Tag Archives: international-business

Business

Shell posts profit of nearly $40 billion and announces $4 billion in buybacks

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Hong Kong/London
CNN
 — 

Shell made a record profit of almost $40 billion in 2022, more than double what it raked in the previous year after oil and gas prices soared following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Europe’s largest oil company by revenue reported adjusted full-year earnings of $39.9 billion on Thursday — more than double the $19.3 billion it posted in 2021 — driven by a strong performance in its gas trading business. The company’s stock was up 1.7% in London.

The company reported $9.8 billion in profit in the fourth quarter. Just over 40% of Shell’s full-year earnings came from its integrated gas business, which includes liquified natural gas trading operations.

Shell CEO Wael Sawan said the results “demonstrate the strength of Shell’s differentiated portfolio, as well as our capacity to deliver vital energy to our customers in a volatile world.”

The earnings are the latest in a series of record-setting results by the world’s biggest energy companies, which have enjoyed bumper profits off the back of soaring oil and gas prices.

ExxonMobil this week posted record full-year earnings of $59.1 billion. Last month, Chevron

(CVX) reported a record full-year profit of $36.5 billion.

That has led to renewed calls for higher taxation. Governments in the European Union and the United Kingdom have already imposed windfall taxes on oil company profits, with the proceeds used to help households struggling with rising energy bills.

Shell said it expected to pay an additional $2.3 billion in tax related to the EU windfall tax and the UK energy profits levy. The company paid $13 billion in tax globally in 2022.

Shell

(RDSA) also announced another $4 billion share buyback program and confirmed it would lift its dividend per share by 15% for the fourth quarter.

— This is a developing story and will be updated.

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Business

GM shares surge after record earnings and new stake in lithium company

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New York
CNN
 — 

General Motors reported a much stronger than expected fourth-quarter profit, lifting full-year results to record levels for the second straight year.

The largest US automaker also said Tuesday it is buying a $650 million equity stake in Lithium Americas, which will give it access to the raw material needed to build batteries to power 1 million electric vehicles a year in the first phase of production.

For the quarter, GM earned adjusted earnings of $3 billion, or $2.12 a share, up from $1.35 a share a year earlier and far better than forecasts of $1.69 a share from analysts surveyed by Refinitiv. That lifted full-year adjusted income to $11 billion, up from the $10.4 billion it earned in 2021, which had been its previous record.

The company said it expects strong earnings in 2023, though it expects it to slip a bit from the just posted levels, coming in at between $8.7 billion to $10.1 billion. But company CFO Paul Jacobson said its automotive business is expected to remain strong, with much of the decline likely to be at GM Financial. That’s due to the hit it will take from higher interest rates and the sinking value of used cars, as well as the higher interest rates resulting in an accounting hit to pension earnings.

“Actually that [guidance] is a strong statement about where we see things going, stronger than others” he told journalists on a call Tuesday.

Jacobson told journalists that GM does not expect to follow Tesla and Ford in cutting the prices for its electric vehicles.

“I don’t think there’s any surprise there’s increasing competition in the EV space,” he said. “Our customers are saying we’re priced well based on the demand that we’re seeing.”

The company’s investment in Lithium Americas is part of the company’s efforts to lock-up the supply of raw materials it will need to convert from traditional gasoline powered cars to electric vehicles. The Lithium Americas deal will not supply any lithium to the company until 2026, but Jacobson told media that “we’ve already achieved all the lithium we need through 2025.”

GM expects to build 70,000 EVs this year, a small fraction of its overall vehicle output. It sold 5.9 million vehicles in 2022, down about 6% from 2021 due to the shortage of parts needed to build all the vehicles for which there was demand.

“We continue to face some supply chain and logistics issues, but overall, things remain trending in the right direction,” said Jacobson.

But the company expects to be rapidly increasing its EV supply and offerings, with a new battery plant that opened last year, two more under construction and a fourth planned soon. GM has a target to build 400,000 EVs through the middle of 2024, and 1 million annually by 2025.

CEO Mary Barra predicted there will be more deals like the Lithium Americas one to be announced soon.

“We continue to pursue strategic supply agreements and partnerships to further secure our long-term needs,” she told investors.

