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By Raphael Satter and AJ Vicens WASHINGTON (Reuters) -Alphabet's Google said hackers are sending extortion emails to an unspecified number of executives from various companies, claiming to have stolen sensitive data from their Oracle business applications. In a statement, Google said a group claiming affiliation with the ransomware gang cl0p claimed to have stolen sensitive data from their Oracle E-Business Suite." Google described the email campaign as high volume but declined to share further details. Google cautioned that it "does not currently have sufficient evidence to definitively assess the veracity of these claims." Messages seeking comment from Oracle were not returned.  Cynthia Kaiser, the head of cybersecurity firm Halcyon's Ransomware Research Center, said her company had seen extortion demands ranging from millions to tens of millions of dollars, with the highest coming in at $50 million. Kaiser noted some dispute over the connection to cl0p but said there are early indications that the perpetrators are potentially connected to the group. "There's so much overlap amongst all these groups, and there are copycats across the ecosystem," Kaiser said. In an email to Reuters, cl0p said the hackers were "not prepared to discuss details at this time."  (Reporting by Raphael Satter in Washington and AJ Vicens in Detroit, Michigan.Editing by Shri Navaratnam and Diane Craft)

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By Raphael Satter and AJ Vicens WASHINGTON (Reuters) -Alphabet's Google said hackers are sending extortion emails to an unspecified number of executives from various companies, claiming to have stolen sensitive data from their Oracle business applications. In a statement, Google said a group claiming affiliation with the ransomware gang cl0p claimed to have stolen sensitive data from their Oracle E-Business Suite." Google described the email campaign as high volume but declined to share further details. Google cautioned that it "does not currently have sufficient evidence to definitively assess the veracity of these claims." Messages seeking comment from Oracle were not returned.  Cynthia Kaiser, the head of cybersecurity firm Halcyon's Ransomware Research Center, said her company had seen extortion demands ranging from millions to tens of millions of dollars, with the highest coming in at $50 million. Kaiser noted some dispute over the connection to cl0p but said there are early indications that the perpetrators are potentially connected to the group. "There's so much overlap amongst all these groups, and there are copycats across the ecosystem," Kaiser said. In an email to Reuters, cl0p said the hackers were "not prepared to discuss details at this time."  (Reporting by Raphael Satter in Washington and AJ Vicens in Detroit, Michigan.Editing by Shri Navaratnam and Diane Craft)

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FRANKFURT (Reuters) -The European Central Bank said on Thursday it had picked a Portuguese startup focussed on artificial intelligence to help prevent fraud in its planned digital euro currency. The contract with Feedzai, worth up to 237.3 million euros ($278.69 million), is one of several announced by the ECB on Thursday to advance a project that it sees as key for the euro zone's financial autonomy from the United States. Under it, Feedzai and its subcontractor PwC will provide an AI model for scoring digital euro payments by their fraud risk, based on any deviation from a customer's typical behaviour, interactions and history. This is aimed at helping payment service providers decide whether to approve a transaction in digital euros, essentially an exchange between electronic wallets backed by the central bank. The four-year agreement, with an option to extend it to 15 years, has an estimated value of 79.1 million euros and a cap at 237.3 million euros. Four further digital euro contracts worth between 27.6 million euros and 220.7 million euros were awarded to other companies, including French IT consulting firm Capgemini. Under such framework agreements, the ECB won't pay contractors until the project starts. The central bank is still awaiting legislative approval for its digital euro, which it has pitched as a response to Visa and Mastercard's dominance and to U.S. President Donald Trump's promotion of stablecoins pegged to the dollar. It hopes to receive the go-ahead around the middle of next year, with a view to launching the digital currency in 2029. Registered in Portugal, Feedzai says it processes $8 trillion worth of payments every year for clients including Portuguese bank Novobanco and Abu Dhabi's Wio Bank. On Thursday, it also announced $75 million in funding from Lince Capital, Iberis Capital and Explorer Investments among others. ($1 = 0.8515 euros) (Reporting By Francesco Canepa; Editing by Tomasz Janowski and Daniel Wallis)

