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☆ See the pitch deck a Wharton grad used to raise $30 million to tackle one of healthcare's most expensive problems
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-26 | by ( Yeji Jesse Lee | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Digestive health issues are common and costly to treat. The startup said this month that it raised $30 million from investors to scale its platform. Earlier this month, Oshi announced that it raised a $30 million Series B round led by Koch Disruptive Technologies. Oshi Health removed financial details from the pitch deck it used to raise $30 million in Series B before sharing the presentation with Insider. See the presentation Oshi Health used to raise $30 million:

☆ Messy eating habits might reveal elusive black hole
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-25 | by ( Ashley Strickland | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +3 min

The clues uncovered in the experiment might help astronomers find intermediate-mass black holes by searching for evidence of their behaviors. During the simulations, the intermediate-mass black hole snagged the star in its orbit, and each time the star made another lap, the black hole took another bite out of it. Each flare is brighter than the last, creating a signature that might help astronomers find them.”The search for elusive black holesAstrophysicists are still trying to prove if intermediate-mass black holes exist in the first place. The mass of a medium-mass black hole is thought to be between that of a supermassive black hole and a much lower-mass black hole. For example, what appears to be an intermediate-mass black hole might actually be the accumulation of stellar-mass black holes.”During the 3D modeling experiment, stars were able to complete as many as five orbits around an intermediate-mass black hole before being kicked away.

☆ I've studied the sun for 23 years. Here's what happened during the last solar maximum and what to expect from this one.
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-25 | by ( Crystal Raypole | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

Solar maximum is a peak in the sun's activity that happens around the middle of each solar cycle. Mathew OwensThe solar maximum represents a peak in solar activity when the sun's magnetic field reaches its strongest and most disordered and dynamic point. NASA/Solar Dynamics ObservatorySolar cycles typically last 11 years, and the solar maximum happens roughly in the middle of each cycle. The sun's magnetic field reaches peak strength during solar maximum, generating an increase in events like solar flares and coronal mass ejections. These bursts are around four times as likely to occur during a solar maximum than a solar minimum.

The northern and southern lights, which are usually confined to the Arctic and Antarctica, have generated awe and wonder for centuries. The northern lights were visible over St. Mary's lighthouse in Whitley Bay, England on Monday. The southern lights glowed over Lake Ellesmere on the outskirts of Christchurch, New Zealand on Monday. Over the next few years, the northern lights might appear further south more regularly, said Robert Massey, executive director at the Royal Astronomical Society. A National Weather Service employee took a photo of the northern lights in Maine on Sunday.

☆ Recession fears set stocks on course for weekly drop
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-21 | by ( Tom Westbrook | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

Overnight figures showed more Americans filing claims for jobless benefits and manufacturing activity in the mid-Atlantic region slumping to its lowest level in nearly three years. Leading Economic Index, a gauge of future economic activity, also dropped to its lowest level since November 2020 overnight and it is signalling a recession starting mid-2023. Tesla (TSLA.O) shares tumbled 9.7% after the electric vehicle maker posted its lowest quarterly gross margin in two years. The yen hovered at 134.11 to the dollar, though the New Zealand dollar nursed losses at $0.6162 after Thursday's softer-than-expected inflation data. In the oil market, at $80.79 a barrel, Brent is also below its 50-day moving average for the first time since oil producers unexpectedly announced extra production cuts two weeks ago.

☆ Explainer: Sudan's conflict and what worries neighbours, the U.S. and others
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-21 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +8 min

Five of Sudan's seven neighbours - Ethiopia, Chad, Central African Republic, Libya and South Sudan - have faced political upheaval or conflict themselves in recent years. Smoke rises from burning aircraft inside Khartoum Airport during clashes between the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces and the army in Khartoum, Sudan April 17, 2023. SOUTH SUDAN - South Sudan, which seceded from Sudan in 2011 after a civil war lasting decades, exports its oil output of 170,000 barrels per day via a pipeline through its northern neighbour. Analysts say neither side in Sudan's conflict has an interest in disrupting those flows but South Sudan's government said this week fighting had already hampered logistics and transport links between the oilfields and Port Sudan. THE UNITED STATES AND THE WEST - The United States, like other Western powers, was happy to be rid of Bashir, who was charged with genocide and war crimes by the International Criminal Court over the Darfur conflict.

