DIRS.INFO The most relevant business & tech news

☆ Video appears to show Ukraine striking a Russian warehouse in Bakhmut with devastating effects using US-made smart bombs
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-06 | by ( Alia Shoaib | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

A video shows bombs being dropped on what appears to be a Russian military warehouse in Bakhmut. The kits transform unguided free-fall bombs into all-weather, precision-guided smart weapons. The bomb kits, which transform unguided, free-fall bombs into precision-guided munitions, have been sent to Ukraine in recent months, per reports. The kits can be bolted to unguided bombs ranging from 500 to 2,000 pounds, and its pop-out wings allow it to glide up to 45 miles. The account noted that this appears to be one of the first videos showing bombs equipped with JDAM-ERs in action in Ukraine.

For this last 5%, the ‘Red Army’ [the Russian Armed Forces] are not playing any role,” Prigozhin said. His most recent challenge to Russian defense officials comes as Bakhmut remains heavily contested. In his Telegram message Saturday, Prigozhin said Wagner’s role in Bakhmut had been to grind down Ukrainian forces while allowing Russian forces to regroup. In Bakhmut, we grinded (the Ukrainian forces), hence the name – ‘Bakhmut meat grinder,’” Prigozhin said. “With regards to the Bakhmut meat grinder, there will be no more meat grinder because there’s nothing left to grind the meat with,” Prigozhin said.

☆ Talk of banning short sales is suddenly in the air, but history argues against it
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-05 | by ( Bob Pisani | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +6 min

It's just a hop, skip and a jump away from the obvious conclusion: ban short sellers! There are already rules to prevent violation of short selling rules Fortunately, the SEC has not (at least yet) jumped on this bandwagon. Gensler, however, has made it clear he is looking out for bad actors who may be violating existing laws on short selling. For example, there are rules that prohibit naked short selling , the practice of short selling shares that haven't first been borrowed. When short selling is banned, traders who want to buy stock but need to hedge their risk will be hesitant to do so."

“We are lacking 70% of the needed ammunition!” Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin says in a video posted on Telegram. Shining a small flashlight on the corpses laying outdoors near what appears to be the front lines of the war, Prigozhin claims they are the casualties of just one day of fighting. “Shoigu, Gerasimov, where … is the ammunition?” says Prigozhin, calling out Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu and chief of the Russian armed forces Gen. Valery Gerasimov. In February, he accused the two men of “treason” for their alleged failures to support and supply the Wagner group in Ukraine. Shortly after that posting, he made another saying a shipment of ammunition was on its way to the Wagner troops.

☆ How to Spot a Wellness Scam
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-05 | by ( Jancee Dunn | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Dicey health claims and wellness programs have been around for centuries, from the snake oil of the 1800s to the “master cleanse” of the early aughts. So I won’t judge if you’ve tried a spoonful of sea moss in hopes of speeding your metabolism. “People don’t necessarily fall for false wellness claims because they’re gullible,” said Christy Harrison, a registered dietitian and host of the “Food Psych” podcast. In her new book, “The Wellness Trap: Break Free From Diet Culture, Disinformation, and Dubious Diagnoses, and Find Your True Well-Being,” Harrison compiled nine years of research on the wellness industry, which embraces marketing and often eschews science. She highlighted a few strategies for assessing wellness claims.

☆ Facebook is shutting down its 'Paid Online Events' program that let creators and businesses earn money
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-04 | by ( Sydney Bradley | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Meta is shuttering "Paid Online Events" that let creators and businesses monetize Facebook events. Facebook is ending its "Paid Online Events" program, a sign of the times that livestreamed virtual events are — mostly — a thing of the past. The program, launched in 2020, let creators and businesses, including educators and media publishers, earn money by charging admission to digital events on the Meta-owned platform. Facebook announced its Paid Online Events initiative in August 2020 while the COVID-19 pandemic was raging. Paid online events were part of Facebook's wider creator monetization offerings, which span ad-revenue share, subscriptions, and several bonus programs.

☆ Testosterone surges preserved in 33,000-year-old mammoth tusk
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-03 | by ( Ashley Strickland | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +6 min

In addition to cortisol, the mammoth tusk revealed annually recurring testosterone surges up to 10 times higher than baseline, according to the study. An African bull elephant tusk was used in the study to compare with mammoth tusks. Then we saw the same patterns in the mammoth — wow!”Both the elephant and male mammoth tusks contained evidence of musth-related testosterone surges. Meanwhile, the female mammoth tusk showed little variation and very low testosterone, as expected. Gleaning this type of information from mammoth tusks can reveal more insights into the lifetimes of the extinct creatures.

