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☆ Brazil’s Jair Bolsonaro is barred from running for office until 2030
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-01 | by ( ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +6 min

Former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro leaves his home following a search operation, in Brasilia, Brazil May 3, 2023. Far-right former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro was barred Friday from running for office again until 2030 after a panel of judges concluded that he abused his power and cast unfounded doubts on the country's electronic voting system. Five judges on the nation's highest electoral court agreed that Bolsonaro used government communication channels to promote his campaign and sowed distrust about the vote. Speaking to reporters in Minas Gerais, Bolsonaro lamented that the trial was unfair and politically motivated. Brazilian law forbids candidates with criminal sentences from running for office.

Persons: Jair Bolsonaro, Bolsonaro, Carlos Melo, Judge Carmen Lucia —, —, Alexandre de Moraes, Melo, Fernando Collor de Mello, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, Sen, Sergio Moro, Maria Maris, Maris, Lula, Swift jailing, Gleisi Hoffmann, mongers, Donald Trump, Marie Santini, Katia Caminha, Caminha, Bolsonaro's, Thomas Traumann, didn't, Traumann Organizations: Insper University, Liberal Party, Federal, Lula's Workers ' Party, Federal University of Rio, Bolsonaro, Associated Press, Sao Paulo Locations: Brasilia, Brazil, Sao Paulo, Minas Gerais, Rio de Janeiro, Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, Rio de, Copacabana, Sao, decamp, Florida

☆ Sushi Boom Upends Japanese Tradition as Chefs Get Trained in Short Order
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-24 | by ( Miho Inada | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

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Persons: Dow Jones

☆ In ‘The Blackening,’ Rather Than Dying First, Getting the Last Laugh
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-08 | by ( Kelli Weston | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

In the short, a group of Black friends confronted by a killer must decide who is “the Blackest” — and therefore liable to be killed first. Of course, the comedy lies in what naturally ensues: Everyone gathered tries to prove they are the least Black. One character retches through repeated attempts at insisting that “All lives matter,” the invalidating response to Black Lives Matter. (“The Blackening” recreates the short in one of its funniest scenes.) Initially attached as a producer, Tim Story, best known for “Barbershop” (2002), fell in love with the script and additionally opted to direct.

Persons: Black, Oliver, Perkins, Tim Story, ”, Yvonne Orji, Morgan, We’re, Foregrounding

☆ The CEO of virtual-care veteran Omada shares why he's avoiding the race to prescribe trendy new weight-loss drugs and what he's doing instead
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-17 | by ( Blake Dodge | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Omada Health, a leader in managing diabetes, is grappling with how it can play a role. Health companies are at a crossroads in deciding how to respond to the frenzy for prescription weight-loss drugs such as Ozempic and Wegovy. Now, as the rise of these powerful drugs upends the weight-loss industry, Omada is grappling with how it can play a role. Instead of prescribing the drugs, Omada is pitching itself as a gatekeeper, akin to the role health insurers usually play. One survey from 2022 found that only about a fifth of companies cover weight-loss drugs for their workers.

Starship is SpaceX's next-generation rocket crucial for the company's commercial launch business and Musk's aim to start human colonies on Mars. The U.S. offers few such options and export controls would make building a foreign launch site difficult. SpaceX has eyed another Kennedy Space Center launch site for future Starship launches, LC-49, a few miles from LC-39A. But that location is in the midst of a lengthy environmental review that could take years. Plans for that orbital launch site, Spaceport Camden, were nixed by a local referendum after a lawsuit raised concerns about its environmental impact.

LOS ANGELES, May 1 (Reuters) - Thousands of film and television writers will go on strike starting Tuesday, throwing Hollywood into turmoil as the entertainment business grapples with seismic changes triggered by the global streaming TV boom. The rise of streaming has led to declining television ad revenue, as traditional TV audiences shrink and advertisers go elsewhere. The last WGA strike, in 2007 and 2008, cost the California economy an estimated $2.1 billion as productions shut down and out-of-work writers, actors and producers cut back spending. Writers say they have suffered financially during the streaming TV boom, in part due to shorter seasons and smaller residual payments. Half of TV series writers now work at minimum salary levels, compared with one-third in the 2013-14 season, according to Guild statistics.

