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(Bloomberg) — Amazon.com Inc.’s Ring unit, aiming to broaden the appeal of its home-protection products, is releasing a pair of new cameras, upgrading its panic button and planning to turn its Astro robot into a security guard for businesses.

The new lineup was unveiled Wednesday as part of Amazon’s annual device showcase, which is also expected to include the company’s latest Echo smart-home fare. Amazon acquired Ring in 2018 and has turned the smart-doorbell seller into a key piece of its hardware business. 

The Spotlight Cam Pro — the most significant new Ring hardware introduced at the event — adds radar-based cameras to enable 3D motion detection and a bird’s-eye view. These features previously were included in Ring’s high-end doorbells to give a better picture of the surrounding environment, but will now be more affordable. 

Radar cameras will allow the Spotlight Cam Pro to better measure the distance of an object and more accurately trigger alerts. That addresses a complaint of some Ring owners, who have said that current cameras and motion sensors can set off false alarms. The radar system, meanwhile, will allow the camera to more accurately pinpoint specific objects or tell whether a human is in the frame. And the bird’s-eye view feature shows an overhead picture of movements picked up by Ring devices. 

Amazon will sell a battery-powered version of the Spotlight Cam Pro for $230, with a solar model costing $250. The Spotlight Cam Plus, a lower-end alternative priced at $200, is getting a new design as well and will launch in the coming months, the company said. Ring’s latest panic button, a device that can be carried around or mounted on a wall, is cheaper than the previous model. It will cost $30, down from $35.

Ring also is expanding its threat-monitoring service to allow Amazon’s Astro robot to serve as a roaming security guard. Amazon said that the robot could investigate alerts, observe scenes with its cameras and notify Ring security centers in instances when the police may need to be called. Ring said it will test the service in the coming months with a small group of businesses. Some security features for the Astro are already available for home use.

Some of Amazon’s innovations can take a while to catch on — if at all. Ring announced a flying indoor drone two years ago, but it’s still only available in limited quantities. And even the Astro robot itself is only available by invitation. It launched a year ago.

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(Bloomberg) — Software firm Globant SA picked Spain to expand its football business, reaching an agreement with top-flight competition LaLiga to create a tech-based joint venture.

The new entity, in which Globant will hold a 51% stake, will leverage the technology developed by LaLiga Tech, the arm of LaLiga that’s specialized in providing fan engagement solutions, according to a statement. The financial terms of the deal weren’t disclosed.

Data analysis and real-time statistics have been gaining weight in different sports leagues globally to build up predictive models that support the decision-making process on tactics and players’ training. Data is also analyzed to enhance fan engagement and boost merchandising revenue.

Globant, whose clients include Google and Disney, will work on expanding LaLiga Tech’s products and services such as anti-piracy tools and data analysis.

The venture will also try to leverage new technologies such as web3, which will bring fans “a new form of interacting with their teams, including blockchain-based collectibles,” Globant Chief Executive Officer Martín Migoya said in an interview. “We’ll also use artificial intelligence to better identify users and develop more sophisticated experiences,” he said, adding that the company also aims to expand to “many other leagues in many other countries, as well as many other sports globally.”

LaLiga aims to improve the interaction with fans, “being able to take decisions leveraging data-based predictions,” said Óscar Mayo, executive director of LaLiga, adding that one of the main targets is being able to offer metaverse-linked services as soon as possible.

The league has yet to announce the management structure for the joint venture. 

(A previous version of this story included a reference LaLiga made in error on management plans)

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(Bloomberg) — The 700-meter wide pool of bubbling water in the Baltic Sea caused by the rupture of the Nord Stream gas pipelines points to a climate disaster.

It’s the most visible of three major gas leaks emanating from the pipelines connecting Russia to Europe. Germany estimated that about 300,000 metric tons of methane, one of the most powerful greenhouse gases, entered the atmosphere as a result of the releases. That amount of the gas would have roughly the same climate impact over a 20-year period as the annual emissions from about 5.48 million US cars. 

The cause of the three near-simultaneous pipeline ruptures hasn’t been confirmed, but German and US officials said the incident looked like sabotage. 

While the Nord Stream 1 pipelines were halted — and Nordstream 2 had never even started — they all contained pressurized natural gas, the vast majority of which is methane. Germany’s Federal Environment Agency said its calculation for how much methane was emitted was based on estimated filling status and volume information from the two pipelines.

“There are no containment mechanisms on the pipelines, so the entire contents of the pipes are likely to escape,” the FEA said in a statement.

