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☆ Russian state media touts video of schoolchildren in Crimea drilling with rifles and training in hand-to-hand combat
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-15 | by ( Chris Panella | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

A new video shows schoolchildren in Crimea training with rifles and completing hand-to-hand combat. The lessons are reportedly part of a training course that will come to other schools this year. The lessons appear to be part of a military training course that students across grade levels are participating in. In the video, originally shared by RIA Novosti Crimea, students first handle rifles in a competitive timed exercise. The new strategy marks a shift from Wagner's previous efforts to recruit Russian prisoners in exchange for reduced jail time.

☆ All 500 original members of a Ukrainian battalion were killed or wounded in fighting with Russia, commander says
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-14 | by ( Charles R. Davis | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

One commander said all 500 original members of his battalion had been killed or injured. Soldiers with significant combat experience "are all already dead or wounded," the commander said. "And there are only a few soldiers with combat experience," he told the Post. Off the 500 men he commanded last year, 400 have been wounded and another 100 killed, according to the Post. And for some reason, he has never thrown a grenade," he told the Post.

☆ Masked Wagner mercenaries are giving career talks at Russian high schools, UK intel says
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-13 | by ( Chris Panella | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Wagner Group recruiters are giving career talks at high schools, UK intel says. During these lessons, Wagner representatives also reportedly promoted the Wagneryonok, a youth-focused military group and summer camp located in Crimea. As losses mount, Wagner is increasingly finding itself at odds with Russian military leadership and Russian President Vladimir Putin. Presently, there is a very public feud between Prigozhin and Russia's defense ministry over critical ammunition and supplies. ISW experts said that Russian leadership is also likely using the deadly fighting in Bakhmut to kill off Wagner troops and weaken Prigozhin's power.

☆ The tech industry avoided an ‘extinction-level event,’ but it’s not unscathed
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-13 | by ( Catherine Thorbecke | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +7 min

CNN —For much of the weekend, Silicon Valley scrambled to find a way through what one prominent tech investor described as an “extinction-level event for startups” after the collapse of a top lender in the industry. “You can feel the collective *sigh*,” Ryan Hoover, a tech founder and investor wrote on Twitter Sunday. SVB’s collapse also risks changing how the world, and prospective recruits, think of Silicon Valley. The bank worked with nearly half of all venture-backed tech and healthcare companies in the United States. President Joe Biden emphasized in remarks Monday that “no losses will be borne by the taxpayers” related to the government’s intervention for Silicon Valley Bank.

☆ Two decades after Saddam's fall, Iraqis still haunted by disappearances
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-13 | by ( Charlotte Bruneau | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +8 min

As exhumations dragged on, more atrocities were committed in sectarian conflict and amid the rise and fall of armed groups, such as Al Qaeda and Islamic State militants, as well as Shi'ite Muslim militias. Tens of thousands of Iraqis were killed by Saddam's forces during his rule. According to Siddiq, massacres committed by Islamic State militants, who seized much of northern Iraq in 2014 and held it for three violent years, have been prioritised. In Sinjar, where Islamic State committed what U.N. investigators described as genocide against Iraq's Yazidi minority, about 600 victims have been reburied, with some 150 identified. His name was not among the hundreds of victims identified by Siddiq's team, and Mohammed remains in limbo.

☆ After losing more than 30,000 soldiers, the brutal Wagner Group is now recruiting in Russian schools
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-12 | by ( Katie Balevic | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

The Wagner Group, which has lost 30,000 soldiers in Ukraine, is now recruiting in Russian schools. It's opened six recruitment centers to attract "impressionable" youth recruits, an ISW report said. The Wagner Group, considered President Vladimir Putin's private army, has already lost some 30,000 fighters to death and injury since Russia started the war last February, Insider previously reported. In Apatity, Murmansk Oblast, members of the Wagner Group shared "heroic stories" and promoted the "little Wagner" youth camp in Crimea, according to the ISW report. In the past, Putin has also relied on the Wagner Group for Russian influence efforts in the Central African Republic, Libya, Mali, and Syria.

