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☆ A top economist breaks down why he's forecasting a 50% chance of recession next year
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-18 | by ( Phil Rosen | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

In a wide-ranging conversation, Moody's Analytics' Mark Zandi broke down his US recession forecast and how a looming housing correction differs from 2008. The way Mark Zandi sees it, the US is facing a 50% chance of a recession next year, but his baseline forecast actually sounds more optimistic than those odds. "I expect prices to be down 10% peak to trough, with no recession," he said. Bank of America analysts shared one area of the bond market that's set to deliver 13% returns in 2023. A recession presents an opportunity to build wealth as a real estate investor, Mike Zuber explained.

☆ Russian prison activist paints picture of life facing Griner
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-18 | by ( Filipp Lebedev | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

Russia's prison service has not responded to questions from Reuters about living and working conditions in such institutions. This is where in the morning they have the daily inspection, rollcall and physical exercise, whatever the weather. They always wear uniform. Breakfast is definitely going to be porridge - not with milk, and it’s porridge made from barley, that’s the most “popular”. The Gulag, created in 1933, and the current prison system (in Russia) are identical except for the name.

☆ In newly liberated Kherson, Ukrainians celebrate but worry about what's next
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-17 | by ( Tom Balmforth | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

KHERSON, Ukraine, Nov 17 (Reuters) - Under rainy skies, Ukrainian-controlled Kherson's central square was a frenetic melee on Thursday afternoon of humanitarian aid queues and displays of patriotic celebration tinged with uncertainty about the future. Hundreds of people stood in a queue for humanitarian assistance, but said they had no idea what they might receive. [1/4] People receive food aid after Russia's retreat from Kherson, Ukraine November 17, 2022. Moscow declared Kherson to be Russian after a September referendum denounced by Ukraine and its allies as a sham. She said humanitarian aid only included basic medicines and insulin, but not what she needed.

☆ Ukraine hails China's opposition to nuclear threats
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-15 | by ( Jonathan Landay | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +6 min

Zelenskiy, who had earlier visited Kherson, the biggest prize his troops have recaptured since the invasion began in February, welcomed Monday's remarks. "It is important that the United States and China jointly highlighted that the threats of using nuclear weapons were unacceptable," Zelenskiy said in a late Monday address. Zelenskiy said Ukraine had gathered evidence of at least 400 war crimes committed by Russian troops during their occupation of the area, including killings and abductions. Mass burial sites have been found in other parts previously occupied by Russian troops, including some with civilian bodies showing signs of torture. Russia says it is waging a "special military operation" in Ukraine to rid it of nationalists and protect Russian-speaking communities.

☆ The US is sending 40 more boats to join Ukraine's growing 'river navy'
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-13 | by ( Peter Suciu | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

The US is sending Ukraine more riverine patrol boats in an aid package announced this month. The 40 boats in the latest package will join the 18 boats that the US supplied to Kyiv in June. The aid assistance package hasn't detailed the type of riverine boats that will be sent, but six from the previous batch were made by Louisiana-based Metal Shark. Those are now reportedly operating in the Black Sea. Ukraine defiantThe US supplied 10 34-foot Dauntless Sea Ark patrol boats, like those seen above, to Ukraine in June.

Kherson, Ukraine CNN —For eight months, residents of the Ukrainian city of Kherson have been living under brutal Russian occupation. But on Friday, Ukrainian forces swept into the city and Russian troops retreated to the east. Another local resident named Andrew said he was so glad to see Ukrainian soldiers. The woman said it felt “amazing” to see Ukrainian troops in Kherson. He warned that many Russian troops “threw away their military uniforms, and are now hiding with civilian clothes on.”

☆ Analysis: A new Netflix show keeps the memory of Blockbuster alive
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-05 | by ( Lisa Respers France | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +6 min

Three things to watch‘Blockbuster’(From left) Olga Merediz and Melissa Fumero in a scene from Netflix's "Blockbuster." In the eponymous show, Randall Park plays Timmy Yoon, “an analog dreamer living in a 5G world” who manages the last Blockbuster location out there. The series is streaming on Netflix now. ‘Selena Gomez: My Mind & Me’Selena Gomez attends the 28th Screen Actors Guild Awards on February 27 in Santa Monica, California. (From left) Melanie Chisholm, Emma Bunton, Melanie Brown, Geri Halliwell and Victoria Beckham of the Spice Girls perform during the Closing Ceremony of the London 2012 Olympic Games on August 12, 2012.

