Tennis: Alcaraz headlines as French Open gets glimpse of future

PARIS, France -- Carlos Alcaraz headlines the first day of the French Open on Sunday as the teenage Spanish sensation gives Roland Garros a glimpse of the future of Grand Slam tennis.

The 19-year-old, bidding to become just the eighth teenager to capture a major men's title, is widely tipped to end the dominance of 13-time champion Rafael Nadal and two-time winner Novak Djokovic.

Alcaraz is the tour's dominant player in 2022, winning a season-leading 28 matches with just three losses.

Three of his titles have come on clay in Rio, Barcelona and Madrid where he defeated Nadal, Djokovic and world number three Alexander Zverev to take the title.

On Sunday, Alcaraz begins his French Open campaign against Argentine lucky loser Juan Ignacio Londero, ranked at 141 but who made the last 16 in 2019.

Alcaraz was ranked 97 this time last year. He was only two when Nadal won the first of his 13 French Opens in 2005 but he made his mark at the 2021 tournament where he came through qualifying to reach the third round.

"He definitely is special," admitted Djokovic of Alcaraz who also claimed the prestigious Miami Masters earlier in the year.

Top seed Djokovic, who turns 35 on Sunday, and fifth-seeded Nadal, with 41 Grand Slam titles between them, are not in action on the first day.

Also sitting out the opening program is women's world number one Iga Swiatek, the 2020 champion in Paris, who is on a 28-match win streak, having won five successive tournaments.

German third seed Alexander Zverev, a semi-finalist in 2021 when he gave up a two sets lead to Stefanos Tsitsipas, begins his bid for a maiden Slam title against Austria' Sebastian Ofner, ranked at 218.

Ofner, without a win on the main tour since July last year, has come through qualifying at Roland Garros for the first time in five attempts.

Two-time runner-up Dominic Thiem, whose ranking has slipped to 194 after a lengthy battle with a wrist injury, plays Hugo Dellien of Bolivia.

Thiem has yet to win a match since his return in March.

Opening proceedings on Court Philippe Chatrier is Tunisia's Ons Jabeur who faces Poland's 56th-ranked Magda Linette.

Jabeur, the first Arab or African player to capture a WTA 1000 title with her victory in Madrid, has dreams of replicating her 2011 junior triumph on the Parisian clay.

The 27-year-old has made three clay finals this season -- losing to Belinda Bencic in Charleston and Swiatek in Rome -- and boasts a tour-leading 17 claycourt wins this season.

Also in action on Sunday is Greek fourth seed Maria Sakkari against Clara Burel of France.

Sakkari was a semi-finalist at the French Open in 2021 where she was defeated in three sets by eventual champion Barbora Krejcikova.

Agence France-Presse

YouTube offers thousands of free TV episodes with ads

YouTube on Wednesday began streaming some 4,000 television episodes from shows like "Hell's Kitchen" and "Heartland" to US viewers as the site tries to capture viewers in a fiercely competitive market.

The Google-owned video platform said that popular television shows along with films from major studios will be available, with ads, on YouTube using smart televisions, mobile devices or web browsers.

YouTube was a pioneer in the trend to accessing video on-demand using the internet, starting with clips uploaded and shared by users.

It faces an array of competitors, ranging from streaming television service Netflix based on subscriptions to ad-supported offerings from Peacock, Roku, Tubi and other rivals.

Films and shows will be added weekly, with the line-up of movies to include "Gone in Sixty Seconds" and "Runaway Bride," according to the YouTube team.

YouTube cited Nielsen findings that more than 135 million people in the United States watched YouTube videos using televisions connected to the internet in December of last year.

"YouTube is at the forefront of the consumer shift to (connected TV) viewership as the top ad-supported streaming platform," the video-sharing platform said in a post.

Agence France-Presse

Khabib Nurmagomedov to be inducted into UFC Hall of Fame

Undefeated former lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov will be inducted into the UFC Hall of Fame on July 2.

