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☆ Why do people buy crackpot conspiracy theories?
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-26 | by ( Adam Rogers | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +13 min

When it comes to the spread of cockamamie conspiracy theories, Twitter was a maximum viable product long before Elon Musk paid $44 billion for the keys. The more you think you're right all the time, a new study suggests, the more likely you are to buy conspiracy theories, regardless of the evidence. It'd be better, or at least more reassuring, if conspiracy theories were fueled by dumb yahoos rather than self-centered monsters. Still, most scientists thought conspiracy theories weren't worth their time, the province of weirdos connecting JFK's death to lizard aliens. Pennycook's findings also suggest an explanation for why conspiracy theories have become so widely accepted.

I'm careful to track my business expenses and don't shy away from spending money on valuable things. Working with my financial advisor and accountant helped me create a structure to make tax season a breeze. Be smart about business expensesOne of my biggest takeaways from the 2021 tax season was that eligible business expenses help grow your business and shrink your tax bill. One is for my invoices and business expenses and the other is for my personal expenses, bills, and contributions to savings. In my personal expense tracker, I cross-reference my bank accounts and credit cards with my bills and auto-deposits to savings accounts and investments.

☆ Bank of Japan showed no sign of making a hawkish shift in its January meeting
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-26 | by ( Jihye Lee | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

Nationwide core inflation in Japan reached 4% in December, the highest annualized print since December 1981, according to data released last week. Yuichi Yamazaki | Afp | Getty ImagesThe Bank of Japan emphasized that it wants to maintain its current monetary policy, including leaving its yield curve control unchanged, according to the Summary of Opinions from its last meeting published Thursday. The "yield curve control" refers to a policy of the Japanese central bank that's designed to keep the 10-year yield on Japanese Government Bonds (JGBs) within 0.5 percentage points of zero. The central bank continued its operations to purchase Japanese government bonds in response to upward pressure on yields. I think a lot will depend on, for instance, the inflation data in the coming months," he told CNBC's "Street Signs Asia."

WASHINGTON — Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., is angling to be Donald Trump's running mate in 2024, according to two people who have spoken to the firebrand second-term congresswoman about her ambitions. "She sees herself on the short list for Trump's VP. A second source who has advised Greene said her "whole vision is to be vice president." The source, who has ties to Trump but spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe private conversations, said he also believes Greene would be on Trump's short list. McCarthy stood by Greene at the time, facilitating the development of a political alliance.

The NYSE, which is owned by Intercontinental Exchange Inc (ICE.N), said a "system issue" prevented the opening auctions in a subset of its listed securities. The stocks began trading without an opening print, causing erroneous prices that the exchange said will be declared null and void. NYSE ended the day with a normal market close and expected a regular open on Wednesday, Blaugrund added. The NYSE-listed stocks trade on all 16 U.S. stock exchanges, which use the NYSE's prices. In March 2018, the NYSE was the first exchange fined under Reg SCI.

☆ Ketamine is being sold as a depression wonder drug. For some, it's making everything worse.
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-25 | by ( Anna Silman | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +42 min

The infusions at the ketamine clinic in his West Texas hometown were a Christmas gift from his grandmother. About five years ago, more and more of my friends started using ketamine recreationally. IV ketamine treatment centers charging $400 to $2,000 an infusion popped up all over the country. "Ketamine used as directed in an appropriate clinical setting very rarely leads to any dependence," Mindbloom says on its website. Like Nadia, most of the people I interviewed said when they started using ketamine, they didn't think it was possible to become dependent on it.

Ukraine's long-running struggle with graft has taken on added significance as Kyiv battles for survival while also pursuing a bid to join the European Union. But tackling graft has become more urgent since the European Union offered Kyiv candidate member status last June, months after Russia's invasion. The Ukrainian public, exhausted by 11 months of war, was also clearly a key intended audience for the sackings and resignations. But the same poll, which included nearly a thousand respondents across government-controlled Ukraine, found that 84% trusted Zelenskiy - up from 27% a year earlier. Additional reporting by Geert De Clercq; Editing by Tom Balmforth and Mike Collett-WhiteOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Zelenskyy fired 9 top officials after reports that members of his government went on vacation to Spain and France and took bribes during the war
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-25 | by ( Matthew Loh | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelenskyy fired a slew of senior officials on Tuesday. In December, Symonenko went on holiday to Spain using a Mercedes owned by a prominent Ukrainian businessman, The Guardian reported. "Of course, now the main focus is the issue of defense, this is the issue of foreign policy, this is the issue of war," he said. On Monday, Zelenskyy banned officials from traveling abroad until the end of the war, except for when performing government duties. Zelenskyy's press office and Ukraine's Defense Ministry did not immediately respond to Insider's requests for comment.

