Fiji calls in military after close election is disputed

People's Alliance Party leader Sitiveni Rabuka gestures during a church service at the Fijian Teachers Association Hall in Suva, Fiji, Sunday, Dec. 18, 2022. Fijian police on Thursday, Dec. 22, 2022 said they were calling in the military to help maintain security following a close election last week that is now being disputed.

(Mick Tsikas/AAP Image via AP)

NICK PERRY
Wed, December 21, 2022 

WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — Fijian police on Thursday said they were calling in the military to help maintain security following a close election last week that is now being disputed.

It was an alarming development in a Pacific nation where democracy remains fragile and there have been four military coups in the past 35 years. The two main contenders for prime minister this year were former coup leaders themselves.

Police Commissioner Brig. Gen. Sitiveni Qiliho said in a statement that after police and military leaders met with Prime Minister Frank Bainimarama they collectively decided to call in army and navy personnel to assist.

The commissioner said there had been threats made against minority groups who were “now living in fear following recent political developments.”

Reporters in the capital, Suva, said there were no immediate signs of any military presence on city streets.

The military move came after Bainimarama’s Fiji First party refused to concede the election, despite rival Sitiveni Rabuka's party and two other parties announcing they had the numbers to form a majority coalition and would serve as the next government.

Fiji First Gen. Sec. Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum told media Wednesday that under the nation's constitution, Bainimarama would remain prime minister until lawmakers returned to Parliament within two weeks to vote on the next leader.

Sayed-Khaiyum questioned the validity of the internal voting which had led to one of the parties joining Rabuka's coalition. And he lashed out at Rabuka, accusing him of sowing division in Fiji.

“The entire rationale of this man has been to divide Fiji to gain political supremacy,” Sayed-Khaiyum said. “And we can see that simmering through again. In fact it's not simmering, it's boiling.”

A day earlier, Rabuka and two other party leaders announced they were forming a coalition with a total of 29 seats against Fiji First's 26 and would form the next government.

“A government we hope that will bring the change that people had been calling out for over the last few years,” Rabuka said at a news conference. “It’s going to be an onerous task. It will not be easy, and it was never easy to try and dislodge an incumbent government. We have done that, collectively."

Rabuka's announcement prompted New Zealand Foreign Minister Nanaia Mahuta to send her congratulations on Twitter, saying New Zealand “looks forward to working together to continue strengthening our warm relationship."

But New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern took a more cautious approach, saying she was waiting until the dust settled.

Bainimarama has been in power for 16 years. He led a 2006 military coup and later refashioned himself as a democratic leader by introducing a new constitution and winning elections in 2014 and 2018.

Rabuka, meanwhile, led Fiji’s first military takeover in 1987 and later served seven years as an elected prime minister in the 1990s.

Bainimarama and Rabuka were initially deadlocked after the election. Rabuka’s People’s Alliance Party won 21 seats and the affiliated National Federation Party won five seats, while Bainimarama’s Fiji First party secured 26 seats.

That left the Social Democratic Liberal Party, which won three seats, holding the balance of power. The party decided Tuesday in a close 16-14 internal vote to go with Rabuka — a vote that Fiji First is now questioning.

THE UN GANG VS HAITI GANGS

UN deputy urges countries to consider armed force for Haiti


A police convoy escort fuel trucks filled with gas as they drive from the Varreux fuel terminal, in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, on Nov. 8, 2022. U.N. Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed, speaking to the U.N. Security Council on Wednesday, Dec. 21, 2022, urged countries to urgently consider Haiti’s request for an international armed force to help restore security in the country troubled by gang violence. A U.N. special envoy said intentional killings and ransom kidnappings have increased sharply, armed gangs control the main roads entering or leaving the capital, the police force is shrinking, and a third of schools are closed.(AP Photo/Odelyn Joseph, File)


EDITH M. LEDERER
Wed, December 21, 2022

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The U.N.’s deputy secretary-general urged every country “with capacity” to urgently consider the Haitian government’s request for an international armed force to help restore security and alleviate a humanitarian crisis in the Caribbean nation, which is in “a deepening crisis of unprecedented scale and complexity that is cause for serious alarm.”

