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☆ Discount retail operator TJX shows it can deliver profits in a slowing economy
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-17 | by ( Zev Fima | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +6 min

Of course, as management noted Wednesday, they were also able to put the right items in the right stores at the right time. The operating environment undoubtedly remains uncertain for the retail industry, with consumers increasingly cost conscious amid a slowing economy. Quarterly results Fiscal first-quarter SSS rose 3% year-over-year, matching the high end of the 2% to 3% guidance range management provided the prior quarter. That was driven by a 5% same-store-sales increase at Marmaxx, a 1% increase at TJX Canada and 4% advance at TJX International. On a constant currency basis, sales at TJX Canada were up 3% year-over-year, while sales at TJX International — which includes operations in Europe and Australia — were up 5% annually.

☆ Swedish singer Loreen wins Eurovision Song Contest for 2nd time at event feting Ukraine
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-14 | by ( ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +6 min

Swedish singer Loreen won the Eurovision Song Contest on Saturday night with her power ballad "Tattoo," at a colorful, eclectic music competition clouded for a second year running by the war in Ukraine. Loreen, 39, previously won Eurovision in 2012 and is only the second performer to take the prize twice, after Ireland's Johnny Logan in the 1980s. Under the slogan "united by music," Eurovision final fused the soul of the English port city that birthed The Beatles with the spirit of war-battered Ukraine. Now in its 67th year, Eurovision bills itself as the world's biggest music contest — an Olympiad of party-friendly pop. "Now, the music industry, the world, knows that if you appear at Eurovision, you could be in for a great thing," said Steve Holden, host of the official Eurovision Song Contest podcast.

☆ PlayStation, treasure hunts and natural wonders: What life is like onboard a giant oil tanker
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-01 | by ( Lucy Handley | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +9 min

The movies, which feature ambushes, looting and a drunken captain, are far from real life, according to shipping veteran Ralph Juhl. The crew on board an oil tanker operated by Hafnia. Where the ship goes depends on where the demand for oil is and Dixon has sailed to every continent bar Antarctica, he said. An aurora borealis light display in the southern part of Norway, one of the natural spectacles seen by oil tanker captain DSA Dixon during his seafaring life. Oil tanker crew prepare mooring ropes to secure a bunker barge to their vessel for refueling.

☆ Ocean census aims to discover 100,000 marine species
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-27 | by ( Katie Hunt | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +3 min

CNN —Researchers have embarked on an ambitious global initiative to discover and record marine life hidden in the world’s oceans. Ocean Census aims to identify 100,000 unknown species in the next 10 years, allowing scientists to better understand and protect the deep-sea ecosystem. The initiative builds on past projects such as the Census of Marine Life, which concluded in 2010 and identified 6,000 potential new ocean species. Ocean Census will also help to identify how marine ecosystems are responding to the climate crisis, and assess how marine life could adapt to a warmer climate. The project is being led by Nekton, a UK-based marine science and conservation institute, and funded by The Nippon Foundation, a nonprofit foundation based in Japan.

☆ Opinion | Peter Singer: The Simplest Way to Change the Planet’s Fate
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-22 | by ( Peter Singer | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

MELBOURNE, Australia — The year of the first Earth Day, 1970, was the year I stopped eating meat. It is wrong to ignore or discount the interests of sentient beings because they are not members of our species. Meat and dairy production are major sources of methane, a powerful greenhouse gas. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change calculates that releasing into the atmosphere a ton of methane will, over a century, raise the temperature of our planet by 28 times as much as releasing a ton of carbon dioxide. That would be bad enough, but the impact is even more lopsided in the shorter term: Because methane breaks down much more rapidly than carbon dioxide, over 20 years, that ton will warm the planet as much as 84 tons of carbon dioxide.

