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☆ DeSantis echoes Trump in latest offense against the media after taunting the former president during live TV roundtable
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-07 | by ( Kimberly Leonard | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +9 min

Ron DeSantis won't be the Republican to give the party's response to President Joe Biden's forthcoming State of the Union Address. The broadcast echoed the media ire former President Donald Trump frequently has on display. "To assassinate someone's character with anonymous sources would have been a total no-no," DeSantis said of past media practice. Like Trump, DeSantis often bemoans his media coverage and excoriates what he calls the "corporate press." Despite raising his tussles with the press, DeSantis insisted non-politicians would be the focus of new libel laws.

SummarySummary Companies Number of cases totals 57, court records showFeb 6 (Reuters) - Nearly 60 lawsuits claiming hair relaxer products sold by L'Oreal USA Inc and other companies cause cancer and other health problems will be consolidated in Chicago federal court, according to a Monday order from the Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation. At least 57 lawsuits have been filed in federal courts across the country over the products, which use chemicals to permanently straighten textured hair, court records show. The lawsuits allege the companies knew their products contained dangerous chemicals but marketed and sold them anyway. In a statement posted online after the first lawsuits were filed, L'Oreal said it is "confident in the safety of our products and believe the recent lawsuits filed against us have no legal merit." She estimates that thousands of women could end up suing over the products, which are typically marketed to women of color.

☆ Bank of England's Mann doubles down on backing for rate hikes
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-06 | by ( Gergely Szakacs | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

After hiking interest rates to 4% last week, the BoE's Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) signalled it was close to pausing a run of increases which began in December 2021. Mann, consistently the most hawkish member of the MPC, said the risk of under-tightening policy far outweighed the alternative. "In my view, a tighten-stop-tighten-loosen policy boogie looks too much like fine-tuning to be good monetary policy. "From a risk-management point of view, monetary policy has to lean against these upside biases since wage and price inflation are still so high," she said. At the other end of the MPC spectrum, Dhingra and Tenreyro say over-tightening risked sending Britain's economy into an unnecessarily severe downturn, with the full force of the BoE's rate hikes yet to feed through.

☆ Jeff Erdmann has been the best wealth advisor in the US for 7 years running. The Merrill Lynch pro told us how he's keeping clients' money safe with a recession on the way.
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-31 | by ( Marley Jay | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Forbes has named Jeff Erdmann the best wealth manager in the US every year since 2016. Erdmann's group at Merrill Private Wealth Management oversees $14 billion in assets. Erdmann, who is coming up on his 40th year at Merrill Private Wealth Management, has been named the best wealth manager in the country by Forbes every year since 2016. In stocks, Erdmann says he remains committed to dividends and dividend growth. Erdmann says allocating to the right sectors is vital, and right now, it's not clear what parts of the market offer the best long-term opportunities.

☆ Trump risks 'hush money' charges carrying up to 4 years in prison, say ex-Manhattan prosecutors
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-31 | by ( Laura Italiano | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

Trump's Stormy Daniels "hush money" is the subject of a Manhattan grand jury, The NY Times reports. Ex-Manhattan financial crimes prosecutors say Trump risks felony-level state records-fraud charges. The first requirement to proving the highest level of falsifying business records would be showing that records were indeed falsified in the business records of an enterprise. Cohen has admitted being the bag man who delivered $130,000 in "hush money" on the brink of the 2016 election. Each check could be a separate "falsifying business records" charge, Moscow said.

☆ 'The Last of Us' made a major change to a game character. The showrunners explain why it was important to expand on Bill and his love story.
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-30 | by ( Kirsten Acuna | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

Sunday's episode expands greatly on a minor survivor from the video game, Bill (Nick Offerman). The showrunners told Insider why it was important to show Bill's love story with Frank. In the game, Joel and Ellie seek out Bill, shown as a paranoid loner who speaks to himself, to help them fix up a vehicle and carry on across the country. Frank, also his partner in the game, is only seen dead, hanging after committing suicide some time ago after the infected bit him. Bill tells Joel to keep his partner, Tess, safe in the same way he protected Frank for years.

☆ Black maternal deaths and disparities increase in Mississippi
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-27 | by ( The Associated Press | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +3 min

The Mississippi Maternal Mortality Report shows that the maternal mortality rate increased by 8.8% between 2013‐2016 and 2017‐2019, with the latter period being the most recent one analyzed by researchers. Of the maternal deaths directly related to pregnancy, 87.5% were determined to be preventable. Velvet Johnson holds a sign calling for support of the Mississippi Black Women's Roundtable legislative agenda at Capitol in Jackson, Miss. It found that 42.5% of the maternal deaths it identified occurred more than 60 days but less than one year after delivery. Advocates from the Mississippi Black Women’s Roundtable, an advocacy group, gathered at the Capitol to urge lawmakers to extend postpartum coverage.

