Sunday, October 31, 2021
F.D.A. Is Reviewing If Moderna Vaccine Causes Heart Problems in Adolescents - The New York Times
The Food and Drug Administration is reviewing reports suggesting the coronavirus vaccine made by Moderna can cause heart problems in some adolescents, the company said on Sunday.
Moderna requested authorization from the F.D.A. for use of its vaccine in children ages 12 to 17 years in June. The adolescents would receive 100 micrograms of the vaccine — the same dose given to adults 18 and above. But the agency has not yet made a ruling on the application, prompting speculation about reasons for the delay.
In a statement on Sunday, Moderna said the F.D.A. “requires additional time to evaluate recent international analyses of the risk of myocarditis after vaccination.”
The European Medicines Agency approved the vaccine for use in adolescents in July. But since then, several European countries have paused the vaccine’s use in people 30 and younger, citing concerns about myocarditis — an inflammation of the heart muscle.
Moderna said more than 1.5 million adolescents worldwide have received its coronavirus vaccine, and the data thus far do not suggest an increased risk of myocarditis. But studies from Israel and the United States have linked both the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccines to rare and transient cases of myocarditis, with a higher risk from the Moderna vaccine.
The F.D.A. notified Moderna on Friday that it would need more time to assess the vaccine’s safety and may not deliver a decision until January 2022, the company said in a statement on Sunday. The agency took roughly a month to authorize the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine for children ages 12 to 15 years. That vaccine has been available to adolescents in the United States and Europe since May.
Even with the heightened risk, myocarditis as a result of the vaccine is rare, mild, and resolves quickly, noted Dr. Paul Offit, director of the Vaccine Education Center at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and a member of the F.D.A.’s vaccine advisory committee.
Covid-19 is much more likely to cause myocarditis, Dr. Offit noted, because the virus can infect and damage the lining of the heart. “That would be the decision point I would make for my child,” he said.
In studies from Israel and the United States, the incidence of heart problems among people who had received Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna vaccine is highest in males aged 16 to 29 years. The risk appears to decline in children 12 to 15, and is expected to be even lower in younger children, Dr. Offit said.
The F.D.A. in July asked Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna to enroll more children in their clinical trials in order to detect less common side effects. Last week, after reviewing data from a clinical trial of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine in children aged 5 through 11 years, the F.D.A. authorized the vaccine for that age group.
Results from Pfizer’s vaccine trial in children under 5 are not expected till the fourth quarter of this year at the earliest. Last week, Moderna said its vaccine produced a potent immune response in children ages 6 through 11 who received half the adult dose. The company plans to request authorization from the F.D.A. for the vaccine’s use in this age group.
F.D.A. Is Reviewing If Moderna Vaccine Causes Heart Problems in Adolescents - The New York Times
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Unhappy Halloween: Gaming platform Roblox crashes - Fox Business
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To the dismay of millions of children -- and the parents trying to keep them busy and cope with their anguish -- the popular gaming platform Roblox crashed Friday, and the company was still trying to restore service Saturday.
"The scariest part of Halloween this year is Roblox being down,’’ lamented Twitter user @NikilisRBX.
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In a statement Saturday, Roblox said: "We believe we have identified an underlying internal cause of the outage with no evidence of an external intrusion. We are in the process of performing the necessary engineering and maintenance work to get Roblox back up and running as soon as possible.''
Roblox said on Friday that the outage was "not related to any specific experiences or partnerships on the platform.’’ This was apparently meant to quash rumors that the trouble was caused by a free burrito giveaway at a digital Chipotle on the Roblox platform.
| Ticker | Security | Last | Change | Change % |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| RBLX | ROBLOX CORP. | 84.02 | +1.27 | +1.53% |
For its part, Chipotle tweeted: "Miss u Roblox.’’
On the Roblox platform, players can create their own games and play with other users. It became wildly popular after the coronavirus pandemic closed schools and kept children indoors looking for something to do.
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According to numbers compiled by the social media consulting firm Backlinko, Roblox has more than 43 million active users a day (up from 14 million in 2016), 40 million games and 9.5 million developers. The most popular game on Roblox, according to Backlinko, is "Adopt Me!’’ -- which allows users to raise digital pets.
Unhappy Halloween: Gaming platform Roblox crashes - Fox Business
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American Airlines cancels hundreds of flights, some at Bay Area airports - San Francisco Chronicle
American Airlines canceled nearly 1,600 flights this weekend, including more than 800 on Sunday, due to bad weather and staffing shortages, the company said.
About 20 of the flights canceled Sunday by midday were at two of the Bay Area’s largest airports — San Francisco International and Mineta San Jose International — according to airport officials and flight tracking website FlightAware.
The American Airline cancellations began Thursday after severe winds struck the Dallas/Forth Worth International Airport, a major hub for the airline, and cut available runways from five to two, according to airline spokesperson Shannon Gilson. As a result, some crews were stuck out of position, further disrupting flight schedules.
“With additional weather throughout the system, our staffing begins to run tight as crew members end up out of their regular flight sequences,” Chief Operating Officer David Seymour said in a letter to staff members, which Gilson provided to The Chronicle. “To make sure we are taking care of our customers and providing scheduling certainty for our crews, we have adjusted our operation for the last few days this month by proactively canceling some flights.”
A total of 1,591 American Airlines flights had been canceled nationwide since Friday, Gilson said Sunday morning. The 809 flights canceled by late morning Sunday constituted nearly a third of the airline’s schedule for the day, according to FlightAware.
Two of the Bay Area’s three major airports reported an impact from the American Airlines cancellations.
At San Francisco International Airport, 12 American Airlines flights were canceled Sunday morning and six on Saturday, said Bob Rotiski, an airport duty manager.
At Mineta San Jose International Airport seven American Airlines flights had been canceled by late Sunday morning and five on Saturday, according to flight tracking website FlightAware. A spokesperson for the airport did not immediately confirm the cancellations to The Chronicle.
Oakland International was unaffected by the disruptions —American Airlines has not operated flights at Oakland’s airport since the start of the pandemic, said spokesperson Kaley Skantz.
Airlines have experienced periodic disruptions since the spring as they ramp up operations from a severe pandemic slowdown, according to the New York Times.
