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☆ The US Army's Green Berets have struggled to bring enough recruits into their elite ranks, data shows
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-08 | by ( Steve Beynon | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +8 min

Army Special Forces has struggled to bring in new talent since before the pandemic, recruiting data shows. These elite troops, known as Green Berets, are the military's go-to force for guerrilla warfare. But the service's Special Forces has been struggling to bring in new talent since before the pandemic, recruiting data shows. It exceeded its goals that year with 1,358 new Special Forces contracts, but dropped again with 779 recruits in 2022. So far this year, 527 new applicants have signed on to try for the Green Berets.

Persons: —, Jon Braga, Military.com, we've, Braga, you'll, Camp, Katherine Kuzminski, Militarry.com, Z, Kuzminski, It's Organizations: Special Forces, Green Berets, Service, Army, Forces, Green Beret, Military.com, Green, U.S . Army, Operations Command, U.S . Army CH, Southern Strike, Center, New, New American Security, Special Forces Groups, 75th Ranger Regiment, Defense Department, Navy, National Guard Locations: America, Camp Shelby , Mississippi, Afghanistan, New American

☆ Chinese quants redouble AI bets amid ChatGPT frenzy
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-05 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

REUTERS/Thomas White/Illustration/File PhotoSHANGHAI/SINGAPORE, June 5 (Reuters) - Chinese quant hedge fund managers are rushing to explore ChatGPT-style tools, embracing the emerging AI technology that has sparked a global frenzy since the release of the widely popular Microsoft-backed OpenAI chatbot. His hedge fund already uses ChatGPT to better understand a company's fundamentals and avoid value traps, project earnings power, and identify investment opportunities and risks. A ChatGPT-like tool boosts quants' ability to process text-related data, said Feng Ji, chairman of Baiont Capital. Feng's hedge fund, backed by former Google China chief and AI veteran Kai-Fu Lee, has invested heavily in hardware to enhance computing power required for model-training. Regulators are looking for ways to tackle the impact of generative AI technology.

Persons: Thomas White, Steve Chen, Feng Ji, ChatGPT, Feng, Kai, Fu Lee, Feng's, Larry Cao, Cao, it's, Samuel Shen, Tom Westbrook, Himani Sarkar Organizations: Microsoft, Baiont, Google China, Flyer, Zhishan Investment, Wall, Regulators, HK, Baidu, CFA Institute, Thomson Locations: SHANGHAI, SINGAPORE, Shanghai, Beijing, Feng's Nanjing, China

☆ Citadel's red-hot run has led to a new problem: It's harder than ever to nab an internship there
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-05 | by ( Paige Hagy | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

Billionaire Ken Griffin's Citadel internship program is attracting more students than ever before. Citadel, the $57 billion hedge fund, and market maker Citadel Securities recruit hundreds of undergraduate and graduate students every year for an 11-week summer internship program. The internship starts Monday, with a kickoff week at the Four Seasons in Fort Lauderdale and Palm Beach. "We think of campus recruiting very much the same way that other firms think of executive recruiting," Mitro said. "All of it is geared towards simulating what life would be like for them if they were to join the firm," Mitro said.

Persons: Ken, Matt Mitro, Griffin, Mitro, It's, it's, commerciality, UT Austin — Organizations: Citadel, Citadel Securities, New, Wayback, NASA, US Army, MIT, UC Berkeley, Harvard, Stanford, Princeton, UT Austin, Mathematical Association of America, Intercollegiate, Discover Citadel Locations: Fort Lauderdale, Palm, Citadel, Miami, New York City, Singapore, Paris, Palm Beach, New York, Chicago, London, Hong Kong

☆ Snap hires new head of engineering from Google
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-05 | by ( Sheila Dang | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

June 5 (Reuters) - Snap Inc (SNAP.N) said on Monday it hired a new senior vice president of engineering from Google, the latest in a string of new recruits to advance its advertising business. Eric Young, who was previously vice president of engineering for Alphabet Inc's (GOOGL.O) Google Cloud, will oversee the core infrastructure for Snap, which owns the popular photo messaging app Snapchat. While Snap has consistently expanded its audience for Snapchat, which now has 750 million monthly users, the company has struggled to generate revenue at the same pace. While at Google, Young worked on building the tech infrastructure for products like search, ads and YouTube. His appointment at Snap comes after the company hired Rob Wilk, former head of advertising at Microsoft Corp (MSFT.O), to become president of the Americas region, as well as another Google executive to lead revenue product.