GM said it will reduce its staff in 2023, part of its effort to cut $2 billion in costs over the next two years. But unlike a number of major companies that have announced layoffs in recent months, company officials stressed GM would not be shrinking through layoffs. Instead the reduction would be handled through attrition.

GM did not disclose how many jobs might be trimmed, with Jacobson saying the company would end this year “slightly lower” in headcount.

GM has 167,000 employees globally, with 124,000 in North America. That includes more than 42,000 members of the United Auto Workers union. Those workers will get profit sharing bonuses of an average of $12,750 for the year, up nearly 25% from the $10,250 they received a year earlier.

Shares of GM

(GM) soared more than 5% in pre-market trading on the results.

This story is developing and will be updated.

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Entertainment

Cindy Williams, ‘Laverne & Shirley’ star, dead at 75

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CNN
 — 

Cindy Williams, the dynamic actress known best for playing the bubbly Shirley Feeney on the beloved sitcom “Laverne & Shirley,” has died, according to a statement from her family, provided to CNN by a representative. She was 75.

Williams died after a short illness, said the statement from her children Zak and Emily Hudson, provided to CNN by family spokesperson and Williams’ personal assistant Liz Cranis.

“The passing of our kind, hilarious mother, Cindy Williams, has brought us insurmountable sadness that could never truly be expressed,” their statement read. “Knowing and loving her has been our joy and privilege. She was one of a kind, beautiful, generous and possessed a brilliant sense of humor and a glittering spirit that everyone loved.”

Williams had credits spanning six decades, but it was her role on “Happy Days” spin-off “Laverne & Shirley” that endeared her to millions and made her a household name.

On the series, she starred opposite the late Penny Marshall as one half of a dynamic friend duo whose adventures powered the show, which ran for eight seasons from 1976-1983.

Born in Van Nuys, California, Williams’ interest in acting throughout high school led her to studying theater at Los Angeles City College, according to a biography provided by her family. Some of Williams’ first professional acting credits include a three-episode arc on the 1969 series “Room 222” and appearances on other shows, like “Nanny and the Professor” and “Love, American Style,” in the early 1970’s.

Williams went on to become a prolific working television and film actor, appearing in dozens of titles. But it was after she first appeared as Shirley Feeney on “Happy Days” in 1975 that her career began to take shape.

The lighthearted “Laverne & Shirley” proved to be a ratings hit and earned six Golden Globe nominations, including two for best comedy series and one for Williams in the best actress in a comedy category.

Williams also appeared in several standout films. Most notably, she starred in George Lucas’ 1973 film “American Graffiti,” which earned Williams a British Academy Film Awards nomination for best supporting actress. The film, about a group of friends who spend one wild night together before leaving for college, went on to be nominated for five Oscars, including best picture, at the 1974 Academy Awards. Williams also had roles in acclaimed films “Travels with My Aunt” by George Cukor’ in 1972 and “The Conversation” from director Francis Ford Coppola in 1974.

Williams was also an accomplished stage actress, with a long list of credits. Last year, she took her one-woman show, “Me, Myself and Shirley,” where she shared stories from throughout her career, on a national tour. She had at least one series of dates scheduled for later this year.

Upon news of her passing, Williams’ friends and fans took to social media to honor the late actress, who left a legacy of laughter.

“Happy Days” star and film director Ron Howard tweeted that Williams’ “unpretentious intelligence, talent, wit & humanity impacted every character she created & person she worked with,” going on to say that the pair worked together on six different projects together. “Lucky me,” he added.

Henry Winkler, who played Fonzie on “Happy Days,” called Williams “a fine and talented human being” on Twitter.

“Oh how I loved Cindy Williams,” Yvette Nicole Brown, who worked with Williams in 2016 when she guest starred in an episode of CBS’s “The Odd Couple,” shared on Twitter. “She was as lovely as I always imagined she’d be.”

Actor Jason Alexander wrote on Twitter: “I did not know Cindy Williams but boy did I adore her work, especially the wacky joyful funny pleasure of watching her Laverne and Shirley days. I pray she had a good life and send my sympathy to those who knew and loved her.”

Williams’ children added in their statement that they were proud of their mother for many reasons – “her lifelong mission to rescue animals, her prolific artistry, her faith” among them – but “most of all, her ability to make the world laugh!”