Amina Mohammed also reiterated Secretary-General Antonio Guterres’ call for international support for the beleaguered Haitian National Police.

“Insecurity has reached unprecedented levels and human rights abuses are widespread,” she told the U.N. Security Council. “Armed gangs have expanded their violent criminal activities, using killings and gang rapes to terrorize and subjugate communities.”

Haitian Prime Minister Ariel Henry and the country’s Council of Ministers sent an urgent appeal Oct. 7 calling for “the immediate deployment of a specialized armed force, in sufficient quantity” to stop the crisis caused partly by the “criminal actions of armed gangs.” But more than two months later, no countries have stepped forward.

Meanwhile, the already terrible situation in Haiti has gotten worse.

Helen La Lime, the U.N. special envoy for Haiti, told the council that gang violence has increased to “alarmingly high levels,” marked by spikes in kidnappings, killings and rapes.

“November witnessed 280 intentional homicides, the highest on record,” she said. Reported kidnappings for ransom have exceeded 1,200 cases so far this year — double the number recorded in 2021 — “making every commute for the average Haitian an ordeal.”

La Lime said the increase in reported rapes reflects the “horrendous” use of sexual violence by gang members “to intimidate and subjugate whole communities,” and the brutality of this violence “has become a badge of notoriety for perpetrators.”

Compounding the plight for millions of Haitians, the gangs control all main roads in and out of the capital, Port-au-Prince, which has created a “catastrophic economic situation” because trade is now stymied, she said.

“Close to half the population are food insecure, with some 20,000 people facing famine-like conditions,” thousands are displaced and 34% of schools remain closed, La Lime said, and the number of suspected cholera cases has increased to 15,000.

She said the Haitian National Police force continues to shrink, with its operational strength down to 13,000 personnel, with fewer than 9,000 available as active-duty officers.

While police have carried out some effective operations against gangs in Port-au-Prince, La Lime said, they need a specialized force as secretary-general Guterres outlined in October.

Many Haitians have rejected the idea of another international intervention, noting that U.N. peacekeepers were accused of sexual assault and sparked a cholera epidemic more than a decade ago that killed nearly 10,000 people. The United States has led several interventions in Haiti, including in 1994 and 2004, and there is also opposition to another American military foray.

Some opponents claim Henry hopes to use foreign troops to keep himself in power. He assumed the premiership last year after the still-unsolved assassination of President Jovenal Moise. Many consider Henry is illegally in the position because he was never elected nor formally confirmed in the post by the legislature.

Henry has failed to set a date for elections, which have not been held since 2016, but has pledged to do so once the violence is quelled.

Haiti's Foreign Minister Jean Victor Geneus told the council the circumstances that pushed the government to request an international force to support the police “to eradicate or at least contain the phenomenon of armed gangs" and restore order haven't changed much. He said the Haitian people “in their vast majority" favor an international force “no matter what some say."

Geneus said Henry met civic, business and political leaders Wednesday morning to sign a “National Consensus" document that will establish a transitional council to move toward organizing elections “in the course of next year."

U.S. Deputy Ambassador Robert Wood said because of the upsurge in gang activity the United States continues “to advocate for international security support, including a non-U.N. multinational force as requested by the Haitian government.”

He made no mention of countries that might lead or participate in such a force but said the U.S. has provided more than $90 million in security support to Haiti in the past 18 months and will continue to provide “critical support.”

Canada’s U.N. Ambassador Robert Rae, whose country has been mentioned as a possible leader of a multinational force, told the council: “The solutions must be led by Haiti, not by Canada, not by the United States, not by anyone here, not by any country, not by the U.N.”

He said the plans have to come from within the country after “a deep and sustained political dialogue” and “we need to make a concerted effort to understand the needs of Haitians and to support the country’s plans.”

