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☆ The Star Wars timeline: All movies and shows in chronological order
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-04 | by ( Scottie Andrew | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +15 min

These details are pulled from the official “Star Wars” resources “Ultimate Star Wars” and “Star Wars Character Encyclopedia,” as well as experts from outlets like USA Today and the AV Club. ‘Star Wars: The Clone Wars’ (animated series)Ahsoka is Anakin's padawan in "The Clone Wars," and he lovingly calls her "Snips." ‘Solo: A Star Wars Story’"Solo" shows how Han and Chewie became best friends. ‘Star Wars Rebels’Kanan Jarrus, Zeb Orrelios and Sabine Wren take on the Empire in "Star Wars Rebels." ‘Rogue One: A Star Wars Story’Heroes attempt to find the plans to blow up the Death Star in "Rogue One."

☆ This global commercial real-estate stock is set to rise by 60%, Jefferies says
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-03 | by ( Ganesh Rao | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

Jefferies expects shares of U.K.-focused commercial real-estate stock Life Science REIT to rise by more than 60% over the next 12 months. The investment bank's prediction comes at a time when the global commercial real estate market has seen prices fall sharply over the past year . However, according to Jefferies, Life Science REIT will escape the brunt of the pressure facing the rest of the sector. These properties are then leased to "tenants operating in the life science sector," according to the company. The region is also set to benefit from the U.K. government's 10-year strategy, unveiled in 2021, to aid and develop the life science sector in the U.K.

☆ These are the 7 best large U.S. cities for starting a new business—New York and D.C. don't fare well
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-28 | by ( Tom Huddleston Jr. | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +4 min

Launching a small business is a challenge, especially these days. The top four cities on the ranking are all Floridian, largely due to criteria like low unemployment and relatively low corporate tax rates. Florida ranked 11th on CNBC's own list of the top U.S. states for businesses in 2022, for similar reasons. For those who don't want to move to Florida, cities like Durham and Boise offer bona fide alternatives. Join CNBC's Small Business Playbook virtually on May 4th, where entrepreneurs will share advice and tips on how to handle economic uncertainty, inflation and more so your business can succeed for the short-term and the long-term.

☆ Hungary’s Habsburg Ambassador to the Pope, With an Offbeat Résumé
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-27 | by ( Jason Horowitz | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

When Pope Francis lands in Budapest on Friday, Eduard Habsburg, Hungary’s ambassador to the Holy See and a descendant of the defunct Habsburg dynasty that once ruled much of Europe, will greet him on the tarmac with a gag gift. “Begin now or do you want to wait for eternity?” Mr. Habsburg, 56, said he planned to ask Francis. But after a career as a zombie-movie screenwriter, cartoon producer, love-triangle novelist, anime enthusiast, sci-fi geek and media personality with monarchic sensibilities, the Hungarian government came calling. OK. That’s the same question I asked,” the amiable diplomat said over coffee in his residence last week in Rome. “You will find respect in the Vatican if you go to Rome, because the Vatican still respects traditional families.”

☆ 'Return of the Jedi' missteps: Five ways the 'Star Wars' sequel messed up, from a certain point of view
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-27 | by ( Brian Lowry | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +5 min

That’s in part because those shortcomings have echoed through the years, as subsequent “Star Wars” mythology has contorted itself, sometimes messily, in order to accommodate them. Still, Episode VI ill-served some of the original trilogy’s significant characters, in ways that have been debated across the decades, yielding the kind of arguments that have become one of the “Star Wars” franchise’s most renewable resources. Carrie Fisher as Princess Leia in "Return of the Jedi," which was released in 1983. Lucasfilm/Fox/Kobal/Shutterstock“From a certain point of view.” Let’s stipulate that Anakin Skywalker “became” Darth Vader when he turned to the dark side. “Star Wars: Return of the Jedi” will play in select theaters beginning April 28.

☆ Travel recovery boosts jet engine units at GE and Raytheon
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-25 | by ( Leslie Josephs | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

Technicians assemble a General Electric Co. CFM56-7B jet engine at the company's Aviation Assembly & Test facility in Research Triangle Park in Durham, North Carolina. A recovery in air travel is lifting sales and repairs at the aircraft engine units of General Electric and Raytheon Technologies as Boeing and Airbus scramble to increase their production rates of new planes. The unit makes engines for Boeing's 737 Max planes and Airbus' A320 family of narrow-body aircraft. Raytheon's Pratt & Whitney engine unit sales increased 15% from a year earlier to $5.23 billion. The improvements in those companies come as Airbus and Boeing are trying to increase their output of new planes for airlines.

