Friday, February 23, 2018

Back to the 80s: Kim’s ‘Lipstick Soldiers’ Are Stuck in Time - Bloomberg

Back to the 80s: Kim’s ‘Lipstick Soldiers’ Are Stuck in Time
By and
February 24, 2018, 12:00 AM GMT+11
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un’s cheering squad mesmerized the 2018 Winter Olympics as his “lipstick soldiers” belted out catchy fight songs and clapped in unison.
But the more than 200 cheerleaders, with their identical croissant hairstyles, funky pink lipsticks and red snowsuits, stood out in another way for many Olympic spectators: The huge cultural gap that would have to be narrowed if and when the two countries reach a peace accord.
“I feel like their make-up and clothes are very old-fashioned, something I expect seeing in 1980s or 1990s and this suggests how much North Korea is culturally lagging behind us,” said Jeong Se-rim, 22, a nurse who was at the Gangneung Ice Arena to watch North Korean pair figure skaters. “It is something I would imagine my mom to wear when she was in her twenties.”
As the international sanctions over the isolated nation’s nuclear tests and missile launches continue to be strengthened, North’s economy and culture remains far behind that of its neighbors to the south.
Awkward Moments
In 2016, per capita income in North Korea was less than 5 percent of that in the South, where residents enjoy the world’s fastest Internet speeds. A 2015 report from the National Assembly Budget Office estimated that even under a peaceful scenario where Seoul expands humanitarian support ahead of reunification in 2026, it could cost about $2.8 trillion to help bring North Korea’s GDP to two-thirds that of South Korea.
Narrowing the cultural gap might be less costly but equally thorny as the divide continues to widen with successive generations separated for more than six decades.
The cheerleaders during the opening ceremony.Photographer: Mark Ralston/AFP via Getty Images
North Korea’s “juche," or self-reliance policies have blocked the influx of foreign culture and have led to some awkward moments at the Olympics games. North Korean cheerleaders swayed, clapped, sang their own songs in perfect unison as K-pop boy-band BTS’ Blood, Sweat & Tears rocked the stadium.
“While South Koreans just think of their past when they see North Koreans, North Koreans are immensely shocked when they experience the Americanized culture of the South,” said Philo Kim, an associate professor at Institute for Peace and Unification Studies at Seoul National University. “There is a huge gap between the culture of North Korea and South Korea.”
Underground efforts to bridge that divide has been met with a stern crackdown. K-pop music and Korean TV dramas stored on USB drives are being snuck into the North via black market traders. But a recent crackdown including imprisonment for those possessing such contraband has slowed the spread of South Korean pop culture, according to a recent survey of North Korean defectors conducted by Kim’s institute.
In addition to the widening crackdown, Kim Jong Un’s regime has been pushing its own version of K-pop: female groups such as Moranbong Band, Pyongyang’s answer to South Korean idol groups.
A North Korean defector who came to Seoul recently after studying at a university in the North said ruling party officials enjoy North Korean pop stars while their children secretly listen to K-pop songs.
He recalled the time a classmate was caught in the middle of the night with South Korean content on his hard drive. The classmate, who happened to have a connection with Kim Jong Un’s family, got off easy and was moved to a lower grade, according to the defector who asked not to be named as his family is still in North Korea.
“But I couldn’t listen to K-pop more than twice as I was afraid of being killed if I had been caught,” he said.
— With assistance by Jiyeun Lee

Police say the 19-year-old confessed to killing 17 people in one of the deadliest school shootings in US history. - Al Jazeera

