Last year was the hottest ever recorded and that human greenhouse gas emissions are the main reason for global warming. The natural climate cycle known as El Niño has also been identified as a factor in making 2024 potentially hotter than previous years.
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#ClimateChange #GlobalWarming #ElNino #HumanEmissions #RecordBreakingTemperatures #ImpactOnPlanet
The US government has been tightening restrictions on the sale of American semiconductors to China and that Nvidia had started developing a new, slightly less powerful AI chip for the Chinese market as a workaround. The text also mentions that Jensen Huang and other chip bosses have been summoned to testify in Congress about their Chinese business, and that ABB's links with China are being investigated by American lawmakers. The text concludes by mentioning that harsher measures against Chinese technology will be difficult to design due to the mixed record of export controls so far.
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#AIChip #Semiconductors #USGovernment #Nvidia
There have been many attacks from Iran's allies against American troops in Iraq and Syria, as well as against Israel, and that President Joe Biden has had to deal with this situation while trying to prevent a regional war. It also mentions that America has retaliated against local proxies but risks starting a new war in an election year if they do so again. The text also discusses the Houthi militia in Yemen, which is targeting ships passing through the Bab al-Mandab strait, and how it is receiving help from members of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps to operate weapons despite being haphazard in its targeting. Lastly, the text mentions that President Biden admits that America's strikes will not stop the Houthis but also discusses the challenges he faces as a result. Overall, this text highlights the ongoing conflict between Iran and its allies against Israel, the United States and their allies, as well as the issues faced by President Biden in dealing with these conflicts.
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#IranAlliesAttacks #PresidentBiden #RegionalWarRisk #HouthiMilitia #BabalMandabStrait
President Joe Biden has been trying to help Israel in its war with Hamas, but Iran and its proxies have been attacking American troops and ships in Iraq and Yemen. The dilemma for Mr. Biden is whether to take stronger action against Iran or risk a new war in an election year. The Houthi militia in Yemen is also targeting ships passing through the Bab al-Mandab strait despite receiving help from members of the IRGC, and America's strikes on them are not stopping their attacks.
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#IranProxies #PresidentJoeBiden #Yemen #HouthiMilitia #BabAlMandabStrait
Benito the giraffe was transferred from a city-run zoo in Mexico to a conservation park in central Mexico due to weather conditions not suitable for him. The transfer took place on Sunday night and he arrived at his new home, the African Safari park in Puebla, after a journey of 2,000 kilometers (1,200 miles) and about 50 hours on the road. Benito was allowed to familiarize himself with the container during the weekend before being transferred. The weather conditions at his previous home were not suitable for him, so he was moved to a new location where the climate is more akin to his natural habitat.
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#Transfer #ConservationPark #AfricanSafari
Moody’s Analytics has found 21 million “red flags” associated with shell companies that could be used to enable financial crimes. These red flags include atypical directorship, mass registration, dormancy, circular ownership, and more. The report also highlighted the fact that $1.6 trillion is laundered annually through these shell companies, despite new regulations aiming to improve transparency. Moody’s Analytics found that there are some cases where companies have reported revenues of over $2 billion with only one employee or even less than five years old directors and thousands of entities with a registered address at Egypt's pyramids. Additionally, one individual held 5,751 roles at 2,883 different entities. The study also found that the UK has the highest number of shell company risks among all countries, followed by the US.
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#ShellCompanies #FinancialCrimes #RedFlags #Regulation #Laundering #Transparency #Directors
China's foreign investors are experiencing a challenging market due to souring relations with Western governments, an unprecedented slump in the country’s property market, and losses from the Chinese stock market.
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#ChinaEconomy #ForeignInvestors #PropertyMarket #StockMarket
Mentions of artificial intelligence on earnings calls have skyrocketed since the release of ChatGPT, and it is expected to reinvent business as we know it. It also highlights how generative AI is democratizing specialized knowledge work previously reserved for highly trained or deep-pocketed individuals, and forcing organizations to modernize their technology architecture in order to stay relevant.
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#ChatGPT #GenerativeAI #SpecializedKnowledgeWork #TechnologyArchitectureModernization
There were two big problems and two leading theories about what was causing them in America. Over the preceding three years, the murder rate had reached levels not seen since the mid-1990s, which was widely attributed to reductions in policing following the protests over the murder of George Floyd. The inflation rate was even worse, by historical standards, peaking in 2022 at 9 percent, the highest number since 1981. This, in turn, was believed to be the result of Congress and the Biden administration pumping too much money into the economy. Each theory implied a solution to its respective crisis. To bring crime back down, America’s cities would have to empower their depleted and demoralized police forces. To tame inflation, the Federal Reserve would have to crush consumer spending by triggering a recession. Both theories now appear to have been wrong as over the course of 2023, police forces kept shrinking, yet overall violent-crime rates plummeted to their lowest levels since the 1960s, according to preliminary FBI data. The economy boomed even as inflation came just about all the way down to the Fed’s 2 percent target. In surveys, most Americans say that crime and inflation are still rising, but they're wrong. Call it the Great Normalization: The twin crises largely evaporated, and no one is totally sure why.