☆ AI is disrupting Hollywood, and one investor sees huge potential in startups harnessing data to identify valuable IP for TV and film
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-26 | by ( Reed Alexander | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

A private credit investor explains why Wall Street sees the potential for big returns from the tech. "What we're interested in right now are companies that are creating a more automated way of identifying valuable IP," Aria Vossoughi of Serengeti Asset Management told Insider. To be sure, Hollywood has been taking steps toward fusing data, algorithms, and creative content for years. Michael Blank, head of consumer investing at CAA, previously told Insider that investments in this arena are "blowing up right now." It supplements it more than replacing it," he told Insider of AI tech.

☆ Opinion | The Gravest Threats to Campus Speech Come From States, Not Students
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-21 | by ( Christina Paxson | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +3 min

Several states, including Georgia, Idaho and most notably Florida, have passed varying laws making it easier to ban books and limit what American educators can teach. I am the president of a private, nonprofit university in Rhode Island, a state founded on the values of freedom and tolerance. The new laws censor their voices as well as those of their faculty and students. Proponents of these laws attempt to justify them by repeating claims that universities are places where political correctness runs rampant and students are intolerant of alternative viewpoints. Students should not ‌violate university policies and ‌shout down speakers they don’t agree with.

☆ The economist who discovered the inverted yield curve as a recession indicator now says his model will prove correct again as the Fed continues to hike rates — and that a downturn will strike anytime
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-20 | by ( William Edwards | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Harvey discovered the inverted yield curve as a recession indicator. Back in December, Cam Harvey made an eyebrow-raising call: the inverted yield curve, the famous recession indicator he discovered in the 1980s, would produce its first false reading since the 1960s. Harvey's yield curve looks at yields on three-month bills and 10-year notes; the latter are normally higher. Another reason Harvey's view has dimmed is that short-term inflation expectations have come down, meaning the real-yield curve (which is adjusted for inflation expectations) has now inverted. In December, Harvey said that much higher short-term inflation expectations relative to long-term expectations meant that real yields weren't inverted.

☆ Is AI coming for Hollywood? A Wall Street investor breaks down why he's bullish about a growing class of startups harnessing data to identify the next big blockbuster.
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-30 | by ( Reed Alexander | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

☆ Goldman Sachs is exploring use cases for large language models, the same AI fueling ChatGPT. Here's 3 areas where the bank is experimenting with the tech.
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-27 | by ( Bianca Chan | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

Large language models, the form of AI behind ChatGPT, could transform how Wall Street does business. With advances in generative AI and large language models, the realm of possibilities have been blown way open. Argenti and Tsementzis outlined three ways Goldman is experimenting with large language models. Summarizing and extracting data from documentsGoldman's document-management process stands to improve from the use of generative AI, Argenti said. Helping engineers parse through code documentationA big time suck for software engineers is figuring out other peoples' code, Argenti said.

☆ Macro Hedge Funds Hit by Financial Turmoil
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-23 | by ( Juliet Chung | Sam Goldfarb | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

The yield on the two-year U.S. Treasury note suffered its largest weekly decline since 1987 last week. Hedge funds that bet on big-picture market moves have been hit with steep losses as a spate of recent bank failures upends bets that interest rates would remain elevated. The souring of the wager led some, including Maniyar Capital Advisors and Haidar Capital Management, to lose more than 20% this month. Many of the funds, which had notched big gains as rates marched steadily upward in 2022, are now flat to down for the year following a steep recent drop in Treasury yields. So-called trend-followers, which try to take advantage of momentum in markets, also were hurt.

