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☆ Laid-off Google employees may not get paid out for approved maternity or medical leave as severance terms deadline looms
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-17 | by ( Jordan Hart | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Former Googlers are pleading with execs to compensate them for approved paid time off following mass layoffs, CNBC reported. The "Laid off on Leave" group said they've sent three letters to CEO Sundar Pichai and company leaders. In a statement to CNBC, a Google spokesperson emphasized the existing severance package mentioned in Pichai's January memo to staff. Others reported having their access to Google's on-site One Medical facility cut off the same day they were laid off. The Laid off on Leave group reiterated this notion in their letters to the C-suite execs, and referenced Google's original core value, "Don't be evil."

☆ Google nixes paying out remainder of maternity and medical leave for laid-off employees
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-17 | by ( Jennifer Elias | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +10 min

The group includes people who were approved for or are currently on maternity leave, baby bonding leave, caregiver's leave, medical leave and personal leave. Early last year, Google announced it would be increasing parental leave for full-time employees to 18 weeks for all parents and 24 weeks for birth parents. Pichai said U.S.-based employees would receive 16 weeks of severance pay plus two weeks for each additional year they worked at Google. The Laid off on Leave group sent its first email to executives in January, and shared specific examples of Google employees impacted by the job cuts while on their previously approved leave. The company didn't address whether it would cover full medical leave on top of the severance payout.

[1/5] A general view of Highclere Castle, the stately home known around the world as the venue for "Downton Abbey", in Highclere, Britain, March 10, 2023. Highclere Castle in southern England, where the early 20th century period drama about the lives of aristocrats and their servants was filmed, is facing a serious staffing crunch. "We have stopped being able to offer any weddings of any substantial size because of Brexit," Carnarvon, a countess who owns Highclere with her husband, the eighth Earl of Carnarvon, said. Since leaving the European Union, Britain has faced worker shortages at various stages in areas such as manufacturing, construction and logistics. 'WRAPPED IN RED TAPE'Just outside Highclere Castle, in the grounds designed by 18th century landscape architect Capability Brown, dozens of chairs and a few tables lie stacked and unused.

The pan-European STOXX 600 index (.STOXX) fell 1.7% on broad-based losses, with HSBC (HSBA.L), Deutsche Bank (DBKGn.DE), Barclays (BARC.L), Unicredit (CRDI.MI) and Commerzbank (CBKG.DE) down between 2.7% and 7.2%. If it can happen to a U.S. bank, it could potentially happen to a bank in Europe as well." Next week, the focus is likely to be on the European Central Bank which is expected to hike its key lending rate by 50 bps. Daimler Truck (DTGGe.DE) added 3.5% on dividend payment plans after hitting its 2022 targets and forecasting higher earnings and revenue this year. Reporting by Susan Mathew and Medha Singh in Bengaluru; Editing by Subhranshu Sahu and Dhanya Ann ThoppilOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Mark Cuban offered $400,000 to a 'Shark Tank' startup he initially rejected—all because of his 2 daughters and wife
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-06 | by ( Megan Sauer | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

Mark Cuban typically only invests in companies if he can see himself — or his NBA team, the Dallas Mavericks — using their products. On Friday's episode of ABC's "Shark Tank," he made an exception on behalf of his two daughters and his wife, making a $400,000 investment deal with San Francisco-based makeup company Youthforia. Robert Herjavec said he didn't understand what made the product unique, and Lori Greiner said she didn't use oil-based makeup. That's when Cuban came back in, saying he'd offer $400,000 for 10% without a royalty deal, because his daughters and wife would "understand" the product. O'Leary, growing frustrated, said he'd give $400,000 for 7.5%, but wanted a 75-cent royalty until he made $1 million.

☆ The racial retirement savings gap remains wide – How these state IRA programs are working toward equity
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-28 | by ( Darla Mercado | Cfp | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +4 min

Indeed, about 64% of Hispanic workers, 53% of Black workers and 45% of Asian American workers have no access to a workplace retirement plan, according to AARP. State-facilitated individual retirement account savings programs have stepped in to attempt to close that racial savings gap. As of the end of January, there were more than $735 million in assets in these state-facilitated retirement savings programs, the center found. How it worksRather than competing against large corporate retirement plans, state-facilitated retirement savings programs turn their focus toward an underserved corner of the market: small businesses. Most of these state programs require businesses to either offer a workplace retirement plan or to help automatically enroll their workers into the state's program.

