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☆ I got tired of big cruise ships so splashed out on a small, 140-passenger cruise. Here's why it was worth the money.
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-13 | by ( Rebecca Deurlein | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

I was happy to avoid the massive cruise ships carrying thousands of passengers disembarking at the same time and being frog-marched to the same attractions. The entertainment on board is very pared back and simpleYou won't get Broadway-style entertainment on a small ship. I was tired of cruise food, but the gourmet small-ship options changed my mindThe food on board was a close-second favorite. It's worth the price if you can entertain yourselfMy takeaway is, if you don't need 100 activities on board, small-ship cruising is for you. Small ships don't entertain you all day long — you find and make your entertainment.

Persons: Rebecca Deurlein, Deurlein, Caroline, I'd, Calvin Dsouza, James Beard, Mount Otemanu Organizations: Windstar Cruises Locations: Tahiti, Polynesian, Bora, Bora Bora

☆ Chocolate is set to get more expensive as cocoa prices soar to seven-year highs
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-13 | by ( Lee Ying Shan | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

Chocolate prices have risen by 14% in the past year, according to consumer intelligence database NielsenIQ. Chetvertakov foresees that the cocoa market could be dented by another deficit in the subsequent season, which runs from October to September next year. Spike in sugar and cocoa butter prices"As chocolate is made up primarily of cocoa butter, with some cocoa liquor included in dark or milk, the price of butter is the most direct reflection of how chocolate prices would move," said Mintec's Director of Commodity Insights Andrew Moriarty. Dark and milk chocolate bars arranged with cocoa beans, cocoa powder and cinnamon sticks. Amongst the different varieties of chocolate, prices of dark chocolate will be hardest hit.

Persons: Cindy Ord, Sergey Chetvertakov, Chetvertakov, Nino, Andrew Moriarty Organizations: Getty, P, CNBC, El, Bloomberg Locations: West Africa, Côte d'Ivoire, Ghana, Azaguie, Ivory Coast, Europe

The decision is likely to force companies to toe a more careful line when making commercial products that mimic other brands for the sake of parody, legal experts said. The Rogers test is "not appropriate when the accused infringer has used a trademark to designate the source of its own goods - in other words, has used a trademark as a trademark," Justice Elena Kagan wrote. Other experts said the decision leaves space for the First Amendment to apply to parody products. "The likelihood of confusion analysis will still take the challenged product's funny message into account," Brannen said. (This story has been refiled to change dateline to June 12)Reporting by Blake Brittain in WashingtonOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Persons: Brown, Forman, Jack Daniel's, Rogers, infringer, Elena Kagan, Kagan, Megan Bannigan, Plimpton, Bannigan, VIP, Doug Masters, Loeb & Loeb, Masters, Alexandra Roberts, Roberts, Elizabeth Brannen, Maher, Brannen, Blake Brittain Organizations: U.S, Supreme Court, Constitution, VIP Products, MCA Records, Mattel, Debevoise, Loeb &, Northeastern University, Stris, Thomson Locations: Danish, Washington

CNN —Former President Donald Trump allegedly kept classified documents at various places in his Mar-a-Lago resort, including a public ballroom, bathroom and a bedroom. Boxes of classified documents are stored inside the Mar-a-Lago Club's White and Gold Ballroom in this photo included in Donald Trump's federal indictment. The hallway to that storage room, according to prosecutors, could be accessible from “multiple outside entrances” including the pool patio. Boxes of classified documents are stored inside the Mar-a-Lago Club's Storage Room in this photo included in Donald Trump's federal indictment. Boxes of spilled documents are seen on the floor, in this photo included in Donald Trump's federal indictment.

