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Beyond Meat rebranded as Beyond The Plant Protein Company last week, amid what Brown described as a “period of confusion” around plant-based proteins. In an interview by The Associated Press and published by Fortune, Brown said, “For me, it is an opportunity to reshape the company around very real food that is directly from plants. It’s about delivering all those benefits of the plant kingdom to the consumer in ways that they’re going to be able to easily integrate it into their lives.” In a social media post about the long-awaited rebrand, Beyond wrote, “Welcome to Beyond The Plant Protein...

The Oscars 2026 might be over, but fans’ fury over “dirty” celebrities is just getting started. A picture showing trash, including discarded water bottles and snack packets, strewn across Hollywood’s Dolby Theatre has gone viral on social media — sparking backlash over the hypocrisy of the elite, who grandstand about the environment. “Aren’t some of them environmentalists?” one critic pointed out. “Where’s all that ‘protect the planet’ energy now?” “Save the mountains, keep them clean, blah blah blah … but look at the mess they leave,” another chimed in of the hypocrisy.

HHS secretary violated federal procedures in revamping advisory committee, judge saysA federal judge in Boston has temporarily blocked federal health officials from cutting the number of vaccines recommended for every child, and says Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. likely violated federal procedures in revamping a key vaccine advisory committee. The decision Monday halts an order by Kennedy -- announced in January -- to end broad recommendations for all children to be vaccinated against flu, rotavirus, hepatitis A, hepatitis B, some forms of meningitis, and RSV. Leading medical groups voiced alarm at the changes. The American Academy of Pediatrics and...

As a cofounder of PayPal and the first outside investor in Facebook, Peter Thiel is widely recognized for his expertise in tech. But for a while now, the billionaire venture capitalist is sounding the alarm on an entirely different sector: real estate.During an interview with Common Wealth Canada in late 2024, Thiel drew upon the insights of 19th-century economist Henry George to underscore the gravity of America’s real estate crisis (1).snip“The dynamic ends up being that you add 10% to the population in a city, and maybe the house prices go up 50%, and maybe people’s salaries go up, but...

In an expedited procedure, the European Commission recently raised tariffs on ceramic and porcelain products from China. Additional tariff measures are also being considered to protect the European internal market from the Chinese export engine. Is the EU economy now facing a trade war with Beijing, alongside the potential import halt on rare earths? Tensions in international trade policy are escalating on multiple fronts. After the U.S. Supreme Court initially declared the tariff regime implemented by President Donald Trump since April of last year unlawful, it appears the administration has explored new ways to stabilize its tariff policy going forward....

Meta Platforms may shrink its workforce by up to 20% in a sign that artificial-intelligence productivity gains are finally materializing. According to a Reuters report from Friday, Meta has not finalized specific dates or details for cuts but is considering widespread reductions to its workforce. The company had nearly 79,000 employees as of its last annual filing. A Meta spokesperson told Reuters, “This is speculative reporting about theoretical approaches.” The company didn’t respond to a MarketWatch request for comment. But Wall Street seems encouraged that the company is thinking about paring back its staff. Shares are up 2.9% in Monday’s...

An article at the European Institute for Climate & Energy (EIKE) website here takes a critical look at whether battery parks would be feasible to fully secure Germany’s weather-dependent power generation from wind and solar. . . . 10 days of buffer To bridge a ten-day “Dunkelflaute” (dark doldrums) in winter with a 50 GW load, 12,000 GWh would be needed. This is 470 times the current total capacity and 2,800 times the current large-scale storage. Such a battery would weigh 60 million tons. A modern factory (like CATL in Thuringia) would theoretically need 857 years to produce this amount.

As we reported Friday, President Donald Trump issued an executive order authorizing the Energy Department to invoke the Defense Production Act, a 1950s Cold War-era law, to force the restart of a dormant offshore oil operation along the California coast.Oil prices have been volatile as the Iran conflict continues, and the Islamic Republic threatens the crucial Strait of Hormuz, the Middle Eastern waterway through which over 20 percent of the world's oil flows. According to the Santa Barbara News-Press, that oil could start flowing immediately:A federal order Friday directed Sable Offshore Corporation to restart its pipelines to transport oil from...

Palantir CEO Alex Karp says AI will upend society and that even people in tech underestimate "how disruptive these technologies are." "If you are going to disrupt the economic and, therefore, political power significantly of one party's base, highly educated, often female voters who vote mostly Democrat, and military and working class people who do not feel supported, and you feel like that's, you believe that that's going to work out politically — you're in an insane asylum," Karp told CNBC on Thursday on the sidelines of AIPCon 9 in Maryland. Karp said that, since AI will largely disrupt white-collar...

Uber co-founder Travis Kalanick says he has traded California for Texas, joining a growing list of billionaires abandoning the state as lefty lawmakers push for a one-off tax their wealth. Appearing on TPBN to discuss his robotics startup Atoms, Kalanick told hosts John Coogan and Jordi Hays he relocated to Austin on December 18. California lawmakers and activists are currently pushing a proposed 2026 Billionaire Tax Act, which could appear on the state’s November 2026 ballot. The measure would impose a one-time 5% tax on fortunes exceeding $1 billion and would apply to people who were California residents as of...

