Russian forces in Ukraine were on the run yesterday across a broad swath of the front line, as the Ukrainian military pressed on toward the city of Lysychansk and made gains in the south after its weekend capture of Lyman, a strategic rail hub. Any loss of territory in the Donbas region undermines Russia’s objectives, which focus on seizing and incorporating the region.
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Investigates Deadly Stadium Disaster
MALANG, Indonesia — An Indonesian police chief and nine elite officers were removed from their posts Monday and 18 others were being investigated for responsibility in the firing of tear gas inside a soccer stadium that set off a stampede, killing at least 125 people, officials said.
Distraught family members were struggling to comprehend the loss of their loved ones, including 17 children, at the match in East Java’s Malang city that was attended only by hometown Arema FC fans. The organizer had banned supporters of the visiting team, Persebaya Surabaya, because of Indonesia’s history of violent soccer rivalries.
U.S. fund Blackstone Inc. and Italy's Benetton family have officially launched their takeover offer for Atlantia SpA after receiving the go-ahead from the Italian market watchdog, they said late Monday.
The offer for the operator of toll roads and airports is for a maximum 552.4 million shares, or 66.9% of the company's share capital, at 23 euros a share, according to Schema SpA, Blackstone and the Benettons' investment vehicle. This implies a maximum offer value of up to around EUR12.7 billion ($12.5 billion) giving Atlantia an equity value of around EUR19 billion.
The offer period will begin next Monday, Oct. 10, and run through Nov. 11, Schema said, after Italian regulator Consob approved the bid. In recent weeks, Schema received approvals from the central banks of Italy and Spain, necessary because of Atlantia's stakes in regulated toll-payment companies in the two countries.
The remaining 33.1% stake in Atlantia is already held by the Benettons, via their investment company Sintonia SpA. The bidders plan to take the company private after the buy-out.
The disaster Saturday night was among the deadliest ever at a sporting event.
North Korea Missile Launch Triggers Sirens in Central Tokyo
Ukrainian forces have broken through Russian defences in the south of the country while expanding their rapid offensive in the east, seizing back more territory in areas annexed by Russia and threatening its troops' supply lines.
Making their biggest breakthrough in the south since the war began, Ukrainian forces recaptured several villages in an advance along the strategic Dnipro River on Monday, Ukrainian officials and a Russian-installed leader in the area said.
Swiss lender Credit Suisse Group AG, battered by scandals and losses, is racing through a restructuring plan. Wild market swings and a social media storm are making that task increasingly difficult.
Some of the bank's wealth management clients have recently become concerned about Credit Suisse's turnaround, two people familiar with the discussions told Reuters, and some have been moving funds, according to one of the people. The division is expected to be the centerpiece of the bank's turnaround plan.
A Credit Suisse spokesperson said: "We remain close to our clients as we conduct our strategic review."
Meanwhile, the firm's ability to extract good terms from potential buyers of businesses it wants to exit has been weakened by the market rout, analysts say.
Concerns in recent weeks that Credit Suisse will not be able to fund the reorganization without tapping investors for funds pushed the stock to new record lows.
Unsubstantiated social media speculation about the bank’s solidity over the weekend triggered a slump in its bonds while the cost of insuring against a Credit Suisse default jumped on Monday to a level not seen in decades.
"It’s always going to be a challenging restructuring,” said Johann Scholtz, equity analyst at Morningstar. "But what makes it even harder now is that you increased funding costs dramatically and profitability, which was already under pressure, is now even further under pressure."
Graphic: Credit Suisse valuation Credit Suisse valuation https://graphics.reuters.com/CREDITSUISSEGP-SHARES/xmvjoznynpr/chart.png
Under CEO Ulrich Koerner, in the job since July, Credit Suisse is attempting to restore the bank’s profitability and reputation. It lost $5 billion when Archegos collapsed in 2021, was rebuked by regulators for spying on executives and was tarnished by its involvement with defunct financier Greensill Capital.
To underpin sustainable profit, Credit Suisse is aiming to streamline the investment bank and expand its wealth management business, which soaks up less capital. Amid the options the bank has said it is considering is finding a buyer for its securitized products business.
The more it can fetch for its assets, the less it will have to raise from investors.
A source familiar with the situation told Reuters on Friday that the bank was exploring all options to get additional capital and that it did not necessarily have to sell more shares. There was a way for it to do so with just asset sales, the source said.
Credit Suisse will still have an investment bank but it is likely the division would be trimmed, the source added.
The bank has said it will present its plan on Oct. 27, but upheaval in the bank's stocks and bonds could complicate that task considerably.
"The executives really need to jump on this to inform investors and the general public very specifically about what they’re going to do about a restructuring," said Mayra RodrÃguez Valladares, a financial risk consultant who trains bankers and regulators.