Methane has 84 times the warming power of carbon dioxide during its first 20 years in the atmosphere but degrades quickly after that. When assessing the climate impact of methane leaks scientists typically convert methane into CO2 equivalent using either a 20-year global warming potential factor or they may multiply the gas by its global warming potential over 100 years.

Germany, using the 100-year conversion factor, said the Nord Stream leaks were roughly equivalent to 1% of the country’s total annual emissions.

Two of the three leaks occurred in Denmark’s exclusive economic zone, which is international waters and close to the Nordic country’s Baltic Sea island of Bornholm. Officials there have said that far more than half of the gas in the ruptured pipelines had already escaped into the Baltic Sea and expects most of the remaining gas to have left the pipelines by this coming Sunday.

The methane emissions will be equal to about 32% of Denmark’s annual greenhouse-gas discharges, Kristoffer Bottzauw, head of the Danish Energy Agency, said in a briefing on Wednesday in Copenhagen. 

Estimating the precise amount of methane that has escaped into the atmosphere is an extremely challenging task. Many so-called super-emitting events — large continuous discharges of methane — are captured by satellite imagery over land-based pipelines or fossil-fuel production sites. But capturing accurate data over water, is far more challenging given light reflects off the surface.

Read this QuickTake on the impact of methane on the atmosphere

There are a number of other key uncertainties — how much gas was in the pipelines at the time, what temperature and pressure it was being held at, and just how big the size of the rupture in the pipes was. Even when the gas escapes, some is likely to have dissipated into the water,  but that also depends on the density of microbial life, as well as the depth. To obtain accurate readings, a plane would probably have to take measurements from the air.

Despite that, scientists on social media were quick to do some back-of-the envelope calculations into just how much methane might have escaped. Andrew Baxter, director of energy strategy at the Environmental Defense Fund, estimated that around 115,000 metric tons of methane escaped.

The largest known release in the US, happened at gas storage facility in Aliso Canyon, Los Angeles, in 2015, where an estimated 97,100 metric tons of methane was emitted over several months. By comparison, the Nord Stream leaks may have happened over the course of several hours.

GHGSat Inc., a satellite emissions monitoring company, said that the breaches of the Nord Stream pipelines may have resulted in 500 metric tons of methane escaping per hour — 10 times more than the Aliso leak at its peak.

Methane Dollop

Other scientists said that while the Nord Stream leaks were a disaster for the climate, they still pale in comparison to daily discharges from gas infrastructure globally, where around a tenth of the fossil fuel’s supply is leaked into the atmosphere, according to Piers Forster, a professor of climate physics from the University of Leeds in the UK.

“The most direct effect of these gas leaks on climate is the extra dollop of the powerful greenhouse gas methane,” said Dave Reay, executive director of Edinburgh Climate Change Institute. “That said, this is a wee bubble in the ocean compared to the huge amounts of so-called ‘fugitive methane’ that are emitted every day around the world due to things like fracking, coal mining and oil extraction.”

While methane leaks are harmful to the climate, they do not pose a significant threat to the marine environment, the German Environment Ministry said in response to a request for comment, highlighting previous cases where the gas was discharged due to drilling in the North Sea. It added that they were exchanging information with experts from Denmark and Sweden. 

The expulsion of methane, comes amid growing public consciousness of its effects on the climate. At the COP26 summit in Glasgow, Scotland, over 100 countries pledged to drastically curb emissions. The EU is also in the process of legislation that would raise the obligation on companies to reduce flaring of the gas, conduct regular inspections to stem leaks and boost transparency of leaks associated with imports.

At an event in the European Parliament Tuesday evening to launch “methane week,” lawmakers, scientists and environmentalists discussed how to measure the scale of the leak, but were united on one thing — it is likely to be an environmental disaster. The Green group’s co-lead negotiator for the bloc’s methane regulation, Jutta Paulus, pointed the finger firmly toward Russia, coming the same week as the Baltic Pipeline — connecting Norway to Poland — was opened.

“‘I don’t think it’s a coincidence that this is happened on the day the Baltic pipeline was opened,” Paulus said at the event. President Vladimir Putin is telling us “be sure you know what you’re doing when you’re applying more sanctions on us. We have to use all possibilities to apply energy efficiency and ramp up renewables.”

(Updates with German methane estimate in second paragraph, Denmark estimate in eighth paragraph and details throughout.)

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(Bloomberg) — A senior director at the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority said enforcement of the country’s technology rules takes too long and is reliant on out-of-date principles.

Will Hayter, who oversees tech at the antitrust watchdog, said at the Bloomberg Technology Summit in London on Wednesday that “traditional” competition tools “were all set up before digital was a thing.”

