Good morning, Q-MHI readers!
WHAT TO WATCH FOR TODAY !
John Bolton has a tense meeting in Russia.
Donald Trump says the US will “terminate” the 1987 intermediate-range nuclear forces (INF) treaty after claiming that Russia had been noncompliant for years.
“We’re the ones that have stayed in the agreement and we’ve honored the agreement but Russia has not unfortunately honored the agreement so we’re going to terminate [it],” Trump told reporters today at a Nevada campaign rally.
The national security adviser will discuss a Cold War-era treaty banning intermediate-range nuclear missiles.The US believes Russia has been violating the INF since at least 2013, when the Kremlin tested a ground-launched cruise missile.
The Obama administration, which Trump criticized in his remarks, chose not to leave the INF treaty despite alleged Russian violations, due to concerns from European countries like Germany and fears of a potential arms race.
Trump hinted at nuclear escalation today, saying, “If we get smart and if others get smart, and say ‘Let’s not develop these horrible nuclear weapons,’ I would be extremely happy with that. But as long as somebody’s violating that agreement then we’re not going to be the only ones to adhere to it.”
Donald Trump announced Saturday that he would withdraw from the treaty as Russia has been noncompliant, The INF treaty was established during the Cold War by former president Ronald Reagan. It banned missiles with a range of 500 to 5,500km, and led to the destruction of thousands of stored arms on both sides.
How has Russia responded?
a move Moscow said would be a “very dangerous step that, I’m sure, not only will not be comprehended by the international community but will provoke serious condemnation,” Russia’s Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said.
The treaty is “significant for international security and security in the sphere of nuclear arms, for the maintenance of strategic stability,” he told state news agency Tass.
The minister also told the news agency RIA Novosti that if the US continued to behave “clumsily and crudely” and backed out of international agreements, “then we will have no choice but to undertake retaliatory measures, including involving military technology”.
“But we would not want to get to this stage,” he added.
What is the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) treaty?
- Signed by the US and the USSR in 1987, the arms control deal banned all nuclear and non-nuclear missiles with short and medium ranges, except sea-launched weapons
- The US had been concerned by the Soviet deployment of the SS-20 missile system and responded by placing Pershing and Cruise missiles in Europe – sparking widespread protests
- By 1991, nearly 2,700 missiles had been destroyed. Both countries were allowed to inspect the others installations
- In 2007, Russian president Vladimir Putin declared the treaty no longer served Russia’s interests. The move came after the US withdrew from the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty in 2002
Hasbro presents its quarterly figures.
A drop in revenue is expected as the Toys ‘R’ Us liquidation continues to cast a shadow. Investors will be keen to hear the toy company’s forecast for the holiday season.
This toy maker is expected to post quarterly earnings of $2.26 per share in its upcoming report, which represents a year-over-year change of +8.1%.Revenues are expected to be $1.72 billion, down 3.7% from the year-ago quarter.
The consensus EPS estimate for the quarter has been revised 0.23% lower over the last 30 days to the current level. This is essentially a reflection of how the covering analysts have collectively reassessed their initial estimates over this period.
Investors should keep in mind that the direction of estimate revisions by each of the covering analysts may not always get reflected in the aggregate change.
Estimate revisions ahead of a company’s earnings release offer clues to the business conditions for the period whose results are coming out. This insight is at the core of our proprietary surprise prediction model — the Zacks Earnings ESP (Expected Surprise Prediction).
A positive Earnings ESP is a strong predictor of an earnings beat, particularly when combined with a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy), 2 (Buy) or 3 (Hold). Our research shows that stocks with this combination produce a positive surprise nearly 70% of the time, and a solid Zacks Rank actually increases the predictive power of Earnings ESP.
For Hasbro, the Most Accurate Estimate is lower than the Zacks Consensus Estimate, suggesting that analysts have recently become bearish on the company’s earnings prospects. This has resulted in an Earnings ESP of -2.66%.
