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☆ Russia sacks deputy defence minister sanctioned by West over Mariupol, reports say
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-28 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

April 28 (Reuters) - Russian Colonel General Mikhail Mizintsev, who was sanctioned by the West and dubbed the "Butcher of Mariupol" for his role in the Ukraine war, has been removed as deputy defence minister, according to a military blogger and a leading news website. Mizintsev orchestrated the siege of the Ukrainian city of Mariupol in the early months of the war last year. In September, he was appointed deputy defence minister in charge of logistics and supplies. His departure was reported by a Russian military blogger, Alexander Sladkov, and by the RBC news site. Russia has seized more than a sixth of Ukraine's territory, but has sustained heavy losses in the course of the 14-month war.

☆ How Tottenham Hotspur fell into disrepair
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-27 | by ( Matias Grez | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +9 min

CNN —Four years ago, on a warm Spanish summer’s evening in Madrid, Tottenham Hostpur was just 90 minutes away from reaching the pinnacle of European football. Win or lose against Liverpool in the 2019 Champions League final, Spurs could be excited about the future of their club. Tottenham was 5-0 down after 21 minutes against Newcastle. Tottenham players offered to reimburse their fans after the Newcastle defeat. “Unfortunately, the mismanagement of Tottenham off the pitch has now transcended to on the pitch to a point where Tottenham are in the biggest mess I’ve known in my lifetime.”Bleak future?

☆ German magazine apologizes to Schumacher family over A.I. interview, sacks editor
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-23 | by ( ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

The publishers of a German magazine that ran an 'interview' with Michael Schumacher generated by artificial intelligence have sacked the editor and apologized to the Formula One great's family. His family said this week that they were planning legal action against weekly magazine Die Aktuelle, owned by the Essen-based Funke media group. "Die Aktuelle editor-in-chief Anne Hoffmann, who has held journalistic responsibility for the paper since 2009, will be relieved of her duties as of today." The latest edition of Die Aktuelle ran a front cover with a picture of a smiling Schumacher and the headline promising 'Michael Schumacher, the first interview'. "We're trying to carry on as a family, the way Michael liked it and still does.

Both the tradition and the church still stand. By the end of the 19th century, nearly 2,000 boarders lived among the Geelians, as the locals call themselves. Today the town of 41,000 in Flanders, the Dutch-speaking part of Belgium, has 120 boarders in local homes. Those suspicions only grew as Geel’s approach crushed up against the rising medical field of psychiatry. In more recent times, however, the town has come up for reconsideration as an emblem of a humane alternative to the neglect or institutionalization of those with mental illness found in other places.

☆ Chris Smith: Former NFL defensive end dies aged 31
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-19 | by ( Matt Foster | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +2 min

CNN —Former NFL defensive end Chris Smith has died, his former agent said on Tuesday. Smith spent eight seasons in the NFL and played for seven franchises. Frank Jansky/Icon Sportswire/Getty Images/FileThe Browns tweeted their condolences on Tuesday. “We are deeply saddened by the passing of former Browns DE Chris Smith,” the message reads. “Rest in paradise Chris Smith,” wrote Browns tight end David Njoku on Twitter.

☆ Macron: France's 'tone deaf' president faces backlash over Taiwan comments
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-13 | by ( Luke Mcgee | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +6 min

In it, he said that Europe must not become “just America’s followers” when asked about the prospect of China invading Taiwan. One said that Macron is “simply tone deaf to everything happening in the world. They were surprised to see Macron’s comments so soon after that meeting. For all that Macron’s comments could be put down to a president under pressure at home doing things on the world stage to create a distraction, his comments on Taiwan have done real damage to the fragile transatlantic relationship. It might not have been his intention, but Macron’s comments have come at a yet unknown cost.

