Aurelia Butler

ZURICH (Reuters) – Swiss voters looked set to clearly reject a campaign that aimed to make Switzerland the first country to ban experiments on animals, according to early projections by state broadcaster SRF on Sunday.Only 21% of voters were in favour of the animal experiment ban, with 79% against, in the nationwide referendum held under the Swiss tradition of direct democracy.Supporters had wanted to halt tests, saying they are unethical and unnecessary, but ran into opposition from the country’s powerful pharmaceuticals lobby, which warned of the economic damage such a ban could cause.”I voted no, clearly, because I worked in a lab, and I know the reality on the ground,” Clement Rohner, from Carouge, a town close to Geneva. “We would all like to stop testing on animals, unfortunately, it is absolutely still not possible nowadays. And so, we have to keep going with animal testing.”In another vote on Sunday, voters were set to approve further restrictions on tobacco advertising, with 57% in favour according to SRF projections.The restrictions would see a ban advertising in newspapers, cinemas, the internet, at events, and on billboards, with supporters saying such adverts encourage youth smoking.”I’m in favour because it’s a shame people are starting (to smoke), it’s a social phenomenon and it does not do good to anybody,” said Angela Margeuron, also from Carouge.”We hear constantly that people end up in hospitals or die or that they have huge health issues, but still advertising is still here, of course it’s about money, as always.”The government was facing defeat in the other two votes on Sunday. Its proposal to scrap the 1% tax on raising equity was opposed by 63% with only 37% in favour, according to projections Its plan to increase financial support for the media was opposed by 56% of voters versus 44% backing the plan, SRF said. More

By Kayla TarnowskiWINDSOR, Ontario (Reuters) – A tense standoff between Canadian police and protesters opposing COVID-19 restrictions was set to continue on Sunday, as a court order and threats of arrest have failed to end a blockade of a key Canada-U.S. border crossing.President Joe Biden has asked Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to use federal powers to end the blockade of the Ambassador Bridge, North America’s busiest land border crossing. Since Monday, protesters in trucks, cars and vans have blocked traffic in both directions, choking the supply chain for Detroit’s carmakers.Despite a court order to end the occupation and a state of emergency imposed by the province of Ontario, home to the city of Windsor, police have failed to disperse the crowd and resume cross-border traffic.Police moved in early on Saturday, pushing protesters back from the foot of the bridge, but more people streamed into the area in the afternoon and the operation appeared to have stalled. Late on Saturday, Windsor Police arrested a 27-year old man for a criminal offence in relation to the demonstration.”I am very hopeful still that police can … try and get to these folks in a reasonable way and have them understand that it’s time to move on,” Windsor Mayor Drew Dilkens told CBC News. “We can no longer afford as a country to keep it closed.”The bridge carries about $360 million a day in two-way cargoes – 25% of the value of all U.S.-Canada goods trade. Concrete barricades have been set up in front of the police near the bridge to keep protesters from reclaiming any ground.The “Freedom Convoy” protests, started in the national capital Ottawa by Canadian truckers opposing a vaccinate-or-quarantine mandate for cross-border drivers, entered its 17th day on Sunday. But it has now morphed into a rallying point against broader COVID-19 curbs, carbon tax and other issues, with people joining in cars, pick-up trucks and farm vehicles.Protests erupted across several cities in Canada on Saturday, with some 4,000 people in downtown Ottawa. Financial capital Toronto had some 1,000 demonstrators, though the police had shut key access roads to the central business district.In the west, hundreds of protesters choked intersections along the Pacific Highway with vehicles leading to the Canada-U.S. border crossing in South Surrey, British Columbia. Several, camped out near the border crossing, vowed to stay “as long as is needed” until all COVID-19 restrictions are lifted.Strangling bilateral trade, protests have spread to three border points, including in Alberta and Manitoba.Canadian police have said the protests have been partly funded by U.S. supporters, and Ontario froze funds donated via one U.S. platform GiveSendGo on Thursday.Ford Motor (NYSE:F) Co, the second-largest U.S. automaker, General Motors Co (NYSE:GM) and Toyota Motor (NYSE:TM) Corp all have announced production cuts. Companies have diverted cargo to stem losses during the cuts.The estimated loss so far from the blockades to the auto industry alone could be as high as $850 million, based on IHS Markit’s data, which puts the 2021 daily flow in vehicles and parts at $141.1 million a day.”This is the busiest border crossing, so it’s not just automotive,” Mayor Dilkens said. “We are talking about things that impact the entire nation here. That’s why finding a resolution is so important.” (This story has been refiled to fix garble or extraneous words in paragraphs 2, 3, 8, 10, 11, 14 and 15) More

