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Documents show that the US has demanded that EU exempt their gas from the methane emission law.
A document from the U.S. Government, seen by, shows that the United States wants the European Union to exempt oil and gas imports from the methane emission law of the bloc until 2035. The EU will require importers of gas and oil to Europe, starting this year, to report and monitor the methane emission associated with these imports. This is in an effort to reduce the emissions of the powerful planet-warming gas. Chris Wright, the U.S. Energy secretary, has criticized this 'world-first' climate policy. He has said that it is impossible to implement and has warned it may disrupt U.S. Gas supplies to Europe. European countries are increasing the imports of U.S. Liquefied Natural Gas, as they rush to reduce their oil and gas imports. In a document from the U.S. government, which was reviewed by the, it stated that, in the absence a "full-repeal" of the EU legislation, the United States suggested that the EU "delay the requirement for U.S. emission data reporting under EUMR [EU Methane Regulation] to October 2035". The document was distributed to EU member governments ahead of Monday's meeting of their energy ministers. A spokesperson from the U.S. Mission to the EU did not respond immediately to a comment request. The spokesperson for the European Commission did not confirm immediately if they had received the U.S. document. (Reporting and editing by Louise Rasmussen, Bart Meijer and Kate Abnett)
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Gold rises 1% due to safe-haven demand and a weaker dollar in advance of US jobs data
Gold rose 1% to hover around a seven-week-high on Monday, supported by the weaker dollar and expectations of interest rate cuts. Safe-haven purchases were also boosted due to geopolitical concerns. Silver gained, but held below its record high from Friday. Gold spot rose 1%, to $4343.96 per ounce at 0949 GMT. Bullion reached its highest level since October 21 last Friday. U.S. Gold Futures rose 1.2% to $4.377.80 per ounce. Dollar?hovered near a 2-month low achieved last week making greenback priced gold more affordable to overseas buyers. Benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury Yields also edged down. Giovanni Staunovo, a UBS analyst, says that "stronger demand from investors, three months of solid central bank demand (as well) as investors beginning to anticipate even lower interest rates in 2026" are all factors supporting gold. In a vote that was divided, the U.S. Federal Reserve announced a rate cut of 25 basis points last week. Further easing will depend on inflation and the state of employment. Investors are watching this week's U.S. Non-Farm Payrolls Report for more clues about monetary policy. Gold and other non-yielding investments benefit from a low interest rate environment. The Russian central bank stated on Friday that the European Union's plans to use Russian assets as collateral for a loan to the Ukraine were illegal. It also said that the Russian central bank reserved the right of using all means available to protect its interests. Silver spot rose by 2.8%, to $63.76 an ounce. It reached a record-high of $64.65 before closing sharply lower. Metal prices have risen 120% in this year due to tighter supplies and the inclusion of critical minerals on the U.S. list. Silver benefits from the same factors that support?investment demands for gold (i.e. Lower rates should also benefit the industrial sector due to the fiscal and monetary stimulus measures. Palladium rose 2.4%, to $1.523.11, while spot platinum increased 1.1%, to $1.763.67 per ounce.