“May that laughter continue in everyone, because she would want that,” the statement said. “Thank you for loving our Mom, she loved you too.”



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Business

Mustang Mach-E: Ford drops the price of its Tesla competitor

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CNN
 — 

Ford is boosting production of its popular Mustang Mach-E electric SUV and dropping its sticker price weeks after Tesla dropped prices of its vehicles. The move represents a substantial roll-back of price hikes Ford announced last summer on the 2023 models – but buyers may still be paying somewhat more than before the increases.

The Mustang Mach-E, a midsize electric family SUV, was the first serious electric effort for the Dearborn, Michigan-based automaker. Priced and aimed squarely at the Tesla Model Y, which has its own starting price of $53,490, the Mach-E is Ford’s bet to get new car buyers to dip their toes into the battery-powered future. it has since been joined in the electric Ford lineup by the workhorse Ford F-150 Lightning. But the company still considers the Mach-E a crucial step for the company’s electric-powered growth.

Late last year, Darren Palmer, Ford’s vice president of electric vehicle programs, told CNN Business that the Mach-E was completely sold out and the automaker was holding off on launching it in more global markets in order to catch up with US demand.

“We could sell it out at least two or three times over,” he said a the time.

The price cuts Ford announced Monday were biggest on the most expensive versions of the SUV, just as the increases had been biggest on those models. The base sticker of the Mustang Mach-E GT Extended Range, a high-performance version of the SUV, dropped to about $64,000 from $69,900 before, a decrease of $5,900. But that model had been about $62,000 before price increases last August.

When it announced those price bumps, Ford also said it was putting more standard features into the vehicles, including advanced driver assistance features.

The price of the least expensive Mach-E, the rear-wheel-drive standard range model, was cut $900, going from about $46,900 down to $46,000. The price of the extended range battery pack option, by itself, dropped from $8,600 down $7,000.

Tesla announced price cuts of as much as 20% on its electric vehicles earlier this month, after raising prices in 2022.

When Ford announced the price increases last summer, citing supply chain issues, the automakers indicated it would continue monitoring market conditions throughout the upcoming model year.

Ford announced last summer that it was increasing production of the Mach-E as it added capacity for more battery production. The automaker also announced in late August that it was reopening order banks for the Mach-E which had been closed as the company worked to meet existing orders.

Customers who complete the transaction for their Mach-E after today’s announcement will pay the new lower price, Ford said. Ford will reach out directly to Mach-E customers with a sale date after January 1, 2023 who already have their vehicles, the automaker said.

At least some versions of both models are currently eligible for federal electric vehicle tax credits, according to the Internal Revenue Service, but both are treated as cars, not SUVs, under the tax rules, unless equipped with a third row of seats.

That means that tax credits are available for the two-row only Mach-E and two-row Model Y only if the sticker price is below $55,000. For versions of the Model Y with a third row of seats, a $4,000 option, buyers may get tax credits with a sticker price up to $80,000. For the Mustang Mach-E, a third row of seats isn’t offered.

The final amount of the tax credit may depend on when the vehicle is actually delivered to the customer and, also, whether the customers themselves meet annual income requirements.

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Health

Surgeon General says 13 is ‘too early’ to join social media

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CNN
 — 

US Surgeon General Vivek Murthy says he believes 13 is too young for children to be on social media platforms, because although sites allow children of that age to join, kids are still “developing their identity.”

Meta, Twitter, and a host of other social media giants currently allow 13-year-olds to join their platforms.

“I, personally, based on the data I’ve seen, believe that 13 is too early … It’s a time where it’s really important for us to be thoughtful about what’s going into how they think about their own self-worth and their relationships and the skewed and often distorted environment of social media often does a disservice to many of those children,” Murthy said on “CNN Newsroom.”

The number of teenagers on social media has sparked alarm among medical professionals, who point to a growing body of research about the harm such platforms can cause adolescents.

Murthy acknowledged the difficulties of keeping children off these platforms given their popularity, but suggested parents can find success by presenting a united front.

“If parents can band together and say you know, as a group, we’re not going to allow our kids to use social media until 16 or 17 or 18 or whatever age they choose, that’s a much more effective strategy in making sure your kids don’t get exposed to harm early,” he told CNN.

