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About half of the North Korean missiles Russia fired at Ukraine flew off course and exploded in the air, official says 2024-05-07 20:33:31+00:00 - By clicking “Sign Up”, you accept our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy . You can opt-out at any time. Access your favorite topics in a personalized feed while you're on the go. download the app Sign up to get the inside scoop on today’s biggest stories in markets, tech, and business — delivered daily. Read preview About half of the North Korean missiles Russia has fired at Ukraine have failed, Ukraine's top prosecutor said, per new reporting. The high reported failure rate raises questions about the quality of North Korean-provided munitions and comes after months of concern about how an arms deal between the two countries could influence the war in Ukraine and North Korea's own efforts to improve its military capabilities. This story is available exclusively to Business Insider subscribers. Become an Insider and start reading now. State prosecutors have been examining the debris of 21 out of 50 North Korean missiles fired at Ukraine by Russia between December and February. About half of the missiles "lost their programmed trajectories and exploded in the air," Ukraine's top prosecutor Andriy Kostin told Reuters, noting that debris was not collected for these weapons. Related stories This falls in line with previous assessments from Ukraine. Back in March, Yuriy Belousov, head of the war crimes department of Ukraine's office of the prosecutor general, said North Korean ballistic missiles were "very low" quality, boasting an accuracy rate of only around 20 percent. Advertisement Beyond the missiles, North Korean rockets have also been called into question. Last summer, the Ukrainians got their hands on North Korean rockets that troops characterized as "very unreliable," noting they sometimes "do crazy things." They said it wasn't odd for them to misfire or explode. The reported problems add to suspicions about weaknesses in North Korea's stockpiles, as sanctions and dated production capabilities impact the quality of missiles and other munitions. The battlefield intelligence Pyongyang may be receiving about the performance and capabilities of its weapon systems could be invaluable though. When North Korean leader Kim Jong Un met with Russian President Vladimir Putin in September 2023 for a summit on a potential arms deal, officials and experts expressed concerns that such a partnership could be mutually beneficial. The concern was that Putin would get more ammo for his war in Ukraine, and North Korea would get field testing of its weapons to improve the quality of the country's munitions. In November 2023, South Korean lawmakers estimated a million North Korean shells had been sent to Russia, beating out the European Union's collective aid to Ukraine since Moscow's forces invaded. In addition to shells, North Korea has also sent rockets and ballistic missiles to Russia as well, helping sustain it as Ukraine struggled to do the same. Advertisement One of the North Korean missiles sent to Russia appears to be KN-23s, known in North Korea as the short-range Hwasong 11. Hwasong 11s resemble Russian Iskander-M missiles and boast a range of around 430 miles. Ukrainian officials and experts have identified fragments of the Hwasong 11 in the aftermath of several attacks, including one in early January and one in early February, both in Kharkiv. Kostin told Reuters the last recorded use of the weapon was February 27. Along with Kharkiv, other cities, such as Kyiv, and regions, such as Donetsk and Kirovohrad, have been the targets of missile strikes. Since December 30, the attacks have killed 24 people and wounded 115, damaging various residential areas.
How major US stock indexes fared Tuesday, 5/7/2024 2024-05-07 20:29:10+00:00 - U.S. stocks held relatively steady as trading on Wall Street calmed following some sharp recent swings. The S&P 500 rose 0.1% Tuesday, its fourth straight gain. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.1%, and the Nasdaq composite slipped 0.1%. Kenvue, the company behind Band-Aids and Tylenol, rose after topping analysts’ forecasts for profit and revenue. The Walt Disney Co. sank after reporting revenue that fell a bit shy of forecasts. They’re among the tail end of companies reporting their results for the first three months of the year. Treasury yields eased in the bond market. On Tuesday: The S&P 500 rose 6.96 points, or 0.1%, to 5,187.70. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 31.99 points, or 0.1%, to 38,884.26. The Nasdaq composite fell 16.69 points, or 0.1%, to 16,332.56 The Russell 2000 index of smaller companies rose 3.97 points, or 0.2%, to 2,064.65. For the week: The S&P 500 is up 59.91 points, or 1.2%. The Dow is up 208.58 points, or 0.5%. The Nasdaq is up 176.23 points, or 1.1%. The Russell 2000 is up 28.92 points, or 1.4%. For the year: The S&P 500 is up 417.87 points, or 8.8%. The Dow is up 1,194.72 points, or 3.2%. The Nasdaq is up 1,321.20 points, or 8.8%. The Russell 2000 is up 37.57 points, or 1.9%.
More home sellers are paying capital gains taxes — here's how to reduce your bill 2024-05-07 20:25:00+00:00 - More Americans are paying capital gains taxes on home sale profits amid soaring property values — but there are ways to reduce your bill, experts say. In 2023, nearly 8% of U.S. home sales yielded profits exceeding $500,000, compared with about 3% in 2019, according to an April report from real estate data firm CoreLogic. There's a reason the report called out that threshold. It's key for a special tax break for homeowners who make a profit when selling a primary residence. Married couples filing together can make up to $500,000 on the sale without owing capital gains taxes. The threshold for single filers is $250,000. More from Personal Finance: How to reduce taxes on your inherited individual retirement account, experts say Americans can't stop 'spaving' — here's how to avoid this financial trap Women farmers are key decision-makers, according to USDA data Those capital gains exemption thresholds haven't been indexed for inflation since 1997, said certified financial planner Jaime Quinones with Stockade Wealth Management in Marlboro, New Jersey. "With the recent rise in home values, more sellers have been facing a capital gains tax hit," Quinones said.
A timeline of Donald Trump's three marriages, numerous rumored affairs, and sexual misconduct allegations 2024-05-07 20:24:46+00:00 - Stormy Daniels took the stand on May 7, 2024, and said she was scared and ashamed after her night with Trump in 2006. A courtroom sketch of Stormy Daniels being questioned by assistant district attorney Susan Hoffinger as former President Donald Trump and defense attorney Todd Blanche look on. Elizabeth Williams/Associated Press In her testimony, Daniels described meeting Trump at a celebrity golf tournament in Lake Tahoe in July 2006. She said she accepted a dinner invitation from Trump and went to his hotel suite. Daniels testified that Trump's wife, Melania, came up in the conversation but that Trump said, "'Oh, don't worry about that. We don't even sleep in the same room." She said that after they had sex she quickly left and was ashamed. Daniels said she and Trump kept in touch, testifying he would call her and that they occasionally met in person. She said at one meeting in Los Angeles he introduced her to his "friend" Karen, who she later learned was Playboy model Karen McDougal, who has also alleged she had an affair with Trump. Trump has maintained he did not have an affair with Daniels or McDougal. Editor's note: This story was first published in March 2018 and has been updated to reflect recent developments.
Why a question about whether a woman is safer with a man or a bear has made people angry 2024-05-07 20:23:02+00:00 - Is a woman safer in the woods with a bear or a man? The answers to that hypothetical question have exploded into a contentious discourse online about women's safety, their real-life experiences with men and — somehow — the dangers of bears. The question, which seems to have originated on TikTok, has ignited a raging debate there and across the internet for days now. Many women who take up this question say they'd choose the bear, and that response speaks often to the gender-based violence that women and girls overwhelmingly face. According to statistics from the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence, a majority of victims of rape, abuse, stalking and murder are women. Although some men have agreed they'd also prefer to encounter a strange bear in the woods than to encounter a strange man, that answer has also angered some men, who are simply incredulous that anyone would consider a giant wild animal less dangerous than they are. Typical outraged responses have ranged from outright misogyny to listing statistics on bear attacks. But ultimately, whether anyone (of any gender) would genuinely rather come face-to-face with another human being or a predator animal that may or may not be hungry enough to maul them is a bit beside the point. This “man vs. bear” discourse is not so much about the true threat of bears as it is about the dangers that women experience in the world, where they live among human men. A lot of people seem to have missed that. Being unwilling to accept a different point of view in a marginally instructive way, without viewing it as a personal indictment of one's own character, is one part of the issue. Another is that this debate is largely taking place online, where righteousness can be a performance and nuance is easily flattened. And as far as that goes, the bears are not privy to this discussion. The men — including those who are up in arms over the whole thing — very much are.