☆ Off-price retailer TJX's quarterly results show strong demand. We're unconcerned by a softer profit outlook
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-22 | by ( Zev Fima | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +6 min

Bottom line It was an overall decent quarter for the off-price retailer, with total revenue, same-store sales and operating cash flow exceeding expectations. On the pretax margin, management expects lower freight costs, better buying and strategic retailing to result in an 80-basis-point to 100-basis-point tailwind that will more than offset the headwinds of "incremental wage and supply chain costs." Excluding this benefit, management expects to realize a pretax margin of 10% to 10.2% and earnings in the range of $3.29 to $3.41 per share. On a constant currency basis, sales at TJX Canada were up 10% year-over-year, while sales at TJX International — which includes operations in Europe and Australia — were up 11% annually. This excludes new stores, stores closed permanently or those closed for an extended period of time, as well as e-commerce.

☆ A CIO who helps oversee $98 billion details how to invest in the winners of China's reopening in an environment where the wider stock market will struggle to break even for the rest of the year
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-22 | by ( Lisa Kailai Han | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

Jimmy Chang, the CIO of Rockefeller Capital Management, believes the best case scenario for stocks in 2023 is to trade sideways. Despite this, he says there's ample opportunities to be found as the Chinese economy reopens. He defines "old economy" stocks as those in more traditional industries like industrials and commodities, as well as those that directly benefit from global aging demographics, such as healthcare and life sciences. While utilities and consumer staples stocks are also typically more recession-proof, Chang believes that valuations are currently too high for both sectors. "I would rather participate in this Chinese rebound through the resource market, for example, owning commodities," he explained.

☆ Luxury brand Six Senses is opening its first hotel in Australia
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-08 | by ( Audrey Wan | Chris Dwyer | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: 1 min

The luxury hotel brand Six Senses is planning to open its first hotel in Australia — inside an old family mansion. The heritage house and its 22-hectare estate, named Burnham Beeches, are 25 miles from Melbourne in the forested Dandenong Ranges. The house was designed in 1933 for an Australian family, according to a website detailing the home's history. It will now be restored after "sitting neglected for far too long," said the great-granddaughter of the original owner, Sophie Paterson, according to a Six Senses press release. Plans to incorporate a "premium glamping" option on the estate will bring the number of accommodations to 82.

☆ Sanctions on Russian crude oil have 'failed completely,' oil analyst says
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-03 | by ( Sumathi Bala | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

The European Union's ban on Russian oil product exports is slated to kick in on Feb. 5. Sanctions imposed on Russian crude oil have so far "failed completely" and new price caps could prove immaterial as well, analysts told CNBC. The 27-member bloc has already banned the purchase and import of sea-borne Russian crude oil since December. None of them really understand oil markets," Paul Sankey, president and lead analyst at Sankey Research, told CNBC's "Street Signs Asia" on Thursday. "Its been a total bomb, it has failed completely."

☆ Ugg boots, a fashion staple of the early 2000s, are cool again thanks to Gen Z and Kylie Jenner
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-03 | by ( Mary Hanbury | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Ugg boots are back in fashion. Fashion-search index Lyst said Thursday that the brand was one of Q4's hottest items. The Ugg brand has gradually made a comeback over the past few years after a nearly decade-long hiatus. Deckers Outdoor Corp, which also owns the sneaker brand Hoka, saw sales at its Ugg brand grow throughout 2022. In a call with analysts on Thursday, Deckers execs said that consumer demand for its Ugg brand was still strong.

☆ The US's powerful Abrams tanks are heading to Ukraine, but generals disagree over how hard it'll be to use them on the battlefield
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-01 | by ( Sebastien Roblin | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +19 min

The US has pledged to send Abrams tanks to Ukraine, joining a bevy of Western-made tanks. Here comes the M1 Abrams for UkraineA M1A2 Abrams tank fires at a target during an exercise. The same day, word spread that US President Joe Biden would announce he was sending 31 M1 Abrams tanks to Ukraine. But Hertling disagreed that withholding the M1 Abrams was a "political decision" and didn't find the examples of non-US Abrams operators persuasive. M1 Abrams: training and sustainmentAn M1A2 Abrams drives into the woods during an exercise in Hohenfels, Germany.

