Japan has upgraded a naval vessel with capabilities to fire long-range Tomahawk missiles, with the first firing test expected this summer – a move experts said would pose a security threat to China. The Aegis destroyer Chokai “completed modifications and crew training” in the US that started in October, “confirming its acquisition of Tomahawk missile launch capabilities”, Japanese Defence Minister...
Japan has upgraded a naval vessel with capabilities to fire long-range Tomahawk missiles, with the first firing test expected this summer – a move experts said would pose a security threat to China. The Aegis destroyer Chokai “completed modifications and crew training” in the US that started in October, “confirming its acquisition of Tomahawk missile launch capabilities”, Japanese Defence Minister Shinjiro Koizumi said on Friday. He said a ceremony marking the acquisition of these capabilities...
These fun, charming little treats are easy and quick to put together – and make for a great Easter activity with kids Much as I love Easter eggs – and I really do, despite being that irritating person still nibbling away at them at Christmas time – these charming, crunchy little nests full of colourful treasure are up there with hot cross buns as my favourite seasonal produce. Top tip: they’re eve...
These fun, charming little treats are easy and quick to put together – and make for a great Easter activity with kids Much as I love Easter eggs – and I really do, despite being that irritating person still nibbling away at them at Christmas time – these charming, crunchy little nests full of colourful treasure are up there with hot cross buns as my favourite seasonal produce. Top tip: they’re even easier to make if you enlist a small sous chef or two to help stir the pan! Prep 20 min Cook 5 min Chill 2 hr Makes About 12 Continue reading...
Peaches, strawberries and grapes were almost always found to be contaminated with ‘forever chemicals’ in the analysis Sign up for the Breaking News US email to get newsletter alerts in your inbox A first-of-its-kind analysis has identified Pfas pesticide residues on 37% of conventional California produce, with peaches, strawberries and grapes almost always found to be contaminated with the toxic “...
Peaches, strawberries and grapes were almost always found to be contaminated with ‘forever chemicals’ in the analysis Sign up for the Breaking News US email to get newsletter alerts in your inbox A first-of-its-kind analysis has identified Pfas pesticide residues on 37% of conventional California produce, with peaches, strawberries and grapes almost always found to be contaminated with the toxic “forever chemicals”. The analysis coincided with the introduction of California legislation that would by 2035 fully ban Pfas from being used as active ingredients in pesticides, and require warning labels and other restrictions in the meantime. Continue reading...
The 99-year-old Echo Park favorite is being bulldozed for apartments – Angelenos are losing a slice of city history I was not hungry when I arrived at Taix on Thursday night, Los Angeles’s venerable, soon-to-close French restaurant and de facto museum of a long-gone era of fine dining. I’m rarely hungry when I go to Taix. Not because I don’t thoroughly enjoy their french onion soup, the mussels, o...
The 99-year-old Echo Park favorite is being bulldozed for apartments – Angelenos are losing a slice of city history I was not hungry when I arrived at Taix on Thursday night, Los Angeles’s venerable, soon-to-close French restaurant and de facto museum of a long-gone era of fine dining. I’m rarely hungry when I go to Taix. Not because I don’t thoroughly enjoy their french onion soup, the mussels, or the decadent hamburger. I’m not hungry because it’s never my first stop of the night. Taix isn’t a destination. It’s a nexus point for LA. No one in Los Angeles ever thought it would be gone, until it was. Sunday will be the last service for a restaurant that has anchored the neighborhood of Echo Park for the past 64 years, before it is torn down to make way for a large-scale luxury apartment development . The impending closure has sparked an end-of-an-era frenzy, with lines down the street, packed tables and loyal fans pinching menus and other memorabilia for their personal collection. Continue reading...
Apple’s revamped AI and Siri strategy shows the company is recommitting to its core business model: selling hardware and services. Also: Apple finally discontinues the Mac Pro in favor of the Mac Studio and gives iPhone designers bonuses to combat poaching from OpenAI. Last week in Power On : Apple’s AirPods Max 2 headphones blur the line between marketing and innovation . The Starters Apple Inc. ...
