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China urges EU to stop ‘provoking trouble’ in South China Sea dispute

BEIJING – The Chinese embassy in the Philippines advised Manila on Thursday not to “fantasise” about relying on outside forces to resolve the South China Sea dispute, and urged the European Union to stop “provoking trouble”.

An embassy spokesperson made the comments after EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas visited the Philippine capital and voiced concern over China’s activities in the busy waterway, where its claims overlap those of some Southeast Asian nations.

“The EU is not a party to the South China Sea disputes and has no right to interfere in the South China Sea differences between China and the Philippines,” the spokesperson said in a statement on the embassy website.

The Philippine embassy in Beijing did not immediately respond to an emailed request for comment. — Reuters

Insuring Filipinos for a more resilient Philippine economy

GCash Insurance Partnerships and Business Development Head Jay Young (right)

GCash underscores the significance of insurance in building security and certainty among Filipinos through GInsure

An inclusive and resilient future is made possible only by achieving solutions that cater to all sectors of society, even the traditionally underserved. In a world where risks may come in various forms, insurance steps in with solutions that address consumers’ needs for security while empowering and protecting them financially.

In a growing digital economy like the Philippines, consumers increasingly prefer services that are simple, instant, and accessible. Insurance should be no different. Insurance products and other financial services are evolving to meet growing demand by becoming more readily available through digital platforms.

In one of the panel discussions in this year’s BusinessWorld Economic Forum, GCash Insurance Partnerships and Business Development Head Jay Young shared why digital insurance is paramount to building financial inclusivity and a resilient future for the Philippines.

GCash, the country’s top financial super app, provides insurance products that are cost-effective and cover a wide range of consumer needs through GInsure. Launched in 2021, GInsure makes protection just a tap away. It features 58 insurance products tailored to different lifestyles, covering personal accidents, medical services, and much more.

At present, GInsure has successfully insured an estimated 20 million users with 55 million policies. Out of 90 million registered users of the app, about 60 million are eligible for its insurance products and services. The platform makes insurance products accessible at the tap of a button, partnering with 15 top insurance providers, such as Singlife Philippines, Sun Life, and Standard Insurance, among others, to protect Filipinos.

GCash Insurance Partnerships and Business Development Head Jay Young, one of the panelists in this year’s BusinessWorld Economic Forum, shared why digital insurance is paramount to building financial inclusivity and a resilient future for the Philippines.

Through the years, GCash has become deeply embedded in Filipinos’ daily lives, and GInsure aims to do the same. As Mr. Young observed, the average Filipino purchases mobile load credits weekly. With this, GCash offers free health and accident insurance coverage for up to seven days to users who buy mobile load from the platform.

Moreover, he pointed out how GCash seeks to build the pathway for Filipinos to achieve security and certainty through insurance.

“We’re giving away free insurance with the hope that they will be able to understand this micro insurance product, so that one day, they will be able to have broader understanding on how insurance works, and they will be able to get a more comprehensive insurance for themselves. We want to be on that journey with our users,” Mr. Young said.

Beyond insurance, Mr. Young also noted how GCash makes inclusive and resilient growth possible among different communities when he observed fisherfolk benefitting from the app’s e-wallet functions and perks like the GCash card.

“For them, [the GCash card] is the first time something tangible has been named after them. They consider it as a key or a gateway to financial possibilities. Inclusion can be as simple as that. We realized in GCash inclusion should start with small things, [such as in] making people using the app feel proud of what they have. Once they experience that, they feel included,” Mr. Young said.

 

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DigiPlus’ BingoPlus Foundation expands FutureSMART program, unites with tech education leaders to bridge skills and careers

The ceremonial Memorandum of Agreement attended by remarkable executives from each organizations namely (from left to right) Phoebe Fontanilla and Ken Ngo, Board Members of Edukasyon.ph; Angela Camins-Wieneke, Executive Director of BingoPlus Foundation; Celeste Jovenir, DigiPlus’ VP for Investor Relations, Corporate Communication, and Sustainability and BPF COO; Precious Lim, Country Manager of AWS Philippines; and Rajas Karandikar, Head of Greenfield for AWS ASEAN.

