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☆ A step-by-step guide on how to create and monetize an e-book in as little as one weekend
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-01 | by ( Corrie Alexander | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +12 min

Alexander says that with the right tools you can create a book in as little as a weekend. Canva has a ton of free book cover templates that you can use as a springboard for your own design. To create your e-book, I would recommend one of two options:Canva: The first option is to create your e-book within Canva. However, there is still a lot of work you'll need to do to get the e-book ready. For instance, you'll need to manually add in your table of contents, page numbers, and any other visual elements.

Persons: Corrie Alexander, Alexander, —, caan, Jasper, Jasper Jumpstart, You'll, Grammarly, Speechify, Canva, Jasper Art, you've, It's, you'll Organizations: Service, Google, PayPal, YouTube Locations: Jasper, Canva

☆ Factbox: Companies invest in EV battery factories in Europe
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-31 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +6 min

Below are recent investments announced by companies:GERMANYSweden's Northvolt said on May 13 it will invest 3-5 billion euros ($3.3-5.5 billion) in an EV battery plant in Heide in the northern state of Schleswig-Holstein as long as subsidies are approved. Volkswagen (VOWG_p.DE) plans to build six battery factories in Europe totalling 240 gigawatt (GWh) of capacity by 2030. Production at its first battery plant, "SalzGiga", in Salzgitter in the Lower Saxony region will start in 2025. Slovakian battery manufacturer InoBat said last October it had signed a declaration of intent with the Spanish government to set up an EV battery factory in central Spain's city Valladolid, expected to cost 3 billion euros. POLANDLG Chem EV battery in Wroclaw started production in the second half of 2017, with a capacity of 100,000 batteries per year.

Persons: Helena Soderpalm, GERMANY Sweden's Northvolt, China's CATL, Germany's, Mercedes Benz, Elon Musk, Berclau, Taiwan's ProLogium, Jean, Luc Monfort, Mata, BASQUEVOLT, InoBat, China's BYD, AEHRA, Poland's, Alessandro Parodi, Tiago Brandao, Matteo Allievi, Barbara Lewis, Milla Nissi Organizations: REUTERS, Volkswagen, EV, Germany's BASF, Automotive Cells Company, ACC, Stellantis, Tesla, FRANCE Joint, France, Renault, Basque Country, Spanish, India's Tata Group, ITALY Joint, POLAND LG, European Commission, SWEDEN Northvolt's Skelleftea, Thomson Locations: Vasteras, Sweden, Europe, Asia, United States, GERMANY, Heide, Schleswig, Holstein, Salzgitter, Lower Saxony, China, Erfurt, Thuringia, Schwarzheide, Brandenburg ., Ludwigsfelde, Berlin, Kaiserslautern, Rhineland, Palatinate, Gigafactory, FRANCE, Billy, France, Dunkirk, Douai, Ruitz, Ergué, Quimper, Montreal, SPAIN Spain, Europe's, Germany, Navalmoral de, Extremadura, Sagunto, Valencia, Spain, Basque, Slovakian, Spain's, Valladolid, Britain, ITALY, Termoli, POLAND, Wroclaw, HUNGARY

But rival European battery groups are still scarce, and global carmakers have more to gain than lose. Chinese battery suppliers like Contemporary Amperex Technology (CATL), SVOLT, Envision, and most recently EVE Energy (300014.SZ), are shaking up Europe’s e-mobility supply chains. At 4.5 billion euros, investments in projects to build new plants in Europe overtook spending on mergers and acquisitions. European battery makers will struggle to compete. Given the chance, Chinese battery makers can power up Europe’s own supply chains, and its auto companies too.

Persons: CATL, It’s, Bernstein, Emmanuel Macron, Tesla, Elon, Lisa Jucca, Thomas Shum Organizations: Reuters, Volkswagen, BMW, Volvo, Technology, EVE Energy, Shanghai Putailai, Energy Technology, Mineral Intelligence, Companies, Wall Street, LG, Samsung SDI, Union, Commission, EU, United, Mercedes, Benz, Elon Musk’s, Mercator Institute for China Studies, Thomson Locations: HONG KONG, China, People’s Republic, Europe, Shanghai, People’s, Sweden, United States, EU, Hungary, Spain

☆ France inaugurates first of four gigafactories in the north
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-30 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