Cybersecurity professionals say generative AI can be exploited in cyberattacks — but it can also be a powerful defense 2024-05-07 20:11:50+00:00 - Generative AI is revolutionizing cybersecurity in connected networks. Companies that don't adopt AI risk falling behind in cybersecurity, IT experts warn. This article is part of "5G and Connectivity Playbook," a series exploring some of our time's most important tech innovations. Sign up to get the inside scoop on today’s biggest stories in markets, tech, and business — delivered daily. Read preview Thanks for signing up! Access your favorite topics in a personalized feed while you're on the go. download the app Email address Sign up By clicking “Sign Up”, you accept our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy . You can opt-out at any time. Generative AI has become a double-edged sword for the security of connected networks. On one hand, generative AI can speed up cybersecurity problems, making it easier and cheaper for bad actors to conduct identity attacks. For example, it can be used to design sophisticated phishing campaigns by generating audio, images, or videos to create fake identities. While hackers exploit AI technologies, companies are adopting AI as a defense tool. As the number of connected devices on 5G networks increases, generative AI in security operations will become more crucial, David Cooper, a global lead for Accenture Security, said. "What used to take a human being two hours, now there's an AI solution to do it in much faster time," Cooper said. "We're able to respond faster, we're able to catch up to the bad guys faster with interesting transformational technology. We're able to move so much faster and do more with limited resources." Business Insider spoke with several cybersecurity professionals who attended the annual RSA conference this week in San Francisco about how generative AI is increasingly used in cybersecurity for 5G devices and networks. They said that while 5G networks have higher security standards, attacks could still come from identity breaches of accounts or devices connected to those networks. "If you can stay ahead of the risks you perceive when you implement 5G solutions, you're going to be in good shape," said Shaun McAlmont, the president and CEO of the cybersecurity-awareness-training company Ninjio. Accelerating cybersecurity Generative AI can speed up more routine security processes and free up resources, helping cybersecurity professionals increase productivity and make decisions faster. Things like the design and architecture of a 5G application, generating code samples, conducting tests, and speeding up authentication can be automated. It can also prevent attacks by helping to configure and manage networks. "There's a distinct benefit for organizations where we may leverage AI for improving network quality, improving security, and network healing," Chris Novak, the senior director of cybersecurity consulting at Verizon Business, said. "There are opportunities for AI to help us analyze network traffic flows in real time, recognize where there is an issue, and ensure little to no impact to network users." AI can also help 5G users monitor their security and ensure that the services they connect to have the appropriate certifications and authorizations for transferring data. Large language models can help mitigate security threats by identifying suspicious patterns in traffic and unusual attempts to enter the network. Because AI can process an enormous amount of data about malicious threats, it can help isolate them before they spread further. Additionally, it can triage malware and other threats, making sense of complex attack-path data and automating threat responses. Edge-protection tools powered by AI can be a "first layer of defense" that can deal with mass data, David Aviv, the chief technology officer at Radware, said. "Competitors that didn't adopt those machine-learning technologies have gotten left behind," said Steve Wilson, the chief product officer at Exabeam, a network security company. 5G to strengthen AI 5G can also boost the capabilities of AI applications themselves. With 5G, AI can do more computation and sensor analysis on the edge, meaning the computation is closer to the data source. "The combination of AI and 5G will make it inevitable that we will be using machines for tasks that are currently performed by humans," said Ev Kontsevoy, the cofounder and CEO of Teleport, an identity access and management software company. It's becoming increasingly important for companies to apply AI to their cybersecurity practices because humans won't be able to keep up, Rohit Ghai, the CEO of RSA, said. "Any 5G network is very very dynamic," Ghai said. "It's changing all the time. Human approaches to securing that are not able to keep up with the dynamic nature of the network." Now that mobile and Internet of Things devices have become more ubiquitous, they're using even more data, which generative AI can help filter and secure. "We're going to be required to collect an order of magnitude more data from more devices and provide really quick analysis on that," Wilson said.
Disney shares tumble on light guidance. But here's why we're raising our price target 2024-05-07 20:02:00+00:00 - The pullback in Disney shares Tuesday is overdone despite the Club holding reporting mixed fiscal 2024 second-quarter results. We like what we're seeing beneath the headline figures, which could make the sell-off a buying opportunity once the dust settles around the stock. Revenue in the January-to-March period was about flat year over year at $22.08 billion, a bit short of the $22.11 billion expected, according to analyst estimates compiled by LSEG. Adjusted earnings per share in the quarter jumped 30% to $1.21, beating the LSEG consensus forecast of $1.10 per share. Disney Why we own it: We value Disney for its best-in-class experiential entertainment Parks business, which has proven to have immense pricing power. We also believe in the upside that can be realized as management executes in cutting costs, and expanding profit margins as it streamlines its direct-to-consumer product offerings and explores additional ways to monetize the company's best-in-class content portfolio and finds new ways to monetize ESPN. Competitors: Comcast , Netflix , Warner Bros Discovery and Paramount Global Last buy: Aug. 28, 2023 Initiation: Sept. 21, 2021 Bottom line There were some puts and takes this quarter, but management remains on the right track. A stock down 10% after earnings usually implies the results and guidance were a train wreck. That's far from what we're seeing with Disney. Disney's cost-reduction efforts are humming along, pricing power appears to be resilient and the combined direct-to-consumer (DTC) streaming business is still expected to achieve profitability by the end of the fiscal year in September. In the second quarter, the combined business — Disney+, India's Disney+ Hotstar, Hulu and ESPN+ — saw losses of $18 million, far better than the $659 million loss in the year-ago period. Sure, the DTC business is set to see steeper losses in the current quarter — and that's clearly weighing on the stock Tuesday — but a rebound is expected in the July-to-September period. It all nets out to management raising their full-year earnings outlook. We also were pleased to see management step up and repurchase $1 billion worth of stock in the quarter, while reiterating plans to buyback $3 billion total by the end of fiscal 2024. There is no denying Tuesday's stock decline stings. But we're in a position to view the drop through a buyer's lens because we made two sales last month at higher prices. The first sale — on April 1 at $121.72 apiece — came after Disney swelled to 5% weighing in our portfolio, a level at which our discipline to trim usually kicks in. We further reduced our stake on April 15 at $114.25 per share following management's proxy fight win versus Nelson Peltz. We aren't stepping in right away, but this pullback feels excessive given the upward revision to earnings guidance and reaffirmation of sustained profitability for the DTC business once we get past the current quarter. In some ways, the reaction to Disney's quarter mirrors how Netflix 's earnings report in April was received. The stock dropped 9% in a single session, treaded water for a couple of weeks and is now only about 1% lower than where it was heading into that report. We wouldn't be surprised to see a similar dynamic playout with Disney as investors come to the realization that Disney's streaming platform will be a top player in the crowded field. In fact, speaking with CNBC on Tuesday, Disney CFO Hugh Johnston noted that while the company isn't seeing much trade down — its theme-park business remains strong, for example — the streaming unit may benefit from tightening consumer budgets as people look to consolidate streaming subscriptions to the best-of-breed services. We are raising our price target to $130 from $120 on the back of an improved full-year earnings outlook and the expectation that we're in the last quarter of DTC losses. However, we are maintaining our 2 rating as we look for shares to find support, acknowledging that the near-term DTC profit outlook is likely to cap upside for the time being. Looking ahead Disney's combined DTC business is still on the path to profitability by the end of fiscal 2024 in September — a target the company set out to reach years ago. However, the current quarter is murkier with weakness attributable to its streaming offering in India, known as Disney+ Hotstar, which is weighed down by seasonality in the country's sports calendar. As far as we're concerned, the more important part is management said a rebound in DTC profitability is expected in the following quarter, with further improvement in fiscal 2025. Disney's Experiences division — home to its theme parks, cruises and consumer products — is also expected to see profits pressured in the current quarter. Among the reasons management cited were timing issues, such as technology expenses and the date of Easter, as well as higher wages and some normalization of post-Covid demand. Nevertheless, year-over-year profitability in the segment is expected to "rebound significantly" in the fourth quarter, management said, which helps assuage concerns about the current period. The team also continues to expect cost takeout to exceed $7.5 billion on