2024-08-15 10:48

YEKATERINBURG, Russia, Aug 15 (Reuters) - A Russian court sentenced a dual Russian-American citizen, Ksenia Karelina, to 12 years in prison on Thursday after finding her guilty of treason for donating money to a charity supporting Ukraine. The Los Angeles resident, a spa worker, pleaded guilty at her closed trial in the Urals city of Yekaterinburg, where her case was heard by the same court that convicted Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich of espionage in July. The court said investigators found that on Feb. 24, 2022 - the first day of Russia's invasion of Ukraine - Karelina had "transferred funds in the interests of a Ukrainian organisation, which were subsequently used for the purchase of tactical medicine items, equipment, means of defeat and ammunition by the Armed Forces of Ukraine". Her supporters say she had donated $51.80 to Razom for Ukraine, a New York-based charity that provides humanitarian aid to children and elderly people in Ukraine. The charity has denied it provides any military support to Kyiv. Karelina, 33, appeared in court on Thursday in a white sweatshirt and blue jeans, sitting calmly in a glass courtroom cage. She was not included in a major prisoner swap between Russia and the West two weeks ago that freed Gershkovich, but her lawyer, Mikhail Mushailov, has said she hoped to be included in a future exchange. Karelina was born in Russia and emigrated to the United States in 2012 via a work-study program, receiving American citizenship in 2021. She was arrested by the FSB security service after flying to Russia to visit her family in Yekaterinburg at the start of the year. Problems began immediately for Karelina when she arrived in Russia using her U.S. passport. Authorities interrogated her and took her cellphone on which they found the 2022 donation to the charity, Razom for Ukraine, on her Venmo account, according to the website www.freeksenia.com. , opens new tab The FSB interrogated her for up to two hours during mandatory weekly check-ins and banned her from leaving the city, the website says. Three days before she was due to return to Los Angeles, Karelina was arrested on a hooliganism charges and jailed for 15 days. Just before her release, she was slapped with a state treason charge. Acquittals for serious crimes are nearly unheard of in Russia. Karelina's family and friends in the U.S. have described her as someone who didn't much care for politics and said they were shocked by her arrest. Her boyfriend, Christopher van Heerden, told Reuters this month that he has been in contact with both the State Department and the U.S. embassy in Moscow about securing her release. Unlike in the cases of Gershkovich and former U.S. Marine Paul Whelan, who was also freed in the swap this month, Karelina has not been designated by Washington as "wrongfully detained", a label that would open up diplomatic avenues to negotiate a prisoner exchange. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/russia-sentences-us-russian-citizen-karelina-12-years-jail-treason-ifax-says-2024-08-15/

