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☆ China has a lot more missiles — with US warships and bases in its sights
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-04 | by ( Chris Panella | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +18 min

American warships and bases in the Pacific are within reach of an increasingly worrying threat, a missile force unlike anything the US has faced in combat. With these missiles, China is signaling that it could attack US bases and ships in the region with little to no warning, Clark said. TK Department of DefenseThere's a lot more to the Chinese Rocket Force than these weapons, though. AdvertisementThat said, the US and its allies can't afford to assume the Rocket Force won't be ready should conflict come. In other words, how the US prepares itself and adapts to the Chinese Rocket Force gives it the best shot at avoiding a fight altogether.

Persons: China's, Andersen, Thomas Shugart, Bryan Clark, John Aquilino, Kevin Frayer, Harry Harris, Harris, Clark, Shugart, Gerald R, Kendall Warner, Byrd, US Defense Department Harris, Robert Peters, Peters, Ronald Reagan, Andrea Rosembert, Cpl, Ryan Little, Charles Flynn, I'm, Flynn, it's, Andy Wong Organizations: Business, Army Rocket Force, Pentagon, China's Rocket Force, Department of Defense TK Department of Defense, Center, New, New American Security, US Navy, PLA, Hudson Institute, Pacific Command, People's Liberation Army Rocket Force, Eastern Theater Command, People's Liberation Army PLA, Getty, Rocket Force, Liberation, TK Department of Defense, Chinese Rocket Force, US Defense Department, Ford, Virginian, Tribune, Service, Japan, Self, Defense Force, Misawa Air Base, Pacific, US, Defense, Aegis Ballistic Missile Defense, Army, Heritage Foundation, Aegis, Guam, Area, Ronald, Ronald Reagan Ballistic Missile Defense, Department of Defense, US Air Force, Marine Corps, Andersen Air Force Base, Marine, Combat, US Army Pacific, Stealth, Force, Military Locations: Beijing, China, American, Guam, South, Washington, Japan, New American, People's Republic of China, South Korea, Taiwan, South China, AFP, U.S, Marshall, Pearl, Pacific, PLARF, Tiananmen

☆ A crypto bigwig dropped $1.5M on a watch from the Titanic as a gift for his wife
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-01 | by ( Geoff Weiss | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

FTX's former head of Europe bought the most expensive Titanic relic ever auctioned. The gold watch sold for $1.5 million, and belonged to John Jacob Astor IV. Gruhn is a German crypto law veteran who formerly served as the head of FTX Europe. Gruhn is now readying the launch of a new crypto trading venue called Perpetuals, and said he plans to restart FTX Europe under a different name. "From all the facts it was clear that FTX Europe did not and couldn't know about the fraud from SBF," he said.

Persons: John Jacob Astor IV, Gruhn, —, Patrick Gruhn, Henry Aldridge, Astor, Andrew Aldridge, wasn't, Sam Bankman, Fried Organizations: Service, Titanic, titans, Henry Aldridge & Son Locations: Europe, German, America, United States, Gruhn

☆ Long-time quant bigwig Neil Chriss is out at Paloma after just 11 months. It was a year of big hires, a restructuring, and new New York digs.
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-17 | by ( Bradley Saacks | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

download the appSign up to get the inside scoop on today’s biggest stories in markets, tech, and business — delivered daily. Chriss — who joined the long-running quant-focused multi-strategy firm in May of 2023 — is "no longer with Paloma," according to a letter sent to the firm's investors Monday. Chriss had been at Millennium for five years prior to joining Paloma and founded his own hedge fund, Hutchin Hill, in 2007. Paloma declined to comment on the rationale for his departure, and Chriss did not respond to requests for comment. But it was not all growth for Paloma while Chriss was at the helm.

Persons: —, Neil Chriss's, Paloma, Chriss —, Chriss, Donald Sussman, Ravi Singh, Goldman Sachs, Chris LaSusa, LaSusa, Steve Cohen, Shaw, Ritter Organizations: Service, Paloma, Business, Industry, Intelligence, Goldman, KCL, D.E, Capital, Ritter Alpha Locations: Hill, Greenwich, New York, Manhattan, Minnesota

☆ CNN Exclusive: Conservative bigwig Matt Schlapp agreed to hefty settlement to end sexual assault lawsuit
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-27 | by ( Jamie Gangel | Gregory Krieg | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +6 min

CNN —The Republican operative who accused American Conservative Union chairman Matt Schlapp of sexual assault last year received a significant financial settlement in exchange for dropping his lawsuit against Schlapp, multiple sources familiar with the case told CNN. The $480,000 settlement was paid to Carlton Huffman through an insurance policy, according to a source familiar with the details. The original lawsuit filed by Huffman against Schlapp asked for more than $9 million in damages. Huffman told CNN that Schlapp made unwanted sexual advances, including groping and fondling his groin without consent, on the ride back from two Atlanta-area bars on October 19, 2022. A former official on the Walker campaign told CNN he does not believe the settlement exonerates Schlapp.