☆ Australian Cardinal George Pell, whose abuse conviction was overturned, dies at 81
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-11 | by ( The Associated Press | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +2 min

CANBERRA, Australia — Cardinal George Pell, who was the most senior Catholic cleric to be convicted of child sex abuse before his convictions were later overturned, has died in Rome at age 81. Pell, an Australian, was once the third-highest ranked Catholic in the Vatican after earlier serving as the Archbishop of Melbourne and Archbishop of Sydney. But Pell returned to his native Australia in 2017 in an attempt to clear his name of child sex charges. Pell’s reputation remained tarnished by the church’s child sex abuse scandal. Pell was born on June 8, 1941, the eldest of three children to a heavyweight champion boxer and publican also named George Pell, an Anglican.

☆ Novak Djokovic says there are no hard feelings over deportation from Australia as he returns for Australian Open
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-29 | by ( The Associated Press | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +2 min

ADELAIDE, Australia — Novak Djokovic has reiterated his earlier comments that he bears no hard feelings on his return to Australia after his visa cancellation and subsequent deportation in January ahead of the Australian Open tennis tournament. Those regulations have since been lifted and in November, the Australian government overturned the three-year ban that came with Djokovic’s deportation and granted him a visa to return for the Australian Open beginning Jan. 16. Djokovic arrived back in Australia on Tuesday ahead of the Adelaide International, where he is scheduled to play next week. “I’ll do my best to play good tennis and bring good emotions and good feelings to the crowd.”Djokovic said he still has difficulty forgetting his deportation. But it is a valuable life experience for me and something that as I said will stay there, but I have to move on.”Djokovic has won the Australian Open a record nine times, including the last three times he played.

☆ Morgan Stanley is bullish on this Big Tech stock it says could rally by 64%
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-16 | by ( Zavier Ong | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

Investors this year have mostly shied away from growth stocks in favor of safer bets given aggressive interest rate hikes and other headwinds. But the tech giant has held up relatively well compared to its peers. Though Apple is currently trading at a 20% premium to the S & P 500 , Morgan Stanley said an analysis that relies purely on price-to-earnings ratios "underappreciates the durability of Apple's ecosystem." Morgan Stanley also expects Apple's services business to return to double-digit year-on-year growth, after having missed analyst estimates for the fourth quarter ended September . "We believe Apple still has room to grow in its core business," Morgan Stanley said.

☆ Inflation has peaked — but it's not returning to pre-Covid levels in 2023, Mastercard says
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-12 | by ( Charmaine Jacob | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

Inflation has already peaked, but it will remain above pre-Covid levels in 2023, said David Mann, chief economist for Asia-Pacific, Middle East and Africa at the Mastercard Economics Institute. Central banks around the world have been hiking interest rates as recently as November in response to high inflation. The Fed will hold its December policy meeting this week, where it is expected to hike interest rates by 50 basis points. But he warned that it would be risky if central banks end up hiking rates more than they need to. It would be a "serious scenario" if central banks "end up going slightly too far and then need to reverse relatively quickly," he added.

☆ Rape charge in Australia Parliament case is dropped over mental health worries
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-02 | by ( The Associated Press | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +4 min

The Associated Press does not usually identify alleged victims of sexual assault, but Higgins has chosen to identify herself in the media. Director of Public Prosecutions Shane Drumgold said he dropped the case based on medical evidence that a trial could cost Higgins’ life. While the decision to drop the case was disappointing, Higgins’ health came first, the statement said. Speak up against rape, speak up against injustice, to speak up and share my experiences with others. I told the truth no matter how uncomfortable or unflattering to the court,” a tearful Higgins told reporters outside court.

