WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. President Joe Biden said aid to Ukraine and funding to continue the fight against COVID-19 are priorities as he convened a meeting with congressional leaders on Tuesday to discuss legislative actions for the remainder of the year.
(Reporting by Steve Holland; Writing by Doina Chiacu; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)
(Reuters) – J.P.Morgan said on Tuesday it expects a contraction in the UK’s economy next year as it enters a lengthy period of stagnation in the face of soaring gas prices, slowing global growth and tighter economic conditions.
The brokerage sees the UK’s gross domestic product falling 0.6% in 2023, compared with a 4.3% rise this year.
Tighter monetary and fiscal policy amid scarring from both the pandemic and Brexit, which are already weighing on the UK’s growth, according to J.P.Morgan, will continue to impair supply and demand.
As the UK battles decades-high inflation, the Bank of England (BOE) raised its Bank Rate by 75 basis points earlier this month, with a Reuters poll showing a more modest 50 bps hike at its upcoming meeting in December, taking it to 3.50% by the end of this year.
At the Nov. 3 meeting, BOE Governor Andrew Bailey told investors, who were pricing in a peak around 4.70%, that their rate hike bets looked too big.
J.P.Morgan sees BOE’s Bank Rate rising to 4.25% by the first quarter of next year, noting that fiscal policy is set to tighten with a lag, and monetary tightening “will take longer to bite than in the past”.
British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak pushed back on Monday against calls from companies to improve trade ties with the European Union and liberalise immigration to help boost growth, saying Brexit had already benefited the country.
Earlier this month, Barclays said it expects developed economies to contract across 2023, with recessions in the UK and the Euro area starting in the third and fourth quarter of 2022, respectively, while Goldman Sachs downgraded Britain’s economic outlook and warned of a deeper recession in 2023.
(Reporting by Reshma Rockie George in Bengaluru; Editing by Shounak Dasgupta)
(Reuters) – The Group of Seven wealthy democracies (G7) agreed on Tuesday to set up a network to coordinate investigations into war crimes, as part of a push to prosecute suspected atrocities in Ukraine.
“Judicial examination of the atrocities committed in Ukraine will take years, perhaps even decades. But we will be well prepared – and we will persist for as long as it takes,” German Justice Minister Marco Buschmann said in a statement.
It came after a meeting of G7 justice ministers in Berlin, also attended by special prosecutors of the International Criminal Court, Germany’s federal prosecutor and Ukrainian Justice Minister Denys Maliuska.
In a joint declaration, the ministers said G7 countries would ensure there is a central national contact point in each state for the prosecution of international crimes.
Buschmann told reporters this would ensure that information on evidence and legal requirements can be shared among states and international organisations.
He added that statements from victims of sexual assault should be recorded in such a way that is admissible in court so that victims would only have to give their statement once.
Buschmann, who hailed Tuesday’s meeting as the first gathering of its kind in the history of the G7, has in the past touted Germany’s leading role in prosecuting war crimes in other countries.
Under the principle of universal jurisdiction, Germany convicted two former Syrian intelligence officers in a landmark trial against state-backed torture in Syria.
(Reporting by Mathis Richtmann, editing by Rachel More and Mark Heinrich)
By Julie Steenhuysen
CHICAGO (Reuters) -The first big breakthrough in 30 years of Alzheimer’s research is providing momentum for clinical trials of “cocktail” treatments targeting the two hallmark proteins associated with the mind-robbing disease, according to interviews with researchers and pharmaceutical executives.
Drugmakers Eisai Co Ltd and Biogen
reported in September that their therapy lecanemab could slow progress of the disease by 27% over 18 months compared with a placebo [.
The finding validates the theory that clearing the amyloid protein that forms clumps in the brains of Alzheimer’s patients could slow or halt the disease and has strengthened the support from some scientists for simultaneously targeting another notorious protein linked to Alzheimer’s: tau.
Eisai and Biogen are scheduled to present full data from their lecanemab study on Tuesday at the Clinical Trials on Alzheimer’s Disease conference in San Francisco. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is expected to make a decision by early January on the companies’ application for accelerated approval.
If approved on an accelerated basis, the companies said they would immediately apply for full U.S. regulatory approval which could help secure Medicare coverage. To date, two deaths have been reported among patients who received lecanemab in conjunction with medicine to prevent or clear blood clots, though industry analysts do not expect those developments alone to prevent approval.
“I think lecanemab has reinvigorated the idea that now you could do a combination of amyloid (and) tau,” Dr. Reisa Sperling, a neurologist and Alzheimer’s researcher at Harvard Medical School, said in an interview.
Tau naturally accumulates in a memory center of the brain called the medial temporal lobe as people age. A growing body of research suggests that rising levels of amyloid in Alzheimer’s patients act as an accelerant, causing an explosive spread of tau that forms toxic tangles inside brain cells, eventually killing them.
“We’ve been trying to do combination trials for years,” Sperling said. Nearly a decade ago, Alzheimer’s experts met in Washington to discuss testing combined therapies. At the time, “no one would listen,” she said.