Listed miners with lithium projects in South America suffered, however, on concerns other governments may follow Chile's lead. Elsewhere in Asia, lithium prices stabilised on an improved demand outlook, and Japan acted to shore up its EV minerals supply by announcing a swathe of industry subsidies. Bucking the regional trend were Australian-listed miners with projects in South America's lithium triangle which spans Chile, Argentina and Bolivia, on concerns other governments may follow Chile's footsteps. Shares in miners with Argentine projects fell. Lithium Power International, (LPI.AX) whose Maricunga brine project is Chile's largest permitted, proposed project welcomed the new policy which it said would "positively transform" Chile's lithium industry.

☆ Argentina's lithium pipeline promises 'white gold' boom as Chile tightens control
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-24 | by ( Lucila Sigal | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

Neighboring Chile, the region's top lithium producer, last week unveiled plans for a state-led public-private model, spooking investors. Bolivia has long maintained strict control over its huge though largely untapped resources, while Mexico nationalized its lithium deposits last year. The country has six lithium projects under construction and 15 in the advanced exploration or feasibility stage, Mignacco said. "Argentina's lithium sector has thrived through a decentralized, pro-market strategy," said Benjamin Gedan, director of the Latin America program at The Wilson Center, adding in contrast Bolivia's lithium sector had "repeatedly stalled as a result of excessive state control." "Chile today produces and exports much more lithium than Argentina," said Natacha Izquierdo, analyst at consultancy ABCEB.

☆ How parents can help kids overcome 5 friendship hurdles
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-24 | by ( Phyllis L. Fagell | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +8 min

You can’t choose your children’s friends, but here’s how you can help them manage five frustrating friendship pitfalls. If they squeeze too tightly, the friend will want to get away.”Encourage your children to befriend their friend’s friend. “The idea is to help them understand that (true) friendships are bidirectional.”Share the concept of a “hot and cold” friend, too. 4: Your child can’t let go of a grudgeHow parents can help: Two fifth grade girls came to my counseling office for help resolving a conflict. 5: Your child frequently fights with friendsHow parents can help: If your children are triggered, ask them what the incident means and why it’s happening.

SQM's lithium contract in Chile is set to expire in 2030 and Albemarle's in 2043, giving it more insulation from the potential move. Mexico nationalized its lithium deposits last year, and Indonesia banned exports of nickel ore, a key battery material, in 2020. SQM has a larger footprint in Chile, with 81,000 hectares (about 200,000 acres) for lithium extraction compared with Albemarle's 16,000 hectares. Argentine state energy firm YPF last year began exploring lithium, while Bolivia has long maintained strict control over its huge though largely untapped resources. Mexico's President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador and Bolivia's Luis Arce have touted the idea of a regional lithium "OPEC" to coordinate on lithium policy and benefit local economies.

The move would see Chile, the world's second largest lithium producer, shift to a model with the state holding a controlling interest in all new lithium projects through a public company that would partner with private mining firms. Mexico nationalized its lithium deposits last year, and Indonesia banned exports of nickel ore, a key battery material, in 2020. In early trading on Friday, Chilean firm SQM's U.S.-listed shares slid 6.2%, while Albemarle was down 2.5%. SQM's lithium contract in Chile is set to expire in 2030 and Albemarle's in 2043, giving it more insulation from the potential move. Mining shares in London fell sharply too.

☆ Legendary Female Artists on the Younger Women Who Inspire Them
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-20 | by ( ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +20 min

The Artist’s Mind What it feels like for female artists to wrestle with ambition, ego, ambivalence and inheritance. That isolation has, historically, been especially true for women artists, some of the most celebrated of whom have seen “writer” or “painter” or “filmmaker” treated as a secondary part of their identity. For this issue, we asked legendary female artists to tell us about a younger woman whose work excites them and gives them hope. But for the current generation of women artists, who have come of age with models who more closely resemble them, identity seems more like a source of community than a trap. Women artists, born into a Babylon of exclusion and possibility, reveal that creative inheritance is as promiscuous as legal inheritance is strict.

☆ ‘Ted Lasso’ Season 3, Episode 6 Recap: Dutch Treat
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-19 | by ( Christopher Orr | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

Ted, on the other hand, is understandably conflicted. Ted, having had his fill of foreignness, heads to the Yankee Doodle Burger Barn restaurant, which advertises American food in American portions. (For those who didn’t make the connection, the barbecue sauce the waitress brings him is from Arthur Bryant’s, Ted’s favorite joint in Kansas City.) Coincidentally, an old Jordan-era Bulls game is on the television, featuring the triangle offense implemented by the coach Phil Jackson. The first is the revelation that Beard’s drugs were duds: Ted wasn’t high at all!