Nurmagomedov (29-0) was in attendance at UFC 272 in Las Vegas on Saturday when the UFC announced he'd join the 2022 Hall of Fame Class. The 33-year-old from Dagestan, a Russian republic, will be inducted into the Hall of Fame's modern fighter wing.

"Khabib is one of the greatest athletes to ever compete in professional sports," UFC president Dana White said. "No one dominated their opponents the way Khabib did, and to retire undefeated, as lightweight champion and the No. 1 pound-for-pound athlete in the world is an incredible accomplishment. It will be an honor to induct him into the UFC Hall of Fame this summer."

Nurmagomedov won the lightweight title in 2018 and held it until he officially announced his retirement in October 2020 in one of the more memorable scenes in mixed martial arts history.

Nurmagomedov retired in tears and laid his gloves on the mat following his UFC 254 victory against Justin Gaethje. The win occurred four months after he lost his father and longtime coach, Abdulmanap Nurmagomedov, to complications from COVID-19.

-reuters

American Express suspends operations in Russia and Belarus

American Express Co said it was suspending all operations in Russia and Belarus, joining a growing number of Western corporations to boycott business there over Moscow's invasion of Ukraine.

"In light of Russia's ongoing, unjustified attack on the people of Ukraine, American Express is suspending all operations in Russia," the credit card company said in a statement on its website.

"We are also terminating all business operations in Belarus," American Express said.

American Express follows US counterparts Visa Inc and Mastercard Inc, which announced a suspension of their Russian operations the previous day, as well as payments company PayPal Holdings Inc.

American Express said its globally issued cards would no longer work in Russia at merchants or at ATMs. In addition, cards issued by Russian banks in Russia would no longer work outside the country on American Express' network.

The company said it has already suspended its relationships with Russian banks affected by US and international sanctions.

-reuters

Kanye West documentary-maker 'disappointed' by Netflix editing row

The director of Netflix's new Kanye West documentary was left disappointed -- though not surprised -- by the controversial rapper's last-minute demand to recut a movie decades in the making, he told AFP.

Clarence "Coodie" Simmons started following his friend West with a camera in 2001, curious to see how far the ambitious young music producer from Chicago could go, and eventually amassed 320 hours of behind-the-scenes footage of his journey to international stardom.

The first part of seven-hour movie "jeen-yuhs: A Kanye Trilogy" will be released by Netflix on Wednesday, but the famously perfectionist West last month took to Instagram demanding "final edit and approval" on the project, in order to "be in charge of my own image."

"I told Kanye he had to have 100 percent trust in this film ... he said he trusted," said Simmons. 

"So when I seen that Instagram, I was a bit disappointed."

As recently as last week, West -- now known as Ye -- continued to issue demands, such as having fellow rap superstar Drake take over the narration. 

Ironically, Simmons had gone to significant lengths to ensure West was happy, scrapping plans to first release the footage back in 2005 because West "said he wasn't ready for the world to see the real him."

The pair later grew apart and Simmons had little access to West for the next decade or so.

But in a seeming reconciliation, West showed up at a Hollywood screening of the documentary Friday, hugging Simmons and telling the audience that "people try to cancel us and we all run away from each other and scatter or we be not talking to each other, not communicating."

'Put the camera down'

The documentary touches on West's mental health issues, including a bi-polar disorder, which led to him being hospitalized in 2016 and came under renewed spotlight during his bizarre run for the US presidency in 2020.

Filming a meeting two years ago in which West ranted to real estate investors that he had taken bi-polar medication to "have a normal conversation and turn alien into English," Simmons felt concerned enough by his friend and subject's behavior to turn off the camera.

"It was my first time ever capturing Kanye in that light," Simmons, a former comedian and television host, said.

"I just felt like I had to put the camera down so I could listen and be there for him as a brother and not as a director, so that's the reason I put it down.

"It happened a couple other times where I'm like, 'Okay, let me pay attention.'"

