व्यापार

By Douglas Gillison, Saeed Azhar, Anirban Sen and Chris Prentice WASHINGTON/NEW YORK (Reuters) -A little-known California real estate investor behind bad loans disclosed by Zions Bancorp and Western Alliance also faces lawsuits by Banc of California and two other lenders, with his involvement in troubled debt totaling around $270 million, court filings show.  In separate actions between April and August, Banc of California, Enterprise Bank & Trust and Nano Banc sued the investor, Andrew Stupin, seeking to collect on loans worth a combined $108 million.  Stupin, a long-time California real estate investor who owns a high school football team, is listed as a guarantor on loans and is one of the defendants in those cases.  PMF CA REIT, a real estate investment firm, has also sued Stupin and others to recover nearly $7 million, the filings show. An attorney for Stupin said the Western Alliance claims against his client were unfounded and misrepresented the facts. Enterprise, Nano and Banc of California declined to comment. Jennifer Tullius, a lawyer representing PMF, said her client had no comment. The lawsuits shine new light on the surprise losses last week at Zions and Western Alliance that spooked markets, with investors already on edge after the bankruptcies of U.S. auto parts supplier First Brands and car dealership Tricolor.  The auto companies saddled big Wall Street names, including Jefferies and JPMorgan Chase, with losses, and prompted Jamie Dimon, the largest U.S. bank’s CEO, to warn of more "cockroaches,” or bad loans in banks' books.  While shares rebounded, investors remain jittery. They fear a searing rally in stocks, driven by euphoria about artificial intelligence, has stretched valuations and created asset price bubbles, while the effects of the Trump administration’s tariffs and other policies are yet to work through the economy. In such an environment, bad surprises and signs of trouble that are not fully understood can quickly snowball, analysts said. Regional banks tend to lend in concentrated local geographies and typically have a higher exposure to commercial real estate compared with the country's largest lenders. "We wouldn't be surprised if more boards are asking bank management teams to scrub through their loan portfolios for similar issues," said Manan Gosalia, banking analyst at Morgan Stanley, in a note.  Zions is set to report third-quarter results after market close on Monday.  BANKS' LOSSES TRIGGER SELLOFF The selloff in regional banks rippled through global markets after Zions disclosed on Wednesday that it was suing two Cantor Group funds to recover $60 million in soured commercial and industrial loans. The next day, Western Alliance flagged that it had sued a different Cantor Group fund in August to recover nearly $100 million, alleging fraud on the part of the borrower.  Both suits make similar allegations — that investment funds tied to the little-known California-based Cantor Group misrepresented the collateral they pledged against real estate loans, exposing the banks to losses. The properties in the cases largely involve California commercial real estate, such as store-fronts and office buildings. Zions alleged that the funds and guarantors "orchestrated a scheme" to secretly transfer or subordinate the collateral on the loans. Western Alliance alleged that the Cantor fund forged title insurance policies to obscure the fact other banks already had a claim on the underlying properties pledged as collateral. Stupin is involved as a defendant in both the Zions and Western Alliance cases. His co-defendants also include another individual, named Gerald Marcil.  Marcil is also a real estate developer in California and a licensed real estate salesperson, according to public records. Cantor Group LLC, which has no relationship to the Wall Street investment bank Cantor Fitzgerald, does not appear to have a website. Its registration shows it was incorporated in 2015 and is currently based in Newport Beach, California.  Stupin did not respond to Reuters' emails and calls seeking comment. His attorney, Brandon Tran, addressed the Western Alliance allegations, saying the claims against Stupin and Marcil were unfounded and misrepresented the facts. Tran did not comment on the other cases involving Stupin.  Marcil did not respond to calls seeking comment.  Spokespeople for Zions did not respond to a Reuters request for comment. Western Alliance declined to comment beyond the litigation. OTHER LAWSUITS TIED TO CALIFORNIA PROPERTIES In a regulatory filing, Zions said it became aware of legal actions by "several banks and other lenders against parties that appeared to be affiliated," but did not elaborate.  A Reuters review of outstanding cases against Cantor Group, Stupin and Marcil revealed the other five lawsuits this year. Those five suits allege Stupin guaranteed the roughly $115 million in loans, which are now in default, tied to properties near Los Angeles and San Francisco. Combined with the Western Alliance and Zions loans, that puts Stupin's ties to bad loans at more than $270 million, the Reuters review of the filings found. During a Laguna Beach, California, city council meeting in May 2023, Stupin said he "been doing real estate ventures for almost 50 years," and had lived in the area for most of his life. Stupin — along with Marcil — is also one of the largest investors in Continuum Analytics, an entity that invests in distressed real estate assets, the legal filings show. A representative for Continuum could not be reached for comment. Outside of his real estate interests, Stupin owns a high school touch football club team, according to the club's website.  (Writing by Michelle Price; Editing by Paritosh Bansal and Nick Zieminski)