Persons: Donald Trump, Trump, Donald Trump's, Walt Nauta Organizations: CNN, FBI, Service, Trump, Mar, Prosecutors, Court, Southern District of, Credit Locations: Lago, Florida, Southern District, Southern District of Florida, Mar

☆ Supreme Court Rules Against Dog Toy Resembling Liquor Bottle
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-08 | by ( Adam Liptak | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

The Supreme Court ruled on Thursday that the First Amendment did not protect a chew toy for dogs resembling a bottle of Jack Daniel’s from a lawsuit claiming trademark infringement. The toy, the Bad Spaniels Silly Squeaker, has the shape and other distinctive features of a bottle of Jack Daniel’s but with, as an appeals court judge put it, “lighthearted, dog-related alterations.”The words “Old No. 7 Brand Tennessee Sour Mash Whiskey” on the bottle are replaced on the toy by “the Old No. 2, on your Tennessee carpet.” Where Jack Daniel’s says its product is 40 percent alcohol by volume, Bad Spaniels’ is said to be “43 percent poo.”A tag attached to the toy says it is “not affiliated with Jack Daniel Distillery.”Justice Elena Kagan, writing for a unanimous court, seemed amused by the dispute. “This case is about dog toys and whiskey,” she wrote, “two items seldom appearing in the same sentence.”

Persons: Jack Daniel’s, ’, Jack Daniel Distillery, Elena Kagan, ” Organizations: Jack, ” Locations: Tennessee

☆ Pat Robertson, the televangelist who helped turn Christianity into a political force, is dead at 93
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-08 | by ( Ben Finley | Associated Press | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +10 min

Robertson was a televangelist who helped bring Christianity to the center of the Republican Party. Marion Gordon "Pat" Robertson was born March 22, 1930, in Lexington, Virginia, to Absalom Willis Robertson and Gladys Churchill Robertson. Robertson was interested in politics until he found religion, Dede Robertson told the AP in 1987. Pat Robertson listens as Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks at Regent University in Virginia Beach, Virginia. But after President Trump lost to Joe Biden in 2020, Robertson said Trump was living in an "alternate reality" and should "move on," news outlets reported.

Persons: Pat Robertson, Robertson, —, — Pat Robertson, Steve Helber, George H.W, George H.W . Bush, Jeffrey K, Hadden, ″, ″ Robertson, Bush, — Robertson, John C, Green, Marion Gordon, Pat, Absalom Willis Robertson, Gladys Churchill Robertson, Pam MacDonald, Adelia, Dede, Elmer, Dede Robertson, Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan, Donald Trump, God, George W, Hugo Chavez, misspoke, Bill Clinton, Trump, Kellyanne Conway, Joe Biden, Robertson's, Gordon, Rupert Murdoch's Organizations: Christian Broadcasting Network, Republican Party, Service, Christian Coalition, Regent University, American Center for Law, Justice, University of Virginia, Associated Press, ″, Republican, House, The University of Akron, U.S, Representative, Washington, Lee University, 1st Marine Division, Yale University Law School, Conservative, Conference, Yale, Southern Baptist, Catholic, AP, New York Theological Seminary, CBN, University of Akron, White, Trump, International, Entertainment Inc, The, Rupert, Rupert Murdoch's News Corp Locations: Va, Virginia, America, Virginia Beach, Chesapeake , Virginia, Iowa, George H.W ., U.S, Chesapeake, Lexington , Virginia, Korea, Houston, Southern, New York, Bedford, Stuyvesant, Ohio, New, Portsmouth , Va, Virginia Beach , Virginia, Pennsylvania, Orlando , Florida, Kenya, IFE

☆ Pornhub asks users, Big Tech for help as states adopt age verification laws
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-07 | by ( Brian Fung | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +8 min

Washington CNN —In the two-minute video, adult performer Cherie Deville stares into the camera and intones soberly to viewers, for the second time in a month, that policymakers are coming for their porn. It’s unclear how much Pornhub expects to achieve, as the laws have already been passed and signed. Pornhub’s simultaneous appeals to users and to Big Tech highlight the challenging position the company now finds itself in amid a wave of state legislation. Now, Pornhub’s fight could prove to be a bellwether for the growing push to enforce age verification for social media. Device-based age verification, Tiwari said, could have “very serious privacy connotations, because you now have the largest tech companies in the world having your government ID and all the information present in them linked to individual devices.

