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☆ FBI says it is coordinating with city of Dallas over ransomware incident
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-05 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

WASHINGTON, May 5 (Reuters) - The FBI said on Friday it was coordinating with the city of Dallas, Texas, over a ransomware incident that disrupted several public services, closing courts and knocking emergency services websites offline this week. "The FBI is aware of the incident and coordinating with the city of Dallas. Courts were closed on Wednesday and Thursday, the city said in a series of statements posted online. Although the statements said emergency services to residents were unaffected, the home pages of the police and fire service were unavailable on Friday, and a police spokesperson said the city's computer-aided dispatch system had been hit. The ransomware operation behind the Dallas hack is called Royal, according to two security researchers familiar with the incident.

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May 4 (Reuters) - Hacker sabotage has disrupted several public services in Dallas, closing courts and knocking emergency services websites offline, officials said Thursday. Courts were closed Wednesday and will remain closed Thursday, the City of Dallas said in a series of statements posted to the web. Dallas city officials did not immediately return messages seeking comment. Other authorities affected included the Dallas Water Utilities, which was delaying readings, and the Dallas Public Library, whose online materials were unavailable, according to the statement. Dallas officials said that the cause was ransomware - a form of malicious software that hackers use to scramble data and immobilize networks until an extortion payment is made, typically in digital currency.

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☆ What King Charles' coronation means for the UK economy
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-03 | by ( Hanna Ziady | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +8 min

But the UK economy as a whole could suffer as workers take an extra day’s holiday. John Lewis' Coronation Lewis Bear. John Lewis & PartnersDepartment store John Lewis has had to limit in-store purchases of its Coronation Lewis Bear to two per household, and the teddy is out of stock online. For the coronation, UK luxury brands “have procured unique merchandise at all levels of the economy and we’re seeing people buying it, particularly Americans and EU customers,” she added. (The coronation holiday will be the third holiday Monday this month.)

☆ Kroger will stop mailing weekly grocery advertisements in newspapers
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-02 | by ( Nathaniel Meyersohn | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +3 min

Atlanta CNN —Kroger, the largest grocery chain in the United States, is ditching its long-running weekly newspaper ad circulars announcing the latest grocery specials. The ads for Kroger (KR) stores and subsidiaries, including Ralphs, Fred Meyer and King Soopers, will shift online. “Kroger is joining many retailers in shifting the way our weekly ads are distributed,” a spokesperson told CNN. The move could deal a blow to shoppers who plan their store trips based on weekly newspaper ads. Some companies, such as Walgreens (WBA), stopped printing coupon catalogs and moved their weekly advertisements online.

☆ Biden set to address White House Correspondents Dinner
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-29 | by ( Maegan Vazquez | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +9 min

But undoubtedly, a White House official told CNN, his speech will address the issue of wrongfully detained Americans abroad. US President George W. Bush, left, waves with impressionist Steve Bridges at the White House Correspondents' Dinner in 2006. Roger L. Wollenberg/Pool/Getty Images The White House Correspondents' Dinner is held in 1923. It was started two years earlier by the White House Correspondents' Association, the organization of journalists who cover the president. Roosevelt was congratulating Brandt for winning the first Raymond Clapper Memorial Award, which was given by the White House Correspondents' Association for distinguished reporting.

Charles’ coronation is expected to be shorter than his mother’s seven decades ago. The spot where King Charles will be crowned inside Westminster Abbey Dan Kitwood/Getty ImagesWhat happens during the coronation service? Which crown will King Charles use? How is King Charles making the ceremony more inclusive? Don’t missThe coronation of King Charles III brings pageantry, revelry, and new questions – is the monarchy relevant in the modern world?

☆ With Zelensky call, Xi Jinping steps up bid to broker peace – but does he have a plan?
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-27 | by ( Simone Mccarthy | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +7 min

Chinese leader Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin shake hands after signing a joint statement in Moscow on March 21, 2023. But another set of optics, Beijing’s close rapport with Moscow, has already embedded a deep skepticism in the West over China’s potential role as mediator. Since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Xi has claimed China’s neutrality, but has spoken with Putin five times – including twice in person – without picking up the phone to call Zelensky, despite a years-long strategic-level partnership between their countries. It calls for a ceasefire but includes no provision that Moscow first withdraw its troops from Ukrainian land. But this rapport has also been the reason that some leaders, including Zelensky and Macron, have expressed hope that Xi could leverage his clout to influence Russia to respect international law.