Adobe Stock

New research suggests habitually checking social media can alter the brain chemistry of adolescents.

According to a study published this month in JAMA Pediatrics, students who checked social media more regularly displayed greater neural sensitivity in certain parts of their brains, making their brains more sensitive to social consequences over time.

Psychiatrists like Dr. Adriana Stacey have pointed to this phenomenon for years. Stacey, who works primarily with teenagers and college students, previously told CNN using social media releases a “dopamine dump” in the brain.

“When we do things that are addictive like use cocaine or use smartphones, our brains release a lot of dopamine at once. It tells our brains to keep using that,” she said. “For teenagers in particular, this part of their brain is actually hyperactive compared to adults. They can’t get motivated to do anything else.”

Recent studies demonstrate other ways excessive screen time can impact brain development. In young children, for example, excessive screen time was significantly associated with poorer emerging literacy skills and ability to use expressive language.

Democratic Sen. Chris Murphy, who recently published an op-ed in the Bulwark about loneliness and mental health, echoed the surgeon general’s concerns about social media. “We have lost something as a society, as so much of our life has turned into screen-to-screen communication, it just doesn’t give you the same sense of value and the same sense of satisfaction as talking to somebody or seeing someone,” Murphy told CNN in an interview alongside Murthy.

For both Murphy and Murthy, the issue of social media addiction is personal. Both men are fathers – Murphy to teenagers and Murthy to young children. “It’s not coincidental that Dr. Murthy and I are probably talking more about this issue of loneliness more than others in public life,” Murphy told CNN. “I look at this through the prism of my 14-year-old and my 11-year-old.”

As a country, Murphy explained, the U.S. is not powerless in the face of Big Tech. Lawmakers could make different decisions about limiting young kids from social media and incentivizing companies to make algorithms less addictive.

The surgeon general similarly addressed addictive algorithms, explaining pitting adolescents against Big Tech is “just not a fair fight.” He told CNN, “You have some of the best designers and product developers in the world who have designed these products to make sure people are maximizing the amount of time they spend on these platforms. And if we tell a child, use the force of your willpower to control how much time you’re spending, you’re pitting a child against the world’s greatest product designers.”

Despite the hurdles facing parents and kids, Murphy struck a note of optimism about the future of social media.

“None of this is out of our control. When we had dangerous vehicles on the road, we passed laws to make those vehicles less dangerous,” he told CNN. “We should make decisions to make [social media] a healthier experience that would make kids feel better about themselves and less alone.”

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Technology

In Japan, pet fish playing Nintendo Switch run up bill on owner’s credit card

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CNN
 — 

Here’s something you don’t see everyday. Pet fish playing a video game in Japan managed to log on to the Nintendo Switch store, change their owner’s avatar, set up a Pay Pal account and rack up a credit card bill.

And it was all seemingly livestreamed, in real time, on the internet.

The fish in question belong to a YouTuber known as Mutekimaru, whose channel is popular with the gaming community for its videos featuring groups of tetra fish that “play” video games.

Mutekimaru had previously installed sophisticated motion detection tracking software in fish tanks, enabling the fish to remotely control a Nintendo Switch console.

But the technology, and the fishes’ apparent mastery of it, led to an unexpected turn of events earlier this month while Mutekimaru was live-streaming a game of Pokémon.

Mutekimaru had stepped away for a break when the game crashed due to a system error and the console returned to the home screen.

But the fish carried on swimming, like fish tend to do, and seemingly continued to control the console remotely from their tank.

During the next seven hours, the fish reportedly managed to change the name of their owner’s Switch account before twice logging into the Nintendo store, where users can purchase games and other downloadable content.

They also managed to “check” legal terms and conditions, downloaded a new avatar and even set up a PayPal account from the Switch – sending an email out to their owner in the process, video from the livestream appeared to show.

But things didn’t end there. The fish were also seen adding 500 yen ($4) to Mutekimaru’s Switch account from his credit card during the livestream – exposing his credit card details in the process, the YouTuber revealed in a follow-up video about the episode.

By this point, thousands of comments were streaming in as viewers watched the unintended takeover being livestreamed on the channel, and the incident went viral on Twitter, where thousands of Japanese users shared their amusement.

