DIRS.INFO The most relevant business & tech news

☆ Debt ceiling fights aren’t new. The next one could unleash ‘Armageddon’
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-29 | by ( Julia Horowitz | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +6 min

Fears are brewing that a showdown between Republicans and President Joe Biden over the debt ceiling in 2023 could present a similar moment of reckoning. “The debt ceiling is probably the biggest institutional quirk in the US that carries with it some global risk and risk to the Treasury market,” Setser said. While brinkmanship over the debt limit has become commonplace, the stakes could be higher now that financial markets are on edge. “If the US does not raise its debt ceiling and defaults on its debt, that is an Armageddon moment,” Day said. Yellen told CNN that it’s “utterly essential” that the debt ceiling is raised when necessary.

☆ Mark Cuban says he's looking forward to Twitter's Elon Musk era: 'he will flex his independence to show everyone who's in charge'
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-28 | by ( Travis Clark | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Mark Cuban celebrated Elon Musk's purchase of Twitter on Friday. Cuban called Musk a "ready, fire, aim entrepreneur." Musk will "will flex his independence to show everyone who's in charge," Cuban tweeted. Cuban, a billionaire entrepreneur, celebrated on Twitter, tweeting that he was "looking forward" to the Elon Musk era. "The only expectation you can have of @elonmusk is that he will flex his independence to show everyone who's in charge."

Race to Zero members agree to "phase out development, financing and facilitation of new unabated fossil fuel assets, including coal," in line with science-based scenarios. Environmental advocates are concerned that GFANZ members won't be held to that standard or others without their commitment to Race to Zero. The change comes amid tensions between GFANZ and Wall Street firms over how far they should go in their climate commitments. GFANZ said its affiliation with the United Nations will continue. United Nations climate chief Simon Stiell will join a group responsible for setting its strategy and priorities, and monitoring progress, GFANZ added.

☆ These are the women expected to testify against Harvey Weinstein at his second sexual assault trial
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-27 | by ( Eric Levenson | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +11 min

Jane Doe 1 was a model and actress who was married, had three children and was living in Italy in 2013. Jane Doe 1 then went to the police in October 2017 because she promised her daughter she would, she testified. Jane Doe 2Weinstein is charged with sexual battery by restraint of Jane Doe 2 on or about February 19, 2013, in Los Angeles County. Jane Doe 3Weinstein is charged with sexual battery by restraint of Jane Doe 3 on or about May 11, 2010. He said that Jane Doe 3 gave him four additional massages after the alleged assault.

☆ Threats against judges skyrocketed during the Trump era, and experts are now fearing for the worst
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-27 | by ( C. Ryan Barber | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +8 min

Federal judges involved in matters related to the FBI's search of Mar-a-Lago have also faced threats. The number of logged threats to judges and other officials nearly doubled early in the Trump era. He's a hater," Trump said of Judge Gonzalo Curiel, a 2012 appointee to the federal trial court in San Diego. But, as the threats to the federal judges in South Florida showed, the trend is extending down through the lower courts. It declined to give a broader assessment for the increase in threats to judges and other Marshals Service protectees.

☆ Dogecoin surges 35% as Elon Musk's Twitter deal approaches close
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-27 | by ( Mackenzie Sigalos | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +5 min

Tesla CEO Elon Musk photographed in Austin, Texas, on April 7, 2022. Suzanne Cordeiro | AFP | Getty ImagesDogecoin , the cryptocurrency branded after a viral dog meme from 2013, is up 35% since Monday as Elon Musk's deal to buy Twitter approaches a close. Host Elon Musk during the monologue on Saturday, May 8, 2021. Will Heath | NBCUniversalThe Elon Musk effectIt isn't totally clear when or why dogecoin captured the heart of Elon Musk. Dogecoin isn't really a reliable store of wealth either, given that this typically requires a certain degree of long-term faith in the coin and the blockchain upon which it's been built.