The Citi Premier® Card and Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card are both mid-tier credit cards that offer generous rewards, impressive (and overlapping) transfer partners, and travel perks. Here's a look at how the Citi Premier® and Sapphire Preferred stack up against each other. Compare the Chase Sapphire Preferred and Citi Premier Chase Sapphire Preferred® CardCiti Premier® Card Chevron icon It indicates an expandable section or menu, or sometimes previous / next navigation options. Winner: TieShopping and travel benefitsAs mid-tier cards, the Citi Premier® and Sapphire Preferred offer standard benefits like no foreign transaction fees. Winner: TieTravel and purchase protectionsTravel and purchase protections are essential benefits you should consider when deciding between the Citi Premier® and Sapphire Preferred.

☆ King Charles coronation concert fans slam Ticketmaster ‘shambles’
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-26 | by ( Anna Cooban | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +4 min

The company was hired by the BBC to handle ticketing for a concert on May 7 to celebrate the ascension of King Charles to the British throne. Some fans who received an email from the ticketing site saying they’d won tickets for The Coronation Concert say they were later told that all tickets were gone. A total of 10,000 free tickets for next week’s concert were allocated to fans in three ballots. But some fans have said Ticketmaster’s instructions on how to secure the tickets allocated in the third ballot were confusing and contradictory. “Like so many others, [I] got the @Ticketmaster email to say I’d got tickets for the Coronation concert but they’re all gone.

Two of the best travel rewards cards — the American Express® Gold Card and the Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card — are fixtures in the wallets of frequent flyers, and for good reason. Compare the Sapphire Preferred and American Express Gold Chase Sapphire Preferred® CardAmerican Express® Gold Card Chevron icon It indicates an expandable section or menu, or sometimes previous / next navigation options. Here's what to know if you're trying to decide between the Amex Gold Card and Sapphire Preferred. Fortunately, both the Amex Gold Card and Sapphire Preferred are heavy hitters in this regard, with excellent everyday spending categories that most consumers can easily use. In addition, the Amex Gold card offers up to $10 per month in Uber Cash (applicable to U.S. Eats orders and Rides, and the Gold Card needs to be added to the Uber app to receive the Uber Cash benefit).

☆ How Queen Elizabeth’s coronation helped start Matchbox cars
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-25 | by ( Peter Valdes-Dapena | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +6 min

New York CNN —Matchbox, maker of tiny toy cars, is bringing back one if its most important models. It’s not a car, but a little horse-drawn coach, and its success led to the creation of Matchbox toy cars. The new carriage will be in the traditional 1/64 scale used for Matchbox cars. Courtesy MattelDecades later, Elliot Handler, one of the founders of Mattel, noticed his son playing with Matchbox cars. Hot Wheels cars had flashy paint jobs, outsized wheels, impossibly huge (relatively speaking) plastic engines, and only occasionally looked like cars you might actually see on the street.

Coronations at Westminster Abbey go back almost one thousand years. Like Charles III, William had his coronation at Westminster Abbey. Gross says coronation blunders do not become truly significant for monarchs until their reign starts to go wrong. A “beautiful and symbolic” silver cross containing a piece of the so-called True Cross will lead King Charles’ coronation procession in London next month. Meanwhile, gun salutes will sound from military bases and ships at sea to mark the moment Charles is crowned King.

☆ Bob Lee: Suspect accused of killing CashApp founder had been cited in 2022 domestic battery incident but never charged, San Francisco Chronicle reports
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-21 | by ( Taylor Romine | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +1 min

CNN —The suspect accused of killing CashApp founder Bob Lee was cited last year by police for misdemeanor battery, the San Francisco Chronicle reported exclusively Thursday. Lee, who cofounded the mobile payment service provider Cash App, was stabbed to death in the Rincon Hill neighborhood of San Francisco early in the morning of April 4. Momeni was taken to the San Francisco County jail last week, where he was booked on one charge of murder. Dispatch records show she told police Momeni “grabbed her arm & pulled it, pushed her physically,” the paper reported. Police officers “indicated they cited and released Momeni on suspicion of battery almost an hour after the call came in,” the Chronicle said.

