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☆ Kirin investors find vitamin deal hard to swallow
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-27 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

The $15 billion Japanese company is best known as a brewer, but sources more than half its top line from other businesses. Kirin, led by CEO Yoshinori Isozaki, also reckons the deal will be accretive to earnings per share in the first year. Yet investors immediately wiped some $450 million off the purchaser’s market value on Thursday, almost double the premium it agreed to pay Blackmores’ shareholders. Blackmores may yet show Kirin has adopted a better dealmaking regimen, but investors aren’t holding their breath. They do not reflect the views of Reuters News, which, under the Trust Principles, is committed to integrity, independence, and freedom from bias.

☆ Eli Lilly races rising obesity expectations
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-27 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

NEW YORK, April 27 (Reuters Breakingviews) - The race is on between Mounjaro’s growth and investors’ burgeoning hopes. The drug made by Eli Lilly (LLY.N), which was approved in May to treat diabetes, reaped an astonishing $569 million of revenue in the first quarter less than a year after it was approved for sale. The results encouraged Lilly to raise its annual profit guidance by 3.5%. The pharmaceutical firm also unveiled alongside its earnings release on Thursday that the drug had its second successful large clinical trial against obesity. With another successful trial under Lilly’s belt, Mounjaro is likely to receive an official green light from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for use in obesity, and more insurers will subsidize the cost.

☆ Ambitious genome project shows how humans fit with other mammals
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-27 | by ( Will Dunham | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

The findings in the ambitious Zoonomia Project identified parts of the genome functionally important in people and other mammals and showed how certain mutations can cause disease. The project revealed the genetics of uncommon mammalian traits like hibernation and showed how the sense of smell varies widely. The researchers said the findings on hibernation genetics could inform human therapeutics, critical care and long-distance space flight. The most primitive species was the venomous burrowing insect-eater Hispaniola solenodon, closely related to mammals alive during the dinosaur age. In terms of human differences from other mammals, the study pointed to regions associated with developmental and neurological genes.

☆ Opinion | Exorcising the Ghost of Robert E. Lee
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-27 | by ( Brent Staples | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

He took office in 1913 with a team of white supremacists who announced themselves by requiring separate white and colored bathrooms in federal buildings. The Wilsonians inflicted a neo-Confederate regime on the capital that was felt in far corners of the nation. On Nov. 10, 1898, throngs of white men burned and murdered at will, driving Black officials and their allies from Wilmington. The Lost Causers venerated racial terrorism as a means of suppressing Black political influence. They recast the pro-slavery war as a just struggle for “states’ rights” while elevating the dead Confederate general Robert E. Lee to the stature of a patron saint.

☆ Reckitt names Kris Licht as CEO, beats sales estimates
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-26 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

LONDON, April 26 (Reuters) - Reckitt Benckiser (RKT.L) has named company insider Kris Licht as CEO designate to succeed Nicandro Durante, taking the helm by the end of the year after a transition period. Licht, who has served as president of Reckitt's health business and as chief customer officer since July 2020, will be appointed to the board as an executive director from June 1. Durante, a former BAT (BATS.L) chief executive, will stay with Reckitt until December "to ensure a smooth transition". The company, which makes Durex condoms and Lysol cleaning products, also reported like-for-like net revenue up 7.9% in the first quarter, beating analyst expectations of a 3.6% rise in consensus forecast provided by the company. Reckitt, which also makes Nurofen tablets, cold remedy Lemsip and Dettol hygiene products, now expects like-for-like net revenue growth of 3-5% for the year after beating sales expectations for several quarters in a row, helped by price increases.

☆ Teck swats dealmaking ball back into its own court
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-26 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Canadian miner Teck Resources (TECKb.TO) on Wednesday tore up Plan A, which was a scheduled shareholder vote on splitting the company. Boss Jonathan Price and controlling shareholder Norman Keevil also are rejecting Plan B, an even more intricate, all-share $24 billion takeover bid from Glencore (GLEN.L). If Teck doesn’t come up with a persuasive third option, and soon, it is likely to face increased pressure to sell. Teck vowed to come back with a “simpler and more direct” separation proposal. Keevil’s blocking stake is an obvious impediment, but if Plan C doesn’t fly, Plan B will look more compelling.