(The article has been published through a syndicated feed. Except for the headline, the content has been published verbatim. Liability lies with original publisher.)

(Corrects September 24 story to remove misinterpreted quote from IARD CEO Braithwaite, adds fresh quote from the same interview in paragraph 7) By Emma Rumney and Jennifer Rigby LONDON (Reuters) -The Belgian beer industry, Mexico's tequila makers and Heineken all lobbied governments this summer to resist a push by the U.N.'s health agency to introduce tougher rules targeting alcohol, letters and an email reviewed by Reuters show. The previously unreported efforts reflect how the $1 trillion global drinks industry is taking on the World Health Organization over its hardening stance that there is no risk-free level of drinking. That position is disputed by the industry. And as cash-strapped and increasingly health-conscious consumers cut back on alcohol, dealing a blow to companies' profits, the stand-off reveals how the sector is ramping up its efforts to head off further threats.  ALCOHOL POLICIES WATERED DOWN IN UN HEALTH AGREEMENT The WHO and other health authorities say drinking, sometimes even in small amounts, is linked to higher risks of certain cancers and other diseases. Dag Rekve, the WHO's technical policy officer, told Reuters that at the population level, these health harms were "consistent and well documented". But alcohol makers say the science is more complicated, and shows drinking in moderation is low-risk. Julian Braithwaite, CEO of the International Alliance for Responsible Drinking (IARD), told Reuters the industry aims to become "more engaged… more vocal" in the debate. To that end, IARD's members, which include leading brewers and spirit makers, have increased the organisation's funding to have it play a more active role in alcohol-related science debates and counter the message coming from health bodies. The current flashpoint in that battle is a new U.N.-backed agreement, due for adoption by countries on September 25, that sets targets for tackling non-communicable diseases, some of them linked to alcohol. Proposed WHO-backed alcohol controls appeared in the first draft of the agreement published in May. But a later version, from earlier in September, also public, shows they have been dropped or weakened. The WHO said last week that the process had been affected by intense lobbying, including by the alcohol industry.  A letter seen by Reuters shows that, in May, soon after the first draft of the agreement was released, Mexico's National Chamber of the Tequila Industry (CNIT), which represents top spirits makers, wrote to the Mexican government.  CNIT asked Mexican authorities to use talks with other governments to help remove references to WHO-supported policies, including commitments to raise taxes on alcohol and restrict its availability in stores, the letter showed. Those proposals were subsequently tempered in the September draft to say countries should "consider" introducing tax increases "in line with national circumstances" and "consider … availability measures."   A separate letter sent to the Mexican government on behalf of Dutch beer giant Heineken suggested changing a proposal to ban or restrict alcohol advertising to instead focus it on advertising to minors. Calls for restrictions on alcohol advertising were dropped from the September version of the agreement.  Trade association Belgian Brewers, meanwhile, wrote to the Belgian deputy prime minister's office in June complaining that the country's health minister was pursuing "radical positions" in relation to the U.N. text, an email seen by Reuters showed.  The industry group pointed to attempts to change a reference about reducing the impact of harmful consumption, such as alcohol addiction, into a statement that referred to all kinds of drinking.  A SHIFT NEEDED? Heineken, CNIT and Belgian Brewers told Reuters it was standard practice to communicate industry views to policymakers. CNIT said it did not seek to weaken the U.N. agreement, only to ensure that it was both effective and fair to the industry by providing robust science, and added that this resulted in better policies.  Both the Mexican chamber and Heineken said the private sector has a recognised role in the U.N. health process.  Belgian Brewers, meanwhile, said a shift to focus on all alcohol consumption risked being counterproductive. It is not clear if the Mexican government adopted the industry's suggestions during negotiations over the U.N.-backed document. Mexico's health ministry did not respond to Reuters' questions.  IARD's Braithwaite said the changes made to the health targets reflected governments' recognition that an approach that distinguishes between moderate and harmful consumption, such as drink-driving, works. But Jeremy Farrar, the WHO's assistant-director general in charge of health promotion, disease prevention and care, said that the body had to address the main causes of ill health – from alcohol to pollution – more strongly. "There does have to be a shift," he told Reuters. A BATTLE OF MESSAGES The WHO's headquarters and European office have increased the number of publications released relating to alcohol since 2022, according to a Reuters review of their output. And in 2023, they moved to a stance that there is "no safe level" of drinking.  Company executives have argued the industry needs to more actively push back and promote positive aspects of moderate drinking.  In March, Diageo advertised for a new role on its global lobbying team, citing "an unprecedented challenge" from the WHO and related non-governmental organisations pressuring governments.  Such roles are a "standard part of how we engage with governments to advocate for proportionate, evidence-based policies that support both society and business", a Diageo spokesperson said. Diageo interim CEO Nik Jhangiani said at a recent conference that the spirits sector was being "outshone" by negative messaging, and it should do more to manage the dialogue.  And Carlsberg CEO Jacob Aarup-Andersen told Reuters last month that moderate drinking has benefits for socialising and mental health and said the industry should communicate those. But health or policy arguments from drinks companies should be taken with a grain of salt, said Eric Crosbie, a professor at the University of Nevada, Reno's School of Public Health.  "We have to remember these are businesses," he said. "They're there to make money." (Reporting by Emma Rumney and Jennifer Rigby; Editing by Adam Jourdan and Joe Bavier)

