Georgia follows Putin’s lead, new report says – POLITICO

Vladimir Putin’s war on Ukraine is dividing Europe’s eastern neighborhood — with some countries moving closer to the European Union but others, including Georgia, gladly following Russia’s path to authoritarianism, a report published Wednesday said. The report by Eastern Partnership Civil Society Forum noted that Russia’s invasion of Ukraine boosted relations between some eastern states and … Read more

Microsoft briefly crosses $3 trillion in market cap

Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella speaks at the CES conference in Las Vegas on Jan. 9, 2024. David Paul Morris | Bloomberg | Getty Images Microsoft’s market cap briefly surpassed $3 trillion in intraday trading Wednesday after the stock climbed more than 1% and hit around $404 per share. The milestone comes two weeks after Microsoft … Read more

Netflix adds record 13.1M subscribers, stock soars past $500

Netflix on Tuesday blew past Wall Street subscriber estimates in the fourth quarter, driven by a strong slate of shows that included the final season of the long-running royal drama “The Crown” and David Fincher’s original film, “The Killer.” The company reported it added 13.1 million subscribers in the December quarter, its largest fourth-quarter subscriber growth … Read more

$3B Disney bet caused Nelson Peltz’s hedge fund to underperform in 2023: source

A $3 billion bet on Walt Disney by Nelson Peltz’s Trian Fund Management was largely responsible for the investment management firm’s underperformance last year compared to its activist hedge fund peers, according to financial details provided to Reuters by a Trian investor. The previously unreported details illustrate the high financial stakes for Trian as it seeks … Read more

Media bias strains Moroccan-Israeli relations as gov’t seek objectivity

Over three years have passed since Israel and Morocco signed their normalization agreements. Since then, ties between the two countries have been taking off slowly but steadily. However, given Morocco’s historic neutrality, the ongoing war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza presents challenges for their relationship. But unlike during previous Israeli-Palestinian conflicts, this time, … Read more

Moscow mocks CIA for new bid to recruit Russian spies – POLITICO

The Kremlin has laughed off an attempt by the CIA to recruit spies from Russia via social media. “Somebody should tell the CIA that VKontakte is much more popular here than the banned X [formerly Twitter] and that VKontakte has a much larger audience,” Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said Tuesday, according to state-run news agency … Read more

Peace in Gaza is impossible without empathy – POLITICO

Jamie Dettmer is opinion editor at POLITICO Europe. TEL AVIV — As Israel presses on with its military campaign, one would be hard pressed to find reports of what Gazans are enduring or the dire conditions they face when scanning the country’s television channels and media. It lies in stark contrast to what the rest … Read more

Diversity-based hiring is antisemitic – POLITICO

KRAKÓW, Poland — Elon Musk has upped his war on woke by saying that diverse hiring policies are “fundamentally antisemitic” and discriminatory, shortly after a private visit to the Auschwitz-Birkenau Nazi concentration camp. The controversial tech billionaire was speaking at a European Jewish Association (EJA) conference in the Polish city of Kraków, amid rising criticism that his social … Read more

AI models don’t need publishers’ data

Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI, attends the 54th annual meeting of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, on Jan. 18, 2024. Denis Balibouse | Reuters DAVOS, Switzerland — Sam Altman said he was “surprised” by The New York Times’ lawsuit against his company, OpenAI, saying its artificial intelligence models didn’t need to train on … Read more

Russia fuel export terminal halts operations after suspected Kyiv drone attack – POLITICO

A huge Russian fuel export terminal near St. Petersburg was forced to suspend operations on Sunday after a suspected attack by Ukrainian drones, according to media reports. Russian energy company Novatek suspended operations at the giant Ust-Luga Baltic Sea fuel export terminal due to a fire purportedly started by a drone attack, multiple media outlets … Read more