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(Reuters) – China is curbing the use of European telecom kit suppliers Nokia and Ericsson in its networks, the Financial Times reported on Wednesday, citing people familiar with the matter. Sweden's Ericsson and Finland's Nokia contracts are required to be submitted for "black box" national security reviews by the Cyberspace Administration of China, where the companies are not told how their gear is assessed, FT said. State buyers of telecom equipment would require bidders to include detailed documentation on every component in their systems and the portion of local content, the report said. Ericsson declined to comment on the report. Nokia did not immediately respond to Reuters requests for comment outside regular business hours. The CAC could not be immediately reached. (Reporting by Mrinmay Dey in Bengaluru; Editing by Alan Barona)

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(Reuters) -Alphabet's Google and Comcast-owned NBCUniversal have reached a multi-year agreement to keep NBC shows such as "Sunday Night Football" and "America's Got Talent" on YouTube TV, wrapping up a difficult negotiation. YouTube TV, one of the biggest pay-TV distributors in the U.S., will carry NBCUniversal's full portfolio of networks such as NBC and CNBC under the deal, according to a statement from the companies on Thursday. Google's cable-like subscription service will also be able to offer NBCUniversal's Peacock streaming service to its 10 million subscribers, as part of a separate streaming subscription package known as YouTube Primetime Channels. The agreement includes a multi-year extension of Peacock's availability across Google's Android platforms, including Google Play and Google TV. YouTube now accounts for the largest share of TV viewing in the U.S., ahead of streaming rival Netflix and traditional media companies such as Disney, according to analytics firm Nielsen. The video-sharing platform's growing dominance highlights the changing status quo in the U.S. TV landscape. Carriage talks with NBCUniversal had stalled earlier over the rates that YouTube TV will pay to carry its shows. The two companies agreed to a short-term contract extension on Wednesday, averting a blackout and ensuring YouTube TV subscribers retained access to NBCUniversal programming while negotiations continued. YouTube TV ranks among the four largest U.S. pay-TV distributors, and Alphabet's deep pockets have recently given the video platform leverage over Paramount Skydance and Fox Corp in carriage talks, according to media firms and analysts. (Reporting by Juby Babu in Mexico City; Editing by Alan Barona and Devika Syamnath)

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By Milana Vinn (Reuters) -Boutique investment bank Cascadia Capital is expanding into technology M&A as it hires a veteran technology banker and prepares to open a Silicon Valley office, the firm’s executives told Reuters. The bank has appointed Jonathan Cantwell, previously a partner and head of software investment banking at GP Bullhound, as head of its new technology group. Cantwell will lead recruitment for the new office and build out the firm's advisory practice for companies in the enterprise Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) and artificial intelligence (AI) sectors.  Cantwell, who previously advised on deals including PeakAI in its sale to UiPath and Compendium in its sale to Oracle at GP Bullhound, said Cascadia will continue to focus on growth-stage companies with an enterprise value of up to $2 billion. "We're at this inflection point where there's a lot of high-growth software and AI companies that are going to be looking for good advisors that have a track record and experience," Cantwell said in the interview. "So, we think it's a good time to come out with a new practice and pick up on some of the deals that I've done over the last few years … there's more to do in the categories including enterprise automation, data analytics, and enterprise applications," he added. Cascadia, led by CEO Michael Butler, a former Morgan Stanley executive, plans to establish an office in Silicon Valley and scale its technology team to approximately 20 M&A bankers. The firm said it has begun hiring for the new group in conjunction with Cantwell's appointment.  Bob Diamond, CEO of Atlas Merchant Group and former chief executive of Barclays and Credit Suisse, said Atlas provided an eight-figure-investment to Cascadia back in 2022, to support the firm’s growth at the right time. Atlas is currently a significant minority investor in Cascadia. “You have the importance of software, the importance of AI, you have the blurring of the distinction in financial services between digital assets and traditional finance,” Diamond said. “It couldn’t be a better time” to expand into tech, he added. Cascadia Capital currently operates M&A advisory practices in several other industries, including food, beverage and agribusiness; consumer; industrials; and business services. (Reporting by Milana Vinn in New York; Editing by Dawn Kopecki and Nick Zieminski)