Apple’s revamped AI and Siri strategy shows the company is recommitting to its core business model: selling hardware and services. Also: Apple finally discontinues the Mac Pro in favor of the Mac Studio and gives iPhone designers bonuses to combat poaching from OpenAI. Last week in Power On : Apple’s AirPods Max 2 headphones blur the line between marketing and innovation . The Starters Apple Inc. knows that its homegrown artificial intelligence technology lags behind ChatGPT, Google Gemini, Anthropic and other platforms. And with its competitors moving further ahead at breakneck speed, there is no near-term scenario in which Apple will be recognized as an AI leader. That reality is shaping the company’s new approach, set to be unveiled at the Worldwide Developers Conference on June 8. Rather than engaging in an AI arms race, Apple is focusing on its core strengths: selling highly profitable hardware and making money off the services that run on it. Historically, Apple’s software — iMessage, Maps and Photos, for example — has been about driving product sales rather than generating revenue in their own right. Rivals, in contrast, are aggressively monetizing AI through subscriptions and premium apps. Apple understands that few, if any, users will pay for Siri or its other AI technology. The opportunity to turn Apple Intelligence into a moneymaker has effectively passed. Instead, Apple is pursuing a two-pronged strategy: embedding just enough AI into its operating systems to keep users from defecting to Android, while opening Siri and Apple Intelligence to third-party services. This approach leverages Apple’s hardware, makes its products more customizable and keeps the company in control of its ecosystem. A cornerstone of this strategy is the upcoming iOS 27 Extensions feature , which will let users install third-party AI chatbots beyond ChatGPT and run them inside Siri. This feature will have its own dedicated App Store section, effectively creating an AI App Store. It...
In this article .SPX Follow your favorite stocks CREATE FREE ACCOUNT watch now VIDEO 8:57 08:57 Rare trading cards are outpacing Wall Street. Here's why CNBC Digital Original Video Pokémon cards aren't just childhood collectibles anymore. Some owners are increasingly treating the popular 1990s and 2000s trading cards like alternative assets, with some of the rarest cards outperforming traditional ...
In this article .SPX Follow your favorite stocks CREATE FREE ACCOUNT watch now VIDEO 8:57 08:57 Rare trading cards are outpacing Wall Street. Here's why CNBC Digital Original Video Pokémon cards aren't just childhood collectibles anymore. Some owners are increasingly treating the popular 1990s and 2000s trading cards like alternative assets, with some of the rarest cards outperforming traditional benchmarks like the S&P 500 in recent years. During key periods like the pandemic boom and another surge in 2025, trading card indexes tracking Pokémon sales posted gains that far exceeded the S&P 500's long-term average annual return of 10% to 12%, according to trading card valuation tool Card Ladder. The comparison isn't perfect — stock data spans decades, while trends in trading card values are shorter and more volatile — but the outperformance in certain windows is still striking. The jump in prices come down to scarcity, grading and a surge of deep-pocketed buyers chasing a limited supply of top-tier assets. At the high end, that dynamic is clear. A rare Pikachu Illustrator card, owned by influencer and wrestler Logan Paul, sold for more than $16 million in February, which set a record for the most expensive trading card ever sold at auction. "There are certain individuals trying to acquire the rarest, highest-grade cards and taking them off the market for as long as they can," said auctioneer Ken Goldin, whose online marketplace, owned by eBay , consigned and sold Paul's rare Pokémon card. "It's possible you may never see that card come up for sale again in our lifetime." Zoom In Icon Arrows pointing outwards Rare Pokémon card designed by Atsuko Nishida. Courtesy: Goldin That supply squeeze helps explain why prices can surge and why a small slice of the market is driving most of the gains. The condition of a card in particular, which drives its grade on a scale of up to 10, can make or break value, Goldin added. "You can have a card graded a 10 [perfect score] and nob...
In this article META Follow your favorite stocks CREATE FREE ACCOUNT Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg leaves the Federal Courthouse in downtown Los Angeles after defending the company in a landmark social media addiction trial in Los Angeles, United States, on February 19, 2026. Jon Putman | Anadolu | Getty Images Over a decade ago, Meta – then known as Facebook – hired researchers in the social sciences ...
