Author: Press Room

Turkey has unveiled a new scheme to push exporters to hold less foreign currency as the government of Recep Tayyip Erdoğan steps up its battle to defend the lira ahead of this year’s elections. The country said on Thursday it would offer companies new incentives to swap money they earn abroad into lira in return for a vow not to purchase foreign currencies. The new programme is the latest sign of how Turkey is deploying a broad range of tools to prop up the lira and boost its $800bn economy ahead of presidential and parliamentary elections set for May 14. It…

United States-based cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase has been fined €3.3 million ($3.6 million) by the Dutch central bank (DNB) for failing to obtain the required registration before operating in the jurisdiction. In a Thursday press release, the DNB detailed that digital asset service providers wishing to operate in the Netherlands are required to register with the central bank under the Dutch Anti-Money Laundering and Anti-Terrorist Financing Act (Wwft). The DNB said that Coinbase failed to comply with this law during the period between 15 November 2020 and at least 24 August 2022, adding that it has imposed an administrative fine of €3,325,000, or around $3.6…

CNN  —  The United States has announced visa restrictions on individuals believed to be “undermining the democratic process” in a recent election in Nigeria. “These individuals will be found ineligible for visas to the United States under a policy to restrict visas of those believed to be responsible for, or complicit in, undermining democracy in Nigeria. Certain family members of such persons may also be subject to these restrictions,” US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a statement Wednesday. The statement did not specify the names of those individuals. The US announcement comes ahead of Nigeria’s general elections on…

A federal agency said Wednesday it is reinstating restrictions on road-building and logging on the country’s largest national forest in southeast Alaska, the latest move in a long-running fight over the Tongass National Forest.The U.S. Department of Agriculture in late 2021 announced that it was beginning the process of repealing a Trump administration-era decision that exempted the Tongass — a rainforest that is also home to rugged coastal islands and glaciers — from the so-called roadless rule. The agency on Wednesday said it had finalized that plan.The new rule will take effect once it is published in the Federal Register,…

CHICAGO — A central Illinois man was charged Wednesday with setting fire to a Planned Parenthood clinic earlier this month, federal law enforcement said.Tyler W. Massengill, 32, of Chillicothe, is accused of “malicious use of fire and an explosive to damage, and attempt to damage” the clinic in Peoria, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said in a statement.Massengill was arrested by Peoria police Tuesday. Online court records did not indicate whether he had appeared in court or been assigned an attorney yet.The U.S. Attorney’s office said in a statement that security camera video showed a man approaching the building with a…

CNN  —  Earth’s inner core may have stopped rotating and could go into reverse, a new study suggests. Don’t worry, you won’t notice a difference – and nothing cataclysmic is happening. But scientists are saying they weren’t expecting these new observations about our planet’s seismic records. Here’s what else you need to know to Get Up to Speed and On with Your Day. (You can get “5 Things You Need to Know Today” delivered to your inbox daily. Sign up here.) Communities across the US are being upended nearly every day as mass shootings in workplaces, schools and houses of…

The move underlines the severe polarisation in a country that has had six presidents in six years.A group of left-wing politicians in Peru have submitted a motion of impeachment against President Dina Boluarte over her handling of nearly two months of protests following the removal of her predecessor Pedro Castillo. Some 56 people have died amid violent confrontations between protesters and the security services. The legislators, allies of Castillo, are filing the motion on the grounds of Boluarte’s alleged “permanent moral incapacity”, according to Al Jazeera’s Mariana Sanchez who is in the capital, Lima. On Tuesday, thousands of people took…

Southwest Airlines reported a loss for the fourth quarter because of the company’s service meltdown over the holiday travel season, and it warned the costs from those problems will result in another loss in the first quarter. The airline was forced to cancel more than 16,700 flights between December 21 and 29, roughly half its schedule during that period. Thursday, Southwest said the meltdown cost the airline about $800 million, resulting in an adjusted net loss in the quarter of $226 million. Still, it managed to report an adjusted annual profit of $723 million, a turnaround from $1.3 billion it…

Comcast on Thursday reported fourth quarter earnings that topped analyst expectations despite persistent softness in broadband subscriber growth and mounting losses from its streaming service, Peacock. The company’s top-line growth was fueled by higher revenue from its broadband and wireless businesses, as well as its theme parks segment. Here’s how Comcast performed, compared to estimates from analysts surveyed by Refinitiv:Earnings per share: 82 cents, adjusted, vs. 77 cents expectedRevenue: $30.55 billion vs. $30.32 billion expected.The Philadelphia company reported Thursday its fourth quarter adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization declined nearly 5% to $8 billion compared to the same period last…

Good morning and we start today with the controversial decision by Meta to reinstate Donald Trump to Facebook and Instagram “in the coming weeks”.The announcement, made by former British deputy prime minister and president of global affairs at Meta, Nick Clegg, comes as the former US president prepares for a third run at the White House.The social media company said it had put “new guardrails in place to deter repeat offences” after Trump’s two year absence from its platforms following his praise for his supporters who stormed the US Capitol in 2021.Trump, who created Truth Social after he was booted…