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DUBLIN (Reuters) – The number of people in Ireland claiming temporary coronavirus-related jobless benefits rose by 8,743 compared with last week, government data showed on Wednesday. The total number of people claiming the Pandemic Unemployment Payment for the period Dec. 31 to Jan. 6 was 75,648. Ireland temporarily reopened its Pandemic Unemployment Payment scheme on Dec. 7 for people who lost their jobs as a result of new restrictions on the entertainment sector. (Reporting by Graham Fahy; Editing by Leslie Adler) Source

By Gabriel Araujo SAO PAULO (Reuters) – Shares in Brazilian shopping mall operators soared on Wednesday as Multiplan reported figures above pre-pandemic levels for the fourth quarter of 2021 and a Bank of America survey pointed to expectations of a solid recovery in the sector. Multiplan said in its operational preview that quarterly same store rent jumped 41.4% from the same period of 2019, while same store sales rose 10.3%. Sales were up 8.1% when compared with the last quarter of 2019, before the COVID-19 pandemic struck in Brazil, supported by a strong performance during the holiday season. “December was a major highlight, as sales reached 110.1% of the sales seen in the same period of 2019 … In the fourth quarter, sales were above 2019 levels for the first time in the year, totaling 5.6 billion reais ($1.01 billion),” Multiplan said. Multiplan’s figures were backed by a Bank of America survey showing a K-shaped recovery in the sector, with 92% of Brazilian consumers back at th...

CAIRO (Reuters) – A United Nations mission said on Wednesday it has spoken to crew members from an Emirati vessel that was seized by the Yemeni Houthi movement earlier this month. “As part of its routine weekly patrol, (the UN Mission to support the Hudaydah Agreement) visited As-Salif port and neighbouring areas this afternoon. The patrol team saw the RWABEE vessel from a distance and spoke to its crew members,” the mission said on Twitter. Yemen’s Houthis say the Emirati cargo vessel that they seized in the Red Sea had been carrying military hardware, but the Saudi-led coalition, fighting the Iranian-aligned Houthis, says the ship had been carrying medical equipment. (Reporting by Ahmad Elhamy) Source

With the finance ministry saying it is watching the sale at Citibanamex, Mexico’s No. 3 consumer bank, for signs of undue market concentration, the most established players in the country appear to be less favored in the carve-up. Alejandra Marcos, an equity analyst at Intercam Banco, said Slim’s Inbursa, now Mexico’s seventh-largest bank, has the means to present a strong offer and would not face the same obstacles as peer Grupo Financiero Banorte from antitrust regulators due to the latter’s market share. “The only Mexican bank with the financial capacity for this is Inbursa, but of course other groups of entrepreneurs could join to make an attractive offer,” Marcos said. A spokesman for Slim did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Banorte did not respond to a request for comment. Meanwhile tycoon Salinas, who controls the supermarket and banking chain Elektra that includes Banco Azteca, said on Tuesday evening he had asked his team to study the purchase of the Citigrou...

By John McCrank NEW YORK (Reuters) – A surge in options trading by individual investors helped lift market volumes to record highs in 2021, but it also made trading the derivatives more difficult for many institutional investors, according to a Coalition Greenwich study released on Wednesday. Options volumes soared to a record 9.87 billion contracts last year, a 32.2% increase over 2020, which was itself a record-setting year for volumes, Options Clearing Corp data showed. The number of individual options account holders grew to the highest levels ever last year, and the amount of smaller trades, which are indicative of retail trades, increased to significant levels of market share, said Shane Swanson, senior market structure and technology analyst at Coalition Greenwich. “Whether driven by the meme stock phenomenon, zero-commission trading or simply by retail investors looking to get heightened exposure to the market, retail trading in options grew by leaps and bounds in 2021,...