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Key data: Shares stabilize ahead of major central bank decisions
European shares rose on Monday, as Wall Street futures indicated a recovery after last week's selling. However, investor caution capped gains ahead of a busy week that will include important central bank decisions and economic reports. The benchmark STOXX Index of 600 large companies in Europe gained 0.6%. S&P 500 futures rose 0.4% after U.S. shares had fallen on Friday due to concerns over a bubble in?Artificial Intelligence stocks and lingering inflation. Asia shares have been less buoyant due to renewed concerns in China's real estate market. MSCI's broadest Asia-Pacific share index outside Japan fell 1.2%. This was led by a fall of up to 2.7% on South Korean shares. South Korea is one of the best-performing markets in the world this year. Marc Velan is the head of investments for Lucerne Asset Management, a Singapore-based asset management firm. He said that "the risk-off tone in Asia appears to be more a spillover effect from last Friday's sale in U.S. tech and momentum than a regional catalyst." The unwinding of the AI-capex trade affected global risk appetite. And in the 'thinnest year-end liquidity, these moves tend to spread quickly across regions. Investors waited for a series of economic data releases and central bank decisions. The yield of the 10-year Treasury bond in the United States was down 3 basis points to 4.1645%. CHINA PROPERTY WORRIES The U.S. Dollar fell 0.1% against the Chinese Yuan trading offshore to 7.0486, which is its highest level in over a year. Factory?output data and retail sales figures for November showed a further slowdown. Official data released on Monday showed that the price of new homes continued to decline in November. This indicates that the recovery in the demand for housing is still elusive, despite government promises to stabilize the sector. China Vanke announced that it would convene a second meeting of bondholders after the state-backed developer failed to get bondholder approval for an extension by one year to a bond payment due on Monday. This increased the risk?of default, and renewed concerns about the crisis?hit property?sector. Jeff Zhang, Morningstar's equity analyst, said: "If Vanke defaults in the end, we believe the ramifications for the China property industry can be significant." Investors are more likely to be concerned with the balance sheet, and the government's attitude toward bailouts for even'safe' names. CENTRAL BANK CENTRAL BANK LOOM DECISIONS The Bank of Japan, among the central banks that will make decisions this week is expected to increase rates by 25 basis point to 0.75%. Meanwhile, the Bank of England could cut rates to 3.75%. Along with Sweden's Riksbank, Norway's Norges Bank and the European Central Bank, it is expected that interest rates will remain unchanged. Investors can also catch up with economic data delayed by the U.S. The government shutdown has delayed the release of the November jobs report and the consumer price index. Ben Bennett, Hong Kong-based head of investment strategy Asia for L&G Asset Management, said: "It is worth treating this week's statistics with a grain of salt due to the difficulties in collecting data and the direct impact of the shutdown on the economy." We'll need to wait until the year 2026 before we can get a better idea of how the U.S. economy is doing." economy." Stocks in Japan gained support on Monday after the BOJ released its closely-watched "tankan", or business survey, which showed that the big manufacturers' sentiment had reached a four year high. This indicated the economy could be weathering the impact of higher U.S. Tariffs. The Topix rose 0.2% last, and the yen gained 0.6%, to 154.955 versus the U.S. Dollar, which is nearing its highest level in a week. The kiwi fell 0.4% to $0.5781 following comments by New Zealand's central bank governor Anna Breman, who warned that financial market conditions have?tightened over the past few weeks. This has led investors to reduce their expectations of rate hikes for next year. Brent crude rose 0.5% to $61.44 on supply concerns from the U.S. Venezuela tensions, among other factors. Imperial Oil announced on Sunday that it had issued an?fire alarm at its 120,000 barrel per day refinery facility in Ontario. Russia, meanwhile, said that a refinery in Afipsky had not been damaged by an attack from a Ukrainian drone. Steve Witkoff, the U.S. ambassador to Berlin said that "a lot of progress has been made" on the geopolitical side in the peace talks in Berlin for the end of the Ukraine conflict. Gold has extended its recent rally for a fifth consecutive day, as it nears a record-high of $4381.21. Last week, spot bullion prices rose 1.1% to $4,348.83. The cryptocurrency markets ended a three-day loss streak. Bitcoin was up 1.5% to $89,845 while ether rose 2% to $3145. (Reporting and editing by Shri Navaratnam; Sam Holmes, Louise Heavens and Gregor Stuart Hunter)
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UK watchdog investigates EY audit of Shell for rule violation
The British Financial Reporting Council announced on Monday that it has opened an investigation into Ernst & Young’s audit of Shell’s 2024 financial reports for possible violations of audit partner rotation regulations. Shell announced in July that it would update the 2023 and 2024 annual reports, due to EY not complying with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s audit partner rotation rules. The financial statements, however, would remain unchanged. U.S. SEC regulations require 'lead and review audit partners' to rotate every five years, with a cooling-off period of five years. 'Other key partners must rotate every seven?years after a two-year pause. EY stated in a statement emailed to clients that "as disclosed on 2 July 2025 by EY UK, the FRC's Revised Ethical Standard concerning rotation of partners within one engagement was exceeded." EY reported the matter via email. The accounting firm stated that it would continue to cooperate fully with the FRC during the investigation. EY informed Shell in July that the U.S. Audit Opinions for 2023-2024 could not be relied upon. A different partner was assigned to reissue these opinions. It also flagged UK partner rotation breaches, even though no amended filings?were required in the UK. The FRC's Conduct Committee made the decision on October 21 to open the investigation, and the probe will then be conducted by its enforcement division. Shell did not respond immediately to a comment request. (Reporting by Yamini Kalia and Prerna Bedi in Bengaluru. Mark Potter and Mrigank Dhaniwala edited the article.
