Aug 10 (Reuters) - Walgreens Boots Alliance (WBA.O) contributed to the opioid epidemic in San Francisco through its sale of prescription drugs in the city, a federal judge concluded on Wednesday.

U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer in San Francisco said that Walgreens failed to properly investigate suspicious opioid orders for nearly 15 years. The amount the pharmacy chain must pay will be determined in a later trial.

Walgreens' pharmacists filled hundreds of thousands of suspicious opioid prescriptions from 2006 to 2020 with pharmacists not given time, staffing or resources to properly investigate red flags, Breyer wrote.

HONG KONG, Aug 10 (Reuters) - China's Lenovo Group (0992.HK) recorded its smallest revenue growth in nine quarters as the world's biggest PC maker saw sales of the devices ease after a pandemic-fuelled boom, and it was also hit by COVID-19 lockdowns at home.

The results vindicate Lenovo's strategy of emphasising development of its non-personal computer (PC) businesses such as smartphones, servers and information technology services, which together now make up more than a third of its sales.

Lenovo's total revenue during the April-June quarter was $16.96 billion, up 0.2% from the same quarter a year ago though it was in line with an average Refinitiv estimate of $16.87 billion drawn from seven analysts. That was the smallest increase since the March 2020 quarter.

WASHINGTON, Aug 10 (Reuters) - U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said on Wednesday the House of Representatives would pass the Inflation Reduction Act on Friday.

In a letter to Democratic colleagues, Pelosi called the $430 billion climate, tax and healthcare bill approved by the Senate over the weekend "life-changing legislation."

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.

Iran's mission to the United Nations did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Iran does not have an extradition treaty with the United States, and Poursafi remains at large. The FBI on Wednesday released a most-wanted poster.

LONDON, Aug 10 (Reuters) - Top U.S. gas exporter, Freeport LNG, has retracted the force majeure it initially declared after an explosion in June, a development that could cost its buyers billions of dollars in losses, a document showed and three trading sources said.

Force majeure is a notice used to describe events outside a company's control, such as a natural disaster, which usually releases it from contractual obligation without penalty.

The force majeure would also have allowed Freeport’s LNG buyers to exit their own agreements to deliver gas to end users. Instead, they are facing a collective loss of up to $8 billion as they source alternative supplies at elevated spot market prices, according to the trading sources, who have knowledge of the matter, and calculations by a consultancy.

KUDAMADUWELLA, Sri Lanka, Aug 10 (Reuters) - As anarchy gripped the Sri Lankan city of Colombo in May, Meenu Mekala and Nirosh Ravindra gambled their family's life savings on a two-week, 4,700-km voyage aboard a rusting trawler with their two young sons. The decision ended in ruin.

Meenu, a Buddhist, and Nirosh, a Christian, met and fell in love as migrant labourers in Dubai, despite opposition from their families. They married in 2005 in Nirosh's home village of Kudamaduwella, two hours' drive north of Colombo.

They are among hundreds of Sri Lankans who have attempted to escape an unprecedented economic meltdown by boarding fishing boats bound for Australia.

Aug 10 (Reuters) - San Francisco-based blockchain payments company Ripple Labs Inc, which is embroiled in a high-profile battle with the U.S. securities regulator, is interested in potentially purchasing assets of bankrupt crypto lender Celsius Network, according to a company spokesperson.

"We are interested in learning about Celsius and its assets, and whether any could be relevant to our business,” the spokesperson said, declining to say if Ripple was interested in acquiring Celsius outright.

Ripple has continued to grow through the crypto market turmoil and "is actively looking for M&A opportunities to strategically scale the company," the spokesperson said.

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.

ROME, Aug 10 (Reuters) - Brothers of Italy leader Giorgia Meloni recorded a video message in three languages on Wednesday to reassure Italy's partners a right-wing government led by her would not threaten financial stability and would stick to Rome's traditional alliances.

Italy's conservative bloc, which also includes Matteo Salvini's League and Silvio Berlusconi's Forza Italia, is well placed to win an outright majority at an election scheduled for Sept. 25, according to a study on Tuesday. read more

Meloni tops the polls and looks on track to become prime minister. However, some analysts have cast doubt over her suitability for the role because her party traces its roots back to a post-fascist movement.

NEW YORK, Aug 10 (Reuters) - Former U.S. President Donald Trump said on Wednesday he declined to answer questions during an appearance before New York state's attorney general in a civil investigation into his family's business practices, citing his constitutional right against self-incrimination.

Trump, his son Donald Trump Jr. and daughter Ivanka Trump had fought unsuccessfully to avoid appearing for testimony in state Attorney General Letitia James's probe into whether the Trump Organization inflated real estate values to obtain favorable loans and understated asset values to get tax breaks.

"I declined to answer the questions under the rights and privileges afforded to every citizen under the United States Constitution," Trump said in a statement issued roughly an hour after he arrived in a motorcade at the attorney general's office in lower Manhattan for the deposition behind closed doors.

