Business is booming for marriage proposal planners in Paris, dubbed the “City of Love,” with love-struck couples paying thousands of euros for bespoke proposal experiences

International News via Reuters:

When Texan Josue Perales brought his girlfriend Kayla Balboa to Paris, she thought it was just a romantic getaway. Instead, he had hired a marriage proposal planning agency to set up a dreamy scene overlooking the Eiffel Tower, complete with white roses and candles, to seek her hand in marriage.

The result? A tearful “yes” from Balboa.

“She’s always been mentioning how this is her dream. I would always say, ‘no, no’,” Perales told Reuters moments after getting down on one knee. “She wasn’t expecting it at all.”

Business is booming for marriage proposal planners in Paris, dubbed the “City of Love,” with love-struck couples paying thousands of euros for bespoke proposal experiences. For many, Valentine’s Day is the busiest of the year.

Proposal packages at Les Entremetteuses (The matchmakers), which curated Perales’ engagement, start at 590 euros ($699.56)for a proposal on the banks of the river Seine with ‘Marry Me’ letters, rose petals and candles. On average, their clients splurge between 1,500 and 2,000 euros, forking out extra for prime locations, champagne and more elaborate decorations.

Kiss Me in Paris has carved out a niche in the luxury market. It mostly organises highly choreographed proposals in high-end hotels, aboard yachts on the Seine, or in French castles. Its clients will pay up to 100,000 euros for that magical moment, often full-day experiences.

“To just be able to, in your social circles, say, ‘We got engaged in Paris’ is great,” said Cengiz Ozelsel, co-founder and president of Kiss Me in Paris. “It has prestige; it has cachet.”

Ozelsel and his wife, Chantelle Marie Streete, say annual bookings have doubled since 2015 as couples increasingly seek “Instagrammable” moments.

Social media and popular shows like Netflix’s “Emily in Paris” and events such as the Paris 2024 Olympics, have boosted the city’s global visibility as a proposal hotspot.

A 2023 study by France’s National Centre of Cinema and pollster IFOP showed one in 10 tourists decided to visit France after seeing it featured in a film or series, with “Emily in Paris” influencing 38% of respondents.

The 2024 Paris Olympics, a dazzling summertime event that charmed a global audience and showcased the city’s landmarks, had also provided a post-Covid boost, Les Entremetteuses founder Pauline Le Tendre said.

For Perales, it was money well spent to take the stress out of setting up his big moment.

“It was so much easier,” he said, than organising it all himself.

($1 = 0.8434 euros)

Reporting by Manuel Ausloos; Editing by Richard Lough and Susan Fenton

Taylor, a leading figure in the party’s conservative wing and the son of a fourth-generation sheep farmer, defeated Ley in a ballot of Liberal members of parliament by 34 votes to 17

International News via Reuters:

Australia’s opposition Liberal Party on Friday elected former Energy Minister Angus Taylor as its new leader, replacing Sussan Ley, as the conservatives seek to rebuild less than a year after a heavy election defeat by the centre-left Labor Party.

Taylor, a leading figure in the party’s conservative wing and the son of a fourth-generation sheep farmer, defeated Ley in a ballot of Liberal members of parliament by 34 votes to 17.

Taylor now faces the challenge of reviving support for Liberals, which has continued to erode since the May election. Recent opinion polls indicate the opposition coalition has lost a significant number of its voters to far-right populist Senator Pauline Hanson and her anti-immigration party, One Nation.

Two separate polls in January showed One Nation’s primary vote had overtaken that of the coalition.

Speaking to reporters, Taylor acknowledged the scale of the challenge ahead, saying the Liberals’ position was the worst ever and acknowledging the party might not exist if an election were held now.

“The choice is simple for the Liberal Party: change or die, and I choose change,” Taylor said.

He said his core focus would be restoring living standards for Australians, tightening immigration rules and opposing the Labor government’s tax and spending policies that he said were increasing inflation and keeping interest rates high.

Migrants who do not believe in democracy, Australia’s rule of law and basic freedoms, should be prevented from migrating, he said. “The truth is that some people do not want to change in order to fit with our core values.” 

Following her defeat, Ley said she would resign from parliament, triggering a byelection in her rural New South Wales seat of Farrer, which she has held since 2001.

A former outback pilot who once mustered livestock, Ley made history in May by becoming the first woman to lead the Liberals after the party’s election rout but her tenure lasted only 276 days, the second-shortest in the party’s history.

Opinion polls in recent months showed Ley’s popularity falling amid infighting, both within the Liberal Party and with its National Party coalition partner, over issues including action on climate change, hate speech laws and immigration.

Reporting by Renju Jose in Sydney; Editing by Chris Reese, Deepa Babington and Lincoln Feast

Brent crude futures gained 29 cents, or 0.4%, to $67.81 a barrel by 0958 GMT after falling 2.7% in the previous session

International News via Reuters:

Oil prices edged higher on Friday but were on track for a second weekly decline as concerns receded over the risks of a U.S.-Iran conflict that could affect supply.