By Felix Onuah ABUJA (Reuters) -Nigeria will lift a ban on Twitter from midnight after the social media platform agreed to open a local office, among other agreements with authorities in the West African country, a senior government official said on Wednesday. The Nigerian government suspended Twitter on June 4 after it removed a post from President Muhammadu Buhari that threatened to punish regional secessionists. Telecoms companies subsequently blocked access to users in Nigeria. Kashifu Inuwa Abdullahi, director general of the National Information Technology Development Agency said in a statement that Buhari had given approval to lift the suspension. “Twitter has agreed to act with a respectful acknowledgement of Nigerian laws and the national culture and history on which such legislation has been built…,” Abdullahi’s statement said. The company would work with the federal government and the broader industry “to develop a Code of Conduct in line with global best practices, applicabl...

PARIS (Reuters) -Franco-Iranian academic Fariba Adelkhah, whom Tehran has sentenced to five years in prison but was recently living under house arrest, has once again been incarcerated, France’s foreign ministry said on Wednesday, demanding her immediate release. The new move against the Adelkhah, a researcher affiliated to Paris’s prestigious Sciences Po university whose detention had triggered a rift between the two countries in the past, comes as France and other western powers are negotiating with Iran to revive a nuclear accord. “The decision to re-incarcerate her, which we condemn, can only have negative consequences on the relationship between France and Iran and reduce the trust between our two countries”, the ministry said in a statement. “France demands the immediate release of Ms. Adelkhah”, it added. Adelkhah was arrested in 2019 and handed a five-year prison sentence in 2020 before being put under house arrest. French President Emmanuel Macron critised https://www.reuters....

But the agency is “revisiting that decision following recent software updates, videos showing a dangerous use of that technology, open investigations by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), and the opinions of other experts,” the department said in a letter on Friday to Lena Gonzalez, chair of the state Senate Transportation Committee. The Los Angeles Times first reported the letter. Tesla did not respond to a request for comment. The electric car company has been expanding the rollout of what it describes as the “beta” of its advanced driver assistant software, FSD, sparking safety concerns by effectively allowing untrained drivers to test how well the technology works on public roads. Critics say Tesla was able to avoid state regulatory oversight by telling the Department of Motor Vehicles that its FSD features do not make its cars autonomous. The department said it has notified Tesla that it “will be initiating further review of the technology of their veh...

The U.S. State Department said that Omar Abdalmajeed As’ad was a U.S. citizen and that it had sought clarification from Israel over the incident. His body was found in Jiljilya in the early morning with a plastic zip-tie still around one wrist. The Israeli military said it had carried out an overnight operation in the village, and that a Palestinian was “apprehended after resisting a check”. It said he was alive when the soldiers released him. “The Military Police Criminal Investigation Division is reviewing the incident, at the end of which the findings will be transferred to the Military General Advocate Corps,” it said in a statement. As’ad was a former Milwaukee, Wisconsin, resident who lived in the United States for decades and returned to the West Bank 10 years ago, his brother told Reuters. State Department spokesperson Ned Price told reporters: “We support a thorough investigation into the circumstances”. He said the State Department had expressed its condolences to the family...

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The Fed’s latest “Beige Book” collection of anecdotes about the state of the economy from businesses, labor groups and others across the central bank’s 12 regions nationwide also signaled that the fast-spreading Omicron variant of COVID-19 was exacerbating conditions on several fronts as 2022 approached. Omicron, which drew 44 references in the report, was seen adding to existing challenges around hiring and inflation, in particular, and was a set back for a travel and leisure sector that had only just begun to get back on its feet around the middle of last year. Employment grew “modestly” and most districts said demand for workers remains strong, with some businesses struggling to retain employees. One manufacturer in the Dallas Fed district, for example, reported extreme turnover among new hires, “saying three to five hires were needed for even one to stay on.” “Although optimism remained high generally, several districts cited reports from businesses that expectations for growth ove...

