Chinese regulators are targeting one of the world’s biggest travel platforms in an anti-monopoly probe after complaints it had hurt travellers and travel operators in China’s expansive tourism market, analysts said. Unlike the broad legal actions against Chinese tech firms and cram schools five years ago, the investigation into Trip.com is seen as a relatively isolated case – yet one that might pr...
Chinese regulators are targeting one of the world’s biggest travel platforms in an anti-monopoly probe after complaints it had hurt travellers and travel operators in China’s expansive tourism market, analysts said. Unlike the broad legal actions against Chinese tech firms and cram schools five years ago, the investigation into Trip.com is seen as a relatively isolated case – yet one that might precipitate others – in response to issues over commissions, exclusivity and the sophisticated use of...
Tobacco giant Altria Group (NYSE: MO) is in a difficult position. The company has long mitigated the detrimental effect of declining smoking rates on its revenue by raising product prices. Now, revenue falling anyway seems to suggest that the approach has stopped working. Even more puzzling, the stock price has trended higher since the beginning of 2024 despite this new development, and despite th...
Tobacco giant Altria Group (NYSE: MO) is in a difficult position. The company has long mitigated the detrimental effect of declining smoking rates on its revenue by raising product prices. Now, revenue falling anyway seems to suggest that the approach has stopped working. Even more puzzling, the stock price has trended higher since the beginning of 2024 despite this new development, and despite the share price gain, the stock now sells at a price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio of 12. The conflicting data has some investors questioning whether that makes the stock too cheap to ignore, as well as asking whether they should avoid it. Image source: Getty Images. Continue reading
The EU-US $800BN Postwar Ukraine 'Prosperity' Plan Which Should Outrage MAGA Ukraine is now begging the EU and US for $1.5 trillion over the next 10 years at a moment its prospects on the battlefield look no better than a year ago. This reportedly includes an ask of $800 billion for "reconstruction" and $700 billion for "military purposes". Politico is reporting Friday that EU leadership has circu...
The EU-US $800BN Postwar Ukraine 'Prosperity' Plan Which Should Outrage MAGA Ukraine is now begging the EU and US for $1.5 trillion over the next 10 years at a moment its prospects on the battlefield look no better than a year ago. This reportedly includes an ask of $800 billion for "reconstruction" and $700 billion for "military purposes". Politico is reporting Friday that EU leadership has circulated a confidential document to European heads of state outlining Ukraine's financial needs for the initial $800 billion for rebuilding the country - a figure which Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán said would be comparable to "the detonation of an atomic bomb." Orbán made the remarks Friday following an emergency EU summit in Brussels. "The 18-page document outlines a 10-year plan to guarantee Ukraine's recovery with a fast-tracked path toward EU membership ," Politico writes after obtaining the document. "The European Commission circulated the plans with EU capitals ahead of the leaders’ summit Thursday evening where the document, dated Jan. 22, was addressed, according to three EU officials and diplomats who were granted anonymity to talk about the sensitive topic." According to further details, " The funding strategy stretches until 2040 alongside an immediate 100-day operational plan to get the project off the ground . But the prosperity plan will struggle to attract outside investment if the conflict rumbles on, according to the world’s largest money manager, BlackRock, which is advising on the reconstruction plan in a pro-bono capacity." via BBC Various institutions alongside the US and EU government plan to contribute according to these broad milestones envisioned in the document: Over the next ten, the EU, US, and major international lenders — including the IMF and World Bank — are lining up roughly $500 billion in combined public and private funding for Ukraine, according to the document. The European Commission plans to commit another €100 billion in taxpaye...
Rescue efforts at Mount Maunganui site switch to recovery operation that police say could take several days Efforts to rescue at least six people buried by a landslide at a New Zealand holiday park ended on Saturday, with police shifting into a recovery operation. Police Supt Tim Anderson said human remains had been uncovered on Friday night beneath the mountains of dirt and debris that crashed in...
Rescue efforts at Mount Maunganui site switch to recovery operation that police say could take several days Efforts to rescue at least six people buried by a landslide at a New Zealand holiday park ended on Saturday, with police shifting into a recovery operation. Police Supt Tim Anderson said human remains had been uncovered on Friday night beneath the mountains of dirt and debris that crashed into a campsite in Mount Maunganui on Thursday, adding that it could take several days to locate all of the victims due to the unstable ground. Continue reading...
Internal documents revealed as part of a child safety lawsuit hint at Google's plan to "onboard kids" into its ecosystem by investing in schools. In this November 2020 presentation , Google writes that getting kids into its ecosystem "leads to brand trust and loyalty over their lifetime," as reported earlier by NBC News . The heavily-redacted documents, which surfaced earlier this week, are linked...
Internal documents revealed as part of a child safety lawsuit hint at Google's plan to "onboard kids" into its ecosystem by investing in schools. In this November 2020 presentation , Google writes that getting kids into its ecosystem "leads to brand trust and loyalty over their lifetime," as reported earlier by NBC News . The heavily-redacted documents, which surfaced earlier this week, are linked to a massive lawsuit filed by several school districts, families, and state attorneys general, accusing Google, Meta, ByteDance, and Snap of creating "addictive and dangerous" products that have harmed young users' mental health. (Snap settled earl … Read the full story at The Verge.