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BEIJING/TAIPEI, March 29 (Reuters) - China threatened to retaliate on Wednesday if U.S. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy meets Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen during her planned transit of the United States next month, saying any such move would be a "provocation". China, which claims democratically-ruled Taiwan as its own territory, has repeatedly warned U.S. officials not to meet Tsai, viewing it as support for the island's desire to be seen as a separate country. China staged war games around Taiwan last August when then-U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi visited Taipei, and Taiwan's armed forces have said they are keeping watch for any Chinese moves when Tsai is abroad. While not officially confirmed, she is expected to meet McCarthy while in California, at the end of her trip. The United States says such transits by Taiwanese presidents are routine and that China should not use Tsai's trip to take any aggressive moves against Taiwan.

☆ Chipotle will pay a $240,000 penalty — roughly 1% of its daily revenue— for shutting down a store that tried to unionize
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-27 | by ( Alex Bitter | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

The settlement is equivalent to the global revenue that Chipotle made in 15 minutes last year. The employees filed a petition to form a union last June — the first time Chipotle employees had taken that step. The payment will be split among the former location's employees, who will receive between $5,800 and $21,000 each based on their seniority, pay rate, and other factors, per the Journal. That math is based on Chipotle locations operating daily, and doesn't include locations closed on major holidays. Under the settlement, Chipotle will also offer the employees "preferential hiring" if they pursue jobs at the company's other locations in Maine.

☆ US amphibious assault ship joins drills in South Korea
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-23 | by ( Soo-Hyang Choi | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

BUSAN, South Korea, March 23 (Reuters) - South Korean and U.S. troops launched their largest amphibious landing drills in years involving a U.S. amphibious assault ship, officials said on Thursday, a day after North Korea tested four long-range cruise missiles. About 12,000 sailors and marines from the two countries will take part, as will 30 warships, 70 aircraft and 50 amphibious assault vehicles, the South Korean military said. Hours before the ship docked, North Korea fired four cruise missiles off its east coast, South Korea said, in apparent protest of ongoing drills by the U.S. and South Korea. The ship's welldeck, which can be flooded to provide direct access to the sea, allows it to launch and recover landing craft and other amphibious vehicles, the U.S. military said. South Korea and the U.S. say the exercises are purely defensive.

☆ This credit card debt payoff strategy may sound 'too good to be true,' but it could save you thousands
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-21 | by ( Cheyenne Devon | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

If you don't know what a credit card balance transfer is, you're not alone. Say you have $5,805 in credit card debt, the average amount Americans hold, according to TransUnion. If you want to qualify for one, you need a good to excellent credit score. Pitfalls of credit card balance transfers to avoidThere are a few downsides to balance transfers. Commit to paying off credit card debt

☆ Why Goldman Sachs alumni are being hoovered up by elite hedge funds like Citadel and Millennium
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-21 | by ( Alex Morrell | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +14 min

In November, one of the world's most consequential hedge funds announced a shake-up at the top of its power structure. In an internal memo, the founder of Millennium Management, Izzy Englander, said that Bobby Jain would be vacating the co-CIO role. "You can't readily find that managerial experience at other hedge funds and Goldman is a perfect place to look for those people." 8 former Goldman Sachs leaders are now Millennium execsEnglander isn't alone — firms rarely are in the copycat world of multistrats. In a statement to Insider, Abbey Collins, a spokesperson for Goldman Sachs, said, "Goldman Sachs has always been and remains a talent magnet.

☆ No, Ron DeSantis can't stop Donald Trump's extradition from Florida to New York if he's indicted. Here's how it would go down.
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-15 | by ( Jacob Shamsian | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +12 min

Ron DeSantis can't stop extradition from Trump's home in Florida, but he could slow the process. DeSantis can't stop Trump's extradition, but he could slow it downThe standard method of interstate extradition in Florida, according to Holder and Bachner, involves the governors of each state. In that scenario, the Manhattan District Attorney's Office would present the indictment to the legal affairs office of New York Gov. DeSantis is then required to make sure the indictment is valid before ordering Trump's extradition from Florida. The Florida extradition statute describes the governor's role as simply making sure the extradition demand meets all the legal requirements.