☆ Ukraine sees bloody battle for Bakhmut as chance to wipe out Wagner's army of convicts
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-09 | by ( Erin Snodgrass | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Wagner Group is increasingly relying on its professional recruits as inmates flounder in Bakhmut. Wagner soldiers have played an outsized role in the battle of Bakhmut thus far. Meanwhile, US intelligence from December suggested an estimated 10,000 professional Russian soldiers, the majority of whom are veterans, were also acting as Wagner soldiers alongside the former inmates. A mural depicting mercenaries of Russia's Wagner Group that reads: "Wagner Group - Russian knights." Despite rumors that Ukraine was preparing to withdraw from Bakhmut, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Monday that he would send further reinforcements to the city.

☆ Meet the woman who wrote a shocking account of her life on Wall Street
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-09 | by ( Jenni Reid | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +6 min

Jamie Fiore Higgins interviewed on TV on Wednesday, August 31, 2022. And so in the book "Bully Market: My Story of Money and Misogyny at Goldman Sachs," published last summer, she chronicled them. A Goldman Sachs spokesperson said the company "strongly disagrees" with the characterization of its culture described in the book, and what it called "anonymized allegations." "For those 18 years, I cared more about Goldman Sachs than I did my husband, my kids, my parents," she told CNBC. Fiore Higgins' account represents one person's experiences over a set period of time.

☆ Myanmar military has caused 'perpetual human rights crisis', UN report says
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-03 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

GENEVA, March 3 (Reuters) - A report published by the United Nations on Friday accused Myanmar's military of creating "a perpetual human rights crisis" in the southeast Asian country and called for an immediate end to violence there. "The military, emboldened by continuous and absolute impunity, has consistently shown disregard for international obligations and principles," the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Turk, said in a statement. James Rodehaver, chief of the U.N. Human Rights Office's Myanmar team, said that armed clashes were occurring in about 77% of the country. In its recommendations, the report called on authorities in Myanmar to end the violence and stop persecuting opponents. "Military operations must stop to provide room for dialogue that could end this crisis," the report said.

☆ Palestinians living in refugee camps are being paid $350 to fight for Russia in Ukraine: report
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-01 | by ( Joshua Zitser | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Palestinians living in Lebanese refugee camps are being recruited to fight for Russia in Ukraine. The Jerusalem Post reported that some 300 refugees have already been deployed. The majority of Palestinians being deployed to Ukraine come from the largest Palestinian refugee camp in southern Lebanon, Ein El Hilweh Camp, the report said. But it is known that Russia has previously recruited Syrian volunteers to fight in Ukraine. Riad Kahwaji, a Dubai-based security analyst, told The Media Line that Russia recruiting Palestinian refugees to fight in Ukraine wouldn't be surprising.

☆ Russia and Ukraine have a lot of the same tanks and jets, but Kyiv has a decisive 'flesh and bone' advantage, top US enlisted leader says
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-01 | by ( Jake Epstein | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

Russia and Ukraine have often fought against each other using the same military hardware. But Ukraine has a "human dynamic" advantage that Russia lacks, a top US enlisted leader said. US and Ukrainian officials have praised the role of Ukraine's NCOs during the conflict for being leaders on the front lines. "The government of Ukraine decided to go all in on an NCO development model," Colón-López said this week. "It is definitely a decisive advantage that the Ukrainians have that the Russians do not."

☆ Elon Musk recruits team to develop OpenAI's ChatGPT rival - The Information
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-28 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

[1/2] Tesla CEO Elon Musk arrives on the red carpet for the automobile awards "Das Goldene Lenkrad" (The golden steering wheel) given by a German newspaper in Berlin, Germany, November 12, 2019. REUTERS/Hannibal Hanschke/File PhotoFeb 27 (Reuters) - Elon Musk has approached AI researchers in recent weeks about forming a new research lab to develop an alternative to OpenAI's ChatGPT, the Information reported on Monday, citing people with direct knowledge of the effort. Tesla and Twitter chief Musk has been recruiting Igor Babuschkin, a researcher who recently left Alphabet's (GOOGL.O) DeepMind AI unit, the report said. Babuschkin added that has not officially signed onto the Musk initiative, according to the report. Musk and Babuschkin could not be reached immediately for comments.