The cancellations came weeks after Southwest Airlines also scratched more than 1,900 flights nationwide, including in the Bay Area. The airline blamed “disruptive” weather and air traffic control problems, with staffing also an issue, the Associated Press reported.
Seymour said in his letter that American will be prepared for holiday travel,with nearly 1,800 flight attendants coming back from pandemic leave Monday, “the remainder” returning Dec. 1 and at least 600 new hires in place by the end of December. The airline is also hiring more pilots, reservations agents and other workers, he said.
The Federal Aviation Administration did not immediately respond to a request for further information.
Jessica Flores is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: jessica.flores@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @jesssmflores
American Airlines cancels hundreds of flights, some at Bay Area airports - San Francisco Chronicle
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Frustrated passengers at Miami International Airport due to American Airlines cancellations - WPLG Local 10
Frustrated passengers at Miami International Airport due to American Airlines cancellations - WPLG Local 10
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The video game platform Roblox is still down, but the company says it has a fix - NPR
The gaming platform Roblox is displayed on a tablet, Saturday, Oct. 30, 2021 in New York. Leon Keith/AP
The massive online video game platform Roblox appears to still be down, the result of an outage that started last week.
The California company first tweeted about problems with the popular service on Friday. On Sunday afternoon, it said it was "incrementally bringing regions back online."
The company said earlier that it had identified the root cause of the outage and had a solution to fix it.
A Roblox spokesperson told The Verge that the outage was not due to an "external intrusion."
Roblox is not a video game. Rather, it's a digital platform that lets users create video games using simplified development tools and allows players to play any game for free.
"Players can build the ultimate theme park, compete as a professional race car driver, star in a fashion show, become a superhero, or simply design a dream home and hang out with friends," the California company says on its website.
According to Roblox, the platform has 9.5 million developers and 24 million "experiences." More than half of U.S. kids under age 16 play Roblox, the company told The Verge in July 2020.
Although Roblox is free to play, users can spend money upgrading and accessorizing their avatars using the platform's virtual currency, Robux.
The video game platform Roblox is still down, but the company says it has a fix - NPR
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American Airlines cancels more than 600 flights on Sunday - CNN
(CNN)American Airlines canceled another 634 flights on Sunday, more than 12% of its total operations for the day, the company said Sunday.
The airline has now canceled more than 1,500 flights since Friday, as it deals with weather issues and staffing shortages that started last week.
"With additional weather throughout the system, our staffing begins to run tight as crew members end up out of their regular flight sequences," American said in a statement to CNN on Saturday.
Two days of severe winds in Dallas-Fort Worth, its largest hub, sharply reduced arrival capacity, the company said.
The airline canceled 543 flights Saturday according to flight tracking website FlightAware. American reported 4,967 flights had been scheduled on Saturday.
On Friday, FlightAware showed 738 flights, or almost a quarter of American's mainline operations, were delayed and 342 flights were canceled.
As air travel plunged in early 2020, airlines offered buyouts and early retirement packages to employees in order to cut costs. As they try to hire, or rehire, workers, service disruptions have become more frequent.
American expects more flight crews will return during the holiday season. The airline said 1,800 flight attendants will return from leave Monday and more will be back on the job by December 1. The airline said it is also increasing hiring in the fourth quarter.
As demand for air travel ramps up, other airlines also have had difficulty returning to normal operations. Southwest had an operational meltdown one weekend earlier in October, canceling more than 2,000 weekend flights.
The company blamed the move on air traffic control problems and limited staffing in Florida as well as bad weather, saying getting its operations back to normal was "more difficult and prolonged" because of schedule and staffing reductions implemented during the pandemic.
This is a developing story.
American Airlines cancels more than 600 flights on Sunday - CNN
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Saudi Aramco posts 160% rise in third quarter profit, chairman calls for 'stable' energy transition - CNBC
Saudi Aramco logo is pictured at the oil facility in Abqaiq, Saudi Arabia October 12, 2019.
Maxim Shemetov | Reuters
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — Saudi Arabia's oil giant Aramco has posted a 158% increase in third quarter net income to $30.4 billion, as the world's largest oil companies continue to benefit from the reopening of the global economy and soaring oil and gas prices.
The result beat expectations, with analysts expecting a median net income of $29.1 billion for the quarter. Aramco reported net income of $11.8 billion in the third quarter of 2020.
"Our exceptional third quarter performance was a result of increased economic activity in key markets and a rebound in energy demand," Aramco President and CEO Amin Nasser said on Sunday.
"Some headwinds still exist for the global economy, partly due to supply chain bottlenecks, but we are optimistic that energy demand will remain healthy for the foreseeable future," Nasser added.
Aramco said the increase in net income was the result of higher crude oil prices and volumes sold, and stronger refining and chemicals margins in the quarter, as the company benefits from rebounding global energy demand and increased economic activity in key markets.
Market windfall
WTI crude oil has soared above $85 in recent weeks, a level not seen since 2014, as the market shifts focus from demand recovery to supply scarcity. Natural gas prices are up around 130% this year, meaning the full extent of the global energy crisis is more likely to be felt in the fourth quarter results.
Aramco declared a significant dividend of $18.8 billion to be paid in the fourth quarter. The payout can be covered by a jump in free cash flow to $28.7 billion in the third quarter, up from $12.4 billion for the same period in 2020. Gearing, a measure of the company's debt position, also improved to 17.2% from 23% due to higher oil prices and stronger cash flows.
Aramco also said it would "invest for the future" with capital expenditure of $7.6 billion in the third quarter, representing a 19% increase, compared with the same period in 2020. Aramco said it expected 2021 capital expenditure to be approximately $35 billion.
The results confirm a bumper quarter for "Big Oil," a term used to refer to the world's largest oil and gas companies. U.S. oil majors ExxonMobil and Chevron also benefited from rising prices, reporting profit that soared to multiyear highs in the quarter. Royal Dutch Shell reported record cash flow, while TotalEnergies also saw a sharp rise in performance.
Profit and pressure
The strong numbers come as the sector faces renewed scrutiny from activists and cynicism over its climate ambitions. Companies, including Aramco and the UAE oil giant Adnoc, have launched climate initiatives just days ahead of the COP26 climate summit, while simultaneously planning to invest to increase oil production in the coming years.
