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☆ The celebrities that are still defending Putin — and those that have turned their backs on him
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-02 | by ( Sophia Ankel | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +1 min

Another former showbiz pal, French actor Gérard Depardieu, has since criticized Putin for his "crazy excesses" and was critical of the war. Russian President Vladimir Putin (R) greets French actor Gérard Depardieu (L) in Sochi, Russia, on January 5, 2013. Mikhail Klimentyev/RIA Novosti/Pool via ReutersIn 2013, Putin signed an executive order making Depardieu a Russian citizen. The actor wanted to become a Russian citizen to save taxes in France, The New York Times reported. In a letter to Russian state television at the time, he said: "I love your president, Vladimir Putin, very much and it's mutual," according to The Times.

[1/3] Greta Thunberg is carried away as activits demonstrate outside the Ministry of Finance entrance and several other ministries in protest that the wind turbines at Fosen, which the Supreme Court has said are illegal, have not been demolished. Alf Simensen/NTB/via REUTERSOSLO, March 1 (Reuters) - Norwegian police on Wednesday briefly detained environmental campaigner Greta Thunberg during a demonstration in Oslo, removing her and other activists from the finance ministry. The campaigners are demanding the removal of wind turbines from reindeer pastures on Sami Indigenous land in central Norway. Thunberg, holding a red, blue, yellow and green Sami flag, was lifted and carried away by police officers while hundreds of demonstrators chanted slogans. Activists on Tuesday said they had raised close to $100,000 in recent days to help individual demonstrators pay police fines.

CNN —A pre-Hispanic mummy, estimated to be between 600 to 800 years old, was discovered in a food delivery cooler bag by Peruvian police over the weekend. Police told CNN that the mummified remains were found with three men who were drinking in a deserted park in the Peruvian city of Puno on Saturday afternoon. “A 26-year-old man had a delivery bag labeled ‘Pedidos Ya.’ Inside they found a mummy,” senior agent Marco Antonio Ortega, who is a spokesperson for Puno region’s National Police, told CNN. Images of the discovery showed the mummy in a fetal position inside the red delivery bag. Images of the discovery showed the mummy in a fetal position inside the red delivery bag.

A map of Turkey showing the city of Kahramanmaras in relation to the epicenter of the earthquake. A set of before and after images that show how a block in the downtown Kahramanmaras area was turned to rubble by the earthquake. For days, rescue teams and family members have been working through rubble of collapsed buildings throughout the city. Residential buildings Before Residential buildings After Google Maps Street View from November 2022; Adem Altan/Agence France-Presse, via Getty Images from Feb. 7, 2023On many blocks, only a few buildings remain. A set of before and after images that show another block of residential buildings destroyed, leaving the Clarion Hotel Kahramanmaras standing alone.

☆ 19,000 dead: 'Disaster of the Century' as thousands are still missing in Turkey and Syria's horrific earthquake
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-09 | by ( Chris Panella | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

The devastating earthquake in Syria and Turkey has killed 19,000 people with thousands more still missing. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said: "We can call it the disaster of the century." And thousands are reportedly still missing under rubble and collapsed buildings. In a brief press conference Thursday, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said: "We can call it the disaster of the century" and said the devastation spans 10 provinces. Rescuers and civilians look for survivors under the rubble of collapsed buildings in Kahramanmaras, Turkey.

☆ Relief Efforts in Turkey, Syria Face Logistical Hurdles
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-07 | by ( Paul Berger | ) www.wsj.com time to read: +4 min

Aid groups and logistics operators worldwide are ramping up urgent relief efforts for victims of the earthquakes in Turkey and Syria but say moving supplies through the region’s devastated infrastructure will be a major challenge. Mr. Hovey said Direct Relief plans to fly supplies to airports at Istanbul in northwestern Turkey and at Adana in southeastern Turkey, close to the disaster zone. Many U.S. charities without aid operations in Syria and Turkey are now planning relief efforts, said Kathy Fulton, executive director of American Logistics Aid Network, which coordinates aid efforts among logistics operators following disasters. Aid groups are mostly focused on getting relief to Turkey and Syria by plane. He said the demand for air charters is also starting to make it harder and more expensive to secure space for aid and relief efforts in other parts of the world, such as Ukraine.