The U.S. Attorney’s Office in Manhattan said Eric Lira, 41, distributed drugs, including human growth hormone, “for the purpose of corrupting” the Tokyo games. Lira obtained misbranded versions of prescription drugs used to boost production of red blood cells from Central and South America and distributed them to two athletes, prosecutors said. One of the athletes believed to be discussed in the criminal complaint but not identified there by name is Nigerian sprinter Blessing Okagbare. She was provisionally banned by an international anti-doping entity, the Athletics Integrity Unit, after testing positive for human growth hormone. Lira was charged under the Rodchenkov Act, a law enacted at the end of 2020 and named for Russian whistleblower Grigory Rodchenkov. It lets prosecutors seek prison terms of up to 10 years and fines of up to $1 million for offenders. The charges against Lira marked the first U.S. criminal accusations of doping related to the Tokyo games, which were scheduled ...

The strike started at 7:00 a.m. ET and would go on for three weeks, the UFCW Local 7 union said. The striking workers are employed at King Soopers stores in the Denver metropolitan area, Boulder, Parker and Broomfield cities of Colorado, among others. The strike is the latest of its kind in the United States, following similar demonstrations at Kellogg Co’s cereal plants and Deere & Co as rising Omicron infections and inflation push workers to demand better working conditions and higher pay. At King Soopers, workers have sought an increase in wages of at least $6 per hour for all. The company’s “last, best and final offer”, made on Tuesday, proposed raises of up to $4.50 per hour based on job classification and tenure. The proposal, which came after the union rejected two previous offers, provides for investment of $170 million in wages over the next three years, more healthcare benefits and a starting pay of $16 per hour. That was lower than the $18 per hour King Soopers advertis...

Bitcoin Core version 0.20.2 is now available for download . See the release notes for more information about the many new features and bug fixes in this release. If have any questions, please stop by the #bitcoin IRC chatroom ( IRC , web ) and we’ll do our best to help you. Source

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Inflation in the United States is expected to decline in the second quarter of this year, International Monetary Fund Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva said on Wednesday. “This is subject to dealing with supply chain constraints, and what we are seeing are some promising signs that some progress is being made in that regard,” Georgieva said in an interview with CNBC. (Reporting by Eric Beech; Editing by Leslie Adler) Source

(Reuters) – Microsoft Corp hired a key Apple Inc engineer to design its own chips for its servers, Bloomberg News reported on Wednesday, citing people with knowledge of the matter. The software giant hired chip industry veteran Mike Filippo, who worked for Apple for over two years, the report said. Microsoft is working on in-house processors for the servers running its cloud-computing services and Surface line of personal computers, a source told Reuters in December 2020. The cloud computing heavy-weight relies heavily on Intel and Advanced Micro Devices Inc to supply chips for its Azure cloud computing services as well as Surface PCs. The move to hire Filippo implies that Microsoft is accelerating a push to create homegrown chips for its servers powering Azure cloud computing services, the report added. Filippo, who started his career as a CPU designer at chip designer AMD in 1996, has previously worked at Intel and UK-based ARM Ltd before joining Apple, according to his LinkedIn ...

(Reuters) – St. Louis Federal Reserve Bank President James Bullard on Wednesday upped his view of how fast the U.S. central bank should tighten monetary policy, saying he now believes four interest rate hikes may be in the cards this year. “I actually now think we should maybe go to four hikes in 2022,” Bullard told the Wall Street Journal in an interview. (Reporting by Ann Saphir) Source

The Ledger CEO says more retail buyers continue to look at Bitcoin, with non-zero addresses on the rise. Pascal Gauthier, the CEO and chairman of hardware wallet firm Ledger, says it is people pushing the price of Bitcoin higher. The crypto executive noted this during an   interview with CNBC at the Crypto Finance Conference in St. Moritz, Switzerland. On the issue of Bitcoin’s price growing exponentially over the past year, Gauthier said that all this is down to retail interest in the cryptocurrency. He believes more people want Bitcoin and as such, demand is pushing prices higher. He noted that the trend over the past few weeks has been that more addresses have been created, with a growing number holding the minimum number of BTC. The Bitcoin network saw almost 1 million new addresses in November, with BTC price at the time having raced to its all-time high of $69,044 on 10 November. The Ledger chief also added that the number of retail holders was increasing relative to whales, su...