(The article has been published through a syndicated feed. Except for the headline, the content has been published verbatim. Liability lies with original publisher.)

By Igor Sodre SAO PAULO (Reuters) -Sales in Brazilian bars and restaurants dropped 4.9% in September compared to August amid growing cases of methanol contamination in alcoholic beverages, data released by payment company Stone and the Brazilian Association of Bars and Restaurants Abrasel showed on Monday.   WHY IT'S IMPORTANT Brazil recorded 133 reports of methanol poisoning linked to alcoholic beverages since September, including 46 confirmed cases and eight deaths, according to the Brazilian Health Ministry.  The contamination has sparked consumer fears, adding pressure to a sector already facing inflation and weak job creation. CONTEXT Brazil's consumer prices rose 0.48% in September, reversing a 0.11% decline in August, according to official data. Meanwhile, formal job creation fell short of economists' projections in August.  These factors, along with the methanol contamination concerns, have impacted discretionary spending, such as dining out, according to the survey.  KEY QUOTE "The methanol poisoning cases spread panic among consumers and caused a drop in activity at some establishments," Abrasel head Paulo Solmucci said in a statement. WHAT'S NEXT To stabilize sales, the bar and restaurant industry will need to rebuild consumer confidence and adapt to ongoing economic challenges, including inflation and reduced disposable income. (Reporting by Igor Sodre; Writing by Isabel Teles; Editing by Mark Porter)

(The article has been published through a syndicated feed. Except for the headline, the content has been published verbatim. Liability lies with original publisher.)

