It was the reality show that aimed to disrupt the fashion industry but, as a shocking Netflix docuseries details, it also became part of the problem Even for those who didn’t watch the show religiously, there’s a scene in America’s Next Top Model that has broken through from reality TV infamy to hall-of-fame virality. It’s when Tyra Banks, model-turned-TV-mogul, loses her temper in spectacular fas...
It was the reality show that aimed to disrupt the fashion industry but, as a shocking Netflix docuseries details, it also became part of the problem Even for those who didn’t watch the show religiously, there’s a scene in America’s Next Top Model that has broken through from reality TV infamy to hall-of-fame virality. It’s when Tyra Banks, model-turned-TV-mogul, loses her temper in spectacular fashion at contest Tiffany Richardson, after misunderstanding her post-elimination response as something to be read as ungrateful. “I have never in my life yelled at a girl like this!” she screams. “When my mother yells like this, it’s because she loves me. I was rooting for you, we were all rooting for you , how dare you!” Continue reading...
Xi Jinping called for anchoring economic growth around domestic demand as its “main driver” in a speech delivered by the Chinese president at a key policy meeting late last year and released on Sunday. China should “coordinate efforts to boost consumption and expand investment, and fully leverage the advantages of China’s super-large-scale market,” according to Xi’s remarks published on the websit...
Xi Jinping called for anchoring economic growth around domestic demand as its “main driver” in a speech delivered by the Chinese president at a key policy meeting late last year and released on Sunday. China should “coordinate efforts to boost consumption and expand investment, and fully leverage the advantages of China’s super-large-scale market,” according to Xi’s remarks published on the website of Qiushi, the Communist Party’s flagship journal. “We must focus on improving people’s livelihoods and boosting future growth, stabilizing investment.” The blueprint laid out by Xi made clear China is bracing for more uncertainty abroad, after amassing a record trade surplus despite the tariff war with the US. The address was made in December at the Central Economic Work Conference, which sets economic policy priorities for the coming year. The language illustrates Beijing’s growing resolve to promote consumption among China’s 1.4 billion people, as countries around the world increasingly push back against its cheap goods that pose a threat to their local industries. Top officials like Vice Premier He Lifeng have also raised the prospect of greater access to China’s domestic market to reduce imbalances in trade. China’s economy expanded 5% last year, with record exports compensating for cooling private consumption at home and an unprecedented drop in investment. That lopsided growth model will probably become harder to sustain in an era of rising protectionism across the world. With trade and geopolitical risks on the rise, China is looking to build up its consumer sector into a key engine of the economy while continuing to lean on emerging new industries for growth. “We will remain committed to innovation‑driven development and accelerate the cultivation and strengthening of new growth drivers,” Xi said. As part of an effort to support demand, Xi used his speech to champion plans to increase the incomes and basic pensions of rural and urban residents and boost the propo...
The trees morph into sand dunes to protect homes on the seafront against rising sea levels and serve as habitat for rare species Britain’s fight against climate breakdown may usually look like windfarms or solar energy. But on miles of Lancashire coast the frontline is rather more festive. Tens of thousands of discarded Christmas trees have been partially buried on beaches south of Blackpool as a ...
The trees morph into sand dunes to protect homes on the seafront against rising sea levels and serve as habitat for rare species Britain’s fight against climate breakdown may usually look like windfarms or solar energy. But on miles of Lancashire coast the frontline is rather more festive. Tens of thousands of discarded Christmas trees have been partially buried on beaches south of Blackpool as a frontier against rising sea levels. Continue reading...
He went from being the east London boy who was expelled from school to becoming the Bafta award‑winning star of Alien: Romulus. Ahead of his prison drama Wasteman, David Jonsson discusses the pressures of being a leading Black British actor David Jonsson is the kind of actor who disappears so completely into his roles that it’s easy to forget you’re watching the same person each time. In Rye Lane,...
He went from being the east London boy who was expelled from school to becoming the Bafta award‑winning star of Alien: Romulus. Ahead of his prison drama Wasteman, David Jonsson discusses the pressures of being a leading Black British actor David Jonsson is the kind of actor who disappears so completely into his roles that it’s easy to forget you’re watching the same person each time. In Rye Lane, he’s a lovestruck south Londoner; in Industry, an Etonian banker with ice in his veins; in Alien: Romulus, a paranoid android. He’s now starring as heroin addict Taylor in the ultraviolent British prison drama Wasteman and, for the first time, the 32-year-old actor claims he is playing something close to himself. “This is the most personal role I’ve done,” he says. “It’s so messed up because it’s a dark story about rehabilitation and addiction, but I know these men really well. Especially when you’re growing up somewhere like where I did.” We meet on a Friday afternoon at a photo studio in Islington, closer to where Jonsson lives now in north London than to Custom House in the East End, where he grew up. He arrives wearing a beanie pulled tight over his cornrows and a windbreaker. He looks stylish but carries a delicate shyness that mirrors his character’s air of desperation. Wasteman, which opens this month after a critically acclaimed festival run that netted five British Independent Film awards (Bifa) nominations including best lead performance for Jonsson, tells the story of Taylor, a young father who has spent 13 years in prison for a crime he committed as a teenager. In the film’s unflinching depiction of the British prison system, he’s referred to as a “nitty” – UK slang for a desperate, pathetic drug addict. Jonsson lost 1.8 stone to embody Taylor’s “wasted” physique. “I was mawga , properly skinny,” he says, slipping into patois. Continue reading...
The route to challenging China’s supremacy in rare earth minerals lies in using artificial intelligence (AI) and quantum computing to create synthetic substitutes or alloys, according to a prominent American expert in AI. Jack Hidary, CEO of SandboxAQ, an AI and quantum technology Alphabet spin-off, said these technologies could cut the time required to secure critical materials to just a few year...
