Shell CEO calls it ‘irresponsible’ to cut oil production now

( ) -q-22- UNDATED (Correspondent Jeremy House) “for global warming.”

The head of global energy giant Shell says it would be “irresponsible” to cut oil and gas production at a time when the world economy is still dependent on fossil fuels.

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TAG: Correspont Jeremy House reporting.

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VERBATIM: Shell CEO Wael (wall) Sawan’s (SOW ahn) comments conflict with the recommendations of climate scientists and U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres. Guterres has called on the fossil fuel industry to “drive, not obstruct” the transition to renewable energy. Burning fossil fuels is the biggest source of the carbon emissions blamed for global warming.

Companies rein in customer rewards programs

Some companies are becoming a bit more stingy with rewards programs, and customers are taking notice. Reward programs, including birthday freebies and discounts, have long been a way for brands to build loyalty and incentivize spending. But last fall, for example, many balked at Dunkin’s decision to stop offering a free drink on their birthday and instead give them triple loyalty points on their purchase. Some experts say the cost of maintaining loyalty programs, as well as recent impacts of inflation and changes in consumer behavior since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, are among the reasons why companies may be pulling back.

Facebook faces legal setback in EU court decision on data privacy and ads

( ) -q-24- UNDATED (Correspondent Jeremy House) “boxing out competitors.”

Facebook has lost a legal challenge at the European Union’s top court over a groundbreaking German antitrust decision that limited the way the company uses data for advertising.

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TAG: Correspondent Jeremy House reporting. Facebook parent Meta says it’s evaluating the decision.

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VERBATIM: The European Court of Justice said that competition watchdogs can consider whether companies like Facebook comply with the continent’s strict privacy rules. Those rules are normally enforced by national data privacy regulators. The court ruled that antitrust authorities can take into account any violations of data privacy rules as they investigate whether tech giants are abusing their dominance in the market by boxing out competitors.

UK mortgage rates spike to highest level since Truss tax plan spooked markets

( ) -q-21- UNDATED (Correspondent Jeremy House) “keep hiking rates.”

Homeowners and renters in the U.K. are facing further grim news as mortgage rates hit levels not seen since unfunded tax cuts announced by the government last fall jolted investors.

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TAG: Correspondent Jeremy House reporting.

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VERBATIM: Financial information company Moneyfacts says the average rate for a five-year fixed rate mortgage in the U.K. hit 6.01%. It comes after the Bank of England has raised interest rates to a 15-year high to battle high inflation. The worry is that mortgage rates could keep rising in the coming months because the bank is expected to keep hiking rates.

Iran’s attempt to seize two oil tankers is thwarted by the U-S Navy

( ) -q-20- UNDATED (Correspondent Jeremy House) “harassed several others.”

The U.S. Navy says Iran tried to seize two oil tankers near the strategic Strait of Hormuz, firing shots at one of them.

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TAG: Correspondent Jeremy House reporting. Many of the incidents have occurred in and around the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow mouth of the Persian Gulf through which 20% of all crude oil passes.

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VERBATIM: Officials say that in both incidents early Wednesday, the Iranian naval vessels backed off after the U.S. Navy responded. They add the gunfire directed at the second vessel did not cause casualties or major damage. The U.S. Navy says Iran has seized at least five commercial vessels in the last two years and has harassed several others.

Saudi Arabia and Russia are cutting oil supply again in bid to boost prices

( ) -q-26- UNDATED (Correspondent Jeremy House) “of one million.”

Saudi Arabia and Russia are extending cuts to the amount of oil they pump to the world to try to prop up prices.

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TAG: Correspondent Jeremy House reporting.

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VERBATIM: It shows how two of the world’s largest oil producers are scrambling to boost income from the fossil fuel even as demand has weakened with the economy. The move gave a slight boost to oil prices. The Saudi Energy Ministry said it would extend its previously announced cut of 1 million barrels per day in July through August while Russia will cut an additional 500,000 barrels a day in August, for a total of 1 million.

Treasury Secretary Yellen makes long-awaited trip to China this week

( ) -v-30- UNDATED (Correspondent Jeremy House) “std.”

Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen will travel to Beijing Thursday in an effort to thaw U.S.-China relations. Correspondent Jeremy House has more on the story.

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VERBATIM: Yellen, who has called the notion of an economically decoupling from China “disastrous,” has frequently said in the past year that she would like to visit China. She says the two nations “can and need to find a way to live together” in spite of their strained relations and massive differences. Yellen’s trip would come shortly after Secretary of State Antony Blinken made a two-day stop in Beijing in June in what was the highest-level meetings in China in the past five years…JH, Washington.

Tesla sales jump 83% from a year ago after tax credits, price cuts

( ) -q-29- UNDATED (Correspondent Jeremy House) “a year earlier.”

Tesla’s second-quarter deliveries rose 83% from a year ago.

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TAG: Correspondent Jeremy House reporting. The vast majority of the sales were Tesla’s popular Model 3 and Model Y versions. Tesla’s sales beat Wall Street expectations. Analysts polled by data provider FactSet expected deliveries of 445,000 vehicles for the quarter.

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VERBATIM: The increase came after the company cut prices several times on its four electric vehicle models and buyers took advantage of U.S. government tax credits. The Austin, Texas, producer of EV, solar panels and batteries said it sold a record 466,140 vehicles worldwide from April through June. That’s nearly doubling the 254,695 it sold during the same period a year earlier.

N. Dakota university leaders fear ‘catastrophic implications’ of Minnesota’s free tuition plan

( ) -q-23- UNDATED (Correspondent Jeremy House) “first-year Minnesota students.”

North Dakota higher education officials are deeply worried about losing students and revenue in 2024.

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TAG: Correspondent Jeremy House reporting. Minnesota’s North Star Promise program takes effect in fall 2024 for students from families with incomes under $80,000. More than half the states now have some kind of free college tuition program.

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VERBATIM: Next year is when neighboring Minnesota makes tuition free for thousands of its residents at public colleges and universities. North Dakota State University President David Cook has recently warned of “catastrophic implications” for his school. Close to half of North Dakota State’s students come from Minnesota, and the Fargo school is the top out-of-state destination for first-year Minnesota students.

Norway has approved 19 oil and gas projects on the Norwegian continental shelf

Norway has approved 19 oil and gas projects on the Norwegian continental shelf, saying the total investments are worth over $19 billion

VERBATIM:

(Terje Aasland) Norway’s minister for petroleum and energy, said the projects are also an important contribution to Europe’s energy security. Norway is the only net exporter of oil and gas in Europe. The conflict in Ukraine has boosted the Scandinavian country’s revenues as European countries previously reliant on Russia seek alternative energy sources. However, Norway has fended off accusations that it’s profiting from the war.

Hackers gained personal information about American, Southwest pilot applicants

Hackers gained personal information about thousands of people who applied to become pilots at American and Southwest airlines

VERBATIM:

The airlines say there was a breach at a Texas company called Pilot Credentials, which the airlines used in their recruitment efforts. About 5,700 applicants to American and 3,000 at Southwest were affected. The airlines say hackers gained access in late April to names and birth dates, as well as Social Security, passport and driver and pilot license numbers of applicants for pilot and cadet jobs.

Georgia launches Medicaid expansion in closely watched test of work requirements

( ) -q-25- UNDATED (Correspondent Jeremy House) “restrictive and expensive.”

Georgia is offering a new bargain to some adults without health insurance beginning Saturday.

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TAG: Correspondent Jeremy House reporting. The program is likely to be closely watched as Republicans in Congress push to let states require some current Medicaid enrollees to work.

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VERBATIM: Go to work or school and the state will cover you. Georgia’s plan would provide coverage for able-bodied adults who meet activity requirements of 80 hours per month and whose incomes are 100% or less of the federal poverty level. But advocates decry the plan, which will insure far fewer people than a full expansion of the state-federal Medicaid program. They say it’s needlessly restrictive and expensive.

Europe inflation slips to 5.5% — but that won’t stop central bank rate hikes

( ) -v-36- UNDATED (Correspondent Jeremy House) “std.”

Inflation in Europe slid again in June but fell too slowly to offer much relief to shoppers grumbling over price
tags. Correspondent Jeremy House has more on the story.