☆ Tencent says its self-developed video transcoding chip enters mass production
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-17 | by ( Josh Ye | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

HONG KONG, April 17 (Reuters) - Chinese tech giant Tencent Holdings (0700.HK) said on Monday its self-developed video transcoding chip Canghai has entered mass production and is currently supporting services from cloud gaming to video live streaming. The Canghai chip "focuses on solving the impossible triangle of high image quality, low latency, and low cost in video encoding and decoding", the company said in the post. Besides Canghai, Tencent has also designed an artificial intelligence chip named Zixiao and a network interface controller chip called Xuanling. The company said its AI inference chip Zixiao, which aims to accelerate computing efficiency, has been deployed in handling internal businesses. Meanwhile, its Xuanling chip is now helping the company “build the next generation of high-performance network infrastructure".

☆ Wes Anderson, Ken Loach among big names competing at Cannes Film Festival
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-13 | by ( Marie-Louise Gumuchian | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

[1/4] 72nd Cannes Film Festival - Photocall for the film "Sorry We Missed You" in competition - Cannes, France, May 17, 2019. REUTERS/Eric Gaillard/File PhotoApril 13 (Reuters) - Wes Anderson, Ken Loach, Todd Haynes and Wim Wenders are among the directors who will compete for the top prize at next month's Cannes Film Festival, where a spate of Hollywood stars will also premiere their latest works on the famed Croisette waterfront. At a press conference on Thursday, festival director Thierry Fremaux announced the line-up for the 76th edition of major cinema showcase from May 16-27. "It's a competition that will mix young filmmakers competing for the first time with veterans whose names and works we know," Fremaux said. Adventurer Indiana Jones will also return to the festival 15 years since his last appearance in Cannes.

☆ General Motors will lead a $50 million funding round for lithium extraction startup EnergyX
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-11 | by ( John Rosevear | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

EnergyX demonstrated its technology with a pilot plant in South America's "Lithium Triangle," an area of salt flats covering parts of Argentina, Bolivia and Chile that contains over half of the world's known lithium reserves. General Motors said Tuesday its venture capital arm will lead a $50 million financing round for EnergyX, a Texas-based startup developing a more efficient method to extract and process lithium from salt flats. The process is relatively cheap, but it only recovers 30% to 40% of the total lithium – while using huge amounts of water and land. EnergyX plans to use the new funding to build five larger demonstration plants in North and South America. For GM, a key priority is to unlock a North American supply of lithium, which isn't cost-competitive with global supplies using current extraction methods.

☆ US stocks face a 50% crash, a 'crypto apocalypse' is coming, and the economy is entering a 'doom loop.' Here are the 10 wildest predictions over the past quarter.
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-10 | by ( Zahra Tayeb | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

From stocks to commercial real estate, several parts of financial markets are on shaky ground. Here are the 10 wildest predictions about asset prices and the economy over the past quarter. Grantham said the prices of stocks, bonds, real estate, fine art, and other investments surged to unsustainable highs during the COVID-19 pandemic. Crypto: an 'apocalypse' is coming for digital assets"Dr. Doom" economist Nouriel Roubini isn't hopeful about the crypto industry. "I think it will spread into commercial real estate as banks become more reluctant to lend," Cooperman said.

☆ Who is Nouriel Roubini, Wall Street's 'Dr. Doom' economist who has warned of catastrophe for 2 decades?
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-09 | by ( Jennifer Sor | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

Nouriel Roubini, the economist known as "Dr. Doom", has been warning of disaster for two decades. He rose to prominence after being among the commentators to call the 2008 financial crisis. When he spoke of an impending housing crash at the International Monetary Fund that year, the audience chuckled, the New York Times reported. Nouriel Roubini economics professor at New York University attends 48th edition of Economic Forum of Cernobbio on September 02, 2022 in Cernobbio, Italy. "Even a stopped clock is right twice a day," Anirvan Banerji, a critic of Roubini's told the New York Times in 2008.