The prosecutor assigned to investigate the killing of gay Puerto Rican rapper Kevin Fret in 2019 said this week that she was instructed to stop her probe and was never given an explanation. Betzaida Quiñones Rodríguez made the allegations in multiple local media outlets in Puerto Rico. She said the investigation was shut down just three months after Fret's death by order of Olga Castellón, who was the chief prosecutor at the Puerto Rico Justice Department at the time. Vázquez was Puerto Rico’s secretary of justice from 2017 to 2019, but later became the governor of Puerto Rico after embattled Gov. Quiñones Rodríguez is still the prosecutor in charge of investigating Fret's death as of Friday.

[1/2] An Ukrainian start-up desk is seen at the Web Summit, Europe's largest technology conference, in Lisbon, Portugal, November 2, 2022. REUTERS/Pedro NunesLISBON, Nov 4 (Reuters) - Ukrainian entrepreneurs brought a message of hope to this week's Web Summit in Lisbon, Europe's largest tech gathering that ended on Friday: the war has made them more resilient than ever. "Many more Ukrainians came to the Web Summit this time," he added, standing in front of the Ukrainian pavillion. Web Summit chief Paddy Cosgrave told Reuters last week 59 Ukrainian startups were at the 2022 event. "This is a good sign that the Ukrainian tech and startup ecosystem is developing even during a time of war," said Sobolenko.

☆ Ukrainian suicide drone boats packed with bombs are threatening Russia's once feared Black Sea fleet, and it may not be able to stop them
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-03 | by ( Charles R. Davis | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Ukraine last week appeared to attack Russia's Black Sea Fleet using a swarm of naval and aerial drones. Russia labeled the attack a "terrorist act" and briefly suspended a deal on grain shipments. Experts told Insider the attack demonstrates that nowhere is safe for Russia's naval assets. Russia has not, to date, taken such steps to protect its Black Sea Fleet, a force which has participated in the missile barrages of Ukraine and lost its flagship in another stunning Ukrainian attack. Nothing powered by a jet ski engine is going to be able to match the speed and range of a Russian ship at sea; when Ukraine sunk the cruiser Moskva, the former flagship of Russia's Black Sea Fleet, it did so with a cruise missile.

☆ Tinkov renounces citizenship of 'fascist' Russia over Ukraine war
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-01 | by ( ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +2 min

Serial entrepreneur Oleg Tinkov has renounced his Russian citizenship, saying he does not want to be associated with “fascism” or people who collaborate with “killers.”In an Instagram post published on Tuesday, the 54-year-old founder of Tinkoff Bank wrote: “I decided to renounce my Russian citizenship after Russia invasion of independent Ukraine. He was forced to sell his 35% stake in TCS, Tinkoff Bank’s parent, to Russian metals magnate Vladimir Potanin in April, following a string of anti-war comments. “I hate when my brand/name is associated with the bank that collaborates with killers and blood.”Oleg Tinkov. Before he sold his stake, Britain imposed sanctions on Tinkov, saying he was “receiving benefits from the Russian government” through his stake in a systemically important company. Tinkoff previously held U.S. citizenship, but renounced that around the time Tinkoff Bank went public in 2013 in what Washington said was an attempt to avoid tax liabilities.

☆ Russian-installed authorities order evacuation of Kherson in face of Ukrainian counteroffensive
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-22 | by ( Hyder Abbasi | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +4 min

Russian-installed authorities in the occupied city of Kherson on Saturday urged residents to leave immediately in the face of a looming counteroffensive by Ukraine’s armed forces that aimed to recapture the southern city. Ukrainian forces bombarded Russian positions and targeted supply routes across the province on Friday, inching closer to a full assault on the only provincial capital that has remained in Russian hands throughout the war. The Kakhovka Hydroelectric Power Plant on the Dnipro River in Kherson Oblast, Ukraine. Infrastructure in the southern city of Odesa had also been hit, he said. Iran sent trainers and technical support to enable Russian forces to use Iranian-made drones “with better lethality,” John Kirby, White House National Security Council spokesperson, told reporters.

One of the sources, in investment banking circles, said Softline was aiming to list in the third quarter of 2023. The sources declined to be identified because the plans have not been made public. Cybersecurity firm Positive Technologies held a secondary public offering late last month, defying a plunging stock market as Russia launched a partial mobilisation of additional servicemen. London-listed Softline Holding plc (SFTLq.L) began operating under a new brand, NOVENTIQ, on Thursday, after completing the sale of its Russian operations to founder Igor Borovikov. Softline said in a statement on Thursday that spinning off its Russian business was aimed at optimising its local growth strategy and potentially listing securities on the stock exchange.

