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Business News

Japan cuts view on industrial output, vigilant on market volatility

by Reuters March 22, 2023
By Reuters

TOKYO (Reuters) – Japan’s government cut its assessment of the strength of industrial production for the first time in three months in March, pointing to weakening demand in the global semiconductor industry.

Its overall assessment of the economy was unchanged in the monthly economic report, however.

Amid lingering concerns about stress in the world’s banking system, the government retained a vigilant stance in relation to economic effects of financial market fluctuations.

Issued by the Cabinet Office, the report said industrial production had weakened recently because the global semiconductor industry had faced a deteriorating market and was therefore buying less fabrication equipment. Japan makes such equipment.

That assessment of industrial production represented the first downgrade since December. Previously, the government had said the recovery trend of industrial production was stalling.

Saying consumer and capital spending were recovering, the government retained its previous overall view of the economy, which it said was “recovering moderately”, though there was some weakness.

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The government said it would need to pay full attention to effects of “price increases, supply constraints and financial and capital market volatility.”

Corporate profits were improving overall, but the pace of recovery had become moderate, the report said, pointing to raw-material price increases weighing on some manufacturers. That was the first downgrade in the assessment of corporate profits since April 2020, contrasting with the previous description of them “improving as a whole but with some weakness”.

The government has allocated more than 2 trillion yen ($15 billion) from reserve funds in the fiscal year to March 31 to cushion effects of rising inflation. Measures will include fresh cash payouts to low-income households and subsidies to curb personal electricity bills.

The report said the government expected the Bank of Japan to achieve its price target, based on an assessment of economic activity, prices and financial conditions.

Incoming governor Kazuo Ueda will join the BOJ next month when incumbent Haruhiko Kuroda’s term ends, but a global financial market rout this month has complicated his task of smoothly ending the country’s ultra-low interest rate policy.

(Reporting by Kaori Kaneko; Editing by Bradley Perrett)

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March 22, 2023 0 comments
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Business News

Explainer-What are e-fuels, and can they help make cars CO2-free?

by Reuters March 22, 2023
By Reuters

By Victoria Waldersee and Kate Abnett

BERLIN/BRUSSELS (Reuters) – Germany has declared last-minute opposition to a landmark European Union law to end sales of CO2-emitting cars in 2035, demanding that sales be allowed of new cars with internal combustion engines after that date if they run on e-fuels.

The EU rules would require all new cars sold from 2035 to have zero CO2 emissions, making it effectively impossible to sell new fossil fuel-powered cars.

The law – which Germany, alongside a majority of EU countries and lawmakers, previously supported – would not ban internal combustion engines (ICEs).

But it is seen as a death knell for the technology because of a dearth of options that could enable ICE cars to operate without producing CO2.

Here’s what you need to know.

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WHAT ARE E-FUELS?

E-fuels, like e-kerosene, e-methane, or e-methanol, are made by synthesizing captured CO2 emissions and hydrogen produced using renewable or CO2-free electricity. 

The fuels release CO2 into the atmosphere when used in an engine. But the idea is that those emissions are equal to the amount taken out of the atmosphere to produce the fuel – making it CO2-neutral overall.

Germany and Italy want clearer assurances from the EU that sales of new ICE cars can continue beyond 2035, if they run on CO2-neutral fuels.

WHO MAKES THEM?

Most major carmakers are betting on battery-electric vehicles – a technology that is already widely available – as the main route to cut CO2 emissions from passenger cars.

But suppliers and oil majors defend e-fuels, as well as a number of carmakers who don’t want their vehicles weighed down by heavy batteries.

E-fuels are not yet produced at scale. The world’s first commercial plant opened in Chile in 2021, backed by Porsche and aiming to produce 550 million litres per year. Other planned plants include Norway’s Norsk e-Fuel, due to begin producing in 2024 with a focus on aviation fuel.

CAN E-FUELS CLEAN UP CARS?

E-fuels can be used in today’s ICE vehicles and transported via existing fossil fuel logistics networks – good news for ICE component makers and companies which transport petrol and diesel.

Supporters say e-fuels offer a route to cut the CO2 emissions of our existing passenger car fleet, without replacing every vehicle with an electric one.

Critics highlight that manufacturing e-fuels is very expensive and energy-intensive. Using e-fuels in an ICE car requires about five times more renewable electricity than running a battery-electric vehicle, according to a 2021 paper in the Nature Climate Change journal.

Some policymakers also argue that e-fuels should be reserved for hard-to-decarbonise sectors such as shipping and aviation – which, unlike passenger cars, cannot easily run on electric batteries.

WHAT NEXT FOR THE EU LAW?

Days before the final vote on the EU law, which was scheduled for March 7, German Transport Minister Volker Wissing called into question Germany’s support for it.

That has put one of Europe’s core climate change policies on hold – and surprised other policymakers, because EU countries and lawmakers had already agreed the law last year.

Alongside Germany and Italy, countries including the Czech Republic and Poland have expressed concerns about the law, raising the possibility of enough support to block it.

But other EU lawmakers and diplomats warn that allowing one country to torpedo an already-agreed law would endanger other carefully negotiated deals on EU policies.

Free Democratic Party member Wissing said the use of e-fuels should remain possible after 2035, and a promised European Commission proposal on this was still missing.

In response, the European Commission has drafted a proposal, seen by Reuters, to allow carmakers to register new cars in the EU that can run on climate neutral e-fuels only. That could be a first step towards allowing their sale after 2035.

The draft proposal said vehicles must use technology that would prevent the car from starting if it used non-carbon-neutral fuels.

The International Council on Clean Transportation said it was doubtful technologies would be able to sense whether a vehicle is operating on pure e-fuels or a blend with fossil fuels – since e-fuels have very similar properties to the fossil fuels they are designed to replace.

An EU official told Reuters any new proposal would be made only after countries approve the combustion engine phaseout. Germany’s Transport Ministry said it was examining the draft proposal.

WHAT DO COMPANIES WANT?

Big auto component suppliers in Germany such as Bosch, ZF and Mahle are members of the eFuel Alliance, an industry lobby group, as are oil and gas majors from ExxonMobil to Repsol.

Carmakers such as Piech, Porsche and Mazda are broadly supportive of the technology. Porsche holds a stake in e-fuel producer HIF Global. 

BMW has invested $12.5 million in e-fuel startup Prometheus Fuels, while also investing billions in battery-electric technology.

Other carmakers including Volkswagen and Mercedes-Benz are betting on battery-electric vehicles to decarbonise. Volvo and Ford this week urged EU countries not to row back on the 2035 phaseout of new petrol and diesel cars.

(Reporting by Kate Abnett, Victoria Waldersee, Markus Wacket; editing by Jason Neely)

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March 22, 2023 0 comments
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Business News

Fox faces skeptical judge in Dominion defamation suit

by Reuters March 22, 2023
By Reuters

By Jack Queen and Helen Coster

WILMINGTON, Delaware (Reuters) -Lawyers for Fox Corp faced a skeptical judge on Tuesday as they sought to block a $1.6 billion defamation lawsuit by Dominion Voting Systems from going to trial, while the voting-technology company accused Fox News of knowingly airing vote-rigging claims that the network knew were false.

Both sides made presentations during a hearing in Wilmington before Delaware Superior Court Judge Eric Davis, asking him to rule in their favor on various legal questions rather than proceeding to a full trial scheduled to start on April 17.

The judge peppered a Fox lawyer with questions about its defense against Dominion’s assertion that the network knew that allegations by former President Donald Trump and his lawyers of vote-rigging in the 2020 U.S. election were false but continued putting the claims on the air anyway in pursuit of ratings.

Dominion argues that this meets the “actual malice” standard to win a defamation case under which a plaintiff must prove a defendant knowingly spread false information or acted with reckless disregard for the truth. Fox lawyer Erin Murphy disagreed.

Fox’s lawyers also invoked the legal doctrine of “neutral reportage,” which holds that the press cannot be held liable for publishing newsworthy allegations in a neutral way.

