2023-12-17 10:20

VIENNA, Dec 17 (Reuters) - The chief executive of Swiss banking giant UBS (UBSG.S), Sergio Ermotti, is not convinced central banks have got inflation under control, he said in a newspaper interview published on Sunday. Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said last week that interest-rate increases were likely over in the United States and lower rates were coming into view but central banks have stuck to plans to keep policy tight well into next year. Seven sources told Reuters the European Central Bank would need to see how inflation and other data pan out between now and, at the earliest, its March 7 meeting before considering the kind of "dovish" pivot the Fed performed. "One thing I've learned is that one must not try to make predictions on the coming months - it's nearly impossible. That said, at this stage I am still not convinced that inflation is really under control," Ermotti told Swiss newspaper Le Matin Dimanche when asked about the economic outlook. "The trend seems favourable but we must see if it continues. If inflation approaches the 2% targets in all major economies, central banks' policies could loosen a bit. In this environment, it is very important to remain agile," he added. UBS has said it will slash 3,000 jobs in Switzerland to cut costs following its takeover of Credit Suisse - the biggest bank merger since the global financial crisis, orchestrated by the Swiss state to avert Credit Suisse's collapse. "We will do our best, based on a principle of meritocracy. Use retirements, early retirements, natural departures. Three thousand people at Credit Suisse did not commit errors, no doubt far fewer," Ermotti said. "In fact, the hardest part will be making these choices, firing people who are in no way responsible for what happened," he added. https://www.reuters.com/markets/us/ubs-ceo-tells-paper-hes-not-convinced-inflation-is-under-control-2023-12-17/

2023-12-17 03:23

BUENOS AIRES, Dec 16 (Reuters) - At least 13 people have been killed in Argentina, a local city mayor said on Saturday, following a severe electrical storm that struck along the South American country's Atlantic coast. Federico Susbielles, mayor of Bahia Blanca, confirmed the death toll in a post on X. The city is near the southern tip of Buenos Aires province, one of Argentina's top grain-producing regions. In a statement, the office of President Javier Milei offered condolences to the families of the victims, and recommended that locals remain inside their homes through Sunday morning, citing destructive wind gusts in the area exceeding 150 kph (93 mph). https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/severe-storm-strikes-coastal-city-argentina-least-13-dead-2023-12-17/

2023-12-17 00:43

Dec 16 (Reuters) - A British man accused of allegedly defrauding investors of nearly $100 million through a Ponzi-like scheme involving nonexistent luxury wines pleaded not guilty in a U.S. court on Saturday. Stephen Burton, 58, was extradited to New York from Morocco on Friday to face the charges after he was arrested in 2022 after entering that country using a fake Zimbabwean passport, authorities said. Federal prosecutors said that Burton, along with a co-defender, ran Bordeaux Cellars, a company they said brokered loans between investors and high-net-worth wine collectors. Burton pleaded not guilty to the indictment which was filed in 2022 and was ordered detained pending trial, according to a spokesperson for the U.S. Attorney's office. Burton and co-defendant James Wellesley allegedly solicited $99 million from investors from June 2017 to February 2019, approaching them at places including conferences in the United States and overseas. The men told lenders that the loans would be backed by wine they stored for wealthy collectors and promised profits through interest payments, prosecutors alleged. However, these collectors "did not actually exist and Bordeaux Cellars did not maintain custody of the wine purportedly securing the loans," the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of New York said in a statement on Saturday. Reuters could not immediately reach attorneys for Burton and Wellesley. Wellesley, also a British citizen, is currently awaiting extradition in the United Kingdom. If convicted, the defendants could each face up to 20 years in prison for charges of wire fraud, wire fraud conspiracy and money laundering conspiracy. https://www.reuters.com/world/us/british-man-accused-swindling-nearly-100-million-wine-fraud-case-pleads-not-2023-12-17/

2023-12-17 00:21

SYDNEY, Dec 17 (Reuters) - Australia's government on Sunday said it was confident punitive tariffs on Australian wine introduced by China in 2021 would be lifted early next year. "I would be very confident that early in the new year we will get a favourable result from the Chinese authorities to lift the ban on Australian wine," Trade Minister Don Farrell told Sky News television on Sunday. "That'll be very important for Australian winemakers; we're coming into the processing season." The comments come after the two sides in October announced they had reached a consensus to settle a World Trade Organisation dispute about wine and that anti-dumping tariffs, which were not set to expire until 2026, would be reviewed. Australia lodged a complaint over China's tariffs on its wine at the WTO in 2021. Until the tariffs, China was Australia's top wine export market, peaking at A$1.2 billion ($804 million) for the 12 months to January 2020. In November, Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese visited China, the first visit by a sitting Australian leader since 2016 as the centre-left Labor government continued to work on stabilising strained ties with Beijing. China has now lifted trade blocks on most Australian exports imposed in the wake of Australia's call for an international investigation into the origins of the COVID-19 pandemic. ($1 = 1.4934 Australian dollars) https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/australia-confident-end-china-wine-tariffs-early-2024-2023-12-17/