The NYSE, which is owned by Intercontinental Exchange Inc (ICE.N), said it was still investigating and that traders may want to consider filing for erroneous trade claims. "Obviously, there were a lot of stocks that had major issues," said Joe Saluzzi, co-manager of trading at Themis Trading in Chatham, New Jersey. Saluzzi said there was "zero failure tolerance" among traders for glitches at the key open and close of trading. The NYSE-listed stocks trade on all 16 U.S. stock exchanges, which use the NYSE's prices. In March 2018, the NYSE was the first exchange fined under Reg SCI.

☆ U.S. lawmakers praise Zelenskiy for fighting corruption, back continued aid
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-24 | by ( Patricia Zengerle | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

WASHINGTON, Jan 24 (Reuters) - Democratic and Republican U.S. lawmakers praised Ukraine's government on Tuesday for taking swift action against corruption and insisted that U.S. military and humanitarian aid to President Volodymyr Zelenskiy's government should continue. We expect that President Zelenskiy will follow through with a promise he made that Ukraine is going to change on the corruption front," Republican Senator Lindsey Graham told a news conference days after returning from Kyiv. "We're confident this is a first step in a long journey to change the way business is done," Graham said. "It demonstrates what President Zelenskiy has told us, that there will be zero tolerance for fraud or waste," he said. Democratic Senator Sheldon Whitehouse, who was also on the Kyiv trip, praised the Ukrainian military for keeping track of equipment provided by Washington.

☆ Bank of Japan's policy tweak drew rare request from government for a break
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-23 | by ( Leika Kihara | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

TOKYO, Jan 23 (Reuters) - Government representatives who attended the Bank of Japan's policy meeting in December were granted a half-hour adjournment to contact their ministries, minutes showed, a sign the decision to tweak its yield control policy may have been hastily arranged. At the Dec. 19-20 meeting, the BOJ kept its ultra-easy monetary policy but shocked markets with a surprise tweak to its yield curve control (YCC) policy that allowed long-term interest rates to rise. Governor Haruhiko Kuroda approved the request as chair of the BOJ meeting, according to the minutes. The two representatives did not voice opposition to the yield control tweak nor any other elements of the BOJ's discussion, the minutes showed. Two government representatives - one from the MOF and another from the Cabinet Office - are legally entitled to attend BOJ policy meetings and voice the government's views on policy decisions, though they cannot cast votes.

☆ Are jerks more likely to get ahead at work?
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-23 | by ( Aki Ito | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +10 min

Even worse, all the cutthroat role models we're surrounded by at work make us hesitant about being nice ourselves. In the social sciences, the technical term for jerks — those who are combative, selfish, and manipulative — is "disagreeable." Call this the jerk way. All in all, being a jerk doesn't help you get ahead — but it also doesn't hurt. Sutton's no-asshole rule has become widely adopted, and businesses like Atlassian have overhauled their performance reviews in part to ensure that "brilliant jerks" can't get ahead.

Separately, a newspaper investigation published on Saturday accused the Defence Ministry of overpaying suppliers for food for its soldiers. If the humane approach doesn't work, we'll do it in line with martial law," he said. Before last year's invasion, fighting corruption was the principal theme for Zelenskiy, a political novice swept into power in a landslide in 2019 on a promise to clean up Ukraine's notoriously crooked institutions. In his nightly video address, Zelenskiy said measures would be announced this week. Several Ukrainian media outlets have reported that a number of cabinet ministers and senior officials could be sacked imminently as Zelenskiy tries to make the government more effective and streamlined.

