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☆ Weight loss without Wegovy’s side-effects on biotech firms' radar
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-07 | by ( Maggie Fick | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +8 min

It leads to 22.5% weight loss, according to a Lilly trial published last year. The effect achieves far more weight loss than predecessors. An even earlier stage biotech firm, Antag Therapeutics in Denmark, told Reuters that the ballooning obesity market has improved its fundraising prospects. It curbs appetite by restoring the natural release of GLP-1 and other hormones, without causing nausea, Phase I data showed. The effect of the drug on weight loss is being tested in the Phase II study.

Persons: Rebecca Vogt, Handout, Wegovy, Vogt, Jayson Dallas, Noushin Irani, Mounjaro, Eli Lilly's, Lilly, Andrew Levin, Rivus, Mark Fineman, Ashish Nimgaonkar, Nimgaonkar, Alexander Sparre, Ulrich, Tim Opler, Opler, Stifel, Maggie Fick, Josephine Mason, Daniel Flynn Organizations: REUTERS, Nordisk's, Food and Drug Administration, U.S, Reuters, Rivus Pharmaceuticals, Investors, Deutsche, FDA, Pfizer, Capital Management, Rivus, Therapeutics, Johns Hopkins University, pharma, Antag Therapeutics, Aphaia Pharma, Thomson Locations: Irving , New York, U.S, GLP, Buffalo , New York, United States, Dallas, Baltimore , Maryland, Denmark, Switzerland

It is also looking to hire a lawyer with a specialty in trade compliance to help Temu create a protocol for screening merchandise, another posting showed. The U.S. House Select Committee on the China Communist Party in May launched an investigation into retailers' connections to forced labor in China's Xinjiang region, including any efforts to comply with the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act. The committee last week released preliminary findings stating that Temu "does not have any system to ensure compliance" with the act. Temu's 80,000 "suppliers agree to boilerplate terms and conditions that prohibit the use of forced labor," the report said. Rights groups accuse Beijing of abuses including forced labor and placing 1 million or more Uyghurs - a mainly Muslim ethnic group - in internment camps in Xinjiang.

Persons: Temu, Shein, Arriana McLymore, Jamie Freed Organizations: YORK, PDD Holdings, New Zealand, Reuters, U.S, China Communist Party, Uyghur, Labor, Thomson Locations: U.S, Xinjiang, China, Canada, Australia, New, China's Xinjiang, United States, Xingiang, Beijing, New York

☆ Putin hinted that Russia may launch another attack on Kyiv in an interview with war bloggers
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-14 | by ( Tom Porter | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Russian President Vladimir Putin fielded questions about the Ukraine war from journalists. Russia was defeated a steep cost in casualties when attempting to seize Kyiv in 2022. At one point, he apparently suggested that he hadn't ruled out another bid to seize Kyiv, the Ukrainian capital. After being defeated in its campaign to seize Kyiv, the Russian military refocused its campaign on taking territory in east and south Ukraine. The Russian military bloggers who Putin spoke to Wednesday have been among the sternest critics of Russia's campaign, arguing its botched the invasion and been too cautious.

Persons: Vladimir Putin, there'd, —, Putin, hadn't, Putin's Organizations: Service, Kremlin, Reuters, Institute Locations: Ukraine, Kyiv, Russia, Ukrainian, Russian

[1/5] Customers stand next to a counter at a Starbucks' outlet at a market in New Delhi, India, May 30, 2023. Starbucks plans to open more stores in smaller towns, said an industry source, who spoke on condition of anonymity. Soon after Starbucks' May launch of $3.33 milkshakes, designed to attract children, Third Wave launched its own range, a fifth cheaper at $2.71. He saw Starbucks' cheaper, small-sized drinks as a response to competition in "an incredibly price-sensitive market". "Going deeper into smaller cities, beyond the metros, is the only way to grow," said Ankur Bisen, head of retail at India's Technopak Advisors.