"We are taking notes from Zelenskiy," a senior Taiwan security official said, referring to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy's strong presence on social media. "We can't even fix sea cables on our own," the official said. "What if one day all 14 of Taiwan's undersea cables connecting us to the outside world break? Taiwan's military has long prepared back-up plans, including a fibre-optic network for communications within Taiwan, satellites, high-frequency radio, and microwave systems. "So the first step (for China) - with about 99 percent likelihood - is to cut our sea cables," Huang said.

☆ Taiwan says it hopes to bring back soldier who went to China
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-14 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

TAIPEI, March 14 (Reuters) - Taiwan's defence minister said on Tuesday that the government is investigating the disappearance of a soldier serving on an offshore island who has been found in China, and vowed to bring him back. Speaking to reporters at parliament, Minister Chiu Kuo-cheng said: "We certainly hope to bring him back home. The minister denied what he called rumours that the soldier had fled from abusive treatment by the military. The soldier, serving on Erdan islet close to the Chinese coast, went missing last week and was found on Monday. China, which views Taiwan as its own territory, has over the past three years stepped up military and political pressure to try and get Taiwan to accept Chinese sovereignty.

☆ Taiwan says soldier who went missing has been found in China
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-13 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

TAIPEI, March 13 (Reuters) - A Taiwanese soldier serving on an islet close to the Chinese coast who went missing last week has been found in China, a senior Taiwan minister said on Monday, an incident that has happened amid heightened tensions. Speaking to reporters in parliament, Chiu Tai-san, head of Taiwan's China-policy making Mainland Affairs Council, said the soldier was in China. The defence ministry and relevant departments are actively aware of the relevant progress and situation," he said. China, which views Taiwan as its own territory, has over the past three years stepped up its military and political pressure to try and get Taiwan to accept Chinese sovereignty. During the height of the Cold War, defectors from both sides would on occasion swim between China and Kinmen.

REUTERS/Tyrone SiuTAIPEI, March 13 (Reuters) - Taiwan's defence spending this year will focus on preparing weapons and equipment for a "total blockade" by China, including parts for F-16 fighters and replenishing weapons, the military said in a report. Xi also said that when it came to Taiwan, China must oppose pro-independence and secessionist activities and the interference of external forces. Taiwan's defence ministry said China has systematically increased the strength of its "joint combat readiness" actions around Taiwan. That is more than double the number from a year earlier and poses a "substantial threat" to Taiwan's defence, the ministry said. China has been "normalising" no-navigation zones around the Bohai Sea, the Yellow Sea and the Taiwan Strait, the ministry added.

Many of the arrivals abandoned plans to seek asylum in the United States, deterred by long processing times and restrictive definitions for asylum, according to aid officials and interviews with asylum seekers. "We want to help asylum seekers stabilize their lives whether in New York City or elsewhere." REUTERS/Christinne Muschi Acquire Licensing RightsThe Quebec government has said the increase in asylum seekers is straining its capacity to house people and provide basic services. The federal government said it has relocated more than 5,500 asylum seekers to other provinces since June, the first time it has done so. Immigration experts said closing off the border to asylum seekers could push migrants to take even riskier routes.

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[1/5] Asylum seekers board a bus after crossing into Canada from the U.S. in Champlain, New York, U.S., February 28, 2023. Many of the arrivals abandoned plans to seek asylum in the United States, deterred by long processing times and restrictive definitions for asylum, according to aid officials and interviews with asylum seekers. "We want to help asylum seekers stabilize their lives whether in New York City or elsewhere." The Quebec government has said the increase in asylum seekers is straining its capacity to house people and provide basic services. Immigration experts said closing off the border to asylum seekers could push migrants to take even riskier routes.

☆ Starbucks CEO agrees to testify before US Senate panel
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-07 | by ( Kanishka Singh | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

WASHINGTON, March 7 (Reuters) - Starbucks Corp (SBUX.O) interim Chief Executive Officer Howard Schultz has agreed to testify this month before a U.S. Senate committee, the company and panel chairman Senator Bernie Sanders said on Tuesday. Schultz will testify on March 29 before the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee after he had earlier declined an invitation from 11 senators to testify before the panel on March 9. Employees at more than 280 out of its roughly 9,000 company-operated U.S. locations have voted to join a labor union since 2021. Sanders had called on Schultz to testify at a hearing on the company's compliance with labor law. Starbucks had previously noted Schultz was stepping down as CEO this month and said he was not the right witness.