Twenty-four countries debate a sanctuary in the Antarctic Ocean.
Over the next two weeks, a commission will meet in Hobart, Tasmania, to discuss creating the world’s largest protected area at nearly 2 million square kilometers (770,000 square miles).Any member country can put forward a proposal for a change to how the Antarctic Ocean is managed, and these get debated at yearly meetings. The giant new sanctuary that’s up for debate this year that’s comes from a proposal by the EU.
This year’s meeting is a golden opportunity to make the Antarctic Ocean Sanctuary happen. There’s now two million people supporting the sanctuary proposal, and people, organisations and supportive governments have poured their effort and energy into making this happen.There are also proposals on the table for other protected areas which it would be great to see passed, as we want to see a network of ocean sanctuaries in the Antarctic.
Once the negotiations are underway, everything happens behind closed doors – so it’s important to get the message across before the meeting starts on 22 October.Before then, governments will be doing last-minute preparations and finalising their negotiating tactics. Lots of countries are already on board – but these governments can still do more to be cheerleaders as well as supporters, using their diplomatic clout to convince every country to vote yes.
An update on the spread of a polio-like disease.
Starting today, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention will provide weekly updates of new cases of acute flaccid myelitis, a disease that affects the spinal cord and can cause paralysis in children-have risen substantially in the US in the past couple of months, Nancy Messonnier, director of the CDC’s Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases, said today (Oct. 16).
Usually after just a mild cold or fever, the condition weakens or paralyzes limbs. Often patients—most of whom are children—recover, but sometimes this paralysis can be permanent. One child in the US died from the condition in 2017.
“This is actually a pretty dramatic disease,” Messonnier said. “These kids have a sudden onset of weakness and they are generally seeking medical care and being evaluated by neurologists, infectious-disease doctors and their pediatricians and coming to public-health awareness.”
It’s unclear what causes AFM. The CDC, which has only collected data on 362 cases confirmed since 2014, estimates there are usually less than one million cases of AFM per year in the US. It’s widely suspected that AFM is related to the viruses that cause polio and West Nile. However, none of the patients with AFM have tested positive for polio, and Messonnier said that West Nile is not the cause. Scientists also believe it could be related to genetic or environmental factors but are unsure how.
Although there isn’t an official state-by-state count, there have been 14 cases in Colorado, eight in Texas, six in Minnesota, five in Maryland, and three in New Jersey. Over half of US states have suspected or confirmed cases, according to a survey conducted by CNN.
At the moment, there is no treatment for AFM. Healthcare providers can only try to mitigate symptoms of patients with the hope that they recover.
SPONSOR CONTENT BY LIBERTY MUTUAL
OVER THE WEEKEND
Saudi Arabia admitted Jamal Khashoggi was murdered in its Istanbul consulate.
Foreign minister Adel al-Jubeir told Fox News that the journalist’s death was a “tremendous mistake and part of a rogue operation, adding that his government would punish those responsible for his “murder.
“The individuals who did this did this outside the scope of their authority,” he told Fox News on Sunday. “There obviously was a tremendous mistake made, and what compounded the mistake was the attempt to try to cover up. That is unacceptable in any government.”
Jubeir said that Saudi Arabia was taking action to investigate how Khashoggi died and hold those responsible accountable.
“We are determined to uncover every stone. We are determined to find out all the facts. And we are determined to punish those who are responsible for this murder,” he said.
” while British, French, and German governments issued a joint statementdemanding a more credible explanation , Defending freedom of expression and a free press are key priorities for Germany, the United Kingdom and France. European nations release statement condemning killing and demanding ‘urgent clarification’ on circumstances of journalist’s death.
Our thoughts are today with Mr Khashoggi’s family, his fiancée, and his friends – who have worried about him for weeks, and to whom we extend our most heartfelt condolences.