Persons: Sushant Dash, Tim Hortons, Devangshu Dutta, We've, chai, Chas Hermann, Sushant Goel, Matt Chitharanjan, Dash, Ankur Bisen, Sriram, Aditya Kalra, Anushree Fadnavis, Varun Vyas, Euan Rocha, Miyoung Kim, Sophie Yu, Hilary Russ, Clarence Fernandez Organizations: REUTERS, MUMBAI, Blue, Starbucks, Tata Group, BET, CHAI, Wave, Third, Reuters, Blue Tokai, India's Technopak, Thomson Locations: New Delhi, India, American, DELHI, U.S, Blue Tokai, China, Singapore, United States, Bengaluru, Delhi, Aurangabad, Beijing, New York

☆ Watch an exasperated Matt Gaetz in a Nirvana shirt coach Ron DeSantis on how to debate people properly in a video from 2018
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-08 | by ( Cheryl Teh | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

A video from 2018 shows a dressed-down Matt Gaetz coaching Ron DeSantis on how to debate. Gaetz is also seen slumping onto the podium midway through debate prep. At the time of the video, Gaetz was a Florida congressman, while DeSantis had resigned to run against Gillum. Gaetz was one of the people enlisted to help DeSantis prep for debates. "I ran the Desantis Debate Prep in 2018.

☆ I took a cruise around the Mediterranean. Here are 5 things that surprised me — from the coffee to the navigation.
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-16 | by ( Christian Mayer | Nathan Rennolds | Business Insider Deutschland | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Insider's Christian Mayer took a trip around the Mediterranean on the AIDAblu cruise ship. I recently booked a spontaneous weeklong cruise with the German cruise line Aida Cruises, a subsidiary of Carnival Corporation and PLC, one of the largest cruise companies in the world. The cruise sailed around Italy and Malta, starting off in Civitavecchia, a town on the west coast of Italy near Rome. A tiny ship approached the outer wall of our huge cruise ship, and, in whipping winds, the pilot climbed an outer ladder onto our ship. The ship served Starbucks coffeeThe price of the cruise included filter coffee with breakfast.

☆ Apple may launch mixed reality device this year — but we're not scared, HTC CEO says
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-06 | by ( Ryan Browne | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

Cher Wang, chairperson, co-founder and CEO of HTC, speaks at a keynote on the second day of the Mobile World Congress 2023. BARCELONA — The boss of consumer electronics firm HTC thinks Apple is going to launch its own mixed reality headset, but she's not worried about the competition. Speaking with CNBC at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, HTC CEO and co-founder Cher Wang said the Cupertino tech giant was likely to launch a mixed reality, or XR, product "very soon" — potentially as soon as this year. In January, Bloomberg reported that it is gearing up to release a mixed reality headset in the spring. "Apple and the entire industry realizes the potential and hence want to enter and eventually lead this segment," he added.

☆ Day in the life of the founder of Rebundle, a hair-extension brand that closed a $2.1 million pre-seed round with investors like Colin Kaepernick
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-17 | by ( Alexandra York | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Ciara Imani May launched Rebundle, a sustainable synthetic braiding hair startup, in 2019. The business closed a $2.1 million pre-seed round in December, which included investors like Colin Kaepernick. Through her research, she realized that the majority of synthetic braiding hair is terrible for the planet, as it's often made of harmful toxins and nonreusable plastics. The brand's first product, Braid Better — lightweight, comfortable, itch-free, and biodegradable hair extensions — launched its limited product line in January 2021. Since then, Rebundle relaunched as a direct-to-consumer brand, raised a $2.1 million pre-seed round, acquired hundreds of repeat customers, and scaled to a seven-person team.

☆ Apple's patent for a new kind of iPhone could boost sales, UBS says
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-15 | by ( Alex Harring | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

As speculation grows over the possibility Apple is working on a foldable iPhone or tablet, UBS took a look at the boost the company could get from such a device. The technology giant received a patent Tuesday for electronic devices with display and touch sensor structures, with the patent abstract specifically noting a "foldable electronic device" that might have a "flexible transparent wall portion that joins planar transparent walls." Drawings submitted with the application show "an electronic device with multiple foldable sections," Vogt said. Vogt said that a foldable smartphone could help Apple's rate of customers purchasing and upgrading. The company missed analyst expectations for iPhone revenue in its fourth quarter , while major retailers in China cut prices.

