September 22, 2021 BRASILIA (Reuters) – Indigenous activists delivered a Jatoba tree to Norway’s embassy in Brasilia on Tuesday, seeking “refugee” status for it in a symbolic protest against the destruction of Brazil’s Amazon rainforest. The protest coincided with Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro at the United Nations General Assembly defending what he described as his […]
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Czech president Zeman to be released from hospital on Wednesday
September 22, 2021 PRAGUE (Reuters) – Czech President Milos Zeman, 76, will be released from hospital on Wednesday after an eight-day stay. A spokeswoman for the Prague Central Military Hospital told Reuters in a text message Zeman would be discharged around 11 a.m. She did not give any details and did not respond to questions […]
Nigerians offer artworks to British Museum in new take on looted bronzes
September 22, 2021 By Tife Owolabi and Estelle Shirbon BENIN CITY, Nigeria (Reuters) – A new guild of artists from Nigeria’s Benin City has offered to donate artworks to the British Museum in London as a way to encourage it to return the priceless Benin Bronzes that were looted from the city’s royal court by […]
Germany’s Ifo institute cuts 2021 GDP growth forecast to 2.5%
September 22, 2021 BERLIN (Reuters) – Germany’s Ifo economic institute said on Wednesday it cut its growth forecast for Europe’s largest economy for this year as supply chain disruptions and scarcity of intermediate goods are slowing down the recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic. The Ifo institute now sees Germany’s gross domestic product (GDP) to grow […]
Divided Swiss to vote on same-sex marriage after fraught campaign
September 22, 2021 By Silke Koltrowitz, Brenna Hughes Neghaiwi and Cecile Mantovani ZURICH (Reuters) – Swiss voters decide on Sunday whether to allow same-sex couples to wed and adopt children after a highly charged campaign pitted gay rights activists against traditionalists in one of the last Western European countries to still ban gay marriage. The […]
Northern Irish police arrest two more over killing of journalist Lyra McKee
September 22, 2021 DUBLIN (Reuters) – Northern Irish police on Wednesday arresed two more men in relation to the 2019 killing of journalist Lyra McKee in Londonderry, whose death caused outrage in the British-run province. The men, aged 24 and 29, were arrested under the Terrorism Act by officers investigating McKee’s murder, police said. The […]
Canaries volcano lava gushes towards sea, eruption goes on
September 22, 2021 LA PALMA, Spain (Reuters) – Lava poured from an erupting volcano on the Spanish island of La Palma for a fourth day on Wednesday, blanketing houses and fields, a day after people with homes on the path of the molten rock were allowed back briefly to recover belongings. Towers of magma burst […]
London Stock Exchange calls time on CurveGlobal derivatives arm
September 22, 2021 LONDON (Reuters) – The London Stock Exchange Group said it will shut its five-year old derivatives trading arm CurveGlobal after failing to win sufficient market share in interest rate futures from long-established rivals. CurveGlobal sought to win business in a sector dominated by entrenched rivals Deutsche Boerse and ICE. The LSE said […]
India may let foreign investors buy up to 20% in LIC IPO- source
September 22, 2021 (This Sept. 8 story corrects first paragraph to show plan refers to purchases in the IPO, not of the company) By Aftab Ahmed and Nupur Anand NEW DELHI (Reuters) – The Indian government is considering allowing foreign institutional investors to buy up to 20% of state-owned Life Insurance Corporation’s initial public offering, […]
ECB to mull upping regular bond purchases after emergency scheme: Bloomberg
September 22, 2021 FRANKFURT (Reuters) – The European Central Bank will discuss whether to raise its regular bond purchases when its pandemic-fighting scheme ends, ECB policymaker Madis Muller said in an interview published on Wednesday. “I realise that it would be a problem if there is a very sharp cliff effect at the end of […]
Bundesbank says Germany’s banking system strong despite pandemic
September 22, 2021 BERLIN (Reuters) – Germany’s banking system is still robust despite a year and half of the COVID-19 pandemic but the crisis is not over yet, Bundesbank board director Joachim Wuermeling said on Wednesday. Wuermeling said the Bundesbank will restore normal regulatory requirements for banks but will make sure not to overburden lenders, […]
Hai Robotics picks up $200M for its warehouse robot
Hai Robotics, a Shenzhen, China-based warehouse robotics startup that develops autonomous, case-handling robotic (ACR) system, announced it has raised $200 million. The funding comes from two separate equity rounds, a Series C and Series D, which are being disclosed simultaneously. Its Series C funding was led by 5Y Capital, with participation from Sequoia Capital China, […]
Polish court to rule on primacy of EU law amid tensions with Brussels
September 22, 2021 WARSAW (Reuters) – Poland’s Constitutional Tribunal could rule on Wednesday on whether the country’s constitution or European Union treaties take precedence, a key judgement which an EU commissioner said was holding up the release of EU funds to Warsaw. Poland is involved in a series of disputes with the EU on issues […]
Indonesia to use “existing laws” as palm oil moratorium expires
September 22, 2021 JAKARTA (Reuters) – Indonesia will use existing laws in a jobs creation bill passed last year to deal with issues around sustainable palm oil production, a senior official said on Wednesday, after a moratorium on new plantation permits recently ended. The Southeast Asian country, the world’s top palm oil producer, launched the […]
Locked-down Melbourne tightens security for COVID-19 protests
September 22, 2021 By Renju Jose and Paulina Duran SYDNEY (Reuters) -Police fanned out on Wednesday across the centre of Australia’s second-largest city of Melbourne, to keep a lid on a third successive day of protests over COVID-19 lockdown curbs, as the state of Victoria saw another rise in infections. More than 60 people were […]
Myanmar town near India border sees exodus as thousands flee fighting
September 22, 2021 (Reuters) – Most of the population of a Myanmar town near the Indian border have fled after buildings were set ablaze by artillery amid fighting between militia forces opposed to military rule and the army, according to residents and media reports. About 10,000 people normally live in Thantlang in Chin State, but […]
European shares rise on Evergrande relief, gains in travel & leisure
September 22, 2021 (Reuters) – European stocks rose on Wednesday, recovering from its early-week losses after debt-laden China Evergrande said it would make some interest payments, while travel and leisure stocks jumped to a 14-week high. Evergrande’s Frankfurt-listed shares jumped 15.1% after hitting multi-year lows in the previous session. The property developer said it would […]
French fiscal watchdog sees smaller deficit than expected by government
September 22, 2021 PARIS (Reuters) – France’s public sector budget deficit is likely to come in smaller than expected this year and any extra tax income should go towards reducing the public debt, the budget oversight panel said on Wednesday. The government is forecasting a budget deficit this year of 8.4% of gross […]
Traton hit by supply chain shortages, expects issues into next year
September 22, 2021 BERLIN (Reuters) – German truck maker Traton said on Wednesday that sales in September were particularly hard hit by a global shortage of chips and other car parts, and that the company expected the shortages to continue into next year. “Global supply chains are not only lacking chips but numerous other products… […]
Entain shares soar to life high after DraftKings’ $22.4 billion buyout proposal
September 22, 2021 (Reuters) – Entain’s shares jumped 10% to an all-time high on Wednesday after the gambling firm revealed a $22.4 billion takeover proposal from Boston-based DraftKings which was nearly double a bid it rejected from MGM this year. Shares rose to 24.9 pounds after the opening bell on UK’s bluechip index, below the […]