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☆ Warren Buffett's rival for attention at Berkshire weekend: Squishmallows
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-08 | by ( Jonathan Stempel | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

[1/2] Investors and guests walk by a Squishmallow display during the Berkshire Hathaway Inc in Omaha, Nebraska, U.S. May 5, 2023. On Friday, the start of Berkshire Hathaway Inc's (BRKa.N) three-day shareholder weekend, thousands thronged a convention hall in downtown Omaha, Nebraska, for five hours to buy discounted products from many Berkshire-owned brands. For many, the $9.99 Squishmallows featuring Buffett and Munger, made by Berkshire's recently acquired toy company Jazwares, were the must-have memento. About 10,000 Buffett and Munger Squishmallows were sold, and by Monday they were fetching as much as $255 at auction on eBay. Reporting by Jonathan Stempel in Omaha, Nebraska Editing by Megan Davies and Matthew LewisOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Two Creative Directors on Sports, Hip-Hop and Faith
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-08 | by ( Justin Baek | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

Everybody has a story, and you can tell it through A.I., pictures, music, all the creative elements. It came, and though it’s not gone, the whole time, I was like, I’m still going to go with touchable, feel-able art. A lot of things are happening through technology, and a lot of things are going to happen, but I don’t know anything that is bigger than the Mona Lisa. No matter what happens in technology, the root of creativity will always be around. It’s the reason we still hear Fleetwood Mac and Marvin Gaye songs in the same rotation that you hear Drake.

☆ Graphic images of Texas mall shooting spread on Twitter, rekindling debate on how much to share
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-08 | by ( Catherine Thorbecke | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +5 min

CNN —Within hours of the mass shooting on Saturday at a Texas outlet mall, some Twitter users shared gruesome pictures of bloodied bodies, purportedly from the crime scene. The apparent spread of these images has revived scrutiny around how social media platforms handle graphic content from mass shootings. There have been 202 mass shootings in the US within the first five months of this year, according to the Gun Violence Archive, compared to 647 mass shootings in 2022. The nonprofit and CNN define mass shootings as those in which four or more people are shot, excluding the shooter. But in a tweet Saturday night, Spainhouer slammed a photo from the mall being shared on social media.

☆ Fire burns for third day at Shell Texas chemical plant
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-07 | by ( Erwin Seba | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

HOUSTON, May 7 (Reuters) - A fire burned for a third day on Sunday at Shell Plc's (SHEL.L) chemical plant in the Houston suburb of Deer Park, Texas, a company spokesperson said. The fire initially ignited on Friday afternoon in an explosion in an olefins unit, used to make plastics and rubber. The fire was extinguished for a few hours on Saturday morning before it reignited around 3 p.m. CDT (2000 GMT), said Shell spokesperson Curtis Smith. Water runoff has exceeded the chemical plant's wastewater capacity and is being diverted into the Houston Ship Channel, Smith said. Olefins units are the central units in petrochemical complexes, producing ethylene, butadiene and propylene from hydrocarbon feedstocks.

☆ An N.F.L. Star Finds Confidence in Making Music
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-07 | by ( Emmanuel Morgan | Gabriella Angotti-Jones | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

Later in 2017, Darren Waller released his debut album, “Better Call Wall,” 12 songs he rapped with lyrics about his life. reinstated Waller, he signed with the Raiders in November 2018 and was named to the Pro Bowl in the 2020 season after posting 1,196 receiving yards and nine touchdowns. In his downtime, he began dating Plum, a star player for the W.N.B.A’s Las Vegas Aces, shortly after meeting her last April while recording a podcast. He proposed to her in October during a bye week for the Raiders, with Waller later telling McDaniels and Ziegler that the couple was keeping their upcoming marriage confidential. Before Waller and Plum could reveal their March wedding on Instagram, Ziegler and McDaniels told reporters of the upcoming nuptials during an off-the-record session at the N.F.L.

May 5 (Reuters) - Fox News on Friday asked lawyers for Dominion Voting Systems to investigate whether they leaked controversial internal messages from ousted Fox host Tucker Carlson that were provided in evidence for their recent defamation lawsuit. The requests, which were made in letters released by Fox, came after multiple news outlets published racist and sexist remarks by Carlson contained in leaked internal messages and recordings. Fox News and its parent company Fox Corp (FOXA.O) said those were given to Dominion as part of the lawsuit, which claimed Fox defamed Dominion by airing false election-rigging claims. Dominion denied the materials came from the company or any of its lawyers. Media outlets including the New York Times reported that the decision came after Fox's board saw Carlson's internal messages.