In this article META Follow your favorite stocks CREATE FREE ACCOUNT Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg leaves the Federal Courthouse in downtown Los Angeles after defending the company in a landmark social media addiction trial in Los Angeles, United States, on February 19, 2026. Jon Putman | Anadolu | Getty Images Over a decade ago, Meta – then known as Facebook – hired researchers in the social sciences with the goal of analyzing how the social network's services were impacting users. It was a way for the company and its peers to show they were serious about understanding the benefits and potential risks of their innovations. But as Meta's court losses this week illustrate, the researchers' work can become a liability. Brian Boland, a former Facebook executive who testified in both trials — one in New Mexico and the other in Los Angeles — says the damning findings of Meta's internal research and documents seemingly contradicted how the company portrayed itself in public. Juries in the two trials determined that Meta inadequately policed its site, putting kids in harm's way. Mark Zuckerberg's company began clamping down on its research teams a few years ago after a Facebook researcher, Frances Haugen , became a prominent whistleblower. The newer crop of tech companies like OpenAI and Anthropic subsequently invested heavily in researchers and charged them with studying the impact of modern AI on users, and publishing their findings. With AI now getting outsized attention for the harmful effects it's having on some users, those companies must ask if it's in their best interest to continue funding research, or to suppress it. "There was a period of time when there were teams that were created internally who could start to look at things and, for a brief window, you had some absolutely outstanding researchers who were looking at what was happening on these products with a little bit more free rein than I understand they have today," Boland said in an interview. Meta's two defea...
This is The Stepback , a weekly newsletter breaking down one essential story from the tech world. For more on the legal travails of Big Tech, follow Adi Robertson . The Stepback arrives in our subscribers' inboxes at 8AM ET. Opt in for The Stepback here . How it started The year was 1998, and reigning personal computer giant Microsoft was on trial for violating antitrust laws, including by targeti...
This is The Stepback , a weekly newsletter breaking down one essential story from the tech world. For more on the legal travails of Big Tech, follow Adi Robertson . The Stepback arrives in our subscribers' inboxes at 8AM ET. Opt in for The Stepback here . How it started The year was 1998, and reigning personal computer giant Microsoft was on trial for violating antitrust laws, including by targeting its smaller competitor Apple. Apple occupied only a fraction of the PC market, while Microsoft held north of 80 percent. But its cross-platform QuickTime multimedia player threatened Microsoft's own offerings, and a court determined that Microsoft … Read the full story at The Verge.
Joseph Allison/iStock via Getty Images The Lovesac Company ( LOVE ) reported the company’s fiscal Q4 results from the November-January period on the 26 th of March. The furniture company has continued to capture market share through showroom expansion and new product launches, but weak industry conditions continue to weigh on financials. While the industry outlook remains turbulent, Lovesac’s grow...
Joseph Allison/iStock via Getty Images The Lovesac Company ( LOVE ) reported the company’s fiscal Q4 results from the November-January period on the 26 th of March. The furniture company has continued to capture market share through showroom expansion and new product launches, but weak industry conditions continue to weigh on financials. While the industry outlook remains turbulent, Lovesac’s growth ambition and long-term market rebound potential now create significant upside potential in my opinion. I downgraded my rating on the stock to a Hold rating in my previous December 2024 article , titled “ Lovesac: Q3 Wasn't A Disaster, But More Caution Is Needed. ” The stock has since lost 49% of its value; meanwhile, the S&P 500 has gained 5%. My Rating History on LOVE (Seeking Alpha) Lovesac Q4 Review The industry backdrop hasn’t been easy on Lovesac. Furniture sales declined by -4.2% across the U.S. market during the company’s fiscal Q4 period, reflecting poor macroeconomic conditions. A mix of weak consumer confidence and low housing sales continues to weigh on consumer demand for furniture, while tariffs cause significant inflation in sourcing costs. Data by YCharts Lovesac’s Q4 results reflect the poor macroeconomic backdrop but also the company’s high ambition to capture market share. Total revenues grew by 2.7% to $248.0 million against a sharp industry-wide sales decline. Lovesac has opened 21 new showrooms during the past year, to a total of 278 after Q4, pushing showroom revenues up by 3.5% to $159.8 million. At the same time, e-commerce demand has improved very well as internet revenues grew by 12.3% to $79.2 million for the quarter. Internet sales channel growth picked up considerably from prior quarters. A sharp -45.4% decline in other sales channels to $9.0 million didn’t slow down total growth very meaningfully. Past showroom openings, Lovesac has relaunched the core sectional platform and started to expand its reach from sectionals into other product cate...
Yuliya Taba/E+ via Getty Images Performance assessment Since my last update on CrowdStrike ( CRWD ), the stock has lagged the S&P 500 ( SPY ): Performance Since HA's Last Article on CRWD (Seeking Alpha, HA's Last Article on CRWD) Elevator pitch Here's my elevator pitch view on CrowdStrike: Falcon Flex pricing is driving strong ARR and multi-product adoption Autonomous AI agents are becoming a more...