☆ Carbon-Credit Raters Aim to Assess a Notoriously Opaque Market
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-07 | by ( Shane Shifflett | Dieter Holger | ) www.wsj.com time to read: +7 min

Carbon-credit-rating firms aim to give buyers confidence in assessing the unregulated market for carbon offsets, voluntary credits that can help companies fulfill their decarbonization promises. Traders, online marketplaces and corporate sustainability departments are typical customers for carbon-credit ratings, but companies increasingly encounter the scores through intermediaries selling the offsets. Sylvera Ltd., one of the carbon-credit raters, said that less than a third of projects aimed at preventing deforestation are high quality. The market for voluntary carbon credits topped $2 billion in 2022, according to publisher and researcher Ecosystem Marketplace. BeZero has fully rated around 280 projects, Calyx around 260, Sylvera around 115 and Renoster has fully reviewed nine.

☆ Publicis Reports 9.4% Organic Revenue Growth for Fourth Quarter
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-02 | by ( Megan Graham | ) www.wsj.com time to read: +4 min

Publicis Groupe SA said Thursday that organic revenue grew 9.4% in the fourth quarter as its data and technology services continued to capture a shift in client spending. The growth in the quarter ending Dec. 31 brought Publicis’s full-year 2022 organic revenue growth to 10.1%. The results beat the average analyst estimate of 5.3% growth for the quarter and 8.8% for the year, according to FactSet. Publicis said it expects organic revenue growth of 3% to 5% in 2023. Organic growth refers to the change in net revenue excluding the impacts of acquisitions, disposals and currency fluctuations.

☆ France may be the next country to send its tanks to Ukraine, but officials worry they could be 'a poisoned chalice'
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-26 | by ( Michael Peck | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

France is also considering sending its Leclerc tanks to Ukraine. A French Leclerc tank during an exercise in Germany in November 2019. Some claim it performed better than the M1 Abrams tanks that Saudi Arabia has used in that conflict. The Leclerc's lighter weight may make it more maneuverable than the other Western tanks headed to Ukraine. But other than Rafale jet fighters, the most powerful weapon — symbolically and militarily — that France could provide would be Leclerc tanks.

At stake is whether EU vessels have the right to catch snow crab, whose meat is considered a delicacy by gourmets in Japan and South Korea, in the same way than Norwegian vessels do. "If the Supreme Court thinks the Svalbard treaty applies, it is not only about snow crab, it will be about oil, gas, minerals and fish," he told Reuters. In a sign of the importance the case has for Norway, 16 Supreme Court judges were present on Tuesday to hear arguments during the four-day session. "The key question here is the Svalbard Treaty and the surrounding areas," Hallvard Oestgaard, representing the Latvian fishing firm, told the court in his opening statement. In 2019 the Supreme Court ruled unanimously that EU fishermen must ask permission from Oslo to catch snow crab, after the same Latvian fisheries company had tried to fish off Svalbard with only an EU licence.

☆ Russians are posting footage of air-defense systems being installed on Moscow's roofs, a sign the Kremlin may fear an attack
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-20 | by ( Matthew Loh | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Russian Telegram channels are posting footage of anti-air systems installed on Moscow's rooftops. The footage, which Insider was unable to independently verify, has since been reposted several times on Twitter. On January 13, Russia's longer-range S-400 surface-to-air-missile systems were also seen deployed in photos posted by the anti-war Telegram channel CHTD. The images, which Insider was also unable to independently verify, show the systems installed in two parks near central Moscow. Russian state media and officials have not addressed the new footage of the missile systems so far.