LONDON, Aug 10 (Reuters) - British leadership candidate Liz Truss said on Wednesday she would work with energy companies to bring down prices if she becomes prime minister, as she faces growing pressure to set out more support for households struggling with rising energy bills.

Truss, the frontrunner to succeed Boris Johnson, has so far said she favours tax cuts over direct handouts to help households with a cost-of-living squeeze. Critics say tax cuts would favour the richest over the poorest.

"It's also important that we work with the energy companies to bring the prices down ... I'm going to deal with supply. I'm going to help bring the prices down," Truss, currently foreign secretary, said during a question session with members of the public on GB News.

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 has not made a decision on the issue, officials said. His 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.

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 has not made a decision on the issue, officials said. His 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.

LAS VEGAS, Aug 10 (Reuters) - U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris received frequent applause during an address at the United Steelworkers convention on Wednesday, promoting the administration's infrastructure investment and promising support for labor unions.

The 3,500 union members and retirees at this year's convention were less politically divided, unlike in the past, where supporters of then-President Donald Trump were visible, as well as those who supported Democrats.

"America has a job to do," Harris told the packed conference center at the MGM Grand Hotel in Las Vegas, stressing the administration's focus on expanding jobs and the middle class.

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. Ten-year Treasury yields, which move inversely to prices, have fallen about 70 basis points from their June peak. read more

LONDON, Aug 10 (Reuters) - Decomposing food waste is releasing thousands of tonnes of planet-warming methane gas at landfills in Buenos Aires, Delhi, Mumbai, and Lahore, new research finds.

With about 570 million tonnes of the greenhouse gas emitted every year from both industrial and natural processes, the concentration of methane in the atmosphere has been increasing at a record pace, according to the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

In some countries, the biggest source is agricultural fields and farm animals — particularly cows but also livestock and chickens. In the United States, the oil and gas industry is largely responsible.

Aug 10 (Reuters) - Tesla Inc (TSLA.O) Chief Executive Officer Elon Musk sold $6.9 billion worth of shares in the electric vehicle maker, saying the funds could be used to finance a potential Twitter deal if he loses a legal battle with the social media platform.

"In the (hopefully unlikely) event that Twitter forces this deal to close *and* some equity partners don't come through, it is important to avoid an emergency sale of Tesla stock," he said in a tweet late on Tuesday.

Shares of the microblogging site rose 3.5% to $44.35 in early trading, but were still significantly below Musk's offer price of $54.20 per share. Tesla shares were up nearly 4% at $882.

Aug 10 (Reuters) - Wednesday's consumer price index report showing U.S. inflation didn't accelerate in July was the first "positive" reading on price pressures since the Federal Reserve began tightening policy, Chicago Fed President Charles Evans said, even as he signaled he believes the Fed has plenty more work to do.

With consumer prices unchanged last month compared to June, but up 8.5% from a year earlier, inflation is still "unacceptably" high, and the Fed will likely need to lift its policy rate, currently in the 2.25%-2.5% range, to 3.25%-3.5% this year and to 3.75%-4% by the end of next year, Evans said.

The remarks suggest Evans, among the 19 central bankers who set U.S. monetary policy, expects to soon slow what's been the Fed's steepest round of interest-rate hikes in decades. Though he was not explicit on whether he would support a downshift as soon as next month, the Fed would only need to raise rates a percentage point over the course of the next four...

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

CIJARA, Spain, Aug 10 (Reuters) - A flock of sheep shelter from the midday sun under the gothic arches of a medieval bridge flooded in 1956 to create the Cijara reservoir in central Spain, but now fully exposed as the reservoir is 84% empty after a severe drought.

In Andalusia, one of Europe's hottest and driest regions, paddle-boats and waterslides lie abandoned on the cracked bed of Vinuela reservoir, remnants of a rental business gone with the water, now at a critical level of 13%.

A nearby restaurant fears a similar fate.

PRISTINA, Aug 10 (Reuters) - Kosovo is prepared to stand against a possible attack by Serbia as worsening strife with minority Serbs could result in a new armed conflict, Prime Minister Albin Kurti told Reuters in an interview on Wednesday.

Tensions between Serbia and Kosovo flared again earlier this month when Pristina said it would oblige Serbs living in the north, who are backed by Belgrade and do not recognise Kosovo institutions, to start using license plates issued in Pristina.

The situation calmed after Kurti, under U.S. and European Union pressure, agreed to postpone the car number plates rule until Sept. 1 and NATO peacekeepers supervised the removal of roadblocks set up by Serbs.

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.

LONDON, Aug 10 (Reuters) - Oscar Piastri's rift with Alpine has also forced a change of plan at Williams and could have a knock-on effect around the Formula One paddock.

While the main focus has been on Renault-owned Alpine and McLaren, who both want the 21-year-old Australian to drive for them next season, tail-enders Williams have had to reassess their next step.

Alpine's original plan was to loan their reserve, and last year's Formula Two champion, to Williams for at least a year and possibly more until he returned as Fernando Alonso's replacement.