Now, however, Sperling and other researchers in the Alzheimer’s Clinical Trials Consortium (ACTC), a research network backed by the National Institute on Aging (NIA), say drugmakers are increasingly interested in participating in a study to test tau drugs alone and in combination with anti-amyloid drugs such as lecanemab.
“We’ve been talking to multiple companies about working with us on our proposed platform, which can evaluate multiple drugs, and everybody’s interested,” said Dr. Paul Aisen, director of the Alzheimer’s Therapeutic Research Institute at the University of Southern California’s Keck School of Medicine, and a leader with Sperling of the ACTC.
The scientists said they expect an answer on funding by year-end. The U.S. National Institutes of Health, which oversees NIA, said it does not discuss grants under review.
BILLIONS SPENT
More than 6 million Americans have Alzheimer’s, costing the U.S. economy nearly $6 billion a year in direct spending and unpaid caregiving expenses, according to congressional briefing documents. By 2050, Alzheimer’s cases are expected to double to 12.7 million, bringing the total yearly cost to nearly $1 trillion, according to the documents.
Last year, the FDA gave Biogen and Eisai’s drug aducanumab conditional approval even though it failed one of its two late-stage trials. The approval was based on the drug’s ability to remove amyloid from the brain.
Biogen initially priced the drug at $56,000 a year, but the U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services said it needed more compelling evidence, and that Medicare would only cover the drug for use in clinical trials.
Lecanemab’s success rests on years of research into the causes of Alzheimer’s as well as advances in measuring amyloid deposits through brain scans and spinal fluids. Trials of tau drugs will aim to build on that progress, using brain scans, spinal fluids and blood tests to better assess the stage of disease, when to intervene and whether the drug is hitting its target. That would allow companies to test drugs even before symptoms emerge.
Nearly a dozen drugmakers, including Roche, Merck & Co, Johnson & Johnson and Eli Lilly and Co, are working on therapies that target tau. At least 16 treatments are being tested in clinical trials, with results expected over the next three years, according to a Reuters review of the clinicaltrials.gov registry.
Merck is testing its MK-2214 therapy aimed at clearing tau in patients in very early stages of the disease in several small trials.
“The understanding of the disease is getting much, much better,” said Jason Uslaner, Merck’s head of discovery neuroscience. The drugmaker has been largely absent from the Alzheimer’s space after the high-profile failure of its drug verubecestat five years ago.
So far, only a few trials combine an amyloid-lowering therapy with a drug that targets tau in a “cocktail” approach, similar to those used against cancers and HIV.
Such combinations may improve on the benefit of lowering amyloid alone in people who have symptoms, researchers told Reuters. And when used earlier in the disease, the hope is that they might prevent dementia altogether.
“It may be that you need both – the removal of amyloid that’s driving that biological cascade – and you need to clean up any tau that’s already spreading from one cell to another,” said Dr. Adam Boxer, a tau expert at the University of California San Francisco (UCSF) Memory and Aging Center.
But several antibody therapies from Lilly, Biogen and AbbVie that were designed to slow the rate of tau accumulations failed outright last year. A drug from Roche, semorinemab, showed limited effectiveness.
“It took maybe 20 or 30 years before we found a drug that really targeted the right form of amyloid to make a difference,” Boxer said. “It’s still early days.”
(Reporting by Julie Steenhuysen; Editing by Michele Gershberg and Suzanne Goldenberg)
CLARKSBURG, WEST VIRGINIA – Ronnie Legette, an inmate at United States Penitentiary Hazleton, in Bruceton Mills, West Virginia, has admitted to stabbing another inmate, killing him, United States Attorney William Ihlenfeld announced.
Legette, 39, pleaded guilty today one count of “Voluntary Manslaughter.” Legette admitted to stabbing Demario Porter, another inmate, in a heat of passion on September 17, 2018, in Preston County.
Legette faces up to 15 years of incarceration and a fine of up to $250,000. Under the Federal Sentencing Guidelines, the actual sentence imposed will be based upon the seriousness of the offenses and the prior criminal history, if any, of the defendant.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Jennifer M. Conklin is prosecuting the case on behalf of the government. The Bureau of Prisons investigated.
U.S. Magistrate Judge Michael John Aloi presided.
Tampa, Florida – United States Attorney Roger B. Handberg announces that a federal jury has found Jy’Quale Samari Grable (20, Tampa) guilty of conspiracy, robbery, and first-degree premediated murder. Grable faces a mandatory minimum sentence of life in federal prison. His sentencing hearing is scheduled for February 16, 2023. Jy’Quale Grable was indicted on February 1, 2022.
According to testimony and evidence presented at trial, on December 22, 2020, Jy’Quale Grable, Elijah Bell and Aquavious Smith drove to the Valrico Station Apartments in Brandon, Florida to conduct a robbery. Grable and Smith went to the victim’s third floor apartment, while Bell stayed in the car. On the back patio of the apartment, Grable shot B.B. in the neck, severing his spinal cord, and killing him instantly. Grable then shot M.M. in the chest, perforating his heart and lung, which also lead to his death. At approximately 9:00 p.m., neighbors heard the gun shots, and observed blood dripping down from the third floor back balcony apartment. Hillsborough County Sheriff deputies immediately responded and secured the scene.