Global Times: Edgar Snow's descendant hopes China, US can still find common ground, carry on ties recognized in reply letter from Xi

Thu, December 22, 2022 

BEIJING, Dec. 22, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Chinese people and American people have a rich history of friendship and if we can successfully create opportunities to work together, this world will become a better place, Adam Foster, president of the Helen Foster Snow Foundation, who penned a letter to Xi Jinping, told the Global Times.

In a letter of reply in January 2022, Xi pointed out that Edgar and Helen Snow actively promoted the Chinese Gong He (Gung Ho) movement of industrial cooperatives, and played an important role in establishing the Shandan Peili School in China's Gansu Province.

The Chinese people, he added, bear in mind the contributions made by international friends, including the Snows, to China's revolution and construction, as well as their sincere friendship with the Communist Party of China (CPC) and the Chinese people.

Xi said he highly appreciates the positive contributions made by the Helen Foster Snow family to the development of China-US relations over the years.

He expressed his hope that Foster and the foundation will continue to follow the example of the Snows and make new contributions to enhancing the friendship and cooperation between the Chinese and American people.

Xi's reply came after Adam Foster had written to him, recalling the contributions made by Helen Snow to enhancing people-to-people friendship between the US and China.

He also vowed to carry forward her spirit of promoting friendship and cooperation between the people of the two countries and create a bridge for US-China people-to-people exchanges and interaction.

"It was really encouraging to see that leaders from both sides are looking for ways to keep that people-to-people connection… I hope that relationship continues," Adam Foster told the Global Times.

"We wrote a letter to President Xi, and that was signed by 66 members of the Foster family, thanking the Chinese people for what they've done to celebrate Helen and to honor her legacy," said Foster.

Continuing the legacy

Helen Foster Snow, great-aunt of Adam Foster, together with Edgar Snow, whom she met and married in China, championed the practice of making the CPC known to the world through their writings on the Party and the Chinese revolution.

Adam Foster, President of the Helen Foster Snow Foundation, an organization named after the accomplished journalist and writer, told the Global Times that the foundation is committed to creating a platform for dialogue, engagement and practical cooperation, while focusing on exchanges in education, culture and business.

To achieve that goal, the foundation is working with universities, museums and other institutions to promote language learning, education and cultural exchanges.

"For example, we are working with partners in Jiangxi Province to create a ceramic cultural center based in Utah, to share this amazing cultural tradition of ceramic artistry with Americans; with Northwest University in Xi'an, we are working to promote the Helen Foster Snow Translation Award to be a world-class translation competition," he said.

"Chinese people and American people have a rich history of friendship. If we can successfully create opportunities to work together, this world will become a better place," said Foster.

He said that understanding China is not easy for Americans. "It requires something more than just reading the headlines of news stories. I think it's important for people in both countries to learn more about each other and for Americans to become more China-literate."

He said it is important for both people to know that "we're not enemies of each other… sometimes the loudest voices can represent a very small minority of people. So I hope the Chinese people recognize that American people are not seeking conflict. The vast majority of Americans want peace and prosperity just as the Chinese people do."

According to Foster, despite the COVID-19 pandemic, the foundation has held several events in China to share his great-aunt's work as a photojournalist in 1930s China. "Events like these create a chance for subnational governments to engage and have dialogue with each other on non-sensitive topics," he said.

Adam Foster said that he would love his five children to carry on the family tradition of warming up relations between people from both countries. "I'm hoping that I can bring my children there to follow in those footsteps [of Helen] so that they can learn more about their great aunt and the adventures she had in China, and also to reconnect with these wonderful Chinese people that we've made friendships with over the years."

SOURCE Global Times

There's a long history behind the bitter orthodox schism in Ukraine | Terry Mattingly

Terry Mattingly
Thu, December 22, 2022

After the Soviet Union's collapse, Orthodox Christians throughout the Slavic world celebrated the slow, steady construction of churches after decades of persecution.

