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☆ Belgium's Brecel holds off Selby to win world title
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-01 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

May 1 (Reuters) - Belgium's Luca Brecel became the first player from mainland Europe to win the snooker world title as he completed a fairytale fortnight by resisting a Mark Selby fightback to triumph 18-15 at The Crucible on Sunday. Brecel enjoyed a 9-8 overnight lead after Saturday's two sessions, but won the opening four frames on Sunday with three centuries to seize command. Selby looked on a roll but fearless Brecel would not be denied the title which lifts him second in the world rankings. After that win he said he had celebrated beating another former champion, Mark Williams, in the previous round by getting as 'drunk as hell'. While Brecel celebrated becoming Belgium's latest and most unlikely sporting hero, Selby, 39, had the consolation of making the first 147 break ever in the final of the world championship, his maximum coming during a storming fightback on Saturday.

☆ Moscow's 'special' forces: An inside look at how Russia's famed Spetsnaz really operate
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-30 | by ( Mark Galeotti | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +24 min

Russia's Spetsnaz forces are often depicted as a kind of Russian super troops. Osprey PublishingMost countries' special forces emphasize physical fitness, determination and aggression. Special people, for special tasksMembers of the Russian military's 16th Separate Special Purpose Brigade during an exercise in 2018. Even so, being better than most of the Soviet army's miserable and recalcitrant conscript forces did not make most of them truly special, special forces. The special operations commandMembers of Russian's 22nd Separate Guards Special Purpose Brigade during an exercise in November 2017.

☆ Meet the Climate Hackers of Malawi
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-27 | by ( Somini Sengupta | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

When it comes to growing food, some of the smallest farmers in the world are becoming some of the most creative farmers in the world. Like Judith Harry and her neighbors, they are sowing pigeon peas to shade their soils from a hotter, more scorching sun. A few are turning away from one legacy of European colonialism, the practice of planting rows and rows of maize, or corn, and saturating the fields with chemical fertilizers. “That might save your season.”It’s not just Ms. Harry and her neighbors in Malawi, a largely agrarian nation of 19 million on the front lines of climate hazards. Their scrappy, throw-everything-at-the-wall array of innovations is multiplied by small subsistence farmers elsewhere in the world.

☆ A divided Israel stands at a perilous crossroads on its 75th birthday
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-26 | by ( Hadas Gold | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +10 min

And weakens the pillars that hold our nation together,” Israel’s President Isaac Herzog warned this week in a speech to Jewish groups. The legislation has plunged Israel into the largest and longest protest movement in the country’s history. Frozen peace processBut as Israel celebrates 75 years since its founding with fanfare, Palestinians mark the same event with mourning. It was during the Jewish state’s creation that more than 700,000 Palestinians were forced to flee their homes in what is now Israel. “This is the end of the era of limited conflicts,” Gallant told reporters, according to the Times of Israel.

☆ Inside the Wild World of Celebrity Keynote Speakers: Drugs, Alcohol
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-23 | by ( David Kushner | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +31 min

"I never saw myself as a speaker, let alone a motivational speaker," Leonard tells me while his assistant irons his jeans. 'When I ramble," Hunter told me, "hit me in the leg!" Every plane had been grounded, including the one stuck on the tarmac with an increasingly inebriated Hunter Thompson trapped inside. But by far the most all-consuming task was booking gigs for Hunter Thompson. Just before a debate with G. Gordon Liddy at Brown University, Hunter demanded that Betsy Berg, whom I now worked alongside at GTN, score him some crystal meth.

☆ This 1977 Nike memo that calls personal ambition a 'danger' and urges workers to 'fight the law' is getting renewed attention thanks to 'Air'
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-18 | by ( Matthew Kish | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

In 1977, Nike executive Rob Strasser typed a list of 10 company "principles." The raw and unfiltered list captures the irreverence and combativeness of early Nike employees. It was republished after the April 2023 release of "Air," a movie about how Nike signed Michael Jordan. The list, which captures the irreverence and competitiveness of early Nike employees, once again is making the rounds on social media. One of them: "Be on the offense, always," a direct nod at Strasser's list, and a phrase that remains a favorite of Nike executives.