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#CrimeRate #InflationRate #Fed #Recession #BidenAdministration #GeorgeFloydProtests #FBIData
There has been a lot of attention on a pink cup launched by Stanley and available only at Target, with fans lining up in parking lots to get their hands on one before they sell out. There have also been instances of arguments breaking out between shoppers over who was cutting whom in line, and store patrons trying to tackle a man who had grabbed a box full of tumblers and made a run for it. People are wondering where this fervor came from and why it is causing such a frenzy among suburbanites.
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#StanleyPinkCupFever #TargetSuburbaniteFrenzy
Ron DeSantis has been compared to King David and Donald Trump's Saul by a man at a sports bar in Dubuque, Iowa. The man also mentioned how both DeSantis and Trump have fought against each other instead of focusing on their original goal, which was fighting the Philistines (leftists) who were trying to take over the kingdom. Additionally, the man said that neither of them are anointed by God, but DeSantis claims he is a servant of the people and talks about humility a lot.
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#RonDeSantis #KingDavid #Saul #DonaldTrump #Philistines #Leftists #Humility
Electric vehicles (EVs) from China are setting new standards for speed and are spreading around the globe, upending the industry used to a sedate cycle of marginal improvements. In 2023, Chinese industry groups claim that China became the world's biggest exporter of cars in part because of surging sales of EVs, overtaking Japan as the global leader. In the final quarter of 2023, BYD surpassed Tesla as the world's biggest manufacturer of purely battery-powered vehicles and selling more than them. The shift away from internal combustion engines (ICE) is gathering pace, and established carmakers are beginning to worry that Chinese upstarts might run them off the road due to their expertise in EVs, government subsidies, and domestic market size. However, many of these new EV startups are not yet profitable despite the generous handouts from the government, and as their exports increase, the government may balk at subsidizing them further.
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#ElectricVehicles #China #EVIndustry #BYD #Tesla #InternalCombustionEngines #GovernmentSubsidies
Donald Trump's victory in Iowa's caucuses is causing anxiety among large American corporations, but some are quietly welcoming the chaos trade as it presents opportunities for growth and profit.
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#Anxiety #ChaosTrade #OpportunityForGrowth #Profit
Applebee's is offering a Date Night Pass that allows holders to claim 52 meals over the course of next year at a discounted price. The pass can be purchased on Applebee's website and covers up to $30 of food per use, with some locations declining participation due to management disinterest in promoting love.
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#ApplebeesDateNightPass #Love #FoodDiscount #LocationManagement
Sweden has a high level of unionization and that Tesla's refusal to negotiate with unions has led to a strike.
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https://read.distractionfree.site/economist/1843/2024/01/18/swedens-polite-war-with-elon-musk
#SwedenUnionization #TeslaStrike
The International Court of Justice has heard an average of fewer than three cases a year and that one of its recent trials involved Israel being accused of committing genocide in Gaza. Palestinians were elated by the sight of Israel in court after decades of impunity for its conduct in occupied territories, and crowds gathered to watch it broadcast in squares in Ramallah. The text also discusses South Africa's case against Israel at the ICJ, which asks the court for provisional measures such as stopping fighting in Gaza. However, the legal strategy of labeling some of Israel’s actions as war crimes while seeking to prove genocide is risky because it may make the debate about the label rather than the actions themselves. The text also discusses how legally, genocide is a tightly defined concept and hard to prove, which makes it difficult for South Africa to prove its case against Israel at the ICJ.
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#ICJ #InternationalCourtOfJustice #Palestine #Israel #SouthAfrica #Genocide
Both Republican and Democratic presidents have had different economic policies, with Donald Trump's stimulus packages contributing to inflation in 2021, while Joe Biden's economic recovery was strong but eroded by high inflation.
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#EconomicPolicy #StimulusPackages #Inflation
Michael Jordan made a shoe from each of his six championships with the Chicago Bulls and gave it to Tim Hallam as a ritual after each victory, which Sotheby's is now auctioning off.
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#MichaelJordan #ChicagoBulls #Sothebys #Auction
The construction of a temple in Ayodhya has been a central issue for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and its leader Narendra Modi, which has led to riots and bloodshed, and that the consecration ceremony will be used by Mr. Modi as a launchpad for his party's campaign in the upcoming national election.
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#AyodhyaTempleConsecrationCeremony #BJP #NarendraModi #RiotsAndBloodshed #NationalElection2019
The nation's rivers and streams remain polluted with nutrients that contaminate drinking water and fuel a gigantic dead zone for aquatic life in the Gulf of Mexico, according to an Environmental Protection Agency assessment. The assessment found that more than half of the basin's miles of rivers and streams were in poor condition for nitrogen and phosphorus from fertilizer that drains into waterways, and it is a problem expected to get harder to control as climate change produces more intense storms that pick up commercial fertilizers and carry them into nearby rivers. The assessment also found that phosphorus levels dipped slightly while nitrogen levels remained almost exactly the same, and that about half of all river miles were rated as having poor biological health for bottom dwelling species such as snails, worms, beetles, etc.
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#environmentalpollution #deadzoneforaquaticlife