"I think most people would agree that climate change is one of the biggest challenges facing society," Aramco Chairman Yasir Al-Rumayyan told CNBC via email.
"We need a transition that does not ignore that petrochemicals are essential building blocks to modern life — including the smartphones we all use and the products we rely on to fight COVID," he added.
Aramco aims to achieve net zero emissions from its wholly-owned operations by 2050, and simultaneously plans to increase oil output to 13 million barrels a day by 2037. A separate pledge from Saudi Arabia to invest almost $190 billion to achieve net zero emissions by 2060 received both praise and skepticism from oil industry observers.
"The reality is that the energy transition will be long and complex, and therefore oil and gas will continue to play a key role," Al-Rumayyan said, while also offering commentary on the recent energy crisis and its link to the energy transition.
"Recent energy disruptions around the world are evidence of the need for a stable and inclusive energy transition," Al-Rumayyan said. "We need a transition that provides a reliable, affordable and low-cost supply of energy that leaves no one behind," he added.
Aramco said it would disclose further details on how it plans to navigate the energy transition and achieve its net zero strategy in its Sustainability Report due out in the second quarter of 2022.
"We fully recognize that we have a long way to go, and that the journey will not be easy," Al-Rumayyan said. "We are confident that we can meet the challenges and provide the leadership, expertise, and tools to support global progress towards a low-emissions future."
Saudi Aramco posts 160% rise in third quarter profit, chairman calls for 'stable' energy transition - CNBC
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American Airlines cancels more than 1,000 flights over Halloween weekend - New York Post
American Airlines canceled over 1,000 flights over the Halloween weekend, blaming weather woes and staffing issues.
On Sunday, the airline canceled 527 total flights, or 19 percent of all of its planned flights that day, accounting for nearly one-third of all of the country’s cancelations, according to data from aviation tracking website FlightAware. Another 31 flights, or 1 percent, were delayed.
American canceled an additional 543 flights, or 20 percent of its total planned flights, on Saturday. Another 407 flights, or 15 percent of its flights, were delayed, according to data.
In a note to staff on Saturday, American COO David Seymour blamed the delays on poor weather conditions around the Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport, the airline’s base of operations, that had displaced staff around the country, according to CNBC.
“With additional weather throughout the system, our staffing begins to run tight as crew members end up out of their regular flight sequences,” Seymour said.
“To make sure we are taking care of our customers and providing scheduling certainty for our crews, we have adjusted our operation for the last few days this month by proactively canceling some flights,” American said.
After massive staff cuts during the COVID-19 pandemic, American announced that 1,800 flight attendants will be returning from leave on Nov. 1 in preparation for the holiday travel season, with more expected to return on Dec. 1, according to CNBC.
American Airlines cancels more than 1,000 flights over Halloween weekend - New York Post
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Virtual reality cryptocurrency soars following Facebook's rebrand - New York Post
MANA-mania sweeps the worldwide cryptocurrency market, on the heels of Facebook’s “Meta” rebrand.
The price of Decentraland’s MANA — a decentralized 3D virtual reality platform supported by the Ethereum blockchain — soared to a high of $4.33 at 6:30 p.m. Saturday evening, a 164 percent gain in just 12 hours, according to the trading site Coinbase.
A week ago the price of the asset hovered around $0.80, but it began its rapid ascent on Thursday after Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerburg announced his embattled company would create a “metaverse” — a virtual reality world where users can socialize, work, play games and create art.
The move by the social network, which is used by nearly 3 billion people a month, signaled a potential huge upside in the virtual world market, experts said.
Decentraland’s metaverse — where users can buy digital art or create a virtual social world — can be accessed with the digital tokens, which are also worth an increasing amount of real-world cash.
“MANA’s leading position in the metaverse ecosystem will likely be solidified further by Facebook’s move to rebrand and focus on building its own extension to the digital world,” said Denis Vinokourov, head of research at Synergia Capital, according to Coindesk.
Virtual reality cryptocurrency soars following Facebook's rebrand - New York Post
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Deere & Co., UAW reach tentative contract agreement - KWQC-TV6
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MOLINE, Ill. (KWQC) - Deere & Company and the International Union, United Automobile, Aerospace and Agricultural Implement Workers of America have reached a second tentative agreement on a new six-year labor agreement, the company said in a media release.
The contract will cover approximately 10,100 production and maintenance employees at 12 facilities in Iowa, Illinois, and Kansas.
Deere and the UAW have also reached a tentative agreement on a new six-year labor agreement covering nearly 100 production and maintenance employees at Deere parts facilities in Denver and Atlanta, according to the release.
The UAW will call for a vote on the new tentative agreement, according to the release.
UAW President Ray Curry and UAW Vice President Chuck Browning confirmed that a tentative agreement has been reached and said union workers will remain on strike throughout the ratification process.
“Our UAW John Deere national bargaining team went back to our local members after the previous tentative agreement and canvassed the concerns and priorities of membership,” Curry said. “We want to thank the UAW bargaining team and striking UAW members and their families for the sacrifices they have made to achieve these gains. Our members have enjoyed the support of our communities and the entire labor movement nationwide as they have stood together in support and solidarity these past few weeks.”
Chuck Browning, UAW vice president and director of the Agricultural Implement Department, said the agreement contains enhanced economic gains and continues to provide the highest quality healthcare benefits in the industry.
“The negotiators focused on improving the areas of concern identified by our members during our last ratification process,” he said.
The UAW in a media release said it will not release details of the tentative agreement until members at all John Deere locations have an opportunity to meet and review the terms of their proposed contract.
Members should reach out to their local unions for more information about the time and location of meeting and subsequent ratification votes, according to the release.
On Oct. 10, the union rejected a proposed six-year collective bargaining agreement. The union began to strike on Oct. 14 and has continued to picket facilities ever since.
This is a developing story. TV6 will provide updates on-air and online.
Copyright 2021 KWQC. All rights reserved.
Deere & Co., UAW reach tentative contract agreement - KWQC-TV6
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Saturday, October 30, 2021
American Airlines Cancels Hundreds of Flights - The Wall Street Journal
American Airlines says staffing has gotten tight at the end of the month.