☆ Millennials may be using credit cards as a “de facto emergency fund"—here's why they shouldn't
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-06 | by ( Cheyenne Devon | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

Millennials are the most likely generation to have more credit card debt than emergency savings, according to Bankrate's "2023 Annual Emergency Savings Report." This may mean that both of these groups are overly relying on credit cards, says Melinda Opperman, chief external affairs officer, at Credit.org. "When whole generations have more debt than emergency savings, that suggests they've been using credit cards as their emergency fund," she tells CNBC Make It. Many millennials and Gen Xers see their credit card as a "de facto emergency fund," Matt Schulz, chief credit analyst for LendingTree, tells CNBC Make It. As of February, the average credit card interest rate is 23.55% according to LendingTree's latest analysis.

☆ Taiwan wary of China charm offensive ahead of presidential vote - agency
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-03 | by ( Yimou Lee | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

As Taipei and Beijing gradually resume travel links halted by the COVID-19 pandemic, Taiwan security officials expect China to relaunch an influence campaign that in the past included all-expenses-paid trips to China for Taiwan politicians. China refuses to talk to the government, believing Tsai is a separatist for refusing to accept Beijing's long-standing position that China and Taiwan both belong to "one China". "They might want Taiwanese to support certain political parties who support closer economic ties with the mainland," a Taiwan security official investigating the matter told Reuters. Also last month, a group of Chinese officials made their first visit to Taiwan in three years to attend a cultural event in the capital, Taipei. A second senior Taiwan security official said the island should be "on high alert" for efforts by China to press its message on reunification.

☆ Starbucks displayed ‘egregious and widespread misconduct’ in union fight, judge says
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-01 | by ( Danielle Wiener-Bronner | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +3 min

New York CNN —Starbucks has displayed “egregious and widespread misconduct” in its dealings with employees involved in efforts to unionize Buffalo, New York, stores, a National Labor Relations Board judge said in an order Wednesday. Starbucks workers attend a rally as they go on a one-day strike outside a store in Buffalo, New York, November 17, 2022. “I don’t think a union has a place in Starbucks,” Schultz recently told CNN’s Poppy Harlow. But we as a company have a right also to say, we have a different vision that is better,” he said. “This is truly a historic ruling,” Gary Bonadonna Jr., manager of the Rochester Regional Joint Board of Workers United, SEIU, said in a statement issued by Starbucks Workers United.

☆ Bernie Sanders is holding a vote to subpoena Howard Schultz for fighting Starbucks unionization
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-01 | by ( Nicole Gaudiano | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Sen. Bernie Sanders announced he's holding a vote on issuing a subpoena for Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz. The Senate HELP chairman wants Schultz to testify on his company's fight against unionization. Sanders, the new chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, also wants the committee to authorize an investigation into major corporations' labor law violations. Schultz rejoined Starbucks as interim CEO in April 2022 and will transition out of the role this month, the company wrote to Sanders in February. "A multi-billion dollar corporation like Starbucks cannot continue to break federal labor law with impunity," Sanders said.

☆ Sen. Bernie Sanders calls vote on subpoena for Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-01 | by ( Amelia Lucas | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

Sen. Bernie Sanders is making good on his threat of a subpoena for Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz on what Sanders has called union-busting activity at the company's coffee shops. Sanders said Wednesday that the Senate's Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee will vote March 8 on whether to issue a subpoena for Schultz, who previously declined to appear in front of the committee. Sanders said in a statement that Schultz has denied meeting and document requests and refused to answer questions from him and his fellow senators. "Unfortunately, Mr. Schultz has given us no choice, but to subpoena him," Sanders said in a statement. In response, Sanders, who chairs the Senate committee, hinted that lawmakers could compel Schultz to appear by issuing a subpoena.

☆ U.S. Marshals Service suffers security breach
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-28 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

Marshals Service (USMS) suffered a ransomware security breach this month that compromised sensitive law enforcement information, a spokesman said on Monday. The Marshals Service notified the U.S. Department of Justice to the breach, and agents there began a forensic investigation, Drew Wade, chief of the Marshals Service public affairs office, told Reuters in an email. "The affected system contains law enforcement sensitive information, including returns from legal process, administrative information, and personally identifiable information pertaining to subjects of USMS investigations, third parties, and certain USMS employees," Wade said. The incident took place on Feb. 17, when the service "discovered a ransomware and data exfiltration event affecting a stand-alone USMS system", after which the system was disconnected from the network, Wade said. The USMS is a federal law enforcement agency within the Department of Justice.