A hotel near Venice Beach that the city bought to transform into homeless housing remains empty after years of drawn-out delays and a ballooning budget. The former Ramada Inn on Washington Avenue has sat mostly vacant since 2020 as officials have scrambled to secure permits, subsidies and construction financing. Now the price tag for the stalled project is approaching $20 million, after the city plunked down a relatively paltry $8 million for the property in 2020.

Stew, a 35-year-old from Montana, has enjoyed dabbling in sports bets since he downloaded the Kalshi app about 18 months ago. But just a few weeks ago, after spotting reports of elevated pizza deliveries around the Pentagon during some late-night scrolling, he made a different kind of bet - wagering $10 (£7.50) on the odds that Iran's Ayatollah Ali Khamenei would be "out" by 1 March. It was a trade that tested the limits of the kinds of bets Americans are allowed to make. So-called predictions markets - overseen by firms such as Kalshi - have exploded in popularity over...

Trump loyalist Laura Loomer apologised for some of her anti-India social media posts after they sparked outrage, adding she would not regret her stance on the H-1B visa programme.American political activist and staunch Donald Trump loyalist Laura Loomer on Saturday apologised at the India Today Conclave in New Delhi for some of her anti-India social media posts, which had drawn sharp criticism for their highly racist and derogatory nature. In multiple posts on X, Loomer had made crude stereotypes and remarks about Indians, questioning their presence in the United States, as well as making disparaging comments about hygiene and...

Artificial intelligence adoption could lead to significant job struggles for entry-level workers as companies boost productivity, according to ServiceNow CEO Bill McDermott. McDermott told “Squawk on the Street” on Friday that unemployment for new college graduates “could easily go into the mid-30s in the next couple of years.” Across industries, businesses are slashing costs and cutting jobs with the help of new AI tools. Last month, Block announced plans to cut nearly half its workforce as AI automates more work. Meanwhile, software firm Atlassian, which has seen its stock dive 54% this year on AI disruption fears, said this week...

Insurance giant Chubb will be the lead underwriter for a U.S. government-led program to provide insurance to ships making the risky transit through the Strait of Hormuz. Chubb will work with the U.S. International Development Finance Corp., or DFC, as part of a $20 billion plan to help get oil tankers and other commercial traffic moving again amid risks from the Iran war, the agency said. Oil prices have spiked since the war began at the end of February. Brent crude traded above $91 a barrel midmorning Wednesday. Oil prices have stayed relatively high despite an announcement Wednesday that the...

Senate blasts through housing reform 89-10 bipartisan.Cuts HUD red tape stops investor home hoarding.Boosts builds fulfills Trump affordability push.The Senate passed the 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act with huge bipartisan support. It fights the housing crunch squeezing working families.Lawmakers like Tim Scott and Elizabeth Warren teamed up on grants and pilots to spark new homes.The bill tweaks rules for more housing types and blocks big investors from snapping up single-family houses.It streamlines federal inspections to speed projects without new spending.“When President Trump and Elizabeth Warren and the Senate majority of Republicans can all come to the same place on...

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani is pushing to reduce the state’s estate tax exemption threshold by nearly 90%, from over $7 million to $750,000, while raising the top estate tax rate from 16% to 50%. The proposal appeared in a memo circulated by Mamdani’s office to state lawmakers negotiating the state budget. New York Focus first reported the memo. Mamdani is confronting a $5.4 billion city budget deficit for the fiscal year beginning July 1 and is seeking assistance from the state legislature to generate revenue to address the shortfall. The memo included nearly a dozen potential revenue-raising ideas....

The move was met Friday with dismay in Europe, where officials and experts feared it would aid the Russian war machine in Ukraine. The Kremlin pressed Washington to go further.... The United States has temporarily lifted sanctions on Russian oil, a boost to the Kremlin as Washington tries to contain energy prices sent soaring by the American-Israeli assault on Iran. President Vladimir Putin’s team welcomed the move to ease penalties that were imposed over Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and pushed Friday for the U.S. to go further. The decision caused dismay in Europe, where officials feared it would give a...

(LOS ANGELES) – Over 100 Amazon drivers at the DAX7 facility in Los Angeles marched on their bosses today, demanding the employer recognize them as members of Teamsters Local 396 and bargain a union contract. The drivers are organizing to address Amazon’s low pay, punishing delivery quotas, and dangerous working conditions. “The movement to unionize Amazon grows stronger every day because of courageous workers like the drivers at DAX7,” said Randy Korgan, Director of the Teamsters Amazon Division. “Amazon will claim that these drivers don’t work for them, but that is a lie. Amazon Teamsters will not rest until they...

The Pentagon and National Security Council significantly underestimated Iran’s willingness to close the Strait of Hormuz in response to US military strikes while planning the ongoing operation, according to multiple sources familiar with the matter. President Donald Trump’s national security team failed to fully account for the potential consequences of what some officials have described as a worst-case scenario now facing the administration, the sources said. And now it may be weeks before the administration’s efforts to alleviate the intensifying economic fallout take hold, officials said Thursday, including high-risk naval escorts of oil tankers through the strait that the Pentagon...