Graphic: Soaring cost of insuring Credit Suisse debt https://graphics.reuters.com/CREDITSUISSEGP-BONDS/jnvweqarovw/chart.png
Credit Suisse's shares have fallen some 60% this year. The cost to insure its bonds also soared again on Monday, adding 105 basis points from Friday's close to trade at 355 bps, their highest level in at least more than two decades.
Adding to its woes is broader market malaise, with rapidly rising interest rates and recession fears as well as the fallout of the war in Ukraine rattling investors and tightening financial conditions.
“The issue Credit Suisse runs into is that it almost becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy, not so much from a liquidity perspective, but their star talents start to leave or the rich people start pulling their money out of the private bank and then the business fundamentals begin to decline,” said James Finch, clinical associate professor of finance at New York University Stern School of Business.
'FORCED SELLER'
Jefferies analysts wrote in a note that Credit Suisse would be a "forced seller," which could hurt the price it fetches for assets.
"Selling assets will generate capital but reduce future earnings generation capacity," the analysts wrote. "Overall, we think asset sales alone are unlikely to be the solution to the potential capital shortfall problem."
There are also concerns of possible further outflows from the private banking business, analysts at Citigroup wrote in a note to clients on Monday.
Regulators have been watching. A source familiar with the matter said Swiss regulator FINMA and the Bank of England in London, where the lender has a major hub, were monitoring the situation and working closely together.
Executives have reassured staff that the bank has solid capital and liquidity.
Three sources at rival Wall Street firms affirmed that view and pushed back against any comparisons with the industry during the 2008 financial crisis, when banks such as Lehman Brothers failed.
In his note, Beaumont pointed to various measures of Credit Suisse's capital levels, saying it seemed to be "sufficient to absorb upcoming losses from divestments/asset sales."
It would behoove the bank to explain that it has sufficient capital to handle any unexpected losses, as well as adequate liquidity and cash to pay its obligations, said Rodriguez Valladares.
"What makes me a bit nervous is that some investors are jumping too quickly," said Rodriguez Valladares. "Look, the capital levels and the liquidity levels of credit Suisse are still healthy."
(Reporting by Oliver Hirt in Zurich and Carolina Mandl in New York; Additional reporting by Lananh Nguyen, Davide Barbuscia, Megan Davies and Greg Roumeliotis in New York; Writing by Elisa Martinuzzi and Paritosh Bansal; Editing by Matthew Lewis)
Ukrainian forces in the south destroyed 31 Russian tanks and one multiple rocket launcher, the military's southern operational command said in a nightly update, without providing details of where the fighting occurred.
Reuters could not immediately verify the battlefield accounts.
The southern breakthrough mirrors recent Ukrainian advances in the east even as Russia has tried to raise the stakes by annexing land, ordering mobilisation, and threatening nuclear retaliation.
Ukraine has made significant advances in two of the four Russian-occupied regions Moscow last week annexed after what it called referendums - votes that were denounced by Kyiv and Western governments as illegal and coercive.
In a sign Ukraine is building momentum on the eastern front, Reuters saw columns of Ukrainian military vehicles heading on Monday to reinforce the rail hub of Lyman, retaken at the weekend, and a staging post to press into the Donbas region.
President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said Ukraine's army had seized back towns in a number of areas, without giving details.
"New population centres have been liberated in several regions. Heavy fighting is going on in several sectors of the front," Zelenskiy said in a video address.
new primetime show, simply named Cuomo, kicked off on NewsNation Monday. Cuomo began his new venture by alluding to his firing from CNN late last year amid multiple scandals, including his involvement in his brother, former New York governor Andrew Cuomo’s response to sexual misconduct allegations, and misconduct allegations of his own.
“I’ve been humbled by what happened, and I’m also hungry to do better in a way that I’ve never been before,” Cuomo said. “So this show is going to be different than what I’ve done in the past because I’m different, and I’ve spent a lot of time looking and listening on the sidelines.”
In his opening monologue, Cuomo made multiple references to “the game” that American politics has become, and the role that media plays in today’s political discourse and in the game itself.
“It’s obvious to me that we need people in my position to do more,” Cuomo said, “to not just play or even referee the game that is plaguing our politics and society. That means exposing the game. Show when it’s played. Show how it’s being played.”
Cuomo pointed to the fact that the majority of Americans are closer to the center, not the fringe, but that the messaging from both the right and left is used to demonize the other side. Messaging on immigration was just one example Cuomo used to make his point.
“Why is all the focus on the migrants? The game,” Cuomo said. “It allows the left to show that the right has no heart, and for the right to show that the left has no head for law and order. Again, the problem works better for them than finding a solution. That is the game, and we have to change the game.”
Cuomo airs weeknights at 8 p.m. on NewsNation.
Watch Mehdi Hasan claim that Republicans have been rushing to congratulate 'neo-fascist' future leader of Italy:
Japan issued a warning to residents in Tokyo and two northern prefectures to seek shelter on Tuesday morning, October 4, after it said North Korea fired a ballistic missile over the country.
