Global News

WWIII Incoming

Putin not happy Ukraine is firing U.S. missles.

Russian president Vladimir Putin said on Thursday that the Ukraine war was escalating towards a global conflict, after the United States and Britain allowed Ukraine to hit Russia with their weapons. Putin also warned the West that he might retaliate, following that decision. 

For now, Russia has responded to the use of those missiles by firing a new kind of hypersonic medium-range ballistic missile at a Ukrainian military facility, with Putin warning that more could follow. However, he did say that civilians will be warned ahead of any future strikes from these types of weapons. 

President Joe Biden’s administration approved the use of such missiles for Ukraine, and the country took advantage, firing six of the U.S.-made ATACMS on November 19th. They also fired British Storm Shadow missiles and U.S.-made HIMARS on November 21st.

“From that moment, as we have repeatedly underscored, a regional conflict in Ukraine previously provoked by the West has acquired elements of a global character,” Putin said. He also claimed that the United States is pushing the world towards a global conflict. 

“And in case of escalation of aggressive actions, we will also respond decisively and in a mirror manner,” Putin warned. “Let me remind you that Russia has voluntarily, unilaterally committed itself not to deploy medium-range and shorter-range missiles until such time as American Weapons of this kind appear in any region of the world.”

While the November 19th attack did not lead to any injuries, the November 21st attack did lead to some deaths and injuries. 

The concern amongst Ukraine and the West is that Russia could try to attack a NATO member one day IF Putin is able to win Ukraine. 

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Business

167 Thousand LBS of Beef Recalled

Another week, another E. Coli scare.

Another month and another foodborne illness breakout, as Wolverine Packing Company recalled over 167,000 pounds of ground beef products due to the risk that the meat could have E. coli present in it.

The recalled ground beef, produced by the Detroit-based company, was sent to eateries across the country. It could potentially be tainted with a particular strain of E. coli bacteria, according to the Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS).

The FSIS said it was “concerned that some product may be in restaurant refrigerators or freezers” and instructed those with this product from Wolverine Packing Company to just toss it out, or return the item. 

The potentially contaminated meat can be identified by its “EST. 2574B” establishment number. The packaging would also have a November 14 “use by” date if fresh (shouldn’t that already be tossed out?), or an October 22 production date if frozen, according to the FSIS. 

So far, 15 people have become sick (that we know of), with each saying they consumed ground beef prior to the illness. 

It was linked back to Wolverine Packing Company, which “has notified all customers that received product encompassed by the recall. We are conducting an intense internal audit to fully review supplier and process in place, including rigorous quality control measures, to maintain the highest standards of production,” according to their statement to FOX Business. 

“As a third-generation, family-owned and operated company in business for nearly 90 years, we are committed to food and consumer safety,” they added. Wolverine Packing Company produces 4,000 different meat products, according to its website.

According to Johns Hopkins Medicine (“I smoked pot with Johnny Hopkins” -Brennan Huff), this is “the most common strain to cause illness in people” and can produce a “powerful toxin that can cause severe illness.” Common symptoms are dehydration, bloody diarrhea and abdominal cramps, according to the FSIS, which will show up 2-8 days after coming into contact with the bacteria. 

There are typically 70,000 cases of this strand of E. coli per year. This is the latest food recall of 2024, after a listeria outbreak in cold cut meats, and even a problem with McDonald’s Quarter Pounders.

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Politics

Gaetz is Out, Bondi is Next Up

We have a new name for Attorney General, Pam Bondi

There’s already been one change in the cabinet of president-elect Donald Trump. Matt Gaetz is out and Pam Bondi is in as the leader of the Department of Justice. 

Bondi was named hours after Gaetz withdrew, due to many allegations about his sexual relations with a minor, which Gaetz has always denied. Meanwhile, the Bondi nomination seems to be a much more popular one. 

Bondi was a senior adviser on Trump’s first impeachment defense team, a role for which she took a leave from the lobbying firm Ballard Partners. She has since rejoined the firm, which was founded by Brian Ballard, the former chair of the Trump Victory fundraising committee. 

