Business leaders agree AI is the future. They just wish it worked right now
By Deepa Seetharaman, Supantha Mukherjee and Krystal Hu SAN FRANCISCO/STOCKHOLM, Dec 16 - Last spring, CellarTracker, a wine-collection app, built an AI-powered sommelier to make unvarnished wine recommendations based on a person's palate. The problem...
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Trump's $300 million White House ballroom makeover faces day in court
WASHINGTON, Dec 16 (Reuters) - President Donald Trump's plan to build a $300 million ballroom on White House grounds faces an early courtroom test on Tuesday after preservationists accused him of illegally tearing down the East Wing in a sweeping make...
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Russia says damaged launch pad crucial to its space programme will be fixed by February
MOSCOW, Dec 16 (Reuters) - Russia's space agency said on Tuesday that work was underway to repair a damaged launch pad at the Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan that underpins its space programme and that the facility should be back in use by February ...
1h ago
Netherlands will host International Claims Commission for Ukraine, minister says
THE HAGUE, Dec 16 (Reuters) - The Netherlands will be the home of an International Claims Commission for Ukraine, aimed at validating claims of war damages to be repaid at some stage by Russia, Dutch Foreign Minister David van Weel said on Tues...
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Japan's fiscal 2026 budget to include record spending, sources say
TOKYO, Dec 16 (Reuters) - Total spending in Japan's draft budget for fiscal 2026 will likely exceed 120 trillion yen ($775 billion) to hit a new record, two government sources familiar with the matter said on Tuesday. It would top the 115-trillion-y...
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UK firms see some relief after Reeves' budget, PMIs show
By William Schomberg LONDON, Dec 16 (Reuters) - British businesses have reported some renewed momentum after months of worry about possible tax increases in finance minister Rachel Reeves' budget in late November, a closely watched survey of the privat...
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Plan to build church for war dead in city park sparks rare protest in Russia
By Mark Trevelyan LONDON, Dec 16 (Reuters) - Plans to build a church in honour of Russia's war dead in a riverside park in the southern city of Krasnodar have sparked a rare protest by local people, who publicly appealed to President Vladimir Putin to...
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Rising chip costs to push global smartphone shipments down in 2026, Counterpoint says
Dec 16 (Reuters) - Global smartphone shipments are expected to decline 2.1% next year as rising chip costs are likely to impact demand, technology-focused market research firm Counterpoint said on Tuesday. Electronics supply chains around the world ha...
2h ago
Polish student detained over suspected Christmas market attack plot
WARSAW, Dec 16 (Reuters) - Polish security services have detained a student suspected of preparing a "mass attack" at a Christmas market, Jacek Dobrzynski, a spokesperson for Poland's special services, said on Tuesday. Mateusz W., a student at the Cat...
2h ago
Global insured catastrophe losses set to hit $107 billion in 2025, report shows
Dec 16 (Reuters) - Annual global insured losses from natural catastrophes are expected to hit $107 billion in 2025, driven by the Los Angeles wildfires and severe convective storms in parts of the United States, a Swiss Re Institute study showed on Tu...
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