☆ The divorce lawyer who's represented Johnny Depp, Kim K, and Angelina Jolie charges $1,000 an hour and says tough love is how she gets things done
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-01 | by ( Mark Ellwood | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +12 min

Laura Wasser is a divorce lawyer whose clients have included Johnny Depp and Angelina Jolie. "You'd go to someone's bar mitzvah and say, 'You're Dennis Wasser's daughter,' and they'd say, 'You're at that table,' according to whether my dad had represented the mom or the dad," she said. She'd majored in rhetoric at the University of California, Berkeley, and realized quickly that what she'd loved most about those studies was vital in divorce cases, as was her age and gender. She's a spokesperson for Divorce.com, the do-it-yourself split site, as its chief of divorce evolution and has hosted several podcasts, including "All's Fair with Laura Wasser" and "Divorce Sucks! With Laura Wasser," where one guest was the Kardashian momager and matriarch Kris Jenner.

☆ Australian Parliament censures former prime minister
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-30 | by ( The Associated Press | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +5 min

CANBERRA, Australia — Australia’s former Prime Minister Scott Morrison on Wednesday listed his achievements in government including standing up to a “bullying” China as he unsuccessfully argued against being censured by Parliament for secretly amassing multiple ministerial powers. A censure motion against Morrison, who remains an opposition lawmaker, has no effect other than to tarnish his political legacy. The censure motion said that by failing to inform his Cabinet, Parliament and the Australian people of his additional ministerial powers, Morrison had undermined responsible government and eroded public trust in Australia’s democracy. Morrison’s successor, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, this month held Australia’s first official bilateral meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping since Morrison’s predecessor, Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull, in 2016. In calling for Morrison’s censure, Albanese said the former prime minister had demonstrated hubris, arrogance and denial but no contrition.

☆ Australia argues against ‘endangered’ status for Great Barrier Reef
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-29 | by ( The Associated Press | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +4 min

CANBERRA, Australia — Australia’s environment minister said Tuesday her government will lobby against UNESCO adding the Great Barrier Reef to a list of endangered World Heritage sites. The report, which recommended shifting the Great Barrier Reef to endangered status, followed a 10-day mission in March to the famed reef system off Australia’s northeast coast that was added to the World Heritage list in 1981. “We’ll very clearly make the point to UNESCO that there is no need to single the Great Barrier Reef out in this way” with an endangered listing, Plibersek told reporters. “If the Great Barrier Reef is in danger, then every coral reef in the world is in danger,” Plibersek said. The Great Barrier Reef accounts for around 10% of the world’s coral reef ecosystems.

☆ Falling sperm count observed around the world, study finds
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-17 | by ( Evan Bush | Evan Bush Is A Science Reporter For Nbc News. He Can Be Reached At Evan.Bush Nbcuni.Com. | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +7 min

Those are the headline findings of a new analysis of sperm count studies published Tuesday in the journal Human Reproduction Update. But Anawalt said the inherent limitations of this type of analysis — which combined results from more than 200 sperm count studies — could steer toward misleading conclusions. The decline had gotten steeper.”Despite the negative trend, the average sperm count for men in 2018 remained higher than levels the World Health Organization considers normal. It’s also possible that the type of men involved in sperm count studies is different from those who weren’t. “There’s other things in ejaculate that aren’t sperm — round cells and debris.”Moreover, sperm count is only one factor in determining fertility.

☆ The 'world's largest floating wind farm' produces its first power
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-14 | by ( Anmar Frangoul | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +4 min

A facility described as the world's largest floating wind farm produced its first power over the weekend, with more turbines set to come online before the year is out. The use of a floating wind farm to help power the production of fossil fuels is likely to spark some controversy, however. Earlier this year, meanwhile, the White House said it was targeting 15 gigawatts of floating offshore wind capacity by the year 2035. As well as the 15 GW ambition, a "Floating Offshore Wind Shot" aims to reduce the costs of floating technologies by over 70% by the year 2035. "Bringing floating offshore wind technology to scale will unlock new opportunities for offshore wind power off the coasts of California and Oregon, in the Gulf of Maine, and beyond," the statement added.