Sirens could be heard blaring in central Tokyo on Tuesday morning, footage shows.
The government issued a J-Alert (National Instant Warning System) for Hokkaido and Aomori prefectures, as well as Tokyo.
Japan’s Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno said North Korea launched a ballistic missile from its interior in an easterly direction at around 7:22 am on Tuesday.
“Details are still being analyzed, but it is estimated that the ballistic missile passed over Japan’s north-eastern region and fell outside Japan’s exclusive economic zone in the Pacific Ocean at around 7:44 am,” Matsuno said.
“North Korea’s series of actions, including its repeated launches of ballistic missiles, threaten the peace and security of the region and the international community, and are a serious challenge to the international community as a whole, including Japan.” Credit: @naru76nya via Storyful
Arema players and officials laid wreaths Monday in front of the stadium.
“We came here as a team asking forgiveness from the families impacted by this tragedy, those who lost their loves ones or the ones still being treated in the hospital,” head coach Javier Roca said.
On Monday night, about a thousand soccer fans dressed in black shirts held a candlelight vigil at a soccer stadium in Jakarta’s satellite city of Bekasi to pray for the victims of the disaster.
Witnesses said some of the 42,000 Arema fans ran onto the pitch in anger on Saturday after the team was defeated 3-2, its first loss at home against Persebaya in 23 years. Some threw bottles and other objects at players and soccer officials. At least five police vehicles were toppled and set ablaze outside the stadium.
But most of the deaths occurred when riot police, trying to stop the violence, fired tear gas, including in the stands, triggering a disastrous stampede of fans making a panicked, chaotic run for the exits. Most of the 125 people who died were trampled or suffocated. The victims included two police officers.
The Kremlin reflected the disarray of its forces on the ground, where territory was rapidly changing hands, acknowledging that it did not yet know what new borders Russia would claim in southern Ukraine. In Russia, nationwide turmoil and protests have erupted in response to the military conscription that has brought the war home to many Russians.
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Events on the battlefield have threatened to make a mockery of Russia’s proclaimed annexations of four Ukrainian regions, as Ukrainians continued to recapture blasted, largely depopulated cities and towns from the retreating Russians. In the south, Ukrainian forces have pushed deeper into the Kherson region, in what a senior Ukrainian military official described as the beginning of the active phase of a monthslong offensive operation.
Pentagon response: Ukraine’s rapid retaking of territory in the northeast and the progress that its forces are making against Russian forces in the south represent a “stunning success,” a senior official said.
Dating apps need to better protect their users, after a study revealed high rates of sexual violence, stalking, assault and unwanted sharing of explicit images, AAP has reported.
The Australian Institute of Criminology survey of 9,987 app users found three quarters were victims of some form of online sexual violence in the past five years.
One-third experienced in-person abuse from someone they met on an app, with 27% of those reporting incidents of sexual assault or coercion, such as drink spiking.
Among those physically assaulted, nearly 20% said they had been the victim of sexual health abuse such as “stealthing”, when a condom is removed without consent.
He said he was 'humbled by what happened, and hungry to do better than before,' promising to 'do more - to not just play, or even referee, the game.'
Cuomo's CNN show was the top-rated program in both 2019 and 2020, averaging two million nightly viewers in 2020.
NewsNation averaged only 46,000 viewers in prime time last year, The Washington Post reported.
Cuomo last week told podcast host Kara Swisher that he knew his new show was a step down - but on Monday he said he still had a lot to give.
He insisted he had unparalleled insight into politics, owing to his father and brother being former governors of New York.
'I've seen the inner workings of campaigns,' he said.
'I know the deal, inside and out.
'I want to bring all of that to the table to help you.
'I want you to count on me to going where it matters.'
And he said he was aiming to provide 'depth of discussion,'
'As loud and as angry as our world can sound: regular people like you, not the fringe, are the overwhelming majority,' he said.
'We are still nowhere near our potential. We are manipulated by manufactured division.'
He said his show would be 'old school,' promoting a phone line for people to call in.
He said he wanted discussion, not social media diatribes - 'not raging radicals or someone with keyboard muscles.'
Among those to call in was his 91-year-old mother Matilda, who said he was doing a wonderful job, and said his show was very important.
The researchers said the figures showed a “significant proportion” of people on apps were exposed to online and physical sexual violence.
“This is highly concerning given the significant and potentially long-term impacts associated with these victimisation experiences,” the study said.
“These impacts include poorer health and wellbeing, including overall life satisfaction, social isolation and lower self-esteem, as well as increased risk of re-victimisation.”
Among heterosexual respondents, 79% of women reported some form of online violence, compared with 61% of men.
Rates of sexual violence through dating apps were higher among LGBTQ+ people, with 87% of women reporting abuse and 79% of men. The vast majority of the 71 non-binary respondents were also victims.
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