Salmonella outbreak to cost French dairy hundreds of millions: CEO

PARIS (Reuters) – A salmonella contamination of baby milk produced by Lactalis could cost the French dairy group several million euros, its CEO said in a newspaper interview.

Lactalis has recalled 12 millions tins nationwide and from stores around the world after discovering salmonella bacteria in some baby milk last month at a factory in western France.

“We can’t say definitively but (the cost) will be very high, several million euros,” Lactalis Chief Executive Emmanuel Besnier told business daily Les Echos in an interview to be published in its Thursday edition.

“This case has cost us our export license for a still undetermined period. It’s the biggest crisis I’ve ever had to face as a boss,” he added.

Besnier did not give details of what the costs would be.

French authorities have said that “Salmonella Agona” infections were reported in 38 cases between mid-August and December, 36 of them clearly linked to Lactalis milk. A group representing victims’ families say at least 10 more cases are unaccounted for.

Besnier said that the company did not know how much of the contaminated milk had been consumed but less than half of the recalled product had so far been recovered.

Supermarket chains Leclerc, Auchan, Carrefour and Systeme U have all acknowledged that some of the baby milk had remained on their shelves after the recall.

Besnier said that Lactalis was the target of multiple legal complaints.

Reporting by Leigh Thomas; Editing by Susan Fenton

Our Standards:The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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Official sweater of Norwegian Olympic ski team features symbol used by neo-Nazi group

Oops! Don’t say ‘Google’ in your Alexa voice app, Amazon says

The competition between Alexa and Google Assistant is fierce. How fierce? Cover all of Las Vegas in Google Assistant ads for CES fierce? Put voice assistance in weird things like a light switch or a fridge fierce? How about “don’t dare utter our competitor’s name in your voice app” fierce?

Yep, Amazon has banned Alexa app developers from saying “Google” in their Alexa skills, it seems.

One Alexa developer accidentally discovered this by submitting a voice app to Amazon with a bug.

Jo Jaquinta’s Alexa game skill Mind Maze was supposed to remind users upon exit how to relaunch the skill in the future, by saying something along the lines of: “to play again, say ‘Alexa open Mind Maze.’”

When Amazon’s review testers took a look at the skill, however, it returned the response he had built for the Google Home variation of the app instead. Whoops!

According to the reviewer, the skill had said: “If you enjoy card games, you can say ‘OK Google, talk to 21 Blackjack’…”

The skill was then promptly rejected because you can’t say “Google” in an Alexa app, you see.

Specifically, the reason Amazon provided is that an Alexa skill “should not promote Google Home.”

Wrote the reviewer:

Actual result: The skill promotes google home by saying ‘OK Google’ when user utters Stop or Cancel.

Expected result: The skill should not promote Google Home.

Of course, not sending Alexa skill users to a competing product makes sense for Amazon, and the bug certainly would have created a confusing experience for users had it gone live.

However, is somewhat telling that Amazon’s rejection was not because the skill was offering the incorrect exit phrase, because it would have led to user confusion, or because it violated some sort of developer guidelines. (Nowhere does the Alexa Skills developer agreement prohibit “promoting” the competition, after all.)

It was banned for reminding Alexa users about Google Home. And that’s just not allowed.

(Amazon has been reached for comment, and we’ll update when one is provided.)

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Train carrying Republican congress members collides with bin lorry in fatal crash

One person has died after a train taking Republican Party politicians and their families to a party retreat was involved in a crash with a bin lorry, the White House has confirmed.

Another person was badly wounded but no party representatives or staff on board the train to West Virginia suffered any serious injuries.

House Speaker Paul Ryan was among the passengers but was unhurt, according to aides.

The collision is thought to have taken place south of Charlottesville.

White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said President Donald Trump had been fully briefed on the incident and was receiving regular updates.

