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☆ Opinion | Why Is Democracy Under Such Stress Now?
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-19 | by ( Thomas B. Edsall | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +3 min

From Turkey to Hungary, from India to the United States, authoritarian leaders have gained power under the protective cloak of free elections. Instead, they have doubled down on even more extreme and broadly unpopular leaders and policies, from Trump to abortion and guns. As a minority seeking to exercise control of government, it is actually necessary that the Trumpist G.O.P. If enough voters, Goldstone wrote,are deeply anxious or frightened of some real or imagined threat (e.g. If the same political party controls the House, Senate, judiciary and presidency, and disregards the principles of democracy and independence of officials, then sadly none of the institutions of democracy will prevent arbitrary and autocratic government.

☆ China seeking Dutch space technology -military intelligence agency
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-19 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

AMSTERDAM, April 19 (Reuters) - China is seeking to acquire equipment and knowledge in the Dutch space sector, sometimes in circumvention of export restrictions, the Netherlands' military intelligence agency said on Wednesday. China has long insisted that its space programme is for peaceful purposes and that it opposes any form of arms race in space. MIVD chief Jan Swillers said in the agency's report thatChina was specifically seeking "launchers with intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance (ISR) and communication satellites”. The MIVD's partner agency, the Dutch general intelligence agency AIVD, said on Monday that China posed "the greatest threat to Dutch economic security". In response, China's foreign ministry urged Western officials to abandon what it called a Cold War mentality and stop hyping up the “China threat” narrative.

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.

☆ Meta opens up its Horizon Worlds VR app to teens for the first time, prompting outcries from US lawmakers
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-19 | by ( Brian Fung | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +4 min

Washington CNN —Meta is forging ahead with plans to let teenagers onto its virtual reality app, Horizon Worlds, despite objections from lawmakers and civil society groups that the technology could have possible unintended consequences for mental health. On Tuesday, the social media giant said children as young as 13 in Canada and the United States will gain access to Horizon Worlds for the first time in the coming weeks. Zuckerberg has pushed to spend billions developing VR hardware and software, even as Meta has scaled back significantly in other parts of its business. “Meta is despicably attempting to lure young teens to Horizon Worlds in an attempt to boost its failing platform,” said Connecticut Democratic Sen. Richard Blumenthal, who last month, along with Massachusetts Democratic Sen. Ed Markey, urged Zuckerberg to reconsider letting teens use the app. Lawmakers have previously raised alarms about the impact of some of Meta’s other products, including Instagram, on younger users.

☆ U.S. Defense Secretary Urges Swift NATO Membership for Sweden
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-19 | by ( Helene Cooper | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

MUSKO NAVAL BASE, Sweden — With Finland now officially in the fold of NATO, the Biden administration turned its attention on Wednesday to neighboring Sweden, another long-neutral nation that now wants to join the military alliance. During the first visit to Sweden by an American defense secretary in 23 years, Lloyd J. Austin III promised to work for Stockholm’s “swift accession” to NATO and said he hoped that objections to the country’s NATO membership would be ironed out by midsummer, when members of the alliance meet in Lithuania. “We’ll work hard to get that done before the summit,” Mr. Austin said. Like Finland, Sweden decided to abandon its neutrality after the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Before it can join the alliance, however, it must first win over two holdouts, Turkey and Hungary, since all NATO members have to agree to a nation’s inclusion.

☆ Factbox: 2024 US presidential election: who's in, who's out and who's still thinking about it
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-19 | by ( Ross Colvin | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +7 min

Here is a list of major declared candidates and other potential 2024 hopefuls in both the Democratic and Republican parties. Political analysts say there is little benefit to him jumping into the race too soon, with the election still 19 months away. In the meantime, he can continue to look presidential, although he still has poor approval ratings in opinion surveys. The former Kansas congressman was one of Trump's most loyal lieutenants and initially backed his false claims of a stolen presidential election in 2020. Several of his key staff, though, have recently joined the DeSantis camp, however, suggesting that Youngkin, is not going to run in 2024.

☆ Offered a promotion right after you quit? Don't let your employer dangle a carrot.
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-19 | by ( Rebecca Knight | Shana Lebowitz | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

When you tell your company you're quitting, your boss might try to get you to stay with a promotion. After months — or years — of resenting your job, you're going to quit and take the plunge to start a different career. Your unappreciative manager just made you a surprise offer — a promotion, complete with a new title and a raise. "You don't wake up one morning and say, 'I want to do something completely different,' and quit your job," she said. Remember: If you accept the promotion and stick with your current employer, your boss might not trust you as much anymore.

