Japan sees 1.9 million visitors in May, down from cherry blossom rush

TOKYO (Reuters) – Japan saw a slight decline in visitors in May from the previous month, when a rush of tourists came to see the nation’s famous cherry blossoms without COVID-19 restrictions, official data showed on Wednesday. The number of foreign visitors for business and leisure came in just below 1.9 million last month from…

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Australia’s Perpetual says ‘tech outage’ affected some funds in cyber incident

(Reuters) – Australian Perpetual on Wednesday confirmed an extended tech outage over an IT security incident, affecting some of its funds, though the fund manager reaffirmed that all its client investments and its own systems were unaffected and secure. “Perpetual’s listed products, institutional mandates, Pendal, Perpetual Corporate Trust, Perpetual Wrap clients, and all of our…

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Vodafone hires Morgan Stanley to weigh options for its Spanish unit – Expansion

MADRID (Reuters) – Britain telecoms company Vodafone has hired investment bank Morgan Stanley to evaluate the options for its Spanish unit, Spanish newspaper Expansion reported on Wednesday citing unidentified market sources. The company has started a strategic review on the future of its Spanish unit and its CEO Margherita Della Valle said last month the…

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GSK’s RSV vaccine shows long-term efficacy in late-stage trial

(Reuters) -GSK on Wednesday said its vaccine for the respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), which recently won EU approval, showed strong long-term protection in older adults in a late-stage trial. The British drugmaker said a ‘Phase III’ trial showed vaccine efficacy against RSV-lower respiratory tract disease and severe disease over two full RSV seasons, including in…

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UK net debt passes 100% of GDP for first time since 1961

LONDON (Reuters) – Britain’s public sector net debt surpassed 100% of gross domestic product in May as borrowing came in higher than expected, the Office for National Statistics said on Wednesday. Public sector net debt, excluding that of state-controlled banks, hit 2.567 trillion pounds ($3.28 trillion), equivalent to 100.1% of gross domestic product. That represented…

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Factbox – Graphite producers doing deals with automakers and battery groups

LONDON (Reuters) – Automakers are rushing to lock in graphite supply from outside dominant producer China as mined graphite demand for electric vehicle (EV) batteries outpaces other uses. Below are details of some Western companies producing, or planning to produce graphite, and their deals with auto makers and battery producers. NEXTSOURCE MATERIALS INC Launched its…

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Analysis-Auto firms race to secure non-Chinese graphite for EVs as shortages loom

By Eric Onstad LONDON (Reuters) – Automakers, including Tesla and Mercedes, are rushing to lock in graphite supply from outside dominant producer China, as demand for electric vehicle (EV) batteries outpaces other uses for the mineral for the first time due to soaring EV sales. Auto firms have been slow to plan for graphite shortages,…

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