USDT  $1.0003  ↑0.02%  $309.7M BTC  $42728.  ↑2.1%  $281.0M ETH  $3239.7  ↑5.1%  $192.7M USDC  $1.0001  ↑0.0%  $145.4M LINK  $26.602  ↓5.0%  $38.1M DOT  $25.572  ↑7.8%  $29.3M ATOM  $38.661  ↑2.0%  $29.3M MATIC  $2.3593  ↑14%  $22.8M SOL  $140.18  ↑3.1%  $19.2M ADA  $1.1875  ↑5.7%  $19.1M DOGE  $0.1537  ↑7.4%  $18.0M XRP  $0.7697  ↑4.0%  $12.0M LUNA  $73.57  ↑5.8%  $10.8M LTC  $131.41  ↑3.8%  $8.81M DAI  $1.0000  ↓0.01%  $5.93M XMR  $193.01  ↑5.7%  $5.26M KAVA  $4.8597  ↑14%  $4.33M ALGO  $1.4440  ↑6.0%  $4.3M FLOW  $7.6339  ↑2.0%  $4.19M CRV  $4.6  ↑6.3%  $3.93M MANA  $2.9312  ↑4.1%  $3.88M AAVE  $212.81  ↑6.3%  $3.55M XTZ  $4.1743  ↑3.7%  $3.21M LRC  $1.4915  ↑2.4%  $3.15M AVAX  $89.52  ↑5.7%  $3.13M ZEC  $141.86  ↑0.6%  $2.99M KSM  $260.77  ↑8.1%  $2.92M XLM  $0.2632  ↑4.0%  $2.78M MINA  $3.45  ↑8.5%  $2.37M SHIB  $2.762e  ↑3.4%  $2.31M UNI  $15.956  ↑5.7%  $2.14M SAND  $4.7233  ↑6.2%  $2.1M ANT  $8.3589  ↑12%  $1.8M BCH  $369.84  ↑2.1%  $1.62M SC  $0.0135  ↑4.1%  $1.59M ENJ  $2.311...

Bitcoin had a monumental recovery charting over 60% appreciation in price as the third quarter of 2021 began. This instigated the larger market’s high expectations of $100k BTC.  Bitcoin’s journey from near $28K in January 2021 to $69K in November was indeed a commendable run. But the larger market’s expectations from the king coin were of a smashing $100K by the end of the year. Alas, things took a turn for the worse! Bitcoin was struck by three major flash crashes over the last two and a half months. As that happened, the anticipations of Bitcoin at $100K were shattered.  So, with BTC near the $40,000 level, down 38.28% from its November ATH, does the $100K dream still make sense? A Time of Highs and Lows  Since the current market peak of $69K, Bitcoin has attempted recovery merely three times, noting short-term price upticks. Looking at a more macro-picture, BTC’s price trajectory has made lower lows and lower highs.  Notably, Bitcoin’s price was pretty much around the same price le...

The monetary authority is proposing a global regulatory framework to alleviate the financial stability risks posed by crypto and its assurgent adoption In a blog post published on Tuesday, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) penned that as crypto markets are growing, there is an equivalent increase in the correlation between cryptocurrencies and the financial markets. The coronavirus pandemic redefined correlations in the investment landscape Pre COVID-19, the IMF explained, there was little relation between crypto assets like Bitcoin and the stocks. As such, they were considered good options as a hedge against inflation for investors. However, with time the pandemic pushed financial systems to the extremes, causing the central bank to enact policies to ease the strain. Afterward, both crypto prices and the US stock market surged owing to the conducive financial environment and increased investor appetite for risk. As an example of the impact of the banks’ responses, the coeffic...