Persons: Eric Young, Young, Rob Wilk, Sheila Dang, Matthew Lewis Organizations: Google, YouTube, Microsoft Corp, Thomson Locations: Americas, Dallas

☆ Was mass hysteria behind the mysterious case of 227 middle school students fainting last fall?
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-02 | by ( Lillian Perlmutter | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +22 min

On September 23, 2022, 12-year-old Esmeralda walked out of the girls' bathroom at her middle school in Tapachula, Mexico, and fainted. Mexican President Andrés Manuel Lopez Obrador began including regular updates on the government's investigation into the fainting episodes in his daily press conferences. Dr. Carlos Alberto Pantoja Meléndez, one of Mexico's few field epidemiologists, had taken an interest in the fainting episodes. News of the initial fainting episodes had been shared there, the epidemiologist, who asked to remain anonymous, told Pantoja-Melendez. Both believe that the fainting episodes in Mexico were examples of something new and alarming: mass hysteria spreading online.

Persons: Esmeralda, Diala, Gladys, Esmeralda's, convulsing, Esmeralda Eva Alicia Lépiz, —, Esmerelda, Mami, Andrés Manuel Lopez Obrador, Gladys didn't, Bochil, Luis Villagrán, bristled, Susanna, Tapachula, Diala's, José Eduardo Morales Montes, they'd, Eva Alicia Lépiz, Hidalgo —, I've, Carlos Alberto Pantoja Meléndez, Pantoja Meléndez, Meléndez, Robert Bartholomew, Bartholomew, Lopez Obrador, busily, Simon Wessley, schoolgirls, twitching, we'll, Pantoja, Melendez, Bartholomew said, we're, We've, who's Organizations: Federal, Central America, Journalists, Mexico City —, Mexico City, Universidad Autónoma Nacional, University of Auckland, Roswell, Kings College, New York, Health Department, Pantoja Locations: Tapachula, Mexico, Bochil, Mexican, Chiapas, Mexico City, El Pais, Chiapas —, Central, Esmeralda, Mexico City — Tlaxcala, Hidalgo, México, University of Auckland , New Zealand, Veracruz, London, Southern Mexico, Kanshasa, Tanzania, Blackburn , England, Sweden, Pyuthan, Nepal, Leroy , New York, Tapachula .

☆ A ‘Dirty’ Job That Few Want: Mining Companies Struggle to Hire for the Energy Transition
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-01 | by ( Yusuf Khan | ) www.wsj.com time to read: +10 min

Despite their part in the energy transition, mining companies face a perception of being in a “dirty” industry thanks to a legacy of mining disasters and accusations of worker exploitation and sexual assault. Canada’s mining and mineral-engineering enrollment was down 10% in 2020 compared with 2016, according to Canada’s Mining Industry Human Resources Council. SHARE YOUR THOUGHTS What message should mining companies deliver to young workers to attract them to the industry? Mining companies also face accusations of exploitation of local workforces. She hopes that younger workers will help mining companies evolve, taking on more social responsibility and improving their mining practices.

Persons: Lily Dickson, Mawson, ”, Alex Gorman, Peel Hunt, Rohitesh Dhawan, Alex Gorman “, Gorman, “, Haydon Mort, Stacy Hope, Cole Burston, Hope, Codelco, Centamin, Martin Horgan, Mort, Geologize, Jamie Kelsey Fry, Dickson, Yusuf Khan Organizations: University of Leeds, Leeds, Rio Tinto, McKinsey, U.S . National Center for Education Statistics, Canada’s Mining, Resources Council, Peel, International Council, Mining, Metals, Tinto, of Labor Statistics, Australian Bureau, Statistics, Geologize Ltd, BHP, . Workers, Bloomberg, Codelco, Chilean, Walmart, Recruiting, Centamin, Sustainable Business, “ Locations: Finland, Vancouver, Europe, U.S, Australia, Rio, South Africa, Lily Dickson Canada, Botswana, “, Saharan Africa, Ontario, Canada, Chile, Africa, Congo, Ghana, Zimbabwe, yusuf.khan

☆ OpenAI CEO Sam Altman finally watched 'Ex Machina,' a movie in which a rich tech billionaire creates dangerously smart AI
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-01 | by ( Lakshmi Varanasi | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman tweeted that he finally watched the movie "Ex Machina." Sam Altman, the CEO of OpenAI, spent Wednesday night watching the 2015 movie "Ex Machina" for the first time. The movie details the story of a rich tech billionaire, Nathan, who creates an AI-powered humanoid robot named Ava. Ava the humanoid from "Ex Machina" ultimately merges into human society. But in a tweet Thursday morning, Altman said that while he thought "Ex Machina" was a "pretty good movie," he still wasn't sure why "everyone" told him to watch it.

