Author: Press Room

It’s a dog-eat-dog cosmos. Not two weeks ago, on May 3, astronomers reported observing a star that was in the process of swallowing one of its own planets. Just two days earlier, another team had described black holes that were ripping stars apart and consuming them in a process known as tidal disruption event, or T.D.E.Now an international group of astronomers reports that it is observing one of the most violent and energetic acts of cosmic cannibalism ever witnessed, perhaps the biggest explosion seen yet in the history of the universe. Eight billion light-years from Earth, in the darkness beyond…

Rocket launchers, precision-guided missiles and billions of dollars’ worth of other advanced American weapons have given Ukraine a fighting chance against Russia ahead of a counteroffensive. But if even a few of the arms wind up on the black market instead of the battlefield, a Ukrainian lawmaker gloomily predicted, “we’re done.”The lawmaker, Oleksandra Ustinova, a former anti-corruption activist who now monitors foreign arms transfers to Ukraine, does not believe there is widespread smuggling among the priciest and most sophisticated weapons donated by the United States over the last year.“We’ve literally had people die because stuff was left behind, and they…

President Biden and top congressional leaders on Thursday postponed a second meeting on the debt limit crisis to give staff members more time to explore a budget deal before the two sides convened again.People familiar with the decision cast the move as a positive development. Preliminary budget talks among senior White House officials and congressional aides have been underway for two days, with both sides attempting to find a path to an agreement on lifting the government’s debt limit and avoiding a default.Mr. Biden and the four top congressional leaders, including Speaker Kevin McCarthy, were originally scheduled to meet again…

Linda Yaccarino has resigned from her role as the Head of Global Advertising at NBCUniversal effective immediately. Report: Yaccarino will take over as the CEO of Twitter That stock market news arrives only a day after Elon Musk confirmed in a tweet that he has finally hired a new Chief Executive for Twitter as Invezz reported here. Excited to announce that I’ve hired a new CEO for X/Twitter. She will be starting in ~6 weeks. While he did not name the mystery woman, CNBC’s Julia Boorstin just reported citing sources that Yaccarino was in advanced talks to take on the…

The writer was governor of the Bank of England from 2003 to 2013Fifteen years ago, the collapse of the western banking system led to the adoption of thousands of pages of complex regulations. Yet here we are in the middle of another crisis of confidence in banks. Silicon Valley Bank and Credit Suisse had idiosyncratic problems. In the latter case, weak regulation and procrastination by the Swiss authorities exacerbated the problem. In the former, contagion affected other small banks.Banks are inherently fragile — they transform short-term and safe funding into long-term and risky lending. This is the alchemy of the…

For the past 20 years — ever since UK companies started closing their “final salary” pension schemes to new members, and then closing altogether to existing members — headlines have announced the death of defined benefit pensions.Defined benefit — where employers guarantee an inflation-linked pension for life — has been replaced with defined contribution — a glorified savings plan, with no guarantees.The Parliamentary Work and Pensions Committee is holding an inquiry into private sector DB pensions, and the submission deadline has just closed.What conclusions should MPs — with generous DB pensions guaranteed by taxpayers — reach? Is private sector DB…

Source: Adobe StockAsset management giant Franklin Templeton has announced that it is setting up a second blockchain fund, after first entering the crypto market in 2021.Franklin Templeton Blockchain Fund II, which is the official name of the new fund, will be a private equity fund with a minimum investment amount of $100,000, according to an SEC filing.The rather high minimum investment amount indicates that the firm with its new fund is targeting institutional investors and high-net worth individuals.The new fund differs from the firm’s first blockchain fund, a venture capital fund with investments focused on the 10-15 largest digital assets.The…

More than 20 years after scientists first released a draft sequence of the human genome, the book of life has been given a long-overdue rewrite.A more accurate and inclusive edition of our genetic code was published on Wednesday, marking a major step toward a deeper understanding of human biology and personalized medicine for people from a wide range of racial and ethnic backgrounds.Unlike the previous reference — which was largely based on the DNA of one mixed-race man from Buffalo, with inputs from a few dozen other individuals, mostly of European descent — the new “pangenome” incorporates near-complete genetic sequences…

Rohan Doctor, CEO and founder of LouisaSource: Goldman SachsGoldman Sachs, known more for its Wall Street bankers than its technology, has just spun out the first startup from its internal incubator. The company, a networking platform for employees called Louisa, was funded and owned by the New York-based investment bank until a few weeks ago, when it became independent, according to founder-CEO Rohan Doctor.Now Doctor is hustling to grow his client base beyond the confines of Goldman, whose employees have used Louisa for the past two and a half years. The software automatically creates user profiles from an employer’s databases…

“Succession” is ending. So what’s next for Jeremy Strong? He’s returning to Broadway.Strong, whose celebrity has skyrocketed with his portrayal of the scheming Kendall Roy in HBO’s “Succession,” will star next year in a Broadway revival of the classic play “An Enemy of the People.” Strong will portray the title character, Dr. Thomas Stockmann, a physician who becomes a pariah when he decides to reveal that the water in local spa baths is contaminated.The play was written in 1882 by Henrik Ibsen and has been staged on Broadway 10 times, most recently in 2012. There have been other New York…