Enforcement has been “backward-looking” and “narrowly targeted to a specific issue,” and it’s been “quite difficult to design remedies that will actually be effective in the market,” he said.

The CMA is toughening up its stance with the newly set up Digital Markets Unit, which will be able to enforce a code of conduct and potentially suspend, block and reverse decisions made by tech giants. The DMU can currently only operate in shadow form as it awaits legislative powers from the government.

“What’s needed is a bit of a shift to be able to set some of the rules up front in a frankly more collaborative way with the companies concerned than can really work in our enforcement framework,” Hayter said. This could help competition authorities “get better results more quickly,” he added.

Read more: Big Tech’s UK Antitrust Cop Steps Down With Job Not Quite Done

The European Commission as well will soon have new powers to enforce so-called “gatekeeper” companies such as Apple Inc. and Alphabet Inc. from self-preferencing their own products, forcing them to open up their app stores in the process.

Hayter pointed to the EU’s 2011 Google shopping case, which has still not been settled. “I don’t think anyone in that case” is happy, he said, whether it’s the complainants, competition authorities or even Google, since it’s been such a “long, drawn out process.”

Read next: The EU Passed New Tech Rules. That Was the Easy Part

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(Bloomberg) — Amazon.com Inc. is putting a new spin on its oldest electronic gadget, equipping the latest edition of the Kindle e-reader with the ability to take down notes with a pen.  

The Kindle Scribe will ship later this year, the online retailer said Wednesday, at a price of $339. The first version of the popular e-reader designed for writing features a 10.2-inch screen and comes with a stylus that snaps magnetically to the side of the device. Amazon introduced the product at an annual showcase of new gizmos designed by its devices unit. 

Users of the new Kindle Scribe will be able to import personal documents from a phone or PC, annotate books, Microsoft Word documents, web pages and other document types, the company said. Rival makers of tablets designed for writing include Rakuten Group Inc. and Norwegian startup Remarkable AS. 

Amazon released the first Kindle in 2007, the Seattle company’s first foray into consumer electronics. Today, the e-reader is frequently an afterthought for a sprawling business that produces Echo smart speakers and other devices with the Alexa digital assistant, TV streaming sticks, video doorbells, and a prototype home robot called Astro that is in limited release.

Amazon earlier this month announced refreshed versions of its mainline Kindle and a variant designed for children. Those and other previous editions of the device let readers highlight book passages or jot down a digital sticky note by typing on a touch-screen keyboard.

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(Bloomberg) — European governments and companies moved to bolster security around their energy assets after the Nord Stream blasts, as the German Navy was deployed to investigate the suspected sabotage. 

European nations and LNG carriers heading for the region must be on high alert in the wake of the “apparent sabotage,” US Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm said. 

The situation in the Baltic Sea between Russia and NATO remains “tense,” said Danish Defense Minister Morten Bodskov, who expects Moscow’s forces in the region to continue their “saber-rattling.” The blasts, which European leaders said were sabotage, coincided with the opening of a new pipeline taking Norwegian gas to Poland.

Gas prices jumped on supply concerns, after Gazprom PJSC warned late Tuesday that flows via Ukraine are also at risk. 

Key Developments:

• EU announces new sanctions proposal after Russia annexation move
• Norwegian companies strengthen security
• Nord Stream leaks could be ‘unprecedented’ climate disaster
• EU, Denmark, Sweden say Nord Stream leaks caused deliberately
• German navy deployed to investigate
• NATO addressing security on critical infrastructure
• Kremlin dismisses accusations Russian was to blame for damage
• Ukraine gas flows are at risk, says Gazprom
• Gas prices rise
• EU considers ban on shipping Russian oil as part of price cap

Try Your Hand at the Policy Levers: How Would You Manage the Crisis?

(All times are UK.)

Denmark Sees Nord Stream Pipes Empty by Sunday (5 p.m.)

Denmark expects all the remaining gas to have left the ruptured Nord Stream pipelines on Sunday after “far more than half” has already escaped into the Baltic Sea. 

The methane emissions will be equal to about 32% of Denmark’s annual greenhouse-gas discharges, Kristoffer Bottzauw, head of the Danish Energy Agency, said in a briefing on Wednesday in Copenhagen.

Germany Preparing for Months for Threats (3:30 p.m.)

German Interior Minister Nancy Faeser said the government in Berlin has for months been preparing to counter threats to the country’s energy infrastructure and called for the “alleged acts of sabotage” on the Nord Stream pipelines to be cleared up “quickly and comprehensively.”