☆ Australia drops recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-18 | by ( The Associated Press | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +4 min

CANBERRA, Australia — Australia has reversed a previous government’s recognition of west Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, the foreign minister said Tuesday, prompting consternation from Israel. The Cabinet also reaffirmed that Jerusalem’s status must be resolved in peace negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians, Foreign Minister Penny Wong said. Israel’s Foreign Ministry said it would summon the Australian ambassador over the issue. She described former Prime Minister Scott Morrison’s recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital as out of step internationally. Only a handful of countries, including Kosovo and Guatemala, have joined the U.S. in recognizing Jerusalem as Israel’s capital.

☆ Shell ties up with renewables firm for Australia battery storage project
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-14 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

SYDNEY, Oct 14 (Reuters) - Shell Energy Australia, global oil and gas major Shell Plc's (SHEL.L) renewable energy business in the country, and AMPYR Australia (AMPYR) signed an agreement to develop a battery energy storage system, the companies said on Friday. The proposed 500 megawatt (MW) battery project will be built in the central west region of Australia's New South Wales (NSW) state, Singapore-based renewable energy firm AMPYR said. "(This) will be one of the largest battery storage projects in NSW, contributing to the reliability of the national electricity market and further advancing Australia's clean energy future," AMPYR Director Ben Salmon said. The environmental impact statement of the battery energy storage system project is expected to be released for public consultation later this month. Battery energy storage is essential for preventing blackouts — amid coal-fired plants being retired in Australia — as it can absorb energy during the day when prices are cheap and release the energy when wind and solar power are not available, typically when prices are higher.

☆ Rescue efforts underway for about 230 whales beached in Australia
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-21 | by ( The Associated Press | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +2 min

HOBART, Australia — About 230 whales have been stranded on Tasmania’s west coast, just days after 14 sperm whales were found beached on an island off the southeastern coast. Griffith University marine scientist Olaf Meynecke said it’s unusual for sperm whales to wash ashore. The department said it is not unusual for sperm whales to be sighted in Tasmania. The pilot whale is notorious for stranding in mass numbers, for reasons that are not entirely understood. Two years ago, about 470 long-finned pilot whales were found beached on sandbars off Tasmania’s west coast in the largest mass-stranding on record in Australia.

☆ How Rupert Murdoch’s Empire of Influence Remade the World
▼ + stars: | 2019-04-03 | by ( Jonathan Mahler | Jim Rutenberg | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +61 min

Murdoch family, 1987: Lachlan, James, Anna and Rupert. The second season of HBO’s “Succession,” whose fictional media family, the Roys, bears a striking resemblance to the Murdochs, airs this summer. ‘A press dictatorship’To understand how the Murdoch empire works, it is essential to return to its origins. The bigger Murdoch’s empire became, the more power he had to clear away obstacles to further its expansion. Like his father, Lachlan considered the idea of meddling with such an important profit driver a form of madness.

