U.S. sending carrier, bombers to Mideast is 'psychological warfare': Iran

CRIMINAL CAPITALISM

Kraft Heinz to restate nearly three years of financial reports after investigation

(Reuters) - Kraft Heinz Co will restate financial reports for a near three-year period to fix errors that resulted from lapses in procurement practices by some of its employees, the packaged food company said in a filing on Monday.

The company also said it received an additional subpoena from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in March, related to the assessment of goodwill and asset impairments and a request for documents associated with the procurement operations.

Kraft had disclosed a SEC subpoena in February related to an investigation into its accounting practices and, procurement procedures. Following the subpoena, the company initiated an investigation into the procurement practices.

Kraft Heinz said the misstatement was not “quantitatively material” to its financial reports, adding that its investigation was substantially complete and that it would continue to cooperate with the SEC.

Along with the subpoena, the company had also announced a $15.4 billion write-down of its Kraft and Oscar Mayer brands in February and Monday’s filing revealed that the misstatements would increase the amount by about $13 million.

Due to these findings, the company said it would not be able to timely file its quarterly report for the period ended March 30.

“While we expect there will be more change, the worst of the uncertainty surrounding financial statements appears to be over,” Consumer Edge Research’s Jonathan Feeney said.

Shares of the company were marginally up at $32.70 in noon trading.

Warren Buffett, whose Berkshire Hathaway Inc is Kraft Heinz’s largest shareholder with a 26.7 percent stake, told CNBC after Kraft Heinz disclosed the restatements that the company had his confidence.

The misstatements in Kraft’s reports for the years 2016, 2017 and the first nine months of 2018 mainly relates to the timing and recognition of supplier contracts in the procurement area.

The investigation and review required adjustments of about $208 million related to the costs of products sold and the findings from the investigation also revealed that there was no misconduct from any member of Kraft Heinz’s senior management.

Kraft also said it reviewed supplier contracts and found additional misstatements may or may not have resulted from the misconduct tied to its procurement practices.

“The company is taking action to improve our policies and procedures and will continue to strengthen our internal financial controls,” Kraft Heinz spokesman Michael Mullen said.

Reporting by Aishwarya Venugopal in Bengaluru; Editing by Shailesh Kuber and Sriraj Kalluvila

One in 15 US student loan recipients have considered suicide over debt, study suggests

2.8 million people owe $495 billion , as of March

The $1.6 trillion in US student debt may not pose a direct threat to the economy, but it’s causing anguish that goes far beyond financial concerns for the people who owe it.

One in 15 borrowers has considered suicide due to their school loans, according to a survey of 829 people conducted last month by Student Loan Planner, a debt advisory group.

Most student debt is held by people with balances on the lower end of the scale, with only 0.8 percent of the US population owing more than $100,000 according to Deutsche Bank economists.

They have labelled the issue as a “micro problem” for individuals, rather than a macro problem for the economy.

Yet that still equates to 2.8 million people with around $495 billion in debt as of March, according to US Department of Education data.

 Even more worrying is that it’s an increase of almost $61 billion since the end of 2017.

Student loans are the second-biggest kind of debt in America behind home mortgages and often more expensive to service relative to the amount owed because interest rates are generally higher.

Not to mention that unlike buying a home, an education isn’t a tangible asset that can be sold.

It’s also turning into a hot political issue as next year’s presidential election approaches.
Senator Elizabeth Warren has proposed a plan to cancel loans for many borrowers, while former Colorado governor John Hickenlooper addressed some of the knock-on effects for the economy in a presentation at the Milken Institute conference earlier this week.

BLOOMBERG 

Jane Birkin on making 'Je T'Aime...': 'It's about not believing in physical love. Serge was right. Bardot left him, I left him

Jane Birkin et Serge Gainsbourg - Je T'aime,...Moi Non Plus https://youtu.be/k3Fa4lOQfbA

Fifty years ago, the sound of a woman having an orgasm was a No 1 hit. Its singer talks to Simon Hardeman about sex, Serge Gainsbourg and heavy breathing

It was the year a female orgasm made it to the top of the charts. 

In 1969, Serge Gainsbourg and Jane Birkin’s “Je T’Aime… Moi Non Plus” became the first banned record and the first foreign-language single to reach No 1 in the UK. It still is, uniquely for such a pop hit, an erotic sound-collage of two people having sex. 

Over a sultry, repetitive tune from a cheesy organ, the 22-year-old Birkin breathes, “je t’aime, je t’aime…”, while the 40-year-old Gainsbourg louchely growls “moi non plus” (“me neither”). It builds, via increasingly heavy breathing, to Birkin’s orgasmic chorusing of “tu vas, tu vas et tu viens/ entre mes reins” (“you come, you come and you go/ between my kidneys”). Yes, the words: I’ll come to them.

The song wasn’t written for Birkin. It was composed two years earlier at the behest of Brigitte Bardot, at that point probably the world’s most famous sex symbol, and with whom the French music producer and provocateur Gainsbourg was beginning an affair. Their recording, made in a vocal booth with very steamed-up windows, caused a scandal that led to her then-husband demanding its suppression (it was eventually released in 1986).

A COVER WAS DONE BY SEX MAGICK BAND  PSYCHIC TV