☆ A Ukrainian drone commander said Russian troops would sit around and get shot at the start of the war, but have learned from their mistakes
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-19 | by ( Matthew Loh | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Russian troops often made themselves easy targets at the war's start, a Ukrainian soldier said. But Petro told Weichert he noticed Russian forces — tanks in particular — moving more often as the war continued. They learn from their problems and mistakes," said the corporal, whose primary role is to spot Russian artillery or tanks. Their combat formations and targeting systems meant Russian troops were often vulnerable to friendly fire, the think tank added. Petro's unit spotted an anti-tank gun, but the responding Ukrainian artillery unit only fired one shot when six are usually needed to dispatch a target, Weichert wrote.

Sydney, Australia CNN —Eleven Indonesian fishermen were rescued by Australian maritime authorities from a tiny island after being stranded for six days without food or water, but there are fears nine others may have drowned. The second vessel, believed to have been carrying at least 10 others, sunk in the powerful storm, AMSA said. One survivor spent 30 hours in the water before reaching Bedwell Island. Pictures released by AMSA showed a group of stranded fishermen waving to the rescue helicopter above, silhouetted by a barren white beach. CNN affiliate Nine News Australia reported that the survivors were taken to Broome Hospital for treatment.

The Dallas-based carrier has blamed the hour-long outage on a vendor-supplied network firewall failure, causing a temporary loss of connection to key systems. Southwest told Reuters on Wednesday it opted to halt flights out of caution, adding there were no indications of a cyber attack. It declined to identify the vendor and did not address why this failure was not part of the company's planning. While the exact cause is not clear, some industry experts questioned why Southwest systems did not include more redundancy. Southwest was able to manually launch flights while SWIFT was down but decided to suspend departures at 8:27 a.m. CST.

☆ JPMorgan is asking senior managers to be in the office five days a week. Here's the latest on return-to-office mandates.
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-16 | by ( Matt Turner | Dave Smith | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

On the agenda today:But first: JPMorgan is asking senior managers to be in the office five days a week. The company told senior managers this week that they "have to be visible on the floor" in a memo asking managing directors to be in the office five days a week. Last month, Disney told employees they were expected to be back to the office four days a week. And Amazon said it wants all employees back in the office at least three days a week by next month, setting off both internal opposition and support, and a scramble to get office space ready. A dozen former Kittyhawk employees told Insider that Kittyhawk found itself torn between the conflicting visions and shifting priorities of its billionaire founder and his handpicked CEO.

☆ Employers say union is disrupting work at Southern California seaports
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-14 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Major shippers - including suppliers to retailers including Walmart Inc (WMT.N) and Home Depot Inc (HD.N) - have been diverting cargo from the West Coast to rival seaports on the East Coast and Gulf of Mexico to avoid potential work stoppages. "These actions have slowed the start of operations throughout the Southern California port complex," PMA said. The disruption coincided with a routine monthly "stop work" meeting on April 6, Los Angeles Port Director Gene Seroka told reporters on a conference call on Wednesday. "The collective bargaining agreement between the union and the employers guarantees these monthly meetings, which are dedicated to addressing the union's proceedings," Seroka said. Reporting by Lisa Baertlein in Los Angeles Editing by Matthew LewisOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Exploring Picasso’s Málaga
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-14 | by ( Andrew Ferren | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

Christine Picasso renewed those efforts in the 1990s by offering to donate a portion of her own collection of Picasso’s work to establish a new museum in the city. Since the Museo Picasso Málaga opened in 2003, it has helped convert the city into a top cultural destination, not just in Spain, but in southern Europe. The sidewalks and pretty pedestrian streets of the historic city center once again bustle with pedestrians amid the palm trees, geraniums and bougainvillea. “Evidently, people don’t want to just lie on the beach.”If you goWithin Spain, Málaga is a short flight from both Barcelona and Madrid; the latter is also less than three hours away on Spain’s high-speed AVE rail network. About 300 feet from the Picasso Museum, Hotel Palacio Solecio offers luxury accommodations in a beautifully restored 18th-century palace; doubles from about 300 euros, or about $326.