Photo: Shannon Stapleton/Reuters
American Airlines Group Inc. canceled hundreds of flights over the weekend due to staffing shortfalls that followed bad weather, snarling weekend travel for thousands of passengers.
American canceled close to 400 flights, or 15% of its mainline operation Saturday afternoon, with more than 250 flights canceled on Sunday, according to FlightAware, a flight-tracking site. Southwest Airlines Co., by comparison, canceled 80 flights Saturday, 2% of its operation, and 20 on Sunday.
The...
American Airlines Group Inc. canceled hundreds of flights over the weekend due to staffing shortfalls that followed bad weather, snarling weekend travel for thousands of passengers.
American canceled close to 400 flights, or 15% of its mainline operation Saturday afternoon, with more than 250 flights canceled on Sunday, according to FlightAware, a flight-tracking site. Southwest Airlines Co. , by comparison, canceled 80 flights Saturday, 2% of its operation, and 20 on Sunday.
The majority of American’s cancellations Saturday were due to a lack of available crew members, especially flight attendants, according to internal airline figures viewed by The Wall Street Journal.
Several U.S. airlines have had difficulty managing as travel quickly returned from hibernation during the Covid-19 pandemic. Southwest earlier this month attributed its own operational meltdown to a lack of staffing cushion that left it unable to recover for several days after bad weather in Florida knocked its entire operation off course.
Earlier
Southwest canceled some 1,900 flights in the span of 48 hours, leading to huge lines across airports. But just what led to one of the U.S.’s top airlines having to cancel so many flights, and what could that tell us about the aviation sector’s recovery? WSJ’s George Downs looks into how Southwest got here, and whether or not it's likely to happen to other airlines during the holidays. Illustration: George Downs The Wall Street Journal Interactive Edition
American had struggled with similar challenges over the summer but had said it managed to right itself, in part by scaling back its schedule. The airline has said last month was its best September ever by metrics like on-time performance and cancellations.
David Seymour, American’s chief operating officer, told employees in a memo Saturday that the troubles began with severe wind gusts that cut arrival capacity by more than half at the airline’s Dallas hub at the end of the week.
“These few days to close out October will be challenging,” he wrote. “With additional weather throughout the system, our staffing begins to run tight as crew members end up out of their regular flight sequences,” he wrote.
American has been proactively scrapping flights to avoid last-minute cancellations, and most customers have been rebooked on the same day, he wrote.
Airline staffing challenges often become more acute at the end of a month, when on-call crew members bump up against limits on the number of hours they can work.
American flight attendants have complained for months about challenges such as last-minute schedule changes and difficulty finding hotels and transportation, particularly when bad weather upends operations. Paul Hartshorn Jr., a spokesman for the union that represents American’s flight attendants, said Saturday that staffing remains strained.
Mr. Seymour said in the memo American is adding more staff in preparation for the busy holiday season, with nearly 1,800 flight attendants returning from long-term leave and 600 newly hired flight attendants joining by the end of December. American is also boosting staff at airports and its reservations and maintenance teams, he wrote.
Write to Alison Sider at alison.sider@wsj.com
Corrections & Amplifications
American will have 600 newly hired flight attendants by the end of December. An earlier version of this article incorrectly said by the end of September. (Corrected on Oct. 30)
American Airlines Cancels Hundreds of Flights - The Wall Street Journal
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American Airlines cancels hundreds of flights during Halloween weekend - CNN
New York, NY (CNN)American Airlines canceled hundreds of flights during the weekend, citing bad weather and staffing shortages.
Two days of severe winds in Dallas-Fort Worth, its largest hub, sharply reduced its arrival capacity, the company said. Flights were also affected at its Charlotte, N.C. hub
"With additional weather throughout the system, our staffing begins to run tight as crew members end up out of their regular flight sequences," American said in the statement to CNN.
As of 4:00 p.m. EDT, FlightAware, an aviation tracking program, showed 460 flights, or 17% of the airline's operations, were canceled. Another nearly 300 flights, or 11% of its operations, were delayed.
American also preemptively canceled 284 flights on Sunday.
On Friday, FlightAware showed 738, or almost a quarter, of American's operations were delayed, and it had 342 flight cancellations. It has preemptively canceled 284 flights on Sunday.
American reported 4,967 flights had been scheduled on Saturday.
"To make sure we are taking care of our customers and providing scheduling certainty for our crews, we have adjusted our operation for the last few days this month by proactively canceling some flights," American said.
Thousands of passengers are traveling during the Halloween weekend right now, many of them tweeting their grievances to the company.
In comparison, Southwest, which has fewer flights per day, has canceled 86 flights and delayed 473.
As air travel plunged in early 2020, airlines offered buyouts and early retirement packages to employees in order to cut costs. As they try to hire, or rehire, workers, service disruptions have become more frequent.
American expects more in-flight teams will return during the holiday season. The airline said 1,800 flight attendants will return Monday and the rest will be back by Dec. 1. The airline said it is also increasing hiring in the fourth quarter.
As travel ramps up after all but shutting down during the early days of the Covid-19 pandemic, other airlines also have had difficulty returning to normal operations. Southwest had an operational meltdown during one weekend in October, canceling more than 2,000 weekend flights.
The company blamed the move on air traffic control problems and limited staffing in Florida as well as bad weather, saying getting its operations back to normal was "more difficult and prolonged" because of schedule and staffing reductions it instituted during the pandemic.
CNN's Chris Isidore contributed to this report.
American Airlines cancels hundreds of flights during Halloween weekend - CNN
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Twitterati Make A Mockery Of Facebook Rebranding - Gulte
The rebranding of Facebook as Meta unleashed a slew of memes and funny posts on the internet, especially by the Twitterati.
Microblogging platform Twitter itself shared a sarcastic post reading “BIG NEWS lol jk still Twitter”. The post started off as an important announcement from Twitter, but ended up making a mockery of Facebook, saying that it is still Twitter and is ‘just kidding’.
Some other hilarious posts on Facebook rebranding include
A Twitter user named Charles Booker tweeted, “You can put lipstick on a Meta, but it’s still Facebook.”
“Instead of asking, “What’s on your mind ?” the new Facebook will henceforth start asking, “What’s the Meta with you?,” posted another Twitter user.