DigiPlus Interactive Corp., through its social development arm, BingoPlus Foundation, has officially launched a strategic partnership with Edukasyon.ph to expand its flagship education initiative, the FutureSmart Program, strengthening the link between technology education and real-world employment for Filipinos. The ceremonial Memorandum of Agreement (MoA) signing was held on May 26, 2025 at the AWS Philippines in Bonifacio Global City, Taguig City.

As part of the partnership, DigiPlus and BingoPlus Foundation will allocate P2 million in financial support for 50 scholars to complete the AWS re/Start program — a 12-week workforce development training program that prepares individuals for careers in the cloud. For post-training, Edukasyon.ph will provide job placement support to ensure graduates are connected to employment within three months. The partnership will also connect these scholars and other AWS-certified professionals nationwide to career opportunities within DigiPlus and its network of tech industry partners.

This partnership aligns with DigiPlus and BingoPlus Foundation’s mission to equip Filipinos with the tools they need to thrive in a digital economy. It also reinforces the Foundation’s FutureSmart Program, which has already impacted over 5,000 students and teachers through scholarships, technology training, learning center donations, and employment pathways.

Earlier this year, the FutureSmart Program was recognized with a Gold Stevie Award for Excellence in Social Impact at the 2025 Asia-Pacific Stevie Awards in Seoul, South Korea. The award affirms the program’s success in driving real, measurable change and highlights the importance of strategic partnerships in scaling its impact.

“Winning the Gold Stevie Award is not just a recognition of our past efforts, but a push to do more, go further, and reach higher,” said Angela Camins-Wieneke, Executive Director of BingoPlus Foundation. “FutureSmart is our way of turning education into a real, life-changing impact. With Edukasyon.ph and Amazon Web Services as partners, we are confident we can take even more learners from classroom to career.”

As the demand for digital skills continues to grow, DigiPlus and BingoPlus Foundation remain committed to investing in future-ready education and inclusive pathways to employment. Through FutureSmart, the Foundation will continue shaping a workforce that is not only skilled but empowered to lead the country’s digital future.

View the official Memorandum of Agreement signing ceremony video:

For more information on the FutureSmart Program and other initiatives, visit www.digiplus.com.ph/bingoplus-foundation.

 

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Trump bans nationals from 12 countries, citing security concerns

RAWPIXEL

WASHINGTON – U.S. President Donald Trump signed a proclamation on Wednesday banning the nationals of 12 countries from entering the United States, saying the move was needed to protect against “foreign terrorists” and other security threats.

The countries affected are Afghanistan, Myanmar, Chad, Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen.

The entry of people from seven other countries: Burundi, Cuba, Laos, Sierra Leone, Togo, Turkmenistan and Venezuela, will be partially restricted. The travel restrictions were first reported by CBS News.

“We will not allow people to enter our country who wish to do us harm,” Mr. Trump said in a video posted on X. He said the list could be revised and new countries could be added.

The proclamation is effective on June 9, 2025 at 12:01 am EDT (0401 GMT). Visas issued before that date will not be revoked, the order said.

During his first term in office, Mr. Trump announced a ban on travelers from seven majority-Muslim nations, a policy that went through several iterations before it was upheld by the Supreme Court in 2018.

Former President Joe Biden, a Democrat who succeeded Trump, repealed the ban in 2021, calling it “a stain on our national conscience.”

Mr. Trump said the countries subject to the most severe restrictions were determined to harbor a “large-scale presence of terrorists,” fail to cooperate on visa security and have an inability to verify travelers’ identities, inadequate record-keeping of criminal histories and high rates of visa overstays in the United States.

“We cannot have open migration from any country where we cannot safely and reliably vet and screen those who seek to enter the United States,” Trump said.

He cited Sunday’s incident in Boulder, Colorado in which a man tossed a gasoline bomb into a crowd of pro-Israel demonstrators as an example of why the new restrictions are needed.

An Egyptian national, Mohamed Sabry Soliman, has been charged in the attack. Federal officials said Soliman had overstayed his tourist visa and had an expired work permit – although Egypt is not on the list of countries facing travel limits.

 

BEING IN THE U.S. A ‘BIG RISK’

Somalia immediately pledged to work with the U.S. to address security issues.

“Somalia values its longstanding relationship with the United States and stands ready to engage in dialogue to address the concerns raised,” Dahir Hassan Abdi, the Somali ambassador to the United States, said in a statement.

