gregory Meeks was even blunter."They surely don't want us to continue to talk about what's happening in Xinjiang (with) the Uyghurs," he said."We're going to speak up and speak out for human rights, human dignity, and democratic process. That's what this trip was all about."WORRIED ALLY, MAINTAINING PEACEEarlier, Pelosi met with Kishida, who said afterwards that they would work together to maintain peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait, a key shipping route - a view echoed by U.S. ambassador Rahm Emanuel."It is clear that the U.S.-Japan Alliance will stand strong, shoulder-to-shoulder, to defend our interests and our values," he said in a statement.Japan, whose southernmost islands are closer to Taiwan than Tokyo, has warned that Chinese intimidation of Taiwan is an escalating national security threat. read more Tensions between Japan and China also ramped up a notch on Thursday when China announced that a meeting between the two nations' foreign ministers, set to take place on the sidelines of an ASEAN meeting in Cambodia, had been called off due to its displeasure with a G7 statement urging Beijing to resolve the tension over Taiwan peacefully. read more China summoned the Japanese ambassador in Beijing to lodge stern representations over its participation in the "erroneous" G7 statement, its foreign ministry said on Friday.While visiting Japan in May, U.S. President Joe Biden said he would be willing to use force to defend Taiwan - a comment that appeared to stretch the limits of the U.S. policy of "strategic ambiguity" towards the island. read more Kishida's ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) has also pledged to double military spending to 2% of GDP.Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.comAdditional reporting by Elaine Lies, Mariko Katsumura and Kentaro Sugiyama; writing by Elaine Lies; Editing by David Dolan, Stephen Coates & Simon Cameron-MooreOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Pelosi praises Taiwan, says Asian trip wasn't to change status quo.

SummaryCompaniesIndia probe finds antitrust lapses at 20 cement companiesExecutives coordinated on prices, plant shutdowns: reportCompanies checked each other for complianceCement giants face millions of dollars in possible finesNEW DELHI, Aug 5 (Reuters) - Swiss giant Holcim's India units and more than a dozen other cement manufacturers colluded to raise prices and restrict supplies for years, which included regularly inspecting one another to ensure there was no breach of the agreements, according to a federal antitrust probe.The investigations arm of the Competition Commission of India (CCI) has held top leadership - CEOs or Managing Directors - of Holcim units ACC and Ambuja, market leader UltraTech and 17 other firms such as Shree Cement and Dalmia Cement liable for antitrust violations.The investigation report, issued last month and seen by Reuters, is the penultimate but most significant stage of the CCI probe that started in 2019. The report, which is not public, will now be reviewed by CCI's top three officials who have powers to impose fines and will give companies a last chance to defend themselves.Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.comPotentially, the cement giants could be fined millions of dollars. Together, the 20 companies control more than three-quarters of the over 500 million tonne installed cement capacity in India, the world's second-largest producer after China.The report said executives of the companies discussed coordinated price hikes in Zoom calls and in-person meetings at company guest houses, with some officials using personal mail to communicate with rivals. WhatsApp messaging was also extensively used.One company official's WhatsApp message cited in the report said a "forum" of companies had agreed to gradually raise cement prices in some regions by 5-10 rupees (6-12 U.S. cents). Senior executives, including from Holcim's ACC and UltraTech, were assigned as the "coordinator" for various states."Price will go up in each week by equal amount," the message said.The message did not give details but typically, cement is sold in 50 kg (110 lb) bags to retail consumers, and the cost is between 350-450 rupees ($4-$6) per bag depending on the location and grade of cement.CCI did not respond to a request for comment.Holcim (HOLN.S) said in a statement that "the Indian companies are managing this matter responsibly and we expect them to continue to do so accordingly."ACC (ACC.NS), Ambuja (ABUJ.NS) and UltraTech Cement (ULTC.NS) declined to comment, while Shree Cement (SHCM.NS) and Dalmia Cement did not respond.India's Adani Group, which entered into a proposed $10.5 billion deal with Holcim in May to acquire its India businesses, also did not respond.SYSTEMATIC 'CARTELISATION'Cement production is a lucrative business in India's booming economy, with high demand especially from rural housing and infrastructure firms.An official at the Pavers and Blocks Manufacturers Association, whose members sell concrete paving blocks, told Reuters price hikes by cement companies in recent years were coordinated, leaving no scope for cutting costs by switching suppliers."We sometimes pass the higher cost to consumers," said the official, who declined to be named since he does business with the cement companies amounting to 50,000 bags a month and was concerned about reprisals.Overall, the CCI investigation report concluded the cement companies colluded in 13 states in eastern and southern India, with more than 50 industry executives involved in "cartelisation" activities in an "extremely organised manner".The CCI report said the Cement Manufacturers Association, an industry body, "facilitated and penetrated the anti-competitive conduct in the cartel" by collating and sharing pricing details among companies. The group did not respond to Reuters queries.Cement companies have been accused of price-fixing for over a decade. In 2016, the CCI imposed a $800 million fine on 10 companies for fixing prices, including the Holcim units and UltraTech, but the decision has been challenged since then at the Supreme Court.In the 2016 ruling, the CCI had said the manufacturers association helped companies collude, and ordered it to "disengage and disassociate itself from collecting" prices or production-related details.Although cement prices vary across India, CCI's report showed they moved in the same direction.In Kolkata and Patna in eastern India, for example, cement bag rates fell for several months until January 2021 to reach 300 rupees and 350 rupees, respectively. Then, they rose in tandem over four months to touch 360 rupees in Kolkata and 390 rupees in Patna, before easing again, CCI said.'KILN CLOSURE' SYSTEMIn southern India, UltraTech and many other smaller companies controlled cement output and supplies through informal "kiln closure" agreements in a mutually agreed schedule, the report said.The aim, CCI said, was to coordinate output, restrict cement supplies and increase prices.To ensure compliance with the informal arrangement, a verification system was designed, the report said. Investigators found a sheet listing company names and their plant locations, and assigning a rival firm to visit and verify production halts, it said.The sheet noted that the visiting "guest" company's team should be provided with a four-wheeled vehicle and a driver during inspections, which must be held at least twice a week.The "host" company - the one being inspected - should "provide in person access to all guests to all kiln platforms", the sheet stated."The evidence reaffirms the fact that an elaborate mechanism was developed by the cartel to verify and report 'kiln' running/closure...as per the understanding reached," the CCI report said.'CLEAR EVIDENCE'The CCI report said cement executives decided on price increase plans down to the district level of each state, splitting companies into categories like "Group A" for large firms, and recommending lower prices for "Group B" smaller peers.The report contained a price chart which it said was shared in January 2020 by Holcim unit ACC's Shailesh Ambastha, a sales and marketing director. It detailed current and target "Group B" prices for 42 districts in the eastern state of Bihar.The report said "charts having agreed state-wise prices were circulated by Ambastha to competitors and meetings were held to guide the officials in its implementation."CCI said Ambastha wrote in one message: "Try to be 10 plus from your current level. This is what all are attempting".In another, he wrote: "Why are you supplying in non-trade (segment) at 220 when all are supplying at 230."Presented with evidence, the CCI report said Ambastha "submitted evasive replies" by saying he did not recall the communication. Ambastha did not respond to requests for comment from Reuters.Some executives like Anil Kaushik, a joint vice president for marketing at Shree Cement "confessed", according to the report, admitting during questioning to sharing pricing data with a rival for "mutual benefit." Kaushik declined to comment to Reuters.But the report said he told investigators: "In the cement sector, no company can increase the prices in isolation and survive."Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.comReporting by Aditya Kalra in New Delhi; Editing by Raju GopalakrishnanOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Exclusive: How Holcim units, other Indian cement firms fixed prices - antitrust report.