Hudson will be one of the few female executives leading a major company in Australia, although rival carrier Virgin Australia also has a woman as its CEO, Jayne Hrdlicka. "I come with an understanding of this organization that is very deep," Hudson told reporters in her first news conference as CEO designate. "Vanessa has been market-facing as CFO since October 2019, which will have prepared her well for the very public role as Qantas CEO," RBC Capital Markets analyst Owen Birrell said in a note. Though men still account for far more top executive roles in Australian-listed companies, a growing number of high-profile CEO roles are occupied by women, including at the No. Qantas said Hudson would continue in her current role until taking over as Qantas' 13th CEO at the 2023 annual general meeting.

SummarySummary Companies Hudson is the first female CEO to lead the airlineNew CEO to take over from Alan Joyce in NovemberMay 2 (Reuters) - Australia's flagship carrier, Qantas Airways Ltd (QAN.AX), on Tuesday named its finance chief Vanessa Hudson as its new chief executive officer, making her the first woman to lead the century-old airline. Hudson's appointment makes her one of the few female executives leading an airline, including Virgin Australia CEO Jayne Hrdlicka. "Vanessa has been market-facing as CFO since October 2019, which will have prepared her well for the very public role as Qantas CEO," RBC Capital Markets analyst Owen Birrell said in a note. SUCCESSION PLANSJoyce, 56, served as Qantas CEO for more than 14 years and helped navigate the airline through the COVID-19 pandemic, fluctuating fuel prices, and competition. Qantas said Hudson would continue in her current role until taking over as Qantas' 13th CEO at the 2023 annual general meeting.

☆ Ukraine War News: Top Official Urges Russian Weapons Makers to Speed Production
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-02 | by ( Neil Macfarquhar | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +4 min

Mr. Shoigu singled out the arms manufacturers as crucial to the success of the “special military operation” in Ukraine, which Russia avoids calling a war. Western military analysts and Ukrainian officials have been suggesting for months that production bottlenecks were among the problems plaguing the Russian military, caused partially by the need to substitute parts sanctioned by the West. Some military analysts have suggested that Russian missile barrages against Ukraine’s cities have been only intermittent because Russia’s forces lack sufficient weapons stockpiles. Mr. Putin made critical remarks at various times this year about the pace of manufacturing. In March, Mr. Putin signed a decree allowing the central government, in the event of martial law, to take over the management of defense manufacturers who fail to meet state contracts.

☆ Individual investors are so bearish it’s a contrarian buy signal that should mean a 15% gain, RBC says
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-01 | by ( Yun Li | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

Sentiment among retail investors has been almost as bad as it was during the Great Financial Crisis, and that has triggered a reliable contrarian buy signal that points to a double-digit rally ahead, according to RBC. The weekly American Association of Individual Investor survey, which polled individual investors of their thoughts on where the market is heading in the next six months, has indicated a level of bearishness that's close to the level during 2008, RBC said. "Depressed levels of retail investor sentiment are sending a strong buy signal for US equities again," Lori Calvasina, head of U.S. equity strategy at RBC, said in a note. Retail investors have been dumping equities in the face of raging recession fears that have been stoked by rate hikes and a banking crisis. The selling among individual investors reached a new milestone as of late.

☆ Russia kills 17 in biggest Ukraine air strikes for nearly two months
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-28 | by ( Sergiy Karazy | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

Summary Russia carries out new wave of air attacksUkraine's president condemns 'Russian terror'The attacks are the first on such a scale for weeksKYIV, April 28 (Reuters) - Russia hurled missiles at cities across Ukraine as people slept early on Friday, killing at least 17 people in the first large-scale air strikes in nearly two months. Hours after the pre-dawn attacks, Kyiv said it was finishing preparations for a counteroffensive to try to take back territory occupied by Russian forces in 14 months of war. Moscow says it does not deliberately target civilians, but air strikes and shelling have killed thousands of people and devastated cities across Ukraine. Kyiv says strikes on cities far from the front lines have no military purpose apart from intimidating and harming civilians, a war crime. The war is coming to a juncture after a months-long Russian winter offensive that gained little ground despite the bloodiest fighting so far.

REUTERS/Marco BelloNEW YORK, April 27 (Reuters) - JPMorgan Chase & Co (JPM.N) CEO Jamie Dimon sent a clear message to employees this month: get back to the office. The largest U.S. lender's employees inundated an internal messaging forum with criticism after its operating committee posted an edict entitled, "The importance of being together." JPMorgan first called employees back to the office on a rotational basis in mid-2021 after months of pandemic shutdowns. "We don't want to punish everybody because of that, but people agreed to do three days a week; we expect three days a week." Many branch employees, building staff and other workers have reported to offices throughout the pandemic without the option to work remotely.