2024-08-15 10:29

AUSTIN, Texas, Aug 15 (Reuters) - Toyota may be one of the slowest legacy automakers to develop electric vehicles but it could be the first to jettison cars powered only by gasoline. Almost three decades after launching the Prius, its pioneering gasoline-electric hybrid, Toyota is moving to convert most, and eventually maybe all, of its Toyota and Lexus line-up to hybrid-only models, two Toyota executives told Reuters. Toyota's stubborn focus on hybrids over EVs is part of a broader challenge by the world's biggest automaker to the prevailing industry and regulatory orthodoxy that all cars will be electric in the near future. Toyota Chairman Akio Toyoda said in January that he believed the global share of EVs would top out at just 30%. The Japanese automaker instead touts a "multi-pathway" strategy that includes EVs along with hybrids, hydrogen fuel-cell vehicles, green fuels and, potentially, other technologies yet to emerge. "Going forward, we plan to evaluate, carline by carline, whether going all-hybrid makes sense," David Christ, head of sales and marketing for Toyota in North America, told Reuters. Those evaluations will come with every model redesign, if not sooner. That includes the pending overhaul of the RAV4 for the 2026 model year. The RAV4, America's best-selling SUV, already has hybrid variants that account for about half of sales. Two people familiar with Toyota's product planning discussions said the automaker is highly likely to ditch the gasoline-only version for the North American market, but hasn't made a final call. The automaker has already stopped offering a gasoline-only version of its Camry, America's best-selling sedan, for the 2025 model year while its rugged Land Cruiser and Sienna minivan, for example, also now come only as hybrids. Many of the hybrid-only models will also likely come as a plug-in hybrid with a bigger battery, according to the two people, who declined to be named. Toyota's effort to convert all or almost all of its North American line-up to hybrid-only vehicles has not previously been reported. NEW EMISSIONS RULES The automaker's hybrid strategy aims to solidify its already dominant position in a part of the market that has found a new lease on life as demand for EVs slows, partly due to their high prices and charging hassles. Toyota's hybrids don't need charging and switch seamlessly between gasoline and electric power, or use both at once, depending on driving conditions. Its plug-in hybrids can be charged and typically travel about 40 miles (64 km) on battery power, like an EV, before their gasoline engines are required. Stripping out two EVs and a fuel-cell car on sale in North America, there are currently 31 other Toyota and Lexus models. Eight are already hybrid-only and eight are available in gasoline versions only. The hybrid strategy will also give Toyota unique advantages in complying with increasingly tough U.S. carbon-emissions restrictions, Toyota executives and industry experts said. As the U.S. lowers pollution limits under regulations announced in March, Toyota's booming hybrid sales could help the automaker save billions of dollars in regulatory fines and costs while buying Toyota more time to develop EVs or other zero-emission vehicles. The new emissions standards , opens new tab take effect from the 2027 model year and run through 2032. Christ said Toyota hasn't set a deadline for producing an all-hybrid lineup, and that certain models, such as pickups and economy cars, may take longer because of consumer price sensitivity on entry-level versions. In addition to hybrids, Toyota aims to convert about 30% of its global fleet to EVs by 2030 by focusing on a small number of fully electric versions of existing top-selling models, according to two sources familiar with Toyota's product planning. Toyota has previously announced plans to invest $35 billion in new batteries and EV platforms by then. In May, the automaker showcased a small prototype combustion engines it said could one day run on biofuels or low-carbon synthetic gasoline and could be paired with hybrid drivetrains. But the main point of scaling down the engine size, according to one of the two sources familiar with Toyota's product planning, was to allow it to develop hybrids in a different way. Instead of starting with a gasoline car and adding a battery, it plans to start with its new EV platform and add the tiny engines to create a more efficient hybrid option. According to one of the two sources, the first hybrid based on the new platform and engine will likely be a Corolla plug-in hybrid, which will likely hit the market in China in 2026 and the United States in 2027. TIPPING POINT Toyota's hybrid boom owes to decades of investments in bringing down the cost and boosting the efficiency and performance of its gasoline-electric powertrains. For most Toyota models, the decision to go hybrid-only is becoming a no-brainer for the automaker and its customers because the technology for a traditional hybrid now typically adds less than $2,000 to a car's retail price. In addition, while early hybrids were slow, today's models often offer more power than their gasoline-only variants. Those advances eliminate the two biggest consumer concerns that for years made hybrids largely an automotive niche, accounting for less than 3% of all U.S. sales as recently as 2019. Now they're at 11.3% and rising fast, according to auto services specialist Cox Automotive. Toyota has seen far more dramatic growth because of its dominance of the hybrid sector, bringing the automaker to the tipping point that has pushed executives to now consider an all-hybrid lineup. Hybrids accounted for just 9% of Toyota sales in 2018 but 37% as of June. The hybrid sales surge has been a key factor driving its profit and stock price to all-time highs this year. Christ said Toyota expects hybrid sales to keep accelerating. "Next year," he said, "we definitely will be well over 50% of our total volume." Toyota's U.S. hybrid sales through June 30 shot up 66% from last year to 438,845 vehicles, the company said, compared with EV sales of just 15,107. Atlanta-based Cox Automotive estimates demand growth for EVs will likely remain modest for the next few years. "EV growth is going to continue, but it's not going to hit the big pace we saw in the last few years," Cox senior analyst Stephanie Valdez Streaty said. "Regular gas-electric hybrids and plug-ins will continue to eat into EV sales in the meantime because they are easier and more familiar alternatives and there's no range anxiety." HYBRIDS BUY TIME Toyota's plan to offer more plug-in hybrids aims to take advantage of U.S. emissions rules that give them outsized credit for reducing pollution. That's now possible because Toyota is opening a North Carolina battery plant that, by 2030, will have 14 production lines capable of producing 30 gigawatt-hours (GWh) of batteries annually. Plug-ins have so far sold in far lower volumes than traditional hybrids because of their substantial extra cost. Toyota's current plug-in hybrid models tend to cost $5,000 or $6,000 more than comparable gasoline models. Mass-market hybrid sales will give Toyota invaluable time to develop EVs and other next-generation technologies, said Katsuhiko Hirose, one of Toyota's managers who led its global powertrain planning from 2001 through his retirement in 2019. Hirose, now a visiting professor at Japan's Kyushu University and an energy consultant, estimated U.S. regulations would essentially require Toyota to go nearly all-hybrid by around 2030 - with an increasing share of plug-in hybrids - to avoid regulatory fines or other costs. "(Hybrids) will buy them more time and give Toyota flexibility over how fast and how many EVs they'd have to roll out," Hirose said. "They wouldn't feel pinned against the wall to produce EVs." Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/business/autos-transportation/toyota-bets-big-hybrid-only-models-ev-demand-slows-2024-08-15/