We take note of the Saudi statement which gives their preliminary findings.Yet there remains an urgent need for clarification of exactly what happened on 2 October – beyond the hypotheses that have been raised so far in the Saudi investigation, which need to be backed by facts to be considered credible.
We thus stress that more efforts are needed and expected towards establishing the truth in a comprehensive, transparent and credible manner.We will ultimately make our judgement based on the credibility of the further explanation we receive about what happened and our confidence that such a shameful event cannot and will not ever be repeated.
We therefore ask for the investigation to be carried out thoroughly until responsibilities are clearly established and that there is proper accountability and due process for any crimes committed.
We will stay in close contact with our Saudi partners in that regard.
The quality and significance of the relationship we have with the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia also rests with the respect we have for the norms and values to which the Saudi authorities and us are jointly committed under international law.
Donald Trump, however, praised Saudi crown prince Mohammed bin Salman, whom many deem responsible.
The exception was the White House. Trump has continued to stand by the crown prince, calling him a “strong person” with “very good control” who “truly loves his country” in the Washington Post interview. He said earlier he is unwilling to jeopardize business deals between the countries, referring to US-Saudi arms sales (paywall). “We’d be punishing ourselves” by killing such a deal, he said, calling it a “tremendous order for our companies.”
Trump has continually expressed confidence in bin Salman’s handling of the matter. The prince “totally denied any knowledge of what took place in their Turkish Consulate,” he tweeted on Oct. 16, referring to discussions with the crown prince, “and has already started, and will rapidly expand, a full and complete investigation into this matter.”
But even members of Trump’s own party are criticizing the crown prince. “I feel certain that the crown prince was involved and that he directed this,” senator Rand Paul told Fox News Sunday today. “And that’s why I think we cannot continue to have relations with him. And so I think he’s gonna have to be replaced, frankly.”
Calls to sanction Saudi Arabia are rising, but the Saudi government is trying to rattle its own saber. The state-run Saudi Press Agency warned on Oct. 14 that any action from the US would elicit “greater action, and that the Kingdom’s economy has an influential and vital role in the global economy.” (The Saudi embassy in Washington later walked back the threat by thanking countries like the US “for refraining from jumping to conclusions” in the case.)
It’s a hollow threat (paywall) in any case. Saudi Arabia depends on the US for its economic well-being, and remains heavily dependent on oil. Restaging the 1970s oil embargo which drove up oil prices would be impossible. Far more countries supply international oil markets today, and US production now exceeds that of Saudi Arabia. The Saudi air force flies primarily US jets that need spare parts from US suppliers. Attempts to diversify the Saudi economy away from oil and the state (70% of employed Saudis work for the government) are mostly big bets on US startups—including Lyft, Uber, and Magic Leap—and a massive $45 billion check to SoftBank’s Vision Fund, the largest venture fund of all time.
Now the country’s investments are being questioned as well. Business leaders such as Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi and other prominent figures, including executives at Ford, Google, and JPMorgan Chase, have pulled out (paywall) of the country’s key “Davos in the Desert” event this month. Even US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, after initially saying he would attend, decided to skip it as well (he’s still slated to attend an anti-terror finance meeting with the Saudis later this month).
Saudi Arabia’s record on human rights ranks among the world’s worst. The country regularly resorts to torture, political assassinations, financing terrorism, and conducting airstrikes on civilians in Yemen, where its actions threaten to create a deadly famine for millions of people. But the gruesome details of the murder of Khashoggi, who wrote passionately about democracy in Saudi Arabia, may have struck too close to home for the crown prince’s former allies, even if Trump remains a fan.
The caravan of Honduran migrants reached southern Mexico.
Mexican authorities stopped migrants at the Guatemalan border, many of whom are now waiting to request asylum. Others managed to cross into Mexico and regroup to start walking north towards the US. An estimated 10% of the population of Guatemala, El Salvador, and Honduras have fled violence, forced gang recruitment, and poverty.