Venezuelan Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello, a close ally of President Nicolas Maduro, responded on Wednesday evening by describing the U.S. government as fascist and warning Venezuelans of being in the U.S.

“The truth is being in the United States is a big risk for anybody, not just for Venezuelans … They persecute our countrymen, our people for no reason.”

Calls early on Thursday to the spokesperson of Myanmar’s military government were not answered. The foreign ministry of Laos did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Mr. Trump’s directive is part of an immigration crackdown that he launched at the start of his second term. He previewed his plan in an October 2023 speech, pledging to restrict people from the Gaza Strip, Libya, Somalia, Syria, Yemen and “anywhere else that threatens our security.”

Mr. Trump issued an executive order on January 20 requiring intensified security vetting of any foreigners seeking admission to the U.S. to detect national security threats. That order directed several cabinet members to submit a list of countries from which travel should be partly or fully suspended because their “vetting and screening information is so deficient.”

In March, Reuters reported that the Trump administration was considering travel restrictions on dozens of countries. – Reuters

Philippine annual inflation at 1.3% in May

INDIVIDUALS shop for food items inside a supermarket in Quezon City, Jan. 16, 2023. — PHILIPPINE STAR/ MIGUEL DE GUZMAN

MANILA (UPDATE) – Philippine annual inflation eased for a fourth consecutive month in May, driven by slower increases in utility and food prices, the government said on Thursday, and the central bank said the data would allow for a more accommodative monetary policy.

The consumer price index rose 1.3% year-on-year in May, down from 1.4% in April, marking the lowest inflation rate since November 2019. The figure matched the forecast in a Reuters poll and brought the year-to-date average to 1.9%, undershooting the central bank’s 2.0% to 4.0% target range for the year.

“On balance, the more manageable inflation outlook and the downside risks to domestic economic activity allow for a shift toward a more accommodative monetary policy stance,” the central bank said in a statement.

Price increases for housing, water, electricity, and other fuel items moderated to 2.3% in May from 2.9% in April, while transport costs declined more sharply, falling 2.4% versus April’s 2.1% drop.

Core inflation, which excludes volatile food and energy prices, was steady at 2.2%
“Looks like the door remains wide open for the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP, the central bank) to cut rates in June,” said Metrobank economist Nicholas Mapa on X.

The BSP resumed monetary easing in April, cutting its key policy rate by 25 basis points to 5.5% to support economic growth amid global headwinds. The central bank is scheduled to review policy again on June 19.

On Thursday, the lower house of Congress approved a bill raising the daily minimum wage by P200, which the country’s chief statistician said could have inflationary effects. — Reuters

Nintendo Switch 2 launches globally with shortages expected amid pent-up demand

Source: Nintendo.com

TOKYO – Nintendo’s Switch 2 launched on Thursday and is widely expected to be in short supply globally amid pent-up demand for the more powerful next-generation gaming device.

“The level of demand seems to be sky-high,” said Serkan Toto, founder of the Kantan Games consultancy.

The Switch launched in 2017 and followed the underperforming Wii U. The home-portable device became a juggernaut with games including two “The Legend of Zelda” titles and COVID-19 pandemic breakout hit “Animal Crossing: New Horizons”.

The Switch 2 bears many similarities with its predecessor but offers a larger screen and improved graphics and debuts with titles including “Mario Kart World”.

“The much larger audience of Switch users should translate to stronger adoption in the opening part of its lifecycle,” said Piers Harding-Rolls, an analyst at Ampere Analysis.

“Nintendo is better prepared this time around” to deal with the high demand, he said.

The launch of the $499.99 Switch 2 is a test of Nintendo’s supply chain management during U.S. President Donald Trump‘s trade war.

Nintendo last month forecast sales of 15 million Switch 2 units during the current financial year.

President Shuntaro Furukawa said Nintendo will strengthen production capacity to respond to strong demand and focus on sales promotion in an effort to exceed the forecast.

The company, which is known for conservative forecasts, also expects to sell 4.5 million Switch units.

Nintendo said it received 2.2 million applications for its Switch 2 sales lottery on its My Nintendo Store in Japan. Pre-orders at Target TGT.N sold out in less than two hours.