Vaga Maersk container ship is moored in the port of Saint Petersburg, Russia April 18, 2022. REUTERS/REUTERS PHOTOGRAPHERRegister now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.comCOPENHAGEN, Aug 5 (Reuters) - Shipping group A.P. Moller-Maersk said on Friday it had agreed to buy Danish logistics company Martin Bencher Group in a deal valued at $61 million."Martin Bencher will be an excellent fit to Maersk and our integrator strategy, strengthening our ability to provide project logistics services to our global clients," said Maersk's Regional Managing Director in Europe, Karsten Kildahl.Headquartered in Aarhus, Denmark, Martin Bencher operates in 23 countries with 170 employees and specialises in moving oversized cargo.The deal is subject to regulatory approvals, Maersk said.Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.comReporting by Nikolaj Skydsgaard; editing by Jason NeelyOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Maersk to acquire Denmark-based logistics firm Martin Bencher Group.

High-rise apartments under construction can be seen in the distance behind a row of residential housing in south London, Britain, August 6, 2021. REUTERS/Henry NichollsRegister now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.comLONDON, Aug 5 (Reuters) - House prices in Britain fell the first time in more than a year in July in monthly terms and the market is likely to weaken further as interest rates go up and the cost-of-living squeeze tightens, mortgage lender Halifax said on Friday.Prices, which recently hit record highs,edged down by 0.1% from June when they had risen by 1.4%, Halifax said.In annual terms, prices rose by 11.8%, slower than a 12.5% increase in June.Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.comThe weakening of the house market comes after a boom triggered by the COVID-19 pandemic and the switch to working from home which pumped up demand for bigger homes, and by rock-bottom borrowing costs which are now rising again."House prices are likely to come under more pressure as those market tailwinds fade further and the headwinds of rising interest rates and increased living costs take a firmer hold," Russell Galley, Halifax managing director, said."Therefore a slowing of annual house price inflation still seems the most likely scenario."Rival mortgage lender Nationwide said earlier this week that house prices rose in July at the slowest monthly pace in a year and Bank of England data has shown the lowest level of new mortgage approvals in two years in June. read more The BoE raised interest rates on Thursday by the most since 1995 taking the Bank Rate to its highest level since 2008 as it seeks to limit the damage from a surge in inflation which is now expected to surpass 13% later this year. read more Halifax said London continued to record slower annual house price inflation than other regions in July but the 7.9% growth rate was the highest in almost five years.Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.comReporting by William Schomberg; editing by William JamesOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

UK house prices fall for first time in 13 months, Halifax says.

World Updated on: August 4, 2022 / 6:42 PM / CBS News The Taliban government claimed in a statement it had "no information about Ayman al-Zawahiri's arrival and stay in Kabul," after the U.S. airstrike that killed the head of al Qaeda while he was on the balcony of a safehouse in central Kabul early Sunday morning.The multi-factioned group, already struggling to secure diplomatic relations with the international community since Kabul fell to the Taliban last August, now faces insurmountable pressure to explain how the leader of al Qaeda could have been residing openly in Kabul's notoriously wealthy Sherpur neighborhood. The area, formerly inhabited by Western diplomats and expats, is dotted with large houses locally known as "poppy palaces", a nickname reflecting the drug money flowing under previous Afghan governments that helped build many of its garish homes. Al-Zawahiri's predecessor, Osama bin Laden, had also been located right under the nose of government authorities — next to Pakistan's Military Academy, akin to West Point in the U.S.  — before he was killed by U.S. Navy SEALs in May 2011. The safehouse where Al-Zawahiri was found had been occupied by Haqqanis, Sunni Islamist militants allied with the Taliban who had seized it from officials of the former Afghan government. It's now in the possession of the Taliban's acting Interior Minister, Sirajuddin "Siraj" Haqqani, who is also the leader of the notorious Haqqani Network — designated a terror group by the U.S. — and has a bounty of $10 million on his head. Briefing reporters ahead of President Biden's address on Monday night, a senior administration official said "Senior Haqqani Taliban figures were aware of Zawahiri's presence in Kabul" and had taken steps after the strike to attempt to conceal Zawahiri's presence at the safe house. Haqqani Taliban members had also "acted quickly to remove Zawahiri's wife, his daughter, and her children to another location, consistent with a broader effort to cover up that they had been living in the safe house," the administration official said. A Taliban security director told CBS News on Thursday that Sirajuddin Haqqani is now "under tremendous pressure" as group members blame him for allowing al-Zawahiri to reside in Kabul, and they may use him as "a scapegoat to avoid any further consequences." He added, "It is the Haqqanis' responsibility to keep eyes on everyone in Kabul," and he claimed that "many" of the group's leaders are suggesting the interior minister's actions "have severely damaged and ruined the Taliban" and that "they want to punish him."The same Taliban security director had told CBS News on Sunday after the drone attack that some "strange Arab guys" had been seen recently near the safehouse, and speculated that they may have been al Qaeda members. However, a Taliban cabinet minister told CBS that the Taliban government is "unlikely to dismiss or change the role of interior minister Siraj Haqqani," because he is "too heavy" for the increasingly fractured group to confront. The cabinet minister said the Taliban would do its own investigation in response to U.S. complaints, and that there is currently debate among the group as to whether it should remain committed to the Doha Agreement. "Certainly some of the Taliban leaders have suggested that the termination of the Haqqanis will cause a split amongst the Taliban, and that would create an even worse scenario for the regime," another senior Taliban security officer told CBS News. "Given the adversarial relationship that has developed between different factions of the Taliban — some of the most notable being southern-based elements in opposition to the Haqqani Network — it's not too surprising that one faction of the Taliban might try to pin the blame of hosting al Qaeda leaders, and the relationship with al Qaeda in general, on the Haqqani Network in order to score points in internal Taliban rivalries" Andrew Watkins, senior expert on Afghanistan at the United States Institute of Peace, told CBS.The Taliban were quick to put their side of the strike on al-Zawahiri out first, with a spokesperson releasing a statement early Monday — before news of his identity was released — confirming the U.S. drone strike in Kabul and condemning it as a "clear violation of international principles and the Doha Agreement." A senior Taliban official then told CBS News on Monday that al-Zawahiri had arrived at the safe house "about three weeks back." However, the senior administration official who had briefed reporters ahead of President Biden's address on Monday night said the U.S. had located al-Zawahiri at the safehouse in Kabul months earlier, in April.Another Taliban intelligence officer claimed to CBS News that the al Qaeda leader had been in the eastern Afghanistan province of Nuristan before coming to Kabul. Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Monday accused the Taliban of breaking their word. "By hosting and sheltering the leader of al Qaeda in Kabul, the Taliban grossly violated the Doha agreement and repeated assurances to the world that they would not allow Afghan territory to be used by terrorists to threaten the security of other countries," he said.Taliban spokesperson Suhail Shaheen stated on Thursday that the "IEA (Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan) reiterates its commitment once more that no threat to any country, including America, will be posed from the soil of Afghanistan. The IEA is adhering to full implementation of the Doha Agreement. Meanwhile, IEA wants violation of the Agreement by the USA to end."A Kabul police spokesman told CBS News on Saturday that no one else was injured in the drone strike, which was confirmed by the Biden administration on Monday.  Those likely to suffer the most from the fallout of al-Zawahiri's killing are Afghan civilians. Only last week, U.S. officials led by the State Department held another round of talks with Taliban officials in Uzbekistan, which had included discussion about releasing some of the $3.5 billion in frozen Afghan central bank assets that might otherwise help relieve the acute humanitarian crisis spiraling in the country since last August, which has left millions starving. Responding to CBS News' request for comment on how the killing of al-Zawahiri now impacts future U.S.-Taliban talks and what will happen to those much-needed funds, a State Department spokesperson said, Thursday, "This egregious violation of the Taliban's commitments in the Doha Agreement will have real and lasting consequences for the Taliban's relationship with the rest of the world. At the same time, we recognize that engagement with the Taliban is practical and pertains to U.S. interests, including helping innocent Afghans through the humanitarian and economic crisis; pressing for the safe release of (Taliban-held American hostage) Mark Frerichs; promoting and protecting human rights advances made over the last 20 years; assisting American citizens, their families, and our Afghan partners."The spokesperson added "We are committed to the Afghan people and want them to stabilize their economy and live in a peaceful and stable country. We will continue to engage to support the Afghan people."Sirajuddin Haqqani had penned a New York Times op-ed back in February 2020, a few days before the Trump administration struck its peace agreement with the Taliban, in which he wrote, "We are aware of concerns about the potential of Afghanistan being used by disruptive groups to threaten regional and world security. But these concerns are inflated."Olivia Gazis contributed reporting.  In: taliban War kabul Pakistan Drone Asia