☆ China's supply chain is too central and efficient for companies to 'derisk' from it, analyst says
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-19 | by ( ) www.cnbc.com time to read: 1 min

Share Share Article via Facebook Share Article via Twitter Share Article via LinkedIn Share Article via EmailChina's supply chain is too central and efficient for companies to 'derisk' from it, analyst saysMattie Bekink of the Economist Intelligence Corporate Network says the China market is "too large, too attractive, too central and too efficient" to abandon.

☆ As New York Bans Native American Mascots, Some Schools Try to Keep Them
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-17 | by ( Jesse Mckinley | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

SCHENECTADY, N.Y. — Everywhere you look on the campus of Mohonasen Central School District, there are indications of Indigenous tradition: on street signs, in logos made up of arrows and feathers, and — most centrally — in the profiles of three American Indian men, the emblem of the school’s team name, the Warriors. But under a new policy expected to be approved by the state Board of Regents on Monday, that nickname may soon have to be changed, part of a nationwide effort to eliminate mascots and logos containing racially insensitive images or words. According to the National Congress of American Indians, more than 20 states have taken action to change mascot names, using a variety of means, including legislation and actions by human rights commissions. In New York, the push dates back more than two decades but recently gained strength — and bite — when the State Board of Education sent notice in November to school districts across New York that they had to commit to abandon “Native American mascots” or face “removal of school officers and the withholding of state aid.” The Regents is expected to ratify that policy on Monday.

☆ Club meeting recap: Cramer applauds Well Fargo's 'amazing' quarter, as the stock jumps
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-17 | by ( Paulina Likos | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

Every weekday the CNBC Investing Club with Jim Cramer holds a "Morning Meeting" livestream at 10:20 a.m. Meta stock, which has climbed more than 80% year-to-date, was trading down 1.7% Monday, at $217.73 a share. As a subscriber to the CNBC Investing Club with Jim Cramer, you will receive a trade alert before Jim makes a trade. THE ABOVE INVESTING CLUB INFORMATION IS SUBJECT TO OUR TERMS AND CONDITIONS AND PRIVACY POLICY , TOGETHER WITH OUR DISCLAIMER . NO FIDUCIARY OBLIGATION OR DUTY EXISTS, OR IS CREATED, BY VIRTUE OF YOUR RECEIPT OF ANY INFORMATION PROVIDED IN CONNECTION WITH THE INVESTING CLUB.

☆ Wife of jailed Putin critic says 25-year sentence is 'recognition' of his work
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-17 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

WASHINGTON, April 17 (Reuters) - The wife of Kremlin critic Vladimir Kara-Murza said on Monday that the 25-year prison sentence a Russian court handed him was recognition of the effectiveness of his work and showed that authorities fear him. Evgenia Kara-Murza spoke at a Washington Post event about the sentence on charges of treason and other offenses Kara-Murza denies committing. State prosecutors also accused him of discrediting the Russian military after spreading "knowingly false information" about its conduct in what Moscow calls its "special military operation" in Ukraine. "I understand that this sentence is the high recognition of the effectiveness of Vladimir’s work," she said at the event that was streamed online, alongside an attorney for her husband. "This sentence shows that they’re so afraid of him and they hate him so much for his consistency, for his courage, for his amazing bravery," she added.

☆ As NYC's first-ever rat czar gets to work, cities like Boston and Chicago are looking for inspiration to fix their own rodent problems
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-16 | by ( Jordan Hart | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

New York City Mayor Eric Adams appointed a "rat czar" to help eliminate rodents in the city. One Boston city official says the Massachusetts city should follow suit and hire a rat slayer of their own. Days later, Boston City Council President Ed Flynn recommended the Massachusetts city hire someone in a similar position ""to hopefully one day eliminate rats in Boston," the Boston Herald reported. In 2022, Chicago was named the number one "rattiest" city in the US over both New York City and Boston. "You can hear them screaming — ee, ee, ee, ee!"