The route to challenging China’s supremacy in rare earth minerals lies in using artificial intelligence (AI) and quantum computing to create synthetic substitutes or alloys, according to a prominent American expert in AI. Jack Hidary, CEO of SandboxAQ, an AI and quantum technology Alphabet spin-off, said these technologies could cut the time required to secure critical materials to just a few years. This could bypass the traditional 10 to 20 years needed to bring a new mine online while also...
Investing.com --PayPal’s grip on digital wallet checkouts is slipping as rivals gain ground and shifts in online shopping weaken some of its traditional advantages. Bernstein estimates PayPal’s share of digital wallets has fallen to about 40% today from roughly 90% in 2017 and about 50% in 2023. While overall e-commerce has grown at about a 7% annual rate since 2023, PayPal’s U.S. branded volumes ...
Investing.com --PayPal’s grip on digital wallet checkouts is slipping as rivals gain ground and shifts in online shopping weaken some of its traditional advantages. Bernstein estimates PayPal’s share of digital wallets has fallen to about 40% today from roughly 90% in 2017 and about 50% in 2023. While overall e-commerce has grown at about a 7% annual rate since 2023, PayPal’s U.S. branded volumes have risen at a slower low- to mid-single-digit pace, excluding Pay with Venmo.The firm said the dec
In what’s turning out to be a great quarter for corporate earnings growth , company executives and investors alike are focused on something else entirely: the threat from artificial intelligence. Mentions of AI disruption on management calls almost doubled compared to the previous quarter, a Bloomberg News analysis of transcripts shows. While the technology hasn’t yet noticeably reduced earnings e...
In what’s turning out to be a great quarter for corporate earnings growth , company executives and investors alike are focused on something else entirely: the threat from artificial intelligence. Mentions of AI disruption on management calls almost doubled compared to the previous quarter, a Bloomberg News analysis of transcripts shows. While the technology hasn’t yet noticeably reduced earnings estimates, investors aren’t waiting around and instead are selling any company perceived to be at risk. Last week, commercial real estate company CBRE Group Inc. published better-than-expected earnings. In a call with analysts following the results, its chief executive officer said it’s possible AI will reduce demand for office space in the long term . The comments sparked a 20% selloff in the stock over two days. “As usual, markets shoot first and ask questions later,” said Roberto Scholtes , head of strategy at Singular Bank. “Investors have decided to place the burden of proof on companies that will continue to be hammered until they conclusively prove that they will be among the winners, so there is no rush to jump into these troubled waters.” The threat is overshadowing powerful growth. Fourth-quarter earnings for companies in the S&P 500 are increasing 12% from a year ago, better than the 8.4% expected at the start of the season. More than 75% of companies have reported positive surprises, above average, according to Bloomberg Intelligence data. Yet markets have been stuck in neutral, with the S&P 500 bouncing between 6,500 and almost 7,000 since early September, first because investors were worried that Big Tech companies were spending too much on AI, and now because the technology threatens earnings . Over the past year, investors have been sorting the potential AI winners from the losers across the globe. Media, software and staffing stocks, seen as the most likely businesses to suffer, have already been affected. This year, and especially over the past week, the tr...
Capital tends to pool where it's convenient to manage, and where there's a lucrative yield given the risk. In crypto, that often means capital flows to the chain that already hosts the most activity, as activity doesn't happen unless there's money to be made. That dynamic shows up the most clearly in tokenized real-world assets (RWAs). You can think of RWAs as traditional financial instruments lik...
Capital tends to pool where it's convenient to manage, and where there's a lucrative yield given the risk. In crypto, that often means capital flows to the chain that already hosts the most activity, as activity doesn't happen unless there's money to be made. That dynamic shows up the most clearly in tokenized real-world assets (RWAs). You can think of RWAs as traditional financial instruments like stocks or bonds that are represented on a blockchain as crypto tokens, so that their ownership and transfer rules can be automated and streamlined. In that arena, Ethereum (CRYPTO: ETH) is currently beating XRP (CRYPTO: XRP) by a mile -- but does that mean it's worth investing $1,000 in it today? Image source: Getty Images. Continue reading
Mentions of AI disruption on management calls almost doubled compared to the previous quarter, a Bloomberg News analysis of transcripts shows. While the technology hasn’t yet noticeably reduced earnings estimates, investors aren’t waiting around and instead are selling any company perceived to be at risk. Last week, commercial real estate company CBRE Group Inc. published better-than-expected earn...
Mentions of AI disruption on management calls almost doubled compared to the previous quarter, a Bloomberg News analysis of transcripts shows. While the technology hasn’t yet noticeably reduced earnings estimates, investors aren’t waiting around and instead are selling any company perceived to be at risk. Last week, commercial real estate company CBRE Group Inc. published better-than-expected earnings.
Russia’s army chief Valery Gerasimov visited Moscow’s troops in Ukraine and said the Kremlin’s forces seized a dozen eastern villages in February, the defence ministry said on Sunday. Gerasimov’s visit comes days before US-mediated talks with Kyiv in Geneva on ending almost four years of war and ahead of the fourth anniversary of Moscow’s full-scale offensive against Ukraine. “In two weeks of Febr...
Russia’s army chief Valery Gerasimov visited Moscow’s troops in Ukraine and said the Kremlin’s forces seized a dozen eastern villages in February, the defence ministry said on Sunday. Gerasimov’s visit comes days before US-mediated talks with Kyiv in Geneva on ending almost four years of war and ahead of the fourth anniversary of Moscow’s full-scale offensive against Ukraine. “In two weeks of February, despite severe winter conditions, combined forces and military units of the joint task force...