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Davis said there was tension between Fox’s arguments on “actual malice” and “neutral reportage.”

“To me, it doesn’t seem intellectually honest that you apply actual malice and say there’s neutral reporting privilege,” Davis said, adding: “How can you be neutral if you’re knowingly doing false things?”

Murphy sought to provide context for the defamatory statements alleged by Dominion and argued that reasonable viewers understood that the claims aired on Fox News were mere allegations. The Fox News statements cited by Dominion included a Twitter post by former Fox Business host Lou Dobbs that included pro-Trump hashtags.

“You’re saying he’s a neutral reporter?” Davis asked Murphy, who responded that Dobbs was not being neutral in his support for Trump but did not write the hashtag #DominionVoterFraud.

Dominion sued Fox Corp and Fox News in 2021, accusing them of ruining its reputation by airing false claims by Trump and his lawyers that the Denver-based company’s voting machines were used to rig the outcome of the election against him and in favor of Democrat Joe Biden. Fox has argued that coverage of these claims was inherently newsworthy and protected by the U.S. Constitution’s First Amendment guarantee of press freedom.

It is one of the most closely watched defamation cases involving a major U.S. media organization in years, pitting the influential cable news network that features conservative commentators against a company that claims Fox’s coverage destroyed its business.

Both sides are seeking summary judgment – asking the judge to decide the case in their favor before it goes to a jury trial. Davis said he does not plan to rule from the bench and will issue a written opinion sometime later. The hearing is due to resume on Wednesday.

‘RELEASE THE KRAKEN’

In their presentation to the judge, Dominion’s lawyers said internal Fox communications prove that the network repeatedly hosted guests who it knew were peddling “reckless” and “completely crazy” falsehoods because it was losing viewers to far-right media competitors.

“They chose to let the story be out there – to let out the hoax, to release the Kraken,” lawyer Rodney Smolla said, referring to a nickname for Sidney Powell, who was a lawyer for Trump. “And why? Because Fox viewers were abandoning Fox.”

Davis seemed particularly interested in whether 20 allegedly defamatory statements cited by Dominion were facts, opinions or a mix of the two. He also sought clarity on Dominion’s legal theories. 

“Are you saying that Fox adopts Trump’s statements just because the president said at a press conference that the election was a hoax?” Davis asked.

Lawyer Justin Nelson answered no, saying Dominion’s allegation is that Fox knew Trump’s lawyers were going to make false claims but hosted them on its shows anyway.

Separately, a Fox News producer filed a lawsuit on Monday accusing the network’s lawyers of pressuring her to provide misleading testimony in the Dominion case.

Abby Grossberg, who was head of booking for Fox News host Tucker Carlson, said coaching and intimidation by Fox lawyers before her deposition left her “feeling pressured not to name names or to implicate others, in particular prominent male on-air personalities and Fox News executives.”

Fox said in a statement on Tuesday that Grossberg’s “allegations in connection with the Dominion case are baseless and we will vigorously defend Fox against all of her claims.”

(Reporting by Jack Queen in Wilmington and Helen Coster in New York; Editing by Will Dunham and Amy Stevens)

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March 22, 2023 0 comments
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New Jersey News

Southern Shore Lawmakers Say Unprecedented Whale and Dolphin Deaths Warrant Suspension of Offshore Wind Projects

by Press Release March 22, 2023
By Press Release

Senator Michael Testa, Assemblyman Antwan McClellan, and Assemblyman Erik Simonsen are intensifying calls to suspend offshore wind projects following an unprecedented number of dolphin deaths on a beach in Sea Isle City.

Southern Shore Lawmakers Say Unprecedented Whale and Dolphin Deaths Warrant Suspension of Offshore Wind Projects

Sen. Michael Testa, Asm. Antwan McClellan, and Asm. Erik Simonsen are intensifying calls to suspend offshore wind projects following an unprecedented number of dolphin deaths on a beach in Sea Isle City. (Pixabay)

“It has been clear for a long time that Gov. Phil Murphy’s irrational green energy goals, facilitated by offshore wind projects, may pose significant risks to marine life. Since January, New Jersey has recorded an alarming number of whale deaths, and just earlier today, eight dolphins died after washing ashore in Sea Isle City. While the DEP claims there is no link between wind farms and damage to marine life, the logical thing to do would be to pause all offshore wind projects until we have more data,” said Testa (R-Cumberland). “In addition to the health and safety of marine life, our coastal communities and the thriving commercial fisheries rely upon a healthy and safe ocean and these projects pose an unnecessary risk to that. Until the proponents can assure our region that these projects are not playing a part in these incidents, it would be wise to suspend the work.”

Despite the incidents, Gov. Murphy continues his aggressive green energy goals, which calls for increasing offshore electric wind generation to 11,000 megawatts by 2040. To date, several offshore wind projects have been approved by the state Board of Public Utilities. One would add 98 wind turbines in Ocean and Cape May counties and others could produce as many as 350 along Atlantic County’s shoreline.

“Once again, Gov. Murphy is putting his radical green agenda before the safety of marine life and the jobs of fisherman and entrepreneurs,” added McClellan (R-Cape May). “Work related to offshore wind projects is the primary difference in our waters and an investigation should be done as to why whales and dolphins are dying in alarming numbers.”

Simonsen echoed calls for a moratorium, saying, “The only change in our waters recently has been the start of survey work for the construction of offshore wind farms—which seems like an awfully big coincidence to ignore. Our marine life must be safeguarded before any further progress can be made.”

March 22, 2023 0 comments
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Pets and AnimalsViral Videos

How This Puggle Lost Half Her Body Weight | The Dodo

by Jessica Woods March 22, 2023
By Jessica Woods

Just… wow 👏

Keep up with Bertha’s progress on Instagram: http://thedo.do/bertha_gets_bitty.

Special thanks to the team at Steel City K9 Rehab, you can check them out on Instagram: http://thedo.do/steelcityk9rehab.

Love Animals? Subscribe: http://thedo.do/2tv6Ocd
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For the love of animals. Pass it on.
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March 22, 2023 0 comments
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Pets and AnimalsViral Videos

Rescue Dog Stayed in Her Crate For Five Days Until She Realized She Was Home | The Dodo

by Jessica Woods March 22, 2023
By Jessica Woods

Rescue dog was too scared to leave her crate for 5 days — now she hugs her mom and dad with her whole body ❤️

To keep up with Mavyn, follow along on TikTok https://thedo.do/mayvnTT!

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For the love of animals. Pass it on.
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March 22, 2023 0 comments
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Pets and AnimalsViral Videos

Cat Joins His Best Friend During His Daily Walk | The Dodo

by Jessica Woods March 22, 2023
By Jessica Woods

Neighborhood cat crashes these two dogs’ walk every day — then he follows them into their house… ❤️

Keep up with Hilarie on TikTok: https://thedo.do/englishbulldogemmie, Instagram: https://thedo.do/Englishbulldogemmie, and YouTube: https://thedo.do/englishbulldogEmmie.

Love Animals? Subscribe: http://thedo.do/2tv6Ocd
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For the love of animals. Pass it on.
#thedodo #animals #dog #cat #kitten #puppy

March 22, 2023 0 comments
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Business News

Japan’s land prices up at fastest pace since 2008 on gradual econ recovery

by Reuters March 22, 2023
By Reuters

By Kaori Kaneko

TOKYO (Reuters) – Japan’s land prices rose for a second straight year at the fastest pace since 2008, a government survey showed on Wednesday, spurred by signs of economic recovery after the coronavirus crisis.

Average land prices grew 1.6% in 2022, outstripping the previous year’s gain of 0.6%, with the trend spreading to the countryside, the survey by the land ministry showed. It was the fastest pace of increase since a 1.7% in 2008.

Demand for housing in urban areas was solid, partly because of low interest rates, while a shift to working from home helped land prices in the suburbs. Demand for offices and condominium sites boosted a recovery in commercial prices.

