October 8, 2021 By Sabine Siebold and Alicja Ptak WARSAW (Reuters) -A Polish court ruling challenging the supremacy of European Union law plunged the EU into an existential crisis on Friday, increasing fears among EU policymakers and many Poles that Poland could eventually leave the bloc. Politicians across Europe voiced dismay at the ruling by […]
Suicide bomber kills 46 at Afghanistan mosque – state news agency
October 8, 2021 KABUL (Reuters) -A suicide bomber attacked a mosque in Afghanistan’s northeastern Kunduz province on Friday, killing 46 people and wounding more than 140, the state-run Bakhtar news agency said. Video footage showed bodies surrounded by debris inside the mosque that is used by people from the minority Shi’ite Muslim community. No group […]
Blinken meets Lopez Obrador to soothe thorny U.S.-Mexico relations
October 8, 2021 By Simon Lewis MEXICO CITY (Reuters) -U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken on a visit to Mexico on Friday held talks with President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, trying to mend fractious ties as the two nations hash out a new security cooperation accord and deal with a jump in migration. The top […]
U.S. troops rotating into Taiwan for training -sources
October 8, 2021 WASHINGTON (Reuters) -Small numbers of U.S. special operations forces have been rotating into Taiwan on a temporary basis to train with Taiwanese forces, two sources familiar with the matter said on Thursday, speaking on condition of anonymity. The Pentagon, which historically has not disclosed details about U.S. training or advising of Taiwan […]
The mystery of Elon Musk’s missing gas
An environmental document that needs U.S. Federal Aviation Administration approval before SpaceX can begin testing the world’s largest rockets is missing key details about where its fuel will come from, experts say. The draft programmatic environmental assessment (PEA) for SpaceX’s Starship and Super Heavy launch vehicles, which Elon Musk hopes will soon be shooting into […]
Productfy raises $16M to build the ‘Shopify of embedded finance’
Productfy Inc., a banking-as-a-service (BaaS) platform that aims to build “DeFi for traditional finance,” has raised $16 million in a Series A round of funding led by CMVentures. Existing backers Point72 Ventures, 500 Startups and Envestnet | Yodlee also participated in the financing, which brings its total raised since its 2018 inception to nearly $19 […]
Google to give security keys to ‘high risk’ users targeted by government hackers
Google has said it will provide 10,000 “high-risk” users with free hardware security keys, days after the company warned thousands of Gmail users that they targeted by state-sponsored hackers. The warning, sent by Google’s Threat Analysis Group (TAG), alerted more than 14,000 Gmail users that they had been targeted in a state-sponsored phishing campaign from […]
Why Techstars is doubling down on Europe
As we get into our dive into Q3 2021 venture capital numbers, one region in particular has our attention: Europe. While venture capital gains in markets like India, Latin America and the larger African startup ecosystem have proved impressive, Europe has posted strong results of its own. A string of recent exits from European startup […]
Pinterest rolls out new ‘Havens’ mental health support space
Pinterest is launching a new ‘Pinterest Havens’ mental health support initiative in honor of World Mental Health Day, which is October 10th. In a blog post, the company called the initiative “an online and offline space for community-driven inspiration.” Pinterest notes that it’s essentially creating space on its platform to explore the relationship between mental […]
Fewer school jobs, worker shortages restrain U.S. employment in September
October 8, 2021 By Lucia Mutikani WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. economy created the fewest jobs in nine months in September amid a drop in hiring at schools and worker shortages, but ebbing COVID-19 cases and the end of generous unemployment benefits could boost employment gains in the months ahead. Though the Labor Department’s closely […]
Analysis-Sudan coup drama lays bare distrust between civilian, military leaders
October 8, 2021 By Khalid Abdelaziz and Nafisa Eltahir KHARTOUM (Reuters) – When Sudanese authorities announced last month that they had averted a coup, alleged ringleaders were swiftly rounded up and daily life continued. Some Sudanese greeted the news with a weary shrug of the shoulders, as public trust wears thin in military and civilian […]
Georgia detains four at rally in support of jailed ex-president – report
October 8, 2021 MOSCOW (Reuters) – Police in Georgia detained four protesters on Friday outside a prison holding ex-president Mikheil Saakashvili, local media reported, a week after he was jailed after returning from exile and calling for post-election protests. Saakashvili, who was sentenced in absentia in Georgia in 2018 for abuse of power and concealing […]
Journalists who took on Putin and Duterte win 2021 Nobel Peace Prize
October 8, 2021 By Nerijus Adomaitis, Andrew Osborn and Karen Lema OSLO/MOSCOW/MANILA (Reuters) -Journalists Maria Ressa and Dmitry Muratov, who braved the wrath of the leaders of the Philippines and Russia to expose corruption and misrule, won the Nobel Peace Prize on Friday, in an endorsement of free speech under fire worldwide. The two were […]
Community is the new AI
Natasha and Mary Ann and Alex were all aboard this week with Grace on the dials, which meant that we had a flat lovely time recording Equity for you. Of course, Equity is TechCrunch’s venture capital focused podcast where we dig into the most critical funding rounds, and natter about the key news items impacting startups. Before we hop into […]
Congo’s $6 billion China mining deal ‘unconscionable’, says draft report
October 8, 2021 By Aaron Ross and Helen Reid DAKAR (Reuters) – Democratic Republic of Congo should renegotiate its $6 billion infrastructure-for-minerals deal with Chinese investors, according to the draft of a report commissioned by a global anti-corruption body of governments, companies and activists. The draft, seen by Reuters, describes the deal that was first […]
Fewer U.S. workers sidelined by Delta variant in September even as cases peaked, survey shows
October 8, 2021 (Reuters) – The number of U.S. workers who were unable to work at some point over the previous four weeks due to the COVID-19 pandemic fell in September, while more reported not looking for jobs because of those health concerns as the Delta variant of the coronavirus hit its summer peak, a […]
Philippines’ registration for president closes without Duterte’s daughter
October 8, 2021 MANILA (Reuters) – The Philippines’ week-long registration for candidates in the 2022 election closed on Friday without an application from President Rodrigo Duterte’s daughter, disappointing many of her supporters, who up to the last minute were egging her to run. Sara Duterte-Carpio, 43, thanked her supporters but maintained she was running for […]
South Africa’s NUMSA considers new offer to end engineering strike
October 8, 2021 CAPE TOWN (Reuters) – South Africa’s biggest metalworkers union said on Friday its members were considering a new proposal to end a strike in the engineering sector, now in it’s fourth day. The National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (NUMSA), with around 155,000 members organised in the sector, have been on […]
China proposes cutting items on negative list for market access
October 8, 2021 BEIJING (Reuters) – China has further reduced the number of sectors and industries that are off-limits to both Chinese and foreign investors in its latest draft version of so-called negative list for market access. The 2021 list of industries that are either restricted or prohibited has been cut to 117, according to […]
Chip crisis hits Stellantis’ Italy output more than COVID did, union says
October 8, 2021 MILAN (Reuters) – The impact from a global semiconductor shortage on Stellantis’ Italian car production this year will be worse and longer-lasting than the damage to output caused by the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, Italy’s FIM-CISL union said on Friday. A global microchip shortage is pushing automakers to slow down production, with […]
