Aug 10 (Reuters) - Pro-Russian separatists accused Ukraine of shelling a brewery in the occupied eastern city of Donetsk on Wednesday, killing one person and triggering a leak of ammonia, Interfax news agency said.

The emergencies ministry in the Russian-backed self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic said a shell had hit an ammonia line late at night, sparking a fire that at one point covered 600 square metres (6,500 square feet).

Reuters pictures from the scene showed flames lighting the sky above one part of the city as well as firefighters donning masks. One picture appeared to show a corpse on the ground.

The Ukrainian defence ministry did not immediately respond to an emailed request for comment.

WASHINGTON, Aug 10 (Reuters) - China's war games around Taiwan have led Biden administration officials to recalibrate their thinking on whether to scrap some tariffs or potentially impose others on Beijing, setting those options aside for now, according to sources familiar with the deliberations.

President Joe Biden's team has been wrestling for months with various ways to ease the costs of duties imposed on Chinese imports during predecessor Donald Trump's tenure, as it tries to tamp down skyrocketing inflation.

It has considered a combination of eliminating some tariffs, launching a new "Section 301" investigation into potential areas for additional tariffs, and expanding a list of tariff exclusions to aid U.S. companies that can only get certain supplies from China.

Aug 10 (Reuters) - Police in Britain arrested a 38-year-old man at Luton Airport on terrorism charges on Wednesday, the Metropolitan Police said in a statement.

The BBC reported that the man arrested was Aine Davis, who has been accused of being part of an Islamic State (ISIS) cell that murdered hostages. The group of four men, who were with ISIS in Syria, was nicknamed "The Beatles" by hostages because of their British accents. read more

The police statement did not identify the person arrested. It said a man was arrested "in relation to offences under sections 15, 17 and 57 of the Terrorism Act, 2000 and was taken to a south London police station, where he currently remains in police custody."

The BBC reported that Davis, of London, flew into Luton airport after his release from prison in Turkey where he was serving a seven-and-a-half-year sentence for a conviction on terrorism charges.

The Islamic State cell garnered international attention after...

Aug 10 (Reuters) - Minneapolis Federal Reserve Bank President Neel Kashkari on Wednesday said he is sticking to his view that the U.S. central bank will need to raise its policy rate another 1.5 percentage points this year and more in 2023, even if that causes a recession.

The Fed is "far, far away from declaring victory" on inflation, Kashkari said at the Aspen Ideas Conference, despite the "welcome" news in the consumer price index report earlier in the day that inflation may have begun to cool.

Kashkari said he hasn't "seen anything that changes" the need to raise the Fed's policy rate to 3.9% by year-end and to 4.4% by the end of 2023. The rate is currently in the 2.25%-2.5% range.

NEW YORK, Aug 10 (Reuters) - Softer than expected U.S. inflation data buoyed investors’ faith that twin rebounds in stocks and bonds will persist in a year of deep losses for both asset classes.

Bear markets in both have maximized losses in portfolios this year as rate hikes from the Federal Reserve sapped appetite for risk, and some investors have met recent rebounds in stocks and bonds with skepticism.

The S&P 500 is now up about 15% from its mid-June lows, though still down 12% year-to-date, while the Nasdaq is up more than 20% from its lows. Ten-year Treasury yields, which move inversely to prices, have fallen about 70 basis points from their June peak. read more

Aug 10 (Reuters) - Illinois is rebranding an invasive carp in the hopes of encouraging people to eat it - and solving a decades-old issue that has been threatening the ecosystem of the U.S. state's waterways.

"We've launched a new name, 'copi', to help people consume this delicious fish and help us do our work in keeping them out of the waterways," said Kevin Irons, assistant chief of fisheries for the Illinois Department of Natural Resources (DNR).

Irons and the DNR want everyone to start calling the abundant fish formerly known as Asian carp "copi."