☆ Analysis: Debt crunch looms for weaker economies with a wall of bond maturities ahead
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-10 | by ( Jorgelina Do Rosario | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

"A more prolonged period without market access would be of more concern for the lower-rated tiers of the emerging markets sovereign universe," said James Wilson, EM sovereign strategist for ING. Tapping international debt markets hasn't been a problem across the board for emerging economies. The JPMorgan's emerging markets bond index (EMBI) for high yield debt is at 900 basis points over U.S. Treasuries, and has largely remained over 800 bps since the beginning of last year. The Russia conflict and then the Fed hiking cycle led to higher spreads for a much longer period," said Gregory Smith, emerging markets fund manager at London-based M&G Investment. A weaker U.S. dollar should help countries to tap international markets in the medium term, but recent data fueled jitters that restrictive central bank policies could push the global economy into recession.

☆ Analysis: Heroes or villains: Short sellers' role in the U.S. bank crisis
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-09 | by ( Lawrence Delevingne | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +7 min

How much short sellers contributed to the downward spiral reprises the debate about whether so-called shorts are market watchdogs or opportunistic investors who profit from others’ misery. In the case of the banking crisis, a review of data and interviews with short sellers and their critics show, the answer may be both. Some high profile short sellers were later celebrated as making prophetic calls about the U.S. housing market. Even so, interviews and public postings show at least some short sellers had placed bets against regional banks well before the crisis hit. SHORT POSITIONSSuch early short sellers, however, were in the small minority.

☆ Fiction: Isabella Hammad’s ‘Enter Ghost’
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-07 | by ( Sam Sacks | ) www.wsj.com time to read: +1 min

In 2012, German theater director Thomas Ostermeier staged a highly publicized Arabic-language performance of “Hamlet” in the West Bank. If this seems like a curious choice in the circumstances, it may be because Americans tend to think of the tragedy in familial and existential terms. It’s easy to forget that Hamlet is, as well as a grieving son, also a political subversive weighing whether to violently oppose a corrupt and unlawful government. For Palestinians, this aspect of the play was unmistakable. The novel’s narrator is 38-year-old Sonia Nasir, who was raised in an Arab family in Israel but has mostly lived in London, maintaining a career as a mid-tier stage actress.

[1/3] People gather to receive sacks of free flour, at a distribution point in Peshawar, Pakistan March 30, 2023. REUTERS/Fayaz AzizLAHORE/PESHAWAR, Pakistan, March 30 (Reuters) - At least five people have been killed in recent weeks and more injured in Pakistan in stampedes at sites distributing free flour under a government-backed scheme to help families struggling with soaring costs of basic staples. The Pakistani government has launched the flour distribution programme to reach millions of families in need during the holy Islamic month of Ramadan that began last week. Another person was killed in a stampede at a distribution centre last week in northern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province according to records shared by the provincial food authority. "There were some unfortunate incidents of stampedes and looting," Khan Ghalib, an official at the provincial food department said.

Rocket Mortgage customers can get a huge value from the new Rocket Visa Signature Card. David Sacks/Getty ImagesThe new Rocket Visa Signature® Card is hands-down the best credit card for those looking to close on a house. The new Rocket Visa Signature® Card is the closest we've ever seen to a "5% everywhere" credit card. As you may have guessed, the Rocket Visa Signature® Card was created to thrive within the Rocket Mortgage ecosystem. Rocket credit card rewardsThe card earns 5 Rocket points per dollar for all purchases.

☆ Netanyahu sacks defense minister who opposed judicial overhaul
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-26 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: 1 min

JERUSALEM, March 26 (Reuters) - Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday dismissed Defense Minister Yoav Gallant after he said the government should delay moving forward with a highly-contested plan to overhaul the country's judicial system. "Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu decided to remove from his position Defense Minister Yoav Gallant," the prime minister's office said. Gallant, a lawmaker from Netanyahu's right-wing Likud party, broke ranks on Saturday by publicly urging Netanyahu to suspend the legislation. He had said countrywide protests against the judicial overhaul, which have included growing numbers of military reservists, were also affecting regular forces and undermining national security. Reporting by Ari Rabinovitch Editing by Steven Scheer, Alexandra HudsonOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Netanyahu sacks defense minister who opposed court reform
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-26 | by ( Reuters Editorial | ) www.reuters.com time to read: 1 min

PoliticsNetanyahu sacks defense minister who opposed court reformPostedIsraeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday dismissed Defence Minister Yoav Gallant a day after he broke ranks and urged the government to halt a highly-contested plan to overhaul the judicial system. Zachary Goelman produced this report.

