SHANGHAI, Aug 11 (Reuters) - Chinese ride-hailing firm Didi's joint venture with Li Auto has applied for bankruptcy, according to a court filing, pointing to the end of a four-year-old partnership to make electric vehicles (EV).

The company, 51% owned by Didi while 49% held by Li Auto, submitted the bankruptcy application to Beijing No. 1 Intermediate People's Court on Thursday, a statement on a website run by the Supreme Court showed.

Didi and Li Auto did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

LOS ANGELES, Aug 10 (Reuters) - Walt Disney Co (DIS.N) edged past Netflix Inc (NFLX.O) with a total of 221 million streaming customers and announced it will increase prices for customers who want to watch Disney+ or Hulu without commercials.

The media giant will raise the monthly cost of Disney+ without advertising by 38% to $10.99 in December, when it begins to offer a new option that includes ads for the current price.

Shares of Disney rose 6.9% in after-hours trading to $120.15 on Wednesday.

LOS ANGELES, Aug 10 (Reuters) - Walt Disney Co (DIS.N) edged past Netflix Inc (NFLX.O) with a total of 221 million streaming customers and announced it will increase prices for customers who want to watch Disney+ or Hulu without commercials.

The media giant will raise the monthly cost of Disney+ without advertising by 38% to $10.99 in December, when it begins to offer a new option that includes ads for the current price.

Shares of Disney rose 6.9% in after-hours trading to $120.15 on Wednesday.

A 10-year study of more than 17,000 C-suite executive assessments looked at who gets to the top and how. A close look at “CEO sprinters” — those who reached the CEO role faster than the average of 24 years from their first job — shows that formative experiences play a key role. Specifically, these ladder-climbers made bold career moves that catapulted them to the top ahead of others. Three types of career catapults were most common. First, lateral or even backward moves allowed the future CEO to build something from the ground up (like leaving a large, prestigious company to start their own business). Second, big leaps allowed the future CEO to skip a level, or even two levels, even if they felt unready. And third, big messes brought the opportunity to turn around a failing unit or division.

While reading today's end-of-day market recap from Bloomberg titled "Cut-to-Bone Positioning Set the Stage for Stocks’ Big Bounce" we couldn't help but laugh at how the author frames the massive melt up that started in June, accelerated mid-July and really took off in late July and early August, by saying that "nobody saw it coming, and now everyone wants in." Well, actually, maybe readers of Bloomberg didn't, but our subs did:

Four?million Russians are set to lose their jobs due to the impacts of Western sanctions, according to new research from the Kyiv School of Economics.

The sanctions are set to see Russia’s economy contract by up to 9.5 per cent this year, the study shows.

High oil and gas prices have shielded Russia from the worst impacts of sanctions so far as the country’s economy has been buoyed up by its energy industry.?

However, Russia’s energy exports are set to decline in coming months, as Europe strengthens its oil and gas embargoes.

The drop in?Russia’s energy export revenues will in turn lead to widespread cuts in public spending, as funding is instead redirected towards bailing out Russia’s banks and bankrolling the country’s military.  

Russia is already selling its oil at discounted prices of $80 per barrel, the study says, as it notes the $35 per barrel discount has cost Russia $20bn in the past quarter alone.

The sanctions...

The next prime minister should have the “backbone” to secure a deal with the European Union to open up the free movement of labour, Ryanair’s chief executive Michael O’Leary said this morning.

He told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “I think the first thing they should do to boost the British economy is prioritise a trade deal with the European Union – a good starting point for that would be to open up the free movement of labour between the UK and Europe once more.”

O’Leary, who said he accepted the result of the 2016 Brexit referendum, added: “You have to accept that you’re not going to get elected by a very narrow 180,000 electorate of the Tory party membership if you advocate common-sense policies.

“But once you do become prime minister, you should have enough backbone to lead the UK economy forward and the starting point for that should be a free trade deal with the European Union.”

Aug 11 (Reuters) - Walmart Inc (WMT.N) could face an uphill battle to reclaim U.S. shoppers who opted for the neighborhood dollar store or Aldi rather than driving farther to a Walmart Supercenter when gasoline was $5 a gallon.

While gasoline prices have dropped nearly 20% over the past month, there are no signs shoppers are returning to the nation's biggest retailer, according to foot traffic data reviewed by Reuters and analysts.

Inflation remains at a 40-year high, devouring a large chunk of the grocery budgets of many Americans, especially Walmart's legions of cost-conscious shoppers.

China’s coal industry has come roaring back since last year’s supply crunch saw Beijing prioritize energy security, but a recent spate of accidents is now ringing alarm bells.

Production of the fossil fuel in Asia’s largest economy is up markedly this year, but that’s come at a horrible cost. Some 129 coal miners have died in accidents in the first seven months of 2022, according to figures from the National Mine Safety Administration.

• 2 grouse

• 200g button mushrooms (washed)

• 8 shallots (peeled and chopped)

• 2 cloves garlic (chopped)

• 6 savoy cabbage leaves (blanched and stalks removed)

• 150g foie gras

• 100ml Madeira

• 250ml veal stock

• Salt and pepper

• 100ml olive oil

• 50g butter

• 3 egg yolks

• 100g mirepoix

• 25g carrot (finely chopped)

• 25g celery (finely chopped)

• 25g shallot (finely chopped)

• 25g leek (finely chopped)

ZURICH, Aug 11 (Reuters) - Siemens (SIEGn.DE) said on Thursday it continued to see strong industrial demand during its third quarter, as costs related to its Siemens Energy investment and decision to quit Russia pushed the engineering group into the red for the first time in nearly 12 years.