[1/5] Britain's Camilla, Queen Consort attends a Garden Party, in celebration of King Charles' coronation, at Buckingham Palace, London, Britain. When Charles' divorced first wife, the popular, glamorous Princess Diana, died in a car crash in Paris in 1997, Camilla bore the brunt of media hostility. That's the strength of love," Camilla told Charles in the secretly recorded telephone conversation publicised in 1993. From being able to appear in public together, to marriage and last year's approval from Queen Elizabeth to Camilla taking the title Queen Consort, their success is complete. Other surveys have also indicated only a minority thought she should be Queen Camilla.

☆ Katie Cotton, Who Helped Raise Apple’s Profile, Dies at 57
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-04 | by ( Richard Sandomir | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Katie Cotton, who as Apple’s longtime communications chief guarded the media’s access to Steve Jobs, the company’s visionary co-founder, and helped organize the introduction of many of his products, died on April 6 in Redwood City, Calif. She was 57. Her death, in a hospital, was confirmed by Michael Mimeles, her former husband. He did not give a cause but said that she had experienced complications from heart surgery she underwent a few years ago. Ms. Cotton, who built a culture of mystery by saying relatively little, if anything, to reporters, joined Apple in 1996 and began working with Mr. Jobs the next year, soon after he returned to the company after 12 years away. Apple was in poor financial shape at the time, but Ms. Cotton worked with Mr. Jobs to engineer a striking turnaround.

☆ How a Texas farm girl went from intern to CEO of a logistics startup with $53 million in funding before the age of 40
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-04 | by ( Emma Cosgrove | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

On the path from unpaid intern to CEO, Heather Salomon-Hoover wrote four resignation letters. And after nearly 18 years at the Texas delivery firm uShip, Salomon-Hoover officially became CEO Thursday. She's held 11 different positions at the company before CEO, including chief operating officer and interim CEO. That's a long way from uShip, which specializes in moving bulky, oddly shaped goods across town or across the country. I'm a first-time CEO, first-time board member, and for that I'm constantly looking to grow my mentorship base," she said.

During the current fighting Egypt has joined calls for an effective ceasefire while saying they consider the conflict an internal matter for Sudan. The most important regional ally for Hemedti before the conflict was the United Arab Emirates. Hemedti said he advised Sudan to cut ties to Wagner after the U.S. imposed sanctions on the private military contractor. Saudi Arabia has had close ties to Burhan and Hemedti, both of whom sent troops to the Saudi-led coalition in Yemen. Israel, which had been hoping to move forward in normalising ties with Sudan, has also offered to host talks.

By attributing that knowledge to JPMorgan, Epstein's accusers might show that JPMorgan "actually knew" about the venture or "recklessly disregarded" its existence, Rakoff said. JPMorgan is separately suing Staley to cover its losses in the two lawsuits it faces, and forfeit eight years of pay. 22-10018; Jane Doe 1 v JPMorgan Chase & Co, No. 22-10019; Government of the U.S. Virgin Islands v JPMorgan Chase Bank NA, No. 22-10904; and JPMorgan Chase Bank NA v Staley, in Nos.

☆ Employee Monitoring and Surveillance
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-01 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +50 min

Ensuring Employee Safety and Systems SecurityEmployers may use electronic workplace monitoring and surveillance to protect their:Worksites. Potential Liability for Electronic Workplace Monitoring and SurveillanceEmployers that engage in electronic workplace monitoring and surveillance must comply with various federal and state laws, including:The Wiretap Act. Best Practices for Electronic Workplace Monitoring and SurveillanceTo avoid violating relevant state and federal laws, before conducting workplace monitoring and surveillance, employers should:Consider the purpose and appropriate scope of their monitoring and surveillance activities and what methods will help them achieve their objectives. Determine the Purpose of Workplace Monitoring and SurveillanceBefore conducting any workplace monitoring or surveillance, best practice is for employers to identify the purpose and goals of these activities to:Ensure that there is a legitimate business purpose for the planned monitoring and surveillance activities. Determine the scope of monitoring and surveillance necessary to accomplish the business purpose, and conduct only the minimum monitoring and surveillance necessary to meet that business need.