☆ Sanction hit tars BAT’s US listing hopes
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-26 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

LONDON, April 26 (Reuters Breakingviews) - British American Tobacco (BATS.L) could have trouble getting more American love. The $635 million settlement plus interest may be less of a financial spoil for the $82 billion giant. Still, investors including Rajiv Jain’s GQG Partners, had hoped BAT could move its listing to the United States to close a yawning valuation gap. The reputational stain from its fine, however, raises the risk that if it were to move stateside, U.S. investors may still apply a discount. They do not reflect the views of Reuters News, which, under the Trust Principles, is committed to integrity, independence, and freedom from bias.

☆ Sonic world of animals: Listen to an extinct bird's mating call
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-26 | by ( Katie Hunt | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +7 min

What’s sometimes lost in this feast for the eyes is the sonic world of animals — audible to humans in the case of birdsong. Source: British Library“Animals: Art, Science and Sound” showcases the British Library’s wildlife collection, which contains over 250,000 recordings of animals from around the world. Source: British LibraryThe species was declared extinct in 2000. The song of a nightingale Published by the Gramophone Company Ltd. in 1910, it was the first published recording of any animal. Source: British LibraryThe groundbreaking release marked the beginning of commercial wildlife recording that culminated in the 1970s.

☆ Tobacco Company BAT Pleads Guilty to Violating U.S. Sanctions on North Korea
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-25 | by ( Sadie Gurman | Aruna Viswanatha | ) www.wsj.com time to read: +1 min

British American Tobacco PLC said it had abandoned its North Korean business, but continued selling tobacco to the regime using a front company, officials said. Photo: Igor Golovniov/SOPA Images/LightRocket/Getty ImagesWASHINGTON—A U.K. tobacco company agreed to pay more than $635 million to resolve charges that it conspired to violate U.S. sanctions by selling cigarettes to North Korea in what Justice Department officials described as a brazen scheme to conceal illicit business by routing it through a third-party company in Singapore. The settlement payment was the largest penalty ever levied on a company for violating U.S. sanctions on Pyongyang. The company, British American Tobacco PLC, entered into a deferred prosecution agreement with federal prosecutors over illegal sales that took place over more than a decade, even after the company announced that it had abandoned its North Korean business, U.S. officials said. But BAT, which makes Lucky Strike, Dunhill and Pall Mall cigarettes, continued selling tobacco products to the isolated regime through a Singaporean front company.

☆ Tobacco companies pay over $600 million to settle alleged sanctions violations with North Korea
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-25 | by ( Hannah Rabinowitz | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +3 min

CNN —Two tobacco companies have agreed to pay over $600 million to US authorities over allegations that the companies were selling tobacco products to North Korea in violation of US sanctions. Separately, the Justice Department charged a North Korean banker and two Chinese nationals with helping to facilitate tobacco sales in North Korea, according to court documents. BATMS and the North Korean Tobacco Company — owned by the North Korean Government — created a joint enterprise in 2001 to manufacture BAT cigarettes within North Korea for domestic sale, according to the Justice Department. That arrangement continued past 2009, when the US Treasury Department placed additional sanctions on North Korean banks. According to court documents, North Korea would use Chinese companies to process payments between the country and a front company of BATMS to obfuscate the payments.

☆ An executive coach who worked with Nelson Mandela and the last leader of the Soviet Union, says CEOs must realize they will always upset 'a large bunch of people every day'
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-24 | by ( Sawdah Bhaimiya | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

René Carayol, an executive coach for more than 20 years, said CEOs can never make everyone happy. He told Insider the chief executive role is "the toughest job in the company." Carayol has a high-profile list of clients, including world leaders and CEOs at Fortune 500 and FTSE 100 companies. He's advised four former CEOs of Barclays Bank and even former Soviet leader, Mikhail Gorbachev. Inherent and implicit in the role is you are upsetting a large bunch of people every day.

☆ Australia to prioritise long-range strike capability in defence shakeup
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-24 | by ( Kirsty Needham | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

[1/6] Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, Australian Deputy Prime Minister Richard Marles, Australian Defence Industry Minister Pat Conroy and Chief of the Australian Defence Force (ADF) Angus Campbell speak to the media at a news conference after the release of the Defence Strategic Review at Parliament House in Canberra, Australia April 24, 2023. AAP/Lukas Coch/via REUTERSCANBERRA, April 24 (Reuters) - Australia's government will prioritise long-range precision strike, domestic production of guided weapons, and diplomacy - key points of a review released Monday recommending the country's biggest defence shakeup since World War Two. Australia must also strengthen defence cooperation with Japan, India, Pacific and South East Asian nations, the review said. The review found Australia's defence force was "not fit for purpose", he said. The navy needs more smaller vessels with long-range strike weapons, with details decided after an independent analysis this year, the report said.