“How can you tell anyone that you’re on Meta. Sounds like a drug,” wrote @careaware.
Another user @LeChouNews posted Greece’s Prime Minister Disappointed after learning Facebook is not rebranding as ‘Feta’.
Casey Sullivan @DrakoTrogdor described the rebranding with a picture showing Mark Zuckerberg, the CEO of Facebook, with the infinity logo as glasses on his face and a knife in his hand.
Zuckerberg said that the rebranding was aimed at bringing “metaverse” to life and help people connect, find communities and businesses to grow. He said the new name reflected the company’s work investing in the metaverse, rather than its namesake social media service, which will continue to be called Facebook.
The term metaverse was coined in the dystopian novel “Snow Crash” three decades ago and is now attracting attention of stakeholders in the Silicon Valley. Metaverse refers broadly to the idea of a shared virtual realm which can be accessed by individuals using different devices.
Facebook has already created a team to work on Metaverse and it announced plans to hire 10,000 employees in next five years.
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Twitterati Make A Mockery Of Facebook Rebranding - Gulte
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John Deere and union reach tentative agreement but strike continues for now - NPR
Members of the United Auto Workers strike outside of a John Deere plant on Oct. 20 in Ankeny, Iowa. The farm equipment manufacturer reached a tentative labor agreement with the union on Saturday. Charlie Neibergall/AP
Farm equipment manufacturer Deere & Co. reached a tentative labor agreement Saturday with the United Auto Workers union.
But a UAW strike that began Oct. 14 will continue — and details of the proposed contract will not be released — while workers study the terms of the agreement in advance of a vote.
The pact would cover more than 10,000 production and maintenance workers at 12 Deere sites in Iowa, Illinois and Kansas.
The strike began after UAW workers overwhelmingly rejected an initial proposed contract that would have delivered immediate 5% raises for some workers and 6% for others depending on their positions at Deere factories. The pact also called for 3% raises in 2023 and 2025.
After the first deal was rejected, UAW "negotiators focused on improving the areas of concern identified by our members,'' said Chuck Browning, director of the union's farm equipment department.
The U.S. economy's unexpectedly strong rebound from last year's brief but intense coronavirus recession has created labor shortages — and handed workers more leverage to demand higher pay and better benefits.
The contract talks come as strong sales this year helped Moline, Illinois-based Deere report $4.7 billion net income for the first nine months of its fiscal year, which was more than double the $2 billion it reported a year ago.
The company is expecting to earn more than $5.7 billion this fiscal year.
John Deere and union reach tentative agreement but strike continues for now - NPR
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John Deere and the United Auto Workers Union reach tentative agreement following two-week strike - CNN
(CNN)John Deere (DE) and the United Auto Workers Union have reached a new tentative agreement, more than two weeks after 10,000 John Deere workers went on strike, both parties announced Saturday.
"Our UAW John Deere national bargaining team went back to our local members after the previous tentative agreement and canvassed the concerns and priorities of membership," said Ray Curry, president of the UAW.Workers went on strike October 14 after 90% of union members rejected the first tentative agreement.
This second tentative agreement "contains enhanced economic gains and continues to provide the highest quality healthcare benefits in the industry," the UAW said in a statement.
The main sticking points centered on compensation and fairness for different workers having different pension plans, according to a person with knowledge of the negotiations.
"The negotiators focused on improving the areas of concern identified by our members during our last ratification process," said Chuck Browning, Vice President of the UAW.
The new six-year agreement will cover 10,100 employees across 12 plants -- as well as 100 more workers in two parts facilities, John Deere said in a statement Saturday.
Members will remain on strike until they vote on this new agreement.
John Deere and the United Auto Workers Union reach tentative agreement following two-week strike - CNN
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Trump's $300 Million SPAC Deal May Have Skirted Securities Laws - Yahoo News
Just days after Donald Trump left the White House, two former contestants on his reality show, “The Apprentice,” approached him with a pitch. Wes Moss and Andy Litinsky wanted to create a conservative media giant.
Trump was taken with the idea. But he had to figure out how to pay for it.
This month, the former president found a way. He agreed to merge his social media venture with what’s known as a special purpose acquisition company, or SPAC. The result is that Trump — largely shut out of the mainstream financial industry because of his history of bankruptcies and loan defaults — secured nearly $300 million in funding for his new business.
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To get his deal done, Trump ventured into an unregulated and sometimes shadowy corner of Wall Street, working with an unlikely cast of characters: the former “Apprentice” contestants, a small Chinese investment firm and a little-known Miami banker named Patrick Orlando.
Orlando had been discussing a deal with Trump since at least March, according to people familiar with the talks and a confidential investor presentation reviewed by The New York Times. That was well before his SPAC, Digital World Acquisition, made its debut on the Nasdaq stock exchange last month. In doing so, Orlando’s SPAC may have skirted securities laws and stock exchange rules, lawyers said.
SPACs sell their shares to investors through an initial public offering, or IPO, and then find a private company with which to merge. Because SPACs are empty vessels, stock exchanges allow them to list their shares without disclosing much financial information. But that creates opportunities for SPACs to serve as backdoor vehicles for companies to go public without receiving the kind of investor scrutiny they would in a traditional listing. To prevent that, SPACs aren’t supposed to have a merger planned at the time of their IPO.
Lawyers and industry officials said that talks between Orlando and Trump or their associates consequently could draw scrutiny from the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Another issue is that Digital World’s securities filings repeatedly stated that the company and its executives had not engaged in any “substantive discussions, directly or indirectly,” with a target company — even though Orlando had been in discussions with Trump.
Given the politically fraught nature of a deal with Trump, securities lawyers said Digital World’s lack of disclosure about those conversations could be considered an omission of “material information.”
“Financial markets are premised on trust,” said Mike Stegemoller, a finance professor at Baylor University who studies SPACs. “If these disclosures are not true, no one wants to participate in markets that aren’t fair.”
Lawyers for Trump Media and Technology Group didn’t respond to requests for comment. A spokesperson for Trump referred questions to the company, whose representatives, including Litinsky and Moss, did not return requests for comment.