Persons: ‘, Rupert Murdoch, Murdoch, Jerry Hall, Lachlan’s, Lachlan, —, Hall, President Trump, Theresa May, Robert A, consummating, Rupert, Elisabeth, Anna, James, David Graves, Rex, Prudence, Murdoch’s, Patricia Booker, Anna Mann, jockeying, Murdoch didn’t, ” Murdoch, Ron Galella, ‘ I’ve, Graham, Jeff Bezos, William R, Hearst, George Hearst, Ochs, Sulzberger, Arnold Newman, HBO’s, Australia —, “, don’t, Trump, Rutger Bregman, Tucker Carlson, Carlson, — Murdoch, Dow Jones, Bancroft, ’, Keith Murdoch, Keith, Joseph Lyons, Tom Roberts’s, ” Lyons, ”, I’ll, ” Rupert Murdoch, Aubrey Hart, Roberts, ” Keith, Margaret Thatcher’s, Thatcher, revel, John Major, Neil Kinnock, Joseph Stalin, Britain’s, Roy Cohn —, Joseph McCarthy, Ronald Reagan’s, Roger Stone Jr, Murdoch weaponize, Reagan’s, Stone, Reagan, George H.W, Bush, L.A, Ted Turner, Roger Ailes, Nixon, George H.W . Bush, Time Warner, Rudolph W, Giuliani, Post —, Fox, Monica Lewinsky, ” David Frum, George W, Sumner, Peter Mathew, Fairfax, Chase Carey, Talib Kweli, Rawkus, Kathryn Hufschmid, Kathryn, ” Lachlan, Sarah O’Hare, Lachlan doesn’t, Chris Mitchell, — he’d, Wendi Murdoch, Wendi, Jules Stein, Leonardo DiCaprio, James warily, Ivanka Trump, Ivanka’s, Jared Kushner, Kushner, Ivanka, Wendi’s, Donald Trump, Ailes, Rudolph Giuliani’s, Corey Lewandowski, Ted Cruz, Marco Rubio, Bret Baier’s, Baier, Stephen F, Hayes, ” Trump, Tell Hayes, Sean Hannity, Sinclair —, Doug Mills, Megyn Kelly, — “ You’ve, — Trump, Kelly, Charles Krauthammer, John Kasich, James’s, Hillary Clinton, Tony Blair, Hillary, Clinton, United States —, Paul Gigot, Obama, Al Drago, Anthony Hilton, Hilton, Rodrigo Duterte, Viktor Orban, europhiles, Rebekah Brooks, Andy Coulson, David Cameron, feckless, Leveson, Robinson, Mick Jagger, Margaret Thatcher, Nigel Farage, Evgeny Lebedev, Carlo Allegri, Murdoch lounging, What’s, lodestar, David Rhodes, Rhodes, Ben Rhodes, Kevin Hagen, he’d, Trump’s, Jeff Rovin, Satan, James Murdoch, Clint Spaulding, Patrick McMullan, James Stavridis Organizations: Northern, Fox News Channel, Sun, European Union —, Downing, Walt Disney Company, Century Fox, Disney, Getty, News Corp, Trust, Washington Post, Hearst Corporation, United, The New York Times, Arnold Newman Properties, Fox, White, Broadway, Fox News, Trump White, Street, Melbourne Herald, Weekly Times, ”, Eugenics Society of Victoria, Oxford, Murdoch, Fleet, The, British government’s, Sky Television, Britain’s “, Labor, Trump, Gov, Reagan’s, New, New York Post, The Boston Herald, CNN, Time, Republican, Post, Pew, Republicans, CBS, Viacom, British Sky Broadcasting, Australia spearfishing, Harvard, The Harvard, Rawkus Records, Princeton, Kawasaki, Hollywood, New York Observer, York mayoral, Fox & Friends, Trump International Golf Club, Gateway, America, New York Times, Clinton Climate Initiative, Labor Party centrist, Pacific Partnership, Tea Party, European Union, Freedom Party, Nazi, London, Press Association, Associated Press, Brexit Times, United Nations, Reuters, Photographers, CBS News, Democrat Locations: Macedonia, Southern, San Francisco, Los Angeles, California, United States, Britain, London, Australia, Australian, Sydney, Lachlan, Davos, New York, Dutch, Iraq, British, Gallipoli, Adelaide, White Australia, Luxembourg, York, George H.W ., Midtown Manhattan, Manhattan, Hong Kong, Mumbai, Indonesia, Oregon, Fiji, Murdoch, Cavan, Beverly Hills, L.A, Caribbean, earshot, West Palm, Des Moines, Iowa, Ohio, Clinton, Trump, Downing, Brussels, Europe, Philippines, Manila, Bangkok, Cannes, “, Trump’s, Scotland, Aberdeen, Ailes’s, Russian

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