Yuliya Taba/E+ via Getty Images Performance assessment Since my last update on CrowdStrike ( CRWD ), the stock has lagged the S&P 500 ( SPY ): Performance Since HA's Last Article on CRWD (Seeking Alpha, HA's Last Article on CRWD) Elevator pitch Here's my elevator pitch view on CrowdStrike: Falcon Flex pricing is driving strong ARR and multi-product adoption Autonomous AI agents are becoming a more prominent threat to CrowdStrike An accounting change can optically inflate operating income There are signs of relative overvaluation CRWD stock just had a confirmed breakdown Falcon Flex pricing is driving strong ARR and multi-product adoption CrowdStrike's Falcon Flex is a one-stop shop for various security solutions. This leads to a pricing model that replaces module-by-module purchasing with a more seamless and frictionless bundled approach. The good news is that this is leading to a sharp increase in net new ARR ( annualized recurring revenue ) to more than $1B in the Jan'26 quarter: Net New ARR YoY Increment (Company Filings, HA Analysis) There is also a steady increase in multi-product module adoption rates: 6+ Module Adoption Rates (Company Filings, HA Analysis) This is the bull case, I acknowledge, as it indicates healthy growth trends underpinned by a strong value proposition for customers so far. Autonomous AI agents are becoming a more prominent threat to CrowdStrike OpenAI ( OPENAI ) and Anthropic ( ANTHRO ) have been making inroads with cybersecurity agents with Codex Security and Claude Code Security . However, this development did not initially alarm some sell-side firms, such as Wedbush Securities, in terms of the threat this poses to cybersecurity vendors such as CrowdStrike because there was no evidence of lost deals due to AI substitutes. But the warning signs have been there, as, contrary to initial expectations, sales cycles are becoming longer in the cybersecurity industry, with the latest quarter seeing a record high of 109 days. Wedbush security an...
Porter Anderson/iStock via Getty Images A lot of REITs have gotten into troubled valuations of late due to what I would consider to be issues related to growth problems. Previously, many of these industrial REITs (as well as other sub-sectors of REITs) were trading at very high multiples. Not seldom we're talking about AFFO multiples in excess of 25x AFFO, which analysts argued were part of an imp...
Porter Anderson/iStock via Getty Images A lot of REITs have gotten into troubled valuations of late due to what I would consider to be issues related to growth problems. Previously, many of these industrial REITs (as well as other sub-sectors of REITs) were trading at very high multiples. Not seldom we're talking about AFFO multiples in excess of 25x AFFO, which analysts argued were part of an impressive growth and fundamental profile. I have always been a bit dubious about such arguments, but it would be wrong to say that my targets have not also been influenced by these trends. So, it's a healthy exercise to go back to a company like Rexford ( REXR ), which I managed to "get out of" at the last peak in the late parts of 2025, with a small profit, and see where things should take the company going forward. Why I say this is obviously that over the past few weeks, we've seen a significant decline in the company's valuation, to where Rexford now trades below $32.5/share at the time of writing. While not record lows, it's certainly approaching low levels of valuation. At this level of valuation, we're talking about a 5.36% yield, which in context is not only high, it's very high for this business. We're also talking about a BBB+ rated REIT with a very attractive debt profile, by which I mean that it's not leveraged to any significant degree compared to other companies. Like other quality REITs, it also manages to hit or beat its targets most of the time - about 90%+ on average over the past 10 years. There are many arguments for why REXR could perform well. But what exactly does "well" mean in this context, and why might it not be as great an upside as you might think that it is? That's what we'll be looking at here. Rexford Industrial Realty Incorporated - Rebasing cash flow to a low level of growth The problem with a REIT like this can be stated in a simple illustration. F.A.S.T Graphs Rexford Industrial Realty REITs like Rexford have, unfortunately, been at levels ...
French anti-terrorism prosecutors have opened an investigation into a suspected attack targeting Bank of America’s Paris headquarters after the reported overnight arrest of a man who allegedly tried to ignite an improvised explosive device outside the US bank’s premises. In an emailed statement to reporters, the national anti-terrorism prosecutor’s office said the investigation involves the suspe...
French anti-terrorism prosecutors have opened an investigation into a suspected attack targeting Bank of America’s Paris headquarters after the reported overnight arrest of a man who allegedly tried to ignite an improvised explosive device outside the US bank’s premises. In an emailed statement to reporters, the national anti-terrorism prosecutor’s office said the investigation involves the suspected attempted destruction by fire or other dangerous means in connection with a terrorist plot, as...