2023-12-16 23:41

SYDNEY, Dec 17 (Reuters) - Australian authorities on Sunday urged thousands of people in north Queensland state to move to higher ground because of the danger of flooding from torrential rains. Queensland authorities said major flooding was underway in some suburbs of Cairns, a tourist hub of around 170,000 people located around 1,700 km (1,060 miles) north of state capital Brisbane. "Properties in these areas may continue to experience flooding with the approaching high tide and continued rainfall. Residents should move to higher ground now," Queensland Fire and Emergency Services said on its website in one of several emergency alerts for parts of north Queensland. The flooding came with heavy rain from ex-Tropical Cyclone Jasper, which hit the region this week, leaving tens of thousands without power and forcing evacuations. Australia's weather forecaster predicted "dangerous and life-threatening flash flooding" in Cairns - a gateway to the Great Barrier Reef - and said water levels later on Sunday could exceed a 1971 record flood peak of 4.1m (13.45 feet). Cairns Local Disaster Management Group said homes, buildings, roads and bridges had been inundated. "Power, water, sewerage and telephone services could be lost in the area," the agency said in a statement. There was also flooding about 120 km north of Cairns in the tourist town of Daintree Village, where around 350mm (13.8 inches) of rain had fallen since 9 a.m. on Saturday (2300 GMT on Friday), the weather forecaster said. A spokesperson for the forecaster, Dean Narramore, told the Australian Broadcasting Corp the weather system had stalled but that it could move west overnight, which would ease rain in Cairns and surrounding areas. Frequent flooding has hit Australia's east in recent years including "once in a century" floods that inundated neighbouring Northern Territory in January during a multi-year La Nina weather event. Australia is now enduring an El Nino weather event, typically associated with extreme events such as wildfires, cyclones, droughts and heatwaves such as the one that baked parts of the country on Saturday. https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/australian-authorities-urge-flood-hit-residents-higher-ground-2023-12-16/

2023-12-16 18:52

Dec 16 (Reuters) - Two major freight firms including MSC, the world's biggest container shipping line, on Saturday said they would avoid the Suez Canal as Houthi militants in Yemen stepped up their assaults on commercial vessels in the Red Sea. Yemen's Iranian-backed Houthi movement has been attacking vessels in response to the Gaza war on a route that allows East-West trade, especially of oil, to use the Suez Canal to save the time and expense of circumnavigating Africa. War risk insurance premiums have risen as a result. The Liberian-flagged MSC Palatium III was attacked on Friday with a drone in the Bab al-Mandab Strait off Yemen, at the southern end of the Red Sea, according to the Houthis. No injuries were reported, but the vessel suffered some fire damage and was taken out of service, MSC said in a statement. Another Liberian-flagged vessel, Hapag Lloyd's Al Jasrah, was hit by a missile, the U.S. military said. Denmark's A.P. Moller-Maersk (MAERSKb.CO) on Friday paused all its container shipments through Bab al-Mandab until further notice, and was joined on Saturday by the Swiss-based MSC and French shipping group CMA CGM. "The situation is further deteriorating and concern for safety is increasing," CMA CGM said in a statement. German container line Hapag Lloyd has said it might do the same. HOUTHIS ATTACK EILAT IN ISRAEL The Houthis have in recent weeks stepped up attacks on shipping and also fired drones and missiles towards Israel - on Saturday saying they had attacked the Red Sea resort city of Eilat - in support of the Iranian-backed Palestinian Islamist Hamas group fighting Israel in Gaza. U.S. Central Command said the guided-missile destroyer Carney had shot down 14 drones launched by the Houthis in the Red Sea on Saturday morning. In a statement, it said they were assessed to be one-way attack drones and had been shot down with no damage to ships. Britain also said one of its warships had shot down a suspected attack drone targeting merchant shipping. The Houthis, who rule much of Yemen, have pledged to continue their attacks until Israel stops its offensive, but said on Friday they were targeting only ships heading for Israel. However, both the Palatium III and another MSC ship that was threatened, the Alanya, listed Jeddah in Saudi Arabia as their destination, based on data from the ship tracking and maritime analytics provider MarineTraffic. On Saturday, a Houthi spokesman said the group has engaged in Oman-mediated talks with unnamed "international parties" over its operations in the Red Sea and Arabian Sea - which could indicate the Houthis may be willing to deescalate. Bab al-Mandab is one of the world's most important routes for global seaborne commodity shipments, particularly crude oil and fuel from the Gulf bound westward for the Mediterranean via the Suez Canal or the nearby SUMED pipeline, as well as commodities heading eastward for Asia, including Russian oil. The rise in Red Sea war risk premiums translates into tens of thousands of dollars of extra costs for a seven-day voyage. MSC said it would reroute some services around the Cape of Good Hope on Africa's southern tip, adding days to the sailing times of vessels booked to transit the Suez Canal. https://www.reuters.com/markets/commodities/msc-divert-shipping-away-suez-canal-after-red-sea-attack-2023-12-16/