“As if the flight test was not exciting enough, Starship experienced a rapid unscheduled disassembly before stage separation,” SpaceX tweeted. The massive Super Heavy rocket booster, which houses 33 engines, lifted off and sent a massive boom across the coastal landscape as it fired to life. NASA administrator Bill Nelson took to Twitter to share his congratulations on the flight test. Looking forward to all that SpaceX learns, to the next flight test —and beyond.”The test flight comes after years of explosive tests, regulatory hurdles and public hyping from Musk. SpaceX's Starship lifted off for the uncrewed test flight in Boca Chica, Texas.

☆ Credit squeeze 'biggest threat' to economic outlook, Fidelity says
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-19 | by ( Nell Mackenzie | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

REUTERS/Brittany Hosea-Small/File Photo/File PhotoPARIS, April 19 (Reuters) - The biggest threat to the economic outlook is a credit squeeze that has not finished filtering through the financial system, a senior official at Fidelity Investments told a European equities conference on Wednesday. The "biggest threat" to the economy is a "true and visible credit crunch", Romain Boscher, chairman of the board at Fidelity Investments, which has about $4.5 trillion of assets under management, told the conference. Higher rates should be a permanent expectation, he said. Dhar said if credit conditions tightened enough, the U.S. would slip into a recession in the second half of the year. Harsher economic conditions and higher rates have changed priorities for asset manager portfolios, both said.

☆ Credit squeeze 'biggest threat' to economic outlook - asset managers
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-19 | by ( Nell Mackenzie | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

REUTERS/Brittany Hosea-Small/File Photo/File PhotoPARIS, April 19 (Reuters) - The biggest threat to the economic outlook is a credit squeeze that has not finished filtering through the financial system, two senior asset managers told a European equities conference on Wednesday. For asset managers, hedge funds and traders gathered in Paris for the Tradetech equity trading conference, recession risks were a key talking point. Higher rates should be a permanent expectation, he said. Dhar said if credit conditions tightened enough, the U.S. would slip into a recession in the second half of the year. Harsher economic conditions and higher rates have changed priorities for asset manager portfolios, both said.

☆ Ron DeSantis Takes Flak From Trump, Other Republicans Over Battle With Disney
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-19 | by ( Alex Leary | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Former President Donald Trump and other prominent Republicans criticized Florida GOP Gov. Ron DeSantis ’s latest flare-up with Walt Disney Co., saying he had gone too far in interfering with a private business that is a driver of the state economy. “DeSanctus is being absolutely destroyed by Disney . plan fizzled, so now he’s going back with a new one in order to save face,” Mr. Trump said Tuesday, using a derogatory nickname for the governor, who is expected to soon enter the GOP presidential primary. Disney could stop investing in Florida, Mr. Trump warned, calling Mr. De Santis’s actions a political stunt.

☆ Japanese firms want stability rather than change from new BOJ governor: Reuters poll
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-19 | by ( Tim Kelly | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

Summary 52% of firms want the BOJ to help stabilize financial marketsFewer firms want end to BOJ zero rate policyA third of firms want the BOJ to stick with current policies16% of firms want revision to 2% inflation targetTOKYO, April 20 (Reuters) - Most Japanese firms want Bank of Japan Governor Kazuo Ueda to focus on financial market stability at his first policy meeting next week, with few seeing benefits from any easing of its ultra-loose monetary policy, a Reuters monthly poll showed. Of nearly 500 major companies polled, 52% said they hoped for financial stability measures, with a third saying Ueda should maintain the policies of his predecessor, Haruhiko Kuroda. Slightly less than a quarter of the Japanese firms surveyed by Reuters said they wanted a revision of the BOJ's negative interest rate policy, down from nearly a half two months ago when Ueda was nominated to his post. Fewer companies also urged the central bank to revise its inflation target, down to 16% from 28% of those polled in February. The Reuters Corporate Survey, conducted for Reuters by Nikkei Research between April 5 and April 14, canvassed 493 big non-financial Japanese firms, including 246 manufacturers and 247 non-manufacturers.

☆ See the 16-slide presentation a startup used to sell CVS and Flare on a new approach to treating digestive issues like IBS
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-19 | by ( Yeji Jesse Lee | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Digestive health issues are common and costly to treat. The startup said this month that it raised $30 million from investors to scale its platform. That's what Oshi Health, a startup that offers care for digestive issues, wants to change. Oshi Health removed financial details from the pitch deck it used to raise $30 million in Series B before sharing the presentation with Insider. See the presentation Oshi Health used to raise $30 million:

Greene told CNN on Thursday she was “surprised and angered” over the incident and said she already spoke to McCarthy. “He agreed with me,” Greene said, indicating the speaker believed she shouldn’t have silenced. Greene told CNN later Thursday that she and Chairman Green had a chance to talk but that they disagreed about what happened at Wednesday’s committee meeting. Identifying or calling someone a liar is unacceptable in this committee and I make the ruling that we strike those words,” said Green, a Tennessee Republican. But the sooner we can get back to kind of civility amongst colleagues, the better for everybody,” he told CNN.

