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Amazon posted its second straight quarter of sales topping $100bn on Thursday. Library picture: Shipments are seen being prepared in an Amazon logistics centre in the Paris region, 23 September 2019. Photo credit: Frederic Legrand - Comeo / Shutterstock.com 

Amazon triples quarterly income

Amazon reported net sales of $108.5bn during the first three months of the year, up by 44% year-on-year. Net income more than tripled to $8.1bn. Roughly half of Amazon’s operating income, $4.2bn, came from its cloud computing business, and advertising revenue grew by 77% to $6.9bn. The company said it expected second quarter sales would hit $110bn-$116bn. Sources: BBC, Bloomberg, CNBC, Financial Times and Reuters.

Amazon looking at Ireland hubs

Amazon will reportedly open logistics facilities near Dublin and Shannon because of Brexit barriers. The company has been serving customers in Ireland from the UK. Source: CNBC. Background: Irish Independent and Irish Times.

Amazon can proceed with ‘Jedi’ case against Pentagon

The US Court for Federal Claims rejected requests filed by the US justice department and Microsoft to dismiss a lawsuit lodged by Amazon Web Services contesting the awarding of a $10bn defence department cloud computing contract, called Joint Enterprise Defense Infrastructure, to Microsoft. Sources: Computer Weekly, The Hill, The Register and Seeking Alpha.

France to relax covid restrictions

The French government will loosen pandemic measures in four stages (starting on 3 May, 19 May, 9 June and 30 June). Sources: AFP, BBC, France 24 and John Lichfield on Twitter.

Latest Luxembourg covid-19 update

Out of 9,418 PCR tests conducted on 28 April, 211 Luxembourg residents tested positive for covid-19. That is a rate of 33.24 new cases per 100,000 inhabitants (compared to 33.38 on 21 April). The reproduction rate was 0.97, below the target threshold of 1.00 (compared to 0.99). There were 95 covid-19 patients in hospital (compared to 112), including 36 in intensive care (compared to 34). Two people died due to the coronavirus on Wednesday, bringing the national total to 794. A cumulative 186,480 vaccine doses have been administered, including 50,027 people who have received two jabs. Source: health ministry

Bil results hit by pandemic

Banque Internationale à Luxembourg posted net banking revenue of €555m in 2020, down by 2% compared to 2019, and net income of €101m, down by 10% compared the previous year. Sources: Paperjam and Wort.

Big Chinese banks report higher profits, tighter margins

Five of China’s largest state-owned banks posted higher first quarter net profits, but lower profitability. Sources: Bloomberg, Reuters and South China Morning Post.

Danske Bank cases closed

Danish prosecutors dropped money laundering charges against former Danske Bank CEO Thomas Borgen and two other senior executives, after concluding that “there is no legal evidence” of “gross negligence”. Sources: Financial Times and Reuters.

Rocket forms Luxembourg Spac vehicles

Rocket Internet--the Berlin-based tech investment outfit behind Delivery Hero, Hello Fresh and Zalando--has registered three special purpose acquisition companies in Luxembourg. A Spac, sometimes called a blank cheque company, is simpler way for companies to go public than the traditional IPO. Source: Paperjam.

Record fundraising for alternative lending fund

Ares, an investment manager, raised €11bn for Europe’s largest private debt fund. Sources: Financial Times, Private Equity News and Reuters.

Euronext to shift servers out of UK

The stock exchange operator Euronext is moving its trading data centre from southeastern England to northern Italy now that its $5.5bn acquisition of Borsa Italiana has been finalised. Sources: CNBC, Financial Times, Reuters and RTE.

Global EV sales to accelerate

The International Energy Agency forecast 145m electric vehicles would be on the road by 2030. Sources: CNBC and Reuters.

Lufthansa reports €1bn net loss

Lufthansa posted a €1bn net loss for the first quarter, down from a €2.1bn net loss during the first three months of 2020. Sources: DW, Independent, Reuters and RTE.

SAP to pay Iran sanctions fine

German software maker SAP will pay US authorities a $8m to settle charges that it violated trade sanctions against Iran. Sources: AP, Bloomberg, DW and Reuters.

Twitter sales up, but shares down

Twitter posted $1.04bn in first quarter revenue, up by 28% over the same period last year, beating analyst expectations. But its shares fell after issuing slower guidance. Sources: Bloomberg, CNBC, Financial Times and Reuters.

EU adopting quick terror takedown law

The European Parliament passed a bill requiring online platforms to remove ‘terrorist content’ within one hour. Sources: DW, Euractiv, RFI and Techcrunch.

German top court tells Berlin to rewrite climate law

Germany’s constitutional court ruled that the country’s climate law is unconstitutional, saying it does not do enough to cut CO2 emissions by 2030 and therefore violates the rights of younger people. Sources: DW, Financial Times, The Guardian and NPR.

Women hold key British diplomatic posts

Menna Rawlings was named the first female UK ambassador to Paris, meaning women will represent London in all the other G7 capitals (Berlin, Ottawa, Rome, Tokyo and Washington), as well as in Canberra, Moscow and at the UN in New York (not to mention Luxembourg, where Fleur Thomas was recently appointed British ambassador). Source: The Guardian.

Navalny makes court appearance

The jailed Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny looked gaunt as he made his first public appearance--via video link during a court hearing--since ending a hunger strike. A judge rejected his appeal application. Sources: BBC, Euractiv, The Guardian and NPR.

Dozens dead in Israeli religious festival crush

At least 44 people were killed and more than 100 injured during a stampede at a religious festival in northern Israel. Sources: AFP, AP, BBC and Reuters.

Palestinians delay elections

The Palestinian Authority postponed its first parliamentary elections in 15 years. Mahmoud Abbas, in his 17th year of a four-year term as PA president, cited Israeli restrictions on voting in east Jerusalem. Sources: AP, BBC, Bloomberg and DW.

Deadly California wildfire started to cover up murder

A man has been charged with setting the Markley Fire, which burned about 100km northeast of San Francisco in August 2020, to conceal the fact he killed a woman that he dated. Reporters were not able to reach his lawyer, however he pleaded not guilty to murdering the woman and is due in court today to face charges concerning the fire, which killed two people. Sources: AFP, AP, CBS Sacramento and NBC News.

Lady Gaga dognapping suspects arrested

Five people have been charged with allegedly shooting Lady Gaga’s dog walker and stealing her two French bulldogs. Sources: BBC, The Guardian, NPR and USA Today.

Girl Scouts selling fundraiser cookies via drone

A Girl Scout troop in Christiansburg, Virginia, about 400km southwest of Washington, is using drones--built by Google’s sister outfit, Wing--to delivery cookies. Sources: AP, Bloomberg, and USA Today.

Today’s breakfast briefing was written by Aaron Grunwald