2024-08-15 10:22

Aug 15 (Reuters) - South Africa's Reserve Bank is expected to cut interest rates for the first time in more than two years - by 25 basis points to 8.00% - on Sept. 19, according to a Reuters poll of economists who had similar views to a poll taken last month. A repo rate cut would follow a period of tight monetary policy in Africa's second-largest economy aimed at reducing inflation, which slowed to 5.1% in June. That expected rate reduction would come one day after the U.S. Federal Reserve is widely expected to start its cutting cycle after holding the federal funds rate steady over the past year. The SARB's Monetary Policy Committee was split at the July meeting for the first time since September 2023, with four members preferring to keep rates on hold and two favouring a 25-basis-point cut. Nineteen of 26 economists surveyed between Aug. 6-14 said the SARB will trim its main repo rate by 25 bps to 8.00% on Sept. 19. A majority also said it will cut again by the same amount in November to 7.75%. Two more 25-basis-point cuts are expected in the first quarter of nest year - with meetings due in January and March - according to median forecasts from the poll, followed by another in May before the Bank pauses at 7.25% for the remainder of the year. Only one further cut to 7.00% is expected in 2026, based on a smaller sample of forecasters. David Omojomolo, Africa economist at Capital Economics, wrote in a note that the economic recovery in South Africa is operating at two speeds, with retail sales and manufacturing on the up but the important mining sector stuck in a weak spot. "Nonetheless, with easing electricity shortages and interest rate cuts on the way, the economy is finally turning a corner. We expect further modest growth over the rest of this year and in 2025," he added. Power shortages from the state utility have crimped growth in Africa's most industrialized nation in recent years, making planning and job creation difficult for small businesses. Economic growth in South Africa is expected to be 0.9% this year and 1.6% in 2025, a 0.1 percentage point downward revision for both years compared with the July survey. South Africa's unemployment rate rose to 33.5% in the second quarter of 2024 from 32.9% in the first quarter. Inflation was expected to slow to an average of 4.9% this year and 4.5% in 2025, from 5.1% in June, similar to the previous poll. Among major central banks, the European Central Bank is expected to cut its deposit rate twice more this year after a reduction in June, in both September and December. The SARB's southwestern Africa peer in Namibia cut its main interest rate by 25 basis points on Wednesday, while Zambia's central bank held rates steady due to the inflationary impact on the economy from drought. (Other stories from the Reuters global economic poll) Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/world/africa/south-african-reserve-bank-cut-rates-25-bps-800-sept-19-2024-08-15/