[1/2] Chris Hipkins speaks to members of the media, after being confirmed as the only nomination to replace Jacinda Ardern as leader of the Labour Party, outside New Zealand's parliament in Wellington, New Zealand January 21, 2023. We are different people though, and I'm sure that people will see that," Hipkins told a news conference on Saturday after emerging as the only candidate to lead the ruling Labour Party. First elected to parliament in 2008, Hipkins became a household name fronting the government's response to the pandemic. He was appointed health minister in July 2020 before becoming the COVID response minister at the end of the year. Hipkins is known around parliament for his sense of humour - including an ability to laugh at himself.

☆ Protests in Stockholm, including Koran-burning, draw condemnation from Turkey
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-21 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

Permitting this anti-Islam act, which targets Muslims and insults our sacred values, under the guise of freedom of expression is completely unacceptable," the Turkish Foreign Ministry said. The Turkish ministry urged Sweden to take necessary actions against the perpetrators and invited all countries to take concrete steps against Islamophobia. Swedish Foreign Minister Tobias Billstrom said that Islamophobic provocations were appalling. "Saudi Arabia calls for spreading the values of dialogue, tolerance, and coexistence, and rejects hatred and extremism," the Saudi Foreign Ministry said in a statement. "We will continue our opposition to the Swedish NATO application," Thomas Pettersson, spokesperson for Alliance Against NATO and one of organizers of the demonstration, told Reuters.

☆ Lagarde Says China’s Economic Rebound Revives Inflation Worries
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-20 | by ( Paul Hannon | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

A market in Lianyungang, in China’s eastern Jiangsu province. China lifted many of its zero-tolerance pandemic controls in early December. China’s abandonment of its zero-Covid policy is good news for global economic growth but it could give a fresh boost to inflation in Europe, European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde said on Friday“The change of this Covid policy will revive the economy,“ said Ms. Lagarde. “That is positive for the rest of the world, but there will be more inflationary pressure.“

☆ Asia markets fall as Japan's inflation data reaches highest since 1981
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-20 | by ( Jihye Lee | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: 1 min

People walk down a street in the Chinatown section of Yokohama, Kanagawa prefecture, south of Tokyo, on January 7, 2023. Markets in the Asia-Pacific were set to trade lower on Friday as investors digested Japan's core inflation print, which reached the fastest pace since December, 1981. The Nikkei futures contract in Chicago was at 26,360 while its counterpart in Osaka was at 26,320 against the Nikkei 225's last close at 26,405.23. The yield on the 10-year Japanese Government Bond rose to stand at 0.415%, slightly below the central bank's upper ceiling of its tolerance range. In Australia the S&P/ASX 200 fell 0.11% in its first hour of trade.

☆ Bank of Japan defends yield curve control measures, intends to stick to ultra-easy monetary policy
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-20 | by ( Sam Meredith | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

Bank of Japan Governor Haruhiko Kuroda on Friday defended the central bank's decision to widen the trading band in its yield curve control program and committed to continuing the BOJ's "extremely accommodative" expansionary monetary policy. His comments at Davos come shortly after the central bank defied market expectations by sticking to a core tenet of its ultra-loose monetary policy. The BOJ on Wednesday opted to keep its ultra-dovish -0.1% interest rate unchanged and maintained its yield curve tolerance band. It leaves the BOJ at odds with other major central banks, which have hiked interest rates in a bid to tackle rising inflationary pressure. Nonetheless, the world's third-largest economy reported core consumer prices rose to 4% on an annualized basis in the final month of last year, double the central bank's target of 2%.

☆ Federal government investigating possible human trafficking of children who cleaned slaughterhouses
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-19 | by ( Laura Strickler | Https | Media-Cldnry.S-Nbcnews.Com Image Upload Newscms Julia-Ainsley-Circle-Byline-Template.Jpg | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +12 min

There is no indication DHS is investigating the company that hired the children, Packers Sanitation Services Inc., or PSSI, for human trafficking. The Labor Department’s Child Labor Regulations designate many roles in slaughterhouse and meatpacking facilities as hazardous for minors. The Labor Department says its investigation, which began in August, is ongoing as it scours company records from 50 locations. I don’t anticipate unless there are severe ramifications for this that it will actually change policies.”The Labor Department has issued no penalties or fines to date. Labor DepartmentQuestions about child labor at PSSI in Grand Island and Worthington are not new.