☆ 4 banks have collapsed in less than a month. Here's what Jerome Powell, Nouriel Roubini, Elon Musk and others are saying about the turmoil.
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-25 | by ( Phil Rosen | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

In less than a month, Silvergate, Silicon Valley Bank, Signature Bank, and Credit Suisse have collapsed. Jerome Powell, Nouriel Roubini, Elon Musk, and others have shared their views on the turmoil. Experts have pointed to the Federal Reserve's aggressive rate hikes over the past year as a driver for the turmoil. Jerome PowellFollowing the announcement of a 25-basis-point rate hike, the Fed chief said all depositors' savings are safe, adding that US banking system is "strong and resilient." Elon MuskThe billionaire Tesla and Twitter chief sees danger ahead for the US economy if the Fed doesn't contain the crisis among regional banks.

☆ A key indicator says a recession is guaranteed in 2023 — and Bill Ackman, Nouriel Roubini, and others are warning of trouble ahead
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-24 | by ( Phil Rosen | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

From the central bank's latest rate hike to new developments in the ongoing bank crisis, a lot has happened in my absence. And all the while, Jerome Powell's favorite bond-market indicator is quietly telling us that a recession is all but guaranteed this year. Talk of basis points, yield spreads, and other market jargon is obscuring the key message here: Markets think a recession is guaranteed in 2023. How much credence as a recession signal do you give the bond market indicator? He said the current bank crisis isn't a redux of that era, or even of 2008.

☆ TikTok creators, some U.S. Democratic lawmakers oppose ban on app
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-23 | by ( David Shepardson | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

[1/5] TikTok creators hold a news conference to speak out against a possible ban of TikTok at the House Triangle at the United States Capitol in Washington, U.S., March 22, 2023. REUTERS/Evelyn HocksteinWASHINGTON, March 22 (Reuters) - TikTok creators and three U.S. Democratic Party lawmakers on Wednesday said they opposed any potential ban on the Chinese-owned short video sharing app that is used by more than 150 million Americans. Critics fear that TikTok user data in the United States could be passed on to China's government. Pocan said a "xenophobic witch hunt" is motivating some in Congress to seek a TikTok ban. Democratic Senator Mark Warner said two additional senators backed his bipartisan legislation with Republican John Thune to give the Biden administration new powers to ban TikTok.

☆ The economy is headed into a 'Bermuda Triangle' of risk that will bring on a crisis to rival 2008, 'Dr. Doom' economist Nouriel Roubini says
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-23 | by ( Jennifer Sor | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

The economy is headed into a "Bermuda Triangle" of risk, economist Nouriel Roubini warned. He sounded the alarm for a stagflationary debt crisis and a severe recession to hit the US. Second, high interest rates means firms are battling higher costs of borrowing and waning liquidity, which weighs on asset prices. Finally, high interest rates are pressuring the mountain of debt, both private and public, that was amassed during the years of low rates, Roubini said. And when many of them are having these problems, then you have a systemic household debt crisis like [2008]," he warned.

☆ Iraqi ambush of Americans made a mockery of 'Mission Accomplished'
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-16 | by ( Michael Georgy | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +9 min

[1/5] FILE PHOTO: A U.S. soldier walks past Iraqi detainees standing behind a wired fence, at Abu Ghraib prison outside Baghdad, Iraq May 17, 2004. Arriving in the city an hour or so after the ambush on March 31, 2004, I was confronted by a crowd kicking the head of an incinerated body. I was taking notes, trying to make sense of the furore, when a boy, who was probably aged about nine, approached. HOTSPOTIn the two decades of turmoil since the invasion, Falluja repeatedly emerged as a hotspot. I saw an Iraqi douse one of the corpses with petrol, sending flames soaring into the air.

[1/2] The Credit Suisse logo adorns a sign at the entrance to their campus in Research Triangle Park in Morrisville, North Carolina, U.S., March 15, 2023. In its statement early Thursday, Credit Suisse said it is exercising its option to borrow from the Swiss National Bank up to 50 billion Swiss francs ($54 billion). They said the bank could access liquidity from the central bank if needed. Credit Suisse said it welcomed the statement of support from the Swiss National Bank and FINMA. The U.S. Treasury also said it is monitoring the situation around Credit Suisse and is in touch with global counterparts, a Treasury spokesperson said.

A reversal of low rates to stem rampant inflation has forced a risk rethink and exposed the vulnerability of firms such as Credit Suisse. Meanwhile, Credit Suisse still needs to push ahead with a radical restructuring it undertook in October to restore profitability. [1/2] The Credit Suisse logo adorns one of their buildings at their campus in Research Triangle Park in Morrisville, North Carolina, U.S., March 15, 2023. "Credit Suisse has been in our watch-list for a while," one senior executive told Reuters. The radical move by the Swiss central bank is aimed at banishing such doubts.

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