Vivendi awaits key shareholder vote on Common Music Group spin-off

Taylor Swift performs onstage during the Taylor Swift reputation Stadium Tour at Mercedes-Benz Stadium on August 11, 2018 in Atlanta, Georgia.

John Shearer – TAS18 – Getty Images for TAS

French media group Vivendi is awaiting a crunch vote from investors on its proposed spin-off of the iconic Universal Music Group.

If approved, the world’s largest music label — home to stars including Lady Gaga and Taylor Swift — will complete its listing on the Euronext Amsterdam in late September, Vivendi has said.

Shareholders are due to vote on the proposal Tuesday.

It comes after billionaire investor William Ackman’s SPAC Pershing Square Tontine Holdings signed a deal to buy 10% of UMG for around $4 billion, the companies announced over the weekend. The deal gave UMG an enterprise value of 35 billion euros ($41.55 billion),

A consortium led by Chinese titan Tencent Holdings already owns a 20% equity stake in the group. UMG accounts accounts for around three quarters of Vivendi’s profits.

Vivendi’s shareholder meeting commenced at 9 a.m. London time. Investors will vote on the proposed distribution of 60% of UMG’s share capital to shareholders, along with the Amsterdam listing.

Although the spin-off is expected to secure backing at the initial meeting, criticisms have been levelled by activist hedge funds Artisan Partners and Bluebell, who claim it disproportionately benefits top shareholder Vincent Bollore over smaller investors.

French billionaire businessman Bollore holds 30% of the voting rights in UMG. For the spin-off to pass, 50% need to vote in favor.

Shareholders will also vote on a plan to buy back and cancel up to 50% of Vivendi’s stock, which requires two-thirds support to pass.

Bachelorette’s Katie Shares She’s a Sexual Assault Survivor

The Bachelorette star Katie Thurston opened up during the latest episode about being a survivor of sexual assault.

On Monday, June 21, during a tense group date that involved the contestants sharing moments from their past that they regret, Katie then proved she was similarly ready to be vulnerable by describing an incident of sexual trauma she experienced 10 years ago. In recalling the assault, she revealed she had yet to even tell her mom about it.

“I know you see me today as this very sex-positive woman who’s very confident, but she hasn’t always been here,” Katie said. “Ten years ago, it was New Year’s Eve, and I had been drinking. I was involved in a situation where there wasn’t consent, and that is not something I wish upon anybody. And I was in denial about what happened, so much so that I tried to form a relationship with him because I didn’t wanna believe what actually had happened.”

Japan’s Nikkei 225 is up greater than 3% as shares rebound in Asia Pacific

SINGAPORE – Asia Pacific stocks rose broadly on Tuesday, with stocks in Japan leading the gains among the region’s major markets.

In Japan, the Nikkei 225 rose 3.12% to close at 28,884.13, largely rebounding from a more than 3% plunge on Monday. The Topix index gained 3.16% to 1,959.53.

Mainland stocks rose slightly on the day as the Shanghai Composite rose 0.8% to 3,557.41 while the Shenzhen Component rose 0.376% to 14,696.29. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index lagged the broader region’s gains, down about 0.3% for the last hour of trading.

South Korea’s Kospi rose 0.71% to close at 3,263.88. In Australia, the S & P / ASX 200 was up 1.48% to end the day at 7,342.20.

MSCI’s broadest index for Asia Pacific stocks outside of Japan rose 0.18%.

On Wall Street, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 586.89 points to 33,876.97 points overnight. The S&P 500 was also up 1.4% to 4,224.79, while the Nasdaq Composite was up 0.79% to 14,141.48.

Currencies and oil

The US dollar index, which tracks the greenback versus a basket of its competitors, closed at 91.992 after a previous low of 91.877.

The Japanese yen was trading at 110.40 per dollar, weaker than yesterday’s greenback below 110. The Australian dollar traded at $ 0.751, still out of the $ 0.768 level it hit last week.