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -U.S. President Donald Trump has launched a global trade war with an array of tariffs that target individual products and countries.  Trump has set a baseline tariff of 10% on all imports to the United States, as well as additional duties on certain products or countries.  Here is a list of targeted tariffs he has implemented or threatened to put in place. COUNTRY-SPECIFIC TARIFFS Afghanistan – 15% Algeria – 30% Angola – 15% Bangladesh – 20% Bolivia – 15% Bosnia and Herzegovina – 30% Botswana – 15% Brazil – 50% for most goods Brunei – 25% Cambodia – 19% Cameroon – 15% Canada – 10% on energy products, 35% for other products not covered by the U.S.-Canada-Mexico Agreement  Chad – 15% China – 30%, with additional tariffs on some products, until November 10. Trump has threatened to impose an additional 100% tariff on November 1.  Costa Rica – 15% Cote d'Ivoire – 15% Democratic Republic of the Congo – 15% Ecuador – 15% Equatorial Guinea – 15% European Union – 15% on most goods Falkland Islands – 10% Fiji – 15% Ghana – 15% Guyana – 15% Iceland – 15% India – 50% Indonesia – 19% Iraq – 35% Israel – 15% Japan – 15% Jordan – 15% Kazakhstan – 25% Laos – 40% Lesotho – 15% Libya – 30% Liechtenstein – 15% Madagascar – 15% Malawi – 15% Malaysia – 19% Mauritius – 15% Mexico – 25% for products not covered by USMCA Moldova – 25%  Mozambique – 15% Myanmar – 40% Namibia – 15% Nauru – 15% New Zealand – 15% Nicaragua – 18% Nigeria – 15% North Macedonia – 15% Norway – 15% Pakistan – 19% Papua New Guinea – 15% Philippines – 19% Serbia – 35% South Africa – 30% South Korea – 15% Sri Lanka – 20% Switzerland – 39% Syria – 41% Taiwan – 20% Thailand – 19% Trinidad and Tobago – 15% Tunisia – 25% Turkey – 15% Uganda – 15% United Kingdom – 10%, with some auto and metal imports exempt from higher global rates Vanuatu – 15% Vietnam – 20% for some products, 40% on transshipments from third countries Zambia – 15% Zimbabwe – 15% PRODUCT-SPECIFIC TARIFFS Steel and aluminum – 50% Autos and auto parts – 25% Copper pipes, tubes and other semi-finished products – 50%  Wood products – 10% on softwood timber and lumber, 25% on kitchen cabinets, bathroom vanities and some upholstered wood products PRODUCT-SPECIFIC TARIFFS THREATENED BUT NOT IN EFFECT Large vehicles – 25% for medium and heavy-duty trucks and truck parts, 10% for buses, to take effect November 1 Pharmaceuticals – 100% Semiconductors – 100% Movies – 100% Critical minerals Aircraft, engines and parts Apple iPhones – 25% (Reporting by Andy Sullivan; Additional reporting by Pritam Biswas; Editing by Cynthia Osterman, Chizu Nomiyama, Sandra Maler and Shreya Biswas)

(The article has been published through a syndicated feed. Except for the headline, the content has been published verbatim. Liability lies with original publisher.)

(Reuters) -Green energy and technology company DeepGreenX Group withdrew its registration statement for a direct listing in the United States on Monday, as the federal government shutdown hit the 20-day mark. In a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, DeepGreenX said the company had decided not to pursue the offering given processing delays and its inability to communicate with the agency's staff during the ongoing shutdown. The SEC is currently running only essential functions on a skeleton staff and not processing registration statements. However, the Wall Street regulator had earlier this month eased the way for companies to proceed with initial public offerings, which has encouraged companies to press ahead with their listing plans Half a dozen companies have turned to the rarely used 20-day rule to proceed with their IPOs amid the ongoing shutdown. Drug developer MapLight Therapeutics is poised to price its offering later this month after tapping the 20-day rule, according to a marketing presentation. White House economic adviser Kevin Hassett said on Monday the government shutdown was likely to end this week. DeepGreenX, founded in 2020 and headquartered in Seoul, provides green logistics supply chain services and is developing an asset-to-digital currency platform. Certain existing shareholders of DeepGreenX had planned on selling up to 93.75 million shares in the direct listing. The direct listing route allows companies to avoid selling new shares as well as the costs of a traditional IPO. (Reporting by Arasu Kannagi Basil in Bengaluru; Editing by Krishna Chandra Eluri)

(The article has been published through a syndicated feed. Except for the headline, the content has been published verbatim. Liability lies with original publisher.)