Taliban denies knowledge of al-Zawahiri's presence in Kabul, with some members blaming its Haqqani faction.

A man walks past the logo of Reserve Bank of India (RBI) inside its headquarters in Mumbai, India, August 5, 2022. REUTERS/Francis MascarenhasRegister now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.comSummaryCompaniesKey repo rate raised 50 bps to 5.40%Inflation seen above RBI tolerance level in Q2, Q3Economists see more rate hikes in coming monthsMUMBAI, Aug 5 (Reuters) - The Reserve Bank of India's key policy repo rate was raised by 50 basis points on Friday, the third increase in the current cycle to cool stubbornly high inflation that has remained above the central bank's tolerance band for six straight months.With June retail inflation hitting 7%, economists polled by Reuters had expected the third rate hike in four months, but views were widely split between a 25 bps to a 50 bps increase. read more The monetary policy committee (MPC) raised the key lending rate or the repo rate (INREPO=ECI) to 5.40%.Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com"Inflation is projected to remain above the upper tolerance level of 6% through the first three quarters of 2022-23, entailing the risk of destabilising inflation expectations and triggering second round effects," the MPC said in its statement.The Standing Deposit Facility rate and the Marginal Standing Facility Rate were adjusted higher by the same quantum to 5.15% and 5.65%, respectively.The RBI caught markets off guard with a 40 bps hike at an unscheduled meeting in May, followed by a 50 bps increase in June, but prices have shown little sign of cooling off yet.With inflation staying elevated more rate hikes are all but inevitable in coming months, economists say. read more "The RBI today raised the repo rate by 50 bps to 5.40% as we had anticipated, and struck a relatively hawkish tone despite inflation surprising to the downside in recent months," said Shilan Shah, senior India economist at Capital Economics."It's clear that the tightening cycle still has legs and we expect another 100 bps of hikes by early 2023," he added.Spiking pricesfor food and fuel have hammered consumer spending and darkened the near-term outlook for India's economic growth, which slowed to the lowest in a year in the first three months of 2022.The MPC retained its GDP growth projection for 2022/23 at 7.2% while its inflation forecast remained unchanged at 6.7%."With growth momentum expected to be resilient despite headwinds from the external sector, monetary policy should persevere further in its stance of withdrawal of accommodation to ensure that inflation moves close to the target of 4% over the medium term, while supporting growth," Governor Shaktikanta Das said in his address.Das said the decision to increase rates was a unanimous one.The benchmark 10-year bond yield climbed after the RBI's decision and was at 7.25% at 0600 GMT. It had declined to 7.1073% earlier on Friday after ending at 7.1566% on Thursday.The partially convertible rupee firmed slightly to 79.0675 per dollar, from 79.16 prior to the policy decision. The local unit had closed at 79.4650 in the previous session.Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.comAdditional reporting by Nupur Anand; Editing by Kim CoghillOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

India cenbank raises key rate 50 bps as inflation seen staying elevated.

The logo of Allianz is seen on a building in Paris, France, April 30, 2020. REUTERS/Charles PlatiauRegister now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.comSummaryCompaniesReturn to normal after big litigation costsQ2 restructuring costs to wind down U.S. AGIVolatile markets result in impairmentFRANKFURT, Aug 5 (Reuters) - German insurer Allianz on Friday posted a worse-than-expected 23% fall in second-quarter net profit, dampened by volatile markets and restructuring costs, but confirmed its target for the year.Despite the drop in profit, the quarter marks a return to business as usual for Allianz. The insurer had in recent months been dogged by a fraud case at its U.S. funds unit that resulted in a $6 billion settlement with U.S. authorities in May. read more The matter has cast a shadow over Allianz, one of Germany's most valuable companies, and while the bulk of the costs associated with the case are behind it, the issue still left its mark in the second quarter as Allianz booked restructuring expenses of more than 100 million euros to wind down its U.S. funds unit AGI, which was at the centre of the troubles.Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.comNet profit attributable to shareholders of 1.706 billion euros ($1.75 billion) in the quarter to June 30 missed a consensus forecast of 1.846 billion and was down from 2.225 billion a year earlier.But the insurer's target of 2022 operating profit between 12.4 billion and 14.4 billion euros remains intact, the company said."We are well-positioned to manage the impact of high inflation and the economic pressures that are particularly evident in Europe," Chief Executive Officer Oliver Baete said.Volatile markets took a toll on Allianz in the quarter, prompting it to take a 282 million euro impairment charge and also contributing to a 12% drop in operating profit at its life and health division.Analysts with Jefferies, which rate Allianz a "buy", noted that the non-operating losses and corporate costs "were far higher than expected" and called the results a "mixed beat".($1 = 0.9774 euros)Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.comReporting by Tom Sims and Alexander Huebner; editing by Miranda Murray and Jason NeelyOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Allianz Q2 net profit down worse-than-expected 23% but outlook confirmed.