23/2/2018
Police say the 19-year-old confessed to killing 17 people in one of the deadliest school shootings in US history.
Florida high school shooting: What we know so far
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A 19-year-old man has confessed to the shooting at a Florida high school that resulted in the deaths of at least 17 people, including students and adults, police say.
Nikolas Cruz "stated that he was the gunman who entered the school campus armed with an AR-15 and began shooting students that he saw in the hallways and on the school grounds", a police document, released after the shooting, reads.
The teenager was also charged with 17 counts of premeditated murder.
Police say Cruz, armed with a semiautomatic rifle, gas mask, "multiple magazines" of ammunition and smoke grenades, began his shooting rampage at the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida just before dismissal last week.
At least 17 people were killed and 15 others injured.
According to police documents, Cruz stated that "he brought additional loaded magazines to the school campus and kept them hidden in a backpack until he got on campus to begin his assault".
Police say the teen also admitted that he left the scene "as students began to flee the campus on foot" and he "decided a plan to discard the AR15 and vest with the additional magazines so he could blend into the crowd".
He was arrested "without incident" about an hour after the attack in a neighbouring town, police say.
Here's what we know so far about Nikolas Cruz:
Cruz was expelled from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School for "disciplinary reasons". Authorities have not specified when he was expelled or the details of the expulsion.
He has been charged with 17 counts of premeditated murder.
He confessed to being armed with a semiautomatic AR-15 rifle and multiple magazines of ammunition.
Florida high school shooting: What we know so far
According to police documents, he left the scene as a crowd of students fled.
Police told reporters on Thursday that after the shooting Cruz went to a Walmart, where he bought a drink at a Subway restaurant, and then to a McDonalds.
Police say Cruz's social media posts are "very, very disturbing".
Investigators are looking into a possible connection to a white supremacist group in Florida. The leader of Republic of Florida group confirmed to the Associated Press that Cruz was a member. Police have said that a connection to the group is "not confirmed".
Students who say they knew Cruz have told local media that the teenager was a "loner" and often showed off photos of guns.
According to local media, the FBI was warned about a post on YouTube last September by someone with the name Nikolas Cruz that said: "I'm going to be a professional school shooter". A video blogger alerted the FBI to the comment and was then questioned by the agency. According to local media, the FBI did not alert local police about the comment. Investigators are trying to determine the true identity of the individual who posted the comment.
Police have not determined a motive for the shooting.
SOURCE: AL JAZEERA NEWS

Watch Wall Street Analysts Lose Their Minds Over Free Candy - Bloomberg

Watch Wall Street Analysts Lose Their Minds Over Free Candy
By
February 23, 2018, 11:00 PM GMT+11 Updated on February 24, 2018, 12:08 AM GMT+11
Feeding frenzy for choclate kisses at Boca Raton convention
Lore of scrums past begets ever-more intense free-for-alls
They are lined up four or five deep, anxiously waiting with tote bags in hand for the official green-light to swoop in and scoop up as much Hershey Co.’s candy as they can.
There’s a palpable excitement in the air. The rush will be intense. And brief. Within minutes, all the best stuff -- the classic Hershey’s bars, the Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups -- will be gone. Someone impatiently lunges for a Kiss, snares it and is reprimanded by the hotel staff.
Elementary-school kids? No. Cash-strapped college kids? Not them either.
Boca Raton Resort and ClubPhotographer: Richard Patterson/Getty Images
They’re Wall Street analysts, congregated at the posh Boca Raton Resort and Club in Florida for an annual convention where consumer companies try to convince the analysts that their stocks are worth investing in. Each afternoon during the five-day event, known as CAGNY, one company lays out piles of samples for the ravenous crowd. Ostensibly, it’s an opportunity to show off new items, and to build good will with the crowd of equity numbers crunchers.
The reality is more like a feeding frenzy, with analysts, and sometimes members of their families, loading up on sugar-loaded treats.
What causes wealthy Wall Street men and women to run, elbow and lunge for candy bars -- and then pack them into boxes to be shipped home -- is something of a mystery. It’s just one of those phenomena that seems to build on its own reputation. The lore of the scrums of past years begets ever-more intense free-for-alls.
Candy rushPhotographer: Craig Giammona/Bloomberg
Mondelez International Inc., the maker of Cadbury chocolates and Oreos, lures a raucous crowd. But nothing quite compares to the buzz surrounding the Hershey offering. Here’s how this year’s edition unfolded.
2 p.m. Inside the main ballroom, PepsiCo Inc. executives have just started their presentation. In another room, Altria Group Inc. is wrapping up another session. The real action, though, is underway in a corridor outside. Hotel workers are briskly setting up displays for the Hershey break. A large sign for “Hershey’s Gold,” the first new flavor of the famed bar to come out in more than 20 years, is put up. The area is mostly empty beyond the hotel staff. It’s the calm before the storm.
2:10 p.m. Tables packed with candy start to emerge. A woman swoops in and snags a bag of Reese’s snack mix. A cry of “cover, cover” rings out. The staff quickly drapes white table cloths over the tables to deter other early birds.
2:12 p.m. Boxes of Krave beef jerky and Bark Thins appear. Hershey has delivered a lot of product -- roughly the amount they would sell at 350 retail locations on an average day.
2:17 p.m. Most of the tables are now set up. Hotel workers stand guard. Hershey staff are also on the scene, making final tweaks to the displays.
2:25 p.m. Pepsi has kept its presentation short and analysts are trickling out of the main ballroom. The crowd starts to gather near the tables.
2:27 p.m. The table cloths covering the candy are adding to the intrigue. One analyst laments that he doesn’t know where to set up to grab the best stuff. A woman says she wants to get Sour Patch kids for her kids, but is disappointed to learn those are made by Mondelez. She’ll settle for Twizzlers.
2:32 p.m. More and more people, including children of some conference attendees, are showing up, clutching bags. Totes handed out earlier in the conference by General Mills Inc. and Conagra Brands Inc. seem to be the preferred transport of candy.
2:44 p.m. The crowd near the tables is four or five people deep in some spots. The tension is building. (A day earlier, in anticipation of the Mondelez break, Andrew Lazar, a Barclays analyst who heads the conference, cautioned the crowd -- sort of jokingly -- to “be careful” out there.) Just then, a hotel worker gives the green light, signaling with his hand for his colleagues to pull back the table cloths. It’s on. And it’s clear some of the veterans have a strategy, grabbing handfuls of items, filling bags and quickly moving on.
2:53 p.m. The initial rush is over, but there’s still plenty of candy left. Analysts are stuffing their pockets with Hershey Kisses.
3 p.m. The next company presentation -- by Constellation Brands Inc. -- is starting and most of the analysts have gone back to the ballroom. Almost all of the Hershey snacks are gone, save for a bunch of Jolly Ranchers, some Twizzlers and bags of Skinny Pop and Paqui Chips.
3:15 p.m. Three children dump out their bags of candy on a table near the CAGNY registration desk. It’s like a scene out of Halloween. The resort’s shipping room is down the hall. Soon, it will be busy processing whatever couldn’t be consumed or jammed into suitcases.