Mutekimaru later said that he had contacted Nintendo to explain what happened and asked for a refund of his 500 yen.

Nintendo declined to comment to CNN, citing customer confidentiality.



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US

Memphis releases video showing Tyre Nichols calling for his mother, beaten by officers now charged in his death

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Editor’s Note: This article contains graphic videos and descriptions of violence.



CNN
 — 

Tyre Nichols screamed for his mother and Memphis police officers struck him multiple times – including in the face while his hands were restrained – toward the end of the Black man’s deadly encounter with the officers this month, video released by the city shows.

And although paramedics arrive minutes after officers disengage, Nichols appears to be left multiple times on the pavement without assistance before an ambulance comes.

The city on Friday night released body camera and surveillance video of the January 7 traffic stop and beating that led to the 29-year-old’s death in hospital from his injuries three days later. The release comes a day after five Memphis police officers, who also are Black and have been fired, were charged with murder.

The footage drew stunned reaction from law enforcement experts and outrage from officials including President Joe Biden, who said it was “yet another painful reminder of the profound fear and trauma, the pain, and the exhaustion that Black and Brown Americans experience every single day.”

Live updates: Memphis releases Tyre Nichols arrest videos

Protesters in Memphis took to Interstate 55 Friday night after the videos’ release, blocking both lanes of the highway’s bridge connecting the western Tennessee city to Arkansas.

The basics of Nichols’ encounter were this: Police pulled Nichols over in Memphis in what they initially said was on suspicion of reckless driving. After officers pulled him out of his car, a struggle ensued and he ran away; minutes later, officers would catch up with him and hit or kick him numerous times, video shows.

Moments from the videos include:

During the first encounter after the traffic stop, at around 8:24 p.m., Nichols sounded calm, body cam video from an officer arriving at the scene shows.

As the officer approaches the scene, an officer is yelling at Nichols to “Get the fuck out of the car.”

Officers pull Nichols out of the vehicle and someone is heard saying, “Get the fuck on the ground and turn his ass around.” Nichols responds by saying, “I didn’t do anything,” and, “Alright, I’m on the ground.”

Officers yell at him to lie down and threaten to tase him. One officer tells him, “Bitch put your (hands) behind your back before I break them.”

Nichols can be heard telling them, “You guys are doing a lot right now. … I’m just trying to go home. I am on the ground!”

At 8:25 p.m., one officer sprays Nichols in the face with pepper spray. Nichols then struggles to his feet and begins running from the officer as one another shoots a taser at him that apparently didn’t make contact.

A struggle ensues. Nichols gets up and runs, and the officers chase him.

A different body camera video shows some of what happens when officers catch Nichols on a neighborhood street minutes later, around 8:34 p.m.

Nichols screams for his mom as the video shows an officer arriving at this scene.

– Source:
CNN
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Video: Lawyer shares Nichols called out for his mom 3 times

Officers tell Nichols to “give them his hand,” as a struggle ensues on the ground. An officer asks Nichols, “Do you want to get sprayed again?”

Two officers hit and kick Nichols as he is on the ground.

Nichols screams: “Mooooom!” and continues to call for his mom for a while.

An officer is eventually heard yelling at Nichols: “I’m going to baton the fuck out of you. Give me your fucking hands.”

A remotely operated pole-mounted police surveillance video in the neighborhood gives the clearest view of the blows. This shows officers hitting Nichols at least nine times without visible provocation.

When the camera first turns toward the scene, an officer shoves Nichols hard to the pavement with a knee or leg. Nichols is pulled up by his shoulders and then kicked in the face twice.

After being pulled up into a sitting position, Nichols is hit in the back with what appears to be a nightstick. After being pulled to his knees, Nichols is hit again.

Once pulled to his feet, the video shows officers hitting Nichols in the face multiple times while his hands are restrained behind his body, after which he falls to his knees. Less than a minute later, an officer appears to kick Nichols. More than three minutes after the encounter is first seen on this camera, officers let go of Nichols, and he rolls on his back.

One minute later, Nichols is dragged along the pavement and propped up in a sitting position against the side of a car, where he is largely ignored by officers for the next three-and-a-half minutes.