According to evidence presented at trial, Grable later deleted Snap Chat messages and phone calls from his phone, had family members dispose of the murder weapon, and burned his bloody clothing.
Elijah Bell pleaded guilty on April 13, 2022, and Aquavious Smith did so on June 7, 2022. Both are pending sentencing.
This case was investigated by the Drug Enforcement Administration and the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office, with assistance from the Hillsborough County Medical Examiner’s Office, Manatee County Sheriff’s Office, and the Florida Department of Law Enforcement. It is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Diego F. Novaes and David P. Sullivan.
TERRE HAUTE – Steven Francis, 56, of Indianapolis, was sentenced to 15 years in federal prison after pleading guilty to possession with intent to distribute methamphetamine, possession of a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime, illegal possession of a firearm by a previously convicted felon and laundering of monetary instruments.
According to court documents, in or around July 2020, the Vigo County (Indiana) Drug Task Force began investigating Francis for methamphetamine distribution. On January 19, 2021, Francis attempted to mail a parcel containing approximately $20,000 in U.S. currency to California. The cash came from Francis’ methamphetamine sales.
On February 17, 2021, investigators executed a search warrant at two addresses associated with Francis. Prior to doing so, officers stopped Francis as they saw him approaching one of the two properties. Francis had approximately $26,900 cash in his pocket. The money was drug proceeds. During the subsequent search of the building, investigators found approximately 295 grams of methamphetamine, a digital scale, a loaded semi-automatic firearm, and a safe containing approximately $27,960.
Investigators also searched Francis’ residence. Under the bed in Francis’s room, officers found five handguns, two AR-style rifles, and a loaded 100-round drum magazine. Elsewhere in the residence, investigators recovered approximately $86,060 in U.S. currency.
Francis admitted to selling pound-quantities of methamphetamine and storing the drug at the two properties.
Francis was convicted in state court in 2003 for possession of cocaine and possession of methamphetamine in two separate cases. Francis is prohibited from possessing firearms by federal law due to these felony convictions.
Zachary A. Myers, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Indiana, and Michael Gannon, Assistant Special Agent in Charge of the DEA’s Indianapolis Field Office, made the announcement.
DEA investigated the case in conjunction with the Vigo County Drug Task Force. The sentence was imposed by U.S. District Judge Jane Magnus-Stinson. As part of the sentence, Judge Stinson ordered that Francis be supervised by the U.S. Probation Office for four years following his release from federal prison. Judge Magnus-Stinson also ordered that the 8 seized firearms, ammunition, and $160,920 in seized cash all be forfeited as proceeds and instruments of the defendant’s crimes.
U.S. Attorney Myers thanked Assistant U.S. Attorney Lindsay E. Karwoski who prosecuted this case.
Louisville, KY – A federal grand jury in Louisville returned an indictment in October charging a New York man with conspiracy to commit mail fraud for his role in a “grandparent scam” that impacted senior victims around the country, including a Meade County individual who lost tens of thousands of dollars to the scam. “Grandparent scams,” also known as “person-in-need scams,” involve perpetrators making false claims to victims that their loved one is in jeopardy and in need of money that the perpetrator will use to assist the loved one.
U.S. Attorney Michael A. Bennett of the Western District of Kentucky and U.S. Postal Inspector in Charge Lesley Allison of the Pittsburg Division made the announcement.
According to court documents, Juan Carlos Arcena Cabrera, 28, of Yonkers, New York, conspired with others to trick seniors into sending cash payments under the false pretense that a grandchild or loved one had been in a car accident or was facing legal trouble. Scam callers would reach out to victims repeatedly, claiming more money was needed to cover additional emergency expenses. As part of this conspiracy, Cabrera posed as the grandson of a Kentucky victim and attempted to pick up a parcel full of cash that the victim had shipped from Kentucky to a FedEx store in New York.
Cabrera was arraigned yesterday in U.S. District Court. If convicted, he faces a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison. There is no parole in the federal system. A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after considering the United States Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.
The United States Postal Inspection Service is investigating the case with assistance from the Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation, the Department of Homeland Security Investigations, the United States Secret Service, and the New York Police Department.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Corinne E. Keel is prosecuting the case.
This case was investigated and prosecuted as part of the National Elder Justice Task Force and the Kentucky Elder Justice Task Force. The Department of Justice’s mission of its Elder Justice Initiative is to support and coordinate the Department’s enforcement and programmatic efforts to combat elder abuse, neglect and financial fraud and scams that target our nation’s older adults. In response to the growing need and targeting areas of greatest concern, the Department of Justice initially stood up 10 task forces made up of 11 federal districts to combat a variety of elder abuse, including elder financial exploitation. Kentucky’s federal districts make up two of the 11 districts under the Initiative. Kentucky’s task force is comprised of investigators, prosecutors, and others at the local, state, and federal level with a common objective of protecting seniors across Kentucky.
In October, the Department announced that as part of its continuing efforts to protect older adults and bring perpetrators of fraud schemes to justice it is expanding the Transnational Elder Fraud Strike Force, adding 14 new U.S. Attorney’s Offices. Expansion of the Strike Force will help to coordinate the Department’s ongoing efforts to combat largest and most harmful fraud schemes that target or disproportionately impact older adults.