US blocks a Chinese deal amid rising tensions over technology - CNBC News ( source : New York Times )

23/2/2018
US blocks a Chinese deal amid rising tensions over technology
Raymond Zhong Updated
The New York Times
United States officials have torpedoed a Chinese state-backed group's plan to buy an American electronics company, signaling the Trump administration's continuing skepticism toward Chinese investment deals, particularly those that involve transferring technological know-how.
Xcerra, a Massachusetts-based provider of equipment for testing computer chips and circuit boards, said this week that it was withdrawing from its $580 million sale to an investment group backed by a Chinese government-controlled fund.
The reason, according to Dave Tacelli, Xcerra's president and chief executive, was that the deal was not likely to be approved by the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States, a multiagency Washington panel that operates largely out of the public eye. The committee, known as Cfius, plays an advisory role to the president, but it can effectively block foreign acquisitions of American companies over national security concerns.
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"Despite our best efforts to secure approval, it has become evident that Cfius will not clear this transaction," Mr. Tacelli said. The deal would ultimately have been financed by the China Integrated Circuit Industry Investment Fund, a $21 billion fund that counts several Chinese state-run companies as investors.
It was the latest in a string of Chinese acquisitions scotched by Washington officials. Under President Obama, regulators showed increased skepticism about Chinese deals involving technology companies. That trend has continued under President Trump, who has taken a tough line on China's trade and investment practices.
Chinese deal makers may soon find it even harder to get investments and acquisitions through. Lawmakers in Washington introduced a bill late last year that would widen Cfius's remit, giving it oversight over more types of deals and, in particular, those that move advanced technologies into foreign hands.
The intensified scrutiny comes as China's government is ramping up a plan, called "Made in China 2025," to use state support and overseas acquisitions to dominate high-tech fields such as big data, advanced robotics and electric cars.
The two countries have clashed over computer chips before. In September, the Trump administration blocked the $1.3 billion purchase of Lattice Semiconductor, an American chip manufacturer, by a Chinese-funded private equity firm.
Tensions have also flared over technology deals that involve sensitive personal data. In January, regulatory worries caused the collapse of a plan by Ant Financial, a sister company of the Alibaba Group, the Chinese e-retailing giant, to buy MoneyGram, the money-transfer provider. That deal would have been worth $1.2 billion.
In scuttling the purchase of Xcerra, American officials have struck at a major priority area for China's innovation policies.
China is the world's biggest exporter of electronic devices. But to churn out all those smartphones, computers and other equipment, it must still import most of the electronic brains inside them. That has led the government in Beijing to try to supercharge its domestic chip industry.
Progress so far has been mixed. Despite government subsidies, the technologies at China's leading chip makers remain generations behind those at Intel, Samsung and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company.
In the business of semiconductor assembling, packaging and testing, however, China has surged to become a world leader. Xcerra designs and makes equipment to test chips, but it doesn't manufacture chips themselves.