“The recovery trend in land prices towards the pre-COVID level has become more remarkable, as prices in urban areas continued to grow and expanded to rural areas as well,” said the ministry, which surveyed about 26,000 locations.

Residential land prices rose 1.4% for the year, the fastest pace since 1991 and overtaking a 2021 rise of 0.5%, helped by low interest rates and a government tax break for housing, according to the survey, whose results will provide a basis for land transactions.

Japan’s commercial land prices gained 1.8%, versus growth of 0.4% the previous year, led by solid demand for shops and offices, the survey showed. The return of domestic travellers to tourist destinations helped the recovery.

Expectations for a return of foreign visitors also supported commercial land prices in some popular tourist spots such as Osaka and the ancient capital of Kyoto, after the easing of COVID-19 border curbs.

Commercial land prices rose for the second successive year in metropolitan areas around the capital, Tokyo, and Nagoya, while those in Osaka grew for the first time in three years.

Average land prices in the four major regional cities of Sapporo, Sendai, Hiroshima and Fukuoka advanced 8.5%, up for the 10th straight year, partly led by redevelopment projects. Residential land prices in other regional areas rose for the first time in 28 years.

Land prices in industrial areas rose 3.1%, up for a seventh straight year and at the fastest pace of rise since 1991, as burgeoning e-commerce drives demand for sites suitable for large logistics facilities with good access, the survey found.

(Reporting by Kaori Kaneko; Editing by Clarence Fernandez)

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March 22, 2023 0 comments
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US and World News

Explainer-Does China need more Russian gas via the Power-of-Siberia 2 pipeline?

by Reuters March 22, 2023
By Reuters

SINGAPORE (Reuters) – Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese leader Xi Jinping met in Moscow for two days of talks which ended Tuesday, during which they discussed a major new infrastructure project, Power-of-Siberia 2, to deliver gas to China via Mongolia.

Putin said Russia, China and Mongolia had completed “all agreements” on finishing the pipeline to ship Russian gas to China, and that Russia will deliver at least 98 billion cubic meters (bcm) of gas to China by 2030, although a subsequent Russian statement said pipeline details still need to be resolved.

Russia proposed the route years ago but the plan has gained urgency as Moscow looks to Beijing to replace Europe as its major gas customer.

However, China is not expected to need additional gas supply until after 2030, experts say.

WHAT IS THE POWER-OF-SIBERIA 2 PIPELINE?

The proposed pipeline would bring gas from the huge Yamal peninsula reserves in west Siberia to China, the world’s top energy consumer and a growing gas consumer.

The first Power-of-Siberia pipeline runs for 3,000 km (1,865 miles) through Siberia and into China’s northeastern Heilongjiang province.

The new route would cut through eastern Mongolia and into northern China, according to a map by Russia’s Gazprom.

Gazprom began a feasibility study on the project in 2020, and has aimed to start delivering gas by 2030.

The 2,600-km pipeline could carry 50 billion cubic metres (bcm) of gas a year, slightly less than the now defunct Nord Stream 1 pipeline linking Russia to Germany under the Baltic Sea.

WHAT DID XI AND PUTIN SAY ABOUT THE PIPELINE?

Before Xi’s visit, Putin referred to the Power-of-Siberia pipeline as “the deal of the century.”

But a joint statement after their talks said only that the parties involved “will make efforts to advance work on the study and approval” of the pipeline. However, official accounts of Xi’s statements issued after the meetings do not mention the pipeline.

“We don’t really think it’s finalised yet, there are still lots of finer details to be hammered out,” said Wang Yuanda, China gas analyst at data intelligence firm ICIS.

“Russia is probably more desperate to sell gas than China needs at the moment.”

WHAT DOES MONGOLIA SAY?

When Putin and Xi met in September with Mongolian President Ukhnaagiin Khurelsukh, Khurelsukh said he supports the construction of oil and gas pipelines from Russia to China via Mongolia, adding that its technical and economic justification should be studied.

Mongolian Prime Minister Oyun-Erdene Luvsannamsrai told the Financial Times in July that he expected Russia to begin construction on the pipeline within two years, but added that the final route through Mongolia was not yet decided, according to the newspaper.

DOES CHINA NEED MORE RUSSIAN GAS?

Gazprom already supplies gas to China through the first Power-of-Siberia pipeline under a 30-year, $400 billion deal, which was launched at end-2019.

Expected to supply 22 bcm of gas in 2023, it will deliver increasing volumes before reaching full capacity of 38 bcm by 2027.

In February 2022, Beijing also agreed to buy gas from Russia’s Far East island of Sakhalin, which will be transported via a new pipeline across the Japan Sea to China’s Heilongjiang province, reaching up to 10 bcm a year around 2026.

Meanwhile, China is negotiating a new pipeline – Central Asia–China Gas Pipeline D – to source 25 bcm of gas annually for 30 years from Turkmenistan via Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan.

Additionally, China has long-term contracts with Qatar, the United States and global oil majors for LNG supplies. It imported 63.4 million tonnes of the chilled fuel last year.

“The original target is for China to import 38 bcm of Russia gas by 2025. Now Russia is saying this will reach 98 bcm by 2030. That is a very big jump, so it pays to be slightly cautious on that,” said Wang, the analyst.

China will also be wary of finding itself in a similar position to Europe if it becomes more reliant on Russia, he added.

(Reporting by Emily Chow in Singapore; Editing by Raju Gopalakrishnan)

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March 22, 2023 0 comments
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US and World News

Los Angeles education strike cancels school for 420,000 students

by Reuters March 22, 2023
By Reuters

By Alan Devall

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) -Some 30,000 education workers backed by the teachers’ union walked off the job for a three-day strike in Los Angeles on Tuesday, canceling school for nearly half a million students in the second-largest school district in the United States.

The Service Employees International Union Local 99 seeks to increase what it calls poverty wages averaging $25,000 per year for many of their members including school bus drivers, custodians, cafeteria workers and classroom assistants.

Thousands of protesters gathered for a rally outside the Los Angeles Unified School District headquarters, vowing to continue their pickets for another two days under the banner, “United for L.A. Schools.”

“This school system is underfunded,” said Findlay Bunting, a special education teacher who demonstrated in support of the striking workers. “As teachers, we spend a lot of time with the support staff. They’re just magnificent. They’ve been underpaid for years.”

At an earlier picket at a school bus yard, striking workers marched in pouring rain, carrying signs that read, “Respect Us!”

The service workers are backed by the 35,000 members of the teachers’ union United Teachers Los Angeles, which refused to cross their picket line.

The work stoppage is the latest in a series of job actions by educators across the United States who have complained of burnout and low wages, leading to a teacher shortage in many parts of the country.

L.A. schools superintendent Alberto Carvalho has acknowledged workers have been underpaid for years and said he was committed to reaching a deal.

The strike has disrupted class for 420,000 students, many of whom also depend on schools for meals, counseling and other social services. Dozens of meal and safe-place sites were opened across the city on Tuesday, with school district employees and volunteers distributing more than 124,000 meals, the district said.

The union, which said 96% of its membership had authorized the strike, is demanding a 30% salary increase plus an additional $2 per hour for the lowest-paid workers, the Los Angeles Times reported.

Carvalho told reporters on Monday the district was offering a 23% raise plus a 3% bonus and that “there are still additional resources to put on the table.”

Education experts have been warning of staff burnout for years. Those concerns grew when the coronavirus pandemic put additional stress on teachers, prompting many to leave the profession for better pay in the private sector.

“What’s happening in L.A. is going to happen in all the major cities if we don’t start doing something collectively as a nation,” said Jamie Sears, a former third-grade teacher who now teaches a master class for educators.

A survey last year by the National Education Association, the largest labor union in the United States, found 55% of educators were thinking of leaving the profession and 86% said they have seen more colleagues quit since the start of the pandemic.