☆ Google announces Bard A.I. in response to ChatGPT
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-06 | by ( Jennifer Elias | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

CEO of Alphabet and Google Sundar Pichai during press conference at the Chancellery in Warsaw, Poland on March 29, 2022. They included a chatbot called "Apprentice Bard," as well as new search desktop designs that could be used in a question-and-answer format. Google on Monday announced an artificial intelligence chatbot technology called " Bard " that the company will begin rolling out in the coming weeks. Bard will compete directly with rival ChatGPT , an AI service created by OpenAI. Google's prime business is web search, and the company has long touted itself as a pioneer in AI.

☆ Google is asking employees to test potential ChatGPT competitors, including a chatbot called 'Apprentice Bard'
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-31 | by ( Jennifer Elias | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +7 min

Google is also testing a chatbot called “Apprentice Bard,” where employees can ask questions and receive detailed answers similar to ChatGPT. Apprentice BardOne of the test products is a chatbot called Apprentice Bard, which uses Google’s conversation technology LaMDA, or Language Model for Dialogue Applications. Apprentice Bard looks similar to ChatGPT: Employees can enter a question in a dialog box and get a text answer, then give feedback on the response. Apprentice Bard replaced Meena, a previous version of a smart chat bot that had launched internally but was later discontinued. In one example circulated internally, a tester asked Apprentice Bard if there will be another round of layoffs at Google.

Currently trading around $9,130, the copper price is up by 9.6% since the start of January. Investors played copper from the short side for much of last year, if they were prepared to engage at all. The funds' sudden return is a sign that many are betting on a much sunnier outlook. "To the degree these short positions have not already covered, this may support copper in the short term", the bank said. It's clear, though, that copper long positioning is primarily a bet on Chinese recovery, underpinned by measures to revitalise a foundering property sector and more metals-intensive green infrastructure.

☆ Indonesia eyes $11 bln in capital market fundraising this year
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-02 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

JAKARTA, Jan 2 (Reuters) - Indonesia is targeting 170 trillion rupiah ($10.92 billion) in capital market fundraising for this year, including from initial public offerings and debt instruments, its financial regulator said on Monday, well below the amount raised in 2022. About 260 trillion rupiah was raised through the capital market last year, including the IPO of top tech firm PT GoTo Gojek Tokopedia (GOTO.JK), which raised $1.1 billion in April. Inarno Djajadi, head of capital market supervision at the Financial Services Authority, said there were 84 offerings in the pipeline with 81.41 trillion rupiah ($5.23 billion) in total estimated value. About 54.5 trillion rupiah of that would be from 58 potential IPOs. Among firms expected to go public in 2023 are two units of state energy firm Pertamina, Pertamina Geothermal Energy and Pertamina Hulu Energi.

☆ Belarus official: 'Unlikely' downed Ukrainian missile entered by accident
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-30 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Dec 30 (Reuters) - The secretary of Belarus' Security Council said in an interview on Friday that it was "unlikely" that a Ukrainian air defence missile downed on Thursday had entered Belarusian airspace by accident. "An example of this is the recent incident with the destruction of the Ukrainian S-300 missile. Belarus' defence ministry said on Thursday its air defence forces had shot down a Ukrainian S-300 surface-to-air missile near the village of Harbacha in the Brest region, some 15 km (9 miles) from the Belarus-Ukraine border. A regional military official in Belarus had played down the cross-border incident shortly after it occurred, saying: "Unfortunately, these things happen." Ukraine's defence ministry said it would investigate the incident, suggesting it was a Russian provocation and reserving the right to protect its own skies.