In a body-camera video, officers can be heard talking about the encounter.

“He swung – pow – almost hit me,” one officer says. “Then he reached for (inaudible) gun,” a second officer says.

One officer says Nichols “had his hand on my gun,” and “motherfucker was holding it.”

An officer later describes the traffic stop involving Nichols: “We tried to get him stopped. He didn’t stop.”

An officer says: “He drove around, swerved, nearly hit my car.”

Van Jones, a former special adviser to President Barack Obama, put it this way to CNN after seeing the videos: “(Nichols) goes from a voice from calm (during the initial encounter) to panic … to agony.”

“It’s clearly excessive force,” former New York City police Lt. Darrin Porcher told CNN. “What’s even more troubling is, no officer was wiling to intervene and say, ‘Stop.’ “

Ten minutes into the pole-camera video – a few minutes after officers disengaged – a person who appears to be a paramedic engages Nichols for the first time, around 8:41 p.m. But responders would repeatedly walk away from Nichols before an ambulance arrives.

Two minutes after paramedics started attending to Nichols, he is seen falling over to the side and seeming to hit his head hard against a piece of equipment after a bright light was shone in his face. No one appears to help Nichols as he tries to sit up, only to fall over again.

About a minute later, officers are seen crowding around Nichols, only to step away as he again falls onto his side.

First responders then spend nearly five minutes standing over Nichols, and occasionally shining a light toward his face, before walking away.

Read stepfather’s description of video: ‘No one rendered aid to him’

Nichols twists on the ground, unhelped. Medical equipment is finally brought back to Nichols’ side about three minutes later, the pole-camera video shows.

Footage shows that 21 minutes pass from when paramedics first appeared to arrive to when an ambulance finally pulls into view of the camera at 9:02 p.m.

Two deputies with the Shelby County sheriff’s office have been put on leave pending an investigation after the sheriff viewed the videos Friday.

“I have concerns about two deputies who appeared on scene following the physical confrontation between police and Tyre Nichols,” Sheriff Floyd Bonner Jr. said.

“I have launched an internal investigation into the conduct of these deputies to determine what occurred and if any policies were violated. Both of these deputies have been relieved of duty pending the outcome of the administrative investigation.”

Earlier, two fire department employees who were part of Nichols’ “initial patient care” were put on leave “while an internal investigation is being conducted,” department spokesperson Qwanesha Ward told CNN’s Nadia Romero.

The US Department of Justice has said it is conducting a federal civil rights investigation of Nichols’ death.

Earlier Friday, Memphis’ police chief said the video would show “acts that defy humanity.”

Police have not been able to find anything to substantiate the probable cause for reckless driving by Nichols before his fatal encounter, Chief Cerelyn “CJ” Davis told CNN’s Don Lemon ahead of the videos’ release.

Nichols’ mother, RowVaughn Wells, told CNN on Friday before the videos were released: “It’s still like a nightmare right now.”

“I’m still trying to understand all of this and trying to wrap my head around all of this,” Wells said. “I don’t have my baby. I’ll never have my baby again.”

Police officials in a number of major cities nationwide have said they are monitoring for any possible public outcry this weekend over what will be seen in the video footage.

Police nationwide have been under scrutiny for how they treat Black people, particularly since the Minneapolis police murder of George Floyd in May 2020 and the mass protest movement known as Black Lives Matter.

Before the videos’ were made public, Wells asked for supporters to be peaceful during demonstrations, saying at a vigil in Memphis on Thursday she wants “each and every one of you to protest in peace.”

“I don’t want us burning up our cities, tearing up the streets, because that’s not what my son stood for,” Wells said. “And if you guys are here for me and Tyre, then you will protest peacefully.”

A Memphis church is scheduled to hold Nichols’ funeral Wednesday.

The five Memphis police officers identified – Tadarrius Bean, Demetrius Haley, Justin Smith, Emmitt Martin and Desmond Mills Jr. – were fired January 20 for violating police policies including on use of excessive force, police said.

They were then charged this week. Each has been charged with second-degree murder, aggravated assault, two charges of aggravated kidnapping, two charges of official misconduct and one charge of official oppression, Mulroy, the Shelby County district attorney, said.