☆ Meta and Microsoft can't self-regulate their metaverses, UK regulator warns
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-26 | by ( Ryan Browne | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

An avatar of Mark Zuckerberg, chief executive officer of Meta Platforms Inc., speaks during the virtual Meta Connect event in New York, US, on Tuesday, Oct. 11, 2022. The boss of the U.K. media regulator Ofcom warned "metaverse" forays from tech giants like Meta and Microsoft will be subjected to incoming rules forcing platforms to protect users from online harms. "I'm not sure I really see that 'self-regulatory phase,' to be honest, existing from a U.K. perspective," Dawes said. "If you've got young people in an environment where there's user-generated content according to the scope of the bill then that will already be caught by the Online Safety Bill." The Online Safety Bill is a set of legislation that seeks to curb harmful content from being widely shared on the internet.

☆ Biden targets Nicaragua’s gold in new move against President Daniel Ortega
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-25 | by ( Associated Press | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +7 min

Previous rounds of sanctions have focused on Ortega, his wife and vice president, Rosario Murillo, and members of their family and inner circle. Together with the Treasury Department’s simultaneous sanctioning of Nicaragua’s General Directorate of Mines, the order all but makes it illegal for Americans to do business with Nicaragua’s gold industry. The Biden administration’s targeting of the gold industry could sap Ortega’s government of one of its biggest sources of revenue. According to Nicaragua’s Central Bank, the country exported a record 348,532 ounces of gold in 2021 and the country’s mining association projects exports totaling 500,000 ounces in 2023. Nicaraguans began fleeing their country in 2018, initially to neighboring Costa Rica, after Ortega violently put down massive street protests.

☆ Mark Cuban says this is 'one of the worst traits' he's ever seen in a 'Shark Tank' contestant
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-25 | by ( Megan Sauer | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

On Friday's episode of ABC's "Shark Tank," the billionaire investor highlighted one startup founder as an example of the latter category. "One of the great traits of any good entrepreneur is resilience, and you've certainly shown that," Cuban told Amy Leinbach, the founder of children's tool company Big Bee, Little Bee. The Huntington Beach, California-based company is known for the ScrubBee, a handheld silicone scrubber that brought in 80% of Big Bee, Little Bee's sales last year. Leinbach asked the Sharks for $100,000, in exchange for a 20% stake in Big Bee, Little Bee. At the time of taping, she said she had already invested $100,000 of her own money to build "Marker Parker."

☆ A financially independent real estate investor bought 6 of his 25 properties from a turnkey provider and cash flows $250 per month from each one. He explains what a turnkey property is and why he inve
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-22 | by ( Kathleen Elkins | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Turnkey properties are homes that are fully functioning and ready to rent out immediately. "A turnkey provider usually buys distressed houses that need work," explained Mark, who also owns real estate in Alabama and Virginia. They're called turnkey properties because, once you buy one, all you have to do is literally turn the key. Before selecting a turnkey operator to work with, talk to people who have actually bought properties from them before. Mark bought his first turnkey property in cash in a self-directed IRA in 2019.

☆ More questions than answers surround the deaths of four friends found dead in an Oklahoma river
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-21 | by ( Tim Stelloh | Tim Stelloh Is A Breaking News Reporter For Nbc News Digital. | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +11 min

Mark Chastain, 32, and Billy Chastain, 30, were the “definition of brothers and were always together,” their grandmother, Milissia Smith, said in a verified online fundraiser. Billy Chastain — who went by BJ — was a handyman with four children, two girls and two boys ages 2 to 12, Gordon said. Megan GordonGordon said the last time she spoke to Billy Chastain was the day before he vanished. An affidavit filed for the grand theft charge states that Kennedy told the arresting officer that the truck's owner told him he could borrow the vehicle whenever he wanted. Kennedy told the officer he took the truck last week and drove to Florida for a weekend vacation, the document says.

“I think it’s going to be significant,” Chuck Coughlin, an Arizona Republican pollster, said of the third-party impact on key Senate races. Angela McArdle, the chair of the Libertarian National Committee, said it’s not her party's job to protect Republican candidates who are alienating voters. "If Republicans fear that Libertarians are going to be spoilers, Republicans need to run more liberty-minded candidates," McArdle told NBC News. Much attention has been paid to the level of support third-party candidates can wrestle from the major party contenders in recent election cycles, particularly on the presidential level. "We have to wait to see the melt on these third-party candidates," he said.