Brent crude futures gained 29 cents, or 0.4%, to $67.81 a barrel by 0958 GMT after falling 2.7% in the previous session. U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude rose 25 cents, or 0.4%, to $63.09 after a 2.8% decline the previous day.

Both benchmarks are poised to register weekly declines, with Brent and WTI set to drop by 0.3% and 0.7% respectively. 

Prices had strengthened earlier in the week on concerns that the U.S. could attack Middle Eastern oil producer Iran over its nuclear programme. But comments on Thursday from U.S. President Donald Trump that the U.S. could make a deal with Iran over the next month drove down prices on Thursday.

Away from the Middle East, the Kremlin said on Friday that the next round of peace talks on Ukraine will take place next week.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov confirmed that Moscow and Washington have been discussing bilateral trade and economic cooperation. He said Moscow hoped that dialogue would continue, but said it was unlikely such discussions would move beyond talk before the conflict in Ukraine was settled.

Price pressure has also come from the International Energy Agency’s latest forecasts, saying in its monthly report that global oil demand growth this year will be weaker than previously expected, with overall supply set to exceed demand. 

“The fact that prices did not extend significantly lower in the face of bearish headlines is noteworthy, suggesting that downside momentum is slowing in the near term,” said XS.com analyst Linh Tran.

Thursday’s price falls were amplified by U.S. data showing a massive build in crude stockpiles and growing expectations that increased Venezuelan supply could soon hit the market, IG analyst Tony Sycamore said in a note.

“There is an expectation that Venezuelan oil supply will return to pre-blockade levels in the months ahead,” he said, adding that supply is expected to rise from 880,000 barrels per day to about 1.2 million bpd.

The U.S. Treasury will issue more allowances easing sanctions on Venezuelan energy this week, a White House energy official said on Thursday.

U.S. Secretary of Energy Chris Wright said on Thursday that U.S.-controlled oil sales from Venezuela have totalled more than $1 billion since the capture of President Nicolas Maduro in January and will bring in a further $5 billion in the next few months.

Reporting by Stephanie Kelly, Sam Li, Lewis Jackson and Sudarshan VaradhanEditing by David Goodman

Eutelsat CEO Jean‑François Fallacher told reporters that comments made by Orange and Deutsche Telekom reflected what he was hearing across the market

International News via Reuters:

Eutelsat said on Friday that Europe’s planned IRIS2 satellite network must meet customer expectations in terms of pricing and performance to attract buyers, following remarks from major telecoms companies about the project’s commercial appeal.

Eutelsat CEO Jean‑François Fallacher told reporters that comments made by Orange and Deutsche Telekom reflected what he was hearing across the market.

“In my opinion, customers are expecting competitive services and competitive prices,” he said.

Executives from Orange and Telekom, subcontractors in the consortium building IRIS2, said at an industry event in January that the European Union programme would have to deliver performances close to Elon Musk’s Starlink and Amazon’s LEO.

Both operators told Reuters they fully support the IRIS2 constellation, which is expected to start operating around 2029.

Orange said a European system must be competitive with Starlink and Amazon’s planned low Earth orbit network, and that Europe should avoid fragmentation by aligning efforts behind a single solution.

Telekom said customers would ultimately choose based on performance, security and cost, and that IRIS2 was being developed to meet those expectations.

Fallacher said the IRIS2 project, which has a budget of about 10.6 billion euros ($12.6 billion), was being designed to deliver competitive services. He described the cost as significant but appropriate for a system of that scale.

Eutelsat plans to launch its next-generation OneWeb satellites along with IRIS2 after 2030, Fallacher added.

OneWeb’s second‑generation satellites are meant to be far more advanced than the current network, set to be replenished with slightly updated versions.

But despite an early lead in serving polar regions, the first‑generation fleet of 600 currently in service is based on technology designed a decade ago.

U.S. rivals Starlink – whose network already reaches 9,000 satellites – and Amazon are moving ahead with plans to deploy thousands of newer satellites.

($1 = 0.8430 euros)

Reporting by Gianluca Lo Nostro in Paris and Maria Rugamer in Gdansk; Editing by Milla Nissi-Prussak

He chose the latter – believing that the underinvestment that had starved the likes of Oscar Mayer and Kraft Mac & Cheese brands could not be fixed during a separation that is projected to take several months

International News via Reuters:

Kraft Heinz’s new CEO Steve Cahillane was faced with a difficult choice. Either continue the time-consuming process of separating into two companies or revive the company’s struggling brands during a time of weak consumer sentiment. He couldn’t do both. 

He chose the latter – believing that the underinvestment that had starved the likes of Oscar Mayer and Kraft Mac & Cheese brands could not be fixed during a separation that is projected to take several months.

“Separations are always best done when the business is healthy, when it’s stable, and when it’s growing,” he told Reuters, after the company’s Wednesday announcement to hit the “pause” button on the separation, first announced in September. 

“It became very compelling that we ought to pause the separation and focus all of our attention, because our attention is finite, focus all of that attention (on) turning the business back to growth.” 