The maker of industrial software and trains reported higher revenue and orders for the three months to the end of June, a positive sign for the health of the broader industrial sector.

In factory automation, all regions reported orders 20% higher than a year earlier, Siemens said, while elevated component and logistics costs were being tackled by passing on the costs to customers.

HOUSE prices will soon start to “flatline” following years of double digit rises, a leading property association claims this morning.

Property values have continued to soar over the past two years in most regions of the UK – often defying predictions by economists who are convinced a crash is on the horizon.

The National Association of Property Buyers told City A.M. this morning that after months of looking “immune” to falling rates, house prices will soon start to reduce. 

Spokesman Jonathan Rolande said: “It won’t be long before we see house price growth slowing to perhaps 5 per cent in most areas.”

He added: “This is still high, but compared to retail inflation,  it is less than half. As the price of everything else rises, property will therefore gradually begin to look like better value than it does right now.”

Commenting on the way the market has performed in recent months, Rolande, the founder of House Buy Fast,...

Investigating authorities say that Henan Xincaifu Group Investment Holding Co., the main shareholder of five rural lenders, colluded with bank employees to steal about 40 billion yuan ($5.9 billion) in deposits and investments. They used online platforms to pull in depositors and fabricated lending agreements to transfer the money, the authorities say. (Xincaifu has ceased operations, and the banks involved have asked affected customers to register information with them online in order to

FRANKFURT, Aug 11 (Reuters) - Thyssenkrupp's third-quarter operating profit nearly tripled on the back of higher steel prices, the German conglomerate said on Thursday, but it added that it faced headwinds from high raw material prices and rising interest rates.

The company's adjusted earnings before interest and tax (EBIT) reached 721 million euros ($743 million) in the April-June period, up from 266 million in the same period last year.

More than half of that, or 376 million euros, came from the company's steel business, Europe's second-largest, which benefited from higher selling prices that offset rising energy and raw materials costs, Thyssenkrupp (TKAG.DE) said.

South Korea said the possible operation of a controversial American-made missile shield was “not negotiable,” pushing back at China’s efforts to hold President Yoon Suk Yeol to his predecessor’s pledge to freeze its deployment. 

Decisions on the deployment of

China may be ready to curb some of the excess liquidity sloshing in the banking system as it turns its focus to mitigating risks in the financial industry.

The first sign of that could come at Monday’s medium-term lending facility operation. Eight out of 12 economists and analysts polled by Bloomberg are forecasting that the People’s Bank of China will withdraw cash through MLF for the first time this year by offering less cash than the 600 billion yuan ($89 billion) maturing this month. The median estimate is for a 400 billion yuan injection, and all of those polled expect the rate to be kept unchanged.

What's everyone talking about in the City of London? Every week, Bloomberg’s Francine Lacqua and David Merritt aim to find out by going behind the scenes in the Square Mile and the wider metropolis, uncovering the stories and speaking to the people that matter.

“Please stay clear of the flight line,” warns Keith Hyde, director of U.S. operations for Wing. Safety comes first on these two fenced-off acres at the dead end of Welcome Street in Christiansburg, Va., where Wing has since 2019 been running the first North American drone delivery service. The drones are electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL, pronounced “ev-tol”) aircraft, so instead of a runway, they park on a grid of landing pads that double as charging stations. Three dozen of the pads are arranged on a gravel patch the size of a basketball court, each topped with a QR code large enough for an incoming drone to scan and confirm its touchdown location.

ZURICH, Aug 11 (Reuters) - Siemens (SIEGn.DE) will not sell its stake in Siemens Energy (ENR1n.DE) despite a 2.7 billion euro ($2.79 billion) writedown in the value of its investment, Siemens Chief Financial Officer Ralf Thomas said on Thursday.

Siemens Energy plans to finance its 4 billion euro bid for loss-making Siemens Gamesa (SGREN.MC) partly through a capital increase. Siemens owns 35% in Siemens Energy, which it spun off in 2020.

"It would be unwise in such a situation to add extra volatility to the share price of Siemens Energy price by selling our shares at this point in time," Thomas told reporters.

($1 = 0.9683 euros)

LONDON, Aug 11 (Reuters) - Britain will supply Ukraine with more multiple-launch rocket systems that can strike targets up to 80 km (50 miles) away.

Defence Secretary Ben Wallace said the supply of weapons would help Ukraine defend itself against Russian heavy artillery.

"This latest tranche of military support will enable the Armed Forces of Ukraine to continue to defend against Russian aggression and the indiscriminate use of long-range artillery," Wallace said in a statement.

"Our continued support sends a very clear message, Britain and the international community remain opposed to this illegal war and will stand shoulder-to-shoulder, providing defensive military aid to Ukraine to help them defend against Putin's invasion."

FRANKFURT, Aug 11 (Reuters) - Thyssenkrupp's third-quarter operating profit nearly tripled on the back of higher steel prices, the German conglomerate said on Thursday, but it added that it faced headwinds from high raw material prices and rising interest rates.

The company's adjusted earnings before interest and tax (EBIT) reached 721 million euros ($743 million) in the April-June period, up from 266 million in the same period last year.

More than half of that, or 376 million euros, came from the company's steel business, Europe's second-largest, which benefited from higher selling prices that offset rising energy and raw materials costs, Thyssenkrupp (TKAG.DE) said.