[1/4] French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire visits the gigafactory of Automotive Cells Company (ACC), a joint venture of Stellantis, TotalEnergies and Mercedes, during its inauguration in Billy-Berclau-Douvrin, northern France, May 30, 2023. REUTERS/Pascal Rossignol/PoolBILLY-BERCLAU, France, May 30 (Reuters) - France will inaugurate on Tuesday a battery-making gigafactory, the first of four such plants European and Asian companies plan to build in the north of the country. It highlights the race between European governments to attract global car makers as they seek to bring the supply of components for electric vehicles closer to their main markets. French President Emmanuel Macron, who personally lobbied to secure at least one the gigafactories in the Dunkirk region, has set a production target of 2 million electric vehicles made in France by 2030. ($1 = 0.9084 euros)Reporting by Gilles Guillaume, writing by Silvia Aloisi; editing by Barbara LewisOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ The retail apocalypse left dead malls and shuttered big-box stores scattered across the US — now, pickleball is coming to the rescue
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-27 | by ( Avery Hartmans | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Pickleball courts are taking over old big-box stores and mall anchor tenants. This Richmond Macy's, which is located inside Regency Square Mall, is just one of dozens of malls, former department stores, and former big-box stores across the country being turned into pickleball facilities. The retail apocalypse that swept through brick-and-mortar stores over the last decade-plus left in its wake large, empty shells begging to be repurposed — now, entrepreneurial pickleball enthusiasts are coming to the rescue. Laaser said former anchor tenants like Macy's are perfect for pickleball, since they're "basically just big boxes" sitting empty inside declining malls. There's a 'gold rush' on indoor pickleball courtsAn indoor pickleball facility operated by The Picklr inside an old Staples store.

☆ Creator startup Jellysmack has laid off staffers in the US and France. Here's the email its president sent to employees detailing the reasons behind the cuts.
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-25 | by ( Amanda Perelli | Shriya Bhattacharya | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +9 min

Creator economy startup Jellysmack laid off staffers in the US and France on Thursday. The creator economy startup Jellysmack on Thursday laid off staffers in the US and France as part of a larger company restructuring, Insider has confirmed. This news comes shortly after the creator economy startup began hiring for a new M&A leader to help integrate companies that it buys. Jellysmack has had several rounds of layoffs in the last year, and laid of staffers in France in February, as The Information reported. Jellysmack go-to-market 2.0Jellysmack's mission has been to help creators go bigger, by bringing them products, services, and infrastructure that helps them grow.

☆ Ukraine wants to work with Western countries to create another 'sea of NATO' on the border with Russia
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-24 | by ( Constantine Atlamazoglou | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

Doing so would help turn the Black Sea into another "sea of NATO," the foreign minister said. "It's time to turn the Black Sea into what the Baltic Sea has become, a sea of NATO," Dmytro Kuleba said. "The Black Sea can never be a NATO sea," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said in response to Kuleba's comments. The Black Sea region is "a strategically important area for Euro-Atlantic security," Geoană said in April. At the conference in April, Romania's foreign minister said a strong NATO presence in the Black Sea was a "must."

☆ Lab-grown breast milk startup Biomilq aims to change infant nutrition — if it can release a product
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-20 | by ( Natasha Piñon | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +11 min

Biomilq, the company behind the breakthrough, had been working for nearly a decade to replicate the process of making human milk — but outside of the body. While the crisis has highlighted the importance of a resilient formula supply, human milk experts, milk bank advocates and Biomilq all stress the same message: Breast milk is best. The startup will likely take a "gradual approach" to introducing its science via "an early-life nutrition product in partnership with one of these bigger companies," Strickland explained. Breast milk is woefully understudied — to the point that it's difficult "to even say what human milk is from a nutritional standpoint," Perrin explained. The company is researching which aspects of human milk its system is best suited to produce.

☆ NATO reaches back to Cold War past with first major defense plans
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-18 | by ( Sabine Siebold | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

[1/6] The Chair of the NATO Military Committee, Admiral Rob Bauer listens during an interview in Tallinn, Estonia September 16, 2022. By outlining what it calls its regional plans, NATO will also give nations guidance on how to upgrade their forces and logistics. Finland's accession last month has alone doubled NATO's border with Russia to some 2,500 km, forcing a more flexible approach to deployments than in the past, when Germany was seen as the main battlezone. "We don't envision the type of war that the Cold War was, where allied forces ... would be hit simultaneous with large-scale Warsaw Pact attacks," he said, pointing rather to regionalised conflicts that needed to be contained by quick force deployments. NATO agreed in 2022 to put 300,000 troops on high alert, up from 40,000 in the past.

☆ NATO reaches back to Cold War past with first major defence plans in decades
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-18 | by ( Sabine Siebold | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

☆ Goldman Sachs says A.I. could push S&P 500 profits up by 30% in the next decade
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-18 | by ( Clement Tan | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

Over the next 10 years, AI could increase productivity by 1.5 percent per year. And that could increase S&P500 profits by 30 percent or more over the next decade, Goldman Sachs says. Goldman Sachs is bullish about artificial intelligence and believes the technology could help drive S&P 500 profits in the next 10 years. And that could increase S&P500 profits by 30% or more over the next decade," Goldman's senior strategist Ben Snider told CNBC Thursday. "A lot of the favorable factors that led to that expansion (of S&P 500) earnings seem to be reversing," Snider told CNBC on "Asia Squawk Box."