Persons: Matt Schlapp, Schlapp, Carlton Huffman, Huffman, “, ” Schlapp, ”, ” Huffman, Tim Hyland, Mark Corallo, Donald Trump, George W, Bush, Mercedes Schlapp, Republican Herschel Walker’s, Charlie Gerow, Walker, Carlton, Huffman’s, ” “ Organizations: CNN, Republican, American Conservative, ACU, Washington Examiner, Political, Conference, House, Georgia GOP, Republican Herschel Walker’s Senate Locations: Atlanta, CPAC, Walker’s, Raleigh , North Carolina

☆ NBC’s Ronna McDaniel Hire Wasn’t Politics, or TV, as Usual
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-27 | by ( James Poniewozik | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

For the past week the best drama on NBC — apologies to Dick Wolf — has been in the news department. On Friday, NBC News announced that it was hiring Ronna McDaniel, the former chairwoman of the Republican National Committee, as a political analyst. By Sunday morning, Kristen Welker was grilling Ms. McDaniel on “Meet the Press,” after which the former host Chuck Todd told his successor on-air that their bosses “owe you an apology.” By Monday morning, the hosts of MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” condemned the hire. This kind of full-on, on-air revolt was something else — because Ms. McDaniel’s hiring was something else. The fiasco at NBC was in part a sign of how media outlets are struggling to cover politics in unusual times.

Persons: Dick Wolf —, Ronna McDaniel, Kristen Welker, McDaniel, Chuck Todd, “, ”, Joe ”, MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow Organizations: NBC, NBC News, Republican National Committee, “, Press Locations: MSNBC’s

☆ The 'crown jewel' of the Chinese military appears to have a serious corruption problem, but the US can't afford to bet on its missiles all being defective
▼ + stars: | 2024-01-14 | by ( Chris Panella | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +11 min

Recent reports point to corruption and readiness problems in the Chinese military, the rocket force in particular. In the aftermath of the report, an ex-PLA official told Radio Free Asia problems like this have long been rampant in the Chinese military. The rocket force shakeups suggest that there are questions over who can be trusted. Xinhua/Cha Chunming via Getty ImagesConcerns about corruption and readiness stand in contrast with the modernization and strengthening of the Chinese military. Is the PLA, particularly the rocket force, the increasingly formidable force the Pentagon described in a military power report last October?

Persons: It's, —, Tom Shugart, Xi Jinping, that's, hotpot, hadn't, bigwig, Xi, Liu Dawei, Shugart, weren't, Lintao Zhang, Li Shangfu, Li Gang, ISW, there's, Andy Wong Organizations: Service, People's Liberation Army, US, Center, New, New American Security, Liberation Army, Getty Images, Bloomberg, PLA, Rocket Force, Radio Free, 14th China International Aviation, Aerospace Exhibition, Getty, Liberation Army Rocket, Business, United, Naval, Army, Air Force, Communist, of, Defense, Chinese Communist Party, Liberation Army's Army Infantry College, Li, Pentagon, U.S . Nimitz, US Army Locations: New American, Taiwan, Hefei, Anhui province, Radio Free Asia, Zhuhai, Guangdong Province, Xinhua, United States, Beijing, China, PLA, Gutian, Jiangxi Province, U.S, Tiananmen, Pamir, Kashgar, China's Xinjiang, Pacific

☆ Scooter Braun's right-hand man wanted to make Camila Sterling a star. After she died in his hotel room, he wanted the world to forget.
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-08 | by ( Anna Silman | Jack Newsham | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +33 min

He also created an LLC under his initials in 2021, seemingly for the sole purpose of releasing Sterling's music. But since Sterling's death, Bolno has worked to distance himself from the tragedy and buff his reputation online. On June 29, 2023, three months after Sterling's death, Ozuna and Andino signed to SB Projects, Scooter Braun's management company. Since Sterling's death, Bolno has appeared to try to distance himself from the tragedy. However, in September, a message from Centeno's email address sent on behalf of Sterling's mother asked Insider to stop reporting on Sterling's death.