Persons: Cherie Deville, soberly, ” Deville, Pornhub, CNN it’s “, Pornhub —, —, ECP, Solomon Friedman, Friedman, ” Friedman, “, Porn, Pornhub’s, Josh Golin, ” Golin, India McKinney, ” McKinney, Udbhav Tiwari, Tiwari, ” Organizations: Washington CNN —, CNN, Ethical Capital Partners, Apple, Google, Microsoft, Big Tech, Android, Electronic Frontier Foundation, Mozilla, Twitter, Federal Trade Commission Locations: Pornhub, Utah, Arkansas , Mississippi, Virginia, India

☆ Bud Light sales keep slipping. But it remains America’s top-selling beer
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-06 | by ( Jordan Valinsky | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +3 min

For the past several weeks, Bud Light sales declines have hovered around 25% weekly because of customer revolt following an Instagram partnership with transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney. In response, Anheuser-Busch (BUD) said it was bolstering marketing on Bud Light and would offer rebates to customers. Bud Light has made up 35.1% of domestic beer sales this year (through May 27), according to NIQ. The biggest beneficiaries of Bud Light’s slipping sales continue to be MolsonCoors’ Miller Light and Coors Light, with sales up a whopping 26% and 23% respectively, according to NIQ. Sales of its Modelo Especial and its recently launched low-carb beer Modelo Oro are strong with sales up 9.5% and its share of the total beer category surpassing Bud Light last week, Williams said.

Persons: New York CNN —, Bud Light, Bump Williams, Bud, influencer Dylan Mulvaney, BUD, Williams, Bud Light’s, NIQ, ’ Miller Organizations: New, New York CNN, Memorial, Bud Light, Anheuser, Busch, CNN, Coors, Beer Business, Modelo, Constellation Brands, Modelo Especial, Cinco de Mayo Locations: New York, America, United States, Beer, Oro, Cinco

☆ Remy Cointreau keeps outlook as annual profit beat forecasts
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-01 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

PARIS, June 1 (Reuters) - French spirits group Remy Cointreau (RCOP.PA) reported a higher-than-expected rise in operating profit for its 2022/23 fiscal year and stuck to its cautious prospects for this year. The maker of Remy Martin cognac and Cointreau liquor reiterated a prediction of flat organic sales in financial year 2023-2024, with steady profitability, to reflect weaker U.S. demand and high year-ago comparables. This beat expectations for a 14.4% rise in a company compiled consensus of 18 analysts. Already reported group sales were 1.55 billion euros, marking an organic rise of 10.1%. ($1 = 0.9084 euros)Reporting by Dominique Vidalon; Editing by Benoit Van OverstraetenOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Persons: Remy Cointreau, Remy Martin, Dominique Vidalon, Benoit Van Overstraeten Organizations: Thomson Locations: China, United States

Kinmen, Taiwan CNN —As the sun sets over Taiwan’s Kinmen islands, the neon lights of mainland China dazzle in the distance just 2.5 miles away. That lingering potential for invasion might make it seem like an unlikely place to construct a bridge to mainland China. Anti-invasion spikes along the coast of Taiwan's Kinmen islands. During a recent trip to Kinmen, Taiwan Vice President and DPP presidential candidate William Lai said he recognized the sacrifices of the islanders during decades of conflict. “The Taiwanese government looks at the Chinese military threat as something that cannot be accepted and we condemn it,” he added.