Mr Trump criticised the countries on Monday for allowing people to leave the region and come “illegally” to the US. The group is travelling through Mexico, but is still far from the US border.Human rights organisations have said that cutting aid would make the situation worse.
The president has not specified what money will be cut and it is unclear if such action can be taken by presidential order.
In 2017, Guatemala received over $248m (£191m) in US aid. The same year, Honduras received $175m and El Salvador $115m, according to the US Agency for International Development.
“Cutting aid to refugee-producing countries will only make worse the conditions that displace people in the first place,” said Human Rights Watch on Sunday.The organisation said root causes must be addressed. “People generally don’t want to leave their homes if they can live normal, safe lives there.”
Though President Trump has accused the migrants of trying to illegally enter the US, many of the families travelling towards the border are seeking asylum.They say they are fleeing persecution, poverty and violence in their home countries.
Women feel safer in a convoy
The square in Tapachula – the first major population centre inside Mexico for these migrants – has turned into what looked like a makeshift camp. Along one side, ambulances lined up so medics could treat those who had become sick or got injured on their journey.
Mexicans came to offer food, water and clothes to the many hundreds of Hondurans who rested ahead of the long punishing journey that still remains ahead of them to the US border.
Many women among the group in particular have told us that they could never have made this journey alone, because it would have been too dangerous. So in spite of their tiredness, they are glad to be with others.
But there is a sense that this is no longer just a convoy of those here in Tapachula, but that there is now a long stream of people stretching back along the route through Guatemala to Honduras, with people stuck at various obstacles and others who are still coming to join this migration.
Who are the migrants?
A group of about 1,000 Hondurans set off on foot from a bus terminal in the crime-ridden city of San Pedro Sula on 13 October in an attempt to escape unemployment and the threat of violence.
Many of them had become aware of the caravan after a former lawmaker had published a poster announcing the caravan on Facebook. News of it quickly spread on social media.
They have since been joined by other Central American nationals as they crossed Guatemala towards the Mexican border.The region has one of the highest murder rates in the world and many try to flee gang violence.
Elon Musk said his first hyperloop test tunnel was “almost done.
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”The Boring Co. will open its first high-speed transit tunnel (paywall) in Hawthorne, California on Dec. 10,While the trial tunnel — which begins on the site of Musk’s rocket company SpaceX in Hawthorne, California — injects a dose of realism to his vision of a hyper-fast underground system, key questions remain. It’s unclear how Musk will achieve the top speeds of 760 miles (1,220 kilometers) per hour he has touted for a hyperloop tunnel, and the mode of transport that will be used there.
Musk tweeted on Sunday. Musk said the trial tunnel will hit a top speed of 155 mph.“The first tunnel is almost done,” Musk said on his official Twitter account. “Opens Dec 10.”Boring Co. said in August that it was hosting tours of the tunnel site for schools in L.A. County, accommodating as many as 30 students each time.The company is also working on other projects including a Dugout Loop in Los Angeles to transport baseball fans directly to Dodger Stadium, and an express service from O’Hare airport to downtown Chicago.
Some 700,000 people gathered for an anti-Brexit rally in London.
In one of the largest demonstrations in British history, protesters on Saturday called for a second Brexit referendum, according to the People’s Vote campaign that organized the protest. The police said that, in spite of the size, the event passed without any arrests or criminal disruption. If the numbers are correct, it will go down as one of the largest protests ever held in the UK.
The “Stop the War” protest against the Iraq War, held on Feb. 15, 2003, would count as the largest, with at least 750,000 people, according to police figures. The next biggest, before today, was the Sep. 23, 2002 “Liberty and Livelihood” protest, with 400,000 people (it aimed to raise awareness of rural issues).
Theresa May, who is expected to tell the Commons today that the Brexit withdrawal agreement is 95% complete, has ruled out another referendum.