Bondi’s connection with Trump predates his time in politics, as Trump donated $25,000 to a committee supporting Bondi. She has supported Trump in each of his presidential campaigns, and worked as part of his first administration as a member of a presidential commission that was focused on drug addiction and the opioid crisis. 

“For too long, the Partisan Department of Justice has been weaponized against me and other Republicans – Not anymore,” Trump wrote on Truth Social while announcing the selection.

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Finance | Tech

Musk Calls Out Bezos

Elon says ol’ Jeff told people to sell Tesla stock ahead of the election.

Additionally, another month and another story involving Elon Musk. This time for calling out fellow billionaire rival Jeff Bezos. 

Musk claimed that Bezos advised friends to sell their Tesla shares, because Donald Trump was going to lose the presidential election - something Bezos has since denied. 

Musk tweeted “Just learned tonight at Mar-a-Lago that Jeff Bezos was telling everyone that Donald Trump would lose for sure, so they should sell all their Tesla and SpaceX stock.”

“Nope. 100% not true,” Bezos quickly responded. Which led to Musk replying, “well, then, I stand corrected,” with a crying laughing face emoji. 

The idea being that Trump winning would be good for Musk’s business, while a loss for Trump would be like one for Musk too. Musk contributed tens of millions of dollars to Trump’s campaign, as the two have become fast friends. Trump even gave Musk a (newly created) position in his cabinet, following his Election Day victory, which the two celebrated together. Trump even traveled to Texas last week to watch a SpaceX rocket launch with Musk. 

Musk had previously stated that he would have been “f–cked” if Trump had lost.

And despite previously being against electrical vehicles, Trump has since changed his tune - maybe because of the Musk partnership. The president-elect once said that EV drivers are “[destroying] our once great USA” and should “rot in hell.”

However, more recently, he has said, "I'm for electric cars. I have to be because Elon endorsed me very strongly.” He later added “I’ve driven them, and they are incredible, but they’re not for everybody.”

Following Trump’s victory, Tesla stock soared 40% in the next week, and is up 53% for the month.

On the flip side, Bezos did not endorse either candidate for President. He even blocked his newspaper, the Washington Post, from publishing its historical endorsement of one candidate or the other, receiving a lot of backlash for the decision. 

But Bezos doubled down, saying “Presidential endorsements do nothing to tip the scales of an election. What presidential endorsements actually do is create a perception of bias. A perception of nonindependence. Ending them is a principled decision, and it’s the right one.”

Bezos and Musk have long been rivals, even competing in the space exploration space. The rivalry was even mentioned in a competition lawsuit from Amazon shareholders a few years back. 

Amazon Going All In On AI Startup

Betting big, Amazon is investing $4B in Anthropic

The AI startup Anthropic has raised an additional $4 billion investment from its longtime backer Amazon.com, which brings the total investment to $8 billion. Still, Amazon will remain a minority investor, but its AWS unit will also be Anthropic’s official cloud provider. 

The company, which was co-founded by former OpenAI executives and siblings Dario and Daniela Amodei, said last year it had also secured a $500m investment from Alphabet, which also promised to invest another $1.5 billion. 

Britain’s competition regulator had already said in September that Amazon’s partnership with Anthropic will not require a deeper inquiry, as it did not fall under its jurisdiction.

Finance

UPS Hit With 45M Dollar Penalty

You can’t improperly value your business guys.

UPS is set to pay a $45 million penalty, following a settlement with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The penalty is for materially misrepresenting its earnings because it failed to follow generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP) in valuing one of its worst performing businesses.

UPS determined in 2019 that UPS freight, a business unit that transported less-than-truckload shipments, was likely to sell for no more than $650 million. UPS relied on an outside consultant’s valuation of Freight without giving the consultant information necessary to conduct a fair valuation of the business. Using assumptions approved by UPS, the consultant estimated Freight was worth about $2 billion, which was three times as much as UPS had determined.

It’s also alleged that in 2020, UPS entered into a non-binding term sheet to sell Freight for $800 million. Had UPS properly valued Freight, its earnings and other reported items would have been materially lower. 

UPS did not confirm nor deny the allegations, but did agree to a cease and desist from further violations of the provisions that the SEC believed they violated. 

From the Street:

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