An indictment is merely an allegation. All defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.
###
A man who sexually abused a sleeping woman was sentenced today to more than fifteen years in federal prison.
Robin Roberts, age 67, from the Meskwaki Settlement, received the prison term after a June 1, 2022 jury verdict finding him guilty of sexual abuse.
The evidence at trial showed that on July 8, 2021, the victim went to Roberts’ residence. During her time at the residence, Roberts sexually abused the victim while she was sleeping.
Roberts was sentenced in Cedar Rapids by United States District Court Judge C.J. Williams. Roberts was sentenced to 188 months’ imprisonment and ordered to pay a $5,000 special assessment pursuant to the Justice for Victims of Trafficking Act. He must also serve a five-year term of supervised release after the prison term. There is no parole in the federal system.
Roberts is being held in the United States Marshal’s custody until he can be transported to a federal prison.
The case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Lisa C. Williams and Liz Dupuich and was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Meskwaki Nation Police Department.
Court file information at https://ecf.iand.uscourts.gov/cgi-bin/login.pl.
The case file number is 21-CR-0060.
Follow us on Twitter @USAO_NDIA.
NEWPORT NEWS, Va. – A Newport News man pleaded guilty yesterday to the unlawful purchase and possession of a firearm that was used in three community shootings.
According to court documents, Khalil Rashad Armstrong, 21, asked his older cousin to purchase a handgun for Armstrong. Only 20 years old at the time, Armstrong was not old enough to purchase a handgun himself. Armstrong gave his cousin the money to purchase the firearm and selected the make and model. Around February 21, 2021, Armstrong’s cousin made false oral and written statements to a local licensed firearm dealer in order to straw-purchase the firearm for Armstrong. The firearm was recovered by police on July 27, 2021, at the crime scene of a local rival gang shootout approximately 125 days after it was purchased. Forensic ballistics confirmed the firearm had been used in two other shootings, once on May 2, 2021, resulting in property damage, and once on February 21, 2021, the same day it was purchased.
On May 12, Armstrong’s cousin and co-defendant, Destiny Na’iymah Davis, 23, of Newport News, pleaded guilty to her role in the unlawful straw-purchase of the firearm. She faces a maximum of 5 years in prison when sentenced on December 5.
Armstrong pleaded guilty to aiding and abetting making a false statement during the purchase of a firearm and to being an unlawful user of a controlled substance in possession of a firearm and is scheduled to be sentenced on March 30, 2023. He faces a maximum of 10 years in prison on the first charge and a maximum of 15 years in prison on the second. Actual sentences for federal crimes are typically less than the maximum penalties. A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after taking into account the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.
Jessica D. Aber, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia; Christopher Amon, Acting Special Agent in Charge of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives Washington Field Division; and Steve R. Drew, Chief of Newport News Police, made the announcement after U.S. District Judge Elizabeth Wilson Hanes accepted the plea.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Peter Osyf is prosecuting the case.
A copy of this press release is located on the website of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia. Related court documents and information are located on the website of the District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia or on PACER by searching for Case No. 4:22-cr-12.
(Reuters) – Crypto exchange Kraken has agreed to pay a fine to settle civil liability related to apparent violations of sanctions on Iran, the U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control said on Monday.
As part of the settlement with OFAC, Kraken will pay about $362,000, and “invest an additional $100,000 in certain sanctions compliance controls.”
Cryptocurrencies and other digital assets have soared in popularity over recent years, saddling policymakers with monitoring risks in a largely unregulated sector.
“Kraken is pleased to have resolved this matter, which we discovered, voluntarily self-reported and swiftly corrected,” said Chief Legal Officer Marco Santori in an emailed statement to Reuters.
“Even before entering into this resolution, Kraken had taken a series of steps to bolster our compliance measures,” Santori added.
According to the OFAC statement, Kraken’s platform processed 826 transactions for users located in Iran between roughly October 2015 to June 2019.
At the time, Kraken maintained controls intended to prevent users from initially opening an account while in a jurisdiction subject to sanctions, but did not implement IP address blocking based on geolocation across its platform, the statement added.
In October, the Treasury Department had also fined crypto exchange Bittrex Inc $29 million in fines for “apparent violations” of sanctions on certain countries and anti-money laundering law.
(Reporting by Manya Saini in Bengaluru and Hannah Lang in Washington; Editing by Shailesh Kuber)
JAKARTA (Reuters) – Indonesia plans to subsidise sales of electric cars and motorbikes starting next year so that they become more affordable, a senior government minister said on Tuesday.
Coordinating Minister of Maritime and Investment Affairs Luhut Pandjaitan said the government is finalising a scheme to subsidise about 6.5 million rupiah ($413) per purchase of electric motorbike to drive sales in Southeast Asia’s largest economy.
A similar subsidy scheme is being considered for cars, the minister said, without providing details.
“If you want to swap your motorbike to electric one next year, do it. You will get a subsidy,” he told a banking forum.
Indonesia has a target of at least 1.2 million electric bike adoptions and 35,000 electric car adoptions by 2024.