Don’t buy UPS shares until it figures out its relationship with Amazon: Deutsche Bank - CNBC News

Don’t buy UPS shares until it figures out its relationship with Amazon: Deutsche Bank
Deutsche Bank lowers its rating for UPS shares to hold from buy, citing the company's difficulties in handling surging e-commerce delivery volumes from Amazon.
The firm's analyst is concerned the company will have to invest more in its delivery infrastructure.
Tae Kim | @firstadopter
Published 23/2/2018
CNBC.com
Chief Executive Officer of Amazon, Jeff Bezos, tours the facility at the grand opening of the Amazon Spheres, in Seattle, Washington on January 29, 2018.
Jason Redmond | AFP | Getty Images
Chief Executive Officer of Amazon, Jeff Bezos, tours the facility at the grand opening of the Amazon Spheres, in Seattle, Washington on January 29, 2018.
UPS' difficulties in handling surging e-commerce delivery volumes from Amazon is a problem, according to one Wall Street firm.
Deutsche Bank lowered its rating for UPS shares to hold from buy, saying the company will have to invest more in its delivery infrastructure due to rising online sales.
"We have reduced confidence in UPS' ability to control burgeoning capex, with capital intensity expectations more than doubling as a % of sales in just the last 12mo," analyst Amit Mehrotra wrote in a note to clients Thursday. "We see a lack of positive catalysts to justify a Buy rating. UPS shares won't start working in our view until mgmt. can articulate a sound strategy to strike the right balance between price and volumes vis-à-vis Amazon, and talk more concretely about the long-term/structural capital needs of the business as mgmt. 'leans in' to higher B2C shipments."
UPS shares declined 0.3 percent in Friday's premarket session after the report.
Mehrotra noted UPS had "significant underinvestment" in building its delivery capability over past decade amid surging e-commerce package volumes.
As a result, the analyst reduced his price target for UPS shares to $115 from $135, representing 9 percent upside to Thursday's close.
UPS shares are underperforming the market this year as investors are concerned Amazon may compete more aggressively in the delivery business. The company's stock is down 12 percent year-to-date through Thursday versus the S&P 500's 1 percent gain.
The Wall Street Journal reported on Feb. 9 Amazon is gearing up to launch a delivery service for businesses.
An UPS spokesperson sent the following statement when asked for comment on the report:
"We don't comment on third party discussions about UPS stock. UPS business strategies have yielded strong growth and industry leading return on invested capital. We are in the midst of a significant investment program designed to further enhance the capacity, capability and efficiency of the UPS network and the overall business. UPS tallied 8% revenue growth in 2017, very strong revenue per piece and annual pricing at 2.9%, which is at the high end of our normal range of 2-3%. There is tremendous opportunity in the B2C market and more growth coming to the sector and UPS, irrespective of how other companies shift strategies."

McDonald's Tries Again With Szechuan Sauce, Hoping To Assuage Angry Fans - Forbes