In 2004, the poet Nina Borodai wrote a long prayer – "Song of the Most Holy Theotokos" (Greek for "God-bearer") – seeking the prayers of St. Mary for the lands of "Holy Rus," a term with roots dating to the 988 conversion of Prince Vladimir of Kiev.

"Mother of God, Mother of God / … All Holy Rus prays to you / And valleys and mountains and forests. … / Consecrate all the churches to you," wrote Borodai (computer translation from Russian). "Domes, domes in the sky are blue / I can't count the bells / The ringing floats, floats over Russia / Mother Rus is awakening."

Worshippers pray and light candles in St. Volodymyr's Cathedral, the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Kyiv Patriarchate, on Nov. 06 in Kyiv, Ukraine. Electricity and heating outages across Ukraine caused by missile and drone strikes to energy infrastructure have added urgency preparations for winter.

Borodai's prayer of joy and repentance was an unlikely spark for an explosion of religious conflict inside Ukraine. Leaders of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church – with centuries of canonical ties to Russian Orthodoxy – face Security Service of Ukraine accusations of collusion with President Vladimir Putin of Russia. Some churches have been seized or padlocked as pressures rise for conversions to the rival Orthodox Church of Ukraine, officially born in 2019 with recognition by Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I of Istanbul and Western governments.

In November, an OCU priest posted a video showing laypeople singing Borodai's poem after a service inside the Kyiv Pechersk Lavra, the font of Slavic monasticism since its birth in 1051 in caves above the Dnieper River. Monastery critics made headlines by claiming the video proved the monks – part of the historic UOC – are disloyal to Ukraine. Lavra visitors, according to the New York Times, were "cheering for Russia."

Days later, security forces raided the monastery and, in the weeks since, officials have accused bishops and priests of aiding Russia. They released photos of Russian passports, theological texts in Russian and pamphlets criticizing the newly created Ukrainian church.

Terry Mattingly, News Sentinel columnist

The UOC synod responded by pleading for fair, open trials of anyone accused, while noting: "From the first day of the invasion of Russian troops, the Ukrainian Orthodox Church has condemned this war and has consistently advocated the preservation of the sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity of Ukraine. Our believers, with God's help and the prayers of their fellow believers, courageously defend their Motherland in the ranks of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. … Memory eternal to all victims of this terrible war!"

This echoed waves of UOC statements condemning the invasion. When fighting began, Father Nikolay Danilevich, head of its church relations office, tweeted: "Putin treacherously attacked our country! We bless everyone for the defense of Ukraine! … God save Ukraine!"

UOC Metropolitan Onuphry proclaimed: "We appeal to the President of Russia and ask him to immediately stop the fratricidal war. The Ukrainian and Russian peoples came out of the Dnieper Baptismal font, and the war between these peoples is a repetition of the sin of Cain, who killed his own brother out of envy."

Orthodox believers around the world have been stunned by these events, while watching for signs that global Orthodox leaders will intervene in this schism. I am Orthodox and have – in 2009 and 2012 – worshipped in the Lavra and visited its vast underground matrix of sanctuaries, tombs and monastic cells. It's hard to imagine officers with machine guns walking past the bodies of numerous saints.

After meeting believers on both sides, I believe three clashing views of "Holy Rus" have shaped this tragedy.

Putin proclaims that the Rus is real, and this justifies his invasion. Supporters of the new Ukrainian church argue that the Ecumenical Patriarchate, after years of conflict with Russian Orthodoxy, had the authority to trump centuries of Slavic history and create the OCU.

Caught in the middle, leaders of the historic UOC say the Rus is a historical reality but insist that this makes Russia's invasion even worse – the sin of brothers killing brothers.

During worship in my own East Tennessee parish – part of the Orthodox Church in America, which has Russian roots – we continue to pray "for those who are suffering, wounded, grieving or displaced because of the war in Ukraine. And for a cessation of the hostilities against Ukraine, and that reconciliation and peace will flourish there, we pray thee, hearken and have mercy."

Terry Mattingly leads GetReligion.org and lives in Oak Ridge. He is a senior fellow at the Overby Center at the University of Mississippi.