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VERBATIM: The dip in inflation also won’t stop more interest rate hikes that will raise the cost of borrowing across the economy. The European Union statistics agency says the annual rate of 5.5% is down from 6.1% in May in the 20 countries that use the euro currency. While that’s a big drop from the peak of 10.6% in October, persistently high prices in the U.S., Europe and the United Kingdom pushed some of the world’s top central bankers to make clear they are going to keep raising rates and leave them there until inflation drops to their 2% goal…std.

Executives urge Europe to rethink its world-leading AI rules

( ) -q-21- UNDATED (Correspondent Jeremy House) “and carmaker Renault.”

More than 150 executives are urging the European Union to rethink the world’s most comprehensive rules for artificial intelligence.

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TAG: The companies say the 27-nation bloc’s groundbreaking legislation may put shackles on the development of generative AI and lead companies and investors to flee to the U.S.

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VERBATIM: In an open letter to EU leaders, the executives say the upcoming regulations will make it harder for companies in Europe to compete with rivals overseas. That’s especially true when it comes to the technology behind systems like ChatGPT. Those who signed include officials at French planemaker Airbus and carmaker Renault.

Facebook content moderators in Kenya call the work ‘torture’

( ) -q-20- UNDATED (Correspondent Jeremy House) “wouldn’t have to.”

Nearly 200 former content moderators for Facebook are suing the company and a local contractor in a court case in Kenya that could have implications for the work worldwide.

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TAG: Correspondent Jeremy House reporting.

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VERBATIM: They are the first known moderators outside the U-S to lodge such a complaint. The former employees from several African countries allege poor working conditions including low pay and insufficient mental health support. They say they are haunted by the graphic videos and other content they watched so the rest of the world wouldn’t have to.

Top central bankers: higher rates needed to tackle inflation

( ) -q-23- UNDATED (Correspondent Jeremy House) “in Sintra, Portugal.”

Several of the world’s top central bankers got together, and their message was clear: interest rates are expected to go even higher to combat inflation.

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TAG: Correspondent Jeremy House reporting. The outlier is the Bank of Japan Gov. Kazuo Ueda, who says inflation didn’t justify rate hikes yet.

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VERBATIM: U.S. Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell, European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde and Bank of England Governor Andrew Bailey underlined their determination to bring inflation under control come what may. They pointed to strong labor markets that are helping push up prices. The message came during a panel at the ECB’s annual policy conference in Sintra, Portugal.

US economic growth last quarter is revised up to a 2% annual rate

( ) -q-18- UNDATED (Correspondent Jeremy House) “to surprising resilience.”

The U.S. economy grew at a 2% annual pace from January through March as consumers spent at the fastest pace in nearly two year.

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TAG: Correspondent Jeremy House reporting. still marked a deceleration from the 2.6% annual rate from October through December and the 3.2% growth from July through September. The economy has been slowed by the Federal Reserve’s aggressive drive to tame inflation through a series of interest rate hikes beginning early last year.

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VERBATIM: The Commerce Department’s report is a sharp upgrade from its previous estimate. The government had previously estimated that the economy expanded at a 1.3% annual rate last quarter. The department’s third and final report on January-to-March economic growth pointed to surprising resilience.

Drop in jobless benefits applications after 3 weeks of higher claims

( ) -q-24- UNDATED (Correspondent Jeremy House) “to 257-thousand, 500.”

Applications for unemployment benefits fell significantly last week after it appeared claims had reached a modestly elevated level in recent weeks.

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TAG: Correspondent Jeremy House reporting.

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VERBATIM: The Labor Department reports U.S. applications for jobless claims fell by 26,000 to 239,000 for the week ending June 24. Economists were expecting the elevated claims numbers to continue above 260,000, where they had settled the past three weeks. The four-week moving average of claims rose by 1,500 to 257,500.

Still hiring: Big Tech layoffs give other sectors an opening

( ) -q-25- UNDATED (Correspondent Jeremy House) “the top talent.”

The recent mass layoffs at companies like Google, Microsoft, Amazon and Meta came as a shock the thousands of workers who’d never experienced upheaval in the tech sector.