☆ Dr. Fauci Looks Back: ‘Something Clearly Went Wrong’
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-24 | by ( David Wallace-Wells | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +55 min

Dr. Fauci Looks Back: ‘Something Clearly Went Wrong’ In his most extensive interview yet, Anthony Fauci wrestles with the hard lessons of the pandemic — and the decisions that will define his legacy. But when people say, “Fauci shut down the economy” — it wasn’t Fauci. But somehow or other, the general public didn’t get that feeling that the vulnerable are really, really heavily weighted toward the elderly. We also had a public-health system that we thought was really, really good. But it was really, really antiquated.

☆ Punjab's Arshdeep back in his element after fixing no-ball tendency
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-23 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

The problem persisted in the subsequent home series against New Zealand but Arshdeep was back in his element against Mumbai. It helped me with the no-ball problem," he said after claiming 4-29 in the high-scoring heart-stopping match. But Cameron Green (67) and Rohit Sharma (44) led a robust reply from Mumbai and then Suryakumar Yadav smashed 57 off 26 balls. Arshdeep was even more impressive, conceding just two runs and breaking the middle stumps of Tilak Varma and Nehal Wadhera in successive deliveries. "I guess Danny you should come next to me and feel the heart beat - it's not even close to 120," a beaming Arshdeep said.

☆ We’re Trying to Learn from Bats to Fight Human Disease
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-23 | by ( Betsy Mckay | Photos Dylan Nelson For Wsj | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Bats could help prevent pandemics and reveal blockbuster treatments for deadly human diseases or to slow aging. Bat stem-cell colonies, each containing thousands of individual cells, are visible as white spots at the bottom of a tissue-culture plate in a research lab.

☆ MLB roundup: Cubs' Drew Smyly flirts with perfection vs. Dodgers
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-22 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +11 min

Los Angeles starter Julio Urias (3-2) allowed five runs, seven hits (including two homers) and two walks in 3 1/3 innings. Seven of Urias' 10 earned runs allowed this season have come against Chicago. Philadelphia starter Aaron Nola tossed a season-high seven innings and allowed four hits and three runs with three strikeouts and three walks. Pittsburgh starter Mitch Keller (2-0) allowed two runs and four hits in six innings, with five strikeouts and a walk. Pivetta (1-1) allowed three runs on seven hits in 5 2/3 innings, striking out seven with one walk.

☆ How TikTok is trying to become the music industry's everything app, even if it risks 'pissing off' record labels
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-20 | by ( Dan Whateley | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +11 min

Its music ambitions could ruffle feathers at record labels and publishers — unless it pays out. TikTok's app regularly sparks trends that help songs go viral, making it a favorite of marketers at major labels and independents. TikTok works closely with record labels and artists on promotional efforts like livestreamed concerts, in-person performances, and private listening parties with TikTok stars. Spotify has maintained a tenuous relationship with the labels over the years as it's sought to balance profit margins while splitting revenue with artists, labels, and publishers. Still, even as record labels and publishers push TikTok to pay more to music rights holders, they're investing more in the app.

☆ A corruption scandal, accusations of favoritism and Franco’s regime: Real Madrid and Barcelona in war of words over Spain’s fascist past
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-19 | by ( Matias Grez | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +5 min

More than eight weeks after the scandal emerged, FCB President Joan Laporta went out to bat for the Catalan club on Monday. General view of Estadio Santiago Bernabeu prior to the La Liga match between Real Madrid CF and Getafe CF on April 09, 2022 in Madrid, Spain. But Laporta finished by saying that Real Madrid is “a club considered the team of the regime,” a reference to the club’s reported historic ties with Franco during his fascist dictatorship. “We are talking about a club [Real] that has historically close ties to political, financial and sporting power,” Laporta said. In total, Real won 14 league titles to Barcelona’s eight under Franco, while the Blaugrana won nine Copas del Generalísimo to Real Madrid’s six.