☆ How to 'layoff-proof' your job, from 6 top recruiters at Netflix, McKinsey, Walmart, and more
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-28 | by ( Aj Eckstein | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

AJ Eckstein hosts a podcast interviewing recruiters from major tech, retail, and finance companies. Recruiters from PwC, Walmart, Lockheed Martin, Netflix, and more share how to safeguard your job. I'm a podcast host and job-search expert who interviews leading recruiters at some of the world's largest companies including Netflix, McKinsey & Company, Accenture, and Walmart. I've interviewed more than 30 recruiters in order to pull back the curtain on the recruitment process and help job seekers. "In a constantly shifting job market, employees shouldn't be stagnant either," he said.

☆ Putin's KGB past is key to grasping what he might do next in his failing Ukraine war, ex-spies say
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-24 | by ( John Haltiwanger | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +13 min

Putin's time in the KGB helps explain his worldview and brutal approach to warfare, ex-spies say. As Western intelligence agencies vie to stay two steps ahead of the Russian leader and get inside his head, peering into Putin's KGB past may offer clues on what he's thinking. "Putin's KGB background tells us a lot about how he thinks and how he sees the war. He is a creation of the KGB, and the KGB was a terrorist organization," John Sipher, a former CIA officer who served in Russia, told Insider. The Ukraine war has seen Putin and his propagandists make a series of assertions — ranging from plausible to preposterous — to justify Russia's unprovoked invasion of Ukraine.

☆ British police face struggle to clean up sexist culture after scandals
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-22 | by ( Michael Holden | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +7 min

London's Metropolitan Police has been hardest hit: After years of saying serious misconduct cases were isolated incidents, it now says it must change its culture. "We have failed and I'm sorry," Mark Rowley, the Met's new chief and Britain's most senior officer, said in January. According to an official report, officers had passed off the conversations as 'banter'. RISING CRIMESome officers officers think the government needs to look at itself. Braverman was reported last year as having told police chiefs to prioritise "common-sense policing" over diversity efforts and virtue-signalling "woke" messaging.

☆ Inside Citadel's internship program for aspiring traders that paves the way for a six-figure salary at the elite hedge fund after college
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-22 | by ( Emmalyse Brownstein | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +15 min

Citadel, one of the largest hedge funds, accepts just 1% of applicants to its associate program. Few college students know what a hedge fund is, let alone that they want to work for one. Its associate program lets aspiring fund managers skip the traditional two-year investment banking program that is usually a prerequisite for a hedge fund job. The associate program is different from Citadel's broader internship program. But the accelerated nature of the CAP program appealed to him over other opportunities, he said.

☆ Big rainmakers on Wall Street
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-20 | by ( ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +1 min

But while that means many Wall Street pros are technically off but in reality, glued to their Slack, WhatsApp, and work email, our team is actually not working today. So if you're looking for some great finance reads, look no further. ChatGPT could upend jobs across Wall Street. Wall Street's big rainmakers: In 2022, top investment banks still pushed blockbuster deals over the line during what was a tough year for M&A. We rounded up the 20 powerhouse bankers who orchestrated the biggest deals of 2022.

☆ 30,000 Wagner Group fighters have been killed or injured in Putin's invasion of Ukraine, says White House spokesman
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-18 | by ( Bethany Dawson | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

More than 30,000 Wagner Group fighters have been killed or injured, according to US officials. John Kirby said that half of the Wagner fighters who perished in the war have died since mid-December. Kirby stated that, according to US intelligence, 90% of the Wagner Group soldiers killed in the last two and a half months were convicts. While the Wagner Group has made limited advances in Bakhmut, Kirby said this gain has come at a "devastating cost that is not sustainable." According to British intelligence, 40-60,000 Russian soldiers and Wagner Group fighters have been killed since February 2022.

Of at least 36 missiles that Russia fired about 16 were shot down, the air force said, a lower rate than normal. German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, French President Emmanuel Macron and U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris are among many top officials attending the Munich Security Conference. As Russian troops massed on Ukraine's borders, Western leaders in Munich urged President Vladimir Putin not to invade and warned of dire consequences if he did. Russian leaders will be notable by their absence at the conference, which runs until Sunday, but senior Ukrainian officials are expected to address it. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said in his nightly video address his priority was to hold off Russian attacks and get ready for an eventual Ukrainian counter-offensive.