Martin and Haley were released from jail on a $350,000 bond, according to Shelby County Jail records, while Smith, Bean and Mills Jr. have been released after each posting a $250,000 bond.

The five former officers are scheduled for arraignment on February 17.

Blake Ballin, an attorney for Mills Jr., one of the officers, said he doesn’t believe his client “is capable of” the accusations, and his client is “remorseful” to be “connected to the death” of Nichols.

Ballin told CNN he has not yet seen the video, but has spoken to people who have. He urged those who watch the video to “treat each of these officers as individuals.”

“The levels of culpability amongst these five officers are different, and I expect that you’re going to see in this video that my client Desmond Mills is not, in fact, guilty of the crimes he’s been charged with,” Ballin said.



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Business

Some auto insurers are refusing to cover some Hyundai and Kia models

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CNN
 — 

Progressive and State Farm, two of America’s largest auto insurers, are refusing to write policies in certain cities for some older Hyundai and Kia models that have been deemed too easy to steal, according to the companies.

Several reports say the companies have stopped offering insurance on these vehicles in cities that include Denver, Colorado and St. Louis, Missouri. The insurance companies did not tell CNN which cities or states were involved.

The Highway Loss Data Institute released insurance claims data last September that confirmed what various social media accounts had been saying: Some 2015 through 2019 Hyundai and Kia models are roughly twice as likely to be stolen as other vehicles of similar age, because many of them lack some of the basic auto theft prevention technology included in most other vehicles in those years, according to the HLDI.

Specifically, these SUVs and cars don’t have electronic immobilizers, which rely on a computer chip in the car and another in the key that communicate to confirm that the key really belongs to that vehicle. Without the right key, an immobilizer should do just that – stop the car from moving.

Immobilizers were standard equipment on 96% of vehicles sold for the 2015-2019 model years, according the HLDI, but only 26% of Hyundais and Kias had them at that time. Vehicles that have push-button start systems, rather than relying on metal keys that must be inserted and turned, have immobilizers, but not all models with turn-key ignitions do.

Stealing these vehicles became a social media trend in 2021, according to HLDI, as car thieves began posting videos of their thefts and joyrides and even videos explaining how to steal the cars. In Wisconsin, where the crimes first became prevalent, theft claims of Hyundais and Kias spiked to more than 30 times 2019 levels in dollar terms.

“State Farm has temporarily stopped writing new business in some states for certain model years and trim levels of Hyundai and Kia vehicles because theft losses for these vehicles have increased dramatically,” the insurer said in a statement provided to CNN. “This is a serious problem impacting our customers and the entire auto insurance industry.”

Progressive is also cutting back on insuring these cars in some markets, spokesman Jeff Sibel said in an emailed statement.

“During the past year we’ve seen theft rates for certain Hyundai and Kia vehicles more than triple and in some markets these vehicles are almost 20 times more likely to be stolen than other vehicles,” he wrote. “Given that we price our policies based on the level of risk they represent, this explosive increase in thefts in many cases makes these vehicles extremely challenging for us to insure. In response, in some geographic areas we have increased our rates and limited our sale of new insurance policies on some of these models.”

Progressive continues to insure those who already have policies with the company, he said. Progressive is also providing them with advice on how to protect their vehicles from theft.

Michael Barry, a spokesman for the Insurance Information Institute, said it was very unusual for auto insurers to simply stop writing new policies on a given make or model of vehicle.

“They generally want to expand their market share depending on where they’re doing business,” he said.

Hyundai and Kia operate as separate companies in the United States, but Hyundai Motor Group owns a large stake in Kia and various Hyundai and Kia models share much of their engineering.

Engine immobilizers are now standard on all Kia vehicles, according to a statement by the automaker and the company says it has been developing and testing security software for vehicles not originally equipped with an immobilize. Kia said it has begun notifying owners of the availability of this software, which is being provided at no charge.

Hyundai said it is providing free steering wheel locks to some police departments around the country to give local residents who have easily stolen Hyundai models. Hyundai dealers are also installing free security kits for the vehicles, the company said.

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Business

Gautam Adani’s business loses $50 billion in market value after short seller report

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New Delhi
CNN
 — 

The value of Gautam Adani’s business empire has crashed by more than $50 billion this week since Hindenburg Research, a US firm that makes money from short selling, published a blistering report accusing it of fraud.