☆ Mark Cuban says he 'never, ever' chased money while becoming a billionaire—here's what he valued instead
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-21 | by ( Tom Huddleston Jr. | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

As Cuban built the tech companies in the 1990s that would eventually make him exorbitantly wealthy, he never prioritized personal riches, he told GQ on Wednesday. "I never, ever thought in terms of money," he said. Initially, when Cuban sold his first company MicroSolutions to CompuServe for $6 million, he never thought he'd have to work again, he told GQ. Instead, he told GQ, he was happy with the money he'd earned in the deal and had a feeling the stock market was overpriced. From there, Cuban went about spending his money in ways that made him happy, including buying his hometown Dallas Mavericks in 2000.

☆ Risks skew to Fed front-loading rate hikes, says Bank of America's Cabana
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-21 | by ( ) www.cnbc.com time to read: 1 min

Share Share Article via Facebook Share Article via Twitter Share Article via LinkedIn Share Article via EmailRisks skew to Fed front-loading rate hikes, says Bank of America's CabanaMark Cabana, Bank of America head of U.S. rate strategy, joins 'Power Lunch' to discuss the future of rate hikes, the next move for yields and where Bank of America sees the terminal Federal Funds rate heading.

A tanker truck used to haul oil products operates at an oil facility near Brooks, Alberta, Canada April 18, 2018. Oil and gas is Canada's highest-polluting sector, but also contributes around 7.5% annually to national GDP and is a major employer in Alberta. The province has already "invested or committed" C$1.8 billion ($1.3 billion) to develop CCS, Puddifant said. Over the last decade, the Alberta government has invested in infrastructure including the Quest carbon capture project, operated by Shell (SHEL.L) and the Alberta Carbon Trunk Line. In March, Alberta picked six proposals to move forward on developing a carbon storage hub near Edmonton.

☆ Analysis: U.S. Republicans aim at Ukraine aid but unlikely to block it
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-21 | by ( Patricia Zengerle | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +6 min

All 57 House votes against a bill providing more than $40 billion for Ukraine in May came from Republicans. Anderson said some Republicans have viewed Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy's administration as corrupt since Trump's first impeachment trial. House Democrats voted to impeach Trump in 2019 on charges he held up military aid for Kyiv to put pressure on Zelenskiy to investigate one of Biden's sons. Several defense industry executives said they viewed the Republican comments on Ukraine aid as political rhetoric ahead of the midterms, not a threat. A Reuters/Ipsos opinion survey this month showed 73% of Americans felt the United States should continue to support Kyiv.

☆ Former BoE, BoC Governor Carney: UK crisis shows risk of policies at cross purposes
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-20 | by ( Julie Gordon | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

OTTAWA, Oct 20 (Reuters) - The political crisis in the UK shows the importance of fiscal and monetary policies not working at cross purposes, particularly in the current economic environment, said former Bank of England Governor Mark Carney on Thursday. "The UK experience underscores that it's counterproductive for fiscal and monetary policies to work at cross purposes," he told a Canadian Senate committee. "Colloquially, if one foot is on the brake, and that's monetary policy," then the other should not "stomp on the gas." "One of the lessons is that sound monetary and credible fiscal policy will be rewarded, but mistakes will be punished," Carney said. Carney, Bank of England Governor from 2013 to 2020 and Governor of the Bank of Canada from 2008 to 2013, noted the importance of an independent central bank, along with inclusive policy, saying the UK tax cuts mostly benefited the wealthy.

Police arrested a "person of interest" in the slayings of four Oklahoma bicyclists in central Florida — more than 1,200 miles away, authorities said Tuesday. Joseph Kennedy, 67, was arrested in Daytona Beach Shores, in a car "that was reported stolen to the Okmulgee County Sheriff’s Office" Monday, according to a statement from police in Okmulgee, Oklahoma. Kennedy was arrested without incident and did not make any statement to officers, according to Fowler. "Upon confirming (with police in Oklahoma) his status as a missing person we were notified that he is a person of interest in a quadruple homicide," Fowler said. The four men were reported missing early last week after they left on their bicycles.