☆ Watch: California Floods Leave Behind Washed Away Houses, Submerged Cars
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-18 | by ( Wall Street Journal | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Watch: Italy Arrests Most-Wanted Mafia Boss Italy’s Carabinieri military police arrested the country’s most notorious mafia boss in Sicily after a 30-year manhunt. Matteo Messina Denaro was at a clinic in the outskirts of Palermo when police swarmed the area and captured him on Monday. Photo: Agence France-Presse/Getty Images

[1/4] Portraits of Nobel Peace Prize laureates, including of Henry Kissinger, are seen in the meeting room where the Norwegian Nobel Committee holds its meetings at the Norwegian Nobel Institute in Oslo, Norway, January 3, 2023. Nominations to the Peace Prize remain secret for 50 years. Le Duc Tho refused the Peace Prize on the grounds peace had not yet been established. Two out of the five members of the Norwegian Nobel Committee - all now dead - resigned in protest. "The prize was given to Kissinger for having gotten the U.S. out of Vietnam ... without any peaceful solution in South Vietnam," he said.

☆ Pope Benedict's Life, Leadership and Resignation
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-31 | by ( ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Benedict's pontificate was marred by the spread of a clerical sex-abuse scandal around the world and other crises. Many abuse victims criticized him for failing to discipline church leaders who had covered up abuse. Pope Benedict during a visit to his native Bavaria in 2006. Joe Klamar/DDP/Agence France-Presse/Getty Images

☆ Geodis’s Marie-Christine Lombard Sees Global Forces Continuing to Reshape Trade Flows
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-28 | by ( Paul Berger | ) www.wsj.com time to read: +6 min

Newsletter Sign-up The Logistics Report Top news and in-depth analysis on the world of logistics, from supply chain to transport and technology. MS. LOMBARD: The supply chain used to be quite seamless and fluid. The world order has a huge impact on the supply chain and its stability. The difference is that the supply chain itself was not disrupted. The entire supply chain is being rethought and recalibrated and re-costed.

☆ A New Year’s Resolution for Stemming Retail’s Returns Tsunami
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-26 | by ( Alan Amling | Thomas Golds | ) www.wsj.com time to read: +6 min

So why haven’t retailers taken significant steps to improve the returns process and stop it from imploding their profitability? Photo illustration: Laura KammermannThe first step in solving the problem is to appoint an executive responsible for the end-to-end returns process. Researchers at the University of Tennessee have broken the returns process into five “pathways” to help returns executives better understand improvement opportunities. The best way to mitigate returns costs, of course, is to find ways to limit returns before they happen, in the pre-sale process. As goods move through the returns process, costs and waste increase dramatically.

☆ Edgy Campaigns Are Out, TikTok Won’t Stop and Other 2023 Predictions for Marketers
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-19 | by ( Patrick Coffee | ) www.wsj.com time to read: +11 min

Newsletter Sign-up WSJ | CMO Today CMO Today delivers the most important news of the day for media and marketing professionals. Most campaigns will focus on discounts to customers or showcase the usefulness of a company’s products, he said. Under this form of marketing, ad firms generally get paid upon completion of a desired end, such as a sale or download. In short, consumers should expect less “vacuous virtue-signaling” from marketers in the coming months, according to Mr. Proulx. But these platforms’ very struggles could result in ad bargains for marketers, said Mr. Solomon of Therabody.

☆ The Year in Pictures 2022
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-19 | by ( The New York Times | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +57 min

Every year, starting in early fall, photo editors at The New York Times begin sifting through the year’s work in an effort to pick out the most startling, most moving, most memorable pictures. But 2022 undoubtedly belongs to the war in Ukraine, a conflict now settling into a worryingly predictable rhythm. Erin Schaff/The New York Times “When you’re standing on the ground, you can’t visualize the scope of the destruction. Jim Huylebroek for The New York Times Kyiv, Ukraine, Feb. 25. We see the same images over and over, and it’s really hard to make anything different.” Kyiv, Ukraine, Feb 26.