Persons: Sam Altman, Altman, Nathan, Ava, Caleb, Alan Turing, OpenAI's ChatGPT, ChatGPT, hasn't, OpenAI Organizations: Stanford, Philosophy

☆ After a year of fighting in Ukraine, the brutal logic behind Russia's 'human wave' attacks is becoming clear
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-01 | by ( Michael Peck | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

At the bottom of the hierarchy is what RUSI terms "disposable infantry." According to the RUSI report, the term "human wave attacks" has been misleadingly applied to the way Russia has employed these infantry forces. The assault troops attack in larger company-size formations, backed by tanks and artillery as they attempt to outflank Ukrainian defenses. Once their mission is complete, assault forces are replaced by line and disposable infantry, who begin preparing for the next attack. Disposable troops are fed into the meat-grinder and killed or wounded before they can gain enough experience to survive.

Persons: —, Wagner Group's, Arkady Budnitsky, Wagner, They're, Diego Herrera Carcedo, demographically, Michael Peck Organizations: Service, Royal United Services Institute, Anadolu Agency, Getty, Wagner Group, Donetsk People's Republics, Russian, Soviet, —, Defense, Foreign Policy, Twitter, LinkedIn Locations: Ukraine, Russia, Russian, British, Rostov, Luhansk, Donetsk, Kharkiv, Forbes

☆ Russian Wagner Group is using American social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter to recruit new members around the world, according to new report
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-31 | by ( Erin Snodgrass | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

The Wagner Group has turned to Facebook and Twitter in search of new recruits, Politico reported. Job postings linked to the Wagner Group garnered nearly 120,000 views across Facebook and Twitter over the last ten months, according to Politico. A Western government official, meanwhile, told the outlet that at least two phone numbers included in the social media posts were linked to either the Wagner Group or Russian intelligence. The group boasted salaries of 240,000 rubles per month, or the equivalent of $3,192, according to Politico. Even before the Russia-Ukraine war, the Wagner Group was involved in fighting throughout Central Africa.

Persons: Wagner, —, Vladimir Putin's, Kyle Walter, — Wagner, Yevgeny Prigozhin, Prigozhin Organizations: Wagner, Facebook, Twitter, Politico, Service, Russian, Wagner Group, Meta Locations: Bakhmut, Ukraine, Russian, Russia, Central Africa

☆ Aspiring Navy SEALs take performance drugs to get through training — the military is aware, but doesn't drug test, report shows.
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-30 | by ( ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

A new Navy report highlights safety issues with elite SEAL training like drug use and recruit deaths. A total of 11 SEAL candidates have died during training over the years, according to Navy reportThe training to become a Navy SEAL includes 24-week program known as Basic Underwater Demolition/SEAL or BUD/S. Navy SEAL candidates reportedly use PEDs like testosterone, growth hormone, and Viagra to get through trainingAfter Mullen's death, a subsequent Navy investigation found performance-enhancing drugs (PEDs) in his car, including testosterone and human growth hormone. Several other SEAL candidates were removed from the program for drug use following the investigation. Bradley Geary "believed the primary reason for attrition issue was the current generation had less mental toughness," according to the report.

☆ Russian energy giant Gazprom's private security force was deployed to fight in Ukraine, report says
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-30 | by ( Filip De Mott | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Gazprom's private security companies have forces fighting in the Ukraine war, the Wall Street Journal said. According to the Wall Street Journal, it is actively helping provide manpower to the frontlines of Russia's war on Ukraine. But interest in private security groups is growing in Russia, with other mercenary forces fighting in Ukraine. This includes recruits from former security contractor Redut, and from Patriot, an established private security force. Meanwhile, Gazprom has had a difficult year in energy markets, as the Ukraine war led to Western sanctions and restricted trade.

Persons: —, Vladimir Putin, That's Organizations: Wall Street Journal, Gazprom, Service, Wall Street, Kremlin, Defense Ministry, WSJ, Gazprom didn't, Wagner Locations: Ukraine, Bakhmut, Russia

☆ Cuban immigrants are joining the Russian army to fight in Ukraine in exchange for citizenship, a report says
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-28 | by ( Alia Shoaib | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Cuban immigrants in Russia are reportedly joining the army to fight in Ukraine. In exchange, the immigrants will be given Russian citizenship. The Russian military has been recruiting immigrants, hoping to avoid another mandatory mobilization. Earlier this month, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced that foreigners who enlisted in the Russian army to fight in the war would be entitled to get Russian citizenship along with their families. It has previously been reported that Russian authorities were also trying to recruit Central Asian migrant workers to fight in Ukraine to avoid another mandatory mobilization.