(Reporting by Daniel Trotta in Carslbad, Calif., and Brendan O’Brien in Chicago; Additional reporting by Alan Devall in Los Angeles; Editing by Matthew Lewis and Edwina Gibbs)

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March 22, 2023 0 comments
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US and World News

Biden honors Springsteen, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Mindy Kaling

by Reuters March 22, 2023
By Reuters

By Steve Holland

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. President Joe Biden made an observation when conferring the National Medal of Arts on rocker Bruce Springsteen on Tuesday: “Bruce, some people are just born to run, man.”

Springsteen and a host of actors, authors, singers and other artists joined Biden in the White House East Room where they received either a National Medal of Arts or National Humanities Medal for their contributions to American society.

Comedian Julia Louis-Dreyfus, whose “Veep” show made light of the vice presidency – an office Biden once held – was also honored.

“She embraces life’s absurdity with absolute wit, and handles real life turns with absolute grace. A mom, a cancer survivor, a pioneer for women in comedy, she is an American original,” said Biden.

Actress Mindy Kaling, a main character on the long-running television show, “The Office,” set in Biden’s hometown of Scranton, Pennsylvania, received a medal as well.

When Biden introduced author Colson Whitehead to the crowd, he noted that Whitehead had won back to back Pulitzer prizes for his books, and gave a hint of his own ambitions.

“I’m trying to go back to back myself,” said Biden, who has said he intends to run for re-election in 2024.

Singer Gladys Knight, the “empress of soul,” was an honoree, along with clothing designer Vera Wang, historian Walter Isaacson and authors Amy Tan, Ann Patchett and Tara Westover, among others.

(Reporting by Steve Holland and Eric Beech; Editing by Richard Chang)

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March 22, 2023 0 comments
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Column-QE sceptics fear Fed is in a hole :Mike Dolan

by Reuters March 22, 2023
By Reuters

By Mike Dolan

LONDON (Reuters) – If this month’s U.S. banking stress owes at least something to the Federal Reserve’s reduction of its mammoth balance sheet, then the central bank may now find itself digging deeper into a hole of its own making.

Long-standing critics of “quantitative easing” (QE) have for more than a decade blamed the central bank policy of bond buying and balance sheet expansion for many of the world’s ills – everything from asset bubbles and inequality to the spillover to poorer economies and the recent inflation spike.

Some arguments stack up, many less so.

Defenders cite the periodic need to flexibly fight greater evils of deflation and depression when official interest rates hit zero. Economists who obsess about tightly calibrating the quantity of money in the system balk at QE as a tool.

But the sudden surge in banking stress this month has many reviewing what’s still largely a poorly understood process.

Two weeks of turmoil in mid-sized U.S. banks follow just nine months in which the Fed had been winding down its outsize balance sheet that peaked near $9 trillion during the pandemic. This policy reversal, dubbed ‘quantitative tightening’ (QT), has proceeded alongside the steepest interest rate hikes in decades.

The sudden re-expansion of that balance sheet last week – aimed at emergency bank backstops that shore up their deposits rather than a fresh round of QE per se – raises big questions about whether the Fed balance sheet may now be stuck at these levels even if interest rates rise once again.

To be sure, the four failed banks snared in the crisis to date can be seen as outliers for a variety of reasons related to poor risk management or inadequate or inconsistent oversight and regulation.

But critics had warned for at least six months that QT may have to be cut short precisely because of the lopsided behaviour of banks toward central bank asset purchases and sales.

In a paper presented to the Fed’s Jackson Hole conference in August, and updated this week, former International Monetary Fund chief economist and Reserve Bank of India governor Raghuram Rajan and other economists showed how QT would not just be a dollar-for-dollar mirror reversal of the original balance sheet expansion and may leave banks prone to liquidity shocks.

Citing the Fed’s experience in 2018 and 2019 in having to set up emergency liquidity windows after its last bout of QT, the paper’s main point was that commercial banks match the reserve assets built via QE with liabilities in the form of deposits or lines of credit.

But the brief history of QE shows that when the former shrink, the latter two don’t necessarily follow suit and this asymmetry builds up financial stability risks for many weaker banks if deposits get run down and their replacement asset holdings lose market value – even the ‘safest’ ones.

“Illiquidity episodes may force central banks to slow the process of reserve withdrawal. Financial stability and monetary objectives of central banks could then conflict,” concluded Rajan, New York University’s Viral Acharya, University of Chicago’s Rahul Chauhan and Sascha Steffen at the Frankfurt School of Finance and Management.

Graphic: Fed QT in question? https://fingfx.thomsonreuters.com/gfx/mkt/znpnblxwdpl/One.PNG Graphic: A balance sheet setback for the Fed, https://www.reuters.com/graphics/USA-FED/CREDIT/byvrlmldeve/chart_eikon.jpg ILLIQUIDTY EPISODES

This could become a trap that prevents normalisation of the balance sheet longer term, they said.

“If aggregate liquidity shortages precipitate systemic liquidity stress, then additional liquidity provision by central banks may resolve the problem temporarily but also strengthen the underlying behaviour that led to the shortages in the first place.”

Better-measured and more forward-looking liquidity regulations, incentives for longer-duration deposits during QE bouts and rethinking stress tests were all options, they wrote.

The authors cited the relative success of the Bank of England managing to only temporarily halt its QT plans late last year as it was forced to intervene in the bond market to alleviate pension fund stress after a botched British government budget sparked a run on the gilt market in September.

As Kroll chief economist Megan Greene described in a Financial Times op-ed late last month, QE may just be like “Hotel California”, where the lyrics of the Eagles song insist “you can check out but you can never leave.”

As the Fed meets this week, markets are still less than sure of policy implications of this March bank blow-up. While a majority now see another quarter point rate rise, many will be closely monitoring signals for just how temporary the latest emergency liquidity provisions will prove.

Bank liquidity operations showed the Fed’s balance sheet jumped by around $300 billion in the latest week, undoing almost a half of the drop from the peak of $8.965 trillion in April 2022.

And JPMorgan estimates the Fed injected $440 billion in bank reserves, reversing a third of the $1.3 trillion of those reserves that had occurred since the end of 2021.

But as to how the Fed’s balance sheet muddle should be interpreted in the overall context of the Fed’s monetary policy, economists at Morgan Stanley stressed how different the latest rescues would be for credit to the wider economy.

Fed asset purchases were vastly different to emergency loans in their implication for onward lending.

“It won’t stop the already tight lending standards across the banking industry from getting even tighter. It also won’t prevent the cost of deposits from rising, thereby pressuring net interest margins,” Morgan Stanley’s Mike Wilson wrote on Sunday. “The risk of a credit crunch has increased materially.” Graphic: Odds firm up for a 25 bps Fed rate hike, https://www.reuters.com/graphics/USA-RATES/FEDWATCH/dwvkdkznmpm/chart_eikon.jpg Graphic: The Discount Window, https://www.reuters.com/graphics/USA-FED/DISCOUNT/egvbyorakpq/chart_eikon.jpg

The opinions expressed here are those of the author, a columnist for Reuters

(by Mike Dolan, Twitter: @reutersMikeD; Editing by Emelia Sithole-Matarise)

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March 22, 2023 0 comments
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Market turmoil is doing central bankers’ jobs for them

by Reuters March 22, 2023
By Reuters

By Yoruk Bahceli

(Reuters) -Tighter financing conditions in markets sparked by banking sector turmoil may have done much of central banks’ jobs for them, boosting the case for an end to interest rate hikes soon.

In less than two weeks, U.S. banking shares alone have slid over 15%, weaker companies’ borrowing costs have jumped and the risk premium on U.S. financial debt is at its highest since May 2020.

Such moves, some economists estimate, are the equivalent of multiple rate hikes by the U.S. Federal Reserve. The turmoil has also prompted investors to scale back rate-hike bets.

The Fed is tipped to raise rates by 25 basis points on Wednesday, compared with expectations of a 50 bps move earlier this month.