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By David Shepardson WASHINGTON (Reuters) -Two U.S. agencies said Thursday they will investigate the collision of two Amazon Prime Air delivery drones with the boom of a crane in Tolleson, Arizona. The National Transportation Safety Board and Federal Aviation Administration both said they will investigate the incident that occurred on Wednesday. Amazon in November 2024 announced it had begun drone deliveries in the West Valley of the Phoenix Metro Area in Arizona from its same-day site in Tolleson and said Thursday it has temporarily paused Prime Air drone operations in Arizona. Amazon spokesman Terrence Clark said the company was aware of the incident and "currently working with the relevant authorities to investigate." Amazon says customers who live near the Tolleson site can purchase an eligible item weighing 5 pounds or less and have it delivered by drone in under an hour. In 2023, Amazon began delivering by drone prescription medications in partnership with Amazon Pharmacy to customers in College Station, Texas. In August, the U.S. Transportation Department proposed new rules to speed deployment of drones beyond the visual line of sight of operators, a key change needed to advance commercial uses like package deliveries. "It's going to change the way that people and products move throughout our airspace… so you may change the way you get your Amazon package, you may get a Starbucks cup of coffee from a drone," Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said. Amazon has a goal of delivering 500 million packages annually by drone by the end of 2030. (Reporting by David Shepardson; Editing by Aurora Ellis)

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(Reuters) -Online fast-fashion retailer Shein will open its first permanent stores in France in November under an agreement with department store owner Société des Grands Magasins (SGM), a move that sparked criticism from French retailers. The "shop-in-shops" in the BHV department store in central Paris and Galeries Lafayette department stores in five provincial cities, mark a new step for Shein which has up to now only hosted temporary pop-up shops around the world mainly aimed at marketing. SGM president Frédéric Merlin said the launch would attract a younger clientele to its department stores, adding that the same customer might buy a Shein item and a designer handbag on the same day. RETAILERS CRITICISE DEPARTMENT STORE DEAL WITH SHEIN Shein, which sells 12-euro dresses and 20-euro jeans, faces pressure from other retailers, politicians and regulators in France, where lawmakers have backed a draft law regulating fast fashion that would, if implemented, ban Shein from advertising. "In front of the Paris City Hall, they are creating the new Shein megastore, which – after destroying dozens of French brands – aims to flood our market even more massively with disposable products," Yann Rivoallan, head of fashion retail association Fédération Francaise du Pret-a-Porter, said in a statement. French retailers were already struggling to compete with Zara and H&M when Shein launched, drawing cash-strapped consumers in with its permanent discounts and addictive app. Several French fast-fashion retailers such as Jennyfer and NafNaf went into insolvency proceedings earlier this year. Shein's first store, on the sixth floor of the BHV, will open in early November, with later openings planned in Galeries Lafayette department stores in Dijon, Grenoble, Reims, Limoges, and Angers. (Reporting by Inti Landauro and Helen Reid, Editing by Louise Heavens)

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(Reuters) -Alphabet's Google and Comcast-owned NBCUniversal said on Thursday they had reached a long-term agreement to ensure the continued availability of NBC shows, including "Sunday Night Football" and "America's Got Talent", on YouTube TV. (Reporting by Juby Babu in Mexico City; Editing by Alan Barona)

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WASHINGTON (Reuters) -Two U.S. agencies said Thursday they will the collision of two Amazon Prime Air delivery drones into a crane in Tolleson, Arizona. The National Transportation Safety Board and Federal Aviation Administration both said they will investigate. Amazon said in November 2024 it had begun drone deliveries in the West Valley of the Phoenix Metro Area in Arizona from its same-day site in Tolleson. (Reporting by David Shepardson)

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