The release of the Federal Reserve report touching on digital currency development and crypto regulations has experienced several delays Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell told the Senate Banking Committee yesterday during his nomination hearing that the much-awaited crypto report is now within weeks of publication despite recent delays. Directing his statement to Idaho Senator Mike Crapo, Powell explained that the report was not yet “ quite where [it] needed to ” be but insisted that it would get released soon nonetheless. “It’s more going to be an exercise in asking questions and seeking input from the public rather than taking a lot of positions on various issues, although we do take some positions. The report really is ready to go, and I would expect we will drop it — I hate to say it again — in coming weeks,” he stated. Powell also explained that a change in monetary policy had been a factor in the report’s delay. Despite the assurances he gave...

Kaiko, a provider of institutional-grade cryptocurrency market data , today announced a partnership with Algoracle, the first native oracle service on the Algorand blockchain. Kaiko’s cryptocurrency market data will be integrated with Algoracle’s decentralized oracle network, available for use in smart contracts. Decentralized oracles play a major role in the DeFi economy, and robust oracles are the key to the growth of a blockchain such as Algorand. Oracles enable real-world data to be used in smart contracts on a blockchain, a requirement for executing financial processes that rely on external price data. Even though layered smart contracts can be immensely powerful tools, they are still limited to the information provided on the blockchain on which they are built. Once Algoracle completes its decentralized oracle infrastructure, Algorand-based applications will be able to subscribe to Kaiko’s rich suite of cryptocurrency data offerings for use in smart contracts. Kaiko has deep expe...

We’re thrilled to announce that Kraken now supports Moonbeam (GLMR)!  Funding and Trading Funding is live, and trading will begin shortly. Keep an eye on the status page for updates. You can add GLMR to your Kraken account by navigating to Funding , selecting the asset, and hitting Deposit . Deposits require 25 confirmations. GLMR will be tradable against USD and EUR , with a price precision of 3 decimal places. Note: Trading is not available to residents of the USA, Canada, Australia and Japan. What is Moonbeam? Moonbeam is a Polkadot network parachain , providing developers with full EVM capabilities — rendering it compatible with Ethereum . It ensures interoperability by providing a framework for blockchains to seamlessly interact with Ethereum, and uses its native token, GLMR, to power its operations. Which services will be available for GLMR? Kraken and Kraken Terminal will be available for GLMR. Kraken Futures and Margin Trading won’t be available at launch. Will Kraken lis...

Best Time To Invest In Waves (WAVES) Today, Waves is rising as the crypto market continues to drive multiple coins higher. So, how far can WAVES investors anticipate the cryptocurrency to grow in the following years? Let’s see what some experts on the subject have to say about it down below! Best Time To Invest In Waves (WAVES) What is Waves (WAVES)? Brief introduction Waves is a blockchain platform that may be used for various purposes, including decentralized applications (dApps) and smart contracts. Waves were founded in June 2016 due to one of the cryptocurrency industry’s first initial coin offers (ICO), improving the original blockchain platforms by enhancing speed, functionality, and user-friendliness. The platform has undergone several adjustments and introduced additional spin-off features to build on its initial idea. Waves’ native token, WAVES, is an unbounded supply token utilized for actual payments such as block rewards. Unique Characteristics of Waves (WAVES) Waves set o...

Learn how to set up the Gala node in 10-15 minutes. What is Gala Node? By becoming a Gala node, you help to secure the network. In return, you get daily distribution in the form of Gala tokens, NFT, game items, and the Townstar coins. If you believe in Gala games, this is the best way to support their growth. The Gala token has been appreciated in recent times along with its popularity. You can buy Gala tokens from the following exchanges: How to Set Up Gala Node? You can set up the Gala node in a few steps on your local or cloud server. The cloud server is better as it runs 24*7 for which you have to pay a nominal fee of $20/month to run the server. I’m using the Vultr server, which is currently offering a $100 promo using this link, which means your first 5 months are free. Here are steps needed to set up a Gala node: Setup Gala account and buy a Gala Node Buy server for Gala and deploy a server Connect Server with Terminal or Putty and Change Machine ID Connect and Setup Gala node U...