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Wall Street Journal, December 15,
These are the most popular stories from the Wall Street Journal. ? The accuracy of these stories has not been verified by the site. - iRobot filed for bankruptcy on Sunday. It said that after it was bought by iPicea Robotics (its primary manufacturer), the company would become private. SolGold stated that it would "like to recommend" an offer from Jiangxi Copper, its largest shareholder. The improved offer values the gold-and-copper miner at approximately?842million pounds ($1.12billion), amid a global race for copper assets. SpaceX is starting to select Wall Street banks to provide advice on its initial public offer. The 78-year old mainstay of the city’s battered democracy movement could be forced to spend his entire life in prison by a Hong Kong court. Sanofi said that the U.S. regulatory approval of its experimental tolebrutinib treatment for multiple sclerosis will 'be delayed once again.' It also stated that a late stage trial for another form of disease did not achieve its primary goal.
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As markets watch US jobs data, gold rises due to a softer dollar and yields
On Monday, gold held near a seven-week high due to a weaker dollar and lower U.S. Yields in advance of important jobs data. Silver rose but fell short of Friday's record. Spot gold increased 1%, to $4344.40 per ounce at 0656 GMT. Bullion reached its highest level since October 21 last Friday. U.S. Gold Futures rose 1.1% to $4.377.40 per ounce. The dollar was hovering?near the two-month low reached last week. This made bullion attractive to overseas buyers. Meanwhile, benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury yields dipped. Kelvin Wong, senior market analyst at OANDA, said that "gold is likely to continue being well-bid into U.S. Non-Farm Payrolls" as evidence of a?labour shortage would cap front-end yields and keep the dollar weak. This will support a push towards $4,380-4,440 following a strong rebound from a?$4,243 support zone." The markets are still focused on the Fed's outlook for policy after the U.S. central banks delivered a 25 basis-point rate reduction last week, in a split decision. They also signaled a possible pause because inflation is sticky and labour market outlooks are uncertain. Two Fed officials dissented, saying inflation was too high to justify a more lenient policy. Investors currently expect two rate cuts in the next year, and this week's U.S. employment report is seen as an important test. Gold and other non-yielding investments benefit from a low interest rate environment. ANZ stated in a report that India's decision to allow pension funds the opportunity to invest in ETFs for gold and silver could boost institutional participation. We believe that such regulations can increase investor confidence and improve sentiment, resulting in higher allocations of assets across portfolios. Spot silver increased 2% to $63.23 an ounce. The price of silver reached a record high on Friday at $64.65. However, it closed sharply lower. Despite a rally that has risen more than 115% this year, ANZ warned of downside risks. They cited the possibility of a U.S. exemption from tariffs that could ease supply and stretched valuations compared to gold, which may lead to fund rotation. Palladium prices rose 2.9%, to $1.531.28, while spot platinum fell 0.4%, to $1.738.23 per ounce.