The prime minister is scheduled to make a statement on Monday afternoon, after intense criticism from the Tory right for appearing to have made no progress other than indicating at last week’s European summit that she was open to extending the post-Brexit transition period, prompting renewed speculation about a leadership challenge.A clearly rattled Downing Street held two conference calls with cabinet ministers over the weekend to update them on the European summit before a cabinet discussion on Brexit on Tuesday. Concerns were raised about the transition period and time-limiting the Irish backstop. “No one is in the mood to be bounced,” said one cabinet source.
May intends to show the progress made by highlighting all the specific areas of agreement already reached, including settling the divorce bill at £39bn, having an implementation period until at least the end of 2020 and recognising the rights of EU citizens living in the UK and vice versa.The withdrawal agreement covers the legal agreement or treaty that the UK will sign with the EU to conclude its exit by 29 March, the end of the article 50 period. May will say that the shape of the deal across “the vast majority” of its text is now clear.
Restive Conservative backbenchers will meet on Wednesday night at a meeting of the 1922 Committee, which will be addressed by the party chair, Brandon Lewis. A total of 48 of them have to write to the committee’s chair, Graham Brady, to demand a confidence vote in May if they are to trigger a leadership challenge that No 10 is desperate to avoid as the Brexit talks come towards their final critical stage.
Two key issues remain unresolved in the Brexit talks: how to ensure that the so-called backstop designed to avoid a hard border in Ireland has an end point and that it does not allow for Northern Ireland to be separated from Great Britain via a customs border.
Last week, May indicated she could accept extending the transition period in which the UK would remain subject to the customs union and single market beyond December 2020 in an attempt to reach a free trade agreement that would prevent the backstop being used.
Earlier on Sunday, the Brexit secretary, Dominic Raab, conceded that Conservative backbenchers had become jittery about the Brexit negotiations but insisted “now is the time to play for the team” as speculation about May’s leadership swirled.
“We need to hold our nerve; the end is in sight in terms of a good deal – the prize that we want: a good deal with the EU,” Raab said.Officials from both sides will continue talks this week in the hope of a breakthrough after last week’s summit where EU leaders agreed they would try to find a way to strike a deal with May.
Deadly attacks disrupted Afghanistan’s long-overdue elections.
Voting was extended from Saturday to Sunday because of Taliban threats, and at least 28 people were killed in the country’s first parliamentary elections in eight years , came after three years of delays due to security issues and political infighting over electoral reform measures.
Deadly violence
Seventeen civilians, 10 police officers and one army officer were killed, Afghan Interior Minister Wais Ahmad Barmak said, adding that at least 192 incidents had also left dozens of people injured.
One deadly attack was carried out by a suicide bomber who targeted a polling station in Kabul, the capital, said Basir Mojahid, a spokesman for the city’s police chief.
The attacker was identified and detonated his bomb before reaching the station, he said. The death toll wasn’t immediately known.
An explosion in Kabul killed a child as voting was underway, Italian-run nongovernmental organization EMERGENCY said, adding that its staff had received 36 patients needing treatment.
The Taliban had warned Afghans ahead of the vote not to participate in what they called “an American project from start to finish.”
The vote took place amid security threats, with both the Taliban and the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) armed groups vowing to disrupt the vote.
Several explosions targeted polling stations across the country. In the capital, Kabul, a suicide bomber struck a voting centre late on Saturday killing at least 18 people: 10 civilians, seven security officers and one polling agent. Twenty-five others were wounded in the attack.
Najeeb Danish, interior ministry spokesperson, told Al Jazeera on Sunday that 27 people were killed and 100 others wounded nationwide on election day.
“In Kabul, we arrested two people with links to terror activities and 10 across Afghanistan. We also recovered explosives and at least 10 mines since the start of polling,” Danish said.
“Sixty people accused of meddling in the election, including government employees, have been arrested,” he added.
logistical problems
It’s not yet clear how logistical problems at many polling stations will affect turnout figures, but the IEC said 401 polling stations would open on Sunday — including 45 stations in Kabul — due to Saturday’s technical and staffing issues.