☆ Defunct NASA spacecraft returns to Earth after 21 years
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-19 | by ( Katie Hunt | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +2 min

CNN —A NASA satellite that observed solar flares and helped scientists understand the sun’s powerful bursts of energy will fall to Earth this week, almost 21 years after it was launched. The retired Reuven Ramaty High Energy Solar Spectroscopic Imager (RHESSI) spacecraft, which launched in 2002 and was decommissioned in 2018, is expected to reenter Earth’s atmosphere Wednesday at approximately 9:30 p.m. The risk of harm coming to anyone on Earth as a result of RHESSI’s return is low — approximately 1 in 2,467, according to NASA. From its former perch in low-Earth orbit, the satellite captured images of high-energy electrons that carry a large part of the energy released in solar flares, NASA said. NASA said that the agency, along with the Department of Defense, would monitor the satellite’s reentry into Earth’s atmosphere.

WASHINGTON, April 17 (Reuters) - Just a month after the biggest banking crisis in more than a decade, the world's top economic and financial policymakers gathered in Washington and said surprisingly little about financial system stability - at least publicly. Some officials conveyed a sense that banking system safety was further down the priority list of global economic problems. "But it's still something where we need to stay vigilant and address potential risks which may emerge in our financial system," Dombrovskis told reporters. He added that the European Union's banking system was stable, well capitalized with ample liquidity. But during the IMFC's closed meeting, the possible spillovers from financial stability risks were a main topic, Ukrainian Finance Minister Serhiy Marchenko told Reuters.

☆ Webb telescope captures glowing starburst as galaxies collide
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-17 | by ( Ashley Strickland | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +2 min

CNN —A brilliant starburst feature shines in the latest image taken by the James Webb Space Telescope. The space observatory captured a bright burst of star formation triggered by two spiral galaxies crashing into one another. The colliding galaxies, known collectively as Arp 220, generated an infrared glow that contains the light of more than 1 trillion suns. This brilliant luminosity creates the diffraction spikes, or starburst feature witnessed by Webb. The new Webb image also reveals tails, or material streaming away from the galaxies due to gravity, in blue, to indicate activity as the galaxies continue to collide.

☆ Heavy gunfire heard south of Sudanese capital Khartoum: witnesses
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-15 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

April 15 (Reuters) - Sudan's paramilitary Rapid Support Forces said on Saturday that the army had surrounded one of its bases and opened fire with heavy weapons, as gunfire could be heard in several parts of Khartoum and adjoining cities, eyewitnesses told Reuters. The move follows days of tension between the army and the RSF, a powerful paramilitary group, that had sparked concern about a confrontation. A Reuters witness saw cannon and armoured vehicles deployed in streets, and heard the sound of heavy weaponry in the vicinity of the headquarters of both the army and RSF. The source of the gunfire could not be immediately confirmed by Reuters. A statement by the RSF on Saturday called the army's actions a "brute assault" and called for it to be condemned.

The Sudanese air force is conducting operations against the RSF, the army said. Footage from broadcasters showed a military aircraft in the sky above Khartoum, but Reuters could not independently confirm the material. A Reuters journalist saw cannon and armoured vehicles deployed in streets, and heard heavy weapons fire near the headquarters of both the army and RSF. The RSF, which analysts say is 100,000 strong, said its forces were attacked first by the army. Civilian political parties that had signed an initial power-sharing deal with the army and the RSF called on them to cease hostilities.

☆ BOJ executive warns of 'extremely high' uncertainty over Japan's economy
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-14 | by ( Leika Kihara | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Summary BOJ must keep easy policy to support economy - ShimizuFinancial stress warrants close monitoring - ShimizuOverseas risks key to BOJ's growth, inflation forecastsWASHINGTON, April 14 (Reuters) - Bank of Japan Assistant Governor Tokiko Shimizu said on Friday there had been "extremely high" uncertainty regarding Japan's economy, as slowing global growth and recent financial market stress cloud its outlook. "More recently, financial market stress is drawing attention," she said. "Taking these risks into account, it's necessary to pay due attention to developments in the financial sector" and the impact on Japan's economy and prices. Japan's economy has made a delayed recovery from the scars of the COVID-19 crisis, with an end to pandemic-induced curbs propping up consumption. But global recession fears cloud the outlook for the export-reliant economy, a risk that may keep the BOJ from phasing out its massive stimulus.