India’s Adani Group has denounced Hindenburg’s allegations as “baseless” and “malicious,” and it is considering legal action. But the sharp sell-off in shares, which began Wednesday, accelerated Friday after US hedge fund billionaire Bill Ackman said he found the short seller’s report credible.

Hindenburg Research published an investigation on Adani’s conglomerate late on Tuesday, accusing it of “brazen stock manipulation and accounting fraud scheme over the course of decades.” It said it had taken a short position in Adani Group companies, meaning it would benefit from a drop in their value.

Shares of those companies — some of which had surged over 500% in the last few years — plunged when India’s stock market opened Wednesday. The rout resumed Friday when trading resumed following a market holiday on Thursday.

Shares of Adani Transmission, Adani Total Gas and Adani Green Energy — three of the group’s seven listed companies — were down 20% each on Friday, while shares of Adani Enterprises, the conglomerate’s flagship company, fell 18%. Friday’s losses wiped out almost $39 billion in market value.

According to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, Adani is still Asia’s richest man with a personal fortune worth $113 billion, $30 billion more than fellow Indian entrepreneur Mukesh Ambani. Friday’s losses will reduce that gap.

Hindenburg said Thursday that it stood fully by its report and believed any legal action would be “meritless.”

“If Adani is serious, it should also file suit in the US where we operate. We have a long list of documents we would demand in a legal discovery process,” the short seller said in a post on Twitter.

Hindenburg isn’t the first research firm to express concern about the finances of Adani’s sprawling empire, which has borrowed $30 billion to become established in industries ranging from logistics to mining, and is aggressively growing in diverse sectors such as media, data centers, airports and cement.

Ackman weighed into the debate on Twitter Thursday, saying he found the Hindenburg investigation “highly credible and extremely well researched.”

“We are not invested long or short in any of the Adani companies … nor have we done our own independent research,” Ackman added.

Hindenburg’s claims come at a sensitive time. Adani Enterprises is aiming to raise 200 billion rupees ($2.5 billion) by issuing new shares this month. The offer will close on Tuesday.

A college dropout and a self-made industrialist, Adani is the world’s fourth richest man, ahead of Bill Gates and Warren Buffet. He is also seen as a close ally of India’s prime minister, Narendra Modi.

The 60-year old tycoon founded the Adani group over 30 years ago.



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Business

Elon Musk meets with House Speaker Kevin McCarthy and Hakeem Jeffries

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CNN
 — 

Twitter and Tesla CEO Elon Musk met with House Speaker Kevin McCarthy and Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries at the US Capitol in Washington on Thursday evening.

McCarthy, leaving the meeting with Musk in his office, declined to comment other than to say: “He came for my birthday.” The California Republican turned 58 on Thursday.

After the meeting, Musk wrote on Twitter that he met with McCarthy and Jeffries “to discuss ensuring that this platform is fair to both parties.”

The meeting between Musk and congressional leaders comes as the House Oversight Committee is planning to hold a hearing next month focused on Twitter and how it handled a story about Hunter Biden’s laptop. The House GOP conference members have promised rigorous oversight into big tech and social media platforms, which they have accused of conservative censorship.

The panel invited three former Twitter employees to testify, and is in active discussions with the trio about appearing in front of the committee, according to multiple sources familiar with the matter. The committee is looking at February 8 as a potential target date for the hearing, the sources said.

The manner in which Twitter handled the Hunter Biden laptop story has been the subject of several so-called Twitter Files reports, corporate communications that have been disseminated to journalists hand-picked by Musk and his team at Twitter. The Twitter Files have shown the company’s moderation team agonized over how to handle initial stories about the saga. Although early news reports were blocked or downplayed, the company quickly reversed course and allowed them to be posted and discussed on the platform.

Musk has developed a reputation as a polarizing figure in the tech industry and for his political views. He has frequently weighed in publicly on US policy and the political landscape in recent months. Musk has said that he has voted for Democrats and Republicans in the past but has recently favored conservatives and says he identifies as Republican.

The meeting comes amid a political power shift in Washington after Republicans took control of the House of Representatives in January and elected McCarthy as speaker.

This story and headline have been updated with additional developments.

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