More than 20,000 polling stations were open across the country, with the exception of Kandahar and Ghazni provinces, where voting will take place at a later date, Afghan Interior Ministry spokesman Najib Danesh said earlier.
Some 70,000 members of the Afghan forces have been deployed to ensure the security of the elections, he said.
Preliminary results are expected within 20 days. “The extension of polling will not cause delays in the release of the final results,” Sadat said.
Close to nine million Afghans registered to vote in the elections, the third since the Taliban armed group was pushed out of power in 2001. More than 2,500 candidates, including 417 women, are vying for a seat in the country’s 250-member parliament.
Q-MHI OBSESSION INTERLUDE
Annabelle Timsit on how one community has come together to care for babies born dependent on opioids.
“Because babies with NAS are the innocent bystanders of this public health crisis, they’ve often attracted people’s empathy and pity, much more so than the mothers who are blamed for their condition. Fundamentally, that’s because humans are inclined to see babies as a chance at redemption. As Clawson explained, ‘I see a baby as someone who might some day contribute something good to this world, and … who will make it a better place than it was before he or she existed.’”
MATTERS OF DEBATE
Microfinance, not charity, is the way to end poverty.
The world needs two separate financial systems—one for the rich and one for the poor.
What does that new system look like?
Like a Grameen bank. It’s a bank for the poor and it doesn’t lend money to the rich. The bank for the rich doesn’t lend money to the poor. That’s a simple division. Two systems.
How do you convince the world to create this dual system?
For the same reason you want to change the situation of poverty. Governments are used to giving grants to poor people for survival. Whether you are a rich country or a poor country, every country does that. Instead of giving grants, it’s much cheaper to do it as a loan. The money comes back, covers its own cost, and is sustainable. It’s a market-based system.
What is the most effective way you’ve seen to tackle poverty in recent years?
Whichever way you do it, it has to create income. In order to create income you have to encourage people to become entrepreneurs.
If you talk about poverty, often you hear about education. “Give them education” is the common response. Education, and then what? The job market has not done much good. In many countries, 50% of young people are unemployed.
What would this system look like?
Capitalism went wrong because it started with the wrong premise. It misrepresents human beings and says we are driven by self interest. I think this is a grossly wrong statement. Human beings are both driven by self interest and selflessness. The economic system forgot the selflessness part, and once we include it into the business then you have two kinds of business: business to make money and business to solve problems. Then the economic system becomes different.
Finally, I want to ask about sustainable finance, which is gaining momentum by promising more environmental, social, and governance considerations among investors.
These are buzzwords. There’s nothing called “sustainable finance” because the poor people are not included in that financial system. It’s a system for the rich. It’s as simple as that. Unless you have a financial system which includes the poorest person, then sustainability doesn’t exist.
Silicon Valley needs to learn about ethics.
Salesforce and 23andMe are among the companies toying with hiring a chief ethics officer(paywall).
Is the solution for its companies to hire a chief ethics officer?
While some tech companies like Google have top compliance officers and others turn to legal teams to police themselves, no big tech companies that I know of have yet taken this step. But a lot of them seem to be talking about it, and I’ve discussed the idea with several chief executives recently. Why? Because slowly, then all at once, it feels like too many digital leaders have lost their minds.
It’s probably no surprise, considering the complex problems the tech industry faces. As one ethical quandary after another has hit its profoundly ill-prepared executives, their once-pristine reputations have fallen like palm trees in a hurricane. These last two weeks alone show how tech is stumbling to react to big world issues armed with only bubble world skills:
As a journalist is beheaded and dismembered at the direction of Saudi Arabian leaders (allegedly, but the killers did bring a bone saw), Silicon Valley is swimming in oceans of money from the kingdom’s Public Investment Fund. Saudi funding includes hundreds of millions for Magic Leap, and huge investments in hot public companies like Tesla. Most significantly: Saudis have invested about $45 billion in SoftBank’s giant Vision Fund, which has in turn doused the tech landscape — $4.4 billion to WeWork, $250 million to Slack, and $300 million to the dog-walking app Wag. In total Uber has gotten almost $14 billion, either through direct investments from the Public Investment Fund or through the Saudis’ funding of the Vision Fund. A billion here, a billion there and it all adds up.