By Deborah Mary Sophia and Shubham Kalia (Reuters) -Amazon's cloud services unit AWS was struggling to recover on Monday from a widespread outage that knocked out thousands of websites along with some of the world's most popular apps – Snapchat and Reddit – and disrupted businesses globally. The turmoil marked the largest internet disruption since last year's CrowdStrike malfunction hobbled technology systems in hospitals, banks and airports, and highlights the vulnerability of the world's interconnected technologies. After more than six hours of disruptions, some applications were gradually coming back online as of 10:00 a.m. ET (1400 GMT). But AWS acknowledged it was still experiencing elevated errors. "We can confirm significant API errors and connectivity issues across multiple services … We are investigating," AWS said in the latest update on its status page. To aid the recovery, AWS said it was putting in place limits on the number of requests that can be made on its platform. While some apps like Reddit and Roblox had largely stabilised, according to outage tracking website Downdetector, others, including Snapchat and Duolingo, were showing a resurgence in issues seen earlier in the day. ISSUE ORIGINATED FROM AWS SITE KNOWN FOR PREVIOUS OUTAGES AWS provides on-demand computing power, data storage and other digital services to companies, governments and individuals. Disruptions to its servers can cause outages across websites and platforms that rely on its cloud infrastructure. AWS is the largest cloud provider in the world, followed by Microsoft's Azure and Alphabet's Google Cloud. AWS said on its status page that Monday's outage originated at its US-EAST-1 location in northern Virginia, its oldest and largest for web services. The site suffered previous outages in 2021 and 2020. Asked for comment, AWS directed Reuters to its status page. Amazon did not respond to a request for comment. Junade Ali, a software engineer, cyber expert and Fellow at the Institution of Engineering and Technology, said the issue appeared to be with one of the networking systems AWS uses to control a database product. "As this issue can usually be resolved centrally … unless there are further issues identified, the issue should be able to be mitigated over the coming hours," he said. HOURS LATER, A ROCKY RECOVERY Ookla, which owns Downdetector, said over 4 million users reported issues due to the incident. Snapchat, for instance, last had over 7,700 reports on Downdetector, up from about 4,000 reports earlier, but still lower than the peak of more than 22,000. AI startup Perplexity, cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase and trading app Robinhood all experienced platform disruptions and attributed them to AWS. Amazon's own services, including its shopping website, Prime Video and Alexa, were also hit, although Downdetector last showed a decrease in severity. Fortnite, owned by Epic Games, along with Clash Royale and Clash of Clans were among the gaming platforms affected. Uber rival Lyft was also knocked down in the United States. In a post on X, Signal's President Meredith Whittaker confirmed the messaging app was hit by the outage as well, though billionaire Elon Musk, who owns X, said his platform continued to work. OUTAGE EXPOSES RISK OF DEPENDENCE ON HANDFUL OF PROVIDERS In Britain, Lloyd Bank, Bank of Scotland and telecom service providers Vodafone and BT were also facing issues, according to Downdetector's UK website, as was UK tax, payments and customs authority HMRC's website. The problem highlights how interconnected everyday digital services have become and how reliant they now are on a small number of global cloud providers, with one glitch causing havoc with business and day-to-day life, experts and academics said. "The main reason for this issue is that all these big companies have relied on just one service," said Nishanth Sastry, Director of Research at the University of Surrey's Department of Computer Science. While there has been no indication yet of a potential cyberattack behind Monday's outage, the scale of the disruption has fed speculation. "When anything like this happens, the concern that it's a cyber incident is understandable," said Rafe Pilling, director of threat intelligence at cybersecurity firm Sophos. "AWS has a far-reaching and intricate footprint, so any issue can cause a major upset." (Reporting by Shubham Kalia, Devika Nair, Ananya Palyekar and Deborah Sophia in Bengaluru; Additional reporting by James Pearson and Jaspreet Singh; Editing by Saumyadeb Chakrabarty and Joe Bavier)

(The article has been published through a syndicated feed. Except for the headline, the content has been published verbatim. Liability lies with original publisher.)