☆ Prospective international spies are demanding to work from home and bring their cell phones to the office, spy chief says
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-27 | by ( Nathan Rennolds | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

"We cannot offer certain things that are taken for granted today," Kahl said. "Remote work is barely possible here as we need to guarantee security. Not being able to take cell phones into the workplace is also not something you can expect from young people today," he added. According to the CIA's Ask Molly feature, "the CIA's public voice since 2002," prospective US agents will also be disappointed to hear that the service rarely allows for remote work. The website says that staff "primarily work in a Sensitive Compartmented Information Facility (SCIF) to protect our information, sources, and methods from prying eyes or those who may want to harm," meaning opportunities for remote work are scarce.

☆ Russia's brash invasion plan for Ukraine wasted special-operations units on missions they weren't meant to do
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-23 | by ( Michael Peck | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +8 min

Russia's invasion also struggled because of flaws in its planning for the operation. "The lack of effective line infantry units caused Spetsnaz units to be deployed mostly as light infantry, which also led to a high level of casualties among these units. It details not only structural flaws but also the tactical misuse of Russian special forces during the invasion itself. When the airborne assault on Kyiv failed and the tank columns stalled, the special forces were left adrift. Russian commanders then sent Spetsnaz units in to operate like light infantry, which increased their casualties and left fewer Spetsnaz units available for their designated missions.

☆ Failures in Ukraine haven't left 'cracks' in Putin's hold on power, German spy chief says, warning Russia has what it needs to wage a long war
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-23 | by ( John Haltiwanger | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Germany's spy chief, Bruno Kahl, said there are no "cracks" in Putin's system despite Russia's failures in Ukraine. The Kremlin has gone to extraordinary lengths to stifle opposition to the war in Ukraine. Kahl warned that "Russia is still capable of waging a long-range war" in Ukraine. In this kind of environment, it's difficult to get an accurate read on public sentiment toward the war in Russia. Russia was expected to easily defeat Ukraine, and its failures in the war have raised questions as to whether Putin's firm grip on power in Russia might slip.

☆ Bakhmut: Wagner forces claim to have taken the eastern Ukrainian city. But Kyiv's forces could still exact a heavy toll
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-22 | by ( Sam Kiley | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +5 min

Kyiv rebuffed claims that Russian forces have captured the city in the eastern Donetsk region. LIBKOS/APYevgeny Prigozhin, the chief of the Wagner private military group, pictured in a screengrab from May 20, 2023, insisted that his men captured Bakhmut after months of fighting. A Ukrainian serviceman checks Russian positions in Bakhmut on May 11, 2023. He said regular Russian troops were incompetent cowards. And they’re being flanked to the north and south by Ukrainian troops.

☆ The Taliban promised to provide security to Afghans. New data shows threat from ISIS is growing
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-19 | by ( Eliza Mackintosh Ehsan Popalzai Antonio Jarne Lou Robinson | Eliza Mackintosh | Ehsan Popalzai | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +19 min

“Currently we don’t have security in Afghanistan at all, whenever we go out we don’t know if we will come home alive or not,” he added. Taliban security forces guard a checkpoint near the foreign ministry in Kabul on March 27, after an ISIS-K suicide bomber struck the site. The data, which is available in a live map, includes 367 pieces of open-source evidence — largely videos and images shared on social media — about 70 ISIS-K attacks since August 2021. As the Taliban try to minimize the threat ISIS-K poses, attacks on civilians continue. Taliban security forces have been waging ongoing operations and night raids against ISIS-K.

☆ Why Workplace Drug Tests Are Illogical - The New York Times
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-18 | by ( Kevin F. Boehnke | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

I would “be required to complete a drug test within 72 hours,” it said. But in addition to being a cannabis researcher I have fibromyalgia, and I had been using legal medical cannabis for nearly 10 years to help manage my symptoms. Despite the fact that 38 states have legalized medical cannabis, many employers continue to require their new hires to submit to a drug test. The Drug-Free Workplace Act of 1988 and the Drug-Free Schools and Communities Act Amendment of 1989 do, indeed, require federal employees involved in certain professions, like law enforcement and national security, to be tested. That may be changing: Last month The New York Times reported that over the past five years, the military has given thousands of recruits a second chance to pass.