We are moving. Back to Charlottesville where we will transfer to buses. Please keep praying for the truck driver’s loved ones and other’s injured. pic.twitter.com/yBULqkYbBB

— Rep. Mark Walker (@RepMarkWalker) January 31, 2018

The party members had been on their way to their annual legislative three-day retreat at the Greenbrier resort in White Sulphur Springs, which Mr Trump and Vice President Mike Pence was set to attend.

Following the collision, Oregon congressman Greg Walden tweeted: “We’re fine, but our train hit a garbage truck. Members with medical training are assisting the drivers of the truck.”

One party adviser said the train partially derailed.

Politicians said the fatality appeared to be someone travelling in the lorry.

Oklahoma congressman Tom Cole said the vehicle had been ripped in half and that emergency services were “putting a body away”.

They backed up train a little ways after decoupling engine and just took a couple people with minor injuries off train for medical attention. 🙏🏻 pic.twitter.com/8mUQq5rahq

— Rep. Vicky Hartzler (@RepHartzler) January 31, 2018

Missouri congresswoman Vicky Hartzler tweeted a picture of emergency services at the scene and said she heard a total of three people had been in the lorry – one who died, another who had to be extracted by firemen and a third who was able to walk away.

Other politicians tweeted they were “praying for those who were in the truck”.

Mr Cole said he felt “a tremendous jolt” at the point of impact at about 11.15am local time, almost two hours after the train left Washington.

He said the train stopped quickly after the collision before congressmen – who were doctors – got off the train to assist.

Congressman James Comer said there were about 100 Republican politicians on the train. Describing the incident, he said he jumped out of his seat when the crash took place.

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“I looked out the side of the window and then I could see a truck, just in pieces out the side of the window,” he added.

It is not clear when or if the politicians will resume their trip.

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Options traders see outsized stock moves on U.S. tech results

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Options market traders expect shares of the biggest U.S. technology companies, including Apple Inc and Facebook Inc, to react more strongly to quarterly results than they have on average over the past two years, data showed on Wednesday.

Expectations for increased turbulence in stock trading rises ahead of earnings, but traders have bid up volatility to multi-quarter highs, New York-based options analytics firm Trade Alert data showed.

Apple, Facebook, Microsoft Corp, Google parent Alphabet Inc and AT&T Inc, which account for nearly half of the $21.2 billion Technology Select Sector SPDR Fund, are expected to post results Wednesday through Thursday.

Wall Street expects technology companies to post strong results. Analysts estimate earnings for S&P 500 technology companies rose 18.5 percent compared with a year ago and compared with a growth of 13.7 percent for the S&P 500 as a whole, according to Thomson Reuters data.

Options traders expect Facebook shares to swing in either direction by 5.7 percent by Friday, compared with a one-day average move of 4.6 percent over the last eight quarters, the data showed.

Options-implied moves for other companies including Apple, Microsoft and Alphabet, also exceed their respective average reactions to results over the past eight quarters, the data showed. (Graphic: tmsnrt.rs/2nu9zsN)

While some of the pick-up in the volatility expectations may be linked to an overall lift in the stock swings in recent days, there does appear a growing concerns about lofty valuations in the sector.

“Despite yesterday’s pullback many are probably taking a look at the valuation of these companies as being pretty rich,” said Mary Ryan, options strategist at online broker E*Trade Financial in Chicago.

S&P 500 Information Technology sector sports a forward four quarter price-to-earnings ratio of 19.5, compared with 18.3 for the S&P 500 as a whole, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

Key sector exchange traded funds, PowerShares QQQ Trust and Technology Select Sector SPDR Fund, have drawn notable defensive options activity over the last two days, pointing to demand for protection against declines.

“Some institutional investors are hedging exposure to large cap tech names,” Trade Alert analyst Fred Ruffy said.

“While defensive positioning is not surprising given the market’s losses over the past two days, the timing also reflects concerns about further short-term losses across large-cap tech ahead of a flood of earnings from the sector,” he said.

Reporting by Saqib Iqbal Ahmed; Editing by Daniel Bases and Lisa Shumaker

Our Standards:The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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