By Hannah Lang and Stefano Rebaudo (Reuters) -The dollar edged up against the yen on Monday as investors shifted their focus to political developments in Japan and the euro area, while U.S. credit risk concerns lingered. The yen weakened as hardline conservative Sanae Takaichi is almost certain to become Japan's first female prime minister after a decisive parliamentary vote.  Her expected premiership, backed by a new coalition with the right-wing Japan Innovation Party, has raised investor concerns over potential fiscal expansion, which could weigh on the yen. "Market participants will now be watching closely to see what fiscal plans are put together by the new coalition government," said MUFG senior currency economist Lee Hardman. The dollar was up 0.03% to 150.535 yen, after hitting 151.20 earlier in the session. Bank of Japan board member Hajime Takata, who voted against keeping rates steady in September, reiterated on Monday his case for resuming hikes, giving the Japanese currency some support.  Japan's benchmark Nikkei stock index closed more than 3% higher, hitting an all-time peak. [.T] The BOJ next decides monetary policy on October 30, with market-implied odds of a quarter-point rate increase at 23%, LSEG data shows. The euro edged slightly higher against the dollar as French political tensions eased, but investor caution lingered. Markets have yet to fully price out French risk from the euro, with the government’s decision to freeze pension reform offering only a temporary political breather. The euro was up 0.06% at $1.1659. U.S. stock indexes ended higher on Friday after U.S. President Donald Trump said his proposed 100% tariffs on China would not be sustainable, while upbeat quarterly results from regional banks helped ease credit risk concerns. After a turbulent week in which some regional U.S. banks flagged bad loan and fraud issues, investors are now awaiting more earnings to check for signs of wider sector strain. The U.S. dollar index, a measure of its value relative to a basket of other major foreign currencies, fell 0.047% to 98.489. It hit 98.025 on Friday, its lowest level since October 6. "The immediate danger seems to have passed as investors are convinced that the bankruptcies, bad loans and fraud accusations are all isolated incidents, and not part of widespread failings within the banking sector," David Morrison, senior market analyst at Trade Nation, said in a note. Economists said the dollar's resilience will be tested on multiple fronts. "One, the government shutdown is hurting economic activity, both directly and indirectly," said Klaus Baader, global chief economist at Societe Generale Corporate and Investment Banking (SGCIB), adding U.S.-China tensions were a second major concern. "Three, the (import) tariffs that are already in effect continue to feed through, slowing real household income growth and weighing on corporate margins," he said. Barclays flagged that, with no obvious catalyst to end the federal government shutdown in the next few weeks, the stoppage may extend well into November, when political and economic pressures should intensify. The Australian dollar rose 0.39% to $0.651 on Monday, cheered by data from top trade partner China showing its economy reasonably resilient to U.S. tariffs. Official data showed China's economy grew 1.1% in the third quarter, topping forecasts, while industrial output also beat with a 6.5% rise. Although the 4.8% annual growth rate marked the weakest pace in a year, it kept China on track to meet its official target of around 5%. (Reporting by Stefano Rebaudo; Editing by Sam Holmes, Emelia Sithole-Matarise and Alexander Smith)

(The article has been published through a syndicated feed. Except for the headline, the content has been published verbatim. Liability lies with original publisher.)