Kenyan presidential candidate George Wajackoyah attends a campaign rally in Gatundu, Kenya, August 3, 2022. REUTERS/Baz RatnerRegister now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.comNAIROBI, Aug 5 (Reuters) - Sexagenarian reggae aficionado and presidential candidate George Wajackoyah is convinced he has the right medicine for the ills troubling Kenya's voters: a dose of marijuana and some hyena testicles.East Africa's wealthiest country is holding elections on Aug. 9. A tight race between the two leading presidential candidates - veteran opposition leader Raila Odinga and Deputy President William Ruto - has thrust a spotlight on Wajackoyah's small but committed band of followers, who could force a run-off if neither side gets more than 50% of the vote.Voter registration among young people has fallen sharply, with many saying conventional politicians have failed to tackle rampant corruption, runaway inflation or joblessness.Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.comWajackoyah's bid for the presidency has caught the imagination of younger voters. The grave-digger-turned-adjunct-law-professor is trailing a distant third in the polls at around 2% but he could tip the balance if he endorses one candidate, or takes enough votes from another.His no-frills campaign promises to wipe out Kenya's debt of roughly $70 billion by establishing a medical cannabis industry and exporting animal parts to China, including hyena testicles, which Wajackoyah says the Chinese consider a delicacy."I've created a new tribe, known as the ganja tribe," he said, explaining his popularity. "These (politicians), they have helicopters, they have money, they have painted cars. I don't even have a single poster."The Kenyan media's infatuation with colouful Wajackoyah, also a well-known figure from Nairobi's club scene, has prompted speculation that he is backed by a bigger campaign to try to peel away some of the youth vote - a prospect he airily dismisses.Many candidates have offered him cash for support, he said, but he has turned them all down. Instead, he said he dreams of lighting up in the president's office."We shall go to state house and smoke it around to remove the colonial impurities," 62-year-old Wajackoyah said in his wood-panelled office, sporting a du-rag bandanna and listening to a Hare Krishna prayer.He checked his phone to recall the other points on his manifesto, which veer from federalising government and renegotiating the country's debts with China, to hanging the corrupt and throwing out Chinese nationals."We've come in with the ganja solution," he said.By his latest count, Wajackoyah said he has picked up 14 law degrees and certificates from England, where fled as a refugee, the United States, where he met his wife, and back in Kenya where he runs a law firm specialising in migration.Getting elected in Kenya is an expensive business, costing an estimated $31,000 to sit on a county assembly, up to $390,000 to sit in the senate, based on a study by the Institute for Development Studies at the University of Nairobi.Wajackoyah is bucking the trend by running on a shoestring budget, with supporters creating their own posters featuring his snow-white beard and the slogan "Wajackoyah the 5th," in reference to his bid to be the nation's fifth president."If I showed you the amount of money I have, you would laugh," Wajackoyah said.With no donors or war-chest to draw on, his rallies consist of him arriving at markets unannounced, popping his head through the sunroof of his car to blaring reggae music, and making his pitch to startled onlookers.On Wednesday, with six days to go until the election, Wajakoyah's small convoy rolled into Gatundu, around 30 km north of the capital Nairobi. A smiling crowd of around 400 quickly gathered, waving smart phones and jostling for selfies."Every election cycle everybody just comes here with their propaganda," said Jeff Mwangi, a labourer. "If this man can do what he's actually saying... we will go very far as a country."($1 = 119.0500 Kenyan shillings)Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.comReporting by Hereward Holland; Additional reporting by Ben Makori; Writing by Hereward Holland. Editing by Jane MerrimanOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Kenya presidential wildcard vows to erase debt with 'ganja solution'.

Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov attends a meeting with Cambodia's Prime Minister Hun Sen in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, August 4, 2022. Russian Foreign Ministry/Handout via REUTERSRegister now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.comAug 5 (Reuters) - Russia said on Friday it was ready to discuss prisoner swaps with the United States through an existing diplomatic channel, a day after a Russian court sentenced basketball star Brittney Griner to nine years in prison for a drugs offence.Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said President Vladimir Putin and his U.S. counterpart Joe Biden had previously agreed on a diplomatic channel that should be used to discuss such matters."We are ready to discuss this topic, but within the framework of the channel that was agreed upon by presidents Putin and Biden," Lavrov said during a visit to Cambodia.Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com"If the Americans decide to once again resort to public diplomacy..., that is their business and I would even say that it is their problem."The Kremlin had previously warned the United States against turning to "megaphone diplomacy" in the case of Griner, saying it could only derail efforts to secure a potential swap.Griner's sentence - which Biden called "unacceptable" - could pave the way for a prisoner swap that would include the 31-year-old athlete and a prolific Russian arms dealer serving a 25-year prison term in the United States.The United States has already made what Secretary of State Antony Blinken called a "substantial offer" to secure the release of Americans detained in Russia, including Griner and former Marine Paul Whelan.'A SERIOUS PROPOSAL'White House national security spokesperson John Kirby said after Griner's sentencing that the United States had made Russia a serious proposal."We urge them to accept it," he said. "They should have accepted it weeks ago when we first made it." read more Kirby did not provide further detail on the U.S. proposal.Washington has offered to exchange Russian arms trafficker Bout for Griner and Whelan, sources familiar with the situation have told Reuters.Russia had tried to add convicted murderer Vadim Krasikov, imprisoned in Germany, to the proposed swap, a source familiar with the proceedings also told Reuters.Griner, a two-time Olympic gold medallist and Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) star, was arrested on Feb. 17 at Moscow's Sheremetyevo with vape cartridges containing hashish oil in her luggage.The United States argued she was wrongly detained and being used as a political bargaining chip by Moscow. Russian officials dismissed the U.S. claims, saying Griner had broken Russian law and should be judged accordingly.Griner, who had been prescribed medical cannabis in the United States to relieve pain from chronic injuries, said she had made an honest mistake by inadvertently packing her vape cartridges as she rushed to make her flight.She pled guilty to the changes against her but insisted that she did not intend to break Russian law.Cannabis is illegal in Russia for both medicinal and recreational purposes.Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.comReporting by Reuters; editing by Guy Faulconbridge and Mark HeinrichOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Russia says it is ready to discuss prisoner swap with U.S.