Persons: Camila Sterling, David Bolno, Scooter Braun's, Drake, Post, Bolno, Sterling, — who's, Daily Mail —, —, Laura Camila Lozano Sterling, Selena Gomez, Enmanuel Hernández Rodriguez, Rodriguez, it's, Scooter Braun, Taylor Swift, Camila Sterling's, Shaun White, schmoozing, sunning, David Geffen's, he's, Will.i.am, Justin Bieber, hadn't, bigwig, He's, Mariah Carey, Braun, Ariana Grande, Demi Lovato, Scooter, who's, Scooter hasn't, Peter Comisar, Comisar, Michael Tran, Bieber, he'd, David Grutman, LIV, Grutman, she'd, I'm, David, Usher, Sterling's, John Parra, I'd, Nordhia Centeno, Laura Castellanos Torres, Edgar Andino, Andino, Sterling wasn't, Gabby, there's, Sterling texted, Escalade, Cartier Juste, Bruce Lehr, tusi, Fabio Cabrera, Ernesto Rodriguez, Evan Siegfried, Mickey Segal, NKSFB, Nubia Esperanza Sterling Artunduaga, Camila, Rocio Cruz Maldonado, Centeno, Marcie Stefan Organizations: Miami Beach, Daily Mail, Miami Beach Police Department, Puerto, Sterling, Trump, Intracoastal Yacht, Space, Miami Dade College, Puerto Rican, Pump, Miami, DTB Records, Spotify, Records, Temple Law School, Ithaca Holdings, luxe Paramount Miami, Studios, Bay Eight Recording Studios, YouTube, Zero, SB Projects, Paramount Miami Worldcenter, Representatives, Police, Unreal Mobile, Red Pocket, European Business, University of Locations: Post Malone, Miami, Sterling, Latin America, Colombia, Bogotá, American, Puerto Rican, Sunny, Moscow, Sunny Isles, Givenchy, Cuba, Los Angeles, Delaware, Puerto Rico, New York City, Medellín, Ithaca, Korean, Brentwood, North Miami, French Montana, Bolno's, Miami Beach, Jerusalem, Nubia

☆ The rise and fall of pharma bigwig Rite Aid, which couldn't keep up with rivals Walgreen and CVS
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-16 | by ( Nidhi Pandurangi | Grace Dean | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Rite Aid filed for voluntary Chapter 11 bankruptcy on Sunday following slumping sales and a series of lawsuits. Rite Aid, which has over 47,000 employees, has struggled in recent years to compete against larger peers like CVS and Walgreens Boots Alliance, as well as Amazon. Rite Aid has faced growing competition from direct-to-consumer pharmacy startups as well as medication deliveries from the likes of Amazon and Uber. Rite Aid also experienced supply chain challenges after changing supplier for many of its perishable consumer goods and shrink "continued to be a significant headwind," Burr said. Representatives for Rite Aid did not immediately respond for Insider's request for further comment beyond sending statements about Stein's appointment and its Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing.

Persons: it's, —, Jeffrey S, Stein, Elizabeth Burr, Heyward Donigan, Donigan, Burr, there'd Organizations: Service, Rite, Walgreens Boots Alliance, Rite Aid, pharma, Aid, Discount, Rite Aid Corporation, PayLess, Walgreens, Albertsons, New York Times Locations: New Jersey, Scranton , Pennsylvania

☆ Crypto is growing up: Goodbye yacht parties and NFTs, hello regulation and practical tech
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-23 | by ( Phil Rosen | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +8 min

The three-day Messari Mainnet conference in New York was less expensive and less fun than it was a year ago. That's the sense I got after spending three days rubbing shoulders with crypto founders, blockchain pros, politicians and executives at Messari Mainnet in New York City. Coinbase hosted reporters at a press breakfast during Messari Mainnet 2023. AdvertisementAdvertisementThe long shadow of Gary GenslerGary Gensler, the chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission, did not attend Messari Mainnet, but no one could stop saying his name. "Gary Gensler cannot state whether ethereum is a security or not," Ramaswamy told the audience.

Persons: Phil Rosen, Carlos Domingo, they're, Anthony Scaramucci, Jesse Pollak, Base, Coinbase, Crypto, Jess Houlgrave, WalletConnect, Houlgrave, Gary Gensler Gary Gensler, Scaramucci, Vivek Ramaswamy, Ramaswamy, Gensler, Gary Gensler, Coinbase's Pollak, Pollak, Messari Organizations: Service, Skybridge Capital, White House, Coinbase, Securities and Exchange Commission, Jiminy Cricket, SEC Locations: New York, Wall, Silicon, New York City, ethereum, Singapore, Hong Kong

☆ Investors riddled with FOMO might be re-entering the US stock market
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-21 | by ( Krystal Hur | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +5 min

CNN —Investors who missed out on this year’s unexpected rally seem to be dipping their toes back into the US stock market. That suggests that investors who watched equities steadily climb higher this year are starting to take their cash off the sidelines and put it into the stock market, some investors say. That’s caused some investors to come down with a classic case of fear-of-missing-out, says Saira Malik, chief investment officer at Nuveen. The data-dependent central bank held rates steady on Wednesday and signaled that it could hike rates once more this year. Still, bond yields rose to their highest level since 2007 this week, as investors bet that the central bank will keep rates higher for longer.