☆ Wagner boss Prigozhin is going off the rails in Ukraine, and Putin may not have much choice but to let him, war expert says
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-13 | by ( Ryan Pickrell | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +12 min

Though he strikes hardest at the defense ministry, he has seemingly aimed his frustrations at Putin as well. During the intense fighting in Bakhmut, where the mercenaries have suffered tremendous losses, simmering tensions between the Russian defense ministry and the Wagner boss have boiled over. With the replacement of Gen. Sergei Surovikin, an infamous Russian leader pushed by ultranationalists like Prigozhin, in January, the Russian defense ministry retook control. The situation got so bad for Wagner at one point that expert observers speculated that the Russian military was purposefully decimating the group. Prigozhin said he was threatened with treason over his assertions that Wagner forces would pull out of Bakhmut.

☆ The Russian military is offering up to 10x an average salary to fill its ranks depleted by Ukraine invasion casualties
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-13 | by ( Bethany Dawson | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

An investigation has found that Russia has been using a popular job website to entice war recruits. Some of the roles offer salaries 10x the average Russian monthly salary of 63,060 rubles ($810). Military employers searching on the site included the 43rd Regiment of the Russian Guard and the contractual recruitment office for military service in Tver Oblast and the Kemerovo and Novgorod regions. Last month, the Russian military launched a video campaign to lure more soldiers into fighting in Ukraine. The Russian military has consistently hinted at the possibility of a second mass mobilization, with one expected at the beginning of the year and another in April.

☆ How Russians end up in a far-right militia fighting in Ukraine
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-11 | by ( Agnieszka Pikulicka-Wilczewska | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +9 min

[1/3] Danil Yugoslavsky gets ready at Civic Council’s Warsaw office, hours before crossing into Ukraine, in Warsaw, Poland, January 15, 2023. Max Smit, who crossed into Ukraine with Yugoslavsky, had never held a weapon before he joined the RVC. And there are some who think that fighting for the motherland is their cause," said Galeotti, naming the Rusich Group and ENOT Corp among far-right paramilitary units fighting on Russia's side. That's still a fraction of the hundreds of thousands of soldiers and volunteers fighting in Ukraine, and the thousands of foreigners that have been fighting Russian forces there. According to Sokolov, RVC fighters received regular salaries from the Ukrainian defence ministry.

☆ The Capitalist Generation’s Space Race
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-10 | by ( Mark Gimein | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +3 min

Worden’s foes think nothing of siccing federal investigators on him and his team in an intramural death match. To put it succinctly, in Vance’s telling, NASA and its usual-suspect corporate partners were basically devoted to doing very little — or ideally, nothing — at maximum expense. So Worden’s team went in the opposite direction: The simpler and cheaper the better. Will Marshall, a physics prodigy and space expert, became the informal leader of a group of Ames recruits living in a Silicon Valley group house, known as the Rainbow Mansion. The housemates started working on the smallest satellites they could come up with — shoebox-size contraptions they would eventually call Doves.

☆ Joe Manchin blasts Mitch McConnell's push to go 'all out' to defeat him next year: 'This is what's wrong with this place'
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-10 | by ( John L. Dorman | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Sen. Joe Manchin blasted Mitch McConnell over the GOP leader's plans to defeat him next year. "If you want to know what's wrong with the process, go talk to McConnell," he told CNN's Manu Raju. "This is what's wrong with this place, okay, and I have said this," Manchin said. "And if you want to know what's wrong with the process, go talk to McConnell," he continued. Still, despite the heavy Republican lean of the state, Manchin has managed to thrive where other Democrats have not been able to find success.

Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in favor of private equity executive John Wilson and former casino executive Gamal Aziz, the first two people to face trial of the dozens charged in the sprawling "Operation Varsity Blues" probe. All of Aziz's convictions were set aside, and all but one of Wilson's convictions were aside. Wilson and Aziz were the first to go to trial in 2021. A former University of Southern California water polo coach convicted in the second trial later won a new trial, and another parent was acquitted in the third trial. Aziz and Wilson were sentenced in February 2022 to 12 months and 15 months in prison, respectively.

☆ Bollywood film on Islamic State recruits sparks debate in India
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-09 | by ( Shilpa Jamkhandikar | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

MUMBAI, May 9 (Reuters) - A low-budget Bollywood film about young women recruited by the Islamic State has stirred up passionate debate, helping to make it an instant box-office hit in India. "The Kerala Story," set in the coastal southern state of the same name, follows three women who are indoctrinated, converted and sent to IS camps. Prime Minister Narendra Modi praised the film by director Sudipto Sen, saying it showed the consequences of terrorism. Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh, two states ruled by his Bharatiya Janata Party, have exempted the film from state taxes, making tickets cheaper. However, the Kerala High Court has refused to impose a ban in the state where the film is set, saying it was "inspired by true events."

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