Industry groups have said demand for EVs is growing but the sales volumes were still very small compared to combustion engine cars in the country of 270 million people due to the higher price of EVs.
Indonesia is keen to develop its own EV and battery industries at home, after banning exports of nickel ore to ensure supply for investors in processing since 2020.
Jakarta has already provided a tax cut for sales of EVs and hybrid cars since 2019.
($1 = 15,740.0000 rupiah)
(Reporting by Ananda Teresia, Fransiska Nangoy and Gayatri Suroyo, editing by David Evans)
MILAN (Reuters) – Eni is adding electric vehicles to its car sharing service in Italy’s biggest cities as it deepens its partnership with automaker XEV, the energy group said on Tuesday.
Eni said 200 urban electric vehicles produced by XEV will be operational in Milan, Italy’s financial capital, by the end of the year.
The electric cars will also be made available in Rome in the coming months, Eni said, adding that they are already operational in Turin, Bologna and Florence.
Eni Energy Evolution General Manager Giuseppe Ricci said the company was looking at developing components for XEV and working with the automaker to bring its assembly line to Italy.
“We are also studying a partnership with XEV on batteries,” Ricci said at a press conference in Milan.
XEV is a Turin-based company producing electric vehicles for urban mobility which are designed in Italy and produced in China.
(Reporting by Francesca Landini, editing by Alvise Armellini; editing by David Evans)
MILAN (Reuters) – Ferrari has temporarily stopped taking orders for its Purosangue SUV as high demand has sent waiting lists for some customers to around two years, Chief Marketing and Commercial Officer Enrica Galliera told the drive.com.au website.
Ferrari unveiled in September the petrol-powered 12-cylinder Purosangue, which the Italian sports car maker prefers to describe as a four-door, four-seater. It pledged to keep the model’s sales below 20% of total group shipments over the car’s life-cycle to retain a degree of exclusivity.
“It’s no secret that we stopped taking orders. We had such an interest without delivering one single car,” Galliera was quoted as saying by the Australian website.
“We made a decision that we thought was consistent with the positioning of Ferrari and the model,” he added.
Asked for a comment, Ferrari declined to provide further details.
Waiting lists for new Ferraris normally run around 18 months. The company prioritises existing customers when taking orders for new models.
(Reporting by Giulio Piovaccari; Editing by Mark Potter)
COLUMBUS, OH – Detectives with the Columbus Police Department are asking the public for assistance in identifying a brazen cigarette thief who jumped behind the counter at a Columbus gas station and stole hundreds of dollars worth of cigarettes.
According on November 11, the suspect jumped over a gas station counter in the 3900 block of Morse Road and stole hundreds of dollars of cigarettes from the display racks.
Security cameras inside the business captured the suspect putting the merchandise in plastic shopping bags before leaving.
The suspect is described as a black male wearing a brownish-red hat, surgical facemask, and black and gray jacket. He was of medium build, possibly in his late 20s or early 30s.
By Allison Lampert
(Reuters) – General Dynamics Corp’s Gulfstream Aerospace has notified owners of its G500 and G600 jets and the Federal Aviation Administration that it has discovered soot at the rear of some of those business jets, possibly because of the way a small engine vents gas in flight.
The FAA and Gulfstream both said they did not consider the issue to be a safety risk.
Gulfstream told plane owners, in a previously unreported letter to operators of the G500 dated Nov 8 and reviewed by Reuters, that it would have a plan for a fix ready early next year after testing.
“While it is not a safety-of-flight issue, we are working with Gulfstream to ensure the company addresses it,” the FAA told Reuters.
In its letter to operators of the G500, a large-cabin jet which entered service in 2018, Gulfstream said it had found soot build up on the inside of the aircraft skin and the frame near the auxiliary power unit (APU) – a small engine at the tail of the plane installed for supplementary power.
The company said in the maintenance letter that in some cases planes would need to have structural components replaced due to “no allowance for localized overheating.”
Gulfstream, however, said in the letter the presence of soot was not necessarily “indicative of an overheat condition,” but that if components needed to be replaced “additional aircraft downtime may be required.”
It was not immediately clear how many planes might require those repairs.
Business jet makers have seen strong demand from wealthy buyers and companies who opted to fly private during the height of COVID-19.
While Gulfstream did not disclose a specific explanation, material from a company presentation and a source familiar with the matter said it’s likely due to APU exhaust gases getting pushed through a structural gap and leaving soot deposits.
“We have investigated soot on the G500 and G600 aircraft, believe we know the cause, and are testing and validating our conclusions,” Gulfstream said in an emailed statement, adding that the “appearance of soot in and around the APU exhaust is not abnormal.”
Savannah, Georgia-based Gulfstream is the market leader by value of deliveries against large-cabin rivals Bombardier of Canada and France’s Dassault. Parent General Dynamics has seen its aerospace unit backlog swell to $19.1 billion during the third quarter.
Gulfstream said it did not anticipate any restrictions on the use of the APU, which generates energy for functions like starting power for the main engines.
Gulfstream said it has “notified the FAA and are working collaboratively with them on this issue.”