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TAG: Correspondent Jeremy House reporting. No employer is making a more aggressive push than the country’s largest: the federal government, which aims to hire 22,000 tech workers in fiscal 2023.

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VERBATIM: Those workers are now being courted by long-established employers whose names aren’t typically synonymous with tech work. Hotel chains, retailers, investment firms, railroad companies and even the IRS have signaled on recruiting platforms that they are hiring software engineers, data scientists and cybersecurity specialists. It’s a chance for them to level the playing field against tech giants that have long had their pick of the top talent.

EV makers race for supplies of lithium for batteries

( ) -q-21- UNDATED (Correspondent Jeremy House) “other raw materials.”

Threatened by possible shortages of lithium for electric car batteries, automakers are racing to lock in supplies of the once-obscure “white gold.”

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TAG: Correspondent Jeremy House reporting. Others are investing in lithium refiners or recycling technology. A shortfall in supplies would be an obstacle for government and industry plans to ramp up sales to tens of millions of electric vehicles a year.

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VERBATIM: The race is occurring in a politically and environmentally fraught competition from China to Nevada to Chile. General Motors and the parent company of China’s BYD Auto Limited are going straight to the source and buying stakes in lithium miners. It’s a rare step in an industry that relies on outside vendors for copper and other raw materials.

EU leaders forge ahead with tougher borders plans

( ) -q-25- UNDATED (Correspondent Jeremy House) “rules in Europe.”

European Union leaders will push ahead this week with plans to beef up the bloc’s borders and outsource their migrant challenges to countries people leave or cross to get to Europe.

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TAG: Correspondent Jeremy House reporting. The EU has teetered from political crisis to crisis since well over 1 million people entered Europe in 2015.

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VERBATIM: Austria, Hungary, Poland and others are blocking any meaningful attempt to equitably share out refugees arriving in Greece, Italy, Malta or Spain. That means the work must focus on preventing migrants from entering and deporting those who can’t stay more efficiently. But the EU summit on Thursday and Friday has the potential to open a can of political worms. Such is the sensitive nature of asylum rules in Europe.

Japan to reinstate South Korea as preferred trade nation

( ) -q-20- UNDATED (Correspondent Jeremy House) “Korea and China.”

Japan has announced a decision to reinstate South Korea as a preferred nation with fast-track trade status from July 21.

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TAG: Correspondent Jeremy House reporting. Japan and South Korea’s trade dispute began in July 2019 when Japan removed South Korea from its “white list” of countries given fast-track approvals in trade. At that time, Tokyo-Seoul ties were deteriorating over compensation for Japanese wartime actions.

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VERBATIM: The decision virtually ends a four-year economic row that was strained during their bitter historic disputes. Japan and South Korea have been rapidly mending their ties as they deepen three-way security cooperation with Washington. The cooperation comes in response to growing regional threats from North Korea and China.

A stark warning from Christine LaGarde on inflation

( ) -q-20- UNDATED (Correspondent Jeremy House) “starting to wane.”

European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde is warning that inflation is holding its grip on the economy.

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Out-cue: starting to wane]

TAG: Correspondent Jeremy House reporting. With unemployment low, workers are demanding higher wages to make up for lost purchasing power. That threatens to keep pushing up inflation in a wage-price spiral that the bank must prevent.

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VERBATIM: Lagarde says the bank intends to raise rates high enough to “break this persistence” and that they will stay high for as long as needed. Lagarde acknowledged that the inflation rate has fallen thanks to lower energy prices. Businesses initially passed on their rising costs by charging customers higher prices, a phase that’s starting to wane.

Meta launches more parental supervision tools for Instagram.

( ) -v-30- UNDATED (Correspondent Jeremy House) “std.”

Instagram and Facebook’s parent company Meta is adding new parental supervision tools and privacy features to its platforms beginning today (TUESDAY). Correspondent Jeremy House has more on the story.

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VERBATIM: The changes come as social media companies face increased scrutiny over how they impact teens’ mental health. But many of the features being added require teens — and parents — to opt in, raising questions about how effective they are.  Instagram, for instance, will now send a notice to teens after they have blocked someone. The message will encourage them to let their parents “supervise” their account. The idea is to get kids to engage their parents at a moment when they might be more open to guidance..JH reporting.