☆ Credit Suisse Write-Off Upends European Bank Capital Bonds
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-22 | by ( Josh Mitchell | Anna Hirtenstein | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Some $17 billion of riskier Credit Suisse bonds were written down to zero as part of its emergency takeover. Switzerland’s move to wipe out $17 billion of Credit Suisse Group AG bonds has prompted investors to reassess a market integral to the safety and resilience of Europe’s banking system. The Credit Suisse bonds that were written down as part of its takeover by UBS Group AG were known as AT1s, or Additional Tier 1 bonds. These instruments exploded in popularity in Europe over the past decade and were seen as a way to build buffers that could protect banks in times of trouble without having to tap taxpayer funds.

☆ Amazon and Other Tech Firms’ Dwindling Demand Upends Office Market
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-04 | by ( Konrad Putzier | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Photo: Amanda Andrade-Rhoades for The Wall Street JournalThe site of Amazon’s second headquarters in Arlington, Va., where the company has halted the start of construction on a second phase. Amazon .com Inc.’s decision to delay building part of its Virginia office campus is the latest sign that fading demand from technology companies is becoming a problem for the commercial real-estate sector. Tech giants like Amazon, Alphabet Inc. and Microsoft Corp. for years drove demand for office space, helping prop up building values in cities like New York, San Francisco and Washington, D.C.

☆ Amazon’s and Other Tech Firms’ Dwindling Demand Upends Office Market
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-04 | by ( Konrad Putzier | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

☆ Take Five: Strap in for no landing
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-24 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

1/ FED VS STOCKSReports on U.S. durable goods orders, home prices as well as manufacturing and consumer confidence threaten to cement expectations of more Fed rate hikes and to deal a knockout punch to the early-year stocks rally. Evidence of a stronger-than-expected economy has forced investors to recalibrate projections for Fed hawkishness, lifting bond yields and weighing on stock gains. Tuesday's consumer confidence data may be of particular interest, offering a glimpse into households' views on economic prospects and inflation expectations. The idea of "no landing," which upends a host of popular trades based on a the scenario of the global economy entering recession is gaining traction thanks to surprisingly upbeat data. A soft landing could still happen.

☆ Mark Zuckerberg just ushered in a new era of tech, where profitability and efficiency trump perks and culture
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-02 | by ( Matt Weinberger | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

Mark Zuckerberg says this will be the "year of efficiency" at Meta, signaling more cuts ahead. His comments reflect a new reality for tech: The era of deep pockets and endless perks is over. Enter Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Facebook's parent company Meta, who officially rang in the new era on Wednesday when he declared that 2023 would be the "year of efficiency" at the social network. Instead of throwing money and manpower at problems, Zuckerberg shows that Meta is now learning to live within its means. For those who remain, perks will be stripped back as a new culture of efficiency upends the tech office culture to which they've grown accustomed over the last two decades or so.

☆ Mercedes-Benz's new self-driving tech is turning up the heat on Tesla at the worst possible time
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-02 | by ( Tim Levin | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Its Drive Pilot feature allows drivers to not pay attention to the road in certain situations. Drive Pilot is a "really big deal," Bryant Walker-Smith, a law professor at the University of South Carolina who specializes in autonomous vehicles, told Insider. But at one level higher, Mercedes' Drive Pilot allows a driver's attention to wander to other tasks in certain situations. There are some caveats: When Drive Pilot hits roads later in 2023, it will only work on certain freeways in Nevada and only at speeds under 40 mph. Still, Drive Pilot isn't sparking a revolution in the way people drive — or don't — just yet.

☆ Netanyahu fires key cabinet ally amid nationwide protests over judicial reform
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-22 | by ( Associated Press | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +3 min

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu fired a key Cabinet ally on Sunday, heeding a Supreme Court ruling commanding him to do so and deepening a rift over the power of the courts. Netanyahu announced he was firing Aryeh Deri, who serves as Interior and Health Minister, at a meeting of his Cabinet. Israel’s Supreme Court decided last week Deri could not serve as a Cabinet minister because of a conviction last year over tax offenses. The court ruling came as Israel is mired in a dispute over the power of the judiciary. Netanyahu’s far-right government wants to weaken the Supreme Court, limit judicial oversight and grant more power to politicians.