☆ Future-Proofing the Board of Directors
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-01 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +29 min

Governance structures and practices should position the board to provide objective judgment and active oversight supported by board leadership, which is separate from and independent of company management. The board should design governance structures and practices that support it in determining board priorities, agendas, and information needs. The board should create governance structures and practices that ensure that directors are competent, committed, and diverse and that board and committee composition align with the company’s changing needs. Developing and supporting a positive and ethical corporate culture (see Corporate and Board Culture below). Corporate and Board CultureA strong board and corporate culture is imperative for a company’s success.

☆ Jack Dorsey no longer thinks Elon Musk is the right person to run Twitter
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-01 | by ( Brian Fung | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +3 min

Washington CNN —Former Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey backtracked Saturday on his earlier endorsement of Elon Musk as the right choice to lead the company, speaking out against the billionaire who, for the past six months, has led Twitter through a series of largely self-inflicted crises. Under Musk, Twitter has slashed most of its staff, suffered frequent service disruptions and made a number of controversial changes to its policies and features, including a recent decision to remove blue checks from VIP users who don’t pay to be verified. Dorsey’s reflections, outlined in Bluesky posts reviewed by CNN, highlight the Twitter founder’s growing disillusionment with Musk. They also come after numerous exchanges in recent months where Dorsey has publicly questioned some of Musk’s decision-making. Confronted by criticism from other Bluesky users that Twitter could have gone in a different direction, Dorsey argued that there was nothing stopping someone else from outbidding Musk.

☆ On Inflation, Wages and Tough-Guy Economics - The New York Times
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-28 | by ( Paul Krugman | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

Some economics textbooks used to define their subject as the “science of scarcity.” Maybe some still do. Still, a fair bit of economics does involve explaining limits and constraints — for example, that you can’t sustain a Denmark-style system of social benefits without something like Denmark-style tax rates. But accepting the need for hard choices can turn into a kind of trap itself. Many economists, even among progressives, use wage growth as an important indicator of “underlying” inflation (although that’s a slippery concept, as I wrote earlier this week). You need, however, to be careful not to suggest — as Andrew Bailey, the governor of the Bank of England, did — that greedy workers are the villains behind inflation.

☆ Bids for 2027 Africa Cup of Nations offer path for comprise over 2025 hosts
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-27 | by ( Mark Gleeson | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

CAPE TOWN, April 27 (Reuters) - Algeria head a list of four bids to host the 2027 African Cup of Nations, which the Confederation of African Football announced on Thursday, but Morocco are a surprise omission suggesting a compromise over the 2025 edition has been struck. A statement said CAF had received bids from Algeria, Botswana, Egypt and a joint candidacy from Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda for the 2027 tournament after the expiry of the deadline for declarations of interest. CAF have repeatedly delayed deciding who will replace Guinea as the 2025 hosts. Algeria and Morocco are the top two contenders for 2025 but choosing between the two neighbours has become a political dilemma for CAF, sources have told Reuters. The two North African neighbours have an adversarial relationship, with diplomatic ties suspended, and winning the rights to host the 2025 Cup of Nations would be a matter of national pride and a public relations triumph.

☆ How Elon Musk upended Twitter and his own reputation in 6 months as CEO
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-27 | by ( Clare Duffy | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +11 min

But it’s not clear just how and when Musk might return Twitter to growth. Musk’s primary plan to grow Twitter’s business through an overhauled subscription strategy has resulted in much chaos but only a limited number of actual subscriptions. In the process, Musk has also upended his own reputation. Disrupting the digital town squareFor years, what differentiated Twitter from other social platforms was that it served as a central hub for real-time news. Tesla (TSLA) shareholders recently complained to the company’s board that Musk appears “overcommitted.”“His reputation has been diminished significantly with Twitter … and once you lose it, it’s very difficult to recover,” Klepper said.

☆ Allegations against former Barclays CEO Staley 'very serious' - CEO
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-27 | by ( Lawrence White | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

LONDON, April 27 (Reuters) - Allegations made against British bank Barclays' former CEO Jes Staley regarding his ties with sex offender Jeffrey Epstein are "very serious", the lender's current CEO C.S. Venkat said the allegations were being adjudicated in New York, which he said was the "right and proper place". Both seek money damages and neither lawsuit names Staley as a defendant. In U.S. filings this week, Staley accused JPMorgan of using him as a "public relations shield" and said the allegations lacked legal or factual basis. A former investor in the bank last week said the lender should have made more checks over the matter.