an annualized basis by the end of the fiscal year and generate over $8 billion in free cash flow in fiscal 2024. More positively, management is now targeting full-year earnings growth of 25% year over year, up from 20% previously. Considering 2023 earnings of $3.76 per share, Disney's updated guidance implies earnings of about $4.70 per share, a penny short of Wall Street expectations. Quarterly commentary Entertainment Results in the Entertainment segment were mixed. However, the good outweighs the bad as the direct-to-consumer part of the segment — the main focus for investors — saw better-than-expected sales and a surprise profit across Disney+ and Hulu. DTC profitability benefited from Disney+ core subscriber growth, higher retail subscription prices, increased advertising revenue on the back of higher impressions, and lower distribution costs. Disney+ core — which excludes Disney+ Hotstar in India — subscribers increased by over 6 million with core average revenue per user (ARPU) increasing by 44 cents sequentially, as a 15-cent decline domestically was more than offset by a 75-cent increase internationally. Hulu Live TV benefited from increased pricing and subscriber growth. DTC is expected to report a loss in the current quarter, with no core subscriber growth being realized. However, it is expected to return to profitability and see subscribers increase in the fourth quarter. On the call, management called out several profit levers it has to work with to ultimately reach its DTC profitability goals, including increasing engagement through bundling, enhancing the programming catalog with some ESPN-related content, cracking down on password sharing and reducing distribution costs. Domestic and International Linear Networks profitability — basically the traditional cable TV business — was hampered by lower affiliate revenue because of subscriber declines. Domestic profitability also was also by a decrease in advertising revenue because of lower impressions due to lower viewership rates. Sports ESPN+ saw a 2% sequential decline in paid subscriptions, but that was partially offset by a 3% increase in average monthly revenue per subscriber. The sports streaming service has yet to reach profitability. Domestically, ESPN profitability was dinged by higher College Football Playoff costs due to the airing of an additional game versus the year-ago period and lower affiliate revenue tied to declining subscribers. Domestic ESPN advertising revenue was helped by higher rates, which benefited from that additional CFP game and an extra National Football League playoff game versus the year-ago period. An encouraging nugget on the call: ESPN was off to a strong start in the current quarter, with total day viewership numbers hitting their highest April result since April 2012 and primetime viewership reaching a new April month record. Clearly, Disney still has a big opportunity in sports as they execute on their DTC streaming strategy for ESPN. Experiences Despite better-than-expected revenue of $8.39 billion, operating income in the segment fell short of estimates. That mismatch indicates margin pressure for the theme park, cruise line and consumer products business. Domestically, profitability benefited from strength at Walt Disney World Resort in Florida and Disney Cruise Line, though that was partially offset by lower results at Disneyland Resort in California. All three benefited from higher ticket prices, though this was partially offset by increased costs such as wages. Internationally, operating results were driven by strength at Hong Kong Disneyland Resort thanks to higher ticket prices and increased spending on food, beverages, and merchandise. Attendance and occupancy room rates were also up during the period. (Jim Cramer's Charitable Trust is long DIS. See here for a full list of the stocks.) As a subscriber to the CNBC Investing Club with Jim Cramer, you will receive a trade alert before Jim makes a trade. Jim waits 45 minutes after sending a trade alert before buying or selling a stock in his charitable trust's portfolio. If Jim has talked about a stock on CNBC TV, he waits 72 hours after issuing the trade alert before executing the 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. NO SPECIFIC OUTCOME OR PROFIT IS GUARANTEED. The atmosphere at the Disney Bundle Celebrating National Streaming Day at The Row in Los Angeles on May 19, 2022. Presley Ann | Getty Images Entertainment | Getty Images
Space Force Guardians became the first 'space cowboys' after completing the Army's rigorous spur ride challenges 2024-05-07 19:58:25+00:00 - Three Space Force Guardians earned their spurs after finishing a series of rigorous combat tests. They completed the Army Cavalry Spur Ride, becoming the US military's first 'space cowboys.' The officers said the challenges were vastly different than their day jobs at military bases. Sign up to get the inside scoop on today’s biggest stories in markets, tech, and business — delivered daily. Read preview Thanks for signing up! Access your favorite topics in a personalized feed while you're on the go. download the app Email address Sign up By clicking “Sign Up”, you accept our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy . You can opt-out at any time. Advertisement After being covered in dust, sweat, dirt, and blood, three officers emerged from the West Texas desert last week and were given their spurs and Stetson cowboy hats by the Army , becoming the first-ever "space cowboys." The three Space Force Guardians traveled to Fort Bliss in El Paso, Texas, to complete an Army Cavalry Spur Ride, a series of arduous combat tests and physical training exercises in which service members often ruck-march in between challenges — the first members of the military's newest and smallest service to do so. Space Force Capt. Bradley Evans, an engineer at White Sands Missile Range who took part in the Spur Ride, told Military.com that all of the Guardians who participated completed the challenges, though some Army soldiers didn't make it through. "Being in the Space Force, we certainly received a lot more attention from the cadre than some of the soldiers did, which made it quite a good challenge for us," Evans said. "I think there was an expectation by some that we wouldn't make it, and so pushing back against that expectation and performing was a powerful driver." Advertisement A US Space Force spur ride candidate hydrates during a spur ride at Fort Bliss, Texas. US Army photo by Spc. David Poleski Earning your spurs is a long-standing tradition that dates back to the early days of the Army cavalry when new soldiers had to prove their skills in swordsmanship and horseback riding. Even though the US military is changing, including the addition of the Space Force and its Guardians, those traditions are still upheld through rigorous physical challenges and training. Guardians are often deployed in place, meaning they're at military installations in front of a computer and not typically put into austere and deadly conditions. As a result, the service has placed a different focus on routine physical training. It has announced plans to use wearable fitness technology and take a more holistic approach to keeping its service members in shape compared to the other branches. All of the Space Force officers who participated in the Spur Ride, including 1st Lt. Jordan Savage, an acquisitions officer at Space Systems Command in Los Angeles, told Military.com that the physical challenge was vastly different from their day jobs. Related stories "My Garmin captured us doing about 37 miles of rucking. We had a 60-pound ruck that we were with the whole time that had all of our gear that was necessary for the Spur Ride and, on top of that, we had minimal sleep," Savage said. "So, all those things are not what we experienced in our day-to-day life as acquisitions [officers] or engineers here." Advertisement US Space Force spur ride candidates move a litter with a BGM-71 TOW, low crawling through the sand at Fort Bliss, Texas. US Army photo by Spc. David Poleski Some of the Army soldiers who participated in the Spur Ride had never met someone in the Space Force before and quickly recognized cultural differences between the service branches. "So many soldiers had questions because the Space Force is still so new, and they just want to know, 'Hey, what do you guys do?'" 1st Lt. Jackson Jennings, a Space Force developmental engineer, told Military.com. "So, I tell them about my day-to-day life, and they're just kind of dumbfounded that we don't have mandatory PT three times a week or we have to form up and stuff like that." Their presence also led to some extra attention during the challenges, with many soldiers reportedly calling them "space cowboys" as they rucked from one painful activity to the next. "Let's just say they showed us some extra love for being space cowboys," Savage said. Advertisement Participating in and completing the Army Cavalry Spur Ride marks the latest frontier that the Space Force's men and women have conquered. A US Space Force spur ride candidate takes a breather before continuing through an obstacle during a spur ride at Fort Bliss, Texas. US Army photo by Spc. David Poleski Last month, two Space Force Guardians became the first in the service to graduate from the Army's Drill Instructor Academy at Fort Jackson in South Carolina. Last year, Space Force Guardian Capt. Dan Reynolds graduated from Ranger School — a two-month course filled with grueling physical training and exercises designed to educate participants on elite squad and platoon tactics. The achievement not only was a first for the service, it bucked criticism and stereotypes that Guardians aren't as active as other military service branches. The three Space Force Guardians who participated in the Spur Ride told Military.com that they hope their peers will look for other opportunities to train with the other branches and push themselves. Advertisement "I would say, whether it's this challenge or other challenges out there, there's a great need for Guardians to push themselves, particularly in the physical aspect," Evans told Military.com. "It's not only just generally healthy, but doing this event is going to help me in my regular job when I'm just pushing forward and trying to get something done. ... Something about rucking 30 miles, and just thinking one more step, applies very well to being on a 12-hour shift."