☆ Sinner digs deep to reach Monte Carlo quarter-finals, Ruud stunned
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-13 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Hurkacz raised his game to force a tiebreak and looked in control but the scrappy Sinner saved a matchpoint and dragged the contest into a decider. The Italian then got his nose in front and held firm to complete the win as Hurkacz faded. German qualifier Jan-Lennard Struff earlier stunned fourth seed Casper Ruud 6-1 7-6(6), ending the Estoril champion's nine-match winning streak on clay stretching back to last July. In-form third seed Daniil Medvedev, the winner of four hardcourt tournaments in 2023, will take on Alexander Zverev in the pair's first claycourt meeting. read moreReporting by Shrivathsa Sridhar in Bengaluru Editing by Toby DavisOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Seymour Stein, Who Signed Madonna and the Ramones to Record Deals, Dies at 80
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-09 | by ( James R. Hagerty | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Seymour Stein received the Howie Richmond Hitmaker Award at a Songwriters Hall of Fame Induction ceremony. When the Ramones began rattling Lower Manhattan with jackhammer songs like “Now I Wanna Sniff Some Glue” and “Blitzkrieg Bop” in the mid-1970s, many record industry executives reached for their earplugs. Seymour Stein heard the potential in what soon became known as punk rock. Mr. Stein signed the skinny rockers to Sire Records, a scrappy little record label he had co-founded a decade earlier and later sold to what is now Warner Music Group . Over the next 25 years or so, he signed a host of other stars, including Talking Heads, the Pretenders and Ice-T.

The short-lived fight nonetheless underscores the lengths at which scrappy restaurant operators will go to chase consumer dollars. For restaurants that have been open longer than 13 months, Chipotle’s sales grew faster than Sweetgreen’s in the fourth quarter. Sweetgreen billed itself as a tech innovator when it first went public and acquired robotic-kitchen company Spyce back in 2021. Follow on @sharonlam_ TwitterCONTEXT NEWSChipotle Mexican Grill sued rival U.S. take-out chain Sweetgreen for violating its trademarks rights in a similarly branded burrito bowl on April 4, leading to a prompt settlement. Chipotle had argued that Sweetgreen’s “Chipotle Chicken Burrito Bowl” violated its trademark rights.

The short-lived fight nonetheless underscores the lengths at which scrappy restaurant operators will go to chase consumer dollars. For restaurants that have been open longer than 13 months, Chipotle’s sales grew faster than Sweetgreen’s in the fourth quarter. That could explain why Chipotle’s valuation, at nearly 5 times forward sales, is more than double that of Sweetgreen’s. Follow on @sharonlam_ TwitterCONTEXT NEWSChipotle Mexican Grill sued rival U.S. take-out chain Sweetgreen for violating its trademarks rights in a similarly branded burrito bowl on April 4, leading to a prompt settlement. Chipotle had argued that Sweetgreen’s “Chipotle Chicken Burrito Bowl” violated its trademark rights.

☆ Joshua beats Franklin to draw a line under two Usyk defeats
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-01 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

[1/4] Boxing - Anthony Joshua v Jermaine Franklin - O2 Arena, London, Britain - April 1, 2023 Anthony Joshua in action during his fight against Jermaine Franklin Action Images via Reuters/Andrew CouldridgeLONDON, April 1 (Reuters) - Former world heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua got back to winning ways after two straight defeats by beating American Jermaine Franklin on a unanimous decision at London's 02 Arena on Saturday. It was also his first win in more than two years, taking his professional record to 25 wins and three defeats. Joshua invited WBC heavyweight champion Tyson Fury to think again about a future fight. "I would be honoured to fight for the WBC Heavyweight championship of the world. "Tonight was a step down from Oleksandr Usyk, but there was huge pressure," said promoter Eddie Hearn.

☆ Inside a shake-up at the world's 'most feared law firm'
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-30 | by ( Casey Sullivan | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +30 min

It's been a tumultuous period for Quinn and the storied law firm he built over the past 37 years — now the world's largest litigation firm with hourly rates that can be north of $2,000. But behind the scenes, a shift at QE has been the talk of elite law firm circles. Indeed, the firm – known as a singular, even freewheeling, institution that brands itself as the "#1 Most Feared Law Firm in the World" — may appear to be less in the image of its founder as a generational shift brings changes. "We all thought it was important that the world understands this is not a one generation law firm." One former firm partner in California says he believes Quinn's inner circle generally got better deals.

☆ Inside the demise of Vice, from turning away a $3.5 billion Disney offer to a 'painful' downward spiral that has the media giant scrambling for a buyer
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-21 | by ( Claire Atkinson | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +19 min

The talks fizzled, Disney backed off, and Smith set off for California to drum up other interest in Vice Media. Vice Media Group co-CEOs Bruce Dixon, left, and Hozefa Lokhandwala. Vice Media GroupOne former Vice insider familiar with the current situation told Insider that staffers were warning vendors they needed to threaten to stop work in order to get paid. Just a few months later, Rupert Murdoch tweeted, "Who's heard of Vice Media? Refinery29 quickly lost key staff and was not well integrated into Vice Media, the two former staffers said.