☆ I found it stressful to work from home as a Gen Z account exec. Here's why I'll choose to work in the office every time — even if it costs more to do so.
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-27 | by ( Robin Madell | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Devin Walsh spends up to 40 minutes commuting to work at least four days each week. I live in Midtown Manhattan and take the subway to our office, which is in the Financial District. Sometimes I go into the office all five days of the week if work is busier. Another added bonus of making the trip into the office is the face-time you get to have with senior leaders. If I work from home on a Friday, I typically fill it with meetings, one-on-ones, brainstorms, and general catch-ups.

None of the agencies disputed the allegation, and each paid penalties of $5,050, the maximum state levy for a child labor violation. The U.S. and Alabama investigations began after a Reuters report last July first exposed the use of child labor at Hyundai parts makers in the state. The U.S. Department of Labor said in February the number of child labor violations in 2022 had soared by nearly 70% compared with the tally recorded in 2018. They said false documentation, even shoddy credentials like those filed by the boy's employers, makes child labor laws difficult to enforce. An Alabama labor department spokesperson told Reuters the agency is still working to determine who exactly hired the child to work at Hyundai Glovis.

CNN —The violence that has exploded in Sudan as the country’s two top generals grapple for power has unfolded at a terrifying, breakneck speed. Hemedti uses this discourse as a bloody shirt to maintain his influence and military forces for future use,” Fareid said. Marwan Ali/APFrom a subclan of the Mahariya Rizeigat tribe, nomadic people that herded camels in Darfur, Hemedti got his start as a commander of the Janjaweed. Unlike Sudan’s former dictator, Hemedti has not faced charges from the International Criminal Court. The general’s shared sense of impunity was underlined in October 2021, when they staged a coup, arresting Hamdok and his cabinet.

☆ Mark Zuckerberg has become so obsessed with AI that one Wall Street research firm is jesting that Facebook will change its name to MetAI
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-24 | by ( Alistair Barr | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

18 months ago, Zuckerberg bet the future of Facebook on the metaverse, and even changed the company's name. Some analysts are now concerned about Meta spending too much on AI, Zuckerberg's latest obsession. Just 18 months ago, Mark Zuckerberg bet the future of Facebook on the metaverse, and even changed the company's name to Meta. Investors and analysts only just recovered from the company's metaverse spending splurge. Meta reports quarterly results April 26, and Wall Street will be watching the company's spending and investment plans closely.

The court appearance on Wednesday by Jack Teixeira, a 21-year-old member of the U.S. Air National Guard accused of posting top secret military intelligence records online, has revived questions about whether leaks damage U.S. security in cases less clear-cut than the Hughes Glomar Explorer. "There is a potential ... for great damage because many of the most valuable intelligence methods are quite fragile," said Steven Aftergood of the Federation of American Scientists. FOUR KINDS OF DAMAGEMark Zaid, a Washington-based national security attorney, described four types of potential harm. The release of U.S. diplomatic and military documents on Wikileaks starting in 2010 contributed to two U.S. ambassadors losing their assignments. It is virtually impossible for outsiders to make a complete appraisal of the damage from leaks because internal assessments are themselves classified to avoid further disclosures.

☆ Amazon has reportedly been trying to win over the French with a public-relations push known internally as 'Ratatouille'
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-18 | by ( Lakshmi Varanasi | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Amazon launched a public relations project called Ratatouille 3 years ago, according to a report from Bloomberg. For the past three years, Amazon has been trying to appeal to citizens of France through an internal project called "Ratatouille," Bloomberg reported. Amazon's Ratatouille project is a combination of a dozen or so sub-projects that are aimed at "Frenchifying" the company, Bloomberg said, citing a source who requested anonymity. Amazon's project was reportedly inspired by the film, Bloomberg said. McDonald's bettered its image in France by making deals with local farmers and modifying its menus to the French palette, Bloomberg said.

☆ Fox News' settlement with Dominion doesn't mean the risk of embarrassment is over, with Smartmatic saying it 'remains committed' to its own defamation case against the network
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-18 | by ( Charles R. Davis | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

The company made the statement following Fox News' $787 million settlement with Dominion on Tuesday. Smartmatic sued Fox News for defamation in 2021 and is seeking $2.7 billion in damages. (In a statement, Fox News acknowledged the false statements and said the settlement reflected its "commitment to the highest journalistic standards.") It also opened the door to adding Fox News' parent company, the Fox Corporation, as a defendant. Before settling with Dominion, Fox News' public relations team said the same thing.

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