A view shows a damaged building at the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant compound, amid Russia's invasion of Ukraine, in Enerhodar, Zaporizhzhia region, Ukraine, in this handout picture released March 17, 2022. Press service of National Nuclear Energy Generating Company Energoatom/Handout via REUTERS Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.comAug 5 (Reuters) - The actions taken by Russian forces at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant has likely undermined security and the safety of the plant's normal operations, Britain said on Friday."Russian forces have probably used the wider facility area, in particular the adjacent city of Enerhodar, to rest their forces, utilising the protected status of the nuclear power plant to reduce the risk to their equipment and personnel from overnight Ukrainian attacks," Britain said in an intelligence update on Twitter.Russia's intentions regarding the plant remain unclear after five months of its occupation of Ukraine. Its forces are probably operating in the regions adjacent to the power station, having used artillery units based in these areas to target Ukrainian territory on the western bank of the Dnipro river, Britain said.Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.comReporting by Juby Babu in Bengaluru; Editing by Jacqueline WongOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

UK says Russia's actions at Zaporizhzhia power plant likely undermine its security, safety.

People wearing face masks following the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak shop at the Sanya International Duty-Free Shopping Complex in Sanya, Hainan province, China November 25, 2020. Picture taken November 25, 2020. REUTERS/Tingshu WangRegister now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.comSHANGHAI, Aug 5 (Reuters) - Sanya, a top tropical holiday destination on China's southern Hainan island, began closing its duty free malls on Friday in response to a worsening COVID-19 outbreak.Since China shut its international borders in early 2020 to curb the spread of COVID-19, Hainan's duty-free industry has boomed, becoming a vital channel for global brands from Gucci to Coach, La Mer to L'Oreal to reach Chinese shoppers.But Sanya International Duty Free City in Haitang Bay, run by China Duty Free Group (601888.SS) and Hainan's largest offshore mall, shut for an undetermined period on Friday to prevent COVID-19 spreading, a post on its Weibo account said.Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.comThis closure comes even though no cases in Hainan's current outbreak have been detected in Haitang Bay as yet. While the case numbers in China are small compared to the rest of the world, Beijing pursues a "dynamic zero" policy that sees it enact harsh curbs to stop any virus transmission.Health officials in Hainan told a news briefing on Friday that from August 1 to 5 the cumulative number of local confirmed cases reported in the current outbreak was 191.Entertainment venues, including many bars and cinemas and some tourist sites, have also closed to help stem the spread of the virus, although hotels remain open and many contacted by Reuters said they were operating as usual.This is the second time duty free malls have been forced to close in Hainan in 2022, with the island also seeing closures in April in the wake of another outbreak."The outbreaks in March and April had a big impact on us," said a catering worker at Sanya International Duty Free City who goes by the English name Dream.She added that business had returned to 70 to 80% of last year's levels prior to the latest outbreak.Just last week, Hainan's capital city, Haikou, hosted the second China International Consumer Products Expo, where LVMH (LVMH.PA), Kering (PRTP.PA), Richemont (CFR.S), Tapestry and Burberry (BRBY.L) were among the global brands exhibiting.Last year, buoyed by reshored mainland consumer spending and policy moves, the offshore sales value of duty-free items in Hainan reached around 49.5 billion yuan, approximately $7.3 billion at current exchange, up 80% year-on-year."Now in August the virus is back, it makes it very hard to do business," Dream told Reuters.Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.comReporting by Casey Hall; Editing by Alexander SmithOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

China's Sanya holiday hotspot shuts duty-free malls, venues to curb COVID.

U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman speaks during a panel with the Friends of Europe in Brussels, Belgium, April 21, 2022. REUTERS/Johanna Geron/File PhotoRegister now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.comWELLINGTON, Aug 5 (Reuters) - U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman met with leaders in Samoa and Tonga on Friday, discussing climate change, ocean security and opportunities to work together as Washington seeks to re-engage with the region amid concerns about growing Chinese influence.The senior U.S. diplomat's visit is part of a multi-leg trip to Pacific nations.Sherman was in the region to listen and learn, she told a news conference, and her meeting with Samoan Prime Minister Fiame Naomi Mata'afa had been productive.Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com"Our two countries share a commitment to important democratic values, including respect for human rights, a commitment to protecting freedom of expression, and freedom of religion or belief and a strong belief in the importance of a free and open press," said Sherman. "I look forward to our continued friendship."Several U.S. senior diplomats have visited the South Pacific this year as geostrategic competition in the region grows. Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi visited Samoa and Tonga in May, followed by Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong in early June. read more Sherman confirmed Pacific leaders had been invited to visit President Joe Biden at the White House in September, although a date has not been confirmed.Mata'afa expressed appreciation for the U.S. shift in its stance on climate change and its involvement in ocean governance. She said Samoa was excited to explore opportunities to work with the United States.In Tonga, Sherman met with Prime Minister and Minister of Defense Siaosi Sovaleni, as well as Tonga's King Tupou VI, marking 50 years of bilateral relations and to discuss establishing a U.S. embassy.They discussed expanding cooperation in public health, combating climate change and regional security issues, the U.S. state department said.Sherman's Pacific tour is scheduled to include World War Two commemorations in the Solomon Islands and visits to both Australia and New Zealand.Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.comReporting by Lucy Craymer and Kirsty Needham; Editing by Sam HolmesOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

U.S. senior diplomat kicks off Pacific tour in Samoa, Tonga.

Koichi Hagiuda, Japan's Minister of Economy, Trade, and Industry, responds to a journalist's question during the U.S.-Japan Economic Policy Consultative Committee (EPCC) meeting at the State Department in Washington, U.S., July 29, 2022. REUTERS/Tom BrennerRegister now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.comTOKYO, Aug 5 (Reuters) - Japan's government has asked Mitsui & Co (8031.T) and Mitsubishi Corp (8058.T) to "think positively" in joining the new Russian entity that will replace the Sakhalin-2 liquefied natural gas (LNG) project, industry minister Koichi Hagiuda said on Friday.The minister met Mitsui President Kenichi Hori on Friday and made the request, and the ministry has also asked the same of Mitsubishi, Hagiuda said, adding that he plans to meet with a Mitsubishi executive in the near future."The public and private sectors will work together to protect the interests of Japanese companies and ensure a stable supply of LNG," Hagiuda told a news conference, reiterating that Sakhalin-2 is a key source of stable energy supply to Japan.Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.comJapan imports about 10% of its LNG from Russia, mainly from Sakhalin-2.Details of the conditions for Japanese trading houses to apply to join the new Russian entity were not clear, but the ministry was not aware of any request by Russia for additional investment or costs to join the new company, Hagiuda said.Mitsui and Mitsubishi, which together hold 22.5% in Sakhalin-2, said separately on Friday they would cooperate with the Japanese government and their business partners "to decide on whether or not they would join the new entity."A Russian government decree signed on Aug. 2 and published on Wednesday gave foreign investors at Sakhalin-2 - Shell (SHEL.L) and the two Japanese trading houses - a month to claim their stakes in the entity that will replace the project.State gas company Gazprom (GAZP.MM) will receive just over 50% of the entity replacing Sakhalin Energy, the current operator. The new company will also hold the remaining 49.99% until existing Sakhalin-2 shareholders apply for a stake, with early September set as a deadline. read more Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.comReporting by Yuka Obayashi; Editing by Muralikumar Anantharaman and Tom HogueOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Japan govt asks Mitsui, Mitsubishi to 'think positively' in joining Sakhalin-2 entity.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken attends the East Asia Summit during the ASEAN Foreign Ministers Meeting in Phnom Penh, Cambodia August 5, 2022. REUTERS/Soe Zeya TunRegister now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.comPHNOM PENH, Aug 5 (Reuters) - China's firing of missiles around Taiwan is a disproportionate, significant, and unjustified escalation and the United States has made it repeatedly clear to China it does not seek a crisis, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Friday.Blinken told a news conference on the sidelines of the ASEAN Regional Forum that the United States would not be provoked by China and Washington was seriously concerned, adding "there was no possible justification for what they have done."Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.comReporting by David Brunnstrom; Writing by Martin Petty; Editing by Toby ChopraOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Blinken says China missile actions unjustified, disproportionate and provocative.