☆ New BOJ chief Ueda sticks to upbeat view on wages, global economy
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-14 | by ( Leika Kihara | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

"The BOJ's forecasts already take into account the chance of a global economic slowdown. But they don't see a severe global recession as a baseline projection," Ueda told a news conference on Thursday after attending the Group of 20 (G20) finance leaders' meeting in Washington. "As our base scenario is for global growth to pick up after a period of slowdown, Japan's wages will likely keep rising," he said. Markets are focusing on the BOJ's first policy meeting chaired by Ueda to be held on April 27-28, when the board will produce fresh quarterly growth and inflation forecasts extending through fiscal 2025. I'll think about it closely once I'm back," Ueda said, when asked about prospects for the April policy meeting.

☆ Takeaways from Biden's trip to Ireland
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-14 | by ( Kevin Liptak | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +10 min

Biden’s trip came as he nears a decision on running again for president. “I own property in Ireland, I’m not going to Ireland,” former President Donald Trump said during Biden’s trip. Patrick Semansky/APDiplomatic legacy: ‘Keep the peace’White House officials made little attempt at ascribing major policy objectives to Biden’s trip. Kevin Lamarque/ReutersBiden makes Ireland visit a family affairMore than anything, Biden’s trip this week had the feeling of a family spring break. Throughout the sometimes-rainy trip, Biden kept his head dry with a baseball cap from the Beau Biden Foundation.

☆ Dour Earnings Loom Over Wall St. as a Slowing Economy Bites
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-13 | by ( Joe Rennison | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

As the country’s largest companies prepare to report their results for the start of the year — offering a view into how the economy is faring as a banking shock reverberates — they’re already warning investors to brace themselves. That would be the second consecutive quarterly decline, and the biggest since a severe — though brief — slump in the early days of the coronavirus pandemic in 2020. At the start of the year, the consensus was that profits would be roughly in line with the first quarter of 2022. But since then, continuing worries about inflation followed by a flare-up in the banking sector in March have soured the outlook. Businesses have also told investors to dial down their expectations, with 78 companies in the S&P 500 offering guidance about their results that is below the average Wall Street estimate.

A ban on protests in the area is in place from Thursday evening until Saturday morning local time. Loic Venance/AFP/Getty ImagesViolence also broke out at Paris’ Place de la Bastille as riot police clashed with angry protestors. Up to 600,000 people were expected to take to the streets across France for the latest protests. Protesters gain entry inside the LVMH headquarters during a demonstration against pension reform in central Paris. Femimist activists dressed as Rosie the Riveter icon perform during a demonstration in Paris on April 13, 2023.

☆ Sudan's army says paramilitary mobilisation risks confrontation
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-13 | by ( Khalid Abdelaziz Nafisa Eltahir | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

"These movements and deployments happened without the agreement of the leadership of the armed forces or even coordination with it," the army spokesman said. Deputy head of Sudan's sovereign council General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo speaks during a press conference at Rapid Support Forces head quarter in Khartoum, Sudan February 19, 2023. Witnesses told Reuters that they saw a convoy of RSF vehicles including armoured trucks enter Khartoum on Thursday. Political figures issued statements on Thursday about attempts to mediate between the RSF and army high command. Hemedti, who has amassed considerable wealth and expanded domestic and foreign relations, has said repeatedly in speeches that he wants no confrontation with the army.

☆ ‘Allergy Capitals’ 2023: These are the 10 worst U.S. cities for anyone with pollen allergies
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-12 | by ( Renée Onque | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

Seasonal allergies can be tough to deal with, but you can typically soothe symptoms like a runny nose, itchy throat and head congestion with over-the-counter medications, or take steps like optimizing your bedroom which can help prevent allergies from negatively impacting your sleep. Still, your location may play more of a role in how severe of an allergy season you experience than you realize. In fact, there are some cities that are more challenging to live in for people with pollen allergies. The Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America sifted through data of "the 100-most populated U.S. Metropolitan areas" to determine the "Allergy Capitals" of America in 2023. Some factors the organization considered for the ranking include:Tree, grass and weed pollen scoresAvailability of board-certified allergists and immunologistsHow often over-the-counter allergy medicine is usedHere's a closer look at the top 10 densely-populated cities where it may be harder for residents with allergies to avoid flare-ups.

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