Nintendo hints at release date for its long-awaited Switch 2 video game console 2024-05-07 19:56:00+00:00 - HealthWatch: New research suggests video games may damage your hearing HealthWatch: New research suggests video games may damage your hearing 01:03 Gamers who have been waiting for years for Nintendo to release a successor to its popular Switch console finally got a clue on when to expect an upgraded device. Nintendo President Shuntaro Furukawa said Tuesday in a post on X (formerly known as Twitter) that the Japanese technology giant will announce the new switch within its current fiscal year, which ends in March 2025. Nintendo offered no additional details, including a launch date for the Switch 2, as the console is called. The company didn't respond to a request for comment. In February, Nintendo told video game publishers the device will be delayed until early 2025, Bloomberg reported. Unveiling a new Switch system would bolster Nintendo in a fiercely compettiging video game market that includes Sony's Playstation and Microsoft's Xbox. The global video gaming market is expected to grow to $583.6 billion by 2030, according to business consulting firm Grand View Research. The Switch became an instant hit for Nintendo when it debuted 2017 thanks to its unique design and plethora of games. The device resembles a tablet and has detachable buttons on each side that a player uses to control game play. It can also be docked on a charging station, enabling the user to continue playing on a television screen — a-first of-its-kind feature at the time. Nintendo's first ever handheld gaming system — the Game Boy — was released in 1989, but the company didn't release another handheld system until 2004, when the DS reached U.S. stores. Another 13 years went by before Nintendo introduced the Switch. In major cities across the U.S., customers camped outside in long lines the day before Switch consoles went on sale in 2017. In 2019, Nintendo introduced the Switch Lite, a less pricey version of the gaming system. Switch sales skyrocketed in 2020 during the pandemic as homebound Americans turned to gaming to pass the time. Some of Nintendo's best-selling video game titles — including the Legend of Zelda, Pokémon, Minecraft, Super Mario and Super Smash Bros. — are all available on the Switch, making the device even more enticing to gamers. Nintendo will announce new games available for the Switch next month during a company event, but the upcoming presentation will not include details about the Switch's successor, Furukawa also said Tuesday. Today, the Switch is Nintendo's second-best selling console behind the DS. Nintendo has sold more than 141 million Switch consoles, according to company data. By comparison, the company has sold 154 million DS consoles along with 76 million Nintendo 3DS. Nintendo has sold 101 million Wii units and 13.5 million Wii U units. Nintendo reported $3 billion in profit for the fiscal year ended in March 2024, up from $2.8 billion in the prior year. —The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Here are other AI stocks vulnerable to profit taking as Druckenmiller sells some Nvidia 2024-05-07 19:21:00+00:00 - Billionaire investors have begun cashing in on their Nvidia bets as the stock rockets toward new highs. But the chipmaking darling is far from the only artificial intelligence stock that has run too far too fast. Stanley Druckenmiller told CNBC's " Squawk Box " on Tuesday that he trimmed his Nvidia stake in late March, saying that the stock has become a "little overhyped" in the short term. Elsewhere, Altimeter's Brad Gerstner eased his stake in the chipmaker and other winning technology stocks, he told CNBC's " Halftime Report ." "We did cut that and a lot of other positions in late March," Druckenmiller said. "I just need a break. We've had a hell of a run. A lot of what we recognized has become recognized by the marketplace now." The legendary hedge fund manager is still bullish on AI long term. Nvidia is not the only AI play vulnerable to profit taking here. To find some of the other names that have run too far too fast, CNBC Pro screened to look for AI-related companies with a forward price-to-earnings trading at a 25%-plus premium to the average forward P/E over the past five years. We also screened for stocks up more than 50% since the bull market began in the fourth quarter of 2023. Here are some of the companies that made the cut: Several popular chipmaking stocks met the criteria. That includes Nvidia opponent Advanced Micro Devices . Shares have jumped more than 51% since October 2023 and trade at a 26% premium to their average P/E over the past five years at more than 44 times. Of the group, Micron Technology shares trade at the most significant premium. The memory chipmaker currently trades at a P/E of 149 times, or a more than 700% premium to its five-year average of about 19 times. Other chipmakers that made the list include Arm Holdings and Broadcom . Arm shares have nearly doubled since October 2023 and trade at a 43% premium to their five-year average. The SoftBank-backed British chip company went public in September. Broadcom has rallied about 58% during that timeframe. SMCI 1Y mountain Shares over the last year Super Micro Computer has experienced the most significant run of the group. Shares of the high-flying AI company have rallied about 203% since October as investors bet on its servers. Over the past year, shares have surged 493% and trade at a 185% premium to their five-year average P/E. Arista Networks , Applied Materials and KLA Corporation also met the criteria.