The announcement surprised many. Industry sources noted the separation had likely already cost a considerable amount of time. Some analysts questioned whether the decision meant that core parts of the business were in worse shape than imagined, and that a spinout would doom its slower-growing businesses to a downward spiral. 

“Investors will view this negatively because it indicates that the businesses are not in strong enough condition to operate on a standalone basis, and it is uncertain when they will,” said TD Cowen analyst Robert Moskow.

But investors had not responded positively to the original separation plan, which was to divide the company into a North American grocery business and a global taste elevation business. Investors, including Berkshire Hathaway, were not receptive and some were confused by the parameters, such as putting Kraft Mac & Cheese on the taste elevation side with ketchup and mayonnaise. 

Last month, a regulatory filing revealed that Berkshire may shed its 27.5% stake in Kraft Heinz and exit a more than decade-old investment that did not work out for Warren Buffett.

The stock is down 13% since the split announcement, compared with a 7.5% gain in the S&P 500. It was down 1.3% at $24.66 per share on Thursday.

SALES STRUGGLES

With great fanfare, Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway and 3G Capital merged the two food companies in 2015. But the architects of the merger slashed costs and marketing to boost margins, thinking shoppers would continue to buy their products anyway. However, starving the food brands of investment and attention backfired. 

While EBITDA margins popped to the high-20% area at first, sales started to struggle. An earnings boost from consumers eating at home during the pandemic waned, with net sales falling 3% and 3.5% in 2024 and 2025, respectively. The stock has fallen almost 70% since the merger.

The company was considered slow to grasp the changing tastes of Americans, as younger brands take market share from legacy food conglomerates, accentuating the need for constant reinvestment. The growth in weight-loss drug usage adds to the challenges.

“There was a feeling that there was something called ‘forever brands’. Brands were just so strong, they didn’t need investment,” said Cahillane, who started the job on January 1. “I’ve never believed that. Brands in the consumer space need investments, or they will wither.”

MARGIN IMPLICATIONS

Cahillane has overseen a food company turnaround before: He led Kellogg from 2017 to 2023, navigating it through its separation into Kellanova and WK Kellogg. He then led Kellanova until its 2025 acquisition by Mars. He said he spotted early opportunities to turn Kraft around, too, with the help of $600 million earmarked for marketing, sales and R&D. 

“There are still margin implications,” said Charles Rinehart, chief investment officer at Johnson Investment Counsel. “A lower margin base may ultimately be acceptable to investors if it leads to greater confidence in the sustainability of future growth.” 

The brands that might need the most attention are in the slower-growth U.S. grocery division – including Oscar Mayer, Kraft Singles, Lunchables and Maxwell House. Kraft had unsuccessfully tried to sell off hot dogs and cold cuts business Oscar Mayer and Maxwell, according to sources familiar with the matter. The company did not comment on the divestiture attempts.

“You can expect Heinz, Kraft, Philadelphia (cream cheese), Mac & Cheese, some of our big players, to be beneficiaries. But those who come with the best ideas across our portfolio, they’ll be funded,” Cahillane said.

Reporting by Abigail Summerville in New York and Juveria Tabassum in Bengaluru; editing by David Gaffen and Nick Zieminski

Police say 18-year-old Jesse Van Rootselaar, who had suffered mental health problems, killed her mother and stepbrother on Tuesday before shooting a teacher and five young students at the local school

International News via Reuters:

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney will attend a vigil on Friday in the remote British Columbia town of Tumbler Ridge, where nine people died in one of the country’s worst mass shootings, his office said on Thursday.

Police say 18-year-old Jesse Van Rootselaar, who had suffered mental health problems, killed her mother and stepbrother on Tuesday before shooting a teacher and five young students at the local school.

Van Rootselaar, who police say was born a male but began identifying as a woman six years ago, then died by suicide.

“At the invitation of the Mayor of Tumbler Ridge, the Prime Minister will be traveling to the community on February 13th to attend a vigil in memory of the victims of this week’s tragic shootings,” his office said in a statement.

Carney, it added, had invited the leaders of all other political parties to join him.

Across Tumbler Ridge, a town of around 2,400 in the Canadian Rockies, flowers and stuffed animals could be seen at unofficial public memorials.

“Hold your kids tight, tell them you love them every day. You never know,” a tearful Lance Young, father of 12-year-old victim Kylie Smith, told reporters on Wednesday. 

Police, who say they still do not have a motive, held a meeting with provincial officials late on Wednesday.

“They are working very hard – they recognize the public does need to hear information to fill that vacuum,” local provincial legislator Larry Neufeld told CBC News on Thursday.

Police said they had visited Van Rootselaar’s house on several occasions to address mental health issues and had twice taken her away for formal assessments. British Columbia premier David Eby said on Wednesday he had reached out to local health officials to ask for more details of the interactions.

At one point police seized guns from the house but returned them after the owner – who they did not identify – successfully appealed the decision.

British Columbia on Thursday observed an official day of mourning. Provincial lieutenant-governor Wendy Cocchia, the personal representative of King Charles, Canada’s head of state, is due to give a speech in the legislature honoring the victims.

Reporting by David Ljunggren; Editing by Nia Williams