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi and South Korean Foreign Minister Park Jin arrive for a group photo at the ASEAN Plus Three Foreign Ministers’ Meeting in Phnom Penh, Cambodia August 4, 2022. REUTERS/Soe Zeya TunRegister now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.comBEIJING, Aug 5 (Reuters) - The foreign ministers of South Korea and Nepal will make official visits to China this month, said Hua Chunying, spokesperson at the Chinese foreign ministry, on Friday.Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.comReporting by Martin Quin Pollard; writing by Ryan Woo; Editing by Toby ChopraOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

China foreign ministry: S.Korea and Nepal foreign ministers to visit China.

The London Stock Exchange Group offices are seen in the City of London, Britain, December 29, 2017. REUTERS/Toby Melville/File Photo/File PhotoRegister now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.comLONDON, Aug 5 (Reuters) - The London Stock Exchange Group (LSEG.L) said on Friday that costs and savings targets for integrating data company Refinitiv were on track and that it was launching a 750 million pound ($911 million) share buy-back.Investors are closely monitoring the integration of Refinitiv, which LSEG bought for $27 billion in 2021, after outages and concerns among some of them over the amount of money being spent to mesh two different cultures and systems."We are managing costs well and we continue to make progress on achievement of synergies," LSEG Chief Executive David Schwimmer said in the company's half-year results statement.Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.comShares in LSEG were up 1.9% in early trading.LSEG's Refinitiv purchase has transformed the 300-year-old London exchange into a group where financial market data and analytics are larger than all its other business lines combined, pitting it against firms such as data leader Bloomberg and S&P Global.The integration has involved internal personnel changes, including LSEG's head of data, Andrea Remyn Stone, stepping down in June after only a year in the job, with her role temporarily taken over by Schwimmer."We are successfully executing on our strategy, have good momentum going into the second half and our targets remain unchanged," Schwimmer said.INCOME GROWTHLSEG reported a gross profit of 3.231 billion pounds, slightly above analysts' consensus of 3.229 billion pounds. It reported an adjusted basic earnings per share of 167.4 pence, above analysts' expectations of 149.6.It said there was strong income growth across all divisions, with pro-forma total income, excluding recoveries, up 6.2% on the same period last year."A small beat and we are reassured by the unchanged cost outlook commentary," analysts from Citi said in a note.Wealth Club said that modernising Refinitiv’s legacy tech systems will be a multi-year process."However, If LSE can pull off the integration, investors could be richly rewarded," said Charlie Huggins, Head of Equities at the research provider to high net worth investors.LSEG will pay an interim dividend of 31.7 pence per share, up 27% on the same period last year.The share-buy back will be launched immediately and be conducted over 12 months, its first since a smaller one in 2017.Thomson Reuters (TRI.TO), which owns Reuters News, has a minority shareholding in LSEG.($1 = 0.8236 pounds)Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.comReporting by Huw Jones; Editing by Carolyn Cohn and Alexander SmithOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

London Stock Exchange says Refinitiv costs and savings on track.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying attends a news conference in Beijing, China, August 2, 2022. REUTERS/Thomas PeterRegister now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.comBEIJING, Aug 5 (Reuters) - Japanese officials' recent statements on the current tensions in the Taiwan Strait were an attempt to justify the "wrongdoers", Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying said on Friday during a regular briefing.The harsh remarks from Beijing come after foreign ministers of G7 nations - including Japan - called on China on Wednesday to resolve tension around the Taiwan Strait in a peaceful manner, prompting China to cancel a planned meeting between Foreign Minister Wang Yi and his Japanese counterpart on the sidelines of ASEAN events in Cambodia.Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.comReporting by Martin Quin Pollard; writing by Eduardo Baptista; Editing by Toby ChopraOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

China says Japan's Taiwan stance justifies the 'wrongdoers'.