Migrants flee more countries, regardless of US policies


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Migrants walk towards the US-Mexico border in Ciudad Juárez, Mexico, Wednesday, Dec. 14, 2022. (AP Photo/Christian Chavez)

ELLIOT SPAGAT
Thu, December 22, 2022 at 7:00 AM MST·6 min read

TIJUANA, Mexico (AP) — In 2014, groups of unaccompanied children escaping violence in Central America overwhelmed U.S. border authorities in South Texas. In 2016, thousands of Haitians fled a devastating earthquake and stopped in Tijuana, Mexico, after walking and taking buses through up to 11 countries to the U.S. border.

In 2018, about 6,000 mostly Guatemalan and Honduran migrants fleeing violence and poverty descended on Tijuana, many of them families with young children sleeping in frigid, rain-soaked parks and streets.

A Trump-era ban on asylum, granted a brief extension by Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts on Wednesday, was one of the U.S. policies affecting migrants’ decisions to leave their homes. The last eight years show how an extraordinary convergence of inequality, civil strife and natural disasters also have been prompting millions to leave Latin America, Europe and Africa. Since 2017, the United States has been the world’s top destination for asylum-seekers, according to the United Nations.

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This is part of an occasional series on how the United States became the world’s top destination for asylum-seekers.

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Migrants have been denied the right to seek asylum under U.S. and international law 2.5 million times since March 2020 on grounds of preventing the spread of COVID-19, an authority known as Title 42. It applies to all nationalities but has fallen disproportionately on people from countries that Mexico takes back, Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador and, more recently Venezuela, as well as Mexico. Pent-up demand is expected to drive crossings higher when asylum restrictions end.

When the pandemic hit, nationalities rarely seen at the border grew month after month, from Cuba, Peru, Venezuela, Ecuador, Colombia. High costs, strained diplomatic relations and other considerations complicated U.S. efforts to expel people from countries that Mexico wouldn't take.

Cubans are fleeing their homes in the largest numbers in six decades to escape economic and political turmoil. Most fly to Nicaragua as tourists and slowly make their way to the U.S. They were the second-largest nationality at the border after Mexicans in October.

Grissell Matos Prieguez and her husband surrendered to border agents near Eagle, Pass, Texas, Oct. 30, after a 16-day journey through six countries that included buses, motorcycles and taxis and exhausting night walks through bushes and foul-smelling rivers.

“Throughout all the journey you feel like you are going to die, you don’t trust anybody, nothing,” said Matos, a 34-year-old engineer. “You live in a constant fear, or to be detained and that anything would happen.”

To pay for the trip from Santiago de Cuba, they sold everything, down to computers and bicycles, and borrowed from relatives in Florida. Their parents and grandparents stayed behind.

A recent surge that has made El Paso, Texas, the busiest corridor for illegal crossings is made up largely of Nicaraguans, whose government has quashed dissent.

Haitians who stop in South America, sometimes for years, have been a major presence, most notably when nearly 16,000 camped in the small town of Del Rio, Texas, in September 2021. The Biden administration flew many home but slowed returns amid increasingly brazen attacks by gangs that have grown more powerful since the assassination of President Jovenel Moïse last year.

Migration is often driven by “pull factors” that draw people to a country, such as a relatively strong U.S. economy and an asylum system that takes years to decide a case, encouraging some to come even if they feel unlikely to win. But conditions at home, known as "push factors," may be as responsible for unprecedented numbers over the last year.

Looking back, Tijuana attorney and migrant advocate Soraya Vazquez says the Haitian diaspora of 2016 was a turning point.

“We began to realize that there were massive movements all over, in some places from war, in others from political situations, violence, climate change,” said Vazquez, a San Diego native and former legislative aide in Mexico City. “Many things happened at once but, in the end, men and our governments are responsible.”