☆ Russia-Ukraine War Russian Foreign Minister Wraps up Americas Tour at U.N.
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-24 | by ( Anushka Patil | Juston Jones | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +3 min

Video For Valentyn, a Ukrainian soldier in the Donetsk region, the war’s death toll is more than a statistic. He is tasked with moving wounded troops — and dead bodies — away from the front lines, often under Russian fire. On the horizon, a military vehicle moves along a dusty road and screeches to a halt when it reaches the trees. A soldier named Valentyn parks it there for natural camouflage from Russian drones scouting for Ukrainian military positions. “This is a big tragedy for us.”“One more body is left behind with the Russian soldiers,” he added.

☆ Is it a bull market or a bear market? Stocks churning in same spot for weeks frustrates investors
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-22 | by ( Michael Santoli | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +7 min

Stocks have been churning in a narrow channel on low volume for weeks, the S & P 500 about flat on Friday, flat for the week and barely changed this month. Yet rather than finding comfort in the gentle action anchored to familiar price levels, investors are generally frustrated or confused by it. As Bespoke Investment Group summed it up after Friday's close, "For all the talk about whether we're in a new bull market or still stuck in a bear, at this point it seems like neither. All but one of the prior 13 instances saw the S & P 500 higher six and 12 months later (beyond the initial six-month period). This is an organic insulator of S & P 500 volatility.

The benchmark S&P 500 has been generally stable over early stages of a first-quarter earnings season that investors expect to show tepid results. For the week, the S&P 500 slipped 0.1%, the Dow dipped 0.2% and the Nasdaq lost 0.4%. Amazon shares rose 3% on Friday after a research firm predicted the online retailer's business in North America would beat Wall Street's estimates. The materials group (.SPLRCM) fell 0.9%, most among S&P 500 sectors, weighed down by declines in Freeport-McMoRan Inc (FCX.N) and Albemarle Corp (ALB.N). So far, analysts have largely retained last week's expectations of a near-5% year-on-year fall in quarterly profits at S&P 500 companies, according to Refinitiv data.

☆ Money-market funds' assets fall for the first time since the banking turmoil started, snapping a trend of record inflows
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-21 | by ( Zinya Salfiti | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

US money-market funds just saw their assets drop for the first time since early March, snapping a trend of record inflows. It's also the biggest such fall since July 2020 as US taxpayers were due to file their taxes in the past week, according to Bloomberg. Money-market funds saw large inflows in recent months as high yields and the banking jitters fueled a flight of money into them. In the weeks following SVB's collapse, money-market funds saw accelerated inflows, with their total assets hitting a record high of $5.28 trillion as of April 12, per the ICI. But money-market funds had been raking in cash even before the banking turmoil thanks to the high yields they offered, following the Federal Reserve's interest-rate increases over the past year.

☆ Explainer: Sudan's conflict and what worries neighbours, the U.S. and others
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-21 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +8 min

Five of Sudan's seven neighbours - Ethiopia, Chad, Central African Republic, Libya and South Sudan - have faced political upheaval or conflict themselves in recent years. Smoke rises from burning aircraft inside Khartoum Airport during clashes between the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces and the army in Khartoum, Sudan April 17, 2023. SOUTH SUDAN - South Sudan, which seceded from Sudan in 2011 after a civil war lasting decades, exports its oil output of 170,000 barrels per day via a pipeline through its northern neighbour. Analysts say neither side in Sudan's conflict has an interest in disrupting those flows but South Sudan's government said this week fighting had already hampered logistics and transport links between the oilfields and Port Sudan. THE UNITED STATES AND THE WEST - The United States, like other Western powers, was happy to be rid of Bashir, who was charged with genocide and war crimes by the International Criminal Court over the Darfur conflict.

☆ ‘Yellowjackets’ Season 2, Episode 5 Recap: Destructive Secrets
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-21 | by ( Esther Zuckerman | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

Indeed, Lottie’s methodology is proven right over the course of the fifth episode of “Yellowjackets,” where destructive secrets are wantonly shared. Teen Misty is feeling especially loose lipped thanks to her friendship with her “bestie” Crystal. And, of course, the one we already know: She destroyed the plane’s emergency transmitter the night after the crash so she could remain the Yellowjackets’ hero in crisis. Rather than celebrate their shared oddity when Misty utters the story about the transmitter, Crystal’s expression drops. Misty, facing social isolation once more, resorts to a threat, vowing to kill Crystal if she tells anyone.

