1 month ago
LONDON, Aug 24 - U.S. threats to impose "the toughest sanctions in history" to force Iran to buckle to its demands after nearly six months of war have raised the prospect of a new round of escalation in the Gulf.
How could Iran respond to the economic pressure?
CAN IRAN STOP MORE OIL GETTING OUT OF THE MIDDLE EAST?
Mohsen Rezaei, the former Revolutionary Guards chief and secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council, has already threatened to shut down oil exports — one of Tehran's main strategic approaches since the war began on February 28.
"If the economic war continues, not a single drop of oil will be exported, neither through the Strait of Hormuz nor from anywhere in the Persian Gulf," he said.
#london
How could Iran respond to the economic pressure?
CAN IRAN STOP MORE OIL GETTING OUT OF THE MIDDLE EAST?
Mohsen Rezaei, the former Revolutionary Guards chief and secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council, has already threatened to shut down oil exports — one of Tehran's main strategic approaches since the war began on February 28.
"If the economic war continues, not a single drop of oil will be exported, neither through the Strait of Hormuz nor from anywhere in the Persian Gulf," he said.
#london
2 months ago
KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Russian planes dropped eight powerful glide bombs in a span of 90 minutes on residential districts of the southern Ukrainian city of Zaporizhzhia, killing one person and wounding dozens of others, regional chief Ivan Fedorov said Monday.
Meanwhile, six people were killed by Ukrainian drone debris in Arkhipo-Osipovka, a small town on Russia's Black Sea coast in the Krasnodar region, regional governor Veniamin Kondratyev said, adding that 40 others were wounded.
Three other people were killed and two were wounded in Ukraine's overnight attack on the illegally annexed Crimea, said the peninsula's Russian-installed head, Sergei Aksyonov. He gave no details.
Neither side's claims could be independently verified.
Ukraine's innovative long-range drone technology developed during the war has enabled Kyiv to sign military cooperation agreements with nine countries, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Monday.
#russian #killed #wounded
Meanwhile, six people were killed by Ukrainian drone debris in Arkhipo-Osipovka, a small town on Russia's Black Sea coast in the Krasnodar region, regional governor Veniamin Kondratyev said, adding that 40 others were wounded.
Three other people were killed and two were wounded in Ukraine's overnight attack on the illegally annexed Crimea, said the peninsula's Russian-installed head, Sergei Aksyonov. He gave no details.
Neither side's claims could be independently verified.
Ukraine's innovative long-range drone technology developed during the war has enabled Kyiv to sign military cooperation agreements with nine countries, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Monday.
#russian #killed #wounded
2 months ago
The father of a 10-year-old rescued from pounding surf off the California coast in a dramatic scene captured on video says he is beyond grateful to the teenage lifeguard who saved his son.
"He ran into that water despite those conditions that are deadly. You have 10 foot waves; you have riptides and currents coming in," Sumit Rai told The ****** ociated Press on Wednesday. "It is not safe for him to go into that water. So he's risking his own safety."
Rai's son Nathaniel was standing in shallow water when he lost his footing and was pulled into the ocean Saturday by powerful swells that suddenly came ashore at Seabright Beach in Santa Cruz, about 60 miles (about 100 kilometers) down the coast from San Francisco. Rai, who was in his home city of Dallas, said he heard about what happened when he spoke to his kids on the phone that evening.
"My son told me that he drowned and my son told me that he went unconscious," he said. "He was very subdued, still in a state of shock."
By the next morning, Rai had watched the video of the rescue that has since caught the attention of President Donald Trump.
#wednesday #nathaniel
"He ran into that water despite those conditions that are deadly. You have 10 foot waves; you have riptides and currents coming in," Sumit Rai told The ****** ociated Press on Wednesday. "It is not safe for him to go into that water. So he's risking his own safety."
Rai's son Nathaniel was standing in shallow water when he lost his footing and was pulled into the ocean Saturday by powerful swells that suddenly came ashore at Seabright Beach in Santa Cruz, about 60 miles (about 100 kilometers) down the coast from San Francisco. Rai, who was in his home city of Dallas, said he heard about what happened when he spoke to his kids on the phone that evening.
"My son told me that he drowned and my son told me that he went unconscious," he said. "He was very subdued, still in a state of shock."