Oil prices were lower in the afternoon of Asian trading hours, with the international benchmark Brent crude oil futures dropping about 0.1% to $ 74.83 a barrel. US crude oil futures slipped 0.42% to $ 73.35 a barrel.

Coronavirus variants see requires third photographs

A woman reacts as she receives the Johnson & Johnson vaccine against coronavirus disease (COVID-19) as part of a government plan to vaccinate Mexican border residents on the common border with the United States in Tijuana, Mexico, June 17, 2021 .

Jorge Duenes | Reuters

Coronavirus vaccine booster shots are likely to be needed in the fall, according to experts calling on governments to organize them now.

The delta variant of the coronavirus, first identified in India, continues to spread rapidly around the world.

Some countries, like the US and UK, have already signaled that they could introduce Covid-19 booster vaccinations within a year. Now pressure is mounting on governments to mobilize refresher programs – not an easy task given the ongoing uncertainties surrounding the pandemic, vaccines and variants.

However, there are no concrete plans for Covid-19 booster vaccinations. Dr. Peter Marks, director of the FDA’s Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research, said last month it was “just something we need to find out over time.”

As the talk of booster shots increases, so far we know this:

What?

First off, there are question marks as to whether we actually need a third dose of a Covid-19 vaccine as we don’t know how long the immunity is currently lasting.

The US and UK use vaccines from Pfizer-BioNTech, Moderna and Johnson & Johnson, with the UK also relying heavily on AstraZeneca-Oxford University vaccine.

There are also unknowns as to whether people should receive a booster vaccine that is identical to the vaccines they originally had. And also whether the vaccinations have to be adapted to variants, similar to the flu vaccine, or whether they can stay as they are.

When?

How?

Experts argue that any booster program requires extensive planning to help health services deal with it. This is especially important as not only are they under pressure from running current vaccination programs, but they also care for the health needs of patients whose procedures and treatments have been delayed due to the coronavirus pandemic.

In the UK, the chairman of the Royal College of General Practitioners, Martin Marshall, told the BBC radio program “Today” that the UK’s National Health Service needs to know what it will do in the fall.

“First of all, we need to know if a booster program is needed … who needs it, such as the more vulnerable and the elderly. We need to know where to get it. ” [the booster shots] and by whom, “he said on Monday.

“Our general practitioners and nurses are very busy, so is it possible for a booster to be carried out by non-clinically trained vaccination staff?” He asked, pleading for a booster vaccination alongside the winter flu vaccination.

On the same radio broadcast, Anthony Harnden, vice-chairman of the Joint Vaccination and Immunization Committee (which advises the UK government on vaccination policy) warned that careful consideration should be given to who a refresher campaign is targeting.

He said priority needs are “data driven” despite recognizing the need for the NHS to plan ahead.

moral

There is a moral argument about whether booster vaccination programs are the right thing to do when many less developed countries are lagging behind on their vaccination programs.

The World Health Organization has urged richer countries to donate vaccines to poorer ones before they consider booster vaccinations. In fact, the jury at the WHO is on whether a booster vaccination is needed at all.

“We don’t have the information needed to make a recommendation on whether or not a booster is needed,” World Health Organization chief scientist Soumya Swaminathan said in a Zoom call on Friday, Bloomberg reported, adding that it was the “science still evolving”. . “

Delta variant

WHO officials also said last week that there were reports that the Delta variant caused more severe symptoms, but that additional research was needed to confirm those conclusions. However, there is evidence that the Delta strain may cause different symptoms than other variants.

So far, the vaccines have proven to be resistant to new variants and remain largely effective in preventing serious Covid-19 for fully vaccinated people. An analysis published by Public Health England last Monday found that two doses of the Pfizer BioNTech or AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccines were highly effective against hospitalizations from the Delta variant.

On Friday, WHO’s Swaminathan said scientists needed more data on the variant, including how it affects the effectiveness of Covid-19 vaccines.

“How many become infected and how many of them are hospitalized and seriously ill?” said Swaminathan on Friday. “That is something that we are watching very closely.”

– CNBC’s Berkeley Lovelace Jr. contributed to coverage of this story.