Persons: Saira Malik, Malik, I’ll, ”, Alex McGrath, Samantha Kelly, she’s, Sam, Read, Elon, Jennifer Korn Organizations: CNN Business, Bell, CNN — Investors, Global, Bank of America, Federal Reserve, Tech, Nvidia, Apple, Microsoft, Traders, Apple Watch, smartwatches

☆ From a failed $20 billion joint venture to stalled projects, India's dreams of becoming a chipmaking powerhouse are off to a bad start
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-11 | by ( Huileng Tan | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Foxconn said Monday it's scrapping a $20 billion JV with Indian conglomerate Vedanta to make semiconductors. Other plans to boost India's chipmaking sectors are also progressing slowly. The two companies signed an agreement in February 2022 to form a joint venture, or JV, to manufacture semiconductors in India. Apart from Foxconn abandoning its JV with Vedanta, two other chipmaking ventures are also in limbo. A $3 billion venture under global consortium ISMC — which counts Israel's Tower Semiconductor as a partner — has stalled, as Tower is in the process of being acquired by tech bigwig Intel, Reuters reported on June 1.

Persons: Foxconn, Narendra Modi's, Taiwan's Foxconn, Apple —, Narendra Modi, —, hasn't, Rajeev Chandrasekhar, editorializing abt, Modi Organizations: Vedanta, Indian, Morning, Apple, JV, Hai Technology Group, Taiwan Stock Exchange, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, ISMC, Semiconductor, Intel, Reuters, Micron, JV Vedanta, India Locations: India, Taiwan, China, Gujarat, Taiwan Straits, Singapore, Indias

☆ Trounced, Conservatives Feel Voters’ Wrath in English Heartlands
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-17 | by ( Stephen Castle | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

LITTLEWICK GREEN, England — Aged 22 and not long out of college, George Blundell never expected to win when he ran in municipal elections against a Conservative Party bigwig in a region long loyal to the Tories. But for a young, enthusiastic, former politics student it still seemed worth a shot. It’s not something you get to do every day, is it?” recalled Mr. Blundell, a member of the centrist Liberal Democrats, as he sipped a beer outside the village pub where he once washed dishes as a summer job. To his surprise, Mr. Blundell is now a councilor representing the area around Littlewick Green, having defeated the powerful incumbent in perhaps the biggest upset from local elections that have sent shock waves through Britain’s governing Conservative Party. Unhappy about Brexit and aghast at the economic chaos unleashed during Liz Truss’s brief leadership last year, traditional Conservative voters are deserting the party in key English heartlands, contributing to the loss of more than 1,000 municipality seats in voting this month.

☆ 'Ndrangheta mafia kingpin returns to Italy to serve 30-year sentence
▼ + stars: | 2022-07-06 | by ( ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +2 min

Rocco Morabito, the second most-wanted fugitive in Italy and a bigwig in the powerful 'Ndrangheta mafia, was flown to Rome on Wednesday after being extradited from Brazil ending some 28 years on the run. Morabito, who was arrested in Brazil in May 2021, will now serve a 30-year prison sentence for various drug offences. Fugitive Rocco Morabito in an undated photo released by Italian authorities. Italy’s number one fugitive is Matteo Messina Denaro, a boss of the Sicilian Cosa Nostra mafia who has been on the run since 1993. Morabito, 56, had convictions for international drug trafficking from separate cases in the Italian cities of Milan, Palermo and Reggio Calabria.

☆ Meet the GOP's biggest Hollywood donors
▼ + stars: | 2020-08-26 | by ( Dave Levinthal | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +13 min

America First Action, the most notable super PAC backing President Donald Trump, has directly criticized Hollywood. Donors from Hollywood-area ZIP codes also rank among the most generous donors to key Republican senators, including Lindsey Graham of South Carolina and Marco Rubio of Florida. 3 donor ZIP code in the nation, trailing only ZIP codes in Houston and Palm Beach, Florida, which is home to his Mar-a-Lago Club resort. Bill Pugliano/Getty ImagesTrump continues to profit from HollywoodIn messages to supporters this year, Trump has decried "liberal HOLLYWOOD donors" and "MEGA HOLLYWOOD DONORS," while his son Donald Trump Jr. has castigated the "Hollywood Elite." As president, Trump's pension earned him more than $84,000 in 2017, about $91,000 in 2018, and about $78,000 in 2019, his personal financial disclosures showed.

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