By Jeff Horwitz NEW YORK (Reuters) -Meta researchers found that teens who report that Instagram regularly made them feel bad about their bodies saw significantly more “eating disorder adjacent content” than those who did not, according to an internal document reviewed by Reuters. The posts shown to those users featured “prominent display” of chest, buttocks, or thighs, “explicit judgement” about body types and “content related to disordered eating and/or negative body image.”  While such material is not banned on Instagram, the researchers noted that parents, teens and outside experts have told Meta they believe it is potentially harmful to young users.  Meta surveyed 1,149 teens over the course of the 2023-2024 academic year about whether and how often they felt bad about their bodies after using Instagram. Then they manually sampled the content those users saw on the platform over a three-month period. The study showed that for the 223 teens who often felt bad about their bodies after viewing Instagram, “eating disorder adjacent content” made up 10.5% of what they saw on the platform. Among the other teens in the study, such content accounted for only 3.3% of what they saw.  “Teens who reported frequent body dissatisfaction after viewing posts on Instagram… saw about three times more body-focused/ED-adjacent content than other teens,” the authors wrote, referring to eating disorders, according to a summary of the research reviewed exclusively by Reuters. In addition to seeing more eating disorder-adjacent content, researchers found, the teens who reported the most negative feelings about themselves saw more provocative content more broadly, content Meta classifies as “mature themes,”  “Risky behavior,” “Harm & Cruelty” and “Suffering.” Cumulatively, such content accounted for 27% of what those teens saw on the platform, compared with 13.6% among their peers who hadn’t reported negative feelings.  META RESEARCHERS EXPRESSED CONCERN The researchers stressed that their findings did not prove that Instagram was making users feel worse about their bodies. “It is not possible to establish the causal direction of these findings,” they wrote, noting the possibility that teens who felt bad about themselves could be actively seeking out that material.  The Instagram research, a redacted replica of which is published here and has not been previously reported, demonstrated that Instagram exposed teens who “report frequently experiencing body dissatisfaction" to high doses of content that Meta’s own advisors “have expressed support for limiting,” the writeup said. In a statement, Meta spokesperson Andy Stone said the document reviewed by Reuters demonstrates Meta’s commitment to understanding and improving its products.  “This research is further proof we remain committed to understanding young people’s experiences and using those insights to build safer, more supportive platforms for teens,” Stone said, noting the company’s recent announcement that it would attempt to show minors content in-line with PG-13 movie standards.   In the study, Meta said that its existing screening tools – which were designed to catch violations of platform rules – were incapable of detecting 98.5% of the “sensitive” content that the company believes might not have been appropriate for teens. The finding was “not necessarily surprising,” the researchers wrote, because Meta had only recently begun work on building an algorithm to detect the potentially harmful content they were examining. 'ASSOCIATION' BETWEEN CONTENT AND 'FEELING WORSE ABOUT ONE'S BODY' The study, which is marked, “Do not distribute internally or externally without permission,” is the latest internal research that demonstrates an “association” between viewing fashion, beauty and fitness content and “reporting feeling worse about one’s body,” the document states. The research was conducted as part of Meta’s efforts to understand interactions between users and its own products, which rely on algorithms to determine which content to show to users.  In the United States, the company has faced state and federal investigations of Instagram’s effects on children as well as civil suits by school districts alleging harmful product design and deceptive marketing of its platforms as safe for teens.  Those suits have prominently cited past leaked internal research from Meta in which researchers expressed their belief that the platform’s content recommendations might be harmful to youth with existing body image issues.  Since July of this year, Stone said, the company has reduced the amount of age-restricted content shown to teenage Instagram users by half.  CONTENT WARRANTED TRIGGER WARNING Jenny Radesky, a University of Michigan Associate Professor of Pediatrics who reviewed Meta’s unreleased research at Reuters’ request, called the study’s methodology robust and its findings disturbing. “This supports the idea that teens with psychological vulnerabilities are being profiled by Instagram and fed more harmful content,” Radesky said. “We know that a lot of what people consume on social media comes from the feed, not from search.” Past internal research at Meta “has demonstrated an association between frequency of reporting feeling worse about one’s body” and consuming Instagram fitness and beauty content, the writeup says.  Meta’s researchers wrote that teens, parents, pediatricians, external advisors and Meta’s own Eating Disorder & Body Image Advisory Council have urged Instagram to limit how much of that content it shows to teenagers, warning that it “may be detrimental to teen well-being, specifically by precipitating or exacerbating feelings of body dissatisfaction.” Such content falls afoul of Meta’s rules against content that overtly promotes eating disorders. The report included samples of problematic content including images of skinny women in lingerie and bikinis, fight videos and a drawing of a crying figure scrawled with phrases including “how could I ever compare” and “make it all end.” One of the example posts showed a closeup of a woman’s lacerated neck.  Though the content did not violate Meta’s rules, the researchers found it disturbing enough that they issued a “sensitive content” warning to colleagues reading their work. (Reporting by Jeff Horwitz in Oakland, Calif. Editing by Kenneth Li and Michael Learmonth)

(The article has been published through a syndicated feed. Except for the headline, the content has been published verbatim. Liability lies with original publisher.)