2024-08-15 10:17

Domestic air arrivals to Alaska up 10% year over year, driven by Texas travelers Southern European destinations still attractive, but shoulder seasons gain popularity Residents seeing more tourists throughout the year NEW YORK/LONDON/ATHENS, Aug 15 (Reuters) - Florida resident Kathy Pafunda is reading books and perusing maps to plan a Norway getaway next summer, following visits over the last two years to cool-weather destinations Alaska, Utah, Minnesota and Iceland. "We like to escape during the summer months, especially when going outside feels like taking an unpleasant bath," said the retired 69-year-old audiologist, who lives in Tampa. "Florida is hideous right now." Wildfires and heat waves this summer have pushed more travelers to take "coolcations," as the industry has started calling them, to northern Europe and Alaska to beat the heat. July 22 was the world's hottest day on record and some scientists say 2024 could surpass 2023 as the hottest year. Travel companies have noticed. Cruise operators, hotel companies and airlines are adding trips and accommodations to meet rising demand for temperate destinations. Norwegian Air (NAS.OL) , opens new tab said in July it has established 10 new routes between northern Norway and European cities. "We are enthusiastic about the growing interest in northern destinations from Europe," said Geir Karlsen, Norwegian Air CEO on a quarterly call. Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings (NCLH.N) , opens new tab announced in July 13 new itineraries aboard six ships across Alaska, Canada and New England for summer 2026. Royal Caribbean Group (RCL.N) , opens new tab said on a quarterly call that it increased its Alaska capacity this summer. "The impact of climate on the travel industry is very gradual as opposed to causing a company to make a major shift," said Truist equity analyst Patrick Scholes. "But companies are gradually adapting, some faster than others." Domestic air arrivals to Alaska this summer increased 10% year-over-year, driven by a 30% increase in arrivals from Dallas, Texas, according to flight-ticketing data firm ForwardKeys. Texas residents have sweltered in hot conditions since May. The numbers of plane tickets issued as of June for international arrivals in Norway, Ireland and Sweden this summer are up by 19%, 13% and 11% respectively year-over-year, ForwardKeys said. Accommodations are also seeing the shift. Vacation-rental company Airbnb (ABNB.O) , opens new tab recorded a 15% year-over-year increase in searches for summer stays in Norway, Sweden and Alaska during the first half of 2024. Luxury-travel agency Virtuoso said its bookings this summer for Canada jumped 20% year over year. Hyatt (H.N) , opens new tab plans to double the number of its hotels in Canada by the end of 2026, as Toronto and Montreal see heightened summer travel. SHOULDER SEASON Rising demand for cooler destinations, however, has not dented warm-weather travel. "Southern European destinations remain very attractive," said Olivier Ponti, director of analytics at ForwardKeys. International arrivals in June in southern Europe increased 8% year over year, he said. UK travelers are still looking to warm Mediterranean destinations, but the shoulder seasons of spring and autumn are becoming more appealing, said Sean Tipton, spokesperson for UK travel agent group ABTA. "People are traveling earlier and later in the year, in part because August is too hot for them," Tipton said. Italy's hotel occupancy in March and May roughly doubled compared with the same months in 2019, said travel analytics firm Key Data. DOWNSIDES While the extended travel season is thinning crowds in hot spots during summer, it may mean residents must deal with tourists year-round, said Melanie Brown, Key Data's director of data insight. "There's traffic year-round in destinations where there used to be traffic for nine weeks," she said, citing Colorado as an example. With a longer season, travel companies may struggle to find enough workers in a tight labor market, Brown said. Virtuoso said its summer Greece bookings are down 17% year over year. "Business is still strong there, just not as robust as last summer," said Virtuoso vice president Misty Belles. Yannis Hatzis, president of Greece's hoteliers' federation, said high-end accommodations have taken a hit. From January to May, foreign arrivals to Greece were up nearly 21% but arrivals from the United States fell 19% year over year in May, according to the Bank of Greece. Greece recorded its hottest June and July, according to the research institute National Observatory of Athens, as wildfires forced thousands of people to flee their homes. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/business/environment/extreme-weather-drives-travelers-cooler-destinations-this-summer-2024-08-15/

2024-08-15 10:15

MOSCOW, Aug 15 (Reuters) - The Russian subsidiary of Austria's Raiffeisen Bank International (RBIV.VI) , opens new tab said on Thursday that individual clients would no longer be able to make transfers abroad in any currency other than roubles from Sept. 2. The unit said the new restriction, which would not apply to some large and international businesses, was being imposed due to the group's efforts to reduce its Russia exposure under pressure from European regulators. The European Central Bank has told euro zone banks still operating in Russia to cut their ties. ECB Banking Supervision has asked all banks with significant exposure to Russia to speed up their de-risking efforts by setting a clear roadmap for downsizing and exiting the Russian market. "From Sept. 2, 2024, outgoing cross-border transfers in foreign currency will become unavailable for all the bank's clients apart from a limited number of corporate clients in the large and international business sphere," Raiffeisen Bank in Russia said. "The restriction has been imposed in accordence with RBI Group's decision in connection with ECB regulation," the bank said. "The changes do not apply to cross-border payments in roubles." RBI said in April that it would be required by the ECB to further decrease its business in Russia by cutting back on loans to customers and paring back international payments from Russia by 2026. Euro zone banks have more than halved their exposure to Russia since Moscow sent its troops into Ukraine in 2022. Raiffeisen has faced particular criticism as its Russian profits have soared, with Washington even warning RBI that access to the U.S. financial system could be curbed because of its Russia dealings. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/markets/currencies/raiffeisens-russian-unit-halt-outgoing-fx-transfers-most-customers-2024-08-15/