The commission previously punted two other Bitcoin ETF products for an additional 45 days The US Securities and Exchange Commission on Tuesday revealed that it had pushed the deadline for reviewing the spot ETF proposal from technology and financial services firm NYDIG for another 60 days. The regulator explained that it saw it appropriate to delay the decision to either approve or reject the application until March 15th. The extended period, according to the commission, would provide enough time to review and make a determination on the ETF.  “T he Commission finds that it is appropriate to designate a longer period within which to  issue an order approving or disapproving the proposed rule change so that it has sufficient time  to consider the proposed rule change and the issues raised in the comments that have been  submitted in connection therewith. Accordingly, the commission, pursuant to Section 19(b)(2) of the Act, designates March 16th, 2022, as the date by which the commission...

Member of the community were displeased by the move, with some threatening withdrawal of monthly donations Mozilla Foundation disclosed last Friday that it would be taking donations in crypto coins. The foundation, whose subsidiary Mozilla corporation oversees several internet-linked applications, including popular browser Mozilla Firefox, noted it would accept Dogecoin, Ether and Bitcoin. The announcement detailed that the non-profit organisation’s move would be facilitated by the popular crypto payments processing firm BitPay. The donations received in crypto would be converted into fiat to skirt any potential volatility. “ Dabble in Dogecoin? HODLing some Bitcoin & Ethereum? We’re using BitPay to accept donations in cryptocurrency,” Mozilla posted on Twitter. Many users disapproved of Mozilla’s crypto decision citing environmental concerns. Some of the disgruntled users went as far as threatening to shift into using other web browsers. Others expressed their demurral, sa...

AAVE’s trading volume increased by 77% in the last 24 hours. CAKE’s trading volume saw an increase of 47% in the last 24 hours. CRV’s value increased by 10%, and its market cap saw an increase of 15% in the last 24 hours. Aave is a decentralized finance protocol that allows users to lend as well as borrow crypto, and its AAVE token allows for yield farming. PancakeSwap is an automated market maker (AMM) as well as a decentralized finance (DeFi) application that lets users exchange tokens, provide liquidity, and engage in yield farming through which they can earn fees in return for doing so through the CAKE token. Curve is a decentralized exchange for stablecoins that leverages an automated market maker (AMM) to manage liquidity. Users of Curve tokens can engage in yield farming. Should you buy Aave (AAVE)? On January 3, Aave (AAVE) had a value of $276.08. To get a better perspective as to what this value point means for the AAVE token, we will go over its ATH value point as well as its...

Polkadot Transaction Costs and Economics – 𝗖𝗼𝗶𝗻 𝗕𝗮𝗮𝘇𝗮𝗿 -1; } /* Disable tracking if the opt-out cookie exists. */ if ( __gaTrackerIsOptedOut() ) { window[disableStr] = true; } /* Opt-out function */ function __gaTrackerOptout() { document.cookie = disableStr + ‘=true; expires=Thu, 31 Dec 2099 23:59:59 UTC; path=/’; window[disableStr] = true; } if ( ‘undefined’ === typeof gaOptout ) { function gaOptout() { __gaTrackerOptout(); } } if ( em_track_user ) { (function(i,s,o,g,r,a,m){i[‘GoogleAnalyticsObject’]=r;i[r]=i[r]||function(){ (i[r].q=i[r].q||[]).push(arguments)},i[r].l=1*new Date();a=s.createElement(o), m=s.getElementsByTagName(o)[0];a.async=1;a.src=g;m.parentNode.insertBefore(a,m) })(window,document,’script’,’//www.google-analytics.com/analytics.js’,’__gaTracker’); window.ga = __gaTracker; __gaTracker(‘create’, ...