☆ Police arrested senior citizens who blockaded banks in a 'Rocking Chair Rebellion' to end fossil fuel use
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-24 | by ( Morgan Mcfall-Johnsen | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

They say Wells Fargo, Chase, Citibank, and Bank of America should stop lending to fossil-fuel companies. Grey-haired San Francisco protestors donned hats and rain jackets, set up a tent, passed around colorful banners and signs, and sang songs about protecting future generations. Organizers reported that 10 activists who occupied a Chase Bank were arrested on March 22, 2023. There were no arrests in San Francisco, where three young people and three older people chained themselves to the Wells Fargo doors. Morgan McFall-Johnsen"We're hoping to damage the reputation enough that people say: 'Oh no, Wells Fargo is not a good guy.

☆ A popular post on Blind says all tech workers who got jobs during the pandemic were 'charity cases,' but getting hired now at a big tech company will actually mean something
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-20 | by ( Sarah Jackson | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

A popular post on workplace forum Blind calls tech workers hired during the pandemic "charity cases." One popular post on the anonymous workplace forum Blind takes that a step further, saying tech employees brought on during the pandemic were "charity cases." Tech companies added many new employees to their ranks during the pandemic, when business was booming for the sector. At the time time, other commenters on the popular Blind post defended employees who got tech jobs during the pandemic. "Also I refuse to believe I am some charity case, I was good enough for the company, did their process and got hired.

☆ Fiction: ‘Biography of X’ by Catherine Lacey
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-17 | by ( Sam Sacks | ) www.wsj.com time to read: +1 min

By the time of her sudden death in 1996, X had achieved worldwide celebrity for her tireless transformations and the mystique they sustained. But one role remained unknown to the public: That of the wife to a largely ordinary woman named C.M. “Biography of X” is framed as Lucca’s book, written partly to correct the errors of unauthorized biography but mostly in an anguished effort to uncover the secrets of a woman with whom she was so intimate yet knew not at all. As the chapters recount Lucca’s interviews with the people whom X, under different guises, knew, loved and exploited through the decades, it describes a strangely mutated version of American history as well. The imagined details of the Great Disunion, as it’s called, yo-yo between the plausible and the preposterous (FDR chief-of-staff Emma Goldman?

Greg Becker, who was the longtime CEO of Silicon Valley Bank, pictured last year. "Looks like Silicon Valley Bank is in some deep shit," Uncommon Capital general partner Jamie Quint tweeted. Startup founders scrambled to get their funds out of Silicon Valley Bank after its collapse. Andreessen Horowitz announced this week that it will continue banking with Silicon Valley Bank "for the foreseeable future" but is crafting a longer-term plan to diversify. Even so, he added, "I think we'd be supportive, as they stabilize, for them to be one of many partners that our founders bank with."

☆ You Like to Camp. You Like to Cuddle. But Would You Share a Sleeping Bag with Your Partner?
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-15 | by ( Justin Pot | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

THE EXPRESSION “hitting the sack” gets slightly more literal in the great outdoors. If you’re a couple, though, you’re likely hitting separate sleeping sacks—unless you buy a double sleeping bag, wide enough to fit two people inside its nylon sheets. If you’ve ever tried to wriggle, worm-like, to snuggle up with your significant other while in the backcountry, only to be blocked by thick layers of insulated material, you might understand the appeal. Double sleeping bags should in theory work well for outdoorsy couples who want to make sleeping in the woods feel more like sleeping at home. That said, such intimate designs aren’t ideal for duos who disagree on ideal sleep temperature and position.

☆ Do Couples Get Better Sleep in Double Sleeping Bags?
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-14 | by ( Justin Pot | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

THE TWO-BODY PROBLEM Proponents of double sleeping bags like this one from REI ($329) say they let them snuggle up with their beloveds. THE EXPRESSION “hitting the sack” gets slightly more literal in the great outdoors. If you’re a couple, though, you’re likely hitting separate sleeping sacks—unless you buy a double sleeping bag, wide enough to fit two people inside its nylon sheets. Double sleeping bags should in theory work well for outdoorsy couples who want to make sleeping in the woods feel more like sleeping at home. That said, such intimate designs aren’t ideal for duos who disagree on ideal sleep temperature and position.