“We have to prepare for scenarios that were unthinkable until recently,” Faeser said in an emailed statement. “Federal and state security authorities are very vigilant and always act in accordance with the current situation,” she said, adding that police are constantly on patrol in the North and Baltic Seas.

Norway Boosts Defense of Oil and Gas Industry (3:25 p.m.)

Norway’s prime minister said that while there’s no indication of a threat, defense forces will be “more visible” around oil and gas facilities after the suspected Nord Stream sabotage.

There has been “abnormally high” drone activity near oil and gas installations on the Norwegian continental shelf, Jonas Gahr Store told reporters in Oslo. The government has designated oil extraction and pipeline gas transport to Europe as “fundamental national functions” to allow more measures to protect the industries, the prime minister said.

US Urges High Alert After Pipeline Sabotage (2:35 p.m.)

Everybody should be on high alert and nations must build their energy security in the wake of the “apparent sabotage” of the Nord Stream pipelines, US Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm said in an interview. That includes a heightened alert for LNG carriers on their way to Europe.

The US hopes its European allies will undertake an “expedited investigation” and identify who was responsible for the pipeline attacks, Granholm said. Vladimir Putin’s move to weaponize gas underscores the urgency with which all nations have to “evaluate the risks of relying on another entity for their energy,” she said.

German Infrastructure Faces Security Threat (1 p.m.)

German energy infrastructure faces a general security threat, according to a spokesman for the Interior Ministry.

There is no indication that the Nord Stream leaks were the result of a natural phenomenon, a government spokesman said, adding that the pipelines will have to be empty before the cause can be investigated.

Naftogaz Says Gazprom Has Paid Oct. Transit (12:30 p.m.)

Ukrainian energy company Naftogaz said Gazprom has paid transit fees for October already.

That may ease some concerns about an immediate cut to flows to Europe via Ukraine. Gazprom said late Tuesday that there’s a risk Russia will sanction Naftogaz in retaliation for a legal dispute, and if that happens Gazprom won’t be able to pay Ukraine’s transit fees. 

Equinor, Var Energi Tighten Security (12 p.m.)

Equinor ASA and Var Energi ASA are tightening security at their facilities in Norway.

“Var Energi has operated with an increased level of security since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February and is now introducing even more measures on the basis of the incident in the Baltic Sea,” spokesman Andreas Wulff said in an email.

Gassco, whose network of pipes supplies Norwegian gas to continental Europe, said it has also boosted both cyber and physical security measures.

Ministers to Discuss Nord Stream on Friday (12 p.m)

Energy ministers will discuss the pipeline damage when they meet on Friday in Brussels, according to EU Justice Commissioner Didier Reynders. 

“Before the summer, the council and the commission reached an agreement on security measures for infrastructure which are being implemented,” he said. “And it may be that we need to go even further to secure infrastructure in the light of the recent events.”

German Navy Deployed in Pipeline Probe (11:15 a.m.)

Germany has deployed naval vessels to help in the investigation into the pipeline breaches, the defense ministry said, adding that the “alleged act of sabotage” highlights the vulnerability of critical infrastructure.

“The circumstances of this disturbing event must now be quickly clarified and those responsible identified,” Defense Minister Christine Lambrecht said. “I have already exchanged views on this with my Danish counterpart,” she added. “We have agreed to share information and our navy will contribute its expertise to the investigation.”

Kremlin Dismisses Blame For Sabotage (10:48 a.m.)

Western accusations that Russia sabotaged the Nord Stream pipeline system are “stupid” and “absurd,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.

The results of an investigation are needed to show the nature of the damage, Peskov said, pointing to the benefit for the US from the Nord Stream pipelines being halted. 

Russia has been taking steps in recent weeks to cut off gas supplies to Europe, including shutting down Nord Stream for maintenance on turbines that the manufacturer said wasn’t necessary.

Equinor Raises Vigilance on Energy Assets (10:35 a.m.)

Equinor decided to raise the level of preparedness last night for all its energy-related facilities in Norway, national broadcaster NRK reported. 

The decision covers offices, installations, supply locations, helicopter bases, land facilities and vessels. A separate contingency team consisting of local management and stewards has been established for the Kollsnes gas processing plant, the broadcaster said.

Explosions Equivalent to 100 kg of TNT (10:07 a.m.)

In Sweden, seismologists said the bigger of the two explosions detected in the area of the Nord Stream gas leak on Monday corresponded to a blast of about 100 kilograms of TNT.

The calculation is based on a comparison with other detonations, for example naval mines where the size of the charge is known. But this is “very much an estimate as it depends on local conditions,” Peter Schmidt of the Swedish National Seismic Network said in an interview.