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Saudi Arabia's annual rate of inflation slowed to 1.9% in Novembre
According to government data released on Monday, the annual inflation rate in Saudi Arabia fell to 1.9% from 2.2% in October. The consumer price index, which measures inflation, has been hovering around 2.1%-2.3% for the majority of this year. This is due to rising house prices. According to the General Authority for Statistics in Saudi Arabia, housing rental prices rose 5.4% and passenger transport prices increased by 6.4%. Saudi Arabia's Real Estate Authority in September outlined new rules to combat'rental increases'. These included a suspension of annual rent increases for both residential and commercial properties within the urban boundaries of Riyadh. The government passed a law allowing foreigners to purchase property more easily. As part of its Vision 2030 program, the kingdom is building several new massive developments around Riyadh to boost tourism and the private sectors in an effort to diversify their economy away from oil. The CPI in November increased by 0.1% on a monthly basis. Reporting by Utkarsh Setti in Dubai, Editing by Neil Fullick
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Key data: Stocks fall ahead of central bank decision
Asian stocks fell on Monday as investors reined back risk-taking ahead of a week that is packed with "important central bank decisions" and economic data. MSCI's broadest Asia-Pacific index outside Japan fell 1.2%. This was led by a fall of?of?as much?as 2.7% in South Korean stocks, which is one of the best-performing markets worldwide this year. Marc Velan is the head of investments for Lucerne Asset Management, a Singapore-based asset management firm. He said that "the risk-off tone in Asia appears to be more a spillover effect from last Friday's sale in U.S. tech and momentum than a regional catalyst." The unwinding of the AI-capex trade has weighed down on global risk appetite. In thin year-end liquid, these moves tend to spread quickly across regions. S&P 500 futures rose 0.3% while the yield of the 10-year Treasury bond in the U.S. fell 2.2 basis points to 4.1743%. Investors were awaiting a series of economic data releases as well as central bank decisions. CHINA PROPERTY WORRIES The U.S. Dollar fell 0.1% against the Chinese Yuan trading offshore to 7.0486, which is its highest level in over a year. Factory output and retail sales numbers for November showed a further slowdown. Official data released on Monday showed that the price of new homes continued to decline in November. This indicates that despite government promises to stabilize the housing sector, there is still no sign of a recovery. China Vanke announced that it would convene another bondholder meeting after the state-backed developer failed to get bondholder approval for an extension of a bond payment due on Monday. This increased the risk of default, and renewed concerns about the property crisis-hit sector. Jeff Zhang, Morningstar's equity analyst, said: "If Vanke defaults in the end, the ramifications for the China property sector could be significant." Investors are more likely to be concerned with the government's attitude toward bailouts, even for'safe' names. CENTRAL BANK LOOM DECISIONS Bank of England could make a similar cut of 3.75%. Along with Sweden's Riksbank, and Norway's Norges Bank, the European Central Bank will likely keep rates at current levels. Investors can also catch up with economic data delayed by the U.S. shutdown. This includes the November jobs report and the monthly consumer price index. Ben Bennett, Hong Kong's head of investment strategy Asia for L&G Asset Management said that the data this week should be taken with a grain of salt due to the difficulties in collecting data and the direct impact of the shutdown on the economy. We'll need to wait until the year 2026 before we can get a better idea of how the U.S. economy is doing. economy." Stocks in Japan gained support on Monday after the BOJ released its closely watched "tankan", or business survey, which showed that the big manufacturers' sentiment had reached a four-year high. This indicated the economy could be coping with the impact of higher U.S. Tariffs. Topix rose 0.2% last week, and the yen gained 0.6% against the dollar to reach 154.955, its highest level in over a week. The kiwi currency fell?0.4%, to $0.5781, after New Zealand's central bank governor Anna Breman warned that financial market conditions have tightened over the past few weeks. This has led investors to reduce their expectations of rate hikes for next year. Brent crude rose 0.5% to $61.44 on supply concerns from the U.S. - Venezuela tensions, among other factors. Imperial Oil announced on Sunday that it had issued an alert for a fire at its?120,000 barrels per day refinery in Ontario, Canada. Russia has said that a Ukrainian drone did not damage an oil refinery located in Afipsky. Steve Witkoff, the U.S. ambassador to Berlin said that "a lot of progress has been made" on the geopolitical side in the peace talks in Berlin for the end of the Ukraine conflict. Gold has extended its recent rally for a fifth consecutive day, as it nears a record-high of $4381.21. Last week, spot bullion prices rose 1.0% to $4,344.89. The cryptocurrency markets ended a three-day losing run, with bitcoin ending the day up 1.3% to $89,598.96, and ether= increasing 1.5% to 3,127.57. (Reporting and editing by Shri Navaratnam, Sam Holmes and Gregor Stuart Hunter)
Exxon lobbyist examined over hack-and-leak of ecologist emails, sources state
The FBI has been examining a longtime Exxon Mobil consultant over the professional's supposed function in a hackandleak operation that targeted hundreds of the oil company's greatest critics, according to 3 individuals knowledgeable about the matter.
The operation included mercenary hackers who successfully breached the e-mail accounts of ecological activists and others, the sources told Reuters.