MoneyWatch August 4, 2022 / 1:54 PM / MoneyWatch Error led Equifax to send wrong credit scores Error led Equifax to send wrong credit scores 00:31 Equifax has been slapped with a lawsuit over incorrect credit scores it sent out this spring for millions of customers.In a lawsuit filed Wednesday in the Northern District of Georgia, Florida, seeking class-action status, lawyers for Nydia Jenkins allege that Equifax's error landed her with a substantially pricier car loan. Equifax's error, which was in place for about three weeks, potentially affected millions of people, the suit says.On Tuesday, the Wall Street Journal reported that Equifax sent out incorrect credit scores for millions of customers applying for home and auto loans. A coding error at the company affected customers' scores by as much as 20 points in either direction — enough for some prospective borrowers to be rejected for loans, the Journal reported. As one of three major credit-reporting companies in the U.S., Equifax provides financial information and scores for consumers, affecting whether people are approved for products including mortgages, credit cards and car loans, and what interest rate they pay. Most credit ratings range from 300 to 850, with higher-scoring consumers getting more favorable loan terms. In a statement to CBS News, Equifax said that very few people were affected by the error, which it called a "coding issue."  "This issue, which was in place over a period of a few weeks between March 17 and April 6, was fixed on April 6," the company said. "As part of our commitment to resolving this issue, Equifax has conducted an analysis of credit scores used for consumers seeking credit during the time period of the issue. Our analysis indicates that for those consumers there was no shift in the majority of scores during the three-week timeframe of the issue. For those consumers that did experience a score shift, initial analysis indicates that only a small number of them may have received a different credit decision. While the score may have shifted, a score shift does not necessarily mean that a consumer's credit decision was negatively impacted."The company said it would respond further in court filings. Pre-approved, then deniedAccording to the suit, Florida resident Nydia Jenkins was pre-approved for a car loan in January, but Jenkins' loan was denied in early April, because her reported credit score from Equifax was off by 130 points.  Because the loan was denied, Jenkins was forced to buy a car from a different dealership at much higher interest, the suit says. Under the initial loan, Jenkins would have paid $350 a month, but she now pays $272 every two weeks — or about $2,352 more per year, according to the suit."For a credit reporting agency, one of only three, that so many million Americans depend upon in context with seeking extensions of credit, we have to rely upon the accuracy and competence of those organizations," said John Yanchunis, an attorney at Morgan & Morgan who is representing Jenkins. "This is a major misstep," he said. Yanchunis said that damages could be in the "millions," depending on how many other plaintiffs join. The suit demands that Equifax  repay defendants' extra costs brought on by wrong credit scores and compensate them for emotional damage. If a jury finds that Equifax's error was willful, the company could be on the hook for up to $1,000 more in damages for each defendant.Credit score swingsAccording to the Wall Street Journal's report, incorrect scores were sent to Ally Financial, JPMorgan Change and Wells Fargo, among other lenders. The report said that a small number of people affected by Equifax's breach went from having no credit score to having a score in the 700s, or vice-versa. The news was previously reported by National Mortgage Professional, a trade publication, in May.Equifax, in its response, emphasized that underlying credit report information did not change. "[T]here was no shift in the vast majority of scores during the three-week timeframe of the issue," the company said. "For those consumers that did experience a score shift, initial analysis indicates that only a small number of them may have received a different credit decision." Equifax CEO Mark Begor acknowledged the error at a financial conference in June. "We had a coding issue that was a mistake made by our technology team in one of our legacy applications that resulted in some scores going out that had incorrect data in it. And we fixed the issue," he told attendees, according to a transcript of the event.Begor added that the company was working with affected consumers, noting, "We think the impact is going to be quite small, not something that's meaningful to Equifax."Equifax was previously implicated in a 2017 data breach that exposed sensitive information of nearly 150 million Americans and resulted in the ouster of the company's then-CEO. Equifax paid $700 million in fines and restitution after the breach. Thanks for reading CBS NEWS. Create your free account or log in for more features. Please enter email address to continue Please enter valid email address to continue

Equifax sued over erroneous credit scores sent for "millions" of Americans.

Edison's logo is seen outside the company headquarters in downtown Milan, Italy, January 14, 2016. Edison, Italy's No. 2 energy company owned by France's EDF, is trying to sell part of its Abu Qir field in Egypt and has opened the books to prospective buyers including Kuwait's KUFPEC, people familiar with the matter said. REUTERS/Stefano RellandiniRegister now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.comMILAN, Aug 5 (Reuters) - French power company EDF (EDF.PA), which is due to be nationalised, is considering a sale of Italian energy group Edison (EDNn.MI), Milano Finanza (MF) reported on Friday, citing financial sources.The sale of Edison, Italy's second-biggest wind player which MF said could be worth around 6 billion euros ($6.14 billion), would help the French group cut debt and help it fund massive investments to fix reactors and build new nuclear reactors.The paper added that while details had yet to be ironed out, the idea was to kick-off the sale process in the first quarter of next year, once EDF's nationalisation process had been completed.($1 = 0.9773 euros)Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.comReporting by Agnieszka Flak, editing Federico MaccioniOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

France's EDF considering sale of Italy's Edison - paper.

Members of the Japan Ground Self-Defense Force (JGSDF) bring down the Japanese national flag in the early evening, at JGSDF Miyako camp on Miyako Island, Okinawa prefecture, Japan April 20, 2022. REUTERS/Issei KatoRegister now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.comTOKYO, Aug 5 (Reuters) - China's firing of missiles into waters less than 160 km (100 miles) from Japan in a display of might after Nancy Pelosi visited Taiwan will likely bolster public support for a military build-up aimed at defence against Japan's big neighbour.China launched five ballistic missiles into the sea at the western end of the Okinawa island chain on Thursday, part of flurry of military exercises and activity two days after the U.S. house speaker became the highest-ranking U.S. official to visit self-ruled Taiwan in 25 years."It clearly shows that if anything happened with Taiwan that we will be affected," said Taro Kono, a senior ruling Liberal Democratic Party lawmaker and former foreign and defence minister.Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com"The tide has clearly turned in Japan," he added, when asked whether the public would back higher military spending.Defence is a divisive issue in Japan, which, as a legacy of World War Two, has a pacifist constitution and an enduring public wariness about entanglement in U.S.-led wars.China's unprecedented missile launches into Japan's exclusive economic zone came as Prime Minister Fumio Kishida's government prepares to publish a defence budget request for a significant increase in spending this month.The spending plan will be followed by a year-end overhaul of defence policy expected to include a call for the acquisition of longer-range munitions to fend off China, which in 2019 replaced North Korea in Japan's assessment as its primary national security threat.Concern about Chinese military activity in the seas and skies around Taiwan and Japan has intensified since Russia invaded Ukraine in February, because Japan worries it provides China with a precedent for the use of force against Taiwan that the United States may not directly intervene to stop."The military balance has greatly changed around Taiwan," said retired admiral Katsutoshi Kawano, who served as chief of the Japanese Self-Defence Forces' Joint Staff for five years until 2019."I hope defence budget discussions will get serious."'READY TO FIGHT'In a manifesto ahead of legislative elections last month, Kishida's LDP pledged to double defence spending to 2% of gross domestic product over five years, which would make Japan the world's third biggest military spender after ally the United States and China, according to a 2021 defence budget ranking published by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute.Kishida, who condemned China's action, has promised to increase defence spending "substantially" but has yet to say by how much and how fast.He has also declined to say whether Japan's militarization would be paid for by cuts to public spending elsewhere, or through borrowing or a combination of the two.China's missiles have given Kishida a chance to clarify his position, especially given questions about to what extent the United States would step into a crisis, said Takashi Kawakami, a professor at Japan's Takushoku University in Tokyo."Japan clearly needs to show it is ready to fight," Kawakami said.During the last major Taiwan crisis in 1996, China conducted missile drills to intimidate the island but China's much weaker military was unable to deter the United States from sending warships, including a U.S. aircraft carrier strike group, through the Taiwan Strait separating mainland China from the island.China has increased defence spending about 20-fold since then and has hundreds of ballistic missiles able to strike targets, including ships, hundreds or thousands of kilometres away with much greater accuracy.The USS Ronald Reagan, the only forward-deployed U.S. carrier, on Thursday patrolled the Philippine Sea in the Western Pacific on "scheduled operations".Bonji Ohara, senior fellow at the Sasakawa Peace Foundation and a former military attache at Japan's embassy in China, said it was a political decision by the United States to maintain that low-key presence."There is also the reality that China is a stronger military power now. If it was the same as it was in 1996, America may have put a stop to it," he said, referring to the burst of Chinese military activity this week.Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.comReporting by Tim Kelly and Nobuhiro Kuboing by Robert BirselOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Analysis: Japanese backing for military build-up likely to rise after China's missiles.