At Friday's screening, West said he had made "what y'all might think are mistakes in public" to show the world that limits imposed on Black people are "just a smokescreen."

"We on labels we don't own, play for basketball teams we don't own. The time is now," he said.

'Carefree' Kanye

The controversy surrounding West's demands for creative control over "jeen-yuhs" has undoubtedly drawn more publicity to the documentary.

But Simmons and co-director Chike Ozah hope that showing West's more vulnerable and sometimes embarrassing moments during his rise to greatness will help the world reassess a figure known for frequent arrogant and egocentric outbursts.

For instance, Ozah highlights an early scene at diner chain Denny's, where West is celebrating the removal of wires from his jaw following a serious car crash.

"He's only been taking liquid foods so he's dropped some considerable amounts of weight, he's got a little six pack," recalled Ozah.

"It's a moment you share with Kanye, where he even takes the camera from Coodie and starts filming Coodie, and he just seems so carefree and so happy.

"That's a moment that you just cherish, to see him in that space."

So, after all these years, is West now ready for the world to see the real him?

"It's not really about him being ready ... I would hope that he will see this film," said Simmons.

"The world needs to see this," he added. "It's not about me and Kanye."

Agence France-Presse

Tennis: Ninth time lucky as Auger-Aliassime wins maiden ATP title

ROTTERDAM, Netherlands -- Canada's Felix Auger-Aliassime ended his eight-final losing streak to capture his first ATP title in Rotterdam on Sunday with victory over world number four and top seed Stefanos Tsitsipas.

The 21-year-old triumphed 6-4, 6-2 in 78 minutes, backing up his semi-final win over second seed and defending champion Andrey Rublev.

"It has not been the smoothest road since my first final three years ago," Auger-Aliassime said during the trophy ceremony. 

"It is an amazing day for me to get my first title and especially here. I played my first ATP main draw here a couple of years ago, so it is right I won my first title here."

Before Sunday, world number nine Auger-Aliassime held an 0-8 record in tour-level finals, failing even to win a single set.

However, he has been in solid form in 2022, helping Canada to the ATP Cup title in January, before he reached the quarter-finals at the Australian Open, where he pushed world number two Daniil Medvedev to five sets.

He now also boasts a season-leading 12 wins on tour.

Sunday's victory took his head-to-head record against Tsitsipas to 3-5. His last win over the 23-year-old Greek had come back in 2019 on grass at Queen's Club in London.

"I have a lot of good memories playing here in front of you, so thank you for making it a special week for me that I will remember for the rest of my life," Auger-Aliassime told the Rotterdam crowd.

"It's the happiest day of my career and hopefully it is the first of many to come."

Agence France-Presse

Dollar idles after tumble from 19-month peak; Aussie firm before RBA

TOKYO - The US dollar nursed its wounds on Tuesday following its biggest drop in nearly three weeks against major peers, as Federal Reserve policymakers allayed investor fears of a very rapid tightening of monetary policy.

The Australian dollar remained firm after its biggest jump in eight months overnight ahead of a Reserve Bank of Australia policy decision later on Tuesday, with expectation building that Governor Philip Lowe will capitulate on his prior conviction that an interest rate rise this year was unlikely.

The dollar index, which measures the greenback against six rivals, ticked 0.05 percent higher to 96.715, barely making a dent in Monday's 0.59 percent tumble. It was at an almost 19-month high of 97.441 at the end of last week, as investors pondered chances the Fed could raise rates by 50 basis points in March.

Trading in Asian hours may be subdued with several markets on holiday for the Lunar New Year.

A chorus of Fed officials on Monday backed a lift-off in rates in March, but spoke cautiously about what might follow.

Money markets price in a quarter-point rise for March, and four more by year-end.

"Recent Fed remarks appeared to push back on the odds of a 50bp rate hike in March," putting the focus on economic data this week for clues on the pace of policy tightening, including the closely watched monthly payrolls report on Friday, TD Securities strategists wrote in a note.