Vin Diesel Confirms That Cardi B Will Return To The ‘Quick & Livid’ Franchise With Look In ‘F10’ Set For 2022

#Roommates, as fans gear up for the highly-anticipated ninth installment in the popular “Fast & Furious” franchise, Vin Diesel recently spilled some exclusive details about Cardi B’s future in the multi-billion-dollar film franchise. During a recent interview at the premiere of “F9,” Vin Diesel said that Cardi B was such an asset to the film, that her character will return in the 10th installment, which is set for a 2022 release.

@EntertainmentTonight reports, Vin Diesel has hopes for Cardi B’s future as a member of the “Fast & Furious” franchise following her upcoming debut in “F9”—and he just gave fans some exclusive info about her new character. Vin broke the news that Cardi’s character Leysa will return for the 10th film in the franchise that is currently scheduled for a 2022 release. “We are very much excited to evolve her character and to expand it to the finale. She made it just in time. She came in “Fast 9” just in time.”

Vin Diesel wasn’t the only one praising Cardi B’s talents in the film, as director Justin Lin also has great things to say about her:

“I love Cardi, you know? I mean, it’s amazing she showed up and within a minute she’s part of the family, right? And I love how when I got together with her, her and Vin were talking about the character because she’s actually really embedded into the overall universe, she’s been around for a long time and this is just the first time we are seeing her, so I’m really excited to explore that character of her. I’ll work with her any day.”

As we previously reported, Cardi spoke about her excitement at joining the franchise earlier this month. “Vin Diesel reached out and he was talking about a role. And I’m like it’s freaking “Fast & Furious,” get me there, put me on a plane. I remember when I saw Ludacris in ‘Fast & Furious’…when I saw Tego Calderón then to see Don Omar, it makes the hood have hope. Being around Vin, he’s just so nice, so dope. He makes you feel so comfortable. I’m just so excited, she said.

“F9” premieres in theaters on June 25th.

 

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Delta is hiring 1,000 pilots by way of subsequent summer season as journey demand returns

Delta Air Lines announced Monday that it expects to hire more than 1,000 pilots by next summer, the latest move by an airline to meet a rebound in travel demand.

Delta announced in April that it would resume hiring in mid-year as bookings began to rebound from the coronavirus pandemic, starting with about 75 pilots from June to August.

“This is exciting news for both pilots looking to join Delta and those of you who are already on the seniority list as it means career opportunities as we recover, planned retirement of pilots and the position for network expansion is taken into account, “said John Laughter, head of operations, said in a memo seen by CNBC.

The airline plans to further recover air traffic and avoid staffing problems. Delta canceled hundreds of flights over Thanksgiving and Christmas because not enough pilots were ready to fly.

American Airlines canceled more than 300 flights over the weekend due to staff shortages and other issues, and planned to cut its flight schedule by about 1% by mid-July to avoid disrupting operations.

Delta announced to pilots Monday that it would add 13 crew schedulers and one supervisor to answer calls and questions from pilots.

American, United Airlines, Spirit Airlines, and other airlines have resumed or plan to resume hiring pilots this year. The start of the pandemic halted hiring plans last year as airlines encouraged thousands of employees to take on takeovers, leave of absence, or other voluntary options.

Congress approved $ 54 billion in federal aid to airlines in exchange for employees not on voluntary leave.

U.S. to separate 55 million doses between Latin America, Asia and Africa

A person being vaccinated at the launch of the province-wide roadshows to drum up public support for vaccination against COVID 19 at Moses Mabhida People’s Park on June 08, 2021 in Durban, South Africa.

Darren Stewart | Gallo Images | Getty Images

The Biden administration announced Monday it will send 55 million Covid-19 vaccine doses to countries in Latin America, Asia and Africa as the coronavirus continues to rapidly spread in low- and middle-income nations.

The 55 million vaccine doses are the remaining portion of 80 million shots President Joe Biden has committed to donating abroad. Earlier this month, the administration said it would send the first 25 million doses to South and Central America, Asia, Africa, neighboring countries and U.S. allies.