On Wednesday, the Swedish Prosecution Authority confirmed that the police has opened a case into the Nord Stream incident but would not provide further comment.

‘Unprecedented’ Climate Disaster (10:03 a.m.)

Scientists are scrambling to work out just how much methane, one of the most powerful greenhouse gases, has escaped into the atmosphere. The fear is that it could be one of the worst releases ever.

Many so-called super-emitting events — large continuous discharges of methane — are captured by satellite imagery over land-based pipelines or fossil-fuel production sites. But capturing accurate data over water, is far more challenging given the light that reflects of the surface.

Pipeline Probe Won’t Start for at Least a Week (9:55 a.m.)

It may take as long as two weeks before an investigation of the Nord Stream leaks can begin, Danish Defense Minister Morten Bodskov told local media.

“It can take a week or 14 days before the pressure in the pipelines has fallen enough for there to be enough calm to see anything,” he said.

NATO Chief Looking at Protecting Infrastructure (9:20 a.m.)

NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg discussed the sabotage on the Nord Stream pipelines with the Danish Defence Minister addressing the need to protect critical infrastructure.

15 EU Countries Back Price Cap on Gas (8:40 a.m.)

A cap on the price of natural gas should be applied to all transactions, and not limited to imports from specific jurisdictions, 15 EU Energy Ministers said in a letter to the European Commission. The cap is a priority and can be combined with proposals to strengthen the financial oversight of the gas market and develop alternative benchmarks for gas pricing in Europe, energy ministers of Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, France, Greece, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia and Spain said in the letter.

The European Union’s executive arm plans to discuss the feasibility of imposing a price cap on gas in a document to be presented to member states Wednesday.

Ukraine to Press Ahead With Arbitration (8:10 a.m.) 

Ukraine’s NJSC Naftogaz Ukrainy intends to continue with arbitration against Gazprom PJSC, its chief executive officer said on Twitter. The legal dispute could lead to Russia sanctioning the country and cutting supplies of gas.

Gas Prices Jump (7:23 a.m.)

Natural gas prices in Europe jumped 11%, after Russia’s Gazprom warned supplies via Ukraine are at risk if the country pursues a dispute over transit payments. The warning came after leaks were reported on Nord Stream pipelines to Germany, which authorities suspect are caused by sabotage. 

Sweden Calls Foul Play (7:15 a.m.)

Sweden’s government maintained its stance that the leaks were a result of foul play on Wednesday. “We can say that it likely is sabotage,” Foreign Minister Ann Linde told state broadcaster SVT.

EU Warns of Strong Response (9:20 p.m. Tuesday)

President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen warned that Europe will carry out “the strongest possible response” if the damage on the Nord Stream 1 and 2 pipelines proves to be deliberate. She said any deliberate damage to Europe’s energy infrastructure is “unacceptable.”

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(Bloomberg) — Bluey, an animated series about a playful family of Australian cattle dogs, has become Walt Disney Co.’s first hit kids show of the streaming TV era.

The program, which began airing on the Disney Junior cable channel and the Disney+ streaming service in 2019, surged in popularity last month when the third season came out. Bluey briefly passed longtime kids streaming leader CoComelon, which airs on Netflix, generating more than 900 million minutes of viewing the week of Aug. 8 alone, according to Nielsen data.

The show has grown so popular, Disney will release later this year an episode, unedited, that it banned because of jokes about flatulence. The company had to give audiences a chance to acclimate to the Bluey characters and the show’s sense of humor, before putting it on its streaming service.

A kids hit is a financial feast — for the studios that make them, the networks that carry them and for companies that sell plush toys and other knickknacks. Licensed merchandise sales of all kinds hit a record $316 billion globally last year, with entertainment characters being the largest piece. With Bluey, the BBC’s BBC Studios controls the merchandise rights, while Disney gets a royalty. The show led to a 9% increase in the BBC’s consumer-product sales last year. Moose Toys, an Australian company, is the main toy licensee. 

“The franchise is hitting all of these categories in the toy department,” said James Zahn, senior editor of the Toy Insider, which offers industry news and reviews. “That’s when you know it’s a true hit.”

Bluey is produced by Ludo Studio, an Australian company that got initial funding for the show from the BBC, local governments and the Australian Broadcasting Corp. Disney acquired the rights to air the program in all but a few countries, most notably Australia and New Zealand, edging out other media companies. In the UK, Bluey appears on both Disney+ and later on some BBC outlets. 

Fun and Games

The show has struck a chord with viewers because the episodes, just a few minutes in length, show both the dog parents and pups playing games and being silly. “It’s good for kids, but it’s also very funny for adults,” said Mariel Monteagudo, an actress from Staten Island, New York, who watches the show with her 8-year-old son. 