Box office receipts can rise as much as 75% in the weeks following a best picture nomination, according to Comscore data. The distributor, United Artists Releasing, planned the release strategy to coincide with this week's Oscar nominations, with the hope the movie would benefit from a box-office bounce. "Tar," a best picture contender starring Cate Blanchett as a manipulative orchestra conductor, will expand to 535 theaters from 100. 'NOT LOOKING GREAT'Even legendary director Steven Spielberg has had trouble drawing crowds to best picture nominee "The Fabelmans," his autobiographical story about family strife and anti-Semitism he faced as a teenager. Warner Bros is re-releasing the film in movie houses this weekend after it landed eight Oscar nominations including best picture and best actor.

☆ IRS warns tax refunds may be 'somewhat lower.' With high inflation, that's a 'double whammy' for families, says advisor
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-26 | by ( Kate Dore | Cfp | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

Bill Oxford | E+ | Getty ImagesIf you're banking on a tax refund, it may be "somewhat lower" than last year's payment, according to the IRS. Meanwhile, many Americans are still struggling financially, with nearly one-third relying on their tax refund to make ends meet, a recent Credit Karma survey found. Joe Buhrmann, a certified financial planner and senior financial planning consultant at eMoney Advisor, said smaller refunds and high inflation may be a "double whammy" for some families. Thanks to the American Rescue Plan of 2021, many families got a boost from the enhanced child tax credit, worth up to $3,600 per child, and child and dependent care tax credit of up to $4,000 per dependent. For 2022, the child tax credit dropped back to a maximum $2,000 per child, and the child and dependent care tax credit reverted to $1,050 per dependent.

☆ College professors are considering creative ways to stop students from using AI to cheat
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-21 | by ( Beatrice Nolan | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Some professors say students are using new tech to pass off AI-generated content as their own. Some professors say students are using OpenAI's buzzy chatbot, ChatGPT, to pass off AI-generated content as their own. The issue has led to professors considering creative ways to stamp out the use of AI in colleges. Blue books and oral exams"I'm perplexed about how to handle AI going forward," Aumann told Insider. Bartel agreed that students could get away with using AI very easily.

☆ The 'JR-15,' an AR-15 rifle for kids, is being marketed again weeks after a 6-year-old shot a teacher
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-21 | by ( Alia Shoaib | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

An Illinois gunmaker is again advertising its AR-15 rifle for kids, called the "JR-15." A company spokesperson told Vice's Motherboard it will take orders for the rifle later in 2023. The JR-15 is a .22 long rifle roughly 20% smaller than a standard AR-15 that weighs less than 2-and-½ pounds. The state later passed a law banning gun marketing toward children, and this week several pro-gun groups lost an initial bid to block the ban. Wee 1 Tactical confirmed to Motherboard that the JR-15 would be at the show.

☆ Santander lagging behind on inflation payment for German bank staff
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-20 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

FRANKFURT, Jan 20 (Reuters) - Spain's Santander (SAN.MC) is the only major bank operating in Germany that has not announced a special payment to local staff to help them with soaring inflation, union officials told Reuters, although the bank said talks were ongoing. Last year, German union Verdi called on banks to give some of their lowest-earning workers a special payment to help them combat higher energy prices. "Santander is the big exception among public and private banks," said Stefan Wittmann, a Verdi official negotiating on behalf of Santander employees. On Friday, Santander and union officials agreed to take up the issue at a meeting next week, but Santander hasn't made a binding offer, Wittmann said. Santander said it was in talks with Verdi on amending its collective wage agreement, and the inflation demands came up in talks late last year.

☆ ECB's Holzmann expects at least two rate increases in H1 -newspaper
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-20 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

VIENNA, Jan 20 (Reuters) - European Central Bank policymaker Robert Holzmann expects at least two interest-rate increases of 50 basis points each in the first half of this year, he said in an interview with Austrian newspaper Die Presse published on Friday. Holzmann said that while headline inflation has eased, core inflation, which strips out volatile energy and food prices, had not. He said that as long as core inflation had not fallen significantly interest rates would have to keep rising. "Core inflation is currently at more than 5%, which is still two-and-a-half times our target," he said. Reporting by Francois Murphy; Additional reporting by Frank Siebelt in Frankfurt; Editing by Hugh LawsonOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ A Taco Bell customer in Colorado who became ill after eating claims he ate a taco laced with rat poison
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-19 | by ( Aaron Mok | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

A Taco Bell customer fell "violently ill" and claimed he ate a taco laced with rat poison. A day after the incident, deputies closed the Taco Bell location down and ordered the restaurant to discard its entire food inventory, Bartmann said. While investigators saw a "green-ish, grey-ish" substance in the taco the customer ate, they have not confirmed what it was, he said. Investigators obtained surveillance video footage from the Taco Bell where the customer bought his food, and are currently reviewing it. A spokesperson from Taco Bell told Insider that "the safety of customers and team members is a priority."