☆ Oldest-known bat skeletons shed light on evolution of flying mammals
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-13 | by ( Will Dunham | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

A few other fossil species from around this time still have that claw, but it's been lost in most living bats," Jones added. This species was closely related to two other bat species whose fossils were previously found at the same locale - Icaronycteris index and Onychonycteris finneyi. This indicates there was a greater diversity of species early in the history of bats than previously appreciated. The fossils represent the oldest-known bat skeletons - both very complete and well-preserved. The only older bat fossils are isolated teeth and jaw fragments from places including Portugal and China, dating to about 55 to 56 million years ago.

☆ The New Baseball Rule That Has Turned Pickoff Moves Into Game Theory
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-11 | by ( Lindsey Adler | Andrew Beaton | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

The New Baseball Rule That Has Turned Pickoff Moves Into Game Theory Pitchers are now allowed a total of just three pick-off attempts per at-bat, which has launched a radical re-evaluation of how and when to use themRoyals outfielder Kyle Isbel dives back to first base ahead of a pickoff throw to Giants first baseman LaMonte Wade Jr. D. Ross Cameron/USA TODAY Sports via Reuters Con

☆ A pair of sneakers worn by Michael Jordan just sold for $2.2 million, setting a new world record for the most expensive shoes ever purchased
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-11 | by ( Matthew Kish | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Sneakers worn by Jordan in the 1998 NBA Finals just sold for $2.2 million. The sale set a new world record, topping the $1.8 million paid for a pair of Kanye West's sneakers. On Tuesday, Sotheby's announced the $2.2 million sale of Air Jordan 13 sneakers worn by Jordan during the 1998 NBA Finals. "That sneaker set the market for the sneaker industry. Rares CEO Sapp, who also played in the NFL, added Jordan sneakers tap into a bigger story that continues to resonate across playgrounds and pick-up basketball courts.

☆ MLB roundup: Solo HR sends Rays to 10-0
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-11 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +11 min

Muncy also singled, all after Mookie Betts had led off the game with his second homer of the season for the Dodgers, who snapped a three-game losing streak. Reds starter Graham Ashcraft allowed two runs on six hits in six innings with seven strikeouts and three walks. Ryan Mountcastle drilled a two-run homer in the first inning and Austin Hays added a solo shot in the sixth. Alvarez drove in two runs to boost his major-league-leading RBI total to 16, plating a pair in the second inning with a single. Jake Cave hit a solo homer and double while Nick Castellanos added three hits and three RBIs.

☆ Opinion: The justice system Trump and other white-collar defendants see is different than what most accused criminals get
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-10 | by ( Elliot Williams | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +6 min

By virtue of his social standing and the crimes of which he is accused, Defendant Trump is already getting the privileged process and kid gloves extended to white-collar defendants. It’s not that we should treat white-collar defendants worse, but many other defendants better. White-collar defendants routinely argue that the stigma they may face, as prominent members of society, ought to affect the treatment they receive. This is a rounding error compared to the $426 billion to $1.7 trillion estimated to be the annual cost of white-collar crime. Even if no blood is shed in a misdemeanor white-collar crime, it can come with a profound social cost.

☆ The next threat to Airbnb: Superhosts want to leave the platform and take their listings with them
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-08 | by ( Dan Latu | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Hosts want to cut out the middle manTop hosts have spoken out recently about their desire to leave the platform. In December, influencer couple Sara and Tony Robinson told Insider they were planning to "quit" Airbnb and funnel their $1.3 million portfolio into direct bookings. (The couple would still leave a few of their 22 listings on the platform, they said.) Alaska resident Amie Somer echoed the Robinsons in her insistence on using direct bookings for her $1 million Arizona home, where she landed $50,000 in bookings in her first year. "I don't want all my eggs in one basket," she told Insider.

☆ 5 Minutes to Make You Love Jazz
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-07 | by ( ) www.nytimes.com time to read: 1 min

Card 1 of 105 Minutes That Will Make You Love Alice ColtraneWe asked writers, critics and musicians including Meshell Ndegeocello and Angel Bat Dawid to tell us what moves them in Coltrane’s spiritual jazz. Background Image: A colorful animated illustration of a musician with a loose resemblance to Alice Coltrane playing the harp with their eyes closed.

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