☆ 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.

☆ Fortescue sees solid iron ore demand this year on China property support
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-15 | by ( ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

Australia's Fortescue Metals said it expects solid iron ore demand this year given China's support for its property and construction sectors, as it reported lower profit and dividends for the first half and flagged persistent inflationary pressure. Fortescue was seeing "really good" demand for its lower grade iron ore after the Chinese New Year, given compressed margins at steelmakers, Chief Executive Fiona Hicks said on Wednesday. Steelmakers tend to buy cheaper ore when their profits are under pressure. Against that backdrop, Fortescue is set to retrench up to 1,000 staff from global and local operations, the Australian newspaper reported last week. Company executives did not confirm job cuts, but founder and executive chairman Andrew Forrest said: "The typical pattern of Fortescue we grow, steady the ship, consolidate ... and grow again."

☆ Putin is 'still convinced he can prevail' in Ukraine, and other nearby countries 'could be at risk of attack' if he wins, top Russia experts warn
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-15 | by ( John Haltiwanger | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

The outcome of the Ukraine war will determine the safety of the wider region, Angela Stent and Fiona Hill warn. Putin's "appetite for expansion would not stop at the Ukrainian border" if Russia wins, they said in a new op-ed. They warned that nearby countries like Poland and Finland could face attack if Russia prevails. "Even now, after a year of carnage, Putin is still convinced he can prevail," Stent and Hill wrote in a new op-ed for Foreign Affairs. Putin has often pointed to Russia's imperial past when offering justifications for the war in Ukraine, at one point likening himself to Peter the Great.

☆ Fact Check-Image does not show Joe Biden’s pants on backwards
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-14 | by ( Reuters Fact Check | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

Pictures of Joe Biden’s visit to Puerto Rico in October 2022 show the president was wearing his pants correctly, despite posts on social media claiming otherwise. A search through Reuters Pictures returned a similar image to the one used in the meme, in which Biden is also wearing a blue shirt, beige pants and dark glasses. This higher definition photograph shows he was wearing his pants correctly, as a belt buckle and zip can be seen (bit.ly/3RVpdLy). President Joe Biden walks with First Lady Jill Biden and Governor of Puerto Rico Pedro Pierluisi at Port of Ponce, Puerto Rico, October 3, 2022.”A photograph from the same day shared by the White House (here) also shows Biden was wearing his clothes properly. Joe Biden did not wear his pants backwards during a visit to Puerto Rico.

☆ Cyprus heads to polls to pick new president with runoff expected
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-05 | by ( Michele Kambas | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

NICOSIA, Feb 5 (Reuters) - Cyprus votes on Sunday for a new president in an election unlikely to produce a clear winner, setting the stage for a runoff on Feb. 12. Polling stations will open at 0500 GMT and close at 1600 GMT, with the result expected within two hours of stations closing. Opinion polls suggest none of the frontrunners will muster an outright majority, leading to a runoff. "On foreign policy I think Christodoulides is going to be closer to how Anastasiades has been in his final years," she added, calling that policy "more assertive". Cyprus has complied with all EU sanctions against Russia, a close ally, following the war in Ukraine.

[1/2] A man is reflected in an electronic board showing Britain's FTSE 100 outside a brokerage in Tokyo, Japan, June 27, 2016. REUTERS/Toru HanaiLONDON, Feb 3 (Reuters) - Britain's blue-chip FTSE 100 (.FTSE) index hit a record high on Friday, in what could mark a potential turning point for UK assets, which have been dogged by a floundering economy. The FTSE 100 rose to 7,906.58 at 1545 GMT, surpassing a previous record high of 7,903.50 hit on May 22 2018. "Is it realistic that the FTSE being at an all-time high when we consider the state of the UK economy? The FTSE 100 closed Friday up 1.04% higher and has rallied 4.9% so far this year.