2024-08-15 10:10

Farmers fear economic losses from positive tests, leading to under-reporting Testing key to limiting human spread USDA offers partial compensation Experts suggest more mandatory testing and higher compensation Some farmers do not trust bird-flu information WASHINGTON/CHICAGO, Aug 15 (Reuters) - The U.S. bird-flu outbreak in dairy cattle is much larger than official figures suggest due to farmers' reluctance to test their animals and risk the economic consequences of a positive result, according to Reuters interviews with dairy experts, veterinarians, and farmers in six states with known cases. The U.S. Department of Agriculture has counted bird flu in about 190 dairy herds in 13 states since March. The virus's jump from birds to cows heightened concerns that it could adapt to spread among humans. Scientists have warned that limited surveillance could weaken the U.S.' ability to respond to further human spread. Thirteen dairy and poultry farm workers have been infected with bird flu this year, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Reuters spoke with more than a dozen researchers, veterinarians, farmers, and livestock industry groups to understand whether the bird-flu spread in dairy cattle is being accurately tracked. State animal and human health experts in three states who work closely with veterinarians and farmers said the government tally is likely an undercount because farmers are fearful of the economic hardship brought by a positive test, including being restricted from selling their milk or cattle for weeks. The virus reduces milk production in cattle. The U.S., the world's second-largest cheese producer after the European Union, is the only country with known infections in cows. "While we have nine official positives, there are many, many, many more farms that are impacted or infected that are just not testing," said Joe Armstrong, a veterinarian and cattle expert at the University of Minnesota, who has spoken with farmers across the state. A more accurate cattle case count for Minnesota would be three to five times higher, Armstrong said. A USDA spokesperson said the agency has encouraged testing by requiring negative tests for cows being shipped over state lines since April and offering a voluntary program for testing farmers' milk supplies weekly. Twenty-four dairy herds are participating in that program, of roughly 24,000 farms nationally that sell milk, according to agency data. Six farmers, veterinarians, and other experts said farmers were reluctant to test because they did not believe the virus is a serious concern, or because government incentives to test did not offset their expected losses. Colorado farmer Terry Dye, 78, said his two dairies were infected this summer and he did not notify the state because he wanted to handle it privately. State agriculture officials eventually heard about the infections and quarantined his animals, he said. "Sometimes it's more convenient to not know," said Dye. USDA offers to compensate farmers with infected animals for veterinary care and 90% of lost milk production. Forty-seven herds have signed up for agency financial assistance, though that total includes farms without infections that are seeking support for biosecurity costs. USDA tests raw milk from cows to identify the virus in herds. The Food and Drug Administration has separately tested commercial milk supplies and says pasteurization kills the virus, so milk is safe to drink. TOUGHER TESTING Experts said ways to better track the spread include more states mandating raw-milk testing or higher compensation to farmers. Michigan and Colorado have taken aggressive approaches to containing bird flu in cattle, though experts there still think cases are being missed. Phil Durst, an educator with Michigan State University who has spoken with farmers whose herds contracted the virus, said Michigan's 27 positive herds are likely an undercount by at least a third. Jenna Guthmiller, an assistant professor of immunology at the University of Colorado who has studied the virus, said Colorado's 63 positive herds are also likely an undercount. After a series of outbreaks, Colorado on July 22 became the only state to require dairy farms to test bulk supplies of milk each week. The tests have uncovered 10 infected herds that have been quarantined. "Once we better understand the scope and scale of the outbreak, we can put measures in place to mitigate further spread," said Maggie Baldwin, Colorado's state veterinarian. Some farmers do not test because they distrust government officials or information about the risks of bird flu to cattle and humans, four sources said. "There's plenty of dairy farms that I've heard about that just don't believe it," said Jason Schmidt, a dairy farmer in eastern Kansas. In Oklahoma, a dairy that suspected it was infected in April did not submit stored milk samples to USDA for testing until July, according to the state. The herd had recovered by the time testing confirmed an outbreak, and Oklahoma has not had other reported cases, the state said. In states with few or no infected cows, farmers and veterinarians are concerned that when the virus arrives or resurges, they won't be able to track it. "The longstanding adage is that the cure for fever is don't take a temperature. So, if we don't test, then we're not positive," said Mark Hardesty, a dairy cattle veterinarian in Ohio, which reported one dairy herd infection in April. Wisconsin, the No. 2 milk-producing and top cheese-producing state, has not reported any bird-flu cases in cattle. Dairy farmers likely would not test even if they suspected symptoms in their herds, said Keith Poulsen, director of the Wisconsin Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory. "It's still cheaper to just go through a herd outbreak, recover, and move on down the road," Poulsen said. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/business/healthcare-pharmaceuticals/us-undercounts-bird-flu-cattle-farmers-shun-testing-2024-08-15/