☆ First union of strippers in a decade expected to form this week
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-18 | by ( Natasha Chen | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +2 min

CNN —Strippers from the Star Garden Topless Dive Bar in North Hollywood have unanimously won their union election, in a 17-0 vote, creating the first union of strippers in the United States in about a decade. The ballots were opened at 11 am PT today by the National Labor Relations Board in Los Angeles. The ballots were impounded in November after the strippers voted, due to the club challenging most ballots at the time. Since announcing on Tuesday that the dancers and the club had come to an agreement, the NLRB scheduled the opening of the ballots Thursday. “We’re hopeful that we could send some shockwaves through the industry,” said Velveeta, one of the strippers, who spoke to CNN on Tuesday evening.

☆ KKR-backed Envision Healthcare files for bankruptcy
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-15 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

May 15 (Reuters) - KKR & Co Inc-backed (KKR.N) Envision Healthcare Corp and its wholly owned subsidiaries filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on Monday. The U.S. provider of physicians has estimated assets and liabilities in the range of $1 billion to $10 billion each, the company said in a court filing. The company said that it entered into a restructuring support agreement for debt obligations of about $7.7 billion under which its unit AMSURG which manages ambulatory surgery centers and Envision Physician Services will be separately owned. Envision's AMSURG unit will buy surgery centers held by the company for $300 million plus a waiver of intercompany loans held by AMSURG, it said in a statement. All of the company's debt, with the exception of a revolving credit facility , will be cancelled, deleveraging about $5.6 billion, it added.

☆ KKR-Backed Envision Healthcare Files for Chapter 11 to Put Lenders in Control
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-15 | by ( Alexander Saeedy | Soma Biswas | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Envision Healthcare has filed for chapter 11, beginning one of the largest healthcare-related bankruptcy cases ever and likely wiping out the $3.5 billion stake that private-equity firm KKR acquired in the physician-staffing company in 2018. KKR’s loss on Envision would be among the steepest write-downs the private-equity firm has swallowed in recent years and highlights some of the continuing instability in the healthcare industry. KKR has already written off its investment in Envision, The Wall Street Journal reported previously.

☆ Big firms are filing for bankruptcy left and right — and it's just the beginning
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-15 | by ( Joe Ciolli | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Vice Media headlined a group of seven major companies that filed for bankruptcy in a recent 48-hour period. Fast-forward to the present, when Vice — saddled with liabilities of up to $1 billion — has filed for bankruptcy. Still, an uptick in bankruptcy filings clearly demonstrates increasing economic stress. Retailers from Bed Bath & Beyond to David's Bridal have filed for bankruptcy in recent weeks. Envision Healthcare — a medical-staffing company backed by KKR — was one of the six firms to declare alongside Vice.

☆ American car culture is changing thanks to younger generations. But Gen Z and Millennials see vehicle ownership much differently.
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-13 | by ( Hannah Getahun | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

The forward-thinking youths are at it again: This time, they're changing the car culture embedded in American society. Statistics from the Federal Highway Administration show that in 2021, 68% of 19-year-olds had a driver's license. "The turn away from cars is a little like the turn away from marriage and having children," Knowles writes. Throughout his book, Knowles writes that suburban sprawl, and the prevalence of cars, go hand in hand. Getting people, including younger generations, to envision a world with fewer cars is key, Knowles told Insider.

☆ Opinion | Trump’s Lesson for the Media and Ron DeSantis
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-13 | by ( Ross Douthat | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

Two groups can learn something from the experience: first, network producers and executives thinking about how to conduct interviews and host debates with Trump; second, rival Republican presidential candidates trying to envision a path to beating him. What the TV professionals should learn is that they have two choices in dealing with another Trump primary campaign. In part, as Ramesh Ponnuru suggests, that means drilling into Trump’s presidential record on conservative terms rather than liberal ones — asking about, for instance, the failure to complete the border wall or the surge in crime in the last year of his administration. The utility of this last line of questioning is also something that Trump’s prospective rivals, Ron DeSantis especially, can draw out of the CNN experience, since they can tee up those kinds of conservative-friendly challenges if the media does not. But the most basic lesson to be drawn by Republican politicians from watching Trump’s town hall is the importance, for any would-be Trumpian successor, of demonstrating that you too can engage with the mainstream press and come away a winner.

☆ KKR-Backed Envision Healthcare Plans Chapter 11 Bankruptcy Filing
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-10 | by ( Miriam Gottfried | Alexander Saeedy | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

The bankruptcy filing, which could be made as soon as this weekend, will wipe out KKR’s investment. Photo: Alex FLynn/Bloomberg NewsEnvision Healthcare is planning to file for chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, according to people familiar with the matter, capping one of the biggest losses ever for the physician-staffing company’s backers at private-equity firm KKR . The bankruptcy filing, which could be made as soon as this weekend, will wipe out the investment of KKR, which took Envision private in a $5.5 billion buyout in 2018. Including debt, the deal was worth about $10 billion, making it one of KKR’s largest investments in the healthcare industry.