☆ War would bring disaster to China too, Taiwan presidential contender says
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-15 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

TAIPEI, April 15 (Reuters) - War over Taiwan would bring about a "global catastrophe" that China would find it hard to bear, the presidential candidate for Taiwan's ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), William Lai, said on Saturday. China, which views Taiwan as its own territory, staged war games around the island this month, expressing its anger at a meeting in Los Angeles between Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen and U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Kevin McCarthy. China said it had tested precision strikes and a blockade of Taiwan, whose government denounced the drills and rejects Beijing's territorial claims. Speaking at a campaign event in southern Taiwan's Tainan, Lai, currently Taiwan's vice president, said a war would have no winners, something he hoped China properly understood. "China should clearly realise that once war is launched on Taiwan, Taiwan will admittedly be directly harmed but it will also cause a global catastrophe China will find it hard to bear," Lai said, according to comments provided by the DPP.

☆ Ukraine forces pull back as Russia mounts 're-energised' Bakhmut assault, UK says
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-14 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

[1/2] Ukrainian artillery fires towards the frontline during heavy fighting amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, near Bakhmut, Ukraine, April 13, 2023. "Russia has re-energised its assault on the Donetsk Oblast town of Bakhmut as forces of the Russian MoD and Wagner Group have improved co-operation," it said, referring to Russia's defence ministry and its main mercenary force. "Ukrainian forces face significant resupply issues but have made orderly withdrawals from the positions they have been forced to concede," Britain's military said in a daily intelligence update. It said Wagner units were now focusing on advancing in the centre of Bakhmut, while Russian paratroopers were relieving them in attacks on the city's flanks. Moscow says it would open a route to capturing more territory in Ukraine's eastern Donbas region, a major war aim.

[1/2] Ukrainian artillery fires towards the frontline during heavy fighting amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, near Bakhmut, Ukraine, April 13, 2023. Western countries have in the past pointed to acrimony between the Russian defence ministry (MoD) and the country's main mercenary force Wagner as a major Russian weakness. Ukrainian Deputy Defence Minister Hanna Maliar said Russian commanders had redirected troops to Bakhmut from other areas. The British update said the Ukrainians still held western districts of the town but had been subjected to particularly intense Russian artillery fire over the previous 48 hours. Moscow says it would open a route to capturing more territory in Ukraine's eastern Donbas region, a major war aim.

Unions - and protesters - will pressure Macron not to promulgate the law, and try to find another way out. The Council's decision is expected late afternoon or early evening, likely after 1600 GMT. It could strike down the bill, but this is something it has rarely done and constitutional experts and government sources see this as unlikely. Political observers say the widespread discontent over the government's reform could have longer-term repercussions, including a possible boost for the far right. "I'm not that optimistic about the Constitutional Council's decision," far-right leader Marine Le Pen, who opposes the pension legislation, said earlier this week.

☆ Amazon is ‘investing heavily’ in the technology behind ChatGPT
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-13 | by ( Catherine Thorbecke | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +4 min

CNN —Amazon wants investors to know it won’t be left behind in the latest Big Tech arms race over artificial intelligence. In a letter to shareholders Thursday, Amazon (AMZN) CEO Andy Jassy said the company is “investing heavily” in large language models (LLMs) and generative AI, the same technology that underpins ChatGPT and other similar AI chatbots. Since ChatGPT was released to the public in late November, Google (GOOG), Facebook (FB) and Microsoft (MSFT) have all talked up their growing focus on generative AI technology, which can create compelling essays, stories and visuals in response to user prompts. With that in mind, Amazon on Thursday unveiled a new service called Bedrock. It essentially makes foundation models (large models that are pre-trained on vast amounts of data) from AI21 Labs, Anthropic, Stability AI and Amazon accessible to clients via an API, Amazon said in a blog post.

☆ Inside the AI talent wars: Tech companies are ransacking university AI programs at Stanford, MIT, and Cornell in search of rare talent
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-12 | by ( Stephanie Palazzolo | Melia Russell | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +11 min

Driven by the recent AI boom, companies are raiding top college campuses for rare technical talent. She's currently on leave from her Stanford AI Ph.D. program to focus on Moonhub. In 2011, new AI Ph.D. graduates took jobs in the tech industry and academia in about equal measure. But since then, the majority of new grads have headed to the AI industry, with nearly double the percentage of AI Ph.D. grads taking industry jobs versus academic roles in 2021, according to Stanford's Institute for Human-Centered AI's 2023 AI Index Report. "All AI companies have roles for people with Ph.D.s and without," said Attaluri, the soon-to-be researcher at DeepMind.