European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde reckons market turmoil may do some of the ECB’s tightening for it if it dampens demand and inflation.

Financial conditions reflect the availability of funding in an economy, so they dictate spending, saving and investment plans of businesses and households. Central banks have been trying to tighten them by raising rates to slow rising prices.

Since the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank and a rout in Credit Suisse shares that led to its takeover on Sunday by Swiss rival UBS, market funding conditions have tightened sharply.

Torsten Slok, chief economist at Apollo Global Management, reckons the scale of tightening was equivalent to adding 1.5 percentage points to the Fed’s policy rate.

“Financial conditions are the tightest they have been since the Fed began to increase interest rates,” he said, noting a Bloomberg U.S. index factoring in money markets, corporate debt and stock market moves had hit its tightest since March 2020.

Signs of tightening financial conditions were plentiful.

Since March 9, the additional yield U.S. corporate junk bonds pay on top of risk-free rates has risen by a whopping 88 bps.

U.S. bank stocks have fallen some 16%. European banks are down 11% even after a post Credit Suisse-rescue bounce.

The risk premium on debt issued by banks and other financial companies has surged 56 basis points in the United States and 76 bps in the euro zone.

Those moves and heightened uncertainty could lead to a significant tightening in euro zone and UK bank lending standards, Goldman Sachs said, although of less magnitude than during the 2008 financial crisis or 2011 euro zone debt crisis.

“Even assuming that market volatility does subside over the coming days and weeks, we think some residual tightness in financial conditions is likely to remain,” said ABN AMRO senior economist Bill Diviney.

“Given that this will do some of the Fed’s tightening work for it, by depressing lending to the real economy, this is likely to reduce the need for further policy tightening.”

Diviney said this could also be a reason for the Fed to cut rates this year.

Oil prices meanwhile are down 9% since March 9, another disinflationary factor that could help central bankers.

“LARGELY GUESSWORK”

Goldman Sachs said the tightening in bank lending standards it expects could subtract 0.25 to 0.5 percentage points from 2023 economic growth in the United States, equivalent to the impact of another 25-50 bps of Fed rate hikes. The impact risked being even larger, it added.

Others were wary of using market-based indicators to interpret financial conditions at a time when poor liquidity is driving outsized market moves.

“The rates volatility has been driven by inflation and growth fears and positioning washouts so these moves should be taken with a grain of salt,” said Patrick Saner, head of macro strategy at Swiss Re, referring to wild swings in government bonds.

“An abrupt tightening of financial conditions matters only to the extent that the tightness is maintained and remains orderly,” he said, adding that this depends on central banks maintaining their inflation-fighting resolve.

Dario Perkins, managing director, global macro at consultancy TS Lombard and a former advisor to Britain’s Treasury, called estimates of the impact recent turmoil would have on effective policy rates “largely guesswork”.

“Central banks no longer have a good idea about the true tightness of monetary policy,” he said.

He expected smaller banks to restrict lending in a way that could have a big impact on smaller and medium-sized businesses, in a blow to aggregate demand.

“This will help the authorities to defeat inflation, but in a way that is uncontrolled and intractable, risking unnecessary hardship.”

(Reporting by Yoruk Bahceli; Editing by Dhara Ranasinghe and Catherine Evans)

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March 22, 2023 0 comments
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Jittery markets attempt risk-on rally while waiting for Powell

by Reuters March 22, 2023
By Reuters

A look at the day ahead in European and global markets from Ankur Banerjee

With about 12 hours still to go before the Fed announces its policy decision, investors are attempting a bit of a risk-on rally.

Comments from U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, who told bankers that she was prepared to intervene to protect depositors in smaller banks, have helped calm some of the market’s nerves, even as a scramble by embattled U.S. lender First Republic Bank to secure a capital infusion kept worries about the sector alive.

The collapse of Silicon Valley Bank, which sank under the weight of bond-related losses due to surging interest rates, kicked off a tumultuous 10 days for banks, with fears of a global meltdown rattling investors.

And that brings us to the main event of the day: the Fed’s policy meeting, which concludes on Wednesday with the 2 p.m. EDT (1800 GMT) release of a policy statement followed half an hour later by a news conference by Chair Jerome Powell.

Traders are pricing in an 85% chance of a 25 basis-point interest rate hike by the Fed and a 15% chance of no increase. Just a month earlier, the market was pricing in a 24% chance of a 50 basis-point hike.

The past two weeks have upended expectations, with market funding conditions tightening sharply since the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank and a rout in Credit Suisse shares that led to a shotgun takeover on Sunday by Swiss rival UBS.

Whether that’s enough for central banks to stop hiking remains to be seen.

The MSCI ex-Japan index rose 1.3%, while the dollar and gold traded in narrow ranges. Futures indicated European stocks would likely join in on the rally.

In the corporate world, GameStop posted a surprise profit for the fourth quarter, its first since early 2021, sending the “meme stock” nearly 50% higher. Shares of another meme stock, Bed Bath & Beyond, fell below $1, leaving the retailer at risk of losing additional funding from hedge fund Hudson Bay Capital Management. The retailer reached an amended agreement with Hudson last week to temporarily lower the stock price threshold to $1 until April 3. Graphic: Traders bet on rate hike as fears of bank crisis ease Traders bet on rate hike as fears of bank crisis ease, https://www.reuters.com/graphics/USA-RATES/FEDWATCH/xmpjkbnxmvr/chart.png

Key developments that could influence markets on Wednesday:

Economic events: UK inflation, US Fed policy decision (This story has been corrected to say that the market is pricing in 85% chance of 25 bps hike and 15% chance of no increase in paragraph 5)

(Reporting by Ankur Banerjee; Editing by Edmund Klamann)

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March 22, 2023 0 comments
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Sri Lanka to start next round of talks with creditors in April

by Reuters March 22, 2023
By Reuters

By Uditha Jayasinghe

COLOMBO (Reuters) – Sri Lanka will kick off the next round of talks with creditors in the third week of April, President Ranil Wickremesinghe said on Wednesday, adding that the debt-stricken nation has started to receive funds from the International Monetary Fund.

The IMF has released the first tranche of about $330 million, part of a nearly $3 billion bailout approved by it on Monday, Wickremesinghe told parliament.

“This will create opportunities for low-interest credit, restore foreign investors’ confidence and lay the foundation for a strong new economy,” he said.

The IMF bailout is expected to catalyse additional support to the tune of $3.75 billion from the likes of the World Bank, the Asian Development Bank and other lenders. It also clears the way for Sri Lanka to restructure a substantial part of its $84 billion worth total public debt.

(GRAPHIC: The long wait for bailout approval https://www.reuters.com/graphics/EMERGING-DEBT/akveqombevr/chart.png)

Sri Lankan officials will start the next round of talks with bondholders and bilateral creditors in the third week of April, Wickremesinghe said, adding that a fully transparent process will be followed.

Sri Lanka also aims to reduce inflation to a single digit by mid-2023 and later to 4%-6%, Wickremesinghe said. The country’s National Consumer Price Index rose an annual 53.6% in February.

This was the 17th IMF bailout for Sri Lanka and the third since the country’s decades-long civil war ended in 2009.

Economic mismanagement coupled with the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic left Sri Lanka severely short of dollars for essential imports at the beginning of last year, tipping the island nation into its worst financial crisis in seven decades.

Unlike previous bailouts, which were mainly used to bolster foreign exchange reserves, the funds from the current programme can also be used for government spending, senior IMF official Masahiro Nozaki said on Tuesday.

(Reporting by Uditha Jayasinghe; Editing by Clarence Fernandez and Raju Gopalakrishnan)

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March 22, 2023 0 comments
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Bundesbank chief: rate-setters must be ‘stubborn’ in inflation fight -FT

by Reuters March 22, 2023
By Reuters

(Reuters) – Eurozone policy-setters must be “stubborn” and continue increasing borrowing costs to battle inflation, Bundesbank chief Joachim Nagel told the Financial Times in comments published on Wednesday.