US payrolls are forecast to show a gain of 153,000 jobs for January, down from 199,000 in December, with the unemployment rate holding steady at 3.9 percent, according to a Reuters poll.

Meanwhile, the Aussie was little changed at $0.7067 after soaring 1.06 percent on Monday, its biggest gain since early June.

Australian inflation is surging at the fastest annual pace since 2014, suggesting price pressures are not as benign and transitory as policymakers thought they would be.

"It is impractical and unlikely the RBA can continue to hold a dovish stance," the TD Securities strategists wrote, predicting a hike in August or earlier.

A Reuters poll of economists puts the odds of a first hike in November.

The Bank of England holds its policy meeting on Thursday, with a Reuters poll predicting a second rate hike in less than two months after UK inflation jumped to its highest in nearly 30 years.

The European Central Bank also meets on Thursday. While no policy change is expected, analysts said the Fed's looming rate hikes will narrow the ECB's window for action.

The euro slipped 0.11 percent to $1.12235, following a 0.80 percent jump on Monday.

Sterling was flat at $1.34385 after gaining 0.33 percent in the previous session.

The greenback was little changed at 115.125 yen.

(Editing by Jacqueline Wong)

-reuters

Tennis: Nadal, Barty give Australian Open desperately needed happy ending

MELBOURNE, Australia -- An Australian Open like no other began in controversy with the deportation of Novak Djokovic but culminated in one of the greatest comebacks in tennis history by Rafael Nadal on Sunday. 

Throw in Ashleigh Barty becoming the first home winner for 44 years, and local heroes Nick Kyrgios and Thanasi Kokkinakis winning the men's doubles, this was a Grand Slam that will live long in the memory for myriad reasons.

After the chaos that preceded the tournament, Tennis Australia couldn't have dreamt of a happier ending -- and it was one they desperately needed, after a competition riddled with unforced errors on the organizers' parts. 

It began with the spectacle of the nine-time Australian Open champion Djokovic being detained in a notorious immigration hotel, suffering multiple court cases and eventual deportation -- shocking no matter which side you sit in the Covid-19 vaccination debate.

When the first serve at Melbourne Park was struck on January 17, the world number one was in a Dubai airport transit lounge waiting for his connecting flight home to Belgrade.

It wasn't just the Djokovic saga that cast a shadow over the first Grand Slam tournament of 2022. 

Tennis Australia had to make a hasty and embarrassing U-turn after instructing staff to prevent spectators wearing "Where is Peng Shuai?" T-shirts to highlight concern for the Chinese player.

They also had to justify a largely voluntary Covid-19 testing protocol that came in for criticism from some players, notably world number three Alexander Zverev.

They may count themselves extremely lucky that there were only a handful of virus cases.

- Booing and screaming -

Tennis Australia will no doubt bask in the glory of their two historic champions, Nadal and Barty. 

Tournament director Craig Tiley was beaming through his mask during the presentation ceremonies.

But as a central figure in the pre-tournament chaos he, or his successor, must make sure the extraordinary scenes in the run-up to the tournament are never repeated.

Crowds were back in numbers after days of pandemic-enforced empty arenas the year before, but spectators came in for flak for their raucous behavior.

Kyrgios's opponents in particular complained of yobbish jeering, whipped up by the Australian bad boy. 

And in the final, booing and screaming between serves to try to put off Daniil Medvedev made Rod Laver Arena seem more like Madrid during a Davis Cup tie -- a feverishly pro-Nadal cauldron.

The atmosphere degenerated further as the beer began to talk ever louder, with the epic match grinding on past 1:00 am Monday. 

Medvedev became agitated, Nadal had to appeal for calm and the chair umpire had to threaten miscreants with removal by security staff.

- Monumental achievement -

But in the end, the abiding memory will be of Nadal's monumental achievement in winning that unprecedented 21st Grand Slam after an astonishing final lasting 5hr 24min.