China’s booming electric vehicle companies eye U.S. competitors they see as ‘not ready’ 2024-05-07 19:00:00+00:00 - SHENZHEN, China — On the long list of disputes between the United States and China, electric vehicles enjoy an increasingly prominent role. Growing stars of the auto world, EVs are also now the subject of intense commercial competition and national security concerns for the world’s two largest economies. And this metropolis known as China’s Silicon Valley is at the heart of the country’s bid for dominance in the lucrative global market. Chinese companies such as BYD, the biggest global rival to America’s Tesla, are forcing Western automakers to change their approach to electric vehicles if they want to remain competitive in a growing industry. “They’re not ready,” said Stella Li, chief executive of BYD Americas. “For BYD, we are ready. We are ready for technology, and we are more ready on supply chain,” she told NBC News in an exclusive interview in April at BYD headquarters in the southern city of Shenzhen, where SUVs, sedans and other gleaming models are displayed in the cavernous lobby. Despite lower price tags, Chinese EVs often have more powerful batteries and more advanced technology. Chinese companies such as BYD are forcing Western automakers to change their approach to electric vehicles. Qilai Shen / Bloomberg via Getty Images But they are not available in the U.S., where they face high trade barriers and allegations that Chinese government subsidies have given them an unfair advantage. The Alliance for American Manufacturing, an advocacy group, says the introduction of Chinese cars to the U.S. market would be an “extinction-level event” for the U.S. auto industry. China says its edge in EVs comes from “constant innovations,” a well-established supply chain system and market competition. But U.S. officials and others have raised concerns that years of government support for the industry have created overcapacity, raising the risk that excess Chinese products could flood overseas markets and undercut domestic production. ‘A real threat to the U.S.’ BYD is a privately owned company that began as a battery manufacturer in 1995. The company, whose name stands for Build Your Dreams, controls most of its own low-cost EV supply chain, from basic components to the ships that transport its vehicles overseas. In the last quarter of 2023, BYD surpassed Tesla as the world’s top EV maker by sales, though Tesla reclaimed the title in the first quarter of this year when BYD reported a 43% drop in sales compared with the previous quarter. The rise of BYD and the Chinese EV industry in general has been aided by more than a decade of strong support from Beijing in the form of subsidies, tax breaks and consumer incentives — in line with what the ruling Communist Party has billed as a larger strategy to fulfill its global climate commitments but what industry experts widely view as a competitive means to build a Chinese auto industry. The competition among hundreds of Chinese EV makers has spurred rapid innovation. “What the Chinese have been able to do in the past 10 to 12 years in terms of quality of the vehicles is pretty amazing,” said Mark Fields, former chief executive of Ford. “The designs have improved a lot, the quality has improved a lot.” This year, up to 45% of the cars on Chinese roads could be electric vehicles, compared with 25% in Europe and about 11% in the U.S., according to a report by the International Energy Agency. All this could add up to trouble for U.S. automakers struggling to catch up. The BYD booth at the Beijing Auto Show on April 26. Qilai Shen / Bloomberg via Getty Images Even Tesla CEO Elon Musk, who made a surprise visit to Beijing last week, has said that without trade barriers Chinese EV makers would “demolish” their competitors. Chinese EVs tend to be smaller, cheaper and more accessible to the masses — BYD’s Seagull, a small all-electric hatchback, starts at less than $10,000. In the U.S., by contrast, EV makers have emphasized larger, more luxurious models targeted at wealthier buyers, though Musk said in April that the company would begin production of new affordable EV models by early next year. With sales slowing down at home, Fields said, Chinese automakers are looking for new markets for their lower-priced inventory, including eventually the U.S. “It’s not unlike a playbook that they’ve used in other industries, whether it’s steel or aluminum or solar panels,” he said, “and that could be a real threat to the U.S. and the Western automakers.” Western EV makers can’t avoid competing with Chinese companies in a global industry, but it will take time for them to catch up, particularly on price, Fields said. “At the end of the day, the consumer votes with their pocketbook, and when it comes time for the the mainstream consumer to really get behind EVs, you know that’s going to dominate their thinking,” he said. One thing buying U.S. automakers some time is a 27.5% import tax on any vehicles that are made in China and shipped to the United States. Lawmakers from both parties are calling for those tariffs to be increased. China, in turn, has filed a case with the World Trade Organization accusing the U.S. of discriminating against Chinese products in its own electric vehicle subsidies. The European Commission is also considering whether to impose punitive tariffs on imports of Chinese EVs as part of an investigation into Chinese government subsidies that Beijing has criticized as protectionist and stacked against Chinese manufacturers. According to a report in April by Rhodium Group, European Union tariffs would need to be as high as 55% to curb imports of Chinese EVs. With BYD seeking to set up a factory in Mexico, there are concerns that it and other Chinese automakers could try to evade the tariffs by exporting cars to the U.S. from there. (Li said the company’s Mexico operations are focused only on local sales and that BYD currently has no plans to enter the U.S. market.) “I think it’s going to take not only just potentially higher tariffs but also trade restrictions,” Fields said. In addition to tariffs and trade restrictions, Chinese EV makers would face a number of regulatory and compliance hurdles to selling cars in the U.S. It would take time to set up a sales and distribution network, Fields said, and Chinese EV makers could face a perception issue among American consumers. The Biden administration is also investigating Chinese-made “smart cars,” whose features it says could be used to collect personal information about American drivers. Li said there was no data to support such an investigation and that U.S. concerns about national security were “overblown.” Tesla CEO Elon Musk with Chinese Premier Li Qiang in Beijing on April 28. Wang Ye / Xinhua News Agency via Getty Images “If you have national security concerns, you should be more concerned about your cellphones,” most of which are also produced in China, she said. She added that BYD has “world-class” standards for the protection of personal data. China has had its own privacy concerns about Tesla, whose EVs are said to have been barred from some government-related properties in the country over concerns about what information they might be collecting. During Musk’s visit last week, the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers announced that certain models from Tesla, BYD and four other Chinese manufacturers had passed China’s data security requirements. The move could clear the way for approval in China of Tesla’s highest level of self-driving software, whose safety and performance was criticized by U.S. regulators in a recent report. Li said the atmosphere in the U.S. was similar to decades past, when American automakers felt threatened by imports from South Korea and Japan. The American brands survived, she said, and that “positive competition” ultimately benefited consumers. The auto market has “never been taken by one company or never been taken by one country,” she said. “That’s never happened if you see all the history.”
Stormy Daniels, Donald Trump, and our utterly ridiculous timeline 2024-05-07 18:58:00+00:00 - When Ronald Reagan sought the Republican Party’s presidential nomination in 1980, it was an open question as to whether the former governor’s family life would be perceived disqualifying. Voters had never before elected a divorced president, and there was great uncertainty about whether the electorate was prepared to put aside this apparent taboo. When Bill Clinton sought the Democratic Party’s presidential nomination 1992, the then-governor publicly conceded that he’d “caused pain” in his marriage — an apparent euphemism for adultery. This, too, generated ample discussion about the limits of what Americans were prepared to tolerate from their candidates for national office with regard to "character issues." These quaint lines of inquiry came to mind reading this Politico summary of Stormy Daniels’ testimony this morning in Donald Trump’s ongoing criminal trial in New York City. After prosecutors assured the court that there wouldn’t be any “descriptions of genitalia” during the proceedings, there were “awkward moments” in the courtroom as the porn star talked about her alleged sexual encounter in Trump’s hotel room at a California golf resort in 2006 — a year after Trump married Melania Trump. “I had my clothes and my shoes off. I believe my bra was still on. We were in missionary position,” Daniels said. Defense jumps in to object. The judge sustains the objection. One female juror looks uncomfortable with the comments and is looking away while holding her forehead. I’m imagining a thought experiment in which I had a conversation with political observers from decades past. “Well, Americans elected a television personality to the nation’s highest office,” I’d say, “and after he was thrown out of office for being a corrupt and incompetent failure, he was accused of several dozen felonies, including falsifying business records related to the hush-money payments he made to a porn star he allegedly had sex with while cheating on his third wife.” “Oh,” I’d add, “and this is barely in the top 10 of the biggest scandals surrounding the former president.” It’s at this point that I’d wait for the inevitable questions about whether social conservatives and evangelicals consider the defendant one of the biggest villains in modern American life, leading me to explain, “Actually, they revere him with borderline-religious reverence.” The New York Times had an interesting report the other day on Trump’s youngest supporters, many of whom will be voting in their first elections this year, who don’t quite remember what American politics was like before. The presumptive GOP nominee, the article noted, represents “the normal politics of their childhood.” For these young adults, folly has become normal. They’ve grown accustomed to a toxic and debased political environment in which absurdities are the background noise of their civic lives, to the point that they’re not even recognized as ludicrous. But the trouble is, it’s not just young adults. Too much of the political world has simply become acclimated to truly ridiculous circumstances — such as those unfolding today in a Manhattan courtroom. Many have gotten so used to Trumpified politics that it becomes easy to lose sight of the fact that we’re confronted, on a daily basis, with insanity that would’ve been unthinkable in the recent past. It’s worth pausing from time to time to realize not only that American politics hasn’t always been like this, but also that it doesn’t have to remain this way. Breaking free of a bizarre timeline is a matter of will. It can start with realizing that the broader context surrounding Trump’s trial reflects political madness.