☆ China's reopening fuels global growth optimism, Davos panel says
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-18 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

REUTERS/Arnd WiegmannFRANKFURT, Jan 17 (Reuters) - China's reopening from pandemic restrictions could drive global growth beyond expectations and help avoid a broader recession even as some of the world's largest economies struggle to overcome a downturn, top finance officials at the World Economic Forum said. 'STRONG LABOUR MARKETS'Peterson said he still expected a "very mild" recession in the United States, Europe and the Britain, but full year net growth was still going to be positive. "Strong labour markets are not consistent with what we see with a recession and the labour markets are strong almost everywhere in the world," he added. Credit Suisse Chairman Axel Lehmann said he even hoped the United States could avoid a recession, but he too put his bets on China. "I also think that the economy has been surprising us quarter after quarter; the fourth quarter in Europe will be most likely still positive," Centeno said.

☆ Netflix set for slowest revenue growth as ad plan struggles to gain traction
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-17 | by ( Eva Mathews | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

REUTERS/Bing GuanJan 17 (Reuters) - Netflix Inc (NFLX.O) is expected to report its slowest quarterly revenue growth on Thursday as its ad-supported plan struggles to attract customers in the saturating U.S. market, which could pressure the company to pull back on content spending this year. "Given current interest rates, Netflix will have to be very selective about green-lighting content and how they would finance it." It returned to subscriber growth in the third quarter, but its stock, an investor favorite during its years of rapid growth, still ended the year with a drop of more than 50%. "As overall streaming growth flattens out, most of the more mature streaming platforms have leveled off as well," MoffettNathanson said, adding that Netflix's reach fell by 200 basis points in the quarter. Reuters GraphicsStill, some analysts believe that the ad-supported plan will pay off in the long run, especially in developing markets, where spending power is weaker.

☆ HBO's big bet on 'The Last of Us' is paying off so far
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-17 | by ( Travis Clark | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

HBO's "The Last of Us" had one of the network's biggest premieres with 4.7 million viewers. It's based on the hit 2013 video game of the same name. The hour-and-a-half series premiere was watched by 4.7 million viewers across linear TV and HBO Max on Sunday, the network announced on Tuesday. "Boardwalk Empire" remains HBO's overall second-biggest premiere of all time, with 4.8 million viewers in 2010. There are two installments of the game thus far, with "Part II" released in 2020.

☆ Wintershall Dea urges Germany to clear CO2 exports for storage
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-16 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

FRANKFURT, Jan 16 (Reuters) - German oil and gas producer Wintershall Dea (WINT.UL) (BASFn.DE) urged Berlin on Monday to clear exports of carbon dioxide to European neighbours that would be buried in so-called carbon capture and storage facilities (CCS). Wintershall is involved in various CCS projects, including in Norway and Denmark, which aim to store CO2 in depleted oil and gas fields. The early capture of CO2 emissions in the production process and their subsequent storage could help achieve climate targets and provide a new area of activity for hydrocarbon exploration companies. Unavoidable residual emissions in Germany currently amount to well over 40 million tonnes per year from industries such as chemicals and cement, Langemann said. Wintershall Dea plans to build up a business capturing 20-30 million tonnes of CO2 per annum by 2040.

☆ OECD chief says China’s reopening ‘overwhelmingly positive’ to help tackle global inflation crisis
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-16 | by ( Sam Meredith | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

OECD Secretary-General Mathias Cormann on Monday said China's reopening is "overwhelmingly positive" in the global fight to tackle surging inflation. "We certainly very much welcome the easing of Covid related restrictions in China," Cormann told CNBC's Joumanna Bercetche at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. Beijing reported on Saturday that almost 60,000 people with Covid had died in hospital since the country dropped its strict Covid restrictions last month, a sharp increase from previous figures. "One of the drivers of inflation was very much the supply shock related to global supply not being able to keep up with global demand … as swiftly as was required," Cormann said. "And so, China coming back into the global market in earnest and supply chains functioning more efficiently will help bring inflation down.