☆ This Is Soccer Superstar Lionel Messi's Last World Cup. Here's a Look Back at His Career.
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-17 | by ( Kate Bubacz | Jonathan Clegg | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Messi has won the Ballon d’Or award for the world’s best player seven times. His other records include the most goals scored by a player for a single club and the most hat-tricks and most assists in Spain’s La Liga. He also won Olympic gold in 2008 at age 21. Franck Fife/Agence France-Presse/Getty Images

☆ EU Delays Labeling Lithium Toxic as Concerns From EV Industry Mount
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-12 | by ( Yusuf Khan | ) www.wsj.com time to read: +4 min

Last week, the European Commission was set to give a final ruling on whether lithium, a crucial battery input, should be classified as a toxic substance. Europe’s nascent battery companies are warning that investors may be drawn away from the continent to the U.S. where the IRA has created strong incentives to establish supply chains in the country. So far, within the European battery industry, Sweden’s Northvolt AB has been one of the few victories for the EU. She said the EU should “simplify and adapt” its rules that limit state funding to make it easier for public investments. For those looking to establish European battery production, the EU’s position on electric vehicles remains confusing.

☆ California Long Ruled U.S. Shipping. Importers Are Drifting East.
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-10 | by ( Paul Berger | Photographs David Walter Banks For The Wall Street Journal | ) www.wsj.com time to read: +13 min

Abercrombie & Fitch Co. is moving more merchandise through New York and New Jersey to avoid West Coast bottlenecks. It trailed its East Coast rival again in that measure during September and October, according to the Pacific Merchant Shipping Association and ports data. ”There are so many customers that got so screwed because they were entirely reliant on L.A. and Long Beach.”The logistical challenges of spreading imports along the East Coast and the Gulf Coast are massive. The shift in trade to the East Coast marks a return to where container ships originated. Then the U.S. began importing more goods from Europe, making an Atlantic Ocean crossing to various East Coast ports more critical.

SummarySummary Companies Ukraine, Russia, Belarus rights campaigners won awardPrize highlight importance of civil society for peaceByalyatski in jail, wife speaks for him at ceremonyOSLO, Dec 10 (Reuters) - Russia wants to turn Ukraine into a "dependent dictatorship" like Belarus, the wife of jailed Belarusian Nobel Peace Prize laureate Ales Byalyatski said on Saturday upon receiving the prize on his behalf, speaking his words. "It highlights the dramatic situation and struggle for human rights in the country," she said, adding she was speaking her husband's words. Pinchuk has met her husband once since he was named a Nobel Peace Prize laureate, in prison, behind a glass wall, she told a news conference on Friday. "I know exactly what kind of Ukraine would suit Russia and Putin — a dependent dictatorship. Belarus and Russia are formally part of a "union state" and are closely allied economically and militarily.

☆ Putin drove across a newly fixed bridge to Crimea that was blown up. It is the closest he's come to his war in Ukraine.
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-05 | by ( Jake Epstein | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Russian President Vladimir Putin drove across a newly repaired bridge in Crimea on Monday. The Kerch Bridge was rocked by an explosion on October 8, causing significant damage. Putin's visit is the closest he's been to the front lines of the devastating war he started. On Monday, Putin drove across a newly repaired bridge to the occupied Crimean peninsula that was blown apart a couple months ago. As for its involvement during the ongoing war, the bridge was used by Russian troops to move military equipment.

☆ U.K. Tax Change to Yield Higher Costs, but Much-Needed Certainty for Companies
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-04 | by ( Jennifer Williams-Alvarez | Nina Trentmann | ) www.wsj.com time to read: +6 min

Now, under a new prime minister, the government is pledging fiscal austerity, accompanied by an increase in the corporate tax rate to 25%. Photo: Agence France-Presse/Getty ImagesWith the latest change, the corporate tax rate has flip-flopped four times in less than a year. The tax increase, from the current rate of 19%, will apply to companies with annual profit of more than £250,000, equivalent to more than $307,000. We know it is increasing to 25%.”The U.K. government’s change brings the corporate tax rate in line with those of other large economies. Photo: Jason Alden/Bloomberg NewsU.K. companies’ costs are rising on multiple fronts.

☆ U.K. Tax Change to Yield Higher Costs, But Much-Needed Certainty For Companies
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-04 | by ( Jennifer Williams-Alvarez | Nina Trentmann | ) www.wsj.com time to read: +6 min

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