After hosting legal workshops for Haitians in Tijuana, Vazquez helped bring chef Jose Andres' World Central Kitchen to the city's migrant shelters for four years. Seeking financial stability, she became Tijuana director of Al Otro Lado, a nonprofit group that reported $4.1 million in revenue in 2020 and was recently named a beneficiary of MacKenzie Scott's philanthropy.

“What provoked all of this? Inequality,” Vazquez said over tea in Tijuana's trendy Cacho neighborhood.

For decades, Mexicans, largely adult men, went to the U.S. to fill jobs and send money home. But in 2015, the Pew Research Center found more Mexicans returned to Mexico from the U.S. than came since the Great Recession ended.

Mexicans still made up one of three encounters with U.S. border agents during the fiscal year that ended Sept. 30, higher than three years ago but well below the 85% reported in 2011 and the 95% at the turn of the century. And those fleeing are increasingly families trying to escape drug-fueled violence with young children.

Like clockwork, hundreds cross the border after midnight in Yuma, Arizona, walking through Mexican shrub to surrender to U.S. agents. Many fly to the nearby city of Mexicali after entering Mexico as tourists and take a taxi to the desert. The Border Patrol releases them to the Regional Center for Border Health, a clinic that charters six buses daily to Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport.

The health clinic had shuttled families from more than 140 countries by August, not one from Mexico, said Amanda Aguirre, its executive director.

Daniel Paz, a Peruvian who surrendered to border agents in Yuma with his wife and 10-year-old in August, had the surprise misfortune of being expelled home without a chance at asylum, unusual even after the Peruvian government began accepting two U.S. charter flights a week.

Peruvians were stopped more than 9,000 times by U.S. authorities along the Mexican border in October, roughly nine times the same period a year earlier and up from only 12 times the year before.

Paz is watching developments around Title 42 and considering another attempt after the government of Peruvian President Pedro Castillo was toppled Dec. 7.

“We'll see if I'm back in January or February," he texted Sunday from Lima. “There is no lack of desire.”

Tijuana's latest newcomers are Venezuelans, about 300 of whom recently temporarily occupied a city-owned recreational center.

About 7 million Venezuelans fled since 2014, including nearly 2 million to neighboring Colombia, but only recently started coming to the United States.

Many Venezuelans gather at Mexico’s asylum office that opened in Tijuana in 2019 and processed more than 3,000 applications in each of the last two years from dozens of countries, led by Haitians and Hondurans.

Jordy Castillo, 40, said he'd wanted to leave Venezuela for 15 years but didn't act until friends and family started reaching the United States last year. His three brothers were first in his circle to seek asylum there, even though they knew no one.

“They found someone who took them in and got settled,” he said.

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Associated Press writer Gisela Salomon in Miami contributed.

CRIMINAL CAPITALI$M

Seoul: North Korean hackers stole $1.2B in virtual assets

In this photo provided by the North Korean government, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, bottom center, attends a ruling party congress in Pyongyang, North Korea, on Jan. 12, 2021. North Korean hackers have stolen an estimated 1.5 trillion won ($1.2 billion) in cryptocurrency and other virtual assets in the past five years, more than half of it this year alone, South Korea’s spy agency said Thursday, Dec. 2022. 

Korean Central News Agency

HYUNG-JIN KIM
Thu, December 22, 2022 a

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Korean hackers have stolen an estimated 1.5 trillion won ($1.2 billion) in cryptocurrency and other virtual assets in the past five years, more than half of it this year alone, South Korea’s spy agency said Thursday.

Experts and officials say North Korea has turned to crypto hacking and other illicit cyber activities as a source of badly needed foreign currency to support its fragile economy and fund its nuclear program following harsh U.N. sanctions and the COVID-19 pandemic.

South Korea's main spy agency, the National Intelligence Service, said North Korea’s capacity to steal digital assets is considered among the best in the world because of the country's focus on cybercrimes since U.N. economic sanctions were toughened in 2017 in response to its nuclear and missile tests.

The U.N. sanctions imposed in 2016-17 ban key North Korean exports such as coal, textiles and seafood and also led member states to repatriate North Korean overseas workers. Its economy suffered further setbacks after it imposed some of the world's most draconian restrictions against the pandemic.