☆ There's a buzz about green hydrogen. But pink, produced using nuclear, may have a huge role to play too
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-03 | by ( Anmar Frangoul | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +7 min

In this article EDF-FRNG.-GBTSLA Follow your favorite stocks CREATE FREE ACCOUNTBoth pink and blue have been used to differentiate between different methods of hydrogen production. Indeed, according to a Sept. 2022 tracking report from the International Energy Agency, low-emission hydrogen production in 2021 accounted for less than 1% of global hydrogen production. These include green hydrogen, which refers to hydrogen produced using renewables and electrolysis, with an electric current splitting water into oxygen and hydrogen. "But splitting water takes energy, so what pink hydrogen is about is splitting water using energy that has come from nuclear." This needed "supportive policies which encourage investment in early hydrogen production projects and encourage users to switch from fossil fuels to low carbon hydrogen."

☆ The US's powerful Abrams tanks are heading to Ukraine, but generals disagree over how hard it'll be to use them on the battlefield
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-01 | by ( Sebastien Roblin | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +19 min

The US has pledged to send Abrams tanks to Ukraine, joining a bevy of Western-made tanks. Here comes the M1 Abrams for UkraineA M1A2 Abrams tank fires at a target during an exercise. The same day, word spread that US President Joe Biden would announce he was sending 31 M1 Abrams tanks to Ukraine. But Hertling disagreed that withholding the M1 Abrams was a "political decision" and didn't find the examples of non-US Abrams operators persuasive. M1 Abrams: training and sustainmentAn M1A2 Abrams drives into the woods during an exercise in Hohenfels, Germany.

☆ Vanguard's global investment expert explains what traders are doing to kick off 2023 and how markets are reacting to the Federal Reserve's policy tightening.
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-28 | by ( Phil Rosen | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

Today, I'm sharing my conversation with Fiona Greig of Vanguard's Investment Strategy Group. Fiona Greig, global head of investor research and policy for Vanguard VanguardFiona Greig is the global head of investor research and policy for Vanguard's Investment Strategy Group. This suggests a "stay the course" posture, meaning yes there's been volatility, but the longer term outlook they have for the stock market is stable. There's some lower expectations for stock market returns in the short term, but we see pretty clear expectations and optimism for returns in the next 12 months, and even 10 years. The firm's strategists said these companies pay out a healthy dividend and can offset stock market losses in a slow-growth economic landscape.

☆ Here's why investors should consider putting money in the market now as optimism climbs, according to Vanguard's head of investor research
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-28 | by ( Phil Rosen | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Investors should consider moving cash into the market right now, according to Vanguard's global head of investor research and policy. In her view, investors can capitalize on the current landscape by increasing their savings rate and leaning more into employer-sponsored retirement accounts. "Yes, there's been volatility, but the longer-term outlook [investors] have for the stock market is stable," Greig said. Investors have turned a bit less anxious about short-term stock returns, as of December 2022. There's some lower expectations for stock market returns in the short term, but we see pretty clear expectations and optimism for returns in the next 12 months, and even 10 years."

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico — A new private company will take over power generation units owned by the Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority, the public corporation currently in charge of generating energy on the U.S. territory. The power generation equipment in Puerto Rico, plagued by ongoing blackouts and decaying infrastructure, is on average about 45 years old — twice the age of those on the U.S. mainland. The company and the Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority (PREPA) are currently undergoing a transition process set to last 100 days. Officials in Puerto Rico have been taking steps toward privatizing power generation for some time. Power customers in Puerto Rico have seen seven electric rate increases last year, even though people in Puerto Rico already pay about twice as much as mainland U.S. customers for unreliable service.

☆ Brazil's Yanomami region looks like ‘concentration camp,’ says official
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-24 | by ( ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +3 min

“It looks like a concentration camp,” Tapeba, a doctor appointed to the position by Brazil’s new government, said in a radio interview. Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, left, visits the Yanomami Indigenous Health House (Casai) in the Boa Vista rural area, Roraima state, Brazil, on Saturday. “It’s an extreme calamity, many Yanomami are suffering from malnutrition and there is a total absence of the Brazilian state,” Tapeba said. This can only be resolved by removing the gold miners and that can only be done by the armed forces,” he said. Brazil’s Supreme Court ordered the removal of the gold miners.

