Australia’s natural disasters bill hits $3.5 billion in 2022, billions more to come

By Lewis Jackson SYDNEY (Reuters) – Floods and natural disasters that hit all but one Australian state and territory in 2022 cost the economy A$5 billion ($3.48 billion) and stoked inflation according to Treasury estimates which forecast billions more spending in 2023. Australia suffered four major bouts of flooding last year, with global reinsurer Munich …

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Crypto crime hits record $20 billion in 2022, report says

By Elizabeth Howcroft LONDON (Reuters) – Illicit use of cryptocurrencies hit a record $20.1 billion last year as transactions involving companies targeted by U.S. sanctions skyrocketed, data from blockchain analytics firm Chainalysis showed on Thursday. The cryptocurrency market floundered in 2022, as risk appetite diminished and various crypto firms collapsed. Investors were left with large …

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UK paper group bids to throw out Prince Harry and others’ privacy lawsuits

LONDON (Reuters) – The publisher of Britain’s Daily Mail newspaper is applying to dismiss lawsuits brought by Prince Harry, singer Elton John and other individuals alleging phone-tapping and other breaches of privacy. Associated Newspapers, publisher of the Daily Mail, The Mail on Sunday and MailOnline, has applied to London’s High Court for the lawsuits – …

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France fines TikTok $5.4 million for online tracking shortcomings

PARIS (Reuters) -France on Thursday fined TikTok 5 million euros ($5.4 million) for shortcomings linked to the short video platform’s handling of online tracking known as “cookies”, which the ByteDance-owned company said it had now addressed. French data protection watchdog CNIL said that its investigation only concerned the website tiktok.com and not the service’s much …

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Haddad unveils plan to cut Brazil’s 2023 deficit below $20 billion

By Marcela Ayres BRASILIA (Reuters) – Brazilian Finance Minister Fernando Haddad on Thursday announced a plan to more than halve the government’s estimated deficit this year by boosting revenue and trimming expenditures, helping to lift the real currency to its strongest level in two months. Gains occurred in a session in which various currencies rose …

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Brazil police find draft decree in ex-minister’s house to revert election -source

By Ricardo Brito BRASILIA (Reuters) – Brazilian police found a draft decree in the home of former President Jair Bolsonaro’s justice minister that appears to be a proposal to interfere in the result of the October election he lost, two people familiar with the investigation said on Thursday. The proposed decree, elaborated after Bolsonaro’s narrow …

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Analysis-Why the U.S. needs Japan’s help on China chips restrictions

By Michael Martina and David Brunnstrom WASHINGTON (Reuters) – When the Biden administration unveiled aggressive export controls in October aimed at blocking China from becoming a global leader in advanced semiconductors it was missing a key ingredient: agreement from U.S. allies to impose their own matching restrictions. Persuading Japan to join the U.S. effort, which …

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