The NIS said state-sponsored North Korean hackers are estimated to have stolen 1.5 trillion won ($1.2 billion) in virtual assets around the world since 2017, including about 800 billion won ($626 million) this year alone. It said more than 100 billion won ($78 million) of the total came from South Korea.

It said North Korean hackers are expected to conduct more cyberattacks next year to steal advanced South Korean technologies and confidential information on South Korean foreign policy and national security.

Earlier this month, senior diplomats from the United States, South Korea and Japan agreed to increase efforts to curb illegal North Korean cyber activities. In February, a panel of U.N. experts said North Korea was continuing to steal hundreds of millions of dollars from financial institutions and cryptocurrency firms and exchanges.

Despite its economic difficulties, North Korea has carried out a record number or missile tests this year in what some experts say is an attempt to modernize its arsenal and boost its leverage in future negotiations with its rivals to win sanctions relief and other concessions.

North Korea Has Stolen $1.2 Billion in Crypto Since 2017, Spy Agency Says

Jody Serrano
Thu, December 22, 2022 

The black silhouette of a hacker on a computer is shown against a North Korean flag.

Missing some crypto? There’s a good chance it was North Korea who took it.

South Korea’s top spy agency revealed on Thursday that state-sponsored North Korean hackers had stolen $1.2 billion in cryptocurrency and other digital assets from targets around the world over the last five years.

The National Intelligence Service stated that more than half of the assets stolen, or about $626 million, had been taken in 2022 alone, the Associated Press reported. Of the total amount snatched this year, more than $78 million was from South Korea. The spy agency expects North Korea to ramp up its cyber attacks on South Korea in 2023 and focus on stealing advanced technologies related to nuclear plants, chips, and the defense industry

“Marking the third year under its five-year economic development plan in 2023, the North is expected to be bent on stealing key technologies, and collecting diplomatic and security intelligence in a bid to meet its policy goals,” the National Intelligence Service said, according to the Yonhap News Agency.

In addition, North Korea is likely to continue engaging in cryptocurrency theft. North Korean hackers are considered to be some of the best in the world at stealing cryptocurrency and digital assets, the National Intelligence Service explained. In fact, the FBI believes that North Korea is responsible for the theft of roughly $625 million from crypto gaming company Axie Infinity this past March. The Axie Infinity theft is the biggest crypto theft in history so far.

The digital thieves honed their skills after the United Nations tightened economic sanctions in 2017, which banned the export of North Korean goods including coal, textiles, and seafood, in response to the country’s test of nuclear weapons and missiles.

The UN sanctions prompted North Korea to focus on cybercrimes. According to U.S. and international experts, the country uses up to a third of the stolen funds to finance its missile program. North Korea is considered one of the world’s foremost nation-based cyberthreats along with China, Russia, and Iran.

As of November of this year, North Korea had carried out 34 weapon tests involving about 88 ballistic and cruise missiles, financed in large part by the country’s illicit activity. In November, the country tested two intercontinental ballistic missiles, which experts say can hit anywhere in the U.S.

More from Gizmodo

CRIMINAL CRYPTO CAPITALI$M

FTT Token at Center of New US Charges in FTX Case

Lyllah Ledesma
Thu, December 22, 2022 

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has called FTX’s FTT exchange token a security. FTT was sold as an investment contract and is a "security," the SEC said in a complaint filed late Wednesday, in a move that is sure to have a wide-ranging impact on the industry. "If demand for trading on the FTX platform increased, demand for the FTT token could increase, such that any price increase in FTT would benefit holders of FTT equally and in direct proportion to their FTT holdings," the SEC wrote in its complaint.

Former Alameda Research CEO Caroline Ellison and FTX co-founder Gary Wang have pleaded guilty to criminal fraud charges tied to FTX's collapse. The SEC and Commodity Futures Trading Commission also announced charges against the two, saying Ellison manipulated the price of FTT. The duo are cooperating with investigators. The U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York did not specify what they were being charged with.

