Bloomberg - Evening Briefing - Mass shooting in Russia

At least 40 people were killed and more than 100 wounded in an attack by gunmen Friday at a concert hall near Moscow, according to Russian officials. An investigation has been opened into the mass shooting and explosions at Crocus City Hall in Krasnogorsk, they said, which would be the deadliest since twin suicide bombings in Moscow subway stations killed at least 40 people in 2010. The latest incident took place just days after Russia’s presidential election, in which Putin claimed an unprecedented 87% of the vote in what international observers deemed a fait accompli. It remains unclear who was behind the attack on the concert venue, though the Associated Press reported that the Islamic State group has claimed responsibility. Earlier, some members of Russia’s legislature were quick to accuse Ukraine and called for more strikes on that country.  —David E. Rovella 

Last night, Putin’s forces launched a massive missile barrage against its neighbor, causing European Union officials to raise the alarm about nuclear safety. The deadly strikes, some of the biggest in a war that’s claimed tens of thousands of Ukrainian lives, targeted the nation’s energy infrastructure and caused the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant to lose its connection to the grid for five hours. 

The aftermath of a Russian strike on the Dnipro hydroelectric dam in Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine, on March 22. Source: Denys Shmyhal

All of India’s refiners are now refusing to take Russian crude carried on PJSC Sovcomflot tankers due to US sanctions, further complicating the trade that has flourished since the Kremlin’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine two years ago. Private and state-run processors including the biggest— Indian Oil—have stopped taking cargoes if they’re on Sovcomflot tankers. Refiners are scrutinizing the ownership of each ship to make sure they’re not affiliated with the company or other sanctioned groups.

Chinese authorities are examining the role of PricewaterhouseCoopers in  Evergrande Group’s accounting practices after the China developer was accused of a $78 billion fraud, ramping up pressure on the accounting giant that audited a slew of players in the sector before its meltdown. Beijing’s fresh revelations of Evergrande’s fraud come at a difficult time for PwC, which is dealing with the fallout of scandals in other parts of its global network, and has fired employees from the UK to Canada.

Tesla has cut production at its plant in China amid sluggish growth in electric-vehicle sales and intense competition in the world’s biggest auto market. The US carmaker earlier this month instructed employees at its Shanghai facility to lower production of both the Model Y and Model 3 by working five days a week instead of the usual 6 1/2.

While the rising number of immigrant apprehensions at the US border with Mexico has sowed political division and in some cases xenophobia, there’s one place where almost everyone seems on the same positive page: Wall Street. Last month, the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office calculated that immigration will generate a $7 trillion boost to US gross domestic product over the next decade. “Immigration is not just a highly charged social and political issue, it is also a big macroeconomic one,” Janet Henry, global chief economist at HSBC, wrote in a note to clients Tuesday. No advanced economy is benefiting from immigration quite like the US, and “the impact of migration has been an important part of the US growth story over the past two years.”

Immigrants wait for processing after crossing the US-Mexico border on March 13 in El Paso, Texas. Photographer: John Moore/Getty Images North America

CoreWeave, a cloud computing provider that’s among the hottest startups in the artificial intelligence race, is said to be in talks to raise equity capital in a transaction that would more than double its valuation to $16 billion. The Roseland, New Jersey-based company is discussing selling both new and existing shares, and employees may tender some of their holdings.

When KKR acquired Dutch manufacturer Accell Group in 2022, the private equity firm must have hoped to cash in on health-conscious consumers parking their cars and hopping on high-priced e-bikes, Chris Bryant writes in Bloomberg Opini0n. Instead, the owner of bike brands such as Lapierre, Haibike and Raleigh is burning cash and drowning in inventory, providing a lesson in underestimating headwinds and overpaying in red-hot markets.

• 60/40 portfolio mix bounces back after taking a hit in 2022.
• US House passes $1.2 trillion funding bill hours before shutdown.
• Huawei tests brute-force method for making more advanced chips.
• OpenAI courts Hollywood in meetings with film studios and directors.
• O’Hare revamp turns contentious after going billions over budget.
• Cocoa processor Blommer to close Chicago chocolate factory.
• AMC cinema’s senior lenders meet to discuss chain’s debt options.

As France prepares to welcome the world for the summer Olympics in Paris, the nation has dozens of newly Michelin-starred restaurants to show off—62 to be exact. Its number of three-starred dining rooms, the zenith of fine dining, increased to 30. One of the newly minted three stars is Le Gabriel at La Reserve Paris near the Champs-Élysées. Chef Jérôme Banctel specializes in dishes with influences from around the world, like lobster cooked on Japanese binchotan charcoal with almond pralines. Here are the rest.

Le Gabriel near the Champs-Élysées in Paris Source: La Réserve

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