In January, Litinsky, better known as Andy Dean, and Moss — both of whom appeared in the second season of “The Apprentice,” in 2004, and are now radio hosts — made their pitch to Trump to “create a conservative media powerhouse that will rival the liberal media and fight back against ‘Big Tech’ companies of Silicon Valley,” according to a description of their plan in a slide presentation reviewed by the Times.
SPACs were hot on Wall Street, having raised tens of billions of dollars from investors over the previous year. Trump and the former “Apprentice” contestants agreed to set up Trump Media and Technology Group and then find a SPAC to merge with, thus transforming their new business into a publicly traded company and getting access to its money.
Orlando was part of a recent crop of SPAC entrepreneurs.
A former derivatives trader at Deutsche Bank and executive at a sugar merchant, Orlando was better known for his role as a spokesperson for his family in a grisly murder. In December 2010, his half sister, Sylvie Cachay, was found strangled and drowned in a bathtub in the Soho House club in the New York City borough of Manhattan. Tabloids swarmed as her boyfriend, the son of an Oscar-winning songwriter, was accused and later convicted of the murder. Orlando, 38 at the time, spoke with prosecutors and the media on his family’s behalf.
It isn’t clear how Orlando initially connected with Trump, but the two Florida men enjoyed a strong personal rapport, according to a person who spent time with them. By the time they started working together in the winter of 2021, Orlando already had three SPACs trading on U.S. stock exchanges.
One of them, Benessere Capital Acquisition, had gone public Jan. 7 — the day after Trump supporters rioted at the Capitol — and raised about $100 million. Orlando created Benessere with the help of a Shanghai-based firm called ARC Capital that specialized in helping Chinese companies list on U.S. stock exchanges. ARC kicked in funding for Benessere.
On Feb. 8, Trump Media was incorporated in Delaware.
By March, Orlando and Trump were discussing a merger of Trump Media and Benessere, according to people with knowledge of the talks who were not authorized to discuss it publicly. The investor presentation about the planned deal envisioned the combined company, which would offer a social media app, films, events and eventually a variety of technology services, being worth $15 billion and rivaling tech giants such as Netflix and the cloud divisions of Amazon and Google.
At some point, Benessere’s attractiveness as a financing vehicle for Trump’s venture faded, in part because its roughly $100 million war chest was considered inadequate, according to a person briefed on the matter. (Benessere is still looking for a company to buy.)
But Orlando had another, bigger SPAC that was preparing for liftoff. In May, Digital World announced plans for an IPO. Like Benessere, Digital World was created with the help of ARC.
By summer, people affiliated with Trump Media were signaling in conversations with Wall Street financiers that they were nearing a deal to merge with a SPAC, according to people with knowledge of those conversations.
In early July, Phillip Juhan, a former financial analyst who had also been an executive at a bankrupt fitness company, was introducing himself to people as Trump Media’s chief financial officer. He said the company was in an “exclusive agreement” with a SPAC, according to one of the people.
It isn’t clear if Juhan was referring to Digital World. (He declined to comment.) If Digital World and Trump Media had a deal in the works at that point, it would have contradicted the SPAC’s public statements and very likely violated regulations.
Soon after Juhan mentioned Trump Media’s agreement with a SPAC, Digital World said it hoped to raise nearly $350 million from investors. In August, the SPAC disclosed it had lined up 11 prominent hedge funds and other big investment firms such as D.E. Shaw, JPMorgan Chase’s Highbridge Capital and Saba Capital to serve as “anchor,” or main, investors in the initial offering.
“We have not selected any specific business combination target and we have not, nor has anyone on our behalf, initiated any substantive discussions, directly or indirectly, with any business combination target,” Digital World said in prospectuses filed with the SEC in May, July, August and September. Digital World said it would probably focus on companies in the technology or financial services fields.
Securities lawyers said any conversations between Orlando’s and Trump’s teams anytime before the IPO in September might constitute an indirect discussion of a potential deal and so would have needed to be disclosed.
“The prospectus broadly denies that any talks have taken place,” said Usha Rodrigues, a professor at the University of Georgia Law School and one of the leading academic experts on SPACs. “If they were, in fact, engaged in discussions at the time of the prospectus, that raises questions regarding a potential securities violation.”
Some bankers said they disagreed with that interpretation. They argued that Orlando having discussed a deal between Benessere and Trump Media wasn’t the same as him discussing a deal on behalf of Digital World. As a result, they said, Digital World wasn’t obligated to disclose Orlando’s prior talks.
The SEC has begun paying closer attention to the timing of deal negotiations, as have investors in SPACs.
This past summer, investors filed a lawsuit in federal court against a SPAC and the company it acquired. The plaintiffs argued that it was “substantially likely that the transaction was prearranged or at least preconceived,” given how swiftly the SPAC, Netfin Acquisition, had entered into exclusive talks with the target company, Triterras Fintech. They also pointed to the long-standing relationship between executives at the two companies. The suit is pending.
Trump initially expected to announce his new social media company in August, according to a person briefed on the timing. But the plans were delayed after Trump’s son, Donald Trump Jr., voiced reservations about the Digital World deal, according to people familiar with the negotiations.
On Aug. 3, Orlando wrote to the SEC asking for clearance to accelerate Digital World’s IPO for that month, only to withdraw the request two days later. When the SPAC eventually went public Sept. 8, raising $293 million, Digital World said it had still not identified a merger target.
Less than three weeks later, on Sept. 27, Orlando went to Mar-a-Lago, Trump’s private club in Florida, to sign a “letter of intent” — an initial formal step toward a merger of Digital World and Trump Media, according to a person with knowledge of the event. For a new SPAC, it was an extraordinarily swift turnaround; most SPACs take at least a year to find and merge with a target.
On Oct. 20, Orlando returned to Mar-a-Lago, where he and Trump signed the final paperwork under chandeliers in a cavernous golden ballroom, according to an attendee. Donald Trump Jr. and the former “Apprentice” contestants, Moss and Litinsky, were among those in attendance.
After its IPO, Digital World’s shares rocketed higher. This week, they plummeted. At least two of the anchor investors, D.E. Shaw and Saba Capital, sold much of their stock after the Trump deal came to light. Another prominent investor, Iceberg Research, announced that it was betting against the stock.
Even so, Digital World’s shares remain about seven times higher than before the Trump deal. On paper, at least, the company is worth more than $2 billion.