The remarks came after the European Central Bank raised interest rates last week by 50 basis points, keeping up its fight on inflation, amid calls by some investors to hold back on policy tightening until turmoil in the banking sector eased.

“Our fight against inflation is not over,” Nagel told the newspaper, adding that he certainly felt “price pressures are strong and broad-based across the economy.”

“There’s still some way to go, but we are approaching restrictive territory,” he said, adding that once the ECB stopped raising rates it would have to resist calls to cut them. 

Nagel said it was possible for European banks to become more cautious in lending following the turmoil.

But he dismissed concerns it could affect them, saying it was “too early” to conclude the region was heading for a credit crunch.

The turmoil was triggered by the collapse of U.S. midsized lenders Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank, quickly ensnaring Credit Suisse as investors fretted about other ticking bombs in the banking system.

(Reporting by Kanjyik Ghosh in Bengaluru; Editing by Christian Schmollinger and Clarence Fernandez)

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March 22, 2023 0 comments
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Eighty years on, Thessaloniki Holocaust survivor recalls cart of trampled bodies

by Reuters March 22, 2023
By Reuters

By Alexandros Avramidis

ATHENS (Reuters) – Eighty-four-year-old Rina Revah was nearly four when she was sent to the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp in northern Germany with her parents in 1943. She would spend the next two years of her childhood there and witness events that would stay with her forever.

“I never had a toy, I never had a doll,” Revah said from her home in Thessaloniki, where a thriving Jewish Community once existed for centuries before the second world war.

“The first memories I have of toys are after the war, it was with a girl I had become friends with and we used to play with mud puddles. We would make cookies and patties from mud.”

Revah is one of the last survivors of the 50,000 Jews who lived in Thessaloniki before the war, honoured every year in ceremonies around March 15, when in 1943 the first train left the city for the concentration camps.

On Sunday, a march was held to the Holocaust memorial in the northern Greek city, and flowers were laid on the train tracks in the station.

In the camp, her mother would leave her in the cot they shared, but Revah would venture outside.

“One day outside the camp I see a huge, deep cart with wooden side panels that was being pulled by horses. Underneath, two workers were throwing naked bodies of workers into the cart,” she said.

“At some point the cart overflowed with the bodies, and an officer with long black boots climbed onto it and started to stomp on the bodies in order to make room for more. I don’t know what a four-year-old child understood from such a scene but I remember that I started to cry,” she recalls.

She also remembers the hunger.

“There was a piece of bread (I would leave) permanently rotting in my mouth, I would never swallow it, and my (dad) would bring me a new piece of bread to replace the old one. I don’t know how I survived, because I truly never ate anything.”

Of those deported, only 1,950 returned to Thessaloniki alive, according to the community’s website, including Revah’s parents, one set of grandparents, and an uncle. Several of her other relatives were lost. Today, the city’s Jewish community numbers some 1,200.

“After the war we never talked about the concentration camp in the house, not at all,” said Revah. “It must not be forgotten. I think we owe that to those people who died.”

(Reporting by Alexandros Avramidis, writing by Deborah Kyvrikosaios, editing by Ed Osmond)

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March 22, 2023 0 comments
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South Korea takes step to cut homeowners’ tax as housing prices tumble

by Reuters March 22, 2023
By Reuters

SEOUL (Reuters) – South Korea has sharply lowered official reference housing prices for this year, which will result in a large fall in taxes for homeowners, as the government has been trying to put a floor under slumping property prices.

The finance ministry said on Wednesday the reference prices, on which property taxes are calculated, have been set 18.6% lower than last year on average – the fastest drop since the system was introduced in 2005.

As a result, property taxes on homeowners will likely be reduced by between 29% and 39% from last year, the ministry said, citing its simulation for single home-owners. Multiple home-owners usually pay heavier taxes.

The ministry said the drop in reference prices was in part a result of the recently falling housing prices, which official data shows have fallen for the past nine consecutive months amid rising inflation rates and a cooling economy.

The government has taken a series of measures to tame the pace of declines in housing prices to avert a hard landing of the property market.

(Reporting by Choonsik Yoo; Editing by Jacqueline Wong and Muralikumar Anantharaman)

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March 22, 2023 0 comments
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Social media-driven bank runs burden regulators with a bigger problem

by Reuters March 22, 2023
By Reuters

By Hannah Lang

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -The speed at which depositors fled Silicon Valley Bank this month – withdrawing $42 billion in 24 hours – has left authorities confronting a new risk: the social media-driven bank run.

Gone are the days when lines of people outside banks served as the defining image of a lender on the brink. In today’s turbocharged digital age, customers can withdraw cash through a few taps on their phone.

Reports on social media during the week of March 6 that some venture capital firms, including influential investor Peter Thiel’s Founders Fund, were advising companies to pull cash from tech-focused SVB snowballed into a stock rout and sent customers scrambling for the exit. Authorities shut SVB on March 10.

Switzerland’s Credit Suisse, which on Sunday had to be rescued by archrival UBS in a government-engineered takeover following a collapse in investor confidence, knows only too well the dangers of social media. Last year it breached liquidity requirements at some of its entities after an unsubstantiated social media report sparked client exits.

“The fact that people can communicate so much more quickly … (has) changed the dynamic of bank runs and perhaps changed the way we have to think about liquidity risk management,” said Todd Baker, a senior fellow at Columbia University’s Richmond Center.

Billionaire hedge fund manager William Ackman warned a few days after SVB’s collapse that “no bank is safe from a run” in a world with online bank accounts and social media unless the government gives depositors an explicit guarantee of “complete access” to all of their cash.

Regulators know they are battling against the potential for bank runs to unfold faster than ever, although how they can specifically address the risk of Twitter-fueled panic is unclear.

In the U.S., the decision to insure all bank deposits after SVB was shuttered surprised many. Experts said it showed authorities were sufficiently concerned about depositors withdrawing cash from other lenders.

“It’s possible that the issue is that deposits have never moved so fast and that is what formed the basis of this decision – the outflows at SVB were without equivalent,” said Nicolas Veron, senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics in Washington.

QUICKLY DISAPPEAR

Some in the banking industry play down the risks of another SVB-style downfall spurred by social media.

They point to SVB’s unique vulnerability to a social media-driven bank run, given its highly concentrated customer base of technology and venture capital entrepreneurs who mingled in the same circles.

“This was a center of influence, and that was concentrated in this ecosystem, unlike it is in other areas,” said Randell Leach, chief executive officer of California-based Beneficial State Bank.

Still, some depositors across the globe are taking no chances even when they believe their bank is fundamentally sound.

One biotech investor in Germany who banked with Credit Suisse and spoke before Sunday’s rescue deal said he had shifted his personal deposits to another institution even though he thought Credit Suisse was a “good bank.” SVB had shown how quickly deposits can disappear, the investor said.

Dan Awrey, a law professor at Cornell University, blamed the fallout from SVB on an “absence of a communications strategy.”

Between the Friday morning SVB collapsed and the end of the weekend regulators should have explained the bank had a unique business model and other lenders were not as risky, he said.

Failure to do this caused depositors elsewhere to worry their funds were in danger, exacerbating stress in the system, Awrey said.

“All of that was just lacking between Friday morning and Sunday in a way that allowed the Twittersphere to really take hold of the information dynamic and the narrative,” he added.

Other U.S. regional banks have since come under pressure, with First Rebublic Bank’s share price diving 47% on Monday on concerns about its liquidity.

The SVB saga and nonstop social media speculation could eventually lead to banks providing round-the-clock service, including on weekends, said Jez Mohideen, CEO of Laser Digital, the cryptocurrency arm of Japanese bank Nomura.

Regulators will also need to monitor social media and develop a set of protocols to guide how they respond, according to Patricia McCoy, a law professor at Boston College.

“They need to be looking for any signs of unsubstantiated rumors, panic starting to mount on social media, and they’ve got to do it around the clock,” she said.