☆ Two professors who say they caught students cheating on essays with ChatGPT explain why AI plagiarism can be hard to prove
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-14 | by ( Beatrice Nolan | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Two philosopher professors said they caught their students submitting essays written by ChatGPT. If students don't confess to using the program, professors say it can be hard to prove. Antony Aumann, a religious studies and philosophy professor at Fordham University, told Insider he had caught two students submitting essays written by ChatGPT. When the chatbot said it was 99% sure the essays were written by ChatGPT, he forwarded the results to the students. Christopher Bartel, a professor of philosophy at Appalachian State University, said that while the grammar in AI-generated essays is almost perfect, the substance tends to lack detail.

☆ A top fund manager who's beaten 99% of competitors over the past 5 years shares the investing strategy that led to his success — and 7 of his favorite value stocks right now
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-13 | by ( James Faris | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Eli Salzmann's Neuberger Berman Large Cap Value Fund has beaten 99% of peers in the past five years. Here are seven stocks that Salzmann loves right now, even if the economy weakens. Value stocks have been in vogue for the past year or so, but in the decade before that, investors only seemed to care about growth stocks. The two indexes were weighed down by lagging value stocks, but still managed to fetch returns 316% and 240%, respectively. During that time, many value fund managers drifted toward growth names, said Eli Salzmann, the portfolio manager of the Neuberger Berman Large Cap Value Fund (NBPIX), in a recent interview with Insider.

☆ Lisa Marie Presley to be laid to rest at Graceland
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-13 | by ( Mary Milliken | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

LOS ANGELES, Jan 13 (Reuters) - Singer Lisa Marie Presley will be laid to rest at Graceland, the Memphis mansion she inherited from her father Elvis Presley, the "King of Rock 'n' Roll," a representative for her daughter said on Friday. Lisa Marie Presley remembered her son in an essay for People magazine earlier this year that she posted on Instagram, calling herself "destroyed" by his death. As the only daughter of Elvis Presley, Lisa Marie became the owner of her father's Graceland mansion, a popular tourist attraction in the city. Tributes to Lisa Marie Presley continued to pour in on Friday. Lisa Marie Presley is survived by her mother, daughter Riley Keough, 33, and 14-year-old twin daughters Harper and Finley Lockwood.

☆ Volkswagen Group deliveries lowest in over a decade
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-12 | by ( Victoria Waldersee | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Buzz, a fresh take on the iconic vehicle of the Volkswagen brand, during its world premiere in Paris, France, March 9, 2022. Group sales rose 14.3% in the fourth quarter, but the outlook for 2023 remains clouded by weak economies and supply chain shortages, extended executive sales committee member Hildegard Wortmann said. Audi, Lamborghini and Bentley weathered 2022 better than Volkswagen Passenger Cars and Skoda, with deliveries down around 4% at the premium brands and down 9% for mass-market vehicles. Group deliveries fell 7% versus 2021. The Volkswagen Group's deliveries were up 12% in the second half of the year, but the full-year figure was dragged down by a drop of over a fifth in the first half.

☆ BoE's Mann does not see risk of raising rates too high
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-12 | by ( Andy Bruce | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

My reading is we're not there yet," Mann said in a question-and-answer session after giving a lecture at Alliance Manchester Business School. The BoE raised its main interest rate to 3.5% in December from 3%; Mann voted for a bigger increase to 3.75%. Mann said she assessed the risk of over-tightening based on a range of metrics, including mortgage rates, equity valuations and currency strength, which fed into broader gauges of financial conditions, as well as financial market expectations. Financial markets see a 60% chance that the BoE will raise interest rates to 4% next month, and a 40% chance of a smaller rate rise to 3.75%. Rates are seen by markets as most likely to peak at 4.5% in the middle of the year, but with a high chance that the BoE could stop sooner at 4.25%.

☆ Bayern in need of a keeper after Neuer injury, coach Nagelsmann says
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-12 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

BERLIN, Jan 12 (Reuters) - Bayern Munich want to sign a goalkeeper following the injury to Germany captain Manuel Neuer but the options on the transfer market in the winter period are limited, coach Julian Nagelsmann said on Thursday. Speaking in Doha, Qatar, at the end of a one-week training camp ahead of the Bundesliga season restart next week, Nagelsmann said that, while 34-year-old Sven Ulreich was ready to step in to replace Neuer, the club still needed another keeper. Nagelsmann said the choices behind Ulreich were limited to younger keepers, including 19-year-old Johannes Schenk, with no experience of top league matches. Bayern, top of the Bundesliga, resume their hunt for a record-extending 11th straight league crown against RB Leipzig on Jan. 20. "We want to put ourselves on track for the big match against top league rival Leipzig next week," he said.

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