Persons: John Mees, Ko Wen, ”, Xi Jinping, Ho Chih, Sam Yeh, Kinmen, Yang Chien, ” Yang, “, Yang, Yang Pei, Huang Li, cheng, Tsai Ing, William Lai, Wu Chia, chiang, Nancy Pelosi, Kevin McCarthy, Joseph Wu, ” Wu, Maestro Wu Tseng, Maestro Wu Organizations: Taiwan CNN —, Communist, People’s Liberation Army, CNN, Democratic Progressive Party, Taiwan’s Presidential, Mainland Affairs Council, Chinese Communist Party, CCP, Mainland Affairs, Russo, Getty, Communist China's, Tourism Association, Communist Party, Xi, United States, Taiwan’s, Taiwan Locations: Kinmen, Taiwan, China, Beijing, Taipei, Taiwan’s, Xiamen –, Xiamen, Chinese, Ukrainian, Russia, Taiwan's, AFP, Jinsha, “, Fujian, California, Beijing’s

☆ Wall Street faces life in China’s second tier
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-01 | by ( Antony Currie | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +8 min

Recent earnings reports from U.S. investment banks defy the sober mood among China-focused financiers. Morgan Stanley’s (MS.N) Asia revenue in the first three months of the year was almost 40% above the final quarter of 2022. Companies going public in Hong Kong have raised $2 billion so far this year, per Dealogic. At some point Hong Kong IPOs and cross-border M&A are likely to perk up. Many of those trades flow through the Hong Kong bourse’s Stock Connect links to the Shanghai and Shenzhen exchanges.

Persons: Jamie Dimon, outlast, It’s, Morgan Stanley’s, Sharon Yeshaya, Goldman Sachs’s, that’s, Stephanie Hui, Goldman Sachs, ”, Morgan Stanley, Goldman, That’s, Breakingviews, Hong Kong, Peter Thal Larsen, Katrina Hamlin Organizations: MELBOURNE, Reuters, JPMorgan, Communist Party, Companies, HK, KKR, Reuters Graphics, Tuesday, Bank of America, Wall, China Securities, Financial Times, Apple, Hong Kong bourse’s, Goldman, JPMorgan –, Bloomberg, Thomson Locations: China, Shanghai, U.S, Asia, Hong Kong, Macau, Taiwan, Beijing, Washington, United States, People’s Republic, Germany, Hong, Shenzhen, Greater China, Pacific

☆ Wine at Wegmans? Not in New York, if Liquor Stores Can Help It.
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-31 | by ( Luis Ferré-Sadurní | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

The two main alcohol distributors in the state, Southern Glazer’s Wine & Spirits and Empire Merchants, have collectively spent at least $120,000 since the year began on lobbying state officials, disclosure records show. The families that own Southern Glazer’s, which is the largest liquor distributor in the United States and based in Florida, also contributed at least $25,000 to Ms. Hochul’s campaign last year. The commission failed to reach consensus on some of the most contentious issues, such as allowing grocery stores to sell wine. It is now up to lawmakers to decide whether to turn the proposed changes into legislation. law, introduced a bill that incorporated the commission’s recommendations.

Persons: Hochul’s, ”, Harry Bronson, “, James Skoufis Organizations: Empire Merchants, Rochester Democrat, Anheuser, Busch, State Senate, Hudson Valley Democrat Locations: Southern, United States, Florida, logjam, Albany, State, Hudson Valley

☆ Terrifying video shows a storm flooding decks and hallways of a Carnival Sunshine cruise ship leaving passengers seasick
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-29 | by ( Chris Panella | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Terrifying videos show a coastal storm flooded the Carnival Sunshine cruise ship over the weekend. Passengers told WCIV about "horrific" conditions and not hearing updates from crew for over 12 hours. Carnival Cruise Line said the storm delayed the ship's arrival to Charleston. It's a cruise ship passenger's worst nightmare: Rough coastal storms hit the Carnival Sunshine cruise ship over the weekend, flooding some decks of the vessel and delaying its return to port. Carnival Sunshine is now sailing on its next cruise," the statement read.