☆ Deel Speed: The inside story of a $12 billion HR startup's breakneck growth
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-20 | by ( Rob Price | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +32 min

Insider spoke with more than 30 current or former Deel workers about the HR company's extraordinary rise, and the unconventional tactics that made it possible. "I think if you talk to anyone, they would say that Alex is the face but all decisions run through Phillipe," one former Deel worker told Insider. "They lose every employment and labor protection," Valerio De Stefano, a professor at Osgoode Hall Law School, said of independent contractors. Alex Bouaziz, Deel on Centre Stage during day two of Collision 2022 at Enercare Centre in Toronto, Canada. The company didn't have an internal human-resources team until sometime in 2021, by which point it had grown to hundreds of people.

☆ Ryan Reynolds flexes as corporate convert
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-20 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

NEW YORK, March 20 (Reuters Breakingviews) - For Hollywood star Ryan Reynolds, dealmaking may be more lucrative than Deadpool. One more transaction like this, and Reynolds could find that he has a real future outside of the acting biz. For Mint, Reynolds has described the marketing strategy as “scrappy”, and he has done some catchy things, like appearing alongside T-Mobile’s chief executive in a video announcing the deal and leaving voicemails for customers. Showing success outside of the lifestyle category – in mobile – is validation for the actor, but a differentiating factor might have been Reynolds’ ownership stake in Mint. Converting that stake into a lucrative deal, twice, suggests that Reynolds could be more than just a pretty face.

☆ I rushed from bank to bank with my infant daughter when SVB collapsed to figure out how my startup could make payroll on time
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-18 | by ( Sindhu Sundar | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

Silicon Valley Bank's collapse sent Dispatch Goods cofounder Lindsey Hoell on a race to find alternatives. Her team and investors navigated the logistical chaos of making sure the company made payroll. Dispatch Goods, a Silicon Valley Bank customer, provides reusable packaging to meal and grocery delivery companies. But by the time I got back from opening that account, the Silicon Valley Bank site was just completely bogged down with other people trying to do the same thing. We got up Friday morning and drove down to Silicon Valley Bank's Menlo Park location.

☆ London fears for its future as companies defect to Wall Street
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-10 | by ( Hanna Ziady | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +7 min

London CNN —London is used to punching well above its weight in global financial markets. And 70% of global secondary bond market trading happens in the city, according to the London Stock Exchange. Beyond the jobs they create and the tax they generate, financial markets also channel capital into companies to fund future growth. In other words, to safeguard its future, London needs to reinvigorate its stock markets. Those “unicorns” should be listing in London “at an earlier stage,” Haynes argues, “rather than growing through private equity and being sold off to Nasdaq.”Hoggett of the London Stock Exchange puts it this way: “London needs to be young, scrappy and hungry.”

☆ The unraveling of fintech darling Vise
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-03 | by ( Stephanie Palazzolo | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +28 min

It was April, and more than two dozen salespeople who worked for the fintech startup Vise had been ordered to a multiday off-site at the W Hoboken hotel in New Jersey to share exhaustive reports on their performance. Even salespeople at bigger, established, top-tier investment-management firms typically wouldn't close $250 million in a year, multiple sales employees said. (K-means clustering is an unsupervised machine-learning algorithm often referred to as a form of AI, Vise's founders said). (Vise's founders disputed this, saying the company received updated financial data only once a day for its portfolio-construction engine.) And to address its "leaky funnel" of overestimating prospective sales, Vise was to stop outreach to new clients while it onboards and upsells to existing clients, the document said.

☆ The Deep Bond Between Kids and Dogs
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-02 | by ( Alison Gopnik | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Psychologist Alison Gopnik explores new discoveries in the science of human nature. Seventeen years ago, my son adopted a scrappy, noisy, bouncy, charming young street dog and named him Gretzky, after the great hockey player. Gretzky transformed into a serene guardian of the new baby, sitting quietly curled up next to him. Almost as soon as he could walk, Augie loved wrestling with what was, objectively, a sharp-toothed carnivore twice his size. When Gretzky died last October, Augie was heartbroken.