European printers have warned that industries such as food and consumer goods could suffer significant disruption to their supply chains because of a growing shortage of paper.Strikes by thousands of workers at mills owned by forestry group UPM-Kymmene in Finland have exacerbated paper shortages that started with an unexpectedly strong rebound in demand after lockdowns eased.“You’ve got paper prices spiking and everyone chasing too few tonnes,” said Iwan Le Moine, director of EMGE, a consultancy. “It’s an absolute mess.” Finat, which represents more than 1,000 European label producers, has warned of supply disruptions because of shortages in specialised paper types. Jules Lejeune, managing director of Finat, said: “I’m receiving daily calls and emails from members expressing extreme concern as they have to put people on hold as they cannot produce. Labels are used in all sectors — food, beverage, pharmaceutical, health, personal care, automotive, electronics. What is of most concern is the [consumer goods] side.”Publishers, newspaper groups and other businesses are already feeling the effect of paper shortages and a quadrupling of some prices in the second half of last year. Asset manager Abrdn was recently forced to delay a vote on a £1.5bn deal, after it struggled to produce the printed documents it is required to send out to shareholders. UPM supplies Europe with about 40 per cent of the backing sheets for labels, according to Cees Schouten, chief operating officer of Geostick. The Dutch group’s monthly production of labels is likely to fall from 2.5mn to 1.5mn square metres in March.“We must decide where to prioritise delivery of labels. It could cause disruption for the food, logistics and fast-moving consumer goods industries,” he said. Francesc Egea, director-general of Spain’s IPE Industria Gráfica, said that fresh food was particularly at risk of not making it to the shelves without labels.Consumer goods and logistics companies pointed to alternatives such as temporarily switching to plastic and printing directly on packaging but these might not be achieved easily with other supply chains stretched.The UPM strikes, which began on January 1 and have been extended to March 12, relate to the company’s plans to make division-by-division deals with unions instead of a company-wide arrangement. A planned strike by workers at Finnish ports from Monday could make matters worse.UPM declined to comment.The high paper prices and shortages are a stark reversal for an industry that has suffered from oversupply due to falling demand since the 2000s with ever-advancing digitalisation.One industry executive said they were turning down a “surge” of new buyers looking for alternative supplies. “Can we increase production? The answer is simply no. Everyone in the industry is running flat out,” he said. Paper companies have been shutting down or converting mills to supply the packaging industry that has benefited from the boom in ecommerce and shift away from plastics.Tony Smurfit, chief executive of Smurfit Kappa, Europe’s largest cardboard box maker, said on Wednesday that further price rises would follow a 20 per cent annual increase.“We’ve been sold out through the last six months of last year. I would suspect without something popping out of the woodwork we will be in a sold out position this year. We’re adding capacity but it’s already being eaten up,” he said.Jesper Jungersen, managing director of Aller Tryk, the largest publisher of weekly magazines in the Nordic region, said it has cut production 10 per cent because of paper shortages — with potentially lasting effects on demand.“We fear that people will go digital — it’s not caused by the fact that prices are going up but the fact we cannot get enough paper,” he said.Harry Dempsey, Hannah Kuchler, Jyoti Mann and Adrienne Klasa More

The judiciary also ordered fines and the confiscation of funds and assets from seized investment portfolios, the report added.($1 = 3.7516 riyals) More