(Reporting By Allison Lampert in Montreal. Editing by Kevin Krolicki in Singapore and Nick Zieminski in New York)
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. single-family home prices slowed further in September as higher mortgage rates eroded demand, closely watched surveys showed on Tuesday.
The S&P CoreLogic Case Shiller national home price index dropped 0.8% month-over-month in September. Monthly house prices fell in July for the first time since late 2018.
House prices rose 10.6% year-on-year in September, slowing from August’s increase of 12.9%.
The housing market has been hammered by aggressive Federal Reserve interest rate hikes that are aimed at curbing high inflation by dampening demand in the economy.
The 30-year fixed mortgage rate breached 7% in October for the first time since 2002, data from mortgage finance agency Freddie Mac showed. Though the rate has retreated to average 6.58% last week, it remains well above the 3.10% average during the same period last year.
“As the Fed continues to move interest rates higher, mortgage financing continues to be more expensive and housing becomes less affordable,” Craig Lazzara, managing director at S&P DJI, said in a statement. “Given the continuing prospects for a challenging macroeconomic environment, home prices may well continue to weaken.”
Data this month showed sales of previously owned homes logged their ninth straight monthly decline in October, while single-family homebuilding and permits for future construction dropped to the lowest levels since May 2020.
Tight supply will, however, likely keep a floor under house prices. A surge in remote work during the COVID-19 pandemic led to a housing market boom, driving prices to record highs.
A separate report from the Federal Housing Finance Agency showing home prices edged up 0.1% on a monthly basis in September after declining 0.7% in August. In the 12 months through September, prices climbed 11.0% after advancing 12.0% in August.
“The rate of U.S. house price growth has substantially decelerated,” said William Doerner, supervisory economist in FHFA’s Division of Research and Statistics.
“This deceleration is widespread with about one-third of all states and metropolitan statistical areas registering annual growth below 10 percent.”
(Reporting by Lucia Mutikani; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)
GAMBRILLS, MD – A Facebook marketplace meeting to sell products turned into an armed robbery in front of Starbucks on Brandermmill Boulevard in Gambrills on Monday. The seller chose a seemingly safe location for the transaction, but it ended badly.
According to police, at around 8:30 pm, officers responded to a 911 call reporting an armed robbery outside of Starbucks.
“Two adult victims arranged to sell a coat to an individual on Facebook MarketPlace and agreed to meet at the shopping center,” the Anne Arundel County Police Department said today. “As they arrived at the location, an unknown male suspect approached the victims and asked for the coat. As the victims produced the coat, the suspect pulled up his shirt, displaying a handgun in his waistband.”
The victims complied with the armed robber, who fled the scene in a light-colored Honda car.
Police said the suspect is a black male, 25 years of age, 5’08”, thin build, wearing a blue mask, long-sleeve black sweatshirt, black jogging pants, and black shoes.
No arrests have been made.
By Miranda Murray and Balazs Koranyi
BERLIN (Reuters) – Germany’s inflation cooled slightly in November, but remained near a record high, suggesting that while cost pressures have eased in Europe’s largest economy they are unlikely to weaken the European Central Bank’s resolve to tame prices.
German consumer prices, harmonised to compare with other European Union countries, rose by 11.3% on the year in November, preliminary data from the Federal Statistics Office showed on Tuesday, in line with forecasts by analysts polled by Reuters.
October saw the highest reading since comparable data going back to 1996, with harmonized inflation up 11.6% on the year.
Compared with October, prices were unchanged, the office added. Analysts had forecast a 0.1% month-on-month rise.
The annual increase was due to higher costs for food and energy, which have grown considerably since the war in Ukraine began and have had a substantial impact, the office said.
Graphic: Inflation breakdown https://graphics.reuters.com/GERMANY-ECONOMY/INFLATION/znpnbemnjpl/chart.png
Energy prices eased slightly in November but were still up 38.4% compared with the same period last year, while food prices had increased by 21%, according to the office.
“It is too early to sound the all-clear because many utilities have announced significantly higher electricity and gas prices for January,” said Commerzbank chief economist Joerg Kraemer, who added that November inflation eased only because prices for fuel and heating oil had calmed down somewhat.
“Underlying inflation excluding energy and food is likely to remain stubbornly high in 2023,” said Kraemer.
A one-off payment for household energy bills in December and a planned price cap on gas and electricity has helped stabilize consumer sentiment, but the Bundesbank has warned that these relief measures may not be enough to bring inflation down from the double digits.
Graphic: Marginally lower https://graphics.reuters.com/GERMANY-ECONOMY/INFLATION/xmvjkoyekpr/chart.png
Lower inflation in Germany and Spain are likely be reflected in November euro zone inflation data to be published on Wednesday, with economists polled by Reuters expecting it to edge down to 10.4% in a flash reading after a record 10.6% on an annualised basis last month.
Such a small step down is unlikely to change ECB President Christine Lagarde’s assessment that euro zone inflation has not yet peaked, which likely dampened speculation that the ECB was about to take a gentler path with future rate increases.
The small drop, however, is likely to fuel the argument of dovish policymakers who argue that it is time for the ECB to slow down rate hikes and proceed more cautiously as it is getting to a point where it restricts growth.