By the next morning, Rai had watched the video of the rescue that has since caught the attention of President Donald Trump.
#wednesday #nathaniel
2 months ago
A nine-year-old boy who "loved life and nature" was killed by his "unconventional, doting" mother who then took her own life, a coroner has concluded.
Hudson Paterson, nine, and Tasmin Paterson, 31, were found dead by her partner in a bedroom in a bungalow at Fletchersbridge, near Bodmin, Cornwall, in September 2024, an inquest heard.
Senior coroner for Cornwall Andrew ******* said Ms Paterson had argued with Marcus Hughes and had gone to bed "distressed" with the thought the relationship was coming to an end.
Cox concluded Hudson's cause of death was unlawful killing and, for Ms Paterson's death, recorded a verdict of suicide.
Hughes said the couple had been sleeping in separate rooms and when he went to wake them, he grew concerned as there was no response, so he called 999 and forced entry.
#paterson
Hudson Paterson, nine, and Tasmin Paterson, 31, were found dead by her partner in a bedroom in a bungalow at Fletchersbridge, near Bodmin, Cornwall, in September 2024, an inquest heard.
Senior coroner for Cornwall Andrew ******* said Ms Paterson had argued with Marcus Hughes and had gone to bed "distressed" with the thought the relationship was coming to an end.
Cox concluded Hudson's cause of death was unlawful killing and, for Ms Paterson's death, recorded a verdict of suicide.
Hughes said the couple had been sleeping in separate rooms and when he went to wake them, he grew concerned as there was no response, so he called 999 and forced entry.
#paterson
3 months ago
HONG KONG (AP) — Major German carmakers saw sharp quarterly sales declines in China as domestic demand weakened and competition heated up in the world's biggest auto market.
At Volkswagen, Mercedes-Benz, BMW and Porsche, China sales for the April-June quarter plummeted between 30% and 41% compared with the same period a year ago, according to company data released over the past week.
For the first half of this year, they all reported a more than 20% year-on-year drop in China. The falling China sales have squeezed their overall profits and in some cases offset gains from other regions.
This also comes at a time when these legacy German carmakers are faced with intensified competition from Chinese automakers outside of China, including in Europe, as leading Chinese brands like BYD make inroads overseas.
The latest quarterly sales declines were some of the steepest seen for the German automakers in China, said Lei Xing, an independent auto ******* yst.
At Volkswagen, Mercedes-Benz, BMW and Porsche, China sales for the April-June quarter plummeted between 30% and 41% compared with the same period a year ago, according to company data released over the past week.
For the first half of this year, they all reported a more than 20% year-on-year drop in China. The falling China sales have squeezed their overall profits and in some cases offset gains from other regions.
This also comes at a time when these legacy German carmakers are faced with intensified competition from Chinese automakers outside of China, including in Europe, as leading Chinese brands like BYD make inroads overseas.
The latest quarterly sales declines were some of the steepest seen for the German automakers in China, said Lei Xing, an independent auto ******* yst.
3 months ago
Tech companies are famed for padding their six-figure jobs with flashy perks: lavish retreats, unlimited PTO, and offices outfitted with slides and sleep pods. One AI start-up, Rilla, is even helping foot the bill of its workers' biggest expense: housing.
The company splashes out $1.7 million annually in housing stipends. And it's part of a wider incentive designed for employees to make the most of their 72-hours workweeks in the New York City office.
"We're not trying to coddle people," CEO Sebastian Jimenez recently told Business Insider. "A lot of companies offer perks that end up distracting employees. We ask ourselves, 'Can this help someone get into the flow?'"
"That's why we pay for three meals a day. It's why we're building a gym with a sauna and cold plunge," he continued. "And it's why we offer employees an $18,000 annual housing stipend if they choose to live within about a 10-minute bike ride of the office."
Most metropolitan workers would love to cut their commute to just 10 minutes a day, but most apartments within a stone's throw of hubs like Wall Street and Midtown come with a hefty price tag.
The company splashes out $1.7 million annually in housing stipends. And it's part of a wider incentive designed for employees to make the most of their 72-hours workweeks in the New York City office.
"We're not trying to coddle people," CEO Sebastian Jimenez recently told Business Insider. "A lot of companies offer perks that end up distracting employees. We ask ourselves, 'Can this help someone get into the flow?'"