☆ Tsitsipas dumped out of Monte Carlo Masters by Fritz
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-14 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

[1/5] Tennis - ATP Masters 1000 - Monte Carlo Masters - Monte-Carlo Country Club, Roquebrune-Cap-Martin, France - April 14, 2023 Taylor Fritz of the U.S. and Greece's Stefanos Tsitsipas shake hands after their quarter final match REUTERS/Eric GaillardApril 14 (Reuters) - Champion Stefanos Tsitsipas crashed out of the Monte Carlo Masters when he slumped to a 6-2 6-4 defeat against American Taylor Fritz in the quarter-finals on Friday. Greek second seed Tsitsipas, who triumphed at the Monte Carlo Country Club in the last two editions, was never in the mix against Fritz, who reached the last four of a Masters event for the first time. My serve was not working very well today, and against opponents like Taylor, you have to serve well,” Tsitsipas said. "I tried to fight in the second set. Tsitsipas improved slightly in the second set, only for Fritz to break decisively for 4-3 with a winner.

Chase is well-known for its excellent small-business credit cards, most notably the Ink Business Preferred® Credit Card, Ink Business Cash® Credit Card, and Ink Business Unlimited® Credit Card. Even the no-annual-fee Ink Business Cash® Credit Card and Ink Business Unlimited® Credit Card may prove significantly better for your credit card strategy, whether you're interested in cash-back or travel rewards. With other Chase Ink credit cards, like the Ink Business Unlimited® Credit Card and Ink Business Cash® Credit Card, you can:Redeem your rewards for cash, gift cards, and travel at 1 cent eachConvert your rewards to airline miles or hotel points by moving your points over to a Chase Ultimate Rewards transferable points credit card like the Ink Business Preferred® Credit Card, Chase Sapphire Reserve®, or Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card. Ink Business Premier Card Benefits and FeaturesAs with many small-business cards, the Ink Business Premier Card comes with travel and purchase benefits that can save you money and give you peace of mind. Methodology: How We Reviewed the Ink Business Premier CardTo evaluate the Ink Business Premier Card, we compared it to other business credit cards and focused on several critieria, including:Simplicity — How easy is it to use the card?

☆ Alvin Bragg's staff urges Jim Jordan to stay at home in Ohio if he wants a look at high murder rates rather than trekking to NYC
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-10 | by ( Warren Rojas | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg has charged Trump with falsifying business records. House Judiciary chair Jim Jordan is holding a field hearing in New York to try and shame Bragg. A Bragg aide said Jordan could more effectively crack down on crime by looking at murders in Ohio. A Bragg spokesman called the pending congressional visit a political stunt, telling Bloomberg News that murders in New York City were three times lower than the murder rate in Columbus, Ohio. New York City, which has a population of roughly 18.9 million, closed out 2022 with 433 murders, the Wall Street Journal reported, for a murder rate of 2.3 murders per 100,000 citizens.

☆ As Gen Z flounders at work and millennials struggle to buy a house, boomers are enjoying a golden moment
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-09 | by ( Matt Turner | Dave Smith | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

This week's dispatchThe Metals Company; Greenpeace; Luis Alvarez/Getty Images; Karl Hendon/Getty Images; Alyssa Powell/InsiderOptimists don't just dream — they do. Gen Zers and young millennials have soured on work just as much as everyone else — and that's bad news for companies everywhere. Also read:Tyler Le/InsiderOver the past few years, Lex Fridman has gone from an unknown academic researcher to a social-media celebrity and member of Elon Musk's inner circle. But recently, "The Lex Fridman Podcast" has become a haven for a growing and powerful sector looking to dismantle years of "wokeness." More on the rise of Lex Fridman.

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