In the very first episode, Bluey and her sister, Bingo, play a trick on their dad that leaves him frozen with a garden hose spraying him in the face. Another episode portrays the parents as hung over from a night of partying. The show is so cheeky Disney and the BBC have caused a fan uproar for sometimes censoring the content. 

YouTube Clips

Disney has been promoting Bluey in short clips on YouTube and has run marathon sessions on its cable networks. The company has also been scheduling Bluey in the afternoon and nights, so older kids and families can watch. 

Joe Brumm, the animator who created Bluey, said he wanted to make an Australian version of Peppa Pig, the British cartoon. Its parent company, Entertainment One, was sold to toymaker Hasbro Inc. for $4 billion in 2019. Brumm modeled the dog family after his own children, adopting what he calls a “grounded yet wild tone.” He said he’s a little surprised by the success of the series, “though it’s testament to the fact that kids are pretty similar the world over.”

In Australia, where young children now go to bed with Bluey stuffed animals, the program is the No. 2 character behind Paw Patrol in the preschool toy category, according to market researcher NPD. In the US, it ranks 5th. An album of music from the show was the first kids record to hit No. 1 in Australia last year.

Normally a hit program at Disney would lead to merchandise being sold at its theme parks, website and stores, but the company hasn’t given Bluey that extensive a push in those outlets. That may be because Disney doesn’t own the brand, notes Zahn, the Toy Insider editor.

The BBC has announced a big licensing push this year, however. The dogs have been popping up on holiday toy shopping lists from Walmart Inc., Target Corp. and Amazon.com Inc. Items include a $90 Bluey playhouse from Moose Toys and a $20 Hasbro Monopoly Junior game. Odette Welling, vice president for merchandising at retailer Party City, expects a new line of Bluey Halloween costumes to sell out. “It’s been a breakout hit for us,” she said.

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(Bloomberg) — President Joe Biden announced more than $8 billion in private- and public-sector commitments to help combat hunger, casting the issue as one that should unite all Americans regardless of political affiliation. 

“This is something we should be all rallying the whole country to work on together,” Biden said Wednesday at the White House Conference on Hunger, Nutrition, and Health. 

“Because in every country in the world, in every state in this country, no matter what else divided us, if a parent cannot feed a child, there’s nothing else that matters to that parent,” he added. 

Among the companies taking part in initiatives are Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc., Tyson Foods Inc. and Alphabet Inc.’s Google. 

The commitments cover a wide range of efforts from “philanthropic contributions and in-kind donations to community-based organizations,” as well as investments in new businesses, according to the White House. 

More than half of the total commitments will go toward philanthropic efforts focused on promoting nutrition and exercise, while $2.5 billion will be funneled to startups developing innovative solutions to fight food insecurity.

Read more: US Aims to Shift ‘Healthy’ Food Labels as It Fights Malnutrition

Company Efforts 

Google will introduce new features to help Americans access health-care and public food benefits, the White House said, while Tyson pledged to invest $225 million in anti-hunger charities and an additional $20 million in nutrition education programs. Walgreens has promised to increase the selection of fresh foods in its stores by 20% by 2030, and to work with local distributors to make a priority of helping under-served communities.

Hunger has been spreading among Americans with steady but low-paying jobs, and the situation threatens to worsen as the US Federal Reserve raises interest rates and the economy slows. 

Biden has established a goal of ending hunger by 2030. Wednesday’s conference is focused on reducing food insecurity and diet-related diseases, such as obesity and diabetes, and includes non-profit, business and government leaders. 

The event is the first of its kind in more than half a century, following a 1969 forum convened by President Richard Nixon that led to expansions of federal food stamp and school lunch programs.

“That single conference, and the laws it inspired, led a transformational change that has helped millions of Americans live healthier lives for generations,” Biden said of Nixon’s original forum on hunger.

(Updates throughout with Biden’s remarks at conference)

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(Bloomberg) — European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen announced an eighth package of sanctions that will target Russia over its attempt to annex more territory in Ukraine. The measures will include a price cap on Russian oil exports. “We intend to make the Kremlin pay” for this further escalation, she said. 

Separately, European allies were considering how to respond to a disruption of the Nord Stream natural gas pipeline as Russia threatened to cut off the last gas supplies to them via Ukraine. Jens Stoltenberg, secretary general of the NATO military alliance, said after meeting Danish Defense Minister Morten Bodskov that they discussed “the protection of critical infrastructure.”