It was Nadal's second Australian Open, but came 13 years after his first. 

It was his first win from two sets down in almost 15 years, and a first in a Slam final.

When he touched down in Melbourne, the 35-year-old had played no competitive tennis since early August because of a chronic foot injury. 

Eleven unbeaten matches later he has two more tournament wins and has moved ahead of Djokovic and Roger Federer as the all-time men's Grand Slam leader.

The absence of that pair -- Federer through injury, Djokovic through deportation -- will mean detractors will try to diminish Nadal's achievement, unparalleled as it is in the men's game. 

Surely to be the best, you have to beat the best? 

Nadal has good cause to say he did. 

Medvedev, the Russian world number two, blew Djokovic away in New York four months earlier to prevent the Serbian becoming first to strike 21.

The de facto top seed, Medvedev is 10 years Nadal's junior, was the most recent Grand Slam champion and looked unstoppable as he led by two sets and held three break points in the third.

TV's computerised "Win Predictor" put Nadal's chances of triumphing from there at four percent. 

But though Nadal was down, he was not quite out. 

Slowly his determination and sheer will to win enabled him to claw the match back from the brink. 

The result was on a knife-edge until the dying moments, and could have gone either way in the final set as the pair exchanged multiple service breaks.

But in the end four percent was all Nadal, and the Australian Open, needed.

Agence France-Presse

Amid controversies, Facebook trumpets massive new supercomputer

Facebook's parent company Meta announced on Monday it was launching one of the world's most powerful supercomputers to boost its capacity to process data, despite persistent disputes over privacy and disinformation.

The US tech giant said the array of machines could process images and video up to 20 times faster than their current systems.

The supercomputer, built from thousands of processors, will be used to "seamlessly analyze text, images, and video together; develop new augmented reality tools; and much more", the firm said in blog post written by two of its Artificial Intelligence (AI) researchers.

They envisage developing AI tools that will, among other things, allow people speaking in several different languages to understand each other in real-time.

Meta said the machine, known as AI Research SuperCluster (RSC), was already in the top five fastest supercomputers and would become the fastest AI machine in the world when fully built in the next few months.

Platforms such as Facebook and Google have long been criticized for the way they process and utilise the data they take from their users.

The two firms currently face legal cases across the European Union that allege data transfers from the bloc to the United States are illegal.

And the AI algorithms that funnel Facebook users towards appealing posts have been criticized for helping to fuel disinformation and hate speech.

- 'Metaverse' hopes -

Facebook has apologised repeatedly about the adverse effects of its algorithms and has long flagged its investment in content moderators and other measures to tackle problematic posts.

The blog on Monday stressed that weeding out harmful content was among the "critical use cases" for its AI development.

The researchers wrote that high-definition video was creating ever greater demand for processing power at the same time as the company was pushing for AI tools based on trillions of examples.

"We hope RSC will help us build entirely new AI systems that can, for example, power real-time voice translations to large groups of people, each speaking a different language, so they can seamlessly collaborate on a research project or play an AR game together," wrote the researchers.

"Ultimately, the work done with RSC will pave the way toward building technologies for the next major computing platform -- the metaverse, where AI-driven applications and products will play an important role."

Meta boss Mark Zuckerberg has been pushing harder than his big tech rivals to develop the idea of the metaverse, which envisages an immersive 3D internet enabled by virtual reality headsets and sensor equipment.

Facebook has not yet confirmed the location of its supercomputer, telling AFP the information was confidential.

Agence France-Presse

France posts single-day record 464,000 COVID-19 cases

France's daily reported new coronavirus cases broke a new record on Tuesday with an average of over 300,000 a day in the past week, with the headline figure approaching half a million.

The latest data issued by Public Health France showed that there were 464,769 new cases in the last 24-hour period as the omicron variant of COVID-19 spread unabated.

A day earlier, 102,144 people had tested positive for the virus.