(Reporting by Hannah Lang in Washington and Elisa Martinuzzi in London; additional reporting by Chris Prentice and Douglas Gillison in Washington and Elizabeth Howcroft and Ludwig Burger in London; editing by Tommy Reggiori Wilkes and Jonathan Oatis)

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March 22, 2023 0 comments
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Chip plants in China won’t be forced to shut if firms receive US funding, says S.Korea

by Reuters March 22, 2023
By Reuters

SEOUL (Reuters) -South Korea’s trade ministry said on Wednesday that the United States’ proposed rules to prevent $52 billion in chip funding from being used by “countries of concern” will not force recipients to shut down their China factories.

The U.S. Commerce Department on Tuesday proposed limits for recipients of U.S. chip manufacturing and research funding, including limits on investing in expansion in countries such as China and Russia.

The world’s largest and second-largest memory-chip makers, Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix, have chip production facilities in China.

Samsung is building a chip plant in Texas that could cost more than $25 billion, while SK Hynix parent SK Group announced last year plans to invest $15 billion in the U.S. chip industry. Both may apply for funding.

The proposed rules for funding recipients limit chip production capacity growth in China to 5% over 10 years as measured by wafers, and 10% for older legacy chips, the trade ministry said.

They do not restrict investments in technology and process upgrades, or equipment replacement necessary for the operation of existing facilities, the ministry added.

“For production facilities our companies are operating in China, it is expected that maintenance and partial expansion as well as technology upgrades will continue to be possible,” the trade ministry said in a statement. “As technology is upgraded, chips per wafer can be increased… which could further expand production depending on corporate strategies.”

The South Korean government plans to communicate with the local industry, analyse proposed rules, and consult with U.S. counterparts within 60 days, the ministry said.

Uncertainty includes what happens when the one-year waiver for Samsung and SK Hynix to receive chip equipment needed in China expires in October, said an industry source, who declined to be named because of the sensitivity of the matter.

Samsung and SK Hynix said they would review the details of the announcement.

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co Ltd, the world’s largest contract chipmaker, which is investing $40 billion in a new chip plant in Arizona and also manufactures in China, declined to comment on the announcement.

The South Korean ministry noted that Samsung’s recent plan to invest $230 billion in South Korea over 20 years to develop a large chip-making base was in line with uncertainties in investing in China or the United States.

(Reporting by Joyce Lee. Additional reporting by Ben Blanchard in Taipei; Editing by Gerry Doyle)

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March 22, 2023 0 comments
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MS-13 Gang Member Arrested Attempting Illegal Entry

by US Border Patrol March 22, 2023
By US Border Patrol

CALEXICO, Calif. – U.S. Border Patrol agents assigned to the El Centro Sector arrested a documented “Mara Salvatrucha” gang member, Sunday evening.

MS-13
U.S. Border Patrol agents assigned to the El Centro Sector arrested an “MS-13 gang member, Sunday evening.

At approximately 6:43 p.m., agents encountered two individuals attempting to make an illegal entry into the United States, just east of the Calexico Port of Entry. Agents determined that these individuals did not have the proper documentation to be present in the U.S. legally. Both were placed under arrest and transported to the El Centro Sector Processing Center to be processed. 

Record checks revealed that one of the individuals, a 26-year-old male, is a documented member of the “MS-13” street gang, a transnational organized crime group. This individual has prior immigration violations and was previously ordered to be removed from the U.S. by an immigration judge on April 22, 2016. His prior order of removal will be reinstated. Both undocumented individuals will be processed for removal.

“The El Centro Sector agents make life rough on felonious gang members who want to make our country their home,” said El Centro Sector Chief Patrol Agent Gregory Bovino. “We’ll do our utmost for the taxpayer to ensure such predators are kept from harming American citizens as is so often the case.”

Please visit www.cbp.gov to view additional news releases and other information pertaining to Customs and Border Protection. For all news, information, and updates follow us on Twitter @CBPElCentro, @USBPChiefELC and Instagram.

March 22, 2023 0 comments
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Branson’s Virgin Orbit to recall small team from near-total furlough

by Reuters March 21, 2023
By Reuters

By Joey Roulette

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -Richard Branson’s Virgin Orbit plans to recall on Thursday a small group of employees from a near company-wide furlough to work on rocket upgrades, an email to staff said, with the company confirming some team members would return.

The number of employees due to come back to work at the cash-strapped company was not clear, but in the email seen by Reuters sent on Tuesday evening, Virgin Orbit CEO Dan Hart said it involved a “small subset” of employees.

The furlough of nearly all of Virgin Orbit’s some 750 staff began on March 16, after the company struggled in recent months to raise funds and suffered a high-profile rocket failure in January during its first launch attempt out of Britain.

The move, in which only employees critical to company functions would remain, was intended to buy Virgin Orbit more time to finalize an investment plan and stave off bankruptcy.

The small group of employees asked to return to work had been notified directly by their managers, according to a person familiar with the plan, while those not tapped would have their furlough extended to Monday, Hart said in the email.

Discussions over Virgin Orbit’s investment plan to stave off bankruptcy were ongoing, said a second person familiar with the process. The people spoke anonymously to discuss internal company matters.

Hart said in the email that “several teams have been working around the clock as we continue to engage with investors and other stakeholders.”

A Virgin Orbit spokesperson said in a statement that the company was targeting an “incremental resumption” of operations to support its next launch.

“Our first step will begin Thursday of this week, when we plan to return a subset of our team to focus on critical areas for our next mission,” the company said.

Virgin Orbit shares fell to a fresh record low close of $0.44 on Tuesday.

(Reporting by Joey Roulette; Editing by Jacqueline Wong and Jamie Freed)

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March 21, 2023 0 comments
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Venezuela president names PDVSA head Tellechea as new oil minister

by Reuters March 21, 2023
By Reuters

By Deisy Buitrago

CARACAS (Reuters) -Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro on Tuesday named the head of state oil company PDVSA, Pedro Rafael Tellechea, as the new oil minister, a day after his predecessor resigned amid an extensive corruption investigation focused on the company.

Former minister Tareck El Aissami resigned on Monday after the arrest of several government officials and judges in connection with graft investigations.

Sources with knowledge of the issue said more than 20 lower-level PDVSA officials have also been detained over recent days.

Tellechea has been head of PDVSA since January and ordered an audit into heavy losses suffered last year as tankers left the country without proper payments being made for cargo.

The government has provided scant details of alleged corruption at the company, but the PDVSA arrests are linked to an investigation into the cargoes, a source said on Monday.

PDVSA has accumulated $21.2 billion in accounts receivable, according to documents reported by Reuters earlier on Tuesday, after turning to dozens of little-known intermediaries to export its oil under U.S. sanctions.

The enormous amount of unpaid sales – about 84% of PDVSA’s total value of invoiced shipments – explains Tellechea’s freeze on supply contracts when he took over as head of PDVSA.

Tellechea first rose to prominence as head of state chemical company Pequiven, where he oversaw a boost in petrochemical exports that provided much-needed cash flow to Maduro’s administration.

He kept that post even as he ran PDVSA. It was unclear whether a successor or successors would take over those jobs.

Appearing alongside heavyweights from his cabinet and the ruling PSUV party on Monday, including Vice-President Delcy Rodriguez and PSUV second-in-command Diosdado Cabello, Maduro said he plans to restructure PDVSA, but did not provide details.

Maduro said his government is “going to the root” of corruption.

It is not the first time the government has promised a crackdown on alleged PDVSA corruption. Executives and two former presidents of the company were arrested in 2017, while in 2018 authorities detained several executives for administrative irregularities.

El Aissami said he would fully support the investigations, but sources close to the ruling party said his departure is evidence of a power struggle among officials close to Maduro.

The ruling party-controlled National Assembly earlier on Tuesday unanimously revoked the immunity from prosecution of a legislator who is a close ally of El Aissami.