The U.S. plans to allocate 75% of its initial 80 million doses through COVAX, the nonprofit that distributes vaccines mostly to poor countries, while the remaining shots will be sent to countries currently dealing with surges in new infections, the administration said Monday.

The administration said about 14 million doses will go to places in Latin America and the Caribbean, including Brazil, Argentina, Colombia, Peru, Ecuador, Paraguay, Bolivia, Uruguay, Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Haiti, Dominican Republic, Panama and Costa Rica.

About 16 million will go to countries in Asia like India, Nepal, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Philippines, Vietnam, Indonesia, Malaysia, Laos and Thailand, the administration said. About 10 million doses will go to Africa and are expected to be shared with countries that will be selected in coordination with the African Union, it said.

Another 14 million will be shared with “regional priorities and other recipients” such as Iraq, Yemen, Tunisia and Ukraine, the administration said.

“Sharing millions of U.S. vaccines with other countries signals a major commitment by the U.S. government,” the administration said in a release detailing its plan. “Just like we have in our domestic response, we will move as expeditiously as possible, while abiding by U.S. and host country regulatory and legal requirements.”

The announcement Monday comes as more than half of the U.S. population has had at least one dose of a Covid vaccine, and new cases and deaths have fallen sharply.

As of Sunday, more than 177 million Americans, or 53.3% of the population, have had at least one shot, according to data compiled by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. More than 149 million Americans are fully vaccinated, according to the agency.

The pandemic outlook in other countries is more bleak, however, with some places such as Africa reporting an increasingly worrying rise in Covid cases.

The World Health Organization is urging wealthy nations to donate doses. Many countries have made pledges to share millions of shots around the world, but WHO officials say those doses need to make their way to low-income countries immediately and without delay.

Earlier this month, the administration said it would buy 500 million more doses of the Pfizer Covid vaccine to share through the global COVAX alliance to donate to 92 lower-income countries and the African Union over the next year.

The administration said the doses are vital “component of our overall global effort to lead the world in the fight to defeat COVID-19 and to achieve global health security.”

Supreme Courtroom guidelines towards NCAA in compensation struggle with faculty athletes

The Supreme Court handed a unanimous victory Monday to Division I college athletes in their fight against the National Collegiate Athletic Association over caps it sought to impose on compensation related to education.

The court voted 9-0 to affirm lower court rulings that found that antitrust law prevented the NCAA from restricting payments to athletes for items such as musical instruments or as compensation for internships. The justices rejected the NCAA’s argument that its players’ amateur status would be impossible to maintain if they could receive pay, even for education-related expenses.

“Put simply, this suit involves admitted horizontal price fixing in a market where the defendants exercise monopoly control,” Justice Neil Gorsuch wrote for the court.

The conservative justice, an appointee of former President Donald Trump, wrote that it was “unclear exactly what the NCAA seeks.”

“To the extent it means to propose a sort of judicially ordained immunity from the terms of the Sherman Act for its restraints of trade — that we should overlook its restrictions because they happen to fall at the intersection of higher education, sports, and money — we cannot agree,” Gorsuch wrote.

The outcome was largely expected following oral argument in March. The decision upheld an injunction imposed by a federal district court that barred the NCAA from limiting “compensation and benefits related to education.” The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals earlier approved of the injunction.

In allowing the injunction, Gorsuch wrote that the NCAA can ask lawmakers to carve out an exception for it.

“The NCAA is free to argue that, ‘because of the special characteristics of [its] particular industry,’ it should be exempt from the usual operation of the antitrust laws — but that appeal is ‘properly addressed to Congress,'” Gorsuch wrote.

“Nor has Congress been insensitive to such requests. It has modified the antitrust laws for certain industries in the past, and it may do so again in the future,” Gorsuch wrote. “But until Congress says otherwise, the only law it has asked us to enforce is the Sherman Act, and that law is predicated on one assumption alone — ‘competition is the best method of allocating resources’ in the Nation’s economy.”