The Guardian view on Labour’s big idea: organising the state effectively matters for jobs and growth | Editorial 2024-05-07 18:48:00+00:00 - The Labour party has in mind new institutions that will capitalise future-facing industries, create good jobs and see Britain catch up with its peers. That is one message from Rachel Reeves’s speech. Her Labour colleague John Eatwell suggests she is inspired by Alexander Gerschenkron, whose seminal work concludes that the way the state was organised influences its ability to adopt income-enhancing technologies. Many of Labour’s proposals, such as Great British Energy, are welcome. But this column has been sceptical about whether they would meet the scale of the challenges Britain faces without substantial funding or effective mechanisms for socially directing investment. The Bank of England’s role remains particularly unsettling in shrinking the fiscal space available to ministers. Both the opposition and the government hide behind the Bank’s independence. However, MPs on the Treasury select committee raised concerns about whether it was playing a productive economic role this year. They warned that the rapid sale of bonds the Bank purchased through quantitative easing (QE) potentially had “worrying implications for public spending”. The parliamentarians have good reasons to be troubled. On the Bank’s balance sheet, it considers as assets the bonds bought under QE. On the liabilities side of its ledger are the reserve accounts of the commercial banks, which are flush with cash from selling those bonds. The Old Lady pays interest on the reserve accounts. As interest rates rise, the central bank’s outgoings to private banks increase and its returns from bonds decrease. The result is notional losses on the Bank’s accounts. The hole in the Bank’s finances gets bigger as it briskly sells large amounts of bonds for less than it paid for them. Unlike in most other major economies, the Bank’s “losses” are indemnified by the Treasury. This is nonsensical as the central bank cannot go bust. Nevertheless, the economist Daniela Gabor thinks the bailout could cost the taxpayer £230bn by 2033. Meanwhile, private banks are raking in big profits, an unearned jackpot from high rates. Last year the big four high street lenders made £44bn in profits, four times the amount they made in 2020. The Guardian has argued for windfall taxes on banks to repair public services. Gordon Brown, alternatively, thinks banks should be paid less interest on their reserve deposits, as in Europe, to free up funds to fight poverty. The Bank’s monetary policy committee will make headlines this week when it decides whether to cut the base rate. But the committee also has a say on quantitative tightening (QT), which sees the Bank selling more bonds to investors next year than the total sales of gilts to cover government borrowing. Ending the sell-off of bonds – or at least slowing it down as Harriett Baldwin, the Tory MP who chairs the Treasury select committee, has suggested – would be prudent. The chancellor, Jeremy Hunt, gave MPs the brush off. Faster QT constrains a government’s spending power while shovelling state cash into private banks. Ms Reeves missed an opportunity to recast the policy. Perhaps she thought doing so would imply a radicalism that undercut the impression of stability she seeks to project. The same concerns saw Labour throttle green investment despite the climate emergency. Economic development is affected by the industries that a central bank promotes. Labour wants a “decade of national renewal”. That won’t happen if the Bank of England is allowed to advance the financial sector at the expense of all others.
Trump's search for a vice presidential candidate is pure cringe 2024-05-07 18:30:00+00:00 - If you want to know what Republicans really think of Donald Trump, look at what they think he wants from his running mate. In the Before Times, vice presidential aspirants might have polished their credentials by giving interviews that highlighted their policy chops or their ability to handle media pressure. But not in Trump’s bizarre new world. Consider how the candidates are auditioning for Trump’s favor: Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina polished his election denial credentials by refusing to commit to accepting the results of the 2024 election. “At the end of the day,” Scott said, “the 47th president of the United States will be President Donald Trump.” Pressed by “Meet the Press” host Kristen Welker for a yes-or-no answer to whether he would accept the outcome, Scott lamely stuck with his scripted answer: “That is my statement.” South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem thought she could score points with the Boss by bragging about killing her dog, apparently hoping that the cruelty — and the willingness to do hard and ugly things — would help her win the favor of Mar-a-Lago. Most Americans were duly appalled, but a new poll shows that a third of Trump supporters said they thought Noem’s puppy killing was acceptable. (And after her shambolic interview on CBS’ “Face the Nation” Sunday, she dutifully followed the Trump playbook by whining about being interrupted.) Sen. J.D. Vance of Ohio downplayed the violence of the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol. Sen. J.D. Vance of Ohio downplayed the violence of the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol, telling CNN that he was “extremely skeptical that Mike Pence’s life was ever in danger.” Rep. Byron Donalds of Florida showcased his willingness to defend hush money for porn stars by calling on New York jurors to acquit Trump of the charges against him. “This is a trash case; there is no crime here,” he declared on Newsmax, “and if there is any potential for a verdict, they should vote not guilty.” (Trump has pleaded not guilty to 34 counts of falsifying business records in the case and denied having sex with former Playboy model Karen McDougal and adult film actress Stormy Daniels.) Rep. Elise Stefanik of New York showcased her intense thirst for Trump’s nod by echoing his claim that Jan. 6 rioters are “hostages.” Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida declined to say whether he would be willing to move out of his home state — the place he represents in the U.S. Senate and presumably hopes to continue to represent — if Trump wants him on the ticket. (Under the Constitution, the Electoral College cannot choose a president and vice president who are residents of the same state.) Sen. Katie Britt of Alabama apparently thought her fundie baby voice/angry mom bit would appeal to the former president’s idea of what someone from veep central casting would look and sound like. In short: Republicans are convinced that Trump is looking for a running mate willing to jettison history, principles, common sense and common decency to win his favor — and they are almost certainly right. Unfortunately, there is a wide field of Republican candidates willing to do exactly that. Sign up for MSNBC’s new How to Win 2024 newsletter and get election insights like this delivered to your inbox weekly.