Will UK inflation top the three-decade high hit in December?UK consumer prices are expected to have risen at the same pace in January as they did in December, when they hit a 30-year record of 5.4 per cent.Economists polled by Reuters forecast the annual pace of inflation to land at 5.4 per cent again when data is released on Wednesday. UK inflation is “being pushed higher by a triple whammy of higher energy costs, resurgent demand and supply chain issues,” said Susannah Streeter, markets analyst at the financial services company at Hargreaves Lansdown. She added that “with little relief to these pressures yet in sight, consumers are having to get used to a big cost of living squeeze.”The Bank of England has pushed up interest rates in December and February. Another dramatic surge in prices could herald “a much swifter and steeper rate rises to come,” noted Streeter, especially with energy bills set to soar.Households face a 54 per cent increase in energy costs in April when Ofgem, the energy regulator, raises its default energy tariff price cap. The £200 rebate announced by the Chancellor won’t reduce households’ utility bills until October.Prices are growing fast also because previous rises in non-energy costs have forced producers to raise their selling prices, noted Paul Dales, economist at Capital Economics. He thinks that those costs will continue to push up core goods inflation over the coming months, alongside upward pressure on services. “We’re becoming more concerned that stronger wage growth will support services CPI inflation too,” said Dales.Like many economists and policymakers, Dales revised up his inflation outlook and now expects that CPI inflation will peak at 7.5 per cent in April and will be above the Bank of England target of 2 per cent in 2023 too. Valentina RomeiDid US retail sales recover at start of 2022?US retail sales are likely to have rebounded in January after a lacklustre end to the holiday season, in a sign that consumers are willing to spend more as the sector grapples with mounting inflation.Sales were on track to rise 1.6 per cent from December, economists polled by Reuters have forecast. That would be a welcome sign for retailers after a 1.9 per cent decline in sales to close out 2021, the first monthly drop in five months.Shoppers tapped the brakes on spending late last year after an earlier than usual start to the holiday season. Consumers started purchasing gifts well ahead of Christmas, hoping to avoid a possible supply crunch amid reports of shipping delays. While the rush to shop early boosted sales in the autumn, it left retailers facing a quiet December.The slowdown also came as Americans faced a sharp rise in prices that continued into the start of 2022. The US consumer price index soared 7.5 per cent year on year in January, its biggest increase in 40 years.Tiffany Wilding, North American economist at Pimco, warned that companies’ “ability to pass on further price adjustments may be waning” as inflation continues accelerating. Wilding predicted that core retail sales, which strip out categories including fuel and cars, will rise by a modest 0.4 per cent in January.Still, spending remained robust when compared to last year, according to Mastercard SpendingPulse data that estimated retail sales excluding autos climbed 7.2 per cent last month with strong demand for apparel, luxury goods, jewellery and dining out. Matthew RoccoHave European consumers become more upbeat despite inflationary pressures?European consumers have been squeezed by the rising cost of living, and many remain hemmed in by restrictions aimed at containing record coronavirus infections, keeping a lid on spending. But that could be about to change, after several countries said they would ease pandemic rules.The latest indication of whether Europeans are becoming more upbeat, in spite of the hit from inflation and the pandemic, will come on Friday when the EU publishes the preliminary findings of its monthly consumer confidence survey.Sentiment among Europe’s households has “been stagnant or declining in much of Europe since September 2021,” according to Jesse Wheeler, an analyst at Morning Consult. “Once-hopeful consumers have faced the one-two punch of Delta- and Omicron-driven Covid-19 case surges.” However, as several countries start to ease pandemic restrictions, there are reasons to believe the European Commission’s consumer confidence index could rise from January’s minus 8.5 points in the eurozone and minus 10 points in the EU.In recent weeks, Denmark, Sweden and Norway have lifted almost all Covid restrictions, while Austria ended its lockdown on unvaccinated people, Spain and Italy dropped the requirement to wear masks outdoors, and Dutch restaurants and bars reopened.However, prices continue to rise sharply, reducing people’s spending power after eurozone inflation hit a record of 5.1 per cent in January. There is little sign of relief as escalating tensions between Ukraine and Russia are likely to drive energy costs even higher.“Consumers in Germany and Italy — both heavily reliant on Russian fuel — are seeing the biggest increases in expectations of higher utility bills,” said Wheeler. Martin Arnold More