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☆ A growing group of lawmakers think TikTok is 'digital fentanyl' and want to ban it. Many others remain skeptical.
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-24 | by ( Bryan Metzger | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +10 min

Some members of Congress have begun pushing to ban TikTok in the US. "I'm a little less enthusiastic about an all-out ban of it," said Republican Sen. Kevin Cramer of North Dakota. "I'm an incrementalist on a lot of things, and I would be on this as well," said Republican Sen. Cynthia Lummis of Wyoming. Last week, the Senate Judiciary Committee held a hearing on social media and the internet's impact on children. Democratic Sen. Mazie Hirono of Hawaii, another committee member, said she's most concerned about how social media platforms are impacting kids.

That money was to be given in $2 billion annual installments of Foreign Military Financing, or FMF, grants over five years. Republicans accused Biden's administration of failing to advocate strongly enough for the Taiwan grants, given that his fellow Democrats controlled both the Senate and House last year. "Securing FMF funding is always a challenge given the tight budget constraints, even for priority partners like Taiwan," said Eric Lee of the Project 2049 Institute think tank. "I would prefer to see a revival of FMF grants, but with clear strings attached," said Michael Hunzeker, a Taiwan military expert at George Mason University. Grants to buy specific weapons could be made on condition of Taiwan showing further moves toward asymmetric defense, he said.

☆ UN Security Council denounces Israel in statement after US showdown averted
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-20 | by ( Michelle Nichols | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

"The Security Council reiterates that continuing Israeli settlement activities are dangerously imperiling the viability of the two-State solution based on the 1967 lines," the council said in the statement. "The Security Council expresses deep concern and dismay with Israel's announcement on February 12." Resolutions need nine votes in favor and no vetoes by the United States, Russia, China, France or Britain to be adopted. Netanyahu's office described the Security Council statement on Monday as "one-sided" and criticized the United States for supporting it, adding: "The statement should not have been made and the United States should not have joined it." Ambassador to the United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield told the Security Council that the United States opposes Israel's Feb. 12 settlement plans.

☆ Fintech giant’s bad wedding leads to happy divorce
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-14 | by ( Anita Ramaswamy | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

NEW YORK, Feb 14 (Reuters Breakingviews) - Many mergers fail, but executives are rarely humble enough to admit it. They have a point – FIS paid $3 billion more for Worldpay than the combined companies’ market value today. These are worlds apart from the staid financial institutions which patronize FIS’s core software business. As a stand-alone company the payments firm could also borrow more to fuel future purchases without imperiling its former parent’s credit rating. FIS also announced a $17.6 billion writedown on the value of the business and lowered its profit guidance for 2023.

☆ It took 50 years and $11 billion to complete a train station beneath NYC's Grand Central Terminal. It shows how hard it is to build things in the US.
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-03 | by ( Jacob Zinkula | Catherine Boudreau | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

New commuter rail service to New York City's Grand Central Terminal began last week. The new station cost more than three times its initial budget and faced significant delays. The new rail service, which began limited operations last week, delivers riders to a gleaming new station some 15 stories beneath the soaring limestone facade of Grand Central Terminal. Train platforms at Grand Central Madison are well over 100 feet underground. Mary Altaffer/APPeople walk past a mural in the new Grand Central Madison last week.

☆ Judge blocks sale of machine gun converters after U.S. sues
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-26 | by ( Jonathan Stempel | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

U.S. District Judge Nina Morrison in Brooklyn on Wednesday issued a temporary restraining order against Rare Breed Triggers LLC and Rare Breed Firearms LLC, and their owners Lawrence DeMonico and Kevin Maxwell. The department said this meant the devices qualified as machine guns under federal law, and said the devices did not qualify for limited exceptions permitting their sale. Rare Breed operates in Fargo, North Dakota, and, according to court papers, Maxwell is also its general counsel. AR-15 style rifles have been used in many recent mass shootings. Attorney General Merrick Garland said the Justice Department will do "everything in its power to protect the American people from gun violence and to hold accountable those that flood our communities with illegal guns."

“Mission Hospital used to be where everyone would go if they wanted good care,” Jaquins said, reflecting on her previous experiences with the health care system. Sue Fischer is a longtime HCA employee who’s concerned about patient care in her facility. “We were a great system as Mission Health and we’re an even better system as HCA Mission Health,” she said. “Delays in care is the biggest patient care issue I see because of staffing,” Hernandez said. According to the CMS ranking system, Mission Hospital currently holds an above-average overall quality rating — four stars out of a possible five.

Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle are sounding the alarm about how a nonfunctional House hurts national security. "If a national security crisis arises, the President of the United States is right down the street," he said. "I'm informed by House Security that, technically, I don't have a clearance," Gallagher, a former Marine Corps intelligence officer, told reporters. "I'm a member of the [House Intelligence Committee], I'm on the Armed Services Committee, and I can't meet in the SCIF to conduct essential business." "President Xi says, 'Our system of governance works because democracy don't,'" Bacon, a Nebraska Republican, told reporters.

☆ Crypto advertising is under fire after the FTX implosion, but firms like Binance, Grayscale, and OKX are pouring money into marketing to win back consumer trust
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-06 | by ( Lara O'Reilly | Reed Alexander | Lauren Johnson | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

The bitcoin crash and FTX implosion massively dented the crypto advertising boom. But fewer crypto advertisers can also create an advantage for those still trying to get their messages to consumers. And Dinu added that crypto companies' efforts to advertise to restore trust could persist "well beyond" the next six months. Some crypto companies are still launching splashy campaigns, similar to crypto ad campaigns from the beginning of the year. "Crypto companies have to stop talking about themselves and start talking about how cryptocurrency or blockchain fits into normal people's lives."