“You are looking at weeks or months until you can walk into a store and buy a Switch 2,” said Toto of Kantan Games.

Investor expectations for the new device are similarly lofty.

Nintendo’s shares are trading near highs and have gained almost 30% this year.

Concerns include whether momentum for the Switch 2 will be sustained after hardcore gamers have upgraded.

“The volume of first-party games on offer at launch isn’t as strong as it could be, so some more casual users may wait and see how the games available build over the next one to two years before making the leap,” said Ampere’s Harding-Rolls.

Ampere forecasts Switch 2 sales to exceed 100 million units in 2030. Nintendo has sold 152 million Switch units in total. – Reuters

Trump signs proclamation to suspend student visas at Harvard

U.S. President Donald Trump signed a proclamation to suspend U.S. entry of foreign nationals seeking to study or participate in exchange programs at Harvard University, the White House said on Wednesday, amid an escalating dispute with the Ivy League institution.

The order also directs the U.S. State Department to “consider revoking” existing academic or exchange visas of any current Harvard students “who meet the Proclamation’s criteria.”

Last month, the State Department ordered all its consular missions overseas to begin additional vetting of visa applicants looking to travel to Harvard University for any purpose, according to an internal cable seen by Reuters.

Harvard argues the Trump administration is retaliating against it for refusing to accede to its demands to control the school’s governance, curriculum and the ideology of its faculty and students.

Wednesday’s two-page directive said Harvard has “demonstrated a history of concerning foreign ties and radicalism.”

The FBI has “long warned that foreign adversaries take advantage of easy access to American higher education to steal information, exploit research and development and spread false information,” the proclamation said.

It said Harvard had seen a “drastic rise in crime in recent years while failing to discipline at least some categories of conduct violations on campus.”

The notice also accused the university of failing to provide sufficient information to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security about foreign students’ “known illegal or dangerous activities.”

Accusing Harvard of “extensive entanglements with foreign adversaries,” the proclamation said Harvard received more than $150 million from China alone.” It said many agitators behind antisemitic incidents on campus were “found to be foreign students.”

The restrictions on new student visas at Harvard marked the latest Trump administration crackdown in a multifront attack on the nation’s oldest and wealthiest university.

It followed previous moves to freeze billions of dollars in grants and other funding, end the school’s tax-exempt status and to open an investigation into whether it discriminated against white, Asian, male or straight employees or job applicants.

Mr. Trump alleges top U.S. universities are cradles of anti-American movements. Last month, his administration revoked Harvard’s ability to enroll foreign students, a move later blocked by a federal judge. – Reuters

Ukraine and U.S. discuss how to make minerals fund operational by year-end

Donald Trump and Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskiy meet at Trump Tower in New York City, U.S., Sept. 27, 2024. — REUTERS

WASHINGTON – Ukraine and the United States have discussed how to make a minerals fund operational by the end of the year and the fund’s first meeting is expected in July, Ukraine’s First Deputy Prime Minister, Yulia Svyrydenko, said in Washington on Wednesday.

The agreement on developing Ukraine’s mineral resources, heavily promoted by U.S. President Donald Trump, was signed by Ms. Svyrydenko in Washington in April after weeks of tough negotiations made the terms more favorable to Kyiv.

Ukraine’s parliament then ratified the deal.

On Wednesday, Ms. Svyrydenko held meetings with U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and the Development Finance Corporation, which would be a partner of the minerals fund, “and we discussed very concrete steps how to make this fund operational during this year,” she told reporters.

“So we plan to have the first board meeting of this fund in July and we will discuss what will be the seed capital to start operating this fund. And actually, too, we should adopt the investment strategy for this fund for the next few years.”

The negotiations leading to the clinching of the minerals fund deal followed a heated exchange at the White House between Mr. Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy over how to work towards ending Ukraine’s three-year-old war with Russia.

The agreement was critical to Mr. Zelenskiy mending ties with Trump. The two men met briefly at the Vatican in April during the funeral of Pope Francis to help put their relations back on track. – Reuters

Southwest Pacific hit by unprecedented marine heat waves in 2024, UN says

PHILIPPINE STAR/MIGUEL DE GUZMAN

SINGAPORE – Unprecedented heat waves in the Southwest Pacific affected more than 10% of the global ocean surface in 2024, damaging coral reefs and putting the region’s last remaining tropical glacier at risk of extinction, the UN’s weather body said on Thursday.

