SIA: The major Asian stock markets had a mixed day today: • NIKKEI 225 decreased 230.58 points or -0.43% to 53,373.07 • Shanghai increased 24.64 points or 0.63% to 3,913.724 • Hang Seng increased 95.45 points or 0.38% to 24,951.88 • ASX 200 decreased 9.40 points or -0.11% to 8,516.30 • SENSEX decreased 1,690.23 points or -2.25% to 73,583.22 • Nifty50 decreased 486.85 points or -2.09% to 22,819.60 The major Asian currency markets had a mixed day today: • AUDUSD increased 0.00083 or 0.12% to 0.68954 • NZDUSD increased 0.00029 or 0.05% to 0.57629 • USDJPY decreased 0.031 or -0.02%…
Author: Staff Writer
I talk to a lot of people who are quietly terrified about their careers right now, wondering if the thing they spent 15 years getting good at is about to become irrelevant. The kind of fear where you smile through another LinkedIn post about AI productivity gains and feel your stomach drop. I get it. I build AI systems and agents for enterprise clients—and for myself. I watch these tools get more capable every week. And the narrative everywhere, from VCs, from CEOs, from the breathless tech press, is that your job is going to be automated. That you’re going…
Tax refunds are typically a welcomed reprieve for millions of Americans facing challenging financial times. While many tax filers are set to receive higher refunds this year, around 1.4 million Americans who typically receive paper refund checks may have to wait longer for their refund this year because the federal government has moved to phase out the paper check option. The deadline to file your taxes is April 15. But some filers may have to wait six weeks to 10 weeks longer to see their refund checks if they didn’t provide direct deposit information on their returns this year. The…
It was 1997, and Matt Berman, the creative director of JFK Jr.’s George magazine, had just gotten back to his hotel in Los Angeles. He had left the ‘Garden of Eden’ style set he’d concocted for the cover of the September issue: lush with greenery and replete with live animals. It would reach peak ripeness once the star, Pam Anderson, arrived on set the next day as the “first woman,” to illustrate a feature on the 20 most fascinating women in politics. But there was a problem. A note was waiting for him at the front desk of the hotel.…
Austria’s governing coalition on Friday announced plans to ban social media use for children under 14, joining a string of other countries in drawing up restrictions for young people.Alexander Pröll, the official in Chancellor Christian Stocker’s office responsible for digitization, said that draft legislation will be drawn up by the end of June. He said that “technically modern methods” of age verification will be used that allow users to verify their age while respecting their privacy.It wasn’t immediately clear when the plan to introduce a minimum age, which will need parliamentary approval, might take effect.Australia in 2024 took the lead,…
With some of the largest and most influential tech giants planning to go public this year, 2026 is shaping up to be the year of the mega IPO. Stock listings from OpenAI, Anthropic, and SpaceX could all potentially happen in 2026, and it is the latter that may make its market debut first. Here’s the latest on the potential initial public offering from Elon Musk’s space-tech company: When is SpaceX’s IPO? For some time, investors have expected, or at least speculated, that Elon Musk’s rocket and space technology company, SpaceX, would go public sometime in 2026. And it looks like…
The Senate early Friday morning approved Homeland Security funds to pay Transportation Security Administration agents and most other agencies, but not the immigration enforcement operations at the heart of the budget impasse that has jammed airports, disrupted travel and imposed financial hardship on workers.The deal, which the Senate approved unanimously without a roll call, next goes to the House, which is expected to consider it Friday.“We can get at least a lot of the government opened up again and then we’ll go from there,” said Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D. “Obviously, we’ll still have some work ahead of us.”With…
As part of a strategic move to optimize its store footprint, Noodles & Company closed 33 company-owned restaurants in 2025. In January, the chain said it would close dozens more stores this year. However, despite the shrinking restaurant count, sales have grown. The fast-casual eatery held its fourth-quarter and full-year 2025 earnings call on Wednesday, March 25. It reported that comparable store sales increased 6.6% in the final quarter of 2025. Sales growth and traffic are also up as of early 2026. Following the strong earnings report, shares of Noodles & Company (Nasdaq: NDLS) soared over 50% on Thursday. The…
As brand obsessions go, our collective love/hate relationship with airlines may be one of the most passionate and unique. It’s a perfect storm of time pressure, cost, emotional stakes, and a complete lack of control as a customer. An airline’s product is the experience, and that experience has a laundry list of potential pain points—check-in, lost luggage, boarding, seat comfort—that can ruin the entire thing. Now, the U.S. government is throwing a shutdown-size wrench into the mix. Due to a partial government shutdown, funding for the Transportation Security Administration has been paused. TSA workers have not been paid for more…
QUESTION: Do you think Trump will send in troops and what will be the result?Will Iran defeat the United States? ZT ANSWER: You’re asking the question that NOBODY in Washington wants to confront. Will the United States be defeated by Iran?Based on my cyclical analysis, historical precedent, and current trajectory, let me give you the answer that will make the neocons furious:YES. The United States will be defeated in Iran—not necessarily not just on the battlefield, but STRATEGICALLY, ECONOMICALLY, and POLITICALLY. Sending in troops that end up with thousands in returning home in body-bags will show the entire world that…