☆ 'Person of interest' in Oklahoma dismemberment case arrested in Florida
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-18 | by ( Dan Whitcomb | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

Oct 18 (Reuters) - A salvage yard owner who authorities consider a "person of interest" in the murder of four men whose dismembered bodies were found in an Oklahoma river has been arrested in Florida on unrelated charges, police said on Tuesday. Joe Kennedy, 67, was taken into custody in Daytona Beach Shores while driving a car that had been reported stolen in Oklahoma, police in the Oklahoma city of Okmulgee said in a statement. Okmulgee Police Chief Joe Prentice has described Kennedy as a person of interest in the Oklahoma killings and said evidence of a "violent event" was found on a property adjacent to his salvage yard. Kennedy was being held without bail in Daytona Beach Shores and will face extradition proceedings to return to him to Oklahoma, officials said. Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com RegisterReporting by Dan Whitcomb; Editing by Will DunhamOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Four Oklahoma men who had gone missing while on a bicycle ride were shot and their dismembered bodies were discarded into a river, police said Monday. All four were shot and identifications were slowed because their bodies had been dismembered, according to Prentice. "We believe the men planned to commit some type of criminal act," Prentice told reporters. The investigation led police over the weekend to a salvage yard. The chief named the salvage yard owner, Joe Kennedy, as a "person of interest," who detectives are seeking to interview.

☆ 2 college friends got a $250,000 'Shark Tank' deal with Mark Cuban for the business they built from their dorm room
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-17 | by ( Tom Huddleston Jr. | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

Mark Cuban paid his way through college with a variety of side hustles. Sam Chason and Matt Gronberg are two former Wake Forest University classmates who founded their business, Storage Scholars, in 2017. Now, Storage Scholars is now a full-fledged business that operates at 48 schools across the U.S. Their pitch generated interest from multiple Sharks, but Chason and Gronberg clearly seemed most interested in partnering with Cuban. "I know that college debt is a big thing to you, you've been very outspoken about it," Gronberg told Cuban.

☆ The world's second-richest man, Louis Vuitton's CEO, sold his private jet after people started tracking it on Twitter: 'No one can see where I go'
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-17 | by ( Grace Kay | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Bernard Arnault said LVMH sold its private jet after Twitter accounts started tracking it. Antoine Arnault argued that a private plane gives executives an edge in the race to be first to a new product or deal. "We haven't found anything better than a private plane to win that race every day and be just a small step ahead of our competitors," he added. Arnault is not the only billionaire to come under fire in recent months for private jet usage. Other public figures have expressed safety concerns over the sharing of flight data on social media.

☆ I’ve been following a woman around the internet. Turns out she was created by artificial intelligence.
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-16 | by ( Evan Ratliff | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +31 min

Even in their first efforts, the GAN images were quickly on par with those made by any other, less intelligent software. You can find the results on the Generated Photos site, where you can filter by ethnicity, age, sex, eye color, and other attributes. Generated Photos' GANs tend to match conventional beauty standards, a product of the models that have been fed to the software. I'm not sure anyone would be surprised to find fake images accompanying testimonials on an Estonian bitcoin exchange or an online CBD seller. Are they real people deploying fake images, or fake people deploying fake images?

☆ That company's 'About Us' page may be full of fake pictures of 'people' who don't actually exist
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-16 | by ( Ryan Hogg | Evan Ratliff | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Some companies are using AI technology to put fake "staff" on their "about us" pages. Ratliff spoke to Lukas, the man behind an Austrian test-prep company called takeIELTS, who confirmed he had used several fake images on its "about us" page. Ratliff said when he checked in on takeIELTS months later, Lukas had removed all the fake images and changed the company's name. The website of another company, Informa Systems, which sold law enforcement training materials to the City of Austin Police Department, was covered with fake images. Ratliff said there are now companies developing software aimed at detecting fake images on company websites and elsewhere on the internet.

☆ Mark Cuban explains why he didn't retire early despite his wealth: 'I'm not retired because I'm too competitive'
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-16 | by ( Jason Lalljee | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Entrepreneurs Mark Cuban and Kevin O'Leary found early retirement unfulfilling. "Working is not just about money," O'Leary said. In 1991, the average retirement age was 57, and in 2022 it is 61, Gallup data from the past 21 years shows. Thirty-six percent of older Americans can't afford one year of basic elder care, the Center for Retirement Research found. Depending on how lawmakers attempt to address the program's solvency issues going forward, the normal retirement age might get pushed even higher.

Search resuls for: "Mark C"

25 mentions found