☆ European shares slip, euro firm as data tees up ECB rate hikes
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-24 | by ( Alun John | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

REUTERS/StaffLONDON, Jan 24 (Reuters) - The euro held near a nine-month high against the dollar on Tuesday, though European stocks eased after regional business activity data reinforced expectations that the European Central Bank (ECB) will raise rates by a further 50 basis points. S&P Global's flash Composite Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) climbed to 50.2 this month from 49.3 in December, the first time it has been above the 50 mark since June. "For the ECB, this should seal the deal for a 50-basis point hike next week," said ING economists in a note. The Federal Reserve's rate setting committee concludes its two-day meeting on Feb. 1, with the ECB and Bank of England meeting the next day. The euro , in contrast was steady at $1.0862, just off its nine-month high of $1.0927 hit a day before.

☆ Insurer Travelers profit falls on winter storm costs
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-24 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

Jan 24 (Reuters) - Property and casualty insurer Travelers Companies Inc (TRV.N) reported a 37% fall in quarterly profit on Tuesday, hurt by losses related to a winter storm that swept across the United States and Canada in the last week of 2022. The winter storm pushed up the insurer's catastrophe losses net of reinsurance to $459 million from $36 million last year. A dangerously frigid Arctic air mass gripped a vast expanse of the United States in late December, bringing floods, power outages, mudslides, evacuations and road closures. Travelers' profit was also hit by a fall in net investment income to $625 million from $743 million a year earlier. A ratio below 100% means the insurer earned more in premiums than it paid out in claims.

☆ European shares slide, euro steady as data tees up ECB rate hikes
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-24 | by ( Alun John | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

S&P Global's flash Composite Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) climbed to 50.2 this month from 49.3 in December, the first time it has been above the 50 mark since June. Britain's flash Composite Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI), however, dropped to 47.8 in January from 49.0 in December, the lowest since January 2021. U.S. PMI data is due later in the day. The European common currency was steady at $1.0865, just off its nine-month high of $1.0927 hit a day before. Sterling turned negative after the British data and lost 0.5% to $1.231, retreating from Monday's seven-month high.

Insider obtained recordings of the Google all-hands meeting, along with screenshots of employee comments, questions, and other reactions. Why weren't Google managers warned? During Monday's townhall meeting, employees asked why so many managers were left in the dark about the job cuts. Read more about Google's responses here: Google employees pressed leadership about why managers weren't informed before announcing layoffs of 12,000 workersWas a big activist hedge fund involved? Do you work at another Big Tech company?

☆ Google employees pressed leadership about why even managers weren't informed before layoffs of 12,000 were announced
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-23 | by ( Rosalie Chan | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Googlers pressed leadership at a town hall on Monday on why managers weren't informed beforehand. Leadership responded saying that the company wanted to "give certainty sooner." At an internal town hall meeting on Monday, Google's leadership addressed two questions about why managers weren't informed about the mass layoffs and one question about the company's communication strategy about the layoffs. "In an ideal world, we would have given managers a heads up, but we have over 30,000 managers at Google," Cicconi said on the call. Another question asked about how in a "perfect world," managers would have been given a heads up, but they weren't informed due to a "tight timeline."

☆ Google CEO defends job cuts in animated town hall as employees demand clarity on process
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-23 | by ( Jennifer Elias | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +8 min

Google CEO Sundar Pichai led the companywide meeting and told employees that executives will see their bonuses cut. "I understand you are worried about what comes next for your work," Pichai said. Prior to the job cuts, Google had made the decision to pay out 80% of bonuses this month with the rest expected in March or April. Thomas Kurian, the CEO of Google Cloud, offered some perspective on the areas that saw cuts. Last month, Google employees asked executives at an all-hands meeting whether the AI chatbot ChatGPT represents a "missed opportunity" for Google."

☆ Egg shortage sends New Zealanders rushing to buy their own hens
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-20 | by ( Michelle Toh | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +5 min

In the United States, egg prices have far surpassed the increase in other grocery items, soaring nearly 60% in the 12 months to December compared to the year before. The trend has prompted animal welfare advocates to warn against making impulse buys. “Egg producers had the option to move to colony cages, barns and free-range systems,” added Hyde, the ministry’s acting national manager of animal welfare and national animal identification and tracing compliance. “It’s a significant change for the egg supply industry,” Emma Wooster, the company’s head of public relations, told CNN in a statement. New Zealand is currently undergoing a major egg shortage, squeezing businesses and sparking a rush in demand for pet chickens.

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