The case was originally brought by Shawne Alston, a former West Virginia running back, and other student athletes. The dispute, known as National Collegiate Athletic Assn. v. Alston, No. 20-512, is separate from the ongoing controversy over NCAA rules that restrict athletes from being paid to play or for doing endorsement deals.

The latter rules have not yet come before the Supreme Court, and the court’s opinion did not weigh on their legality.

However, Trump appointee Justice Brett Kavanaugh suggested in a blistering concurrence to Monday’s opinion that those rules may also run afoul of antitrust law. He wrote that “The NCAA is not above the law” and that “The NCAA’s business model would be flatly illegal in almost any other industry in America.”

“Everyone agrees that the NCAA can require student athletes to be enrolled students in good standing. But the NCAA’s business model of using unpaid student athletes to generate billions of dollars in revenue for the colleges raises serious questions under the antitrust laws,” Kavanaugh wrote.

He added that it was “highly questionable whether the NCAA and its member colleges can justify not paying student athletes a fair share of the revenues on the circular theory that the defining characteristic of college sports is that the colleges do not pay student athletes.”

“And if that asserted justification is unavailing, it is not clear how the NCAA can legally defend its remaining compensation rules,” Kavanaugh wrote.

Jen Psaki, the White House press secretary, said Monday that the White House was supportive of the Supreme Court’s decison, which she said recognized that athletes’ “hard work should not be exploited.”

“The president believes that everyone should be compensated fairly for his or her labor,” Psaki said.

Carl Nassib comes out homosexual, the primary energetic NFL participant to take action

Carl Nassib # 94 of the Las Vegas Raiders celebrates a 31-26 win over the Los Angeles Chargers at SoFi Stadium on November 08, 2020 in Inglewood, California.

Harry How | Getty Images

Las Vegas Raiders defensive lineman Carl Nassib announced on Monday that he is gay and will be the first player in an active National Football League roster to come out.

“I just wanted to say briefly that I’m gay,” said Nassib in an Instagram post. “I’ve wanted to do this for a while, but I’m finally feeling good about getting it off my chest. I really have the best life, the best family, the best friends, and the best job anyone could ever want.”

Nassib also announced that he is donating $ 100,000 to The Trevor Project, a nonprofit that provides suicide and crisis prevention services to LGBTQ youth.

“I’m a pretty private person so I hope you guys know I’m not doing this for attention. I just think representation and visibility are so important, ”Nassib said in the post. “I actually hope that one day such videos and the whole coming-out process will no longer be necessary, but until then I’ll do my best and my part to foster an accepting and compassionate culture.”

Nassib, 28, is entering his sophomore year with the Raiders and sixth season in the NFL. In 2015, he was named Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year at Penn State.

“The NFL family is proud that Carl bravely shares his truth today. Representation counts. We share his hope that statements like his will one day be no longer newsworthy as we march towards full equality for the LGBTQ + community. We wish Carl the best of luck in the coming season, “said NFL commissioner Roger Goodell in a statement.

In 2014, Michael Sam became the first openly gay player to be selected in the NFL draft when the St. Louis Rams voted him in the seventh round. Sam was cut just before the start of the regular season.

Jason Collins, now retired, became the first active openly gay NBA player in 2013. Two weeks earlier this year, Brittney Griner of the WNBA came out as a lesbian.

Khloe Kardashian and Tristan Thompson cut up up after the reconciliation

As the insider put it, “Tristan strives to do things differently and not screw anything up. Khloe hopes for their future together and has seen a great change in him. “

Since the resurgence of their romance, the two seemed head over heels for each other and were well on their way to expanding their family.

During the final KUWTK reunion episode on Sunday June 20th, Khloe spoke about her relationship with Tristan and regaining his trust.

“I know the growth and all the work he’s done, I know all the help he’s got and the constant efforts he makes every day and how hard he’s struggled to get back to me right now” , she said. “I mean, you can ask anyone, it really wasn’t an easy thing for them. I don’t understand why someone goes through all of this if they’re not serious.”

But as the saying goes, all good things have to come to an end.