The scheme presumably started in late 2015, when U.S. authorities compete that the names of the hacking targets were assembled by the DCI Group, a public affairs and lobbying company working for Exxon at the time, one of the sources said. DCI supplied the names to an Israeli private detective, who then contracted out the hacking, according to the source.
In an effort to press a story that Exxon was the target of a political vendetta targeted at damaging its company, some of the stolen material was consequently dripped to the media by DCI, Reuters determined. The Federal Bureau of Investigation discovered that DCI shared the info with Exxon before dripping it, the source stated.
Some environmental activists talked to state the hacking operation interfered with preparations for claims by cities and state chief law officers versus Exxon and other energy business. Those suits were modeled on lawsuits against the tobacco industry in the mid-1990s, which resulted in a watershed settlement and sweeping limitations on cigarette sales.
The stolen material continues to be used today to counter lawsuits declaring the oil giant misguided the public and its financiers about the dangers of climate modification. As just recently as April, a market trade group that has actually gotten funding from Exxon pointed out one of the hacked files-- an internal memo strategizing the proposed litigation method of the ecologists-- in an effort to get the Supreme Court to quash a claim filed by the city of Honolulu versus Exxon and other energy business. The case is pending.
The group, the National Association of Manufacturers, stated it was not knowledgeable about the claims the material had been hacked and will consider whether to stop utilizing it in future briefs.
Exxon and DCI parted methods around 2020, according to 2 individuals familiar with the matter.
In a statement, Exxon stated it has actually not been involved in or aware of any hacking activities, calling accusations to the contrary conspiracy theories. Reuters could not figure out whether Exxon itself has also been the topic of the FBI examination.
DCI said: We direct all our employees and specialists to comply with the law.
The leaks sent out a shudder through the ecological neighborhood, stated Kert Davies, director of examinations for an ecological group, the Center for Climate Integrity. Davies was amongst those targeted by the hackers. Matt Pawa, a lawyer whose technique drove much of the anti-Exxon lawsuits, stated the leakages fueled a legal counteroffensive that almost knocked him out of organization.
Those files were directly used by Exxon to come after me with all weapons blazing, he stated in a recent interview. It turned my life upside down.
The investigation into the hack-and-leak operation comes amid growing concern among police worldwide about how such cyberespionage schemes threaten to taint judicial proceedings.
The FBI has actually been examining the broader use of mercenary hackers to damage lawsuits considering that early 2018, Reuters has formerly reported. The Israeli private detective worked with by DCI, Amit Forlit, was apprehended this year at London's Heathrow Airport and is battling extradition to the United States on charges of hacking and wire fraud.
U.S. law enforcement authorities declined to comment on their efforts. They have not spoken publicly about the case against Forlit, which remains under seal. But in court hearings previously this year, British lawyers acting upon behalf of the American government declared that Forlit had actually performed hack-for-hire work for a Washington-based PR and lobbying company and that he dealt with behalf of an oil and gas corporation which wished to reject individuals associated with environment modification lawsuits. In those hearings, the energy company and the lobbying company were not recognized.
Federal prosecutors have actually protected a related conviction: that of Forlit's former service associate, private investigator Aviram Azari. Azari pleaded guilty in 2022 to wire fraud, conspiracy to dedicate hacking and exacerbated identity theft, which included targeting the environmental activists. In court files, prosecutors did not assert any link between Azari and Exxon, DCI or Forlit. However one of the sources with understanding of the FBI investigation stated Forlit contracted out the hacking of the ecological activists to Azari.
Forlit's attorneys did not respond to messages from Reuters seeking comment. A legal representative for Azari, Barry Zone, declined to remark.
Resolving his victims after he was sentenced in 2015 to 80 months in prison, Azari said that there will come a day when he could provide more details about what he had actually done. You don't know whatever, he stated. CODENAME FOX HUNT
The hack-and-leak operation began the heels of a series of media reports in 2015 contending that scientists at Exxon knew for years that fossil fuels were warming the Earth as the business's magnates publicly said otherwise. Exxon has actually said that its internal research and public positions on environment change have been misinterpreted.
Under the hashtag ExxonKnew, groups such as Greenpeace required legal action. So did then-presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, who said the Department of Justice need to probe the firm because there's a lot of proof they deceived people. In November 2015, New York's attorney general of the United States, Eric Schneiderman, announced he was examining Exxon. Other matches followed.