☆ South Carolina state senator proposes a bill that would require new residents to pay $500 to move there
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-27 | by ( Grace Dean | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

A South Carolina state senator proposed a bill that would ask relocators to pay $500 to move there. New residents would pay $250 to register their vehicle and $250 for a new driver's license. Most states, including South Carolina, require newcomers from different states to get a new license upon arrival. It costs $25 to get a driver's license in South Carolina, which typically lasts for eight years. The bill doesn't aim to deter migration to South Carolina, Goldfinch told the committee.

While the Biden administration push, described by economists as an industrial policy, has opened opportunities for some companies, significant hurdles remain. The 2022 CHIPS and Science Act provides $52.7 billion in federal subsidies for semiconductor production and research. Industrial policy still has critics. Scott Lincicome, director of general economics at the libertarian Cato Institute, said industrial policy tends to crumble into failed projects and cost overruns. "There's all sorts of more market-oriented reforms that could achieve the type of objectives our political class wants, without the unintended consequences of industrial policy," he said.

☆ U.S. manufacturers see big boost from government subsidies and tax breaks
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-23 | by ( Timothy Aeppel | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +9 min

While the Biden administration push, described by economists as an industrial policy, has opened opportunities for some companies, significant hurdles remain. Eight out of 12 Republican representatives in Ohio’s congressional delegation voted in favor of federal subsidies for semiconductor production, including the funds that will go to Intel. The 2022 CHIPS and Science Act provides $52.7 billion in federal subsidies for semiconductor production and research. Scott Lincicome, director of general economics at the libertarian Cato Institute, said industrial policy tends to crumble into failed projects and cost overruns. "There's all sorts of more market-oriented reforms that could achieve the type of objectives our political class wants, without the unintended consequences of industrial policy," he said.

☆ Howard Schultz: Unions ‘a manifestation of a much bigger problem’
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-21 | by ( Danielle Wiener-Bronner | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +10 min

New York CNN —Fifteen years ago, Howard Schultz reprised his role as Starbucks CEO, returning to the helm to help put the struggling company back on course. Even before he officially rejoined the company, Schultz was already alarmed by the union push. In the months since returning as CEO, Schultz has doubled down on his opposition to the union. “The fact that Starbucks workers are continuing to organize and win shows just how much workers need and desire a union,” Starbucks Workers United said in a statement to CNN. As a CEO, Schultz has been responding “very typically,” Givan said, in how strongly he’s opposed the union.

☆ China offers 'no apology' in first meeting after spy balloon incident, Blinken says
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-19 | by ( ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken told NBC News' "Meet the Press" that China's senior foreign minister Wang Yi offered "no apology" for the spy balloon that floated over the U.S. during their meeting on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference. China's senior foreign minister offered "no apology" in his meeting with Secretary of State Antony Blinken for the spy balloon that floated over the U.S., Blinken said in an interview Saturday on NBC News' "Meet the Press." "There was no apology," Blinken said of his conversation with Wang Yi, director of the People's Republic of China CCP Central Foreign Affairs office. Blinken met with Wang on Saturday on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference in Germany prior to the interview. Blinken said the U.S. isn't the only nation that has been subject to Chinese spy balloons.

☆ Blinken meets with senior Chinese diplomat in Munich amid tensions over suspected spy balloon
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-18 | by ( Andrea Mitchell | Christina Zhao | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Saturday met with a senior Chinese diplomat at a conference in Munich, a State Department spokesperson said. Diplomatic tensions between the U.S. and China have risen since the shooting down of the alleged Chinese spy balloon, which China has insisted was not intended for spying. Earlier Thursday, Biden delivered his first remarks about the Chinese balloon and three unidentified objects flying above North America that were downed by the U.S. military. One was shot down Feb. 10 over Alaska, another was shot down Feb. 11 over Canada, and a third was shot down over Lake Huron on Feb. 12. U.S. Northern Command said Friday it recommended an end to the search for debris from two objects shot down in United States airspace this month.

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