El Aissami has served as vice president and as a minister and is under U.S. sanction for alleged connections to drug trafficking, which he denies.

Tellechea’s appointment is part of “process of transformation,” Maduro said on Twitter, accompanied by a photo of himself and the new minister.

“Maximum efficiency comrade!” he said in the post.

(Reporting by Deisy Buitrago; additional reporting by Mayela Armas and Vivian Sequera; Writing by Julia Symmes Cobb; Editing by Robert Birsel and Lincoln Feast.)

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March 21, 2023 0 comments
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TikTok CEO: App has never shared US data with Chinese government

by Reuters March 21, 2023
By Reuters

By David Shepardson

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -TikTok’s chief executive will tell lawmakers the Chinese-owned short video app with more than 150 million American users has never, and would never, share U.S. user data with the Chinese government amid growing U.S. national security concerns.

“TikTok has never shared, or received a request to share, U.S. user data with the Chinese government. Nor would TikTok honor such a request if one were ever made,” CEO Shou Zi Chew will testify on Thursday, according to written testimony posted on Tuesday by the House of Representatives Energy and Commerce Committee.

He added that TikTok’s parent company ByteDance is not owned or controlled by any government or state entity. “Let me state this unequivocally: ByteDance is not an agent of China or any other country,” Chew will say to the committee.

TikTok’s critics fear that its U.S. user data could be passed on to China’s government by the app and prompted growing calls to ban the app by U.S. lawmakers. Last week, TikTok said the Biden administration demanded that its Chinese owners divest their stake in the app or it could face a U.S. ban.

“Bans are only appropriate when there are no alternatives. But we do have an alternative,” Chew’s testimony said.

TikTok’s testimony before Congress on Thursday comes in the face of growing calls for the short video app to be banned across America and serves as one of the Chinese company’s most-detailed rebuttals to the accusations against it.

TikTok has said it has spent more than $1.5 billion on what it calls rigorous data security efforts under the name “Project Texas” and has tried to convince lawmakers and the Biden administration to support the plan.

The Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS), a powerful national security body, had unanimously recommended in 2020 that ByteDance divest TikTok.

Under pressure from then-President Trump, ByteDance in late 2020 unsuccessfully sought to finalize a deal with Walmart and Oracle to shift TikTok’s U.S. assets into a new entity and Trump then lost court battles seeking to ban TikTok.

The video app has spent more than two years in talks with CFIUS seeking to reach an agreement on protecting U.S. user data.

TikTok has formed a special-purpose subsidiary, TikTok U.S. Data Security (USDS), that currently has nearly 1,500 full-time employees and contracted with Oracle to store TikTok’s U.S. user data.

“Oracle has already begun inspecting TikTok’s source

code and will have unprecedented access to the related algorithms and data models,” Chew’s testimony said.

Chew said when the process is complete “all protected U.S. data will be under the protection of U.S. law and under the control of the U.S.-led security team. Under this structure, there is no way for the Chinese government to access it or compel access to it.”

The company said it had started this month to delete U.S. user protected data in data centers in Virginia and Singapore after it started routing new U.S. data to the Oracle Cloud last year. Chew’s testimony said it expects this process to be completed later this year.

Chew’s testimony says 60% of ByteDance is owned by global institutional investors including Blackrock, General Atlantic,

and Sequoia, about 20% by the company’s founders, and about

20% owned by its employees “including thousands of Americans.”

TikTok said on Monday that more than 150 million people in the United States use TikTok on a monthly basis after saying in 2020 that 100 million Americans used the app. Chew’s testimony says the average user today is an adult well past college age.

“While users in the United States represent 10% of our global community, their voice accounts for 25% of the total views around the world,” Chew’s testimony says.

Chew says current versions of the app do not collect precise or approximate GPS information from U.S. users.

(Reporting by David Shepardson; Editing by Muralikumar Anantharaman and Raju Gopalakrishnan)

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March 21, 2023 0 comments
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BASTASCH: The UN’s Newest Climate Report Is A Woke Dumpster Fire Masquerading As Science

by The Daily Caller March 21, 2023
By The Daily Caller

BASTASCH: The UN’s Newest Climate Report Is A Woke Dumpster Fire Masquerading As Science

Michael Bastasch on March 21, 2023

Like clockwork, the United Nations is out with yet another climate report, and the usual suspects are already blaring the global warming alarm sirens.

The New York Times warned the planet is on track “to cross a critical threshold for global warming within the next decade” and the only way to “hold global warming to relatively safe levels” would “require global cooperation, billions of dollars and big changes.”

The Associated Press declared the world is on “thin ice” due to warming. The BBC characterized the UN report as a “survival guide” – if we don’t follow it, we’ll see “the worst effects of climate change.”

The alarmist frenzy was joined by prominent scientists, eco-activists, Democratic politicians and even the UN chief himself, who called the report a “how-to guide to defuse the climate time-bomb.

In other words, the media, elites and the scientific establishment want you to take this report very, very seriously. The problem is no one who actually cares about sound science should give it the time of day.

Any scientific credibility the new UN report might have otherwise had is immediately called into question by its extensive use of “woke” buzzwords.

Variations of the words “equity” and “inequity” appear 31 times in the 36-page document. Variations of “inclusive” and “inclusion” appear 17 times. The document even mentions “colonialism” and repeatedly refers to climate and social “justice” for “marginalized” groups.

“Equity,” if you remember, is that word then-candidate Kamala Harris famously described as a system where “we all end up in the same place.” Sounds a lot like socialism, doesn’t it?

The UN report also contains an entire section titled “Equity and Inclusion,” which states “[e]quity remains a central element in the UN climate regime.” The report goes on to state that “[r]edistributive policies… that shield the poor and vulnerable, social safety nets, equity, inclusion and just transitions, at all scales can enable deeper societal ambitions and resolve trade-offs with sustainable development goals.”

In other words, the “woker” the policies, the better. How’s that for science?

Now, if you think “equity” is a fundamental pillar of scientific knowledge, then this is the report for you. But if you’re like most people and don’t think far left political priorities have a place in scientific documents meant to advise policymakers, this should alarm you.

No reading between the lines is necessary to decipher the real goal of this new UN report. In fact, the report’s accompanying press release is quite explicit about its goal: “Taking the right action now could result in the transformational change essential for a sustainable, equitable world.”

The release goes on to quote one of the report’s authors, who says: “Climate justice is crucial because those who have contributed least to climate change are being disproportionately affected.”

Sounds like political science, not climate science.

Another author calls for “prioritizing climate risk reduction for low-income and marginalized communities, including people living in informal settlements,” adding that “[i]nsufficient and misaligned finance is holding back progress.”

The report’s scientific rigor is further called into question by its insistence that warming beyond 1.5 degrees Celsius over pre-industrial times represents a catastrophe. There is precisely zero verifiable, peer-reviewed science supporting a 1.5-degree climate threshold, but there’s tons of research on the staggering costs of complying with UN models.

One 2020 study in Nature found the cost of meeting the 1.5 degree goal would be “5 trillion dollars per year in 2020.” Given it’s 2023, the price tag is likely even higher.

An analysis by McKinsey & Company illustrates just how meeting the UN’s goal means more than shelling out trillions to overhaul global energy supplies. They note “a 1.5-degree pathway would imply a large dietary shift: reducing the share of ruminant animal protein in the global protein-consumption mix by half.”

Sounds like a dream for wannabe dictators. And they seem more than willing to peddle junk science in order to get it.

Mike Bastasch is managing editor of the Daily Caller News Foundation.

The views and opinions expressed in this commentary are those of the author and do not reflect the official position of the Daily Caller News Foundation.

All content created by the Daily Caller News Foundation, an independent and nonpartisan newswire service, is available without charge to any legitimate news publisher that can provide a large audience. All republished articles must include our logo, our reporter’s byline and their DCNF affiliation. For any questions about our guidelines or partnering with us, please contact [email protected].

March 21, 2023 0 comments
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