The German share price index DAX graph is pictured at the stock exchange in Frankfurt, Germany, July 18, 2022. REUTERS/StaffRegister now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.comSummaryCompanieshttp://tmsnrt.rs/2yaDPgnhttp://tmsnrt.rs/2egbfVhLONDON, Aug 5 (Reuters) - European equities slipped slightly on Friday but were still set for a weekly gain, while traders waited for U.S. jobs data due later in the session to give clues as to the health of the world's largest economy.The MSCI world equity index, which tracks shares in 47 countries, was up 0.2% and on track for a weekly gain of 0.7% - marking its third consecutive week of gains (.MIWD00000PUS).Asian shares rose overnight but at 0823 GMT the STOXX 600 was down 0.1% (.STOXX), France's CAC 40 (.FCHI) and Germany's DAX (.GDAXI) were flat. London's FTSE 100 was down 0.2% (.FTSE).Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.comCentral banks around the world have been raising interest rates in an attempt to limit surging inflation, but European stocks have recovered to near two-month highs this week."Equity futures have grown comfortable with the idea that interest rate hikes that the central banks are putting through will be sufficient to contain inflation in the longer term," said Kiran Ganesh, multi-asset strategist at UBS.But other asset classes are reflecting a slowdown.The closely watched part of the U.S. Treasury yield curve measuring the gap between yields on two- and 10-year Treasury notes reached 39.2 basis points on Thursday, the deepest inversion since 2000.An inverted yield curve is often seen as an indicator of a future recession.Oil rose, recovering after the previous session saw prices hit their lowest levels since February. Concerns about supply shortages were enough to cancel out fears of weakening fuel demand. read more Global crude oil markets remained firmly in backwardation, where prompt prices are higher than those in future months, indicating tight supplies.Investors will look to U.S. jobs data to see if the U.S. Federal Reserve's aggressive pace of rate hikes is starting to cause economic growth to slow.The data is expected to show that nonfarm payrolls had increase by 250,000 jobs last month, after rising by 372,000 in June."Until now, markets have been responding to stronger economic data as good news. But at some point, they will maybe question whether the Fed's tightening is having the desired effect if the economy remains strong," wrote ING economists in a note to clients."At that stage, they could start to fret that rates may rise higher, or stay higher for longer."UBS's Ganesh said that a nonfarm payrolls figure in the range of 200,000 to 300,000 would be consistent with a "soft landing" for the economy, while a higher figure would suggest that the Fed needed to raise interest rates more to contain demand.Data on Thursday showed that the number of Americans filing new claims for unemployment benefits had increased last week, suggesting that a weakening in the labour market might already be underway. read more Cleveland Fed President Loretta Mester struck a hawkish tone on Thursday, saying that the Fed should raise interest rates to above 4% to bring inflation back down to target. read more The U.S. dollar index was up around 0.2% and the euro was down 0.2% at $1.02265 . The Australian dollar, which is seen as a liquid proxy for risk appetite, was down 0.1% at $0.6958 . read more The British pound was down 0.1% at $1.215 .The Bank of England raised interest rates by the most in 27 years on Thursday and warned that a long recession was coming. read more European government bond yields were mostly 1 to 2 basis points higher, with the benchmark German 10-year yield at 0.812% .German industrial production posted an unexpected but modest increase in June, official data showed.Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.comReporting by Elizabeth Howcroft; Editing by Bradley PerrettOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.Elizabeth HowcroftThomson ReutersReports on the intersection of finance and technology, including cryptocurrencies, NFTs, virtual worlds and the money driving "Web3".

European stocks slip, oil recovers, traders await U.S. jobs data.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken attends the East Asia Summit during the ASEAN Foreign Ministers Meeting in Phnom Penh, Cambodia August 5, 2022. REUTERS/Soe Zeya TunRegister now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.comPHNOM PENH, Aug 5 (Reuters) - China's military drills around Taiwan in response to the U.S. house speaker's visit to the self-ruled island is a disproportionate and unjustified escalation, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Friday.Blinken said the United States has made it repeatedly clear to China it does not seek a crisis, adding that Washington and its allies were seriously concerned by its latest actions.China has been conducting the largest-ever military exercises in the Taiwan Strait, including launching live missiles around the island it claims as part of its sovereign territory. read more Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com"There is no justification for this extreme, disproportionate and escalatory military response," Blinken told a news conference on the sidelines of an ASEAN meeting, adding, "now, they've taken dangerous acts to a new level."He emphasised that the United States would not take actions to provoke a crisis, but it would continue to support regional allies and conduct standard air and maritime transit through the Taiwan Strait."We will fly, sail and operate wherever international law allows," he said.Blinken is in Cambodia meeting counterparts from Southeast Asian and 27 other countries, including China, Japan, Britain, the European Union, and India. He did not meet with his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi.The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), which is hosting the gathering, earlier called for restraint from all sides and said there was a risk of miscalculation and conflict between major powers.China on Friday said it would sanction U.S. house speaker Nancy Pelosi in response to her "vicious" and "provocative" actions in visiting Taiwan.Blinken said ASEAN and other Asian officials were seriously concerned that actions by China would destabilise the entire region."The last thing that countries in the region want is to see differences between mainland China and Taiwan...to be resolved by force," Blinken said after Friday's East Asia Summit."It is incumbent upon us and China to act responsibly. What we don't want are efforts by any country, including China and Russia, to disrupt international peace and security," he said.Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.comReporting by David Brunnstrom; Writing by Kanupriya Kapoor; Editing by Martin PettyOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

China actions around Taiwan unjustified, disproportionate and provocative - Blinken.

China announced sanctions on Nancy Pelosi after her trip to Taiwan.Pool | Getty Images News | Getty ImagesChina on Friday imposed sanctions on U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and her immediate family in response to what the foreign ministry described as an "egregious provocation."Pelosi visited Taiwan earlier this week, in what was a highly controversial move. China views the island as part of its territory, but Taiwan has been governed independently since 1949, according to the Council on Foreign Relations.China repeatedly voiced its opposition to Pelosi's trip to the disputed island, but the U.S. official decided not to cancel her plans."In disregard of China's grave concerns and firm opposition, Speaker of the US House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi insisted on visiting China's Taiwan region. This constitutes a gross interference in China's internal affairs. It gravely undermines China's sovereignty and territorial integrity, seriously tramples on the one-China principle, and severely threatens peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait," a ministry spokesperson said in a statement. "In response to Pelosi's egregious provocation, China decides to adopt sanctions on Pelosi and her immediate family members in accordance with relevant laws of the People's Republic of China," they added.

China sanctions Pelosi over trip to Taiwan, says visit was an 'egregious provocation'.