Western accusations that Russia sabotaged the Nord Stream pipeline system are “rather expected” and also “stupid” and “absurd,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on a conference call. 

(See RSAN on the Bloomberg Terminal for the Russian Sanctions Dashboard.)

Key Developments

• Ukraine’s Plea for Tanks Bogs Down as US, Germany Confront Risks
• Russia Declares Victory in Sham Ukraine ‘Referendums’
• Putin Raises Gas Pressure as He Moves to Annex Ukraine Lands
• Global Gas Scramble to Intensify After European Pipeline Blasts
• EU Considers Ban on Shipping Russian Oil as Part of Price Cap
• EU Eyes Ban on Nationals in Top Jobs at Russia State Enterprises

On the Ground

Russia pounded Ukraine’s second largest city Kharkiv Tuesday evening, the regional governor Oleh Synyehubov said on Telegram, adding that there were no casualties according to preliminary information. Air-defense forces shot down Russian missiles in the Mykolaiv, Odesa and Dnipropetrovsk regions, Ukrainian military’s southern command said on Facebook. Ukrainian troops repelled Russian attacks near eight settlements, Ukraine’s General Staff reported in its morning update. The Washington-based Institute for the Study of War said in its latest report that Ukrainian forces consolidated positions on the eastern bank of the Oskil river and advanced further on the outskirts of Lyman in the Donetsk region, while continuing to target Russian supply lines as part of a southern counter-offensive.

All times CET:

Putin’s Draft Order Sparks Exodus of Russians (5:12 p.m.) 

At least 200,000 Russians left the country after President Vladimir Putin’s mobilization order in a dash for safety that’s causing turmoil at the borders and stirring fears in neighboring states about potential instability from the influx.

While Russia hasn’t released official data, statistics from Georgia, Kazakhstan and the European Union showed the scale of the departures amid fears among conscription-age men that the Kremlin may close the border for them. The total is likely an underestimate as other nearby countries popular with Russians including Armenia, Azerbaijan and Turkey haven’t disclosed arrival figures.

Scholz Rejects Russia’s ‘Pretend Referenda’ (5:03 p.m.)

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz held another telephone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy and reiterated that the government in Berlin will “never recognize” the results of what he called “pretend referenda” in Russian occupied areas of Ukraine.

Scholz “stressed that Germany would not stop providing concrete political, financial and humanitarian support to Ukraine, as well as in the defense of its sovereignty and territorial integrity, including with weapons supplies,” according to an emailed statement from his spokesman.

EU Announces New Sanctions Package (4:16 p.m.) 

The European Union proposed a new round of sanctions targeting Russia after Moscow announced a partial mobilization and staged widely condemned referendums on annexations in Ukrainian territory it’s occupying.

In addition to imposing a price cap on Russian oil, the measures will include an import ban on Russian products that will deprive Moscow of 7 billion euros ($6.7 billion) in revenue as well as export restrictions on aviation products, electronic components and chemical substances, von der Leyen told reporters in Brussels. 

Sanctions need to be approved unanimously by the EU’s 27 member states before they can be imposed.

Read more: EU Plans New Russia Import Bans, Tech Curbs Over Putin Land Grab

Lithuania to Mull Further Security Measures For Infrastructure (12:40 a.m.)

Lithuania, which stepped up security for its strategic energy infrastructure in February when Russia invaded Ukraine, said the government will discuss whether additional measures are needed following the Nord Stream disruption. Energy Minister Dainius Kreivys said consultations will be held with the defense ministry and army officials. 

Kremlin Rejects Claims Russia Sabotaged Nord Stream (11:50 a.m.)

Spokesman Peskov said it’s necessary to wait for an investigation to show whether “it was an explosion or a rupture.” He said Putin plans to meet with leaders of the occupied regions of Ukraine following the annexation votes, but declined to say when this would happen.

Zelenskiy Wants Preventive Measures Against Annexation, Nuclear Blackmail (11:10 a.m.)

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, speaking to Harvard University students via videolink, called for “preventive actions” – primarily sanctions – against Russia for its invasion of Ukraine, attempts to annex territories and nuclear blackmail. 

“Russian propagandists say that they expect strikes and annexations not only in Ukraine, but also in other countries – from Kazakhstan to the Baltic states, from Georgia to Moldova and Poland,” Zelenskiy said. “The Russian President is again saying that he wants to break the grain initiative, which provides food security for tens of millions of people,” Zelenskiy said, adding that Russia is doing all this because it sees a lack of preventive measures. 

Finland Considers Building Fence on Russian Border (10:40 a.m.)

