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News reports from around the world.
IRS takes steps to protect identity of its workers
( ) -q-26- UNDATED (Correspondent Jeremy House) “and their families.”
The IRS is taking steps to protect the identity of its workers in an effort to deter personal threats aimed at the tax agency’s employees.
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Out-cue: and their families]
TAG: Correspondent Jeremy House reporting. The IRS says it’ll remove workers’ first names from communications, leaving their last names and respective Mr., Ms., or a gender-neutral title. Phone numbers will still be included in communications.
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VERBATIM: The IRS says it’ll start limiting workers’ personal identifying information on communications with taxpayers. The change begins next month. The Treasury Department’s inspector general for tax administration said in a report that it was “concerned that taxpayers and anti-government or anti-tax groups with malevolent intent” could use the internet or social media to track down and harass IRS workers and their families.
Commerce Dept to fund tech hubs with $500 million in grants
( ) -q-23- UNDATED (Correspondent Jeremy House) “San Francisco and Seattle.”
The Commerce Department is launching the application process for cities to receive a total of $500 million in grants to become technology hubs.
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TAG: Correspondent Jeremy House reporting. Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo says, “This is about taking these places on the edge of glory to being world leaders.” The application process for cities to receive the tech hubs grants starts Friday.
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VERBATIM: The $500 million is part of a $10 billion authorization from last year’s CHIPS and Science Act to stimulate investments in new technologies. Among them are artificial intelligence, quantum computing and biotech. It’s an attempt to expand to the entire United States tech investment that’s largely concentrated around Austin, Texas, Boston, New York, San Francisco and Seattle.
Japan tech investor SoftBank sinks into second year of losses
( ) -q-24- UNDATED (Correspondent Jeremy House) “the investment losses.”
Japanese technology investor SoftBank Group is reporting a loss of 970 billion yen for the fiscal year that just ended.
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TAG: Correspondent Jeremy House reporting. SoftBank invests in a sprawling array of companies, including Uber, DoorDash, T-Mobile and Arm.
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VERBATIM: That’s the second year in a row of red ink. Tokyo-based SoftBank had racked up a 1.7-trillion-yen loss the previous fiscal year. The latest results came from massive losses on its investments, called the SoftBank Vision Fund, amid a global plunge in technology shares. The gains from transactions in Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba were not enough to offset the investment losses.
German rail workers union announces 50-hour strike
( ) -q-20- UNDATED (Correspondent Jeremy House) “strike ‘completely unreasonable.'”
A German labor union is calling for railway workers to stage a 50-hour strike next week to bolster its calls for an inflation-related pay raise.
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TAG: Correspondent Jeremy House reporting. The walkout is the third staged by railway workers this year, and comes amid strikes in other sectors.
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VERBATIM: The EVG rail workers union called for its 230,000 members to walk off the job from Sunday evening until midnight on Tuesday. The strikes are expected to impact regional, long-distance and freight trains throughout Germany. Deutsche Bahn personnel chief Martin Seiler called the strike “completely unreasonable.”
Bank of England raises UK interest rates to highest level since 2008
( ) -q-23- UNDATED (Correspondent Jeremy House) “invasion of Ukraine.”
The Bank of England has raised interest rates to their highest level since late 2008 as it continues to combat stubbornly high inflation in the U.K.
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Out-cue: invasion of Ukraine]
TAG: Correspondent Jeremy House reporting.
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VERBATIM: The decision by the bank’s nine-member Monetary Policy Committee to lift its main interest rate by a quarter of a percentage point to 4.5% was widely anticipated in financial markets. The increase was its 12th in a row. Like other central banks around the world, the Bank of England has sought to keep a lid on inflation, which over the past year has been fueled by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
US wholesale price data for April points to easing inflation pressures
( ) -q-30- UNDATED (Correspondent Jeremy House) “12 months earlier.”
Wholesale prices in the United States decelerated last month.
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TAG: Correspondent Jeremy House reporting. The Fed pays particularly close attention to core prices, which tend to be a better gauge of underlying inflation pressures.
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VERBATIM: From March to April, the government’s producer price index rose just 0.2% after falling 0.4% from February to March. Compared with a year earlier, wholesale prices rose just 2.3%. The Labor Department index reflects prices charged by manufacturers, farmers and wholesalers. Excluding volatile food and energy prices, so-called core wholesale inflation rose 0.2% from March and 3.2% from 12 months earlier.
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Listen DownloadUS prices pick up, showing inflation pressures persist
( ) -q-22- UNDATED (Correspondent Jeremy House) “two-percent target rate.”
Consumer prices in the United States accelerated in April after months of declines.
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Out-cue: two-percent target rate]
TAG: Correspondent Jeremy House reporting. Measures of underlying inflation suggest that rising costs could persist for months to come. The Fed is paying particular attention to so-called core prices, which exclude volatile food and energy costs and are regarded as a better gauge of longer-term inflation trends.
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VERBATIM: Prices rose 0.4% from March to April, up from 0.1% from February to March. Compared with a year earlier, prices climbed 4.9%, down just slightly from March’s year-over-year increase. The nation’s inflation rate has cooled since peaking at 9.1% last June, but remains far above the Federal Reserve’s 2% target rate.
Court annuls EU approval of German billions for Lufthansa
( ) -q-26- UNDATED (Correspondent Jeremy House) “ruling might have.”
A top European Union court has ruled that the E-U was wrong to approve a plan for Germany to come to the rescue of Lufthansa.
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TAG: Correspondent Jeremy House reporting. The European Commission had approved a 2020 plan by Germany to provide 6 billion euros ($6.6 billion) in aid to Lufthansa.
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VERBATIM: That financial rescue included billions of euros in state aid to help the airline deal with the impact of COVID-19 restrictions. The 27 EU member countries must seek commission approval when supplying financial support to companies. Following an appeal by low-cost carrier Ryanair, the EU’s General Court ruled that the commission “committed several errors.” It is not immediately clear what impact the ruling might have.
Toyota’s profits rise as global chips supply crunch subsides
( ) -q-22- UNDATED (Correspondent Jeremy House) “in various countries.”
Toyota’s January-to-March profit edged up 3% from the previous year on robust sales as a chips supply crunch gradually eased.
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TAG: Correspondent Jeremy House reporting. Toyota sold 10.56 million vehicles for the fiscal year through March, including its group makers like Daihatsu and Hino.
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VERBATIM: Toyota racked up four-billion dollars in quarterly net profit. Quarterly sales soared nearly 20%. The automaker is forecasting its annual profit to rise 5.2%. Automakers worldwide have been hurt by a shortage of computer chips and other auto parts because of restrictions over the coronavirus pandemic that crimped production in various countries.
Hyundai and Kia thefts keep rising despite security fix
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( ) -q-19- UNDATED (Correspondent Jeremy House) “an alarming rate.”
The number of Hyundai and Kia thefts in several cities across the U.S. is still growing despite the companies’ efforts to fix a software glitch.
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TAG: Correspondent Jeremy House reporting.
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VERBATIM: Nearly three months ago, Hyundai and Kia unveiled software that was designed to thwart an epidemic of thefts of their vehicles. the glitch was caused by a security flaw that was exposed on TikTok and other social media sites. Across the country however, thieves are still driving off with the vehicles at an alarming rate.