Don’t look for the perfect job right out of college.
New grads should take opportunities that let them learn in the working world.
on Saturday, Mark Cuban—businessman and owner of the Dallas Mavericks—hosted an Ask Me Anything, or AMA, on the NBA subreddit. While he mostly addressed questions from the basketball community (his biggest mistake, he recalled, was letting go of future Hall of Fame point guard Steve Nash), Cuban also answered a handful of career-oriented questions.
In one exchange with a soon-to-be college graduate who professed “no f***ing clue” what to do in life, Cuban dropped some serious knowledge.
“You don’t need to find the perfect job,” he counseled. “You paid for college, now find a job where you get paid to learn. It can be anything. It’s not a career, it’s a chance to get paid to be a freshman in the work world.”
Cuban suggests an open-minded approach for young professionals. Instead of trying to find the “right job” after graduation, look for an opportunity that will let you grow.
SURPRISING DISCOVERIES
The world’s shortest flight lasts less than two minutes.
The journey between two of the Orkney Islands in northern Scotland costs £21 ($27) roundtrip or $27. Meanwhile, a Singapore-New York round trip in December 2018 starts at about 4,100 Singapore dollars or $2,968—which is about 110 times more expensive.
The distance between the two Orkney isles is 1.7 miles—about 6,110 times less than the world’s longest flight. So the higher price is actually not so bad per mile flown. And for the extra bucks, you get to choose between lobster thermidor and a special jetlag-reducing Canyon Ranch menu.
Loganair uses a variety of aircraft: Its smallest plane is a Britten Norman Islander that only has a wingspan of 16.15m and seats eight. Singapore Airlines flies with 94 premium-economy seats and 67 business-class seats on an Airbus A350, which has a sticker price of $445 million (though is actually much cheaper for airlines that place bulk orders). Finally, the world’s longest flight is about 1,080 times longer in flight time than the world’s shortest.
A Girl Scout cashed in on Canada’s pot legalization.
The 9-year-old Elina Childs sold all her cookies in 45 minutes to patrons in line at a weed shop the day marijuana was legalized.
Stationed outside a newly opened dispensary in Edmonton on Oct. 17, Childs sold cookies to customers standing in four-hour lines, CNN reported. She sold out in 45 minutes, earning C$120 (US$91). “She didn’t quite understand what the big deal was,” her dad, Seann Childs, told CNN. “She was just selling cookies in her mind, but everyone was so happy to see her, and kept congratulating her.”
Childs wasn’t the only one ready to cash in on the munchies. Over the summer, as Canada prepared to legalize marijuana, many restaurant chains and food manufacturers planned offerings to capture the new line of business.
Hershey Canada rolled out a special edition candy bar called “Oh Henry! 4:25.” The bar, a peanut-nougat concoction in bright green packaging, was advertised as “specially formulated to satisfy the intense hunger craving that occurs five minutes after 4:20.” Food delivery company Foodora sold a “hotbox” special on April 20 for $4.20 in several Canadian cities. It came with brioche-style buns topped with poutine, plus sunglasses and mints in a separate kit.
Meanwhile, in Vancouver, a company called 4:20 Grasshopper Gourmet sells healthier snacks to “give people a better alternative when they get the munchies,” co-founder Kenny Vannucci told CBC.
Giant mice are killing millions of seabird chicks on Gough Island.
Up to 50% bigger than a domestic mouse, their voracious appetites are threatening rare species with extinction on the South Atlantic island. “Many of the seabirds on Gough are small and nest in burrows,” said Dr Anthony Caravaggi, from University College Cork, in the Republic of Ireland. “The chicks are smaller and have no escape route, so for an opportunistic mouse these chicks constitute relatively easy prey.