The average daily number of new cases over the past 7 days has surpassed 300,000, the latest data showed.

French teachers' unions called Monday for a second major strike this week to protest the government's COVID testing and isolation protocols, which they say are severely disrupting classes.

The move follows a 1-day walkout last week that saw half of the country's primary schools close, according to unions, who accuse authorities of failing to establish clear rules that would keep as many students in school as possible.

Teachers say class disruptions have become unmanageable with the spread of the highly contagious omicron COVID-19 variant, with many parents struggling to get vaccination appointments for their children and long lines for tests forming outside pharmacies.

In response the government promised to provide five million high-grade FFP2 face masks for school staff and to hire over 3,000 substitute teachers to replace those forced to isolate after contracting COVID or coming into contact with an infected person.

Agence France-Presse

NBA: Klay Thompson (21 points) guides Warriors past Pistons

Klay Thompson had the best performance of his five-game-old season Tuesday night, hitting three 3-pointers among a game-high 21 points as the Golden State Warriors opened a seven-game homestand with a 102-86 romp over the Detroit Pistons in San Francisco.

Andrew Wiggins chipped in with 19 points and Stephen Curry had 18. Thompson, still early in his comeback from ACL and Achilles injuries, played 22 minutes.

Rodney McGruder, playing for the first time since his trade to the Denver Nuggets was voided, paced the Pistons with a season-high 19 points off the bench.Coming off a 1-3 trip, the Warriors wasted little time getting back in the swing of things, getting nine points from Wiggins, six from Curry and five from Thompson in a game-opening, 26-13 flurry.

The advantage mushroomed to 66-38 by halftime and maxed out at 73-39 in the fourth minute of the third quarter before the Warriors coasted to their third consecutive home win.

Thompson, who had shot just 35.7 percent both overall and on 3-point attempts while averaging 13.8 points in his first four games, went 6-for-13 from the field and 3-for-8 from long distance.

He also made all six of his free throws, making him 11-for-11 at the line for the season.

Curry, who also found time for a game-high eight assists and three steals, added four 3-pointers and Wiggins had three for the Warriors, who outscored the Pistons 42-27 from beyond the arc.

Golden State rookie Jonathan Kuminga responded to his third start of the season with his first double-double, grabbing a season-best 10 rebounds to complement 12 points.

Kevon Looney also had 10 rebounds for the Warriors, who outrebounded the guests 54-50.

McGruder, who had been inactive for Detroit's previous three games, scored 11 more points than he'd recorded in any game this season. He sank four of the Pistons' nine 3-pointers.

Hamidou Diallo added 16 points, Isaiah Stewart 14, Trey Lyles 13 and Saddiq Bey 10 for the Pistons, who had won three of their previous five games.

Rookie Cade Cunningham shot just 3-for-10 and was limited to eight points for Detroit, which was opening a four-game Western swing that continues Wednesday night in Sacramento.

Diallo and Stewart both logged double-doubles, Diallo with a game-high 13 rebounds and Stewart with 11 boards.

-reuters

Endemic coronavirus would not mean end of danger, says WHO

The World Health Organization on Tuesday warned against the notion that the Covid-19 pandemic becoming endemic would mean the disease was no longer dangerous.

"People talk about pandemic versus endemic," the WHO's emergencies director Michael Ryan told a virtual session of the World Economic Forum.

"Endemic malaria kills hundreds of thousands of people; endemic HIV; endemic violence in our inner cities. 

"Endemic in itself does not mean good -- endemic just means it's here forever," Ryan told the Davos Agenda roundtable on vaccine equity.

The rapidly-spreading Omicron variant of Covid-19 is much more contagious than previous strains but seems to cause less serious disease for vaccinated people.

That has triggered a debate on the virus passing from being a pandemic to becoming endemic -- with the implication that the danger will have passed.

"What we need to do is get to low levels of disease incidence with maximum vaccination of our populations, so nobody has to die," said Ryan.