Czech markets were jolted on Wednesday on news the government could widen its proposed tax on excessive profits to include 2022 earnings, earlier than existing plans applying only to 2023-2025. Stanjura told reporters after the government met that the cabinet still leaned towards putting the windfall tax in place for 2023, calming markets somewhat. A government source had earlier said legal implications for the tax were still being considered. The windfall tax should be imposed on banks with more than 6 billion crowns ($240 million) of net interest income in 2021. A windfall tax would help cover protective measures such as a cap on electricity prices.

☆ Kyrgyzstan asks Russia-led bloc to send peacekeepers to Tajik border
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-19 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

BISHKEK, Oct 19 (Reuters) - Kyrgyzstan has asked a Russia-led security bloc to deploy peacekeeping troops at its disputed border with Tajikistan to ensure a ceasefire holds between the two ex-Soviet Central Asian countries, a senior Kyrgyz official said on Wednesday. At least 100 people were killed last month in fighting involving the use of tanks, aircraft and rocket artillery on a disputed section of the border. read moreAlthough the ceasefire agreed on Sept.16 has held up so far, Tajikistan's border guard service accused Kyrgyzstan on Wednesday of bringing more military hardware close to the border and building fortifications with "malevolent plans". Both Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan maintain close ties with Moscow and host Russian military bases. Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com RegisterReporting by Olga Dzyubenko; Additional reporting by Nazarali Pirnazarov in Dushanbe; Writing by Olzhas Auyezov; Editing by Alex RichardsonOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Russian soft drinks maker to cut back investments, hiring over new sugar tax
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-18 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

SummarySummary Companies This content was produced in Russia where the law restricts coverage of Russian military operations in UkraineMOSCOW, Oct 18 (Reuters) - Chernogolovka, a Russian soft drinks producer hoping to seize market share as Western competitors leave, said a proposed new sugary drinks tax had forced it to scale back investments next year and freeze hiring for 1,000 new jobs. A parliamentary committee last week gave preliminary approval to budget proposals that would see excise duty levied on drinks with a certain sugar content at 7 roubles ($0.1135) per litre from Jan. 1, 2023. The company said it was "extremely pessimistic" in its assessment of the soft drinks market for 2023-25, fearing production could fall by 20% from current levels. "The decision will affect the company's major investment project in the Moscow region, a plant construction project in the Volga region and a production expansion project in Krasnodar region," it said. Chernogolovka told Reuters in August it was aiming for a 50% share of Russia's nearly $9 billion soft drinks market, as Coca-Cola Co (KO.N) was reducing operations.

☆ Russian retail chain Williams et Oliver considers IPO within five years
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-17 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

MOSCOW, Oct 17 (Reuters) - Russian homeware goods retailer Williams et Oliver is considering an initial public offering in the next five years, the financial director of parent company Patriot Group said on Monday. "There are plans," Marina Shevlyakova, financial director of Patriot Group, told an online conference marking Patriot's debut placement of three-year bonds worth 200 million roubles ($3.23 million). We have plans to take a leading position (in the sector), and the only path for a market leader is an IPO," she said. Williams et Oliver aims to increase annual revenue to 2.3 billion roubles by 2025, from 861 million roubles in 2021, and boost net profit to 134 million roubles, from 61 million roubles. Patriot Group head Dmitry Shirokov said Williams et Oliver plans to expand in Russia and enter Kazakhstan.

☆ Billionaire Izzy Englander's hedge fund is hiring for more than 100 engineers and developers. Here's how to get a job at $57 billion Millennium, according to a top recruiter.
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-13 | by ( Alyson Velati | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Millennium Management, which houses multiple trading pods across the globe, is looking for more than 100 engineers and developers to help expand its footprint in top technology hubs. Izzy Englander's $57 billion fund is just one of many quant shops battling it out with the finance industry and top tech companies for hot talent. The firm is looking for back-end engineers, front-end engineers, data engineers, and quantitative researchers who are experts in Python, which is a popular computer programming language. Millennium looks for the typical attributes most financial institutions and big tech companies look for in engineers like experience and having an "entrepreneurial mindset," Talarico said. "You have to be able to communicate effectively with your client, whether that is an investment professional or someone else in the organization or someone else within technology" Talarico said.