☆ Cirrus Logic slumps as analyst says Apple to abandon button design change
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-12 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

April 12 (Reuters) - Shares of Apple Inc (AAPL.O) supplier Cirrus Logic Inc (CRUS.O) tumbled about 12% after a renowned analyst said the iPhone maker will abandon the solid-state button design for premium variants of its iPhone 15 series of smartphones. Amid speculation Apple would use a button format that remains static, TF International Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, known for his accurate predictions related to Apple's product launches, said in a blog post the company decided to abandon the design shift. "Investors had anticipated that the new solid-state button design would increase suppliers' revenues and profits," Kuo said. Shares of integrated circuit maker Cirrus Logic have hit their lowest in over two months and are set for their worst day in about two years. Cirrus Logic declined to comment.

☆ Apple reportedly nixes iPhone 15 button upgrade, sending supplier stock down 12%
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-12 | by ( Rohan Goswami | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

The Apple iPhone 14, iPhone 14 Pro, and iPhone Pro Max on sale at the company's Fifth Avenue store in New York, US, on Friday, Sept. 16, 2022. Photographer: Jeenah Moon/Bloomberg via Getty ImagesApple supplier Cirrus Logic's shares fell about 12% early afternoon Wednesday after a report from analyst Ming-Chi Kuo said that the upcoming iPhone 15 Pro won't use Cirrus' haptic touch technology as heavily as initially expected. Cirrus' technology and parts help power Apple's haptic touch systems, which have been used to replace physical buttons, like the home button on some iPhones, with touch-sensitive buttons that mimic the way a button push feels. Cirrus' relationship with its "largest customer," widely acknowledged as Apple, provided around 88% of its revenue for the most recent quarter. Kuo had previously said that Apple would expand its use of Cirrus' technology beyond haptic touch and replace the physical volume buttons with solid-state technology.

☆ U.S. economy should remain 'recession-free' if consumers keep spending as they have: Moody's
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-12 | by ( ) www.cnbc.com time to read: 1 min

Share Share Article via Facebook Share Article via Twitter Share Article via LinkedIn Share Article via EmailU.S. economy should remain 'recession-free' if consumers keep spending as they have: Moody'sMark Zandi of Moody's Analytics says consumers aren't "spending with the abandon, but they're continuing to spend consistent with historical norms."

☆ Factbox: Possible next steps for BOJ policy under new governor
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-10 | by ( Leika Kihara | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

ABANDON YIELD TARGETA leadership transition gives the new governor a chance to overhaul his predecessor's policy. Ueda has said YCC was unsuited for minor fine-tuning, suggesting that he could abandon the 10-year yield cap and shift to a policy solely targeting short-term interest rates. One idea would be to widen the band set around the 10-year yield target, now set at 50 basis points on either side. When the BOJ shifted to YCC from a policy targeting the pace of money printing, it used a thorough analysis of its policy framework to justify the shift. Any such move would likely be accompanied by, or come well after, the end of the 10-year yield target.

☆ Student-loan borrowers are about to face more hurdles after a major company reduced its call center hours — and laid off 550 more employees
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-10 | by ( Ayelet Sheffey | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

The Education Department modified student-loan company Nelnet's contract, per SEC documents. The changes included reduced call center hours, contributing to Nelnet laying off 550 employees. It also allows Nelnet to have a higher percentage of borrowers hang up without receiving help. At the end of March, student-loan company Nelnet announced a series of changes to its contract implemented by the Education Department. But it's a critical year for student-loan borrowers, and Nelnet is just one sign that they're facing a rocky road ahead.

☆ Ex-BOJ deputy governor Nakaso predicts tweak or end to YCC, Nikkei reports
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-08 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

"The increasing side-effects are a sign the policy effect (of YCC) is working its way through the economy," Nakaso said. "When the appropriate timing comes, the BOJ's new leadership will likely modify or abolish YCC," or yield curve control. The next challenge will be to end negative interest rates and start a full-fledged policy normalisation, Nakaso said. Under YCC, the BOJ guides short-term interest rates at -0.1% and caps the 10-year bond yield around zero as part of efforts to sustainably hit 2% inflation. Nakaso, who had been considered among candidates to succeed Kuroda, served as deputy BOJ governor for five years until 2018.

☆ Pilot shortages and increasing travel demand are causing backups at major airports. The solution may be as simple as using bigger planes.
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-08 | by ( Aidan Pollard | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Airlines are putting passengers on bigger planes, as a pilot shortage and congestion at major airports continues. But there may be a simple solution — flying bigger planes. Still, a United spokesperson told CNBC the airline would fly about 3,600 domestic flights with large or wide-body aircraft. "Not every gate is equal," Cox told CNBC. Even as airlines like United put bigger planes at their gates when possible, passengers and congestion are still piling up.

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