The ECB has increased its rate on bank deposits by a record 200 basis points to 1.5% in three months to dampen demand in a bid to lower price growth.
Markets in recent weeks have been swinging back and forth between pricing a 50 and a 75 basis point hike from the ECB on Dec. 15, but the peak in the deposit rate is still seen at around 3%, suggesting another 150 basis points of hikes.
Adding to the case for caution at the ECB, euro zone economic sentiment rebounded more than expected in November, a separate indicator showed on Tuesday, suggesting that the bloc’s recession will be shallow and unlikely to significantly curb price pressures.
(Reporting by Miranda Murray, Rene Wagner and Balazs Koranyi, editing by Rachel More, Paul Carrel, Susan Fenton and Alexander Smith)
NEW YORK – The driver of a vehicle that crashed into a motorcyclist, killing him on Thanksgiving eve in Queens, has been charged with vehicular manslaughter.
Jairo Ortiz has also been charged with driving under the influence and driving without insurance and vehicle registration.
The crash happened early Saturday morning in Elmhurst.
According to court records, “At approximately 1:15 a.m., the defendant was driving a black 2011 BMW southbound on 82nd Street and collided with an unidentified victim, who was operating a 2021 Zhilong Fly Wing motorcycle, near the intersection of 82nd Street and 37th Avenue. The victim was transported to a local hospital with traumatic head injuries and died shortly thereafter.”
Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz announced today that Jairo Ortiz has been charged with vehicular manslaughter, driving while under the influence, and other crimes for allegedly hitting an unidentified
“As alleged, the defendant was driving a car while under the influence of alcohol. In addition, neither the defendant nor his vehicle was authorized to be on the road. Laws meant to protect us were willfully broken. The consequence of that decision is a senseless loss of life,” Queens District Attorney Melindda Katz said today.
A blood alcohol test administered by police responding to the scene of the collision showed the defendant’s blood alcohol content was above the legal limit.
“The defendant was unable to produce a valid driver’s license or proof of insurance and registration for the vehicle, a BMW with a Pennsylvania license plate not matching the vehicle’s VIN,” Katz said.
WEEHAWKEN, NJ – If you’re wondering why there was so much traffic trying to get into New York City Tuesday morning, it’s because all eastbound lanes at the Lincoln Tunnel entrance in New Jersey were shut down for about an hour due to a vehicle fire.
A vehicle fire near the Lincoln Tunnel early Tuesday morning forced the closure of all eastbound lanes on the I-495 approach between Kennedy Boulevard and Park Avenue. During the morning commute, traffic was backed up, causing major delays.
“The Lincoln Tunnel to NY has delays due to vehicle fire on the NJ-495. All lanes closed. Motorists are advised to use Holland Tunnel,” the Port Authority said at around 8:20 am on Tuesday.
The fire was extinguished, and vehicle debris cleared at around 9:00 am and traffic is once again moving with residual delays and backups.
The Port Authority NY/NJ said commuters can expect delays at this time.
HOUSTON (Reuters) – Houston lifted a boil-water notice for residents Tuesday after finding no danger in the wake of a weekend power outage that shut a treatment plant serving the fourth largest U.S. city.
However, schools attended by more than 190,000 students remained closed for a second day. Houston Independent School District called off classes and workers were told to work from home Monday after a water treatment plant temporarily lost power and a backup unit failed to take over.
“Houston Water has taken the necessary corrective actions to restore the quality of the water,” the city said, adding that tap water met regulatory standards under tests that were confirmed by the state.
Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner had said transformers at the plant tripped off and staff required two hours to return the two units to service. The outage led to a temporary drop in pressure that prompted the boil water warning.
(Reporting by Gary McWilliams; Editing by Alexander Smith)
By Yew Lun Tian, Yimou Lee and Brenda Goh
SHANGHAI/TAIPEI (Reuters) – When officials from his Chinese village approached Hou last month, urging him to work at the world’s largest iPhone factory for at least twice the usual pay, he knew it was risky.
Tens of thousands of workers had fled the plant in central China in previous weeks and violent protests had erupted over a COVID-19 lockdown and confusion over hiring bonuses.
But Hou, 24, who asked to be identified only by his family name, told Reuters he took the job at the Zhengzhou plant belonging to Foxconn, Apple’s biggest iPhone maker, making 70% of iPhones globally.
The crisis could cut production for November at the factory by at least 30%, a Foxconn source told Reuters on Thursday, a development that has hit Apple’s share price.
The plant owned by Taiwan-based Foxconn, battered by China’s strict COVID restrictions and facing critical year-end holiday demand, was offering enticing hiring bonuses and excellent pay.
Hou said he was promised up to 30,000 yuan ($4,200) for just under four months’ work – far above the 12,000-16,000 yuan Foxconn workers usually get for four months.
But he said he had not bargained on a 10-day spell in quarantine and the sudden notification that employees would have to work an extra month before receiving their hiring bonuses.
Such grievances, Hou and two other workers told Reuters, prompted them to confront Foxconn management at the plant – essentially a city of more than 200,000 employees – leading to sporadic clashes that made headlines worldwide.
In a rare example of large-scale labour unrest in China, Foxconn workers in COVID masks clashed with security personnel in white hazmat suits holding plastic shields. Some demonstrators smashed surveillance cameras and windows with sticks.