☆ Quito: Ecuador’s underrated capital city was the first to become a UNESCO site
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-22 | by ( Sandra Macgregor | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +7 min

CNN —It’s hard not to feel a little sorry for the Ecuadorian capital of Quito. Singular churchesInside the Spanish colonial church of San Francisco in the city center of Quito. The museum even puts on a variety of shows, including a karaoke night of traditional Ecuadorian song. It’s especially busy at lunchtime when it fills to capacity with locals looking to indulge in affordable traditional Ecuadorian cuisine. Guided toursMetropolitan Touring’s “Live Quito Like a Local” walking tour is great for visitors with only a day or two to explore Quito.

☆ Jim Cramer: An economic wave is about to hit that will be fantastic for investors
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-14 | by ( Jim Cramer | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +12 min

Ultimately, I have gotten to know my way around the CPI and it's a sloppy way to figure out pricing. Don't be frightened of the wave of deflation or misinterpret it as anything but fantastic for investors. As a subscriber to the CNBC Investing Club with Jim Cramer, you will receive a trade alert before Jim makes a trade. Jim waits 45 minutes after sending a trade alert before buying or selling a stock in his charitable trust's portfolio. If Jim has talked about a stock on CNBC TV, he waits 72 hours after issuing the trade alert before executing the trade.

☆ Walmart and Target employees reveal the most dangerous parts of working in retail, from towers of boxes to armed customers and inattentive drivers
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-12 | by ( Dominick Reuter | Ben Tobin | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

Front-line retail workers face a variety of workplace hazards both inside and outside their stores. "There are a lot of dangerous aspects to working retail," said a Walmart employee of eight years who works at a store in Minnesota. In a statement to Insider, Walmart said, "The safety of our customers, suppliers, and associates is a top priority. Insider spoke to a dozen current and former Walmart and Target employees nationwide to understand the dangers that retail workers face on the job. Three Walmart employees and a former Target executive team lead told Insider about incidents with customers wielding guns.

☆ Why Mother’s Day is the most hated day in the restaurant industry
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-12 | by ( Alexandra Peers | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +6 min

New York CNN —Mother’s Day is one of the busiest days for the American restaurant industry, presenting a massive operational challenge to restaurants. In fact, if I die and go to hell, I completely expect it to be Mother’s Day. Mother’s Day presents “an operational challenge,” said Shawn Walchef, owner of five Cali BBQ eateries in the San Diego area. “Your Mother’s Day meal can’t be obnoxiously expensive,” said Derek Axelrod, co-owner of Manhattan’s Upper East Side T bar restaurant. Their Mother’s Day menu will likely be upwards of $100 person, but won’t turn much of a profit, he said.

☆ The driver-optional EV tractor at center of agtech boom right next to Silicon Valley
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-09 | by ( Eric Rosenbaum | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

Tesla's market cap is roughly $500 billion, and that's after a roughly 50% haircut since it topped $1 trillion in 2021. Monarch Tractor, which recently debuted another key electric vehicle born in the state of California — a driver-optional, all-electric tractor — valued by investors in the private market at $271 million. Farmers are struggling with high labor costs and their diesel engine carbon footprint, while corporations are facing new sustainability costs. These are problems that Monarch Tractor can solve in combination. "It's more efficient on the labor side but decreases the emissions and can power all the other equipment on the farm," Penmetsa said.

☆ How an ex-police officer made $12 million in 3 years after buying ATMs for $2,100 and operating them as a side hustle
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-06 | by ( Laila Maidan | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +9 min

By 2021, he quit his job and began providing ATM machines for others. His company Merchant Task Force, which provides credit-card terminals, shows an income of $844,000 and a net profit of $742,000 for the same period. They had a net profit of about $250 to $500 a month per location from fees charged for withdrawals. When he purchased his first set of six machines, Alex assumed he got a good discount, which was $2,100 an ATM. Each brought in anywhere from $250 to as much as $1,500 a month in net profit.