Finland’s Border Guard called for a fence to be built to secure the riskiest spots along the 1,300-kilometer border with Russia.

Finland should build as much as 260 kilometers of fence to help prevent potential uncontrolled mass-scale entry from the east, the Border Guard said in a press release. A physical barrier is “necessary” to slow and control any crowds, it said. The fence could cost “hundreds of millions of euros” with a final decision on funding resting with the government.

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(Bloomberg) — US Treasuries rallied as UK gilts surged after the Bank of England said it would buy long-dated government bonds in whatever quantities were needed to restore order to the market. US stocks attempted to stage a rebound, even after Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta President Raphael Bostic reinforced the hawkish stance his colleagues hammered home this week. 

US Treasury yields declined, with the benchmark 10-year rate around 3.78% after topping 4%. The yield on 30-year UK gilts plummeted as much as 107 basis points to below 3.92%. The S&P 500 rose as much as 1.1%, after a six-day rout sparked by the most aggressive path of interest-rate hikes by the Fed since the 1980s. 

Several Fed officials this week reiterated that more rate hikes are needed to tame inflation and that risks to the economy remain elevated, with Atlanta Fed’s Bostic adding to the chorus on Wednesday. Global markets are still reeling from the tumult triggered last week by the Fed’s third jumbo hike and the UK’s new prime minister unveiling sweeping tax cuts that threaten to add to inflationary pressures. 

“A relief rally can be expected given markets are nearing oversold conditions, while positioning and sentiment have become distinctly short and bearish,” said Cameron Dawson, chief investment officer at Newedge Wealth. “But any rally will likely be met with skepticism given the dual headwinds of rapidly slowing global growth, pressuring earnings, and increasingly tight liquidity, pressuring valuations.”

Stocks may also be rising because the markets have priced in the Fed’s hawkishness, according to Adrian Helfert, chief investment officer of multi-asset strategies at Westwood Holdings Group.

“It’s harder for the central bank and the speakers to say much more — short of saying that they’re going to start hiking by a hundred basis points for the next several meetings,” he said. “Maybe the market is at least now believing what the Fed is saying.”

Geopolitical tensions also continue to weigh on sentiment. Natural gas prices in Europe surged after Russia said it may cut off supplies via Ukraine and the German Navy was deployed to investigate the suspected sabotage to the Nord Stream pipelines. While the European Union proposed a new round of sanctions on Russia, the growing exodus of Russians fleeing President Vladimir Putin’s mobilization order is creating turmoil at the borders with neighboring states and stirring fears about potential instability. 

In other news, Hurricane Ian rapidly gained strength, with winds just 2 mph away from reaching Category 5 strength, the most powerful category for a storm on the Saffir-Simpson scale, according to the National Hurricane Center. Orange juice futures soared as a result.

The dollar dropped on Wednesday, but its recent rally brought losses to other currencies, including the euro and onshore yuan, which tumbled to its weakest level since 2008. A regulatory body guided by the People’s Bank of China urged banks to protect the authority of the yuan fixing.

How much damage is a strong dollar causing? That’s the theme of this week’s MLIV Pulse survey. It’s brief and we don’t collect your name or any contact information. Please click here to share your views.

Key events this week:

• Fed’s Mary Daly and Charles Evans speak at events, Wednesday
• Euro zone economic confidence, consumer confidence, Germany CPI, Thursday
• US initial jobless claims, GDP, Thursday
• Fed’s Loretta Mester, Mary Daly speak at events, Thursday
• China PMI, Friday
• Euro zone CPI, unemployment, Friday
• US consumer income , University of Michigan consumer sentiment, Friday
• Fed’s Lael Brainard and John Williams speak, Friday

Some of the main moves in markets:

Stocks

• The S&P 500 rose 0.9% as of 11:07 a.m. New York time
• The Nasdaq 100 rose 0.6%
• The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.9%
• The Stoxx Europe 600 rose 0.2%
• The MSCI World index fell 0.1%

Currencies

• The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index fell 0.3%
• The euro rose 0.5% to $0.9638
• The British pound rose 0.1% to $1.0749
• The Japanese yen rose 0.2% to 144.51 per dollar

Cryptocurrencies

• Bitcoin rose 1.9% to $19,429.68
• Ether rose 0.3% to $1,328.3

Bonds

• The yield on 10-year Treasuries declined 17 basis points to 3.78%
• Germany’s 10-year yield declined six basis points to 2.17%
• Britain’s 10-year yield declined 47 basis points to 4.04%

Commodities

• West Texas Intermediate crude rose 3% to $80.87 a barrel
• Gold futures rose 1.4% to $1,659.10 an ounce

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