☆ Serbians surrender over 3,000 pieces of weapons after mass shootings
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-10 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

The amnesty was launched on Monday after a 13 year-old schoolboy with two handguns allegedly killed eight pupils and a security guard. He is now in custody and undergoing a psychological evaluation but cannot be held criminally responsible due to his young age. Last Thursday, a man brandishing an assault rifle and a pistol killed eight and wounded 14 people in two villages in central Serbia. Vucic said people so far surrendered over 3,000 pieces of weaponry, without specifying what kind. In previous gun amnesties launched over past two decades, people handed over banned military-grade arms, hunting weapons, handguns, and also barrels, locking mechanisms and other parts.

This time, Pheu Thai is polling strongly along with the progressive, youth-oriented, Move Forward party. 'LOOKING FOR A DEAL'But bringing her father home may ultimately be the deciding factor for Pheu Thai, and that would force it into a deal with the establishment. "Post election, Pheu Thai will be biding its time and looking for a deal. That's why I think the likelihood of Pheu Thai going with Move Forward is very slim." He said he could envision a deal that allowed Thaksin to return in exchange for minimal jail time and a promise not to run for office.

Among Gen Z super savers (ages 18-25), 28% have an annual salary of less than $35K, with deferral rates of 15%+. 50% of super savers are 40 years old or younger and 53% make less than $100K annually. In our research, we learned several things from Gen Z super savers. 7 plan design updates to help more Gen Z employees become retirement super saversA few simple updates can help modernize your employer-sponsored retirement plan to prepare for the newest generation of workers. Among Gen Z super savers, 87% say their employer-sponsored retirement plan will be their main source of income in retirement.

☆ Chinese investment in Europe shifts to greenfield battery projects - report
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-08 | by ( Victoria Waldersee | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

BERLIN, May 9 (Reuters) - Chinese investment in Europe is shifting from mergers and acquisitions to greenfield projects mainly in battery production for electric vehicles, according to 2022 data analysed by independent research providers MERICS and Rhodium Group. Greenfield investment made up 57% of total foreign direct investment by China in Europe in 2022, overtaking mergers and acquisitions for the first time since 2008, according to the report released on Tuesday. "We are witnessing a major shift in how Chinese companies invest in Europe... Chinese firms have become major players in Europe's green transition," Agatha Kratz, director of the Rhodium Group, said in a statement. Setting up operations from scratch in Europe allows Chinese players to avoid tariffs and transport costs and shield themselves from political tension that could impede exports and imports, the report said. While screenings of Chinese investments in Europe have increased, the region still remains more open politically to China than the United States which has cracked down on Chinese battery imports via the Inflation Reduction Act, it added.

☆ Warren Buffett: Other people doing dumb things is what creates good opportunities
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-06 | by ( ) www.cnbc.com time to read: 1 min

Share Share Article via Facebook Share Article via Twitter Share Article via LinkedIn Share Article via EmailWarren Buffett: Other people doing dumb things is what creates good opportunitiesBerkshire Hathaway Chairman and CEO Warren Buffett and Vice Chairman Charlie Munger preside over the 2023 Berkshire Hathaway annual meeting. Buffett and Munger explain how they envision value investing in this new age.

☆ The US Air Force has big plans for the next-generation drones that will fight alongside its fighters and bombers
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-03 | by ( Benjamin Brimelow | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +9 min

It's now developing collaborative combat aircraft, which can fight alongside piloted jets or on their own. A need for 'affordable mass'MQ-9s on a runway at Holloman Air Force Base in New Mexico in April. Worse, the Air Force faces a pilot shortage and its overall number of flight hours has been decreasing. The Air Force also continues to develop top-tier assets like the F-35, the B-21 stealth bomber, and the Next Generation Air Dominance program, or NGAD. "Without it, it's very difficult to envision how we could keep the Air Force at the size it currently is."

☆ AI Technology Like ChatGPT Will Reshape Software Coding Jobs Forever
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-26 | by ( Aki Ito | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +14 min

Their conclusion: 19% of workers hold jobs in which at least half their tasks could be completed by AI. Researchers at Microsoft and its subsidiary GitHub recently divided software developers into two groups — one with access to an AI coding assistant, and another without. Amazon has built its own AI coding assistant, CodeWhisperer, and is encouraging its engineers to use it. Another argument from the optimists: Even as AI takes over the bulk of coding, human coders will find new ways to make themselves useful by focusing on what AI can't do. So maybe, long term, human coders will survive in some new, as-yet-to-be-determined role.

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