New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern will step down by next month because she no longer has "enough in the tank" to do the job justice, she said. ET Wednesday) she would not seek re-election and planned to resign no later than Feb. 7. If a new leader is selected, Ardern said she will resign soon after and a new prime minister will be sworn in. Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern speaks at Parliament in Wellington, New Zealand, on May 13, 2020. Her liberal Labour Party won reelection two years ago in a landslide of historic proportions, but recent polls have put her party behind its conservative rivals.

☆ GoFundMe says it removed George Santos' fundraiser for a veteran's sick dog and banned Santos' email from the platform after he ghosted them
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-19 | by ( Cheryl Teh | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

GoFundMe says it took down a 2016 fundraiser for a dying dog that was linked to George Santos. GoFundMe told Insider it has a "zero tolerance policy" for the misuse of its services. As first reported by Patch, a military veteran is accusing Santos of taking $3,000 worth of GoFundMe funds meant for the man's sick dog. The platform told Insider that it has a "zero tolerance policy" for misuse of its services. Rich Osthoff, a veteran who lives in New Jersey, is accusing Santos of pilfering the GoFundMe funds.

☆ Emerging market stocks are off to a strong start in 2023 — How the outlook is shaping up
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-19 | by ( Sarah Min | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +5 min

Emerging market stocks are off to a strong start in 2023, even as concerns remain for investors. The iShares MSCI Emerging Markets ETF (EEM) tumbled more than 22% in 2022, and more than 5% the previous year. "One of the primary attractions for emerging markets has been compelling valuations," said LPL Financial's Quincy Krosby. Not all emerging markets are equal Even as emerging markets are broadly outperforming, some countries are expected to perform better than others. The iShares MSCI South Korea ETF (EWY) and the iShares MSCI Chile ETF (ECH) are up more than 10% and nearly 1%, respectively.

☆ New Zealand's Ardern leaves legacy of kindness, disappointments
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-19 | by ( Praveen Menon | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

"Be strong, be kind," New Zealand's youngest prime minister in more than a century repeated through her eventful tenure, but her empathetic leadership and crisis management skills often masked her government's shortcomings. Ardern made global headlines in 2020, presiding over New Zealand's most diverse parliament, with more than half the members women and the highest number of indigenous Maori lawmakers. Ardern said it was "totally unacceptable in 2017 to say that women should have to answer that question in the workplace". Less than three months later, Ardern brought the baby, Neve Te Aroha, to the U.N. General Assembly in New York. “I wonder whether or not anyone ever asked Barack Obama and John Key if they met because they were of similar age,” Ardern said, in reference to the former U.S. president and New Zealand prime minister.

☆ Rep. George Santos pushes back on 'insane' reports he took funds for veteran's dying dog
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-19 | by ( Kevin Breuninger | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +6 min

"The reports that I would let a dog die is shocking & insane," the freshman lawmaker from New York tweeted Thursday morning. Santos' office did not immediately provide any of those photos when asked by CNBC. Santos then became elusive, and finally told Osthoff he had moved the money into his charity to use "for other dogs," the veteran told Patch. If Santos were to leave office, it would likely trigger a competitive special election in New York for his seat. Rep. Byron Donalds, R-Fla., made a similar argument Thursday when asked by CNN whether he believed Santos should resign.

☆ Japanese yen weakens as Bank of Japan makes no changes to yield curve range
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-18 | by ( Jihye Lee | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: 1 min

Morning commuters in front of the Bank of Japan (BOJ) headquarters in Tokyo, Japan, on Monday, Jan. 16, 2023. The Bank of Japan made no changes to its yield curve control policy on Wednesday. The Japanese currency weakened against the U.S. dollar after the Bank of Japan surprised markets by keeping its yield curve tolerance band unchanged. The Japanese yen weakened 2.04% against the U.S. dollar shortly after the decision was announced and last stood at 130.35, hovering at its strongest levels since June, 2022. "Japan's economy is projected to continue growing at a pace above its potential growth rate," the Bank of Japan said in a statement.

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