Average 2024 temperatures in the region – which covers Australia and New Zealand as well as southeast Asian island states like Indonesia and the Philippines – were nearly half a degree Celsius (0.9 Fahrenheit) higher than the 1991-2020 mean, the World Meteorological Organization said in an annual report.

“Much of the region saw at least severe marine heat wave conditions at some point during the course of 2024, particularly in areas near and south of the equator,” said the WMO’s Blair Trewin, one of the report’s authors.

Extreme heat over the year affected 40 million square kilometers (15.4 million square miles) of ocean, and new temperature highs were set in the Philippines and Australia, the report said. Ocean surface temperatures also broke records, while total ocean heat content was the second-highest annual average, behind 2022.

An unprecedented number of cyclones, which experts have attributed to climate change, also caused havoc in the Philippines in October and November.

Sea levels continue to rise more quickly than the global average, an urgent problem in a region where more than half the population live within 500 meters (547 yards) of the coast, the report added.

The report also cited satellite data showing that the region’s sole tropical glacier, located in Indonesia on the western part of the island of New Guinea, shrank by up to 50% last year.

“Unfortunately, if this rate of loss continues, this glacier could be gone by 2026 or shortly thereafter,” said the WMO’s Thea Turkington, another of the report’s authors. – Reuters

Amazon’s delivery, logistics get an AI boost

REUTERS

SUNNYVALE, Calif. – Amazon wants customers to know that artificial intelligence is not just for writing college essays.

In a series of announcements Wednesday, Amazon demonstrated how stockroom robots, delivery people and its sprawling warehouses will all benefit from a hefty dose of artificial intelligence, speeding packages to customer doorsteps.

The company said it is forming a new group at its Lab126 device unit focused on creating warehouse robots that will perform multiple tasks when prompted, a significant advance over today’s robots that typically are designed for a singular job.

Using so-called agentic AI, these robots will be able to unload trailers and then retrieve parts for repairs, according to Amazon.

“For our customers, it’s, of course, faster delivery,” said the unit’s leader, Yesh Dattatreya, a robotics scientist, at an event at Amazon’s Silicon Valley Lab126 hardware device lab. He said the robots could be critical during times of heavy demand, like around the holidays, for things like lifting heavy objects in confined spaces.

The new AI would also help the company minimize waste and cut carbon emissions, Amazon said.

Agentic AI has become one of the hot investment areas with technologists promising software that can make decisions and act upon them without any additional input from users. Such software is meant to help automate everyday tasks like scheduling.

“We’re creating systems that can hear, understand and act on natural language commands, turning warehouse robots into flexible, multi-talented assistants,” Amazon said in a statement prior to the lab event.

Mr. Dattatreya said decisions like what the robots would look like, how many would be deployed or when had yet to be determined.

 

NAVIGATING OBSTACLES AT DELIVERY POINTS

Amazon is also using generative AI to create more advanced maps for its delivery drivers, so that they can more efficiently deliver packages. The specialized AI will provide Amazon fine detail on building shapes, as well as obstacles and anything else they may need to navigate for a package drop-off.

“This innovation is making it easier for Amazon drivers to find the right delivery spot, especially in tricky places like big office complexes,” Amazon said.

That technology could be critical to specialized eyeglasses Amazon is developing for delivery drivers that Reuters reported exclusively last year. The company hopes to outfit drivers with screen-embedded glasses that free their hands from GPS devices and give them turn-by-turn directions while driving, as well as while carrying packages at their destination.

Viraj Chatterjee, a vice president in Amazon’s Geospatial unit, said in an interview the technology could potentially be used in the eyeglasses, but that the hardware was far from being perfected. It marked Amazon’s first public acknowledgement of the eyeglass project.

He said delivery drivers in the U.S. were already using the maps daily. The software has been particularly useful for large apartment complexes and housing developments, he said.

Mr. Chatterjee said Amazon’s delivery people, who are largely contractors, are not required to use the software. Some gig companies have faced legal challenges over whether they are asserting too much control over their contracted workers through mapping and other software.