Following a pattern of heavy bombardments after Ukrainian battlefield or diplomatic gains, Russia launched 36 missiles in the early hours, Ukraine's Air Force said. The Russian missiles triggered air-raid sirens and landed across Ukraine, including at the Kremenchuk refinery, where the extent of damage was unclear. Ukraine said the barrage included three KH-31 missiles and one Oniks anti-ship cruise missile, which its air defences cannot shoot down. [1/6] Ukrainian servicemen of the 80th Air Assault Brigade fire M119 Howitzer artillery weapon towards Russian troops, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, near Bahmut, Donetsk region, Ukraine, February 16, 2023. Its capture would give Russia a stepping stone to advance on two bigger Donetsk cities further west, Kramatorsk and Sloviansk.

☆ In England's north, Ukraine's civilians become soldiers
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-16 | by ( Andy Bruce | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

[1/5] Ukrainian civilians receive urban warfare training at a military installation in the north of England, part of a program that has so far trained more than 10,000 volunteers, February 16, 2023. Kyiv and its Western allies, including Britain, say these are baseless pretexts for an unprovoked war of acquisition. On Wednesday, British Defence Secretary Ben Wallace said Britain is training Ukrainian soldiers to fight in a more "Western way" and use less ammunition than the traditional Soviet way of fighting. The programme also includes urban warfare, where men train how to fight in ordinary houses and civilian structures, and shooting practice. "I think that all of us will be ready to come back, because Ukraine really needs us, the soldiers who will stand for Ukraine," he said.

☆ Eli Lilly recruits Black patients for Alzheimer trial as drugmakers seek more diversity in clinical studies
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-16 | by ( Bertha Coombs | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +4 min

Eli Lilly drove two mobile labs to the Black women's gathering, to recruit older Black women for a new trial. The drug maker developed the labs on wheels in 2020, to keep its clinical trials going in the first year of the Covid pandemic. A study by the Alzheimer's Association found that 62% of African Americans think clinical research is biased against people of color. Decentralized trialsFinding and enrolling patients can be among the most costly and time-consuming part of clinical trials. By 2021, while advertising remained the top source, social media replaced doctors as the second most-likely way trial participants learned about clinical studies.

☆ Ukraine war: major developments since Russia's invasion
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-16 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +7 min

Following are some of the major developments in Europe's biggest conflict since World War Two. Russian forces made slow, steady gains in a phase of the conflict that inflicted a heavy toll on both sides. UKRAINE COUNTER-ATTACKSAs the war churned on, the United States and Europe began giving Ukraine increasingly powerful and longer-range weaponry and used sanctions to try to hamper Russia's military machine. In early September, Ukrainian forces reeled off surprising gains in the northeastern Kharkiv region, wresting back the sole rail hub supplying Russia's regional front line. Joyous residents feted the return of Ukrainian forces, though the city remains subject to Russian shelling.

☆ Putin's new recruits filling gaps in a decimated Russian unit keep bunching up into a 'pile of people' in battle, making them easy targets, Ukrainian troops say
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-15 | by ( Erin Snodgrass | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

The small mining town of Vuhledar is the site of ongoing fighting as Russia aims to take more territory. Ukraine's 72nd Mechanized Brigade, an armored unit, has been leading Vuhledar's defense, aided by members of the country's 68th Jaeger infantry brigade, The Guardian reported. "We can see very clearly that they're poorly trained," a senior lieutenant who goes by the call sign of Tykhyi, told The Guardian. The new recruits often "gather in one pile of people" making them easy to target, Tykhyi, 23, told The Guardian. One Ukrainian estimate cited by The Guardian suggested Russia is losing 17 soldiers for each slain Ukrainian defender.

☆ Russian inmates only had to march a few yards to be considered fit enough to fight in Ukraine for the Wagner Group, 2 captured fighters say
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-13 | by ( Matthew Loh | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Two captured Wagner Group fighters say the company hired convicts as long as they could march a few yards. Both Russian fighters told CNN they were serving prison sentences when the Wagner Group approached them in September and August, offering six-month contracts in exchange for pardons. The pair said Prigozhin told them they would be stationed on the second line of defense on Russia's front, per CNN. Similar reports previously emerged of Russian reservists dying by the hundreds from Ukrainian shelling and of Wagner Group recruits being executed for refusing to participate in suicide charges. "Those who disobey are eliminated — and it's done publicly," Yevgeny Novikov, a former inmate recruited by Wagner, told the Russian independent outlet Poligon Media.

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