Twitter has integrated cryptocurrency prices into search results using a plug-in from charting platform TradingView. The integration allows users to type crypto or stock tickers into the search bar to generate the current value and a price chart. The result also includes a link to trading app Robinhood. The social media giant has had several ties to the crypto industry over the past few years, adding a tipping feature in September 2021 while the company was under the management of Jack Dorsey. Since then, Twitter has been taken over by Elon Musk.
Chart of the Day

(Glassnode)

The chart shows the number of daily active bitcoin addresses since January 2020. The metric filters out addresses with unsuccessful transactions.


The average number of daily active addresses (DAA) this year has been 921,445 – a 16% drop from the 2021 average of 1.1 million.

"Aside from the decline in trading volumes, the fall in DAA could also correspond to reduced mining operations as miners' activity corresponds to BTC's most significant on-chain movements," the Dec. 12 issue of Bitfinex's Alpha report said.

The greater the active user participation on the blockchain, the higher the demand for and the price of the cryptocurrency.

SEC Calls FTT Exchange Token a Security



Sam Reynolds
Wed, December 21, 2022 at 9:25 PM MST·2 min read

FTX's exchange token FTT was sold as an investment contract and thus is a "security," the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission said in a complaint filed late Wednesday, in a move that is sure to have a wide-ranging impact on the industry.

"If demand for trading on the FTX platform increased, demand for the FTT token could increase, such that any price increase in FTT would benefit holders of FTT equally and in direct proportion to their FTT holdings," the SEC wrote in its complaint. "The large allocation of tokens to FTX incentivized the FTX management team to take steps to attract more users onto the trading platform and, therefore, increase demand for, and increase the trading price of, the FTT token."

The SEC made the claim in a complaint filed against FTX co-founder Gary Wang and former Alameda Research CEO Caroline Ellison.

In the complaint, it highlighted that FTX would use proceeds from the token sale to fund the development, marketing, business operations and growth of FTX while using language to emphasize that FTT is an "investment" with profit potential.

"The FTT materials made clear that FTX’s core management team’s efforts would drive the growth and ultimate success of FTX," the complaint read.

FTT's "buy-and-burn" program was also mentioned. This initiative, used by many other exchange tokens, is akin to a stock buyback where revenue from FTX would repurchase and burn FTT, thus increasing its value.

Ellison and Wang have both pled guilty to the various charges brought before them, and are not contesting the SEC's allegations, the agency said in a press release.

The two are also facing Justice Department and Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) charges related to their conduct at FTX and Alameda, respectively. "FTT investors had a reasonable expectation of profiting from FTX’s efforts to deploy investor funds to create a use for FTT and bring demand and value to their common enterprise." the SEC added.

The price of other exchange tokens don't appear to be moving on the news. The price of Binance's BNB token remained stagnant after the news broke, declining 0.17% during the Asia morning to $248, according to CoinDesk data. Huobi's HT token is down 2% to $5.29, while OKX's OKB token is up 1.3% to $22.82.

A lawyer representing 100 ex-Twitter staff says the company's conduct has been 'incredibly egregious' since Elon Musk took over

Grace Dean

Wed, December 21, 2022 

• A lawyer filed demands for arbitration on behalf of 100 Twitter employees who lost their jobs.

• Since Elon Musk took over, Twitter's conduct has been "incredibly egregious," Shannon Liss-Riordan said.

• She added that this was just the "first wave" of arbitration demands against the company.

A lawyer representing former Twitter staff says that the company's conduct has been "incredibly egregious" since new owner and CEO Elon Musk took over in late October.

Shannon Liss-Riordan on Tuesday filed 100 demands for arbitration on behalf of 100 former Twitter employees who lost their jobs and signed arbitration agreements after Musk bought the company, according to a press release from her firm, Lichten and Liss-Riordan.

"My firm has spoken with hundreds of Twitter employees who are seeking to preserve their rights