Amazon also said AI will help it more efficiently predict what products customers will need and where to improve its same day delivery operations, with the software considering factors such as price, convenience, weather and sales events, like Prime Day.

“It allows us to sell a different set of books in Boston than we would in Boise, and cater to different tastes really, really efficiently across the communities that we serve,” said Nathan Smith, director of demand forecasting for Amazon’s supply chain optimization technologies unit. – Reuters

Judge blocks Trump administration’s effort to eliminate Job Corps

WESLEY TINGEY-UNSPLASH

NEW YORK – A U.S. judge on Wednesday temporarily stopped the Trump administration from moving ahead with an effort to eliminate the Job Corps, the largest U.S. job training program for low-income youth.

U.S. District Judge Andrew Carter in Manhattan issued a temporary restraining order in a lawsuit filed by a trade group representing contractors that operate Job Corps centers. Carter ordered the government not to terminate Job Corps contractors or stop work at Job Corps centers until a further ruling in the case, and he ordered the Labor Department to appear at a court hearing on June 17.

The lawsuit alleges that the U.S. Department of Labor is violating federal law and its own regulations by abruptly shuttering the program, a plan the agency announced last week.

Job Corps was created by Congress in 1964 and allows 16-to-24-year-olds from disadvantaged backgrounds to obtain high school diplomas or an equivalent, vocational certificates and licenses and on-the-job training. The program currently serves about 25,000 people at 120 Job Corps centers run by contractors.

The Labor Department in announcing the end of the program said it was not cost effective, had a low graduation rate and was not placing participants in stable jobs. The department also said there had been thousands of instances of violence, drug use and security breaches at Job Corps centers.

The National Job Corps Association and other plaintiffs in Tuesday’s lawsuit said the Labor Department does not have the power to dismantle a program established and funded by Congress.

Shuttering Job Corps is a small piece of a broader effort by Trump, a Republican, and his appointees to drastically shrink the federal bureaucracy, including by getting rid of some offices and agencies altogether. – Reuters

Canadian metals industry warns of layoffs, lost sales due to new US tariffs

STOCK PHOTO | Image by Russian Aluminium Association from Pixabay

TORONTO – Canadian companies and a major union said on Wednesday higher U.S. tariffs on steel and aluminum could result in more job losses and lost sales, as Prime Minister Mark Carney said Canada is preparing reprisals.

The U.S. tariff hike on the two metals to 50% from the 25% rate introduced in March took effect at 12:01 a.m. (0401 GMT) on Wednesday.

Canada is the largest seller of the metals to the U.S., exporting to its southern neighbor roughly twice as much aluminum as the rest of the top 10 exporters’ volumes combined.

“So this is going to have a very quick impact, I will say to you, on steel industry,” said Lana Payne, president of Unifor, which is Canada’s private sector union.

The Aluminum Association of Canada, which counts Rio Tinto RIO.L among its members, said 50% tariffs could result in its members diversifying to Europe.

Tim Houtsma, CEO of Nova Scotia-based Marid Industries, a medium-scale steel fabricator, told Reuters that the tariffs make it impossible to sell to the United States.

“We are going to tighten our belt and we are going to need to watch our cost because we are going to be shut out of the U.S. market for some period of time,” Mr. Houtsma said.

Canada is prepared to strike back against the United States if talks with Washington to remove tariffs do not succeed, Prime Minister Mark Carney said on Wednesday.

“We are in intensive negotiations with the Americans, and, in parallel, preparing reprisals if those negotiations do not succeed,” he told the House of Commons.

Unifor called on Carney to retaliate immediately and urged Canada to pause exports of critical minerals to the United States. Hundreds of Canadian steel workers have lost their jobs since initial tariffs took effect. Unifor warned layoffs in the auto and aerospace industries could also occur.

In March, Canada imposed 25% tariffs on C$29.8 billion ($21.79 billion) worth of imports from the U.S. Carney has said previously there is a limit to how far Canada can go in imposing tit-for-tat tariffs.

Jeremy Flack, CEO of Flack Global Metals, a U.S.-based steel trader and manufacturer, said the tariffs have led to a pause of orders and reduced demand for steel.

“We are not getting any orders. Volumes starting from February have begun to decline,” Mr. Flack said. – Reuters

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