FEB 22, 2018 @ 03:54 PM 3,813 2 Free Issues of Forbes
McDonald's Tries Again With Szechuan Sauce, Hoping To Assuage Angry Fans
Micheline Maynard , CONTRIBUTOR
Opinions expressed by Forbes Contributors are their own.
McDonald's promises there will be enough Szechuan sauce for everybody this time.(AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis)
In another era, McDonald's would be trying to forget what happened the last time it offered Szechuan sauce for its McNuggets. But in the social media age, the kerfuffle has become a marketing opportunity.
On Monday, 20 million packets of Szechuan sauce will be available at outlets across the U.S. And that's not all.
The saga of Szechuan sauce is now the subject of an "investigative podcast" called The Sauce, meant to be a takeoff on Serial, the phenomenally popular public radio production. In the three-part series, produced with Studio@Gizmodo and Onion Labs, McDonald's tells a version of what happened in October when it made a super-limited batch of Szechuan sauce.
Namely, people actually got into fights over the sauce, which was available only at a few McDonald's stores, despite the company's promise on posters and in promotions that it would be available at more.
Here's what McDonald's said about the situation.
"Last October, we truly meant well when we brought back a super-limited batch of Szechuan Sauce, but it quickly became apparent we did not make enough to meet the expectations of our fans. We did not anticipate the overnight crowds, the cross-state travel and the amazing curiosity, passion and energy fans showed."
It went on, "Our super-limited batch, though well-intentioned, clearly wasn’t near enough to meet that demand. We disappointed fans and we are sorry. To fully make amends, we felt it was important to not only bring back much more sauce this time, but to also admit our mistakes, answer questions and give fans access to the story behind the story."
The Szechuan sauce uproar has its roots in 1998, when the spicy condiment was introduced briefly as a tie-in to the Disney animated movie Mulan.
On April Fools Day 2017, the sauce was mentioned in the animated series Rick and Morty. It was supposed to be a joke, but the mention sent customers clamoring for the "Mulan Szechuan Teriyaki Dipping Sauce."
McDonald's promised that it would be available as a special promotion on Oct. 1. To its surprise, fans lined up hours in advance, and the tiny amount available far outstripped demand, creating a number of unhappy customers.
Since then, there have been continuous rumors that the sauce would be returning. McDonald's says it has been working to produce "much, much more of the sauce."
On Monday, it says, a packet of sauce will be available to anyone making a purchase, although it's meant to be paired with chicken tenders.
Each franchise has been sent hundreds of packets, according to Debbie Wright, the McDonald's franchise holder for the Dayton, Ohio, area.
You can even get the sauce delivered to your house, if you have access to McDelivery or an Uber Eats that delivers McDonald's, she said.
What does the sauce look like? Well, it's sort of brown, like the sauce that is served on a lot of what passes for Szechuan dishes across the country.
But the sauce itself is beside the point. McDonald's is more interested in making amends —and creating buzz once more.
Micheline Maynard watches trends in the food world. Follow on Twitter @culinarywoman and on Instagram @michelinemaynard.

Obama cheers on 'fearless students' of Parkland - CNN Politics

Obama cheers on 'fearless students' of Parkland
CNN Digital Expansion DC Allie Malloy
By Allie Malloy, CNN
Updated 1914 GMT (0314 HKT) February 22, 2018
Survivor: Why are we the ones marching?
Source: CNN
Survivor: Why are we the ones marching? 02:36
Washington (CNN)Former President Barack Obama voiced his support Thursday for the "fearless students" of Parkland, Florida, telling them, "we've got your backs."
Obama said on Twitter that it was "inspiring" to watch the young adults "standing up for their right to be safe; marching and organizing to remake the world as it should be."
The former president added, "We've been waiting for you. And we've got your backs."
@BarackObama
Young people have helped lead all our great movements. How inspiring to see it again in so many smart, fearless students standing up for their right to be safe; marching and organizing to remake the world as it should be. We've been waiting for you. And we've got your backs.
3:00 AM - Feb 23, 2018
Last week, following the shooting that left 17 dead at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, Obama called for legislative action on gun control, saying it's "long overdue."
"We are grieving with Parkland. But we are not powerless," the 44th President tweeted. "Caring for our kids is our first job. And until we can honestly say that we're doing enough to keep them safe from harm, including long overdue, common-sense gun safety laws that most Americans want, then we have to change."
@BarackObama
Young people have helped lead all our great movements. How inspiring to see it again in so many smart, fearless students standing up for their right to be safe; marching and organizing to remake the world as it should be. We've been waiting for you. And we've got your backs.
3:00 AM - Feb 23, 2018
On Wednesday, former first lady Michelle Obama also tweeted her support for the students, saying she was "in total awe."
"Like every movement for progress in our history, gun reform will take unyielding courage and endurance. But @BarackObama and I believe in you, we're proud of you, and we're behind you every step of the way," the former first lady tweeted.
@MichelleObama
I’m in total awe of the extraordinary students in Florida. Like every movement for progress in our history, gun reform will take unyielding courage and endurance. But @barackobama and I believe in you, we’re proud of you, and we’re behind you every step of the way.
12:24 PM - Feb 22, 2018