With Exxon on the defensive, DCI swung into action to safeguard what was then one of the company's crucial customers. Reuters talked to a lots previous DCI workers to piece together the company's relationship with Exxon.
Founded in 1996 by veterans of Republican politics, DCI has worked for a variety of tobacco, telecom, hedge fund and energy companies. On its site, DCI says it deals with public relations crises, litigation support, and opposition research study.
5 former DCI workers stated Exxon was long one of DCI's. biggest sources of revenue. One ex-employee said the oil giant. regularly steered more than $10 million in service a year to. DCI. Lobbying work alone for Exxon made DCI a minimum of $3. million between 2005 and 2016, according to openly available. information gathered by the transparency site OpenSecrets.
DCI's staff in Washington tracked social networks chatter. around the ExxonKnew project along with relocations made by state. attorneys general, according to 2 people familiar with the. matter. DCI likewise hired the Israeli detective Forlit, who tapped. Azari to hack the accounts, according to one of the sources. familiar with the FBI examination. The operation's code name. was Fox Hunt, the source said.
Azari was the topic of a 2022 Reuters investigation that. exposed how he and other private detectives used mercenary. hackers in India to help wealthy clients acquire the upper hand in. legal cases. The report drew on a large dataset of Indian. hacking activity, which reveals that the spies tried to burglarize. more than 13,000 e-mail addresses over a seven-year period. Among. the targets were more than 500 email addresses coming from. ecologists, their funders, their associates and their. relative, all of whom were targeted in between 2015 and 2018.
Some information of the hacking project formerly have actually been. revealed. In 2020 the Canadian digital guard dog group Citizen. Lab recognized 10 organizations targeted in a sweeping. cyberespionage effort, including Greenpeace, the Union of. Worried Scientists and the Rockefeller Family Fund.
Reuters has actually discovered the identity of other prominent targets,. that include previous Democratic governmental candidate and. billionaire ecologist Tom Steyer, and the ex-wife of. Schneiderman, New york city's then-attorney general.
Steyer's lawyers did not respond to requests for remark. In. an email, Schneiderman's ex-wife and former political adviser,. Jennifer Cunningham, said she had long thought that Exxon was. behind the hack-and-leak effort.
Starting in April 2016, news reports appeared alleging the. ExxonKnew campaign was a politicized effort pressed by wealthy. benefactors. Within 24 hr of one another, two media outlets. published stories based upon an internal Rockefeller Family. Structure memo. The memo stated activists were working to. persuade the public that Exxon is a corrupt organization and. wanted to delegitimize them as a political star.
The individual with knowledge of the police. examination stated the FBI evaluated that the memo was gotten. by means of the Forlit-led hacking operation. Separately, Reuters. figured out that the memo was consequently dripped to the media by. DCI.
Exxon's legal representatives consistently made use of the hacked files to. support the company's lawsuits.
After the New york city attorney general submitted match versus Exxon. in 2018, for example, the energy company's lawyers pointed out the. stolen Rockefeller memo to argue that the case must be tossed. out.
The legal representative representing Exxon, Theodore Wells, told New. York's Supreme Court in his October 2019 opening declaration that. Schneiderman had actually poorly formed a political positioning with. activists for the function of advancing a program directed at. energy business.
New york city lost the case two months later, when a judge ruled. that the chief law officer stopped working to prove that Exxon had. defrauded financiers by concealing the real cost of environment modification. policy.
In an interview, Schneiderman stated the leaked files were. used to terrific result to strengthen what he called Exxon's. baseless claim that we were participated in a politically motivated. ' witch hunt.'
Wells and his law firm, Paul Weiss, did not respond to. messages seeking comment.
The memo or other hacked files were likewise mentioned in court. filings by Exxon against chief law officers in Massachusetts and. the U.S. Virgin Islands, as well as in the company's 2018 effort. to depose environment change attorney Pawa and other legal representatives.
Much of the litigation is ongoing. On Tuesday, Maine ended up being. the ninth U.S. state to file a claim implicating oil business or. allied groups of tricking the public about environment modification. Pawa. said the industry has continued to conjure up the hacked files in. its effort to push back. They were used over and over again,. he informed Reuters. The net result, he said, was chilling people. from exercising their humans rights..
(source: Reuters)