☆ Crypto firms like Binance, Grayscale, and OKX are pouring money into marketing to regain trust and save their companies from the fallout of the FTX implosion
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-01 | by ( Lara O'Reilly | Reed Alexander | Lauren Johnson | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

☆ Wall Street finally has the leverage it's been wanting over Big Tech
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-18 | by ( Matt Weinberger | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

Take one giant step back, and there's one group benefitting from all the tech carnage: Wall Street investors, who finally have leverage over Big Tech after years of having to swallow spending to excess. Wall Street is ready to slice and dice. The balance of power has shifted: With tech companies struggling on the public markets, Wall Street has more leverage than it's held in a long time. Read more about how Wall Street is taking the driver's seat in tech here. Their mutual interest is complicated by fights over licensing and costs, Insider reports here.

Reuters reported in August that Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, elected as Brazil's president at the end of October, would seek a partnership with the two other leading rainforest nations to pressure the rich world to finance forest conservation. The rapid destruction of rainforests, which through their dense vegetation serve as carbon sinks, releases planet-warming carbon dioxide, imperiling global climate targets. "South-to-south cooperation - Brazil, Indonesia, DRC - is very natural," the Democratic Republic of Congo's Environment Minister Eve Bazaiba said prior to the signing. In the agreement, the alliance said that countries should be paid for reducing deforestation and maintaining forests as carbon sinks. Talks on the alliance to protect rainforest until now had foundered due to "institutional difficulties," Teixeira said.

☆ Federal Judge in Texas Strikes Down Biden Student-Loan Forgiveness Program
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-10 | by ( Gabriel T. Rubin | Andrew Restuccia | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

The Biden administration is seeking to implement a program that would forgive student debt for millions of borrowers. A federal judge in Texas on Thursday struck down the Biden administration’s student-debt forgiveness plan, imperiling a key administration priority that would have canceled up to $20,000 in student loans for tens of millions of borrowers. The Biden administration’s plan is an “unconstitutional exercise of Congress’s legislative power” that also failed to go through normal regulatory processes, Judge Mark Pittman of the Northern District of Texas wrote in a 26-page opinion.

☆ Investors will reap billions if Kroger takes over Albertsons. Workers and shoppers may not be as happy.
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-05 | by ( Gretchen Morgenson | Gretchen Morgenson Is The Senior Financial Reporter For The Nbc News Investigative Unit. A Former Stockbroker | She Won The Pulitzer Prize In For Her | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +11 min

Wealthy investors in Safeway’s parent, Albertsons Companies, have done better. And next week, they were slated to reap a $4 billion cash dividend in connection with a proposed $25 billion takeover of Albertsons by rival Kroger. Based on that stake and the amount of the dividend, Cerberus stands to receive roughly $1 billion of the dividend payout. Six of Albertsons’ 14 directors who voted for the dividend are affiliated with the major investors. This is the last, best and final hope for a truly unionized chain.”Nervous about the pensionThe proposed $4 billion cash dividend is large by many measures.

Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in favor of the Navajo Nation in February, saying it could sue the government for an alleged failure to carry out its duties on behalf of the tribe. The Navajo Nation can access water from other sources, including the San Juan River, a tributary of the Colorado River, but the tribe says that is not enough. Many tribal members do not have access to running water and rely on wells and other localized water sources. In separate litigation the tribe has fought for access to the Little Colorado River, another tributary of the Colorado River. “Nothing in the supposed sources the court of appeals cited imposes any specific and affirmative duties on the federal government on behalf of the Navajo Nation with respect to the water of the Colorado River,” Prelogar wrote.

☆ Amazon, Meta, and other big tech firms have entered the 'Great Hesitation' — cutting hiring and other costs in fear of an economic downturn
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-16 | by ( Rob Price | Eugene Kim | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +10 min

Leaders at large-cap tech companies are in an anxious waiting game, battening down the hatches as they prepare for the storm to hit. Some tech firms will be hurt moreAmong the biggest players in the tech industry, the impacts of a crash will not be felt evenly. "I look at these large tech companies, and over the last couple of years, obviously money's been free, everything got bloated, and all these tech companies — excluding Apple — have effectively doubled their head count over a three-year period, right? Beyond head count, tech companies are cutting back on extras, imperiling their famously lavish meal options. The largest tech companies are also signaling their anxiety by trimming budgets for their more experimental businesses and research projects.

☆ Here are all five parts of our series on how to analyze an earnings report
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-15 | by ( Jim Cramer | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +85 min

Operating income Once we remove operating expenses from gross margin dollars , we are left with what is known as operating income. This is especially important from a cash flow perspective as many companies define free cash flow (a non-GAAP metric) as "operating cash flow less expenditures on property, plant and equipment." Part 3: Cash flow analysis The cash flow statement is the middle child in a financial report — it gets overlooked. Investors may look to use operating cash flow or free cash flow for this equation. AMC's cash flow Let's finish by taking a look at the cash flow statement.

☆ How to analyze an earnings report — Part 1: The income statement
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-03 | by ( Zev Fima | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +14 min

Part 1: Income statement In the financial statements that companies report to the Securities and Exchange Commission and shareholders on a quarterly and annual basis, there are three main sections: the income statement, the balance statement and the cash flow statement. The income statement gives us our best view of management's performance. Operating income Once we remove operating expenses from gross margin dollars , we are left with what is known as operating income. Some companies will report a line item before reporting operating income referred to as "EBITDA," which stands for earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization . Remove this from operating income or "EBIT" and we are left with "EBT" (earnings before taxes), which Apple refers to intuitively as "income before provision for income taxes."

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