JOHANNESBURG, Aug 10 (Reuters) - South Africa's Aspen Pharmacare's (APNJ.J) COVID-19 vaccine production lines may soon go idle, and without any new orders it could be forced to pivot to manufacturing other products, a senior executive said on Wednesday.

Aspen currently produces vaccines for Johnson & Johnson (JNJ.N) and, in March, it struck a deal to produce, price, and sell its own-brand version of the shot for African markets.

That deal was considered a game-changer for a continent frustrated by sluggish Western handouts. But, while only a fifth of adults in Africa are fully vaccinated, according to the African Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, demand for shots have failed to materialise.

Aug 10 (Reuters) - CAE Inc (CAE.TO) shares listed in Toronto and in the United States tumbled more than 16% on Wednesday after the world's largest civil aviation training company's quarterly profit missed market expectations due to charges in its defense business.

Labor shortage and supply-chain pressures also forced Montreal-based CAE to cut its annual outlook for adjusted operating income growth to mid-20% from mid-30%.

U.S. aerospace companies including Boeing Co (BA.N) have struggled with their defense businesses, partly due to fixed-price contracts, even as their commercial aviation units benefit from a rebound in travel demand following a pandemic-induced slump.

WASHINGTON, Aug 10 (Reuters) - U.S. President Joe Biden on Wednesday said that inflation is showing signs of moderating but that more work is needed to make consumers' lives easier.

"We're seeing some signs that inflation may be beginning to moderate," Biden said after a report showing that consumer prices stayed the same in July. "People were still hurting, but zero inflation last month."

The Labor Department's Consumer Price Index (CPI) data came as a relief for an administration facing voter anger over inflation ahead of Nov. 8 midterm elections for control of Congress. read more

HOUSTON/LONDON, Aug 10 (Reuters) - Physical oil prices around the world have begun to sag alongside futures, reflecting less alarm over Russian-led supply disruptions along with heightened worries about a possible global economic slowdown.

"The market is very bearish at this moment. No one is in a hurry to buy," a Singapore-based trader said.

Lower-than-usual U.S. gasoline demand during peak summer driving season and contracting factory activity in China indicate that high prices cut consumption in the world's top oil consumers, analysts and traders said. That is a stark contrast from last month, when physical market activity suggested buyers were more worried about securing supplies. read more

Aug 10 (Reuters) - New York City could introduce a traffic congestion charge of up to $23 a day late next year, which a study released on Wednesday projected would reduce the number of cars entering Manhattan by 15% to 20%.

The city wants to charge a daily variable toll for vehicles entering or remaining within the central business district, defined as between 60th Street in midtown Manhattan and Battery Park on Manhattan's southern tip.

New York, which has the most congested U.S. traffic, would become the first major U.S. city to follow London, which began a similar charge in 2003.

WASHINGTON, Aug 10 (Reuters) - The United States charged a member of Iran's elite Revolutionary Guard Corps on Wednesday with plotting to murder John Bolton, a national security adviser to former President Donald Trump.

The Justice Department alleged that Shahram Poursafi, also known as Mehdi Rezayi, 45, of Tehran, was likely motivated to kill Bolton in retaliation for the death of Qassem Soleimani, a commander of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps killed in a U.S. drone strike in January 2020.

Poursafi was also prepared to pay $1 million for a second "job," the department said.

WASHINGTON, Aug 10 (Reuters) - Three former JPMorgan Chase & Co (JPM.N) employees were acquitted of racketeering and conspiracy charges in a landmark futures manipulation trial on Wednesday, although two were found guilty on other charges including fraud, a Department of Justice spokesperson said.

The case against the bank's former global precious metals desk head Michael Nowak, precious metals trader Gregg Smith and salesperson Jeffrey Ruffo is seen as the Justice Department's most aggressive to date targeting a manipulative futures trading tactic known as spoofing.

Nowak was convicted on 13 other charges including fraud, spoofing and attempted market manipulation, and Smith was convicted on 11 charges. Ruffo, who was only charged with racketeering and conspiracy, was acquitted of both. All three men had pleaded not guilty.