☆ Video: John Bolton says he may launch 2024 bid to stop Trump
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-06 | by ( ) edition.cnn.com time to read: 1 min

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☆ John Bolton says he may launch presidential bid to stop Trump
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-05 | by ( Bridget Bowman | Bridget Bowman Is A Deputy Editor For Nbc'S Political Unit. | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +2 min

Former National Security Advisor John Bolton said Monday that he will consider running for president to stop former President Donald Trump from returning to the White House, if no other potential GOP candidates denounce Trump. “I’d like to see Shermanesque statements from all the potential candidates,” about the comments Bolton said. “If I don’t see that, I’m going to seriously consider getting in.”Bolton called Trump’s statement “disqualifying,” and said, “I think to be a presidential candidate you can’t just say, 'I support the Constitution.' '”Bolton served as Trump’s national security adviser from April 2018 until Sept. 2019, when Trump fired Bolton amid reports that they disagreed over talks with the Taliban and trade negotiations with China. Bolton claimed he saw evidence that Trump obstructed justice and that Trump asked China to assist his re-election.

STOCKHOLM, Nov 28 (Reuters) - Philip Morris International (PMI) (PM.N) said on Monday it now owned a big enough stake in Swedish Match (SWMA.ST) to initiate a compulsory redemption of remaining shares in its Swedish peer and would take it off the stock market. Marlboro maker PMI in May launched a $16 billion takeover bid for the Swedish tobacco and nicotine products company. Buying Swedish Match, with its popular wet snuff "snus" products and tobacco-free nicotine "ZYN" pouches, will aid PMI in its stated ambition to move away from health-harming cigarettes and eventually become a smoke-free company. Swedish Match was not immediately available for comment. ($1 = 10.3774 Swedish crowns)Reporting by Marie Mannes and Anna Ringstrom, editing by Essi Lehto and Susan FentonOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Generative AI Startups Attract Business Customers, Investor Funding
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-25 | by ( Angus Loten | ) www.wsj.com time to read: +5 min

Based on keyword prompts, generative AI platforms can then mimic these sources to produce fanciful stories and pictures of their own. Other generative AI startups offering enterprise applications include Replikr, a New Zealand startup that uses generative AI to create customer-service avatars, and Dutch startup Musico Ltd., which can be used to create original copyright-free advertising jingles. GoCharlie.AI, an early-stage startup based in San Francisco, in May launched a generative AI marketing assistant designed to create promotional social-media posts. By promising to save workers hours of productive time creating promotional materials, the commercial value proposition around generative AI has always been clear, he said. Rowan Curran, an AI and data science analyst at IT research firm Forrester Research Inc., said he expects generative AI to impact enterprises from top to bottom.

☆ The DeSantis Florida Tsunami
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-11 | by ( The Editorial Board | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Ron DeSantis was expected to win re-election as Florida Governor, but the big news Tuesday was the magnitude of his victory. The Governor won nearly everywhere in the state, and notably in Democratic strongholds. He won by double digits in heavily Hispanic Miami-Dade County, which Joe Biden carried by 85,000 votes and a statewide Republican hadn’t carried since Jeb Bush won re-election 2002. Mr. DeSantis also won Osceola County south of Orlando, which has a heavy Puerto Rican population. He even won in Democratic Palm Beach County.

☆ Day in the life of the founder of Rebundle, a hair-extension brand that closed a $2.1 million pre-seed with Chris Paul and Colin Kaepernick as investors.
▼ + stars: | 2022-01-20 | by ( Alexandra York | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

The business closed a $2.1 million pre-seed round in December, with investors like Chris Paul and Colin Kaepernick. "I needed a solution that would be better for me and my body, but also be better for the environment." The brand's first product, Braid Better — lightweight, comfortable, itch-free, and biodegradable hair extensions — launched its limited product line in January 2021. Since then, Rebundle relaunched DTC and raised a $2.1 million pre-seed round, acquired hundreds of repeat customers, and grown to a seven-person team. As she builds her brand, May told Insider what a day in her life looks like, from meeting with investors to planning social-media campaigns.

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