"That's the end of the emergency, in my view. That's the end of the pandemic."

Ryan added that it was possible to end the waves of death and hospitalisations by the end of 2022 through vaccine-led public health measures.

But, he added: "We won't end the virus this year. We may never end the virus. Pandemic viruses end up becoming part of the ecosystem.

"What we can do is end is the public health emergency."

With the exception of the one-shot Janssen product, all the Covid-19 vaccines given emergency approval by the WHO require two injections.

Ryan raised the prospect of three to four doses at some point being considered the full course of vaccination for enduring protection against severe Covid disease.

"As knowledge develops, and as we see the way the immune system matures and responds to either re-exposure or to an extra dose of vaccine, we may end up in a future where the primary course of vaccination for a vulnerable person might be three or four doses," he said.

"They won't be called boosters. It will be seen that you need three to four doses to develop that long-lasting, robust immunity that protects you from hospitalisation and death over a prolonged period."

Agence France-Presse

Microsoft to buy US gaming giant Activision-Blizzard for $69 billion

Microsoft announced Tuesday a landmark $69 billion deal to purchase US gaming giant Activision Blizzard, grabbing the sex harassment scandal-hit firm as the tech colossus seeks to boost its power in video games.

Merging with troubled Activision will make Microsoft the third-largest gaming company by revenue, behind Tencent and Sony, it said, a major shift in the booming world of games.

"This acquisition will accelerate the growth in Microsoft's gaming business across mobile, PC, console and cloud and will provide building blocks for the metaverse," Microsoft said in a statement.

Activision, the California-based maker of "Candy Crush" has been hit by employee protests, departures, and a state lawsuit alleging it enabled toxic workplace conditions and sexual harassment against women. 

Over the past seven months the company has received about 700 reports of employee concerns over sexual assault or harassment or other misconduct, in some cases separate reports about the same incident, The Wall Street Journal has reported.

Nearly 20 percent of Activision Blizzard's 9,500 employees have signed a petition calling for CEO Bobby Kotick to resign.

"Acquiring Activision will help jump start Microsoft's broader gaming endeavors and ultimately its move into the metaverse with gaming the first monetization piece of the metaverse in our opinion," Wedbush analysts said after the news broke.

- Troubled Activision -

"With Activision's stock under heavy pressure (CEO related issues/overhang) over the last few months, Microsoft viewed this as the window of opportunity to acquire a unique asset that can propel its consumer strategy forward," Wedbush added.

Microsoft has just marked 20 years of the "Halo" video game franchise that turned its Xbox console into a hit.

Microsoft launched a host of initiatives to mark two decades of both Halo and the Xbox, including a virtual museum exploring key moments in the console's history.

Xbox remains a key player in a video game industry now thought to be larger than the movie sector, with market research firm Mordor Intelligence valuing it at $173.7 billion in 2020.

Troubles, meanwhile, have stacked up for Activision over its sex harassment and discrimination scandal.

In July, California state regulators accused the company of condoning a culture of harassment, a toxic work environment, and inequality.

In September the Securities and Exchange Commission launched a probe into the company over "disclosures regarding employment matters and related issues."

And two months later the Journal reported that Kotick, accused of mishandling the harassment complaints, had signaled he would consider stepping down if he failed to quickly fix the company culture. He has led the company for more than three decades.

Late last year chief operating officer Daniel Alegre pledged a 50 percent increase in female and non-binary staff over the next five years so that they will account for more than a third of Activision's workers.

Agence France-Presse

'Nevermind' baby sues Nirvana again

The man depicted as a naked baby on Nirvana's 1991 album "Nevermind" has revived his lawsuit accusing the band of sexually exploiting him, after a US judge dismissed an earlier version of the case.

Spencer Elden, the plaintiff, maintained in an amended complaint filed on Wednesday in Los Angeles that the "lascivious nature of his image" amounted to "child pornography" that helped the band reap tens of millions of dollars at his expense.