Dmitry Khoroshev named as alleged leader of ransomware gang LockBit 2024-05-07 18:29:00+00:00 - The alleged leader of what was once the world’s largest ransomware outfit, LockBit, has been named as Russian national Dmitry Khoroshev by the UK’s National Crime Agency (NCA), after the seizure of the criminal gang’s infrastructure. Khoroshev, who lived his online life under the name LockBitSupp, has been sanctioned by the UK, US and Australia as a result of the unmasking. He was so certain of his anonymity that he once offered a $10m (£8m) reward to anyone who could reveal his identity. The US government is now offering a reward of up to $10m for anyone who can share information leading to his arrest or conviction. LockBit was seen as one of the world’s most dangerous ransomware groups and its high-profile victims included delivery firm Royal Mail and aerospace company Boeing. In February, LockBit’s entire “command and control” apparatus was seized by law enforcement after a joint international operation. Graeme Biggar, the director general of the National Crime Agency (NCA), said: “These sanctions are hugely significant and show that there is no hiding place for cybercriminals like Dmitry Khoroshev, who wreak havoc across the globe. He was certain he could remain anonymous, but he was wrong. “We know our work to disrupt LockBit thus far has been extremely successful in degrading their capability and credibility among the criminal community. The group’s attempt at rebuilding has resulted in a much less sophisticated enterprise with significantly reduced impact.” UK security minister Tom Tugendhat said: “Cybercriminals think they are untouchable, hiding behind anonymous accounts as they try to extort money from their victims. “By exposing one of the leaders of LockBit, we are sending a clear message to these callous criminals. You cannot hide. You will face justice.” But Khoroshev, who is believed to be resident in Russia, is likely to remain at large for some time. The Russian state has never formally extradited cybercriminals, and the freezing of relations after its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022 led to a near-total cessation of all enforcement action domestically. skip past newsletter promotion Sign up to First Edition Free daily newsletter Our morning email breaks down the key stories of the day, telling you what’s happening and why it matters Enter your email address Sign up Privacy Notice: Newsletters may contain info about charities, online ads, and content funded by outside parties. For more information see our Newsletters may contain info about charities, online ads, and content funded by outside parties. For more information see our Privacy Policy . We use Google reCaptcha to protect our website and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply. after newsletter promotion The NCA and its international partners have hit LockBit commercially, however, by releasing damaging information taken from the group’s own servers. The criminal gang operated on an “affiliate” basis, charging a commission to allow others to carry out hacks using its tools. But the NCA said its data shows that more than half the affiliates it could identify were never paid any money from their criminality – despite paying thousands to be a member, and attracting criminal liability from their hacking activities. The gang also broke its promise to victims to delete stolen data if they paid the ransom, the NCA said, citing the discovery of supposedly deleted information on the group’s servers.
British AI startup raises more than $1 billion for its self-driving car technology 2024-05-07 18:16:00+00:00 - Most drivers still skeptical about fully self-driving cars Most drivers still skeptical about fully self-driving cars 02:02 A British AI startup that specializes in autonomous driving technology has raised more than $1 billion from some high-profile backers, including Microsoft and computer chip-maker Nvidia. Called Wayve, the London-based company said Tuesday the funding will allow it to accelerate the development of its embodied AI technology which enables vehicles to "interact with, comprehend, and learn from human behavior in real-world environments." It touts the new AI products as "paving the way for greater usability and safety in autonomous driving systems." While self-driving cars have been crowned the future of the automotive industry, a significant safety flaw in the self-driving systems has yet to be worked out: When there's potential for an accident, the systems often return control to the human driver without enough time for someone to avoid a collision, automotive industry experts told CBS MoneyWatch. Wayve, founded in 2017, and its investors believe embodied AI is the solution to the safety issue in existing self-driving cars, describing the technology as "a GPT for driving." "Since our inception, we have held a core belief that end-to-end AI will make autonomy possible," said Alex Kendall, Wayve co-founder and CEO, wrote in a Tuesday blog post. "We are excited to see our progress and this funding as a massive endorsement of our vision."
Biden administration orders online banker Chime to pay $4.55 million over delayed refunds to customers 2024-05-07 18:12:00+00:00 - The Biden administration has told the online banking group Chime it must pay $4.55 million for failing to issue refunds in a timely manner to customers who had closed their accounts with the firm. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau announced Tuesday that Chime must provide at least $1.3 million in compensation to consumers who were harmed, and pay a $3.25 million penalty, for continuously failing to debit consumers in a timely manner who had closed their accounts with outstanding balances — including thousands of instances when Chime waited at least 90 days. “Chime’s customers had to wait weeks or months for access to their own money and were forced to use alternative funds to cover their essential expenses” including running up credit card balances, CFPB director Rohit Chopra said in a statement. “Fast-growing financial firms must treat their customers fairly and understand that federal law is not a suggestion.” In many cases, affected customers could not cover basic living expenses, the CFPB said. The agency said Chime is responsible for processing account payments, though acknowledged the company does so by contracting with a third-party payment processor. It said Chime is also responsible for nearly all consumer communications concerning accounts, as well as how they are serviced, including with the company’s partner banks. In a statement, Chime said the majority of the delayed refunds were caused by a "configuration error" with a third-party vendor in 2020 and 2021. It said its settlement agreement with the CFPB “reflects our belief that the timely handling of customer matters is critical, even amid the pandemic’s unique challenges.” "When Chime discovered the issue, we worked with our vendor to resolve the error and issued refunds to impacted consumers," the company said. "We share the Bureau’s goal to create a more competitive and accessible financial landscape that is good for everyday consumers. We look forward to continuing in this mission and are pleased to have resolved this matter."
Far right militias are returning to Facebook — and it’s looking the other way 2024-05-07 18:09:58+00:00 - It’s happening again: Armed, antigovernment militias and other like-minded groups are organizing and recruiting on social media at a scope and pace not seen since the lead up to Jan. 6. This time, according to a startling report by journalist Tess Owen for Wired magazine last week, Meta’s Facebook platform is their haven of choice. I say “again” because we’ve been here before. Work done by the House Select Committee on the January 6 Attack demonstrated the breadth of social media’s contribution to rallying people to Washington, D.C., and stoking the violence and mob mentality that day. While only a hint of the Jan. 6 committee’s work was included in their public report, committee investigators prepared a 122-page memo detailing their research and their interviews of workers at Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and other platforms. According to a draft version of the report, first revealed by The Washington Post, the investigators’ key finding was that those tech companies ignored their own employees’ who raised red flags about increasingly violent chatter. Is history repeating itself — and if so, why Facebook, why now, and what can be done? Facebook’s mainstream credibility and visibility provide extremist recruiters with a wider audience. Three years after the Capitol insurrection, extremist, far-right militias — many already banned by Facebook — are back on the platform. This time, they appear more organized, smarter and more encouraged by Meta’s indifference toward enforcing previous bans. The groups are quite open about their particular niche ideology, such as antigovernment Three Percenter beliefs, and about advertising meetups and combat training to prepare, as one recruiter wrote, for “what’s coming.” Whatever that is. Wired reports that there are about 200 Facebook groups and profiles that are antigovernment and far-right extremist using the platform’s “Groups” function to support or plan militia activity across the U.S. A typical example is the Free America Army, with 650 members. They use the logo of the Three Percent militia network — an image of a man in tactical gear brandishing a long gun. These aren’t your garden variety, weekend warrior, beer and BBQ buddies shooting at cans in the woods. It had drawn in members from the Kentucky Three Percenters, the Virginia Liberty Guard, and the Guardians of Freedom — a group with members arrested for their role on Jan. 6. Despite being previously banned by Meta, Free America Army leaders have returned to Facebook, and also serve as administrators for a larger, public group called Freedom Across America with 2,000 members. Why Facebook? As explained in the Wired piece, Facebook’s mainstream credibility and visibility provide extremist recruiters with a wider audience. Further, the Facebook group space helps militias coalesce and form