"That's why we pay for three meals a day. It's why we're building a gym with a sauna and cold plunge," he continued. "And it's why we offer employees an $18,000 annual housing stipend if they choose to live within about a 10-minute bike ride of the office."
Most metropolitan workers would love to cut their commute to just 10 minutes a day, but most apartments within a stone's throw of hubs like Wall Street and Midtown come with a hefty price tag.
3 months ago
Microsoft is making a big bet on the adoption of its enterprise AI tools.
The tech giant announced on Thursday that it is investing $2.5 billion in a new business unit, Microsoft Frontier, aimed at getting customers to better use its AI to transform their businesses and to address an area where many companies are struggling: delivering measurable outcomes and demonstrating a return on their AI investments.
In a blog post, Judson Althoff, head of the company's commercial business, called Frontier "the largest, most capable, outcome-driven engineering organization in the industry." The unit will consist of 6,000 so-called forward-deployed engineers, or industry experts who will work directly with customers.
Microsoft's announcement comes days after Amazon said it would spend $1 billion on a similar FDE initiative and also follows OpenAI and Anthropic's own multibillion-dollar FDE investments.
Tech companies are keen to help enterprises figure out how to program AI services to fit their needs because of the amount of resources the tech firms are pouring into building out their AI products. In Microsoft's announcement, Althoff wrote that Microsoft's commitment goes beyond typical FDE programs because of the size and scope of the initiative. Microsoft said it recently partnered with the London Stock Exchange Group to aid its finance department with asking its AI complex questions and getting back answers across "structured and unstructured financial content."
The tech giant announced on Thursday that it is investing $2.5 billion in a new business unit, Microsoft Frontier, aimed at getting customers to better use its AI to transform their businesses and to address an area where many companies are struggling: delivering measurable outcomes and demonstrating a return on their AI investments.
In a blog post, Judson Althoff, head of the company's commercial business, called Frontier "the largest, most capable, outcome-driven engineering organization in the industry." The unit will consist of 6,000 so-called forward-deployed engineers, or industry experts who will work directly with customers.
Microsoft's announcement comes days after Amazon said it would spend $1 billion on a similar FDE initiative and also follows OpenAI and Anthropic's own multibillion-dollar FDE investments.
Tech companies are keen to help enterprises figure out how to program AI services to fit their needs because of the amount of resources the tech firms are pouring into building out their AI products. In Microsoft's announcement, Althoff wrote that Microsoft's commitment goes beyond typical FDE programs because of the size and scope of the initiative. Microsoft said it recently partnered with the London Stock Exchange Group to aid its finance department with asking its AI complex questions and getting back answers across "structured and unstructured financial content."
3 months ago
TAIPEI, June 25 (Reuters) - China has been contacting U.S. states and private firms to discourage engagement with Taiwan and mischaracterising U.S. policy, but links with Taiwan should be expanded, three U.S. government departments said in joint letters.
The U.S. is Taiwan's most important international backer and arms supplier despite the lack of formal diplomatic ties, to the constant anger of Beijing, which claims the independently ruled island as its territory.
The two letters from U.S. Departments of State, Agriculture and Commerce, one addressed to governor's offices and one to CEOs and business leaders, are dated June 16 but were released by the de facto U.S. embassy in Taiwan late on Wednesday.
Similarly worded, the letters say that China's embassy and consulates regularly contact local government offices or private business in the U.S. to "discourage engagement with Taiwan".
"In doing so, they often mischaracterise U.S. policy by, for example, falsely claiming that Washington has previously accepted Beijing's specific position on Taiwan," both the letters say.
The U.S. is Taiwan's most important international backer and arms supplier despite the lack of formal diplomatic ties, to the constant anger of Beijing, which claims the independently ruled island as its territory.
The two letters from U.S. Departments of State, Agriculture and Commerce, one addressed to governor's offices and one to CEOs and business leaders, are dated June 16 but were released by the de facto U.S. embassy in Taiwan late on Wednesday.
Similarly worded, the letters say that China's embassy and consulates regularly contact local government offices or private business in the U.S. to "discourage engagement with Taiwan".
"In doing so, they often mischaracterise U.S. policy by, for example, falsely claiming that Washington has previously accepted Beijing's specific position on Taiwan," both the letters say.