Nirvana drummer Dave Grohl and bassist Krist Novoselic; Courtney Love, the widow of Nirvana lead singer Kurt Cobain; several record labels, and photographer Kirk Weddle are among the 10 defendants. Elden is seeking at least $150,000 from each.

Lawyers for the defendants did not immediately respond on Thursday to requests for comment.

The "Nevermind" cover art depicted Elden, then four months old, swimming naked toward a dollar bill pierced with a fish hook, an image Elden has said caused him "lifelong damages."

Elden filed his amended complaint nine days after US District Judge Fernando Olguin dismissed an earlier version because Elden had not responded to the defendants' dismissal motion.

The latest complaint includes a declaration from art director Robert Fisher, describing a stock photo he used for a mockup for the "Nevermind" cover that depicted a different baby and did not show his penis.

Elden said the band decided to create its own photo to save money, with Cobain sardonically suggesting that the cover include a warning sticker saying: "If you're offended by this, you must be a closet pedophile."

Fisher was dismissed as a defendant last month.

Elden's lawsuit no longer accuses Nirvana of violating a 2003 federal law against child sex trafficking, after the defendants said that law could not be applied retroactively.

"Nevermind" features Nirvana's signature song "Smells Like Teen Spirit," and its worldwide sales exceed 30 million. Grohl now leads the band Foo Fighters. Cobain died in 1994.

Reporting by Jonathan Stempel in New York; Editing by Bill Berkrot

-reuters

Omicron ‘overreaction?’ Airline ticket sales see sharp drop, IATA says

Airline ticket sales have fallen sharply since the end of 2021, the International Air Transport Association (IATA) said Wednesday, blaming governments for having "overreacted" to the omicron COVID variant by closing borders.

IATA, which groups more than 290 airlines, said international air travel had been slowly but steadily recovering from the mass shutdowns of 2020 and early 2021 before the fast-spreading omicron strain was discovered at the end of November.

Ticket sales in November were 60.5 percent below their pre-pandemic November 2019 level, marking an improvement on the 64.8 percent decline recorded a month earlier.

"Unfortunately, governments overreacted to the emergence of the omicron variant at the close of the month and resorted to the tried-and-failed methods of border closures, excessive testing of travelers and quarantine to slow the spread," IATA president Willie Walsh accused.

As a result, he said, the industry was bracing for "a more difficult first quarter than expected."

IATA's members account for 83 percent of global air traffic.

In October, the association forecast cumulative industry losses of $11.6 billion in 2022, down from an estimated $51.8 billion in 2021 and $137.7 billion in 2020.

IATA said it expected US airlines to turn profits again this year but that European carriers, which operate more long-haul flights and are therefore more exposed to border closures, would remain in the red.

Agence France-Presse

Citi to exit consumer banking in Mexico

NEW YORK, United States - Citi announced Tuesday it will exit its Mexican consumer banking business, the latest reorganization effort to steer the US financial heavyweight towards higher-return ventures.

The New York-based bank plans to cease operations in Mexico in consumer, small business and middle-market customers, but will maintain an institutional client business in the country to provide financial advisory and private banking services.

Chief Executive Jane Fraser said the move was consistent with a "strategy refresh" that included earlier moves to pare back consumer banking in other overseas markets.

"Citi is uniquely positioned to support cross-border capital markets activity and trade flows in and out of Mexico for our institutional clients and we will continue to make material investments in our institutional operations and market-leading hub there," Fraser said.

Citi announced plans in April 2021 to exit 13 international consumer banking markets where the bank said it lacked the scale to compete effectively.

The businesses Citi is shedding in Mexico -- it's last in Latin America -- accounted for $3.5 billion in revenues and $1.2 billion in pre-tax earnings through the first three quarters of 2021.

The bank said the timing of the move is unclear since it depends on regulatory approvals, but could involve a sale pf the business lines.

Agence France-Presse