☆ Opinion | A Tragedy in Omaha
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-06 | by ( Joe Sexton | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

OMAHA — By nightfall on May 30, 2020, Jake Gardner was inside his nightclub in Omaha’s Old Market district. Crowds were descending on the city’s downtown during a third consecutive night of Black Lives Matter protests. After service, he eventually returned to Omaha and ran one of the city’s popular downtown bars. It had been closed for weeks amid the initial outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic, and Mr. Gardner had been bleeding losses. He was one of two dozen siblings, raised in North Omaha, a largely Black and poor corner of the city.

☆ Hong Kong's IPO market expected to rebound in 2023, but the biggest one so far flopped in its debut
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-05 | by ( Sheila Chiang | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

Hong Kong's largest IPO so far this year flopped last week suggesting the market still needs time to rebound, despite positive signs pointing to a recovery. "The sentiment in the IPO markets has not built up yet," Ringo Choi, Asia-Pacific IPO leader at EY, told CNBC. We still need some time," said Robert Lui, Hong Kong offering leader of Deloitte China's Capital Market Services Group. Hong Kong's stock market was among the worst-performing last year, shedding 15% in 2022 for its third-straight year of declines. Chinese companies tend to launch secondary listings in Hong Kong as another venue to access investors and capital.

☆ ‘The Melt Goes On Forever’ Review: David Hammons Makes, and They Take
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-04 | by ( Wesley Morris | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

The title of this new documentary about the artist David Hammons is a mouthful: “The Melt Goes On Forever: The Art & Times of David Hammons.” It’s playing at Film Forum, and I don’t envy whoever has to make it fit the marquee. But they should figure that out because the title feels crucial to the aim of this movie, a sly, toasty, piquant consideration of Hammons’s conceptual art, the way it mocks and eludes easy ownership. Which is to say: the way his art is aware of — the way it’s often about — the stakes for Black people navigating the straits of the market. That piece is like a lot of Hammons’s work: tragicomic. It would have been enough to behold the assortment of thrilling footage of Hammons at work, in conversation and, in one contentious encounter, under interrogation by a group of students.

HONG KONG, May 2 (Reuters Breakingviews) - Money flowing into the People's Republic is getting uncomfortably hot. Yet recent reversals in New York, Hong Kong and Shanghai suggest that is driven by fickle short-term funds – exactly what Beijing doesn’t want. Reuters Graphics Reuters GraphicsFollow @mak_robyn on TwitterCONTEXT NEWSChinese spirit maker ZJLD shares closed down 18% lower than their initial public offering price on their trading debut April 27. The KKR-backed company raised $676 million in what was the biggest offering in Hong Kong since October 2022. Separately, the Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan, Canada's third largest pension fund, closed down its China equity investment team based in Hong Kong, Reuters reported on April 25, citing sources.

☆ Pornhub blocks access in Utah over age verification law
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-02 | by ( Brian Fung | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +4 min

CNN —Some of the internet’s biggest adult websites, including Pornhub, are now blocking access to Utah users over a new age verification law that takes effect on Wednesday. Pornhub and other adult sites controlled by its parent, MindGeek, began blocking visitors with Utah-based IP addresses this week. Pornhub, which says it receives 130 million visitors a day, is still available in Louisiana despite the age verification law. But it is unclear whether that system is currently equipped to perform online age verification. MindGeek also owns a separate age verification company known as AgeID, which is currently in use in Germany, though it does not currently operate in the United States.

SYDNEY, April 27 (Reuters) - Chinese spirit maker ZJLD Group's (6979.HK) shares opened 17% lower in their trading debut on Thursday, after it completed the largest new share sale in Hong Kong this year. The KKR-backed company raised $675.2 million last week in the biggest new share sale in Hong Kong since CALB Group Co (3931.HK) raised $1.3 billion in October. ZJLD shares opened at HK$9 compared to the issue price of HK$10.82 each. MedSci Healthcare Holdings (2415.HK) shares dropped 1.1% on Thursday when its shares also debuted in Hong Kong after it raised $77 million last week. Institutional investors subscribed for 3.9 times the amount of ZJLD shares on offer in that tranche, according to the firm's filings, which was above many other Hong Kong IPOs this year.

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