On Tuesday, as he was boarding a plane, Orlando wouldn’t say much about how the deal came together. “It’s been wild,” he said.
© 2021 The New York Times Company
Trump's $300 Million SPAC Deal May Have Skirted Securities Laws - Yahoo News
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John Deere reaches agreement with labor union following strike - Fox Business
Check out what's clicking on FoxBusiness.com.
Following a strike from employees, John Deere has announced it has reached a tentative agreement with the United Auto Workers (UAW) for a new labor contract.
While the agreement must receive approval from UAW workers to take effect, John Deere officials said in an emailed statement that the agreement would last six years for the union’s "10,100 production and maintenance employees at 12 facilities in Iowa, Illinois, and Kansas."
John Deere tractors. (Photo by: Jeffrey Greenberg/Universal Images Group via Getty Images) (Jeffrey Greenberg/Universal Images Group / Getty Images)
JOHN DEERE STRIKE: WHAT TO KNOW
The statement also noted that Deere and the UAW also "reached a tentative agreement on a new six-year labor agreement covering nearly 100 production and maintenance employees at Deere parts facilities in Denver and Atlanta."
Earlier this month, UWA members walked off the job at John Deere plants in several states after rejecting the agriculture equipment giant's latest contract offer, which included 5% raises for some workers and 6% raises for others, with 3% raises in 2023 and 2025.
DAVENPORT, IOWA - OCTOBER 15: Striking workers picket outside of the John Deere Davenport Works facility on October 15, 2021 in Davenport, Iowa. More than 10,000 John Deere employees, represented by the UAW, walked off the job yesterday after failing (Scott Olson / Getty Images)
John Deere spokeswoman Jennifer Hartmann told FOX Business that while "reaching a mutually beneficial agreement with the UAW" is important, the company's "immediate concern is meeting the needs of our customers who work in time-sensitive and critical industries such as agriculture and construction."
Deere workers who went on strike pointed to the company's record profits and argued that their dedication and hard work throughout the COVID-19 pandemic should earn them more than what their employer brought to the table last week, with more than 90% rejecting the original tentative deal.
DAVENPORT, IOWA - OCTOBER 15: At truck hauls a piece of John Deere equipment from the factory past workers picketing outside of the John Deere Davenport Works facility on October 15, 2021 in Davenport, Iowa. More than 10,000 John Deere employees, rep (Scott Olson/Getty Images / Getty Images)
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"Strikes are never easy on workers or their families, but John Deere workers believe they deserve a better share of the pie, a safer workplace and adequate benefits," UAW Region 8 Director Mitchell Smith said in a statement at the beginning of the strike.
For more information about the strike, click here.
Fox News' Breck Dumas contributed to this article.
John Deere reaches agreement with labor union following strike - Fox Business
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Hebrew speakers mock Facebook's corporate rebrand to Meta - CNN
(CNN)Social media users in Israel are mocking Facebook's company name change to Meta, as it sounds similar to the Hebrew word for "dead."
Many Twitter users scoffed at the social media company's rebrand -- revealed by founder Mark Zuckerberg earlier this week -- using the hashtag #FacebookDead. "Somebody did not do their #branding research," one post read.
Dr Nirit Weiss-Blatt, author of The Techlash and Tech Crisis Communication, tweeted: "In Hebrew, *Meta* means *Dead* The Jewish community will ridicule this name for years to come."
"Grave error?? Facebook's new name Meta means dead in Hebrew. Hilarious. #FacebookDead" another user tweeted.
Zuckerberg's efforts to revamp Facebook come as the company faces what could be its most potent scandal since it launched in 2004.
The social media giant is under the spotlight following the publication this week of "The Facebook Papers," a series of internal documents obtained by 17 news organizations, including CNN, that underpin whistleblower Frances Haugen's claims the company is riddled with institutional shortcomings.
The documents reveal how Facebook has propelled misinformation, struggled to eliminate human trafficking-related content on the site, and tried to increase its teenage audience, despite internal research suggesting that its platforms, especially Instagram, can have an adverse effect on their mental health.
Mark Zuckerberg's efforts to overhaul Facebook's public image come as the company faces what could be its worst scandal since launching in 2004.
Facebook isn't the first company to be ridiculed after its branding didn't translate abroad.
In 2019, Kim Kardashian West was accused of cultural appropriation after debuting her shapewear brand, which she initially named Kimono. Kardashian even appeared to have trademarked the word "kimono," a decision that the mayor of Kyoto, Daisaku Kadokawa, criticized in an open letter on Facebook.
"We think that the names for 'Kimono' are the asset shared with all humanity who love Kimono and its culture therefore they should not be monopolized," Kadokawa wrote.
Kardashian changed the name of her brand to Skims later that year.
In 2017, McDonald's name change in China raised eyebrows. Customers were left confused when the company swapped Maidanglao, a Chinese iteration of the English name, to Jingongmen, which loosely translates to "Golden Arches." One customer said it "sounds like a furniture store."
And when the Nissan Moco was launched in the early 2000s, Spanish-speaking customers may have looked twice, as the word "moco" translates to "bogey." Needless to say, the name was only used in Japan.
Hebrew speakers mock Facebook's corporate rebrand to Meta - CNN
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Tesla's hidden billionaire: How a retail trader made US$7 billion - Yahoo Singapore News
By Anders Melin and Dana Hull
(Bloomberg) — From a penthouse overlooking the pale blue Singapore Strait, a discreet billionaire made a startling claim: he’d quietly amassed one of the single biggest stakes in Elon Musk’s Tesla Inc.
“I believe in Elon’s great mission,” Leo KoGuan told the world via Twitter.
And with that one tweet in September, KoGuan — already a billionaire in his own right — began to dribble out details to believers and skeptics alike. More, the value of his supposed holdings soared and soared: to US$4 billion, US$5 billion — and, now, to more than US$7 billion.
Is it true? Could a single obscure investor, even one as wealthy as KoGuan, amass such a huge position in a company like Tesla with scarcely anyone noticing? Could he really have become Tesla’s third-largest individual shareholder, behind fellow billionaire Larry Ellison and none other than Elon Musk, the richest person in history?