☆ Tesla is losing its most loyal customers — and that’s bad news for Elon Musk.
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-28 | by ( Diamond Naga Siu | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Plus, it's even more gross, since this generation obsession appears to be a capitalism-fueled strategy to get our money. They stuck with Elon Musk along a bumpy ride: "production hell," multiple federal investigations, and other catastrophes. Meanwhile, the company keeps losing its edge elsewhere. Nora breaks down how Musk keeps Elon-ing, while Tesla keeps getting beat down. It's part of the multi-day Mobile World Congress — the largest mobile telecommunications event in the world — in Barcelona, Spain.

☆ How Elon Musk Ruined Tesla, Let Other Car Companies Catch up on EVs
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-26 | by ( Nora Naughton | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +12 min

"I feel stupid driving around with my brand-new Tesla Model Y," Mark told me. Tesla spent the past two decades defying expectations and disrupting the automotive industry, but in 2023 the once revolutionary car company did the seemingly unthinkable: It turned fanboys against it. But after years of rocketing ahead of legacy car companies' tech, the futuristic guts of Tesla's vehicles have started to go stale. Companies like Ford and Audi are changing their sales strategies to model Tesla's innovative direct-sales style. These companies have something Musk doesn't: nationwide networks of brick-and-mortar locations where customers can have their vehicles serviced and repaired.

☆ Clinical Man Utd win League Cup in heartbreak for Newcastle
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-26 | by ( Martyn Herman | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

[1/2] Soccer Football - Carabao Cup - Final - Manchester United v Newcastle United - Wembley Stadium, London, Britain - February 26, 2023 Manchester United's Bruno Fernandes and Harry Maguire lift the trophy with teammates after winning the Carabao Cup final Action Images via Reuters/Andrew CouldridgeLONDON, Feb 26 (Reuters) - Manchester United crushed Newcastle United's hopes of a claiming a first domestic trophy for nearly 70 years with a clinical 2-0 victory in the League Cup final at Wembley on Sunday. Kicking towards their fans in the second half Newcastle roused themselves into action and pinned a leggy-looking United back at times but they rarely looked like scoring. The Tyneside club has now lost each of their last nine matches at Wembley, a run that began in the 1974 FA Cup final. Newcastle were full of energy early on with Allan Saint-Maximin dangerous whenever he got the ball. "No complaints with how we played, obviously the scoreline doesn't say that, and that's where football can be cruel," Newcastle manager Howe said.

☆ How a 34-year-old Ukrainian founder created scrappy business opportunities amid the chaos of war
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-25 | by ( Alexandra York | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

Alina Kachorovska has kept her business afloat thanks to scrappy opportunities amid the war. She's made boots for Ukrainian soldiers and focused on international expansion to sustain the brand. Kachorovska, which relied heavily on domestic direct-to-consumer sales before the war, felt a major impact from the displacement of Ukrainians. Opportunities during wartimeKachorovska employees worked from the factory to produce boots and shoes amid the war. Kachorovska first dreamed of taking her brand international six months before the war with Russia began, she said.

☆ Bidding wars no more: Regular people have a better shot at scoring a home as investors flee once-hot cities from Phoenix to Atlanta
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-23 | by ( Aj Latrace | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

But investors have backed off, especially in formerly hot areas like Phoenix, Redfin found. The significant drop in investor purchases means less competition for regular homebuyers. Investors purchased approximately $31 billion worth of properties — equivalent to 48,445 homes —nationwide in the last three months of 2022. They include Las Vegas, Phoenix, the New York City suburb of Nassau County, Atlanta, and Charlotte, all of which saw investor purchases fall over 60% year-over-year, the report said. But the drop in home prices and investor purchases last year could signal even more dire conditions in 2023, some analysts and experts predict.

☆ Struggling Southampton grab vital 1-0 win at goal-shy Chelsea
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-18 | by ( Clare Lovell | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

LONDON, Feb 18 (Reuters) - A trademark James Ward-Prowse free kick earned basement club Southampton a precious three points at Chelsea in a scrappy 1-0 Premier League win on Saturday and piled more pressure on home coach Graham Potter. Azpilicueta needed nearly 10 minutes of treatment on the pitch in the second half after he received a kick to the head in a goalmouth clash. Chelsea are languishing in 10th place on 31 points from 23 games and are 10 points adrift of the top four. Southampton have now done the double over Chelsea this season after beating them 2-1 in August, a month before Potter took over from the sacked Thomas Tuchel. ($1 = 0.8309 pounds)Reporting by Clare Lovell; Editing by Ken Ferris and Clare FallonOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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