“The mice have done so well that they’ve grown bigger and are now attacking all seabirds, even Tristan albatross chicks, which are far bigger than other, smaller sea-going birds.”
According to a study from the RSPB, the mice have learned to eat the eggs and chicks of the many millions of birds that make Gough Island their home.The group says that without action, the endangered Tristan albatross is likely to go extinct.
A campaign is planned to eradicate the mice entirely in 2020.
- Restoring South Georgia’s wildlife paradise
- Same-sex mice have babies
Gough Island is a remote UK Overseas Territory, considered to be one of the world’s most important seabird colonies, hosting more than 10 million birds. Mice were introduced to the 91-sq-km volcanic island by sailors during the 19th Century. The rodents have adapted to the limited resources on the small piece of land by developing a taste for seabird eggs and chicks.
Scientists found ways to prevent crying.
If you feel tears coming, All too often an emotional situation or conflict catches you unawares. In those cases, there are a few tricks to try for stopping your tears.
● Press the emotional reset button — with your tongue. Pressing your tongue to the roof of your mouth and you will instantly stop crying,” said Janine Driver, chief executive of the Body Language Institute in Washington.
● Relax your facial muscles. Ms. Driver said that your inner eyebrows pull together and up when you are genuinely sad, and that loosening those muscles will “lock up” your tears.
● Breathe deeply. Theresa Nguyen, a mindfulness and success coach who founded More Time More You life coaching in Dallas, said that focusing on your breath can help you step away from your emotions — and stop you from saying anything you might regret later. “Take a deep breath in through your nose for four seconds and hold it for two seconds,” Ms. Nguyen said. “Then, through pursed lips, breathe out for another eight seconds.”
● Give yourself a hard pinch. If you can hide your hands, Ms. Driver suggested: “Simply pinch the skin between your thumb and pointer finger and voilà, you will instantly stop crying.”
A Jewish immigrant introduced the UK to fish and chips.
Fish prepared “in the Jewish manner” became a Friday tradition for Jews and Christians alike.
During World War II, Winston Churchill exempted the beloved dish from rationing. Today, “Fish & Chip Friday” is a weekly ritual for Brits ringing in the weekend.Fish and chips’s origin story, however, is a bit more complex than this nationalist sentiment might imply.
As told by Simon Majumdar in his podcast, Eat My Globe, it all began outside of the U.K., hundreds of years ago. From the 8th to the 12th century, Jews, Muslims, and Christians lived in relative peace in Portugal, known as Al-Andalus under Moorish rule. Sephardic Jews, who likely comprised around 20 percent of the population, were relatively well-respected and held positions in the high court. For this reason, the area became somewhat of a haven for those fleeing the Spanish Inquisition. However, in 1496, after the end of Moorish rule, King Manuel I married Isabel of Spain, who was not so aligned with the idea of religious freedom. Her ultimatum: Their betrothal would mean the expulsion of Jews from Portugal. Manuel I mandated that all Jews be baptized, or otherwise expelled.
While many fled, some Jews stayed, and either converted to Christianity or pretended to do so while continuing to practice Judaism in secret. But when Portugal fell under Spanish rule, the Inquisition targeted individuals with Jewish lineage, threatening anyone claiming to be a Converso. As religious violence worsened, many fled Portugal and resettled in England, bringing with them culinary treasures founded in Sephardic cuisine—including fish.
Peshkado frito (in Andalusian dialect, pescaíto frito) was one of them. The dish of white fish, typically cod or haddock, fried in a thin coat of flour, was a favorite particularly among Sephardic Jews, who fried it on Friday nights to prepare for the Sabbath, as the Mosaic laws prohibited cooking. Allegedly, the batter preserved the fish so it could be eaten cold, and without sacrificing too much flavor, the following day.
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