[1/2] Smoke rises from burning aircraft inside Khartoum Airport during clashes between the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces and the army in Khartoum, Sudan April 17, 2023. Gunfire was heard in Bahri and residents reported violent clashes west of Omdurman where they said the army had moved to block the arrival of RSF reinforcements. Some of the most intense fighting has been focussed around the compound housing the army HQ and the residence of Sudan's military ruler, General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan. The army controls access to Khartoum and appeared to be trying to cut off supply routes to RSF fighters, residents and witnesses said. More people have been leaving the capital with most able to pass but some stopped at checkpoints, according to residents and social media posts.

☆ They Saw the Horrific Aftermath of a Mass Shooting. Should We?
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-20 | by ( Jay Kirk | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +12 min

Jeff decided that he and Sam would be the only two permitted to have phones inside, in order to limit photographs. It was something Jeff learned to do from the nurses at Bristol Hospital a million years ago when he was a paramedic. He had already made the mistake when one fluttered out as he was dumping an uneaten lunch into the trash. They would set up staging tables in the tent for mass processing of the evidence, nothing they’d ever done at this scale. The problem was that during these interruptions it was not as if they could just step outside for a break.

☆ Zero-day options fad could be why Wall Street's fear gauge appears to be showing less fear
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-15 | by ( Yun Li | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

The index gets its value derived from option prices on short-term bets being made on the S & P 500. Market strategists say one explanation for the muted VIX is the explosion of zero-day-to-expiration options (ODTEs), contracts that expire the same day that they're traded. "The VIX Index might have become obsolete as a risk barometer," Doug Ramsey, Leuthold Group's chief investment officer, said in a note. Daily notional volumes in these 0DTE options that track the S & P 500 index have exploded to reach a record $1 trillion, according to JPMorgan. LPL Financial analyzed VIX levels for all trading days when the S & P 500 was in a drawdown ranging from 18.5% to 28.5%.

☆ Bird Flu Keeps Raging. Some Say Vaccines Are Needed to Stop It.
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-14 | by ( Nidhi Subbaraman | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

The current bird-flu outbreak has felled 58 million farmed birds in the U.S.To stop the devastating global bird-flu outbreak that has killed over 100 million poultry, the U.S. and Europe are embracing a tactic many countries have long resisted: vaccines. The U.S. and parts of Europe don’t routinely inoculate poultry against bird flu, which emerges every few years and spreads and kills easily, but typically recedes after domestic birds are culled.

☆ ‘Personality Crisis: One Night Only’ Review: David Johansen Gets the Scorsese Treatment
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-14 | by ( John Anderson | ) www.wsj.com time to read: +1 min

If “Mean Streets,” “Taxi Driver,” “Raging Bull” and “Goodfellas” had never existed, Martin Scorsese would still occupy an exalted place in American cinema, strictly for his documentaries. His films on The Band, George Harrison, Bob Dylan, New York City, Italian opera and Fran Lebowitz constitute a singular catalog of movies, all of which are purely entertaining while exploring the complicated space where public image, art and personal history co-exist. Mr. Scorsese’s evident interests as a nonfiction filmmaker come together in “Personality Crisis: One Night Only,” his study of a less-than-obvious subject— David Johansen , onetime New York Doll and proto-punk rocker, who for several decades has also performed as Buster Poindexter , pompadoured lounge lizard and crooner of standards, novelty songs and the work of David Johansen. This is how Mr. Scorsese, credited as co-director with David Tedeschi , frames this portrait of a New York institution: during an early 2020 gig at the upscale Café Carlyle (which Mr. Poindexter refers to as a “boîte” and a “joint”), where the alter ego performs the work of the original.

☆ Indiana industrial fire nearly extinguished but smoke still poses danger
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-13 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

April 12 (Reuters) - A raging industrial fire in eastern Indiana is expected to be almost entirely extinguished by Thursday evening or Friday morning, officials said, after days of thick smoke shut down schools and forced hundreds of residents to evacuate. Firefighters have successfully prevented the flames from spreading beyond the property, and about 90% of the fire is out. But the smoke contains particulate matter, which can cause respiratory and other health problems. Officials again warned residents who smell or see smoke to shelter in place, keeping windows and doors shut and turning off their heating, ventilation and air conditioning systems. "I'm exaggerating, of course, but don't discount the seriousness of the smoke."

Search resuls for: "Raging"

25 mentions found