☆ California shooting upends tranquil community: 'I don't feel safe'
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-22 | by ( Tim Reid | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

[1/3] Police investigate the scene of a shooting that took place during a Chinese Lunar New Year celebration, in Monterey Park, California, U.S. January 22, 2023. On Saturday night, when she heard the gunfire that killed at least 10 people in her newfound home of Monterey Park, California, that dream was shattered. On Sunday morning, after America's latest mass shooting, this time of revelers celebrating Lunar New Year in a Monterey Park ballroom, residents gathered in small groups in stunned disbelief and dismay. The Monterey Park community is close knit, city leaders said. Reporting by Tim Reid in Monterey Park; Editing by Paul Thomasch and Lisa ShumakerOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ How Big Tech’s pandemic bubble burst
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-22 | by ( Clare Duffy | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +5 min

Microsoft’s customers, Nadella said, are now trying “to do more with less.”Microsoft isn’t the only company experiencing such a dramatic reversal. In recent months, higher interest rates, inflation and recession fears causing a pullback in advertising and consumer spending have all weighed on tech companies’ profits and share prices. “They’ve taken a more seemingly thoughtful approach to hiring and overall managing the company,” Kessler said. Notably, however, none of the Big Tech company CEOs now overseeing layoffs appear to have been hit with any change to their compensation or title. The tech layoff announcements are likely to continue into the upcoming earnings season, Kessler said, amid ongoing economic warning signs.

☆ Moving species emerges as last resort as climate warms
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-17 | by ( Associated Press | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +6 min

Moving species to save them — once considered taboo — is quickly gaining traction as climate change upends habitats. Concerns persist that the novel practice could cause unintended harm the same way invasive plants and animals have wreaked havoc on native species. “Climate change is causing a greater need for this — for taking a species outside its known historical range.”A pending change to the U.S. “In the future, some species’ ranges may shift due to climate change, or their current habitats might become unsuitable due to invasive species encroachment,” Armstrong said in an email. Humanity has been moving species around for centuries, often inadvertently and sometimes causing great harm.

☆ UBS: Here's how to invest in China in 2023 as the dramatic end to zero-COVID policies upends markets and boosts the domestic economy
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-05 | by ( Marley Jay | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

In 2022, experts said that the global economy would get a boost after China lifted its strict zero-COVID restrictions. He added that later in the year the tide could turn, and he expects China's economy to grow 5% by the end of 2023. "China's reopening is also a positive for Asian IG and HY bonds, in particular Chinese property developers," he said. That's had a significant effect on the global economy because China has been the largest single source of global economic growth for many years. That means the fate of China's economy this year will have a major effect on the performance of the global economy.

We are diversifying our income streams, maintaining a robust emergency fund, and keeping our pantry fully stocked. But beyond our regular jobs, we are looking for new ways to diversify our income streams. Maintaining a robust emergency fundA robust emergency fund has always been the cornerstone of my financial plans. But if all of our income streams dried up, I do know that we'd have some time to figure out our next move. Beyond taking a careful look at our holiday spending, we've started to look for other ways to cut down on our costs.

☆ FTX’s Collapse Upends Sam Bankman-Fried’s Washington Play
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-27 | by ( Paul Kiernan | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

WASHINGTON— Sam Bankman-Fried ’s multimillion-dollar Washington charm offensive revolved around a small financial regulator and a group of senators with whom the purported crypto billionaire found common cause in a bid for light-touch regulation of digital assets. For FTX, the crypto exchange Mr. Bankman-Fried founded, the goal was to steer oversight of crypto into the hands of what was perceived to be a friendlier regulator than the Securities and Exchange Commission, which has been promising a more stringent approach.

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