In addition to the challenges of keeping factory lines operating under a closed-loop system mandated under Beijing’s zero-COVID policy – requiring workers be isolated from the wider world – Foxconn’s turmoil also exposed communication problems and a mistrust among workers of management at the top Apple supplier.
“Nothing they said counted for anything,” Hou said from his hometown after taking a 10,000-yuan payout Foxconn offered on Thursday to protesting workers who agreed to leave.
Hou, who had worked in jobs such as sales and says he was told no factory experience was necessary, never made it to the production line.
‘MY LIFE WAS WORTH MORE’
Five other workers said at the time that they were afraid because Foxconn began shifting COVID-positive people to a vacant housing project without disclosing the infections and told workers to eat in their dormitories instead of company canteens, but then failed to segregate infected workers from others.
Foxconn declined to comment on the claims by Hou and other workers, referring Reuters to past statements.
The company previously apologised to workers for a pay-related “technical error” that it said occurred when it was hiring. It has not said why it was paying people to leave soon after promising them hiring bonuses.
In late October, after scenes of fleeing workers started trickling out, Foxconn said it was bringing the situation under control and was coordinating with other plants to increase production.
If the problems persist through December, it will cost Foxconn and Apple the output of around 10 million iPhones, equal to cutting iPhone shipments 12% in the fourth quarter, said KGI Securities analyst Christine Wang.
Foxconn managers said the company was caught in a difficult position, having to speed up shipments during Apple’s most important holiday season while following local government’s strict COVID guidelines.
“It was the busiest time of the year,” said a senior Foxconn official, adding that an October COVID outbreak on the Zhengzhou campus caught the company off guard and triggered “a mess”.
“There was pressure for everyone, including for the local government,” the official said, referring to local authorities rushing to help recruit replacement workers.
What happened at the plant was the “epitome” of what companies face under China’s rigid COVID policy, and it will “push production lines out of China at a greater speed”, the official said.
Marina Zhang, an associate professor at the University of Technology Sydney’s Australia-China Relations Institute, said Foxconn’s woes sent a message to companies trying to keep Chinese operations going and keep workers COVID-free in line with national policy.
“A company’s internal communications can be totally overpowered, overwhelmed by social media,” Zhang said. “They lose power to social media – no one is going to listen to them.”
One worker, Fay, said he feared catching COVID and anguished whether to stay on for two more weeks to claim a bonus for completing his three-month contract. Eventually, he says, he crawled out through a hole in a green metal fence.
“In the end, I decided that my life was worth more.”
(This story has been refiled to correct dateline to add Taipei)
(Reporting by Yew Lun Tian in Singapore, Yimou Lee in Taipei and Brenda Goh in Shanghai; Editing by Anne Marie Roantree and William Mallard)
BERKELEY TOWNSHIP, NJ – If you’re Italian and living at the Jersey Shore, you know that finding a good, authentic Italian specialty store is hard to come by. We have a few, but Berkeley Township residents no longer have to drive too far to get their Sunday dinners on.
In fact, they can now do it any day of the week at Cucina Fresca, a new Italian specialty store located conveniently next door to the Bayville dinosaur on Route 9.
Owned by Rich and Maria Panassidi, Cucina Fresca delivers authentic culinary Italian dishes, meats, pastries, pasta, and pre-cooked food to an existing Italian food desert. They sell freshly made mozzarella, freshly baked bread, and meats and even have a large catering menu.
The Panassidis bring experience to the table in Bayville. Prior to opening Cucina Fresca, they operated Giordano’s Italian Eatery in Old Bridge.
The owners said many of their products and ingredients are imported directly from Italy.
The addition of Cucina Fresca is most welcomed by Mayor Carmen Amato, an Italian American who was on hand recently to welcome the business to the community.
“We welcome Cucina Fresca to Berkeley Township,” Mayor Amato said. “We’re home to one of the largest Italian American populations in Ocean County. This local small business certainly is welcomed. From homemade specialties to imported products from Italy. I encourage all to come and visit Cucina Fresca.”
Online, the reception to Cucina Fresca has been nothing but positive. Customers are raving about the quality of food served and the freshness of their products.
(Reuters) -Canada’s Bombardier Inc said on Tuesday that NetJets, operator of the world’s largest fleet of private jets, will buy four Global 8000 business jets from the planemaker in a deal valued at $312 million.
The Berkshire Hathaway-owned private aircraft firm will be the fleet launch customer for the Global 8000s, and operate 24 of the new line by upgrading its entire in-service Global 7500 fleet.
Montreal-based Bombardier launched the Global 8000, its new long-range business jet, in May this year to compete better at a time when private jet operators are expanding their fleet to meet growing demand from the ultra-rich.
“With inventory sold out through 2023 in the U.S., we are continuing to invest in further expansion for prospective owners in North America and across the globe,” said Patrick Gallagher, NetJets’ president of sales, marketing, and service.
The order for the four aircraft is valued based on 2022 list prices, Bombardier said.
(Reporting by Priyamvada C in Bengaluru; Editing by Shounak Dasgupta and Devika Syamnath)