☆ SVB is the first social media bank run in history. The crisis will change the banking industry forever.
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-14 | by ( Kali Hays | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

It's an all out bank run," founder Howard Lerman tweeted on Thursday when SVB was trying to raise new capital. "The thing about a bank run is that there's no upside to keeping your money in the at-risk bank," wrote Xavier Helgesen of Enduring Ventures the same day. Another deleted tweet says, "As one of probably the few founders to go through a modern bank run, get your money out now. Some tech types who banked with SVB have even deleted tweets they put out in support of the bank. 'MONDAY, BLOODY MONDAY'Meanwhile, Jason Calcanis and David Sacks, tech founders turned investors, have been tweeting about little but SVB since Thursday.

That's the question posed by certain members of the Silicon Valley elite who are attributing layoffs to a boom-time phenomenon: over-hiring and "fake" work. A particular view of 'work'This concept of fake work is rooted, at least partly, in political disagreement. Several of the tech figures pushing these ideas lean Republican, in contrast to the left-leaning tech workers they're lambasting. He and others pushing a grind culture are motivated, as tech employees commenting on the workplace app Blind noted. "I think it's a false narrative to say many people do fake work, especially when companies already deploy workplace monitoring tools."

☆ Silicon Valley Bank's meltdown shows that tech's elites need the government after all
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-13 | by ( Emilia David | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

The Silicon Valley Bank meltdown is teaching the tech industry that regulators are sometimes needed. Tech's relationship with regulation has long been contentiousGovernment regulations, some of tech's most vocal figures contend, can stifle innovation and creativity. "I would suspect that this failure will result in some significant changes to banking regulation," Griffin said. "My logic for that is it isn't sustainable to have a run on a bank triggered mainly on Twitter." Very few in the VC world believe that the move to protect depositors will be bad for the industry's overall health.

☆ Investors implore the government to step in after Silicon Valley Bank failure
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-11 | by ( Matt Rosoff | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +5 min

Big names in Silicon Valley and the finance sector are calling publicly for the federal government to push another bank to assume Silicon Valley Bank's assets and obligations after the financial institution failed on Friday. But the vast majority of SVB's customers were businesses that had more than that on deposit at the bank. As of December, more than 95% of the bank's deposits were uninsured, according to regulatory filings. Investors are concerned that these failures could reduce confidence in the banking sector, particularly mid-sized banks with under $250 billion in deposits. "This was a hysteria-induced bank run caused by VCs," Ryan Falvey, a fintech investor at Restive Ventures, told CNBC on Friday.

That's the question posed by a certain members of the Silicon Valley elite who are attributing layoffs to a boom-time phenomenon: over-hiring and "fake" work. "There's nothing for these people to do — they're really — it's all fake work," he said. A particular view of 'work'This concept of fake work is rooted, at least partly, in political disagreement. Several of the tech figures pushing these ideas lean Republican, in contrast to the left-leaning tech workers they're lambasting. "I think it's a false narrative to say many people do fake work, especially when companies already deploy workplace monitoring tools."

☆ Czech company sees boom in market for fake tanks, HIMARS
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-06 | by ( Jan Lopatka | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

[1/5] A worker prepares an inflatable decoy of a military vehicle, which is used to confuse enemy attacks, during a media presentation in Decin, Czech Republic, March 6, 2023. The company has added HIMARS to its fleet of over 30 types of inflatable real-size decoys it sells to customers worldwide, Chief Executive Vojtech Fresser said on Monday. "I can imagine that if we want to support a partner country which is in trouble, we will send them Inflatech inflatable decoys and they are already there or certainly will be," he said. The Czech Defence Ministry, which helps organise Czech military supplies to Ukraine, was not immediately available for comment. The HIMARS inflatable top, without the heat generator and compressor equipment, weighs 43 kg, Fresser told reporters at the company's factory in the northern Czech city of Decin.

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