networks across previously decentralized militias. Katie Paul, director of the Tech Transparency Project, told Wired she has monitored hundreds of militias and related groups for the last three years and finds them “increasingly emboldened with more serious and coordinated organizing in the past year.” (TTP is a a research initiative of Campaign for Accountability, a nonprofit watchdog group.) She notes, “Facebook remains the largest gathering place … where they can plan and coordinate with impunity.” It’s the impunity part that’s as troubling as the networking and organizing part. Facebook claims that it “bans paramilitary organizing” and listed Three Percenters as “an armed militia group” alongside dozens of other militia groups in its 2021 “Dangerous Individuals and Organizations” list. The platform has removed some of the violent extremist sites recently, and told Wired that they are “removing groups and accounts that violate our policies.” But in the past 12 months, other banned groups, like immigrant border militias and the Boogaloo movement have resurfaced on Facebook. Perhaps, as the country ramps up to an election fervor, Meta executives think it best to simply stay out of the content moderation business. Facebook is clearly not rising to meet the threat — but why not? Meta earns billions in profits and is loaded with smart people who know everything there is to know about social media, so it doesn’t ring true when they claim that "we keep investing heavily in people, technology, research, and partnerships to keep our platforms safe.” It hardly seems coincidental that militias are returning to the site a year after Meta let go over 200 employees tasked with moderating content. Such cuts make it clear where the company’s priorities lie. And last week came reports of imminent layoffs of the Meta-funded oversight board, which oversees content moderation across its various platforms. Why is Meta seemingly backing off moderation now, in the face of warning signs and indicators of violence ahead of a presidential election? In part it’s precisely because of that upcoming election. After the 2016 election, social media companies were accused of allowing Russian disinformation designed to benefit the Trump campaign. Four years later, those platforms were accused of silencing the infamous Hunter Biden laptop story at the behest of the FBI and/or the Democratic Party. Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg said in a podcast interview, “The background here is that the FBI came to us — some folks on our team — and was like, ‘Hey, just so you know, you should be on high alert. We thought there was a lot of Russian propaganda in the 2016 election, we have it on notice that basically there’s about to be some kind of dump that’s similar to that.’” Zuckerberg conceded that the bureau never mentioned Hunter Biden’s laptop, but said that Facebook made a mistake in taking down the story: “When we take down something that we’re not supposed to, that’s the worst.” Decision-making at Facebook is complex and layered with often competing objectives. Security can conflict with profit. Content moderation can dampen clicks and followers. It’s also quite possible that Facebook is once bitten, twice shy. Perhaps, as the country ramps up to an election fervor, Meta executives think it best to simply stay out of the content moderation business, lest they once again be accused of favoring one party or another. But doing next to nothing about armed militias preparing for battle while you sit idly by isn’t a safe choice. It’s a dangerous decision that will ultimately be bad for business — and even worse for America.
BP right to hold steady on climate targets despite below forecast profits | Nils Pratley 2024-05-07 17:52:00+00:00 - The market’s guessing game at BP is waiting for Murray Auchincloss, the chief executive who has been in post permanently only since January, to blink. That is to say, waiting for him to tone down climate targets and decide to pump more oil and gas than planned. Tuesday was not the day. BP’s first-quarter numbers were slightly weaker than the market had expected – profits of $2.7bn versus City forecasts of $2.9bn – but there wasn’t a twitch on the strategic tiller. Auchincloss trotted out his refrain about going from “IOC to IEC” – from international oil company to integrated energy company. The only fresh news was the promise of $2bn of cost savings over the next couple of years, but that’s the sort of thing energy firms announce routinely. Naturally, none of this did anything for a share price that is rated at a discount to London’s other oil major, Shell, a company itself grumbling about its own discount to American rivals Chevron and Exxon. BP, in other words, is rated towards the bottom end of the Big Oil pack. It is why its ambition to throw more capital, relatively speaking, at non-fossil fuel projects, such as biofuels, renewables and electric charging points, has come under such scrutiny. BP’s transition strategy doesn’t meet everybody’s definition of swift – it imagines oil and gas production at 2m barrels a day by 2030, a 25% reduction versus 2019 levels – but the point is that it is more ambitious than most major rivals. That is why one vocal lobby would like to see less ambition and more oil and gas for longer. Auchincloss, it should be noted, has given himself room to wriggle. He has billed himself as a pragmatist and his latest talk about “high grading” development projects to prefer those with higher returns could, in theory, morph into a slightly heavier tilt towards oil and gas without being deemed an outright U-turn. The 2030 production projection, remember, is an “aim” rather than a “target”. Yet one hopes Auchincloss doesn’t blink and sticks to something like the current script. BP’s claim is that it can generate 15% returns from biofuels and electric charging, which is roughly what oil and gas produces over the cycle. Renewables – meaning wind and solar primarily – is more of a struggle these days, but even there BP still reckons double-digit returns are achievable if the assets are plugged into other parts of its business, including, critically, the energy trading division. The hardest part is injecting credibility into such figures. The “transition growth engines”, as BP calls them, won’t be big enough to move the overall earnings needle until the end of the decade, which puts the pitch to investors in the complicated “trust us” category. For the time being, though, there’s no substantive reason to change course, whatever the share price says. First, aside from a misadventure with wind projects in the US, BP hasn’t obviously messed up yet. Second, $14bn of share buy-backs over two years, equivalent to 14% of the current market capitalisation, provides some level of floor. Third, the currently unfashionable notion of investing a few quid outside oil and gas in the interests of greater balance in earnings may look a smarter bet come 2030. Strategic fiddles, not revolution, are needed here.
FAA investigates Boeing for falsified records on some 787 Dreamliners 2024-05-07 17:23:00+00:00 - After being notified by Boeing that some company employees failed to complete specific inspections on some 787 Dreamliners but reported the checks as having been completed, essentially falsifying inspection records, the Federal Aviation Administration has opened a formal investigation. The inspections verify there is adequate bonding and grounding of the fasteners connecting the wings to the fuselage. The test aims to confirm that the plane is properly grounded against electrical currents like a lightning strike. A source familiar with the situation puts the potential number of aircraft involved as approximately 450, including around 60 aircraft still within Boeing's production system. The planes still in Boeing's possession are being re-inspected, according to the FAA. A source briefed on the situation says Boeing engineers made an assessment that there is not an immediate safety issue because the 787 was built with multiple redundancies to protect against events like a lightning strike. The Boeing logo is seen on the fuselage of a Boeing 787-10 Dreamliner test plane. Eric Piermont/AFP via Getty Images "As the investigation continues, the FAA will take any necessary action – as always – to ensure the safety of the flying public," an FAA spokesman said in a statement to CBS News. Boeing notified employees of the situation last Monday in an email from Scott Stocker, the vice president and general manager of the 787 program. The email, obtained by CBS News, says that Boeing's engineering team has "assessed that this misconduct did not create an immediate safety of flight issue." Stocker credited a Boeing South Carolina worker for spotting the issue and reporting it. "The teammate saw what appeared to be an irregularity in a required conformance test in wing body join. He raised it with his manager, who brought it to the attention of executive leadership," Stocker wrote. "After receiving the report, we quickly reviewed the matter and learned that several people had been violating Company policies by not performing a required test, but recording the work as having been completed." Stocker told employees that Boeing has "zero tolerance for not following processes designed to ensure quality and safety" and that the company is "taking swift and serious corrective action with multiple teammates." That email comes less than two weeks after a Boeing quality engineer testified before a Senate sub-committee about concerns he says he raised about the production of the 787 Dreamliner that were dismissed by management. Boeing declined to discuss specific numbers of aircraft involved, as it said it was still gathering information about the situation, but a potential population in the hundreds would indicate a situation that potentially had been going on for a significant period of time. At this point the FAA has not determined there is, in a fact, a safety issue with the 787 or a shortcoming in the production process. Currently, the FAA has not determined there is not an immediate safety issue with Dreamliners currently in service. The FAA investigation was first reported by the Wall Street Journal.