By Deborah Mary Sophia and Shubham Kalia (Reuters) -Amazon's cloud services unit AWS was recovering on Monday from a widespread outage that knocked out thousands of websites along with some of the world's most popular apps – Snapchat and Reddit – and disrupted businesses globally. The turmoil marked the largest internet disruption since last year's CrowdStrike malfunction hobbled technology systems in hospitals, banks and airports, and highlights the vulnerability of the world's interconnected technologies. After roughly three hours of disruptions, systems were gradually coming back online as of 6:00 a.m. ET (1000 GMT), with AWS saying it was seeing "significant signs of recovery" for some impacted services. "Most requests should now be succeeding. We continue to work through a backlog of queued requests," it said in the latest update on the outage posted on its status page. ISSUE SHOULD BE RESOLVED IN COMING HOURS, EXPERT SAYS AWS provides on-demand computing power, data storage and other digital services to companies, governments and individuals. Disruptions to its servers can cause outages across websites and platforms that rely on its cloud infrastructure. AWS competes with Google and Microsoft's cloud services. Asked for comment on the outage, AWS directed Reuters to its status page. Amazon did not respond to a request for comment. Junade Ali, a software engineer, cyber expert and Fellow at the Institution of Engineering and Technology, said the issue appeared to be with one of the networking systems AWS uses to control a database product. "As this issue can usually be resolved centrally … unless there are further issues identified, the issue should be able to be mitigated over the coming hours," he said. INITIAL SIGNS OF RECOVERY Ookla, owner of outage tracking website Downdetector, said over 4 million users reported issues due to the incident. Issues on some apps and websites, including Snapchat, Roblox, streaming site Max and PayPal's Venmo were showing signs of easing, according to Downdetector. Snapchat last had over 4,000 reports on Downdetector, down from an earlier peak of more than 22,000, while reports on Roblox dropped to less than 500 from a peak of over 12,600. Other services, however, remained affected, with thousands of reports for social media app Reddit and financial platform Chime on Downdetector. AI startup Perplexity, cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase and trading app Robinhood all experienced platform disruptions and attributed them to AWS. Amazon's own services, including its shopping website, Prime Video and Alexa, were also hit, although Downdetector last showed a decrease in severity. Fortnite, owned by Epic Games, along with Clash Royale and Clash of Clans were among the gaming platforms affected. Uber rival Lyft was also knocked down in the United States. In a post on X, Signal's President Meredith Whittaker confirmed the messaging app was hit by the outage as well, though billionaire Elon Musk, who owns X, said his platform continued to work. OUTAGE EXPOSES RISK OF DEPENDENCE ON HANDFUL OF PROVIDERS In Britain, Lloyd Bank, Bank of Scotland and telecom service providers Vodafone and BT were also facing issues, according to Downdetector's UK website, as was UK tax, payments and customs authority HMRC's website. The problem highlights how interconnected everyday digital services have become and how reliant they now are on a small number of global cloud providers, with one glitch causing havoc with business and day-to-day life, experts and academics said. "The main reason for this issue is that all these big companies have relied on just one service," said Nishanth Sastry, Director of Research at the University of Surrey's Department of Computer Science. While there has been no indication yet of a potential cyberattack behind Monday's outage, the scale of the disruption has fed speculation. "When anything like this happens, the concern that it's a cyber incident is understandable," said Rafe Pilling, director of threat intelligence at cybersecurity firm Sophos. "AWS has a far-reaching and intricate footprint, so any issue can cause a major upset." (Reporting by Shubham Kalia, Devika Nair, Ananya Palyekar and Deborah Sophia in Bengaluru; Additional reporting by James Pearson; Editing by Saumyadeb Chakrabarty and Joe Bavier)

(The article has been published through a syndicated feed. Except for the headline, the content has been published verbatim. Liability lies with original publisher.)

(Reuters) -Archer Aviation on Monday said it signed a partnership with Korean Air to commercialize its electric air taxis in South Korea, with a potential purchase of up to 100 aircraft. The deal underscores an intensifying race among electric vertical take-off and landing developers to win regulatory approvals, lock in airline partners and move from prototypes to paid service. Shares of the Santa Clara, California-based company rose 6% in early U.S. trading. Startups and aerospace incumbents alike are pitching short urban hops and airport transfers as faster, lower-emission alternatives to congested ground transport, even as the sector contends with certification hurdles, infrastructure build-out and uncertain timelines to profitability. Archer said the agreement targets deployment of its Midnight eVTOL "across multiple applications and use cases, starting with government applications." The aircraft is designed for 10–20 minute flights and last month completed a series of performance test flights, with two of its highest-altitude flights to date. Backed by Boeing and Stellantis, Archer is producing six aircraft at two U.S. plants and counts United Airlines and the owner of India's IndiGo among its customers. Archer, which is yet to turn a profit, expects an adjusted EBITDA loss of $110 million to $130 million in the third quarter, wider than last year's $93 million loss. Last week, Archer said it won a bid to acquire rival Lilium's portfolio of about 300 advanced air mobility patent assets for 18 million euros ($21 million), expanding its own portfolio to over 1,000 patent assets. ($1 = 0.8575 euros) (Reporting by Nandan Mandayam in Bengaluru; Editing by Tasim Zahid)

(The article has been published through a syndicated feed. Except for the headline, the content has been published verbatim. Liability lies with original publisher.)