Aug 9 (Reuters) - Facebook-parent Meta Platforms Inc (META.O) said on Tuesday it had raised $10 billion in its first-ever bond offering, as it looks to fund share buybacks and investments to revamp its business.

The offering would help Meta, the only one among big technology companies without debt on its books, to build a more traditional balance sheet and fund some expensive initiatives, such as its metaverse virtual reality. read more

HOSTENS, France, Aug 10 (Reuters) - Wildfires tore through the Gironde region of southwestern France on Wednesday, destroying homes and forcing the evacuation of 10,000 residents, some of whom had clambered onto rooftops as the flames got closer.

Black-and-orange skies, darkened by the smoke billowing from forests and lit up by the flames, were seen across the area as the fires continued to burn out of control despite the efforts of firefighters backed by water-bombing aircraft.

Fires, which have razed about 6,200 hectares (15,320), have now crossed in the neighbouring Landes region.

Aug 10 (Reuters) - Bumble Inc (BMBL.O) cut its full-year revenue forecast on Wednesday, taking a hit from the war in Ukraine while also grappling with stiff competition from rivals such as Match Group Inc (MTCH.O) in the online dating market.

Shares of Austin, Texas-based Bumble fell nearly 13% in after-hours trading, as its current-quarter forecast also remained below Wall Street estimates.

While Bumble has experienced a surge in popularity, its other dating app, Badoo, which is mostly used in Western Europe by the urban middle class segment, remains under pressure.

TOKYO, Aug 10 (Reuters) - SoftBank Group Corp (9984.T) said on Wednesday it would book a gain of $34.1 billion by cutting its stake in Alibaba Group Holding (9988.HK), as the investment behemoth looks to shore up its cash reserve to weather the market downturn.

The Japanese company will reduce its stake in Alibaba to 14.6% from 23.7% by settling prepaid forward contracts. Alibaba's U.S.-listed shares were down 1.3% in early trade.

SoftBank booked a $50 billion loss at its Vision Fund investment arm in the first half of the year as its tech bets soured, with Chief Executive Masayoshi Son on Monday pledging to further reduce investment activity and cut costs.

(Reuters) - 3M Co has urged a federal judge not to interfere with its plan to move claims that its military-issue earplugs caused hearing damage into bankruptcy court, where the company believes it can resolve them more favorably than in federal mass tort litigation in Florida.

The filings in Pensacola federal court on Wednesday came in response to motions filed by veterans last week seeking to block 3M from avoiding lawsuits by putting its Aearo Technologies subsidiary — the original maker of the earplugs, which it bought in 2008 — into bankruptcy.

A spokesman for the plaintiffs' attorneys had no immediate comment.

Aug 10 (Reuters) - Illinois is rebranding an invasive carp in the hopes of encouraging people to eat it - and solving a decades-old issue that has been threatening the ecosystem of the U.S. state's waterways.

"We've launched a new name, 'copi', to help people consume this delicious fish and help us do our work in keeping them out of the waterways," said Kevin Irons, assistant chief of fisheries for the Illinois Department of Natural Resources (DNR).

Irons and the DNR want everyone to start calling the abundant fish formerly known as Asian carp "copi."

LONDON/NEW YORK, Aug 10 (Reuters) - Ukraine's overseas creditors have backed its request for a two-year freeze on payments on almost $20 billion in international bonds, a regulatory filing showed on Wednesday, a move that will allow the war-ravaged country to avoid a messy debt default.

With no sign of peace or a ceasefire on the horizon nearly six months after Russia's invasion began, holders of around 75% of the outstanding total agreed to Kyiv's proposal, documents showed.

"Ukraine will save almost $6 billion on payments," said Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal in a statement. "These funds will help us maintain macrofinancial stability, strengthen the sustainability of the Ukrainian economy and improve the power of our army."

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.