Yes. Bank records provided to Bloomberg News by KoGuan and confirmed by people familiar with his investments show he owned 6.31 million Tesla shares as of late September. He also held 1.82 million options giving him the right to buy Tesla between US$450 to US$550 a share — contracts that are deeply in the money after the stock closed at US$1,114 on Friday in New York.
Speaking via Zoom from his living room 63 floors above Singapore’s harbour, KoGuan, 66, provided a glimpse into his astonishing investment. The view from his aerie — a world away from the New Jersey technology business he co-owns — stretches from Batam Island to the south to Malaysia to the north to Indonesia to the west.
Wearing a white T-shirt, KoGuan laid out a no-frills roadmap to his trading riches: stick to a single stock, in this case, Tesla; keep doubling down; and, most important, believe in Elon Musk.
“Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose,” KoGuan says. “Fortunately, I win more of the time than I lose.”
Stranger claims have been made — and proved to be true — in an age when unfathomable fortunes sometimes seem to appear out of thin air. Tesla’s relentless rise has minted countless “Teslanaires” and, some suspect, more than a few as-yet-hidden billionaires.
In today’s hamster-wheel race for riches, the big winners can also recall the big losers. Bill Hwang amassed one of the world’s great fortunes in virtual secrecy and lost it all in a matter of days with the market-rattling collapse this year of his family office, Archegos Capital Management. Like Hwang, KoGuan has been able to avoid the prying eyes of regulators and the investing public because he manages money only for himself and because his stake in Tesla — less than 1% — falls below the 5% threshold that requires public disclosure in the U.S.
KoGuan says he’s added to his Tesla stake since September, buying both shares and options. (In a Sept. 23 tweet, Tesla’s head of investor relations, Martin Viecha, confirmed KoGuan’s original claim; Viecha didn’t respond to a request for comment for this story).
When Tesla jumped 13% on Monday after Hertz Global Holdings Inc. said it would buy 100,000 Tesla cars, KoGuan told his followers that his daily gain was in the ten figures. And he says there’s more to come: “I’m all in. Any money I have I spend on Tesla.”
How did KoGuan get here? How big was his initial pot of money? In a half-hour conversation, he sketched in some answers in broad strokes but was light on details. Little has been written about him, although it has been known for years that he is a billionaire. In the U.S., he’s a founder of SHI International Corp., an enterprise software company in suburban Somerset, New Jersey, with US$11.1 billion of annual revenue. In China, he’s known for donating money to a handful of top universities. More recently, his name briefly fluttered to the surface when he bought his US$46 million penthouse in Singapore from James Dyson, the British inventor of the bagless vacuum.
A Wall Street Journal story from 2009, when KoGuan was involved in a luxury hotel development in Shanghai, described him as wearing colourful designer clothes and driving a Bentley convertible. Over Zoom, his exuded a calm, scholarly demeanor. He said he’d never granted an interview to a journalist before.
Describing himself as a retail investor, he said he picked up stock trading in 2019. He poured money into several well-known names — Baidu Inc., Nio Inc., Nvidia Corp. and others — and had some success early on. But as the year went on, his bets soured.
So KoGuan sold all his positions but one: Tesla. On a recent podcast hosted by Tesla investor Dave Lee, KoGuan said Ron Baron, the billionaire owner of Baron Capital Management, and Lee himself helped inspire him to focus on the California-based electric carmaker. He began pouring his money into the stock, juicing the bet with leverage. By early 2020 he held 2.3 million shares (amounting to about 12 million shares after adjusting for last year’s stock split), a stake worth around US$1.5 billion. The year before, he’d even met Musk himself at the headquarters of SpaceX in Los Angeles.
Then markets cratered and his stake was almost wiped out in a cascade of margin calls.
“I lost almost everything,” KoGuan said.
He kept buying, following what he described as a simple playbook: buy short-term in-the-money stock options; take the profits when the stock goes up; use some of those proceeds to buy actual shares — and plow the rest into another options bet. In other words, double down again and again and again.
Financial advisers, of course, warn that putting all your eggs in one basket is a dangerous move. Some analysts also say that huge option bets like KoGuan’s can sometimes become a tail that wags the dog and set the stage for volatile price swings.
KoGuan is unbowed. He pointed out he’s already diversified — he can fall back on his stake in privately held SHI, which the Bloomberg Billionaires Index values at US$3.2 billion. And so what if experts wag their fingers at the gap between Tesla’s valuation and its financial results? He’s among the legions of devout Tesla fans who believe the company is on a one-way path to becoming the world’s biggest.
KoGuan has traced a remarkable arc. Born in Indonesia in 1955 to Chinese parents, he later moved to the U.S. and collected degrees in international affairs from Columbia University and law from New York Law School. He’s mused about the period he lived in a roach-infested apartment in Manhattan’s Morningside Heights, describing it as “my best years.”
In 1989, KoGuan bought steeply discounted assets of a bankrupt New Jersey-based software supplier that became the basis of SHI. He ran the company with his then-wife, Thai Lee, who was the first Korean-American woman to enter Harvard Business School. By the time they divorced in 2002, it was pulling in annual revenues exceeding US$1 billion.
KoGuan says he hasn't been involved in the day-to-day operations since the turn of the century but remains chairman. Lee, who controls the business, is chief executive officer. An SHI spokesperson declined to make her available for an interview.
In the aughts KoGuan embarked a years-long series of donations to a handful of Chinese universities, some of which now have buildings adorned with his name. He also began writing and speaking extensively about something he’d been mulling for years: how to build a better system for society. The result is what he calls “Xuan Yuan Culture and Civilization 2.0 powered by KQID time engine,” a concept modelled on the legend of the Yellow Emperor, a revered figure who is said to have ruled China for a 100 year-period of unprecedented development and ascended to heaven after having fathered 25 children.
Has KoGuan ever been tempted to cash in his billion-dollar gains and move on? No, he’s told his followers: the goal is to accumulate US$100 billion or more of wealth and use this money to fund the implementation of his concept, which he says will help society provide free health care and material comfort for all people.
“I look at it like a squirrel,” he says. “You collect acorns and you eat some. But most you are trying to keep for the winter and you don’t eat until later.”
©2021 Bloomberg L.P.
Tesla's hidden billionaire: How a retail trader made US$7 billion - Yahoo Singapore News
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