☆ Second strike at Liverpool to add to European port congestion, slow product delivery
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-10 | by ( Lori Ann Larocco | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +4 min

A striking dockworker on a picket line outside the Port of Liverpool during a strike in Liverpool, UK, on Tuesday, Sept. 20, 2022. Bloomberg | Bloomberg | Getty ImagesLogistics experts are warning another strike set at the Port of Liverpool for Tuesday will only add to the existing delays in product delivery caused by the prior strikes at Felixstowe and Liverpool. Dockworkers in Liverpool, a significant U.K. port and a port where the U.S. is the No. Trade productivity at Felixstowe, the U.K.'s largest container port, and Liverpool have suffered as a result of various labor strikes since August. Braun told CNBC that the disruptions of past strikes and the upcoming Liverpool strike will unquestionably aggravate the existing congestion.

Ernaux, the first French woman to win the literature prize, said winning the award was "immense". "It's a long path that she makes in her life," Swedish Academy member Anders Olsson told Reuters. "I did not imagine at the time that 22 years later, the right to abortion would be challenged," Ernaux told reporters in Paris. 1/7 French novelist Annie Ernaux talks to the media after being announced as the winner of the 2022 Nobel Prize in Literature, in Cergy-Pontoise, France October 6, 2022. "I always said that I did not want to get the Nobel prize," she told reporters at her French publisher Gallimard's office.

☆ Cate Blanchett on film 'TÁR': 'We were standing on the edge of a cliff every day'
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-04 | by ( Hanna Rantala | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

LONDON, Oct 4 (Reuters) - Acclaimed Australian actor Cate Blanchett says the themes of her new drama "TÁR" galvanised its cast and crew, making the film shoot “the most stimulating” she had ever been on. Blanchett plays Lydia Tár, a world-renowned gay conductor of a Berlin orchestra whose high-flying career comes tumbling down with an abuse scandal. Blanchett credited the film's writer and director Todd Field for drawing the best out of his cast with often unscripted, spur-of-the-moment ideas. "And I felt like I was having a hard time finding that language from other people.”1/3 The 79th Venice Film Festival - Premiere screening of the film "TAR" in competition - Red Carpet Arrivals - Venice, Italy, September 1, 2022. Blanchett's performance has garnered early Oscar buzz after she won the best actress award at this year's Venice Film Festival, where "TÁR" had its world premiere.

☆ Russia's neighbor considers asylum for draft dodgers who can prove they were conscripted, but not young men afraid of being called up
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-29 | by ( Sinéad Baker | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Russia's European neighbors say they will not take in Russians fleeing mobilization. But Latvia has told Insider it will consider giving asylum to men who can prove they've been drafted. Russia's European neighbors have largely rejected the idea that they would let in Russians fleeing out of fear that they will be sent to Ukraine. Pabriks echoed the reasoning given by Russia's other neighbors for not taking in fleeing Russians. Latvia's foreign ministry took a more cautious tone on Russians fleeing mobilization.

Insider asked 12 top VCs what ad and marketing tech companies excited them the most this year. Check out the 19 most promising adtech startups, and what they do that makes them unique. It hopes to raise a Series A funding round in the coming months. Emperia is currently raising its next funding round. Why it's on the list: Tech companies are being scrutinized for their wasting energy consumption, and the digital advertising industry is no exception.

The main challenge the Russian military faces after almost seven months at war looks likely to remain a basic one: manpower. Russia had about 1 million active personnel at the start, according to the institute’s estimates, though it did not dedicate all its troops to Ukraine. Both of these have made it hard to identify how the new additions to the Russian military could be trained or used effectively in this war. ‘New territory takes time’The “partial mobilization” comes after Ukraine’s successful counteroffensive broke through Russian lines outside Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second most populous city. The military support of mobilization and the veneer of territorial security that annexation could provide will likely take a while, however.

☆ Russian state-media stars pushing Putin's official war narrative have been exempted from fighting in Ukraine
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-23 | by ( Mia Jankowicz | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Russian state media workers have been exempted from Putin's latest military draft. It means the TV stars pushing a distorted image of the war won't have to face its reality. The decision to exempt state-approved journalists ensures that the media figures pushing a distorted state narrative on the war in Ukraine won't have to face its realities themselves. And some Russian media stars have flourished in an environment that rewards blatant propaganda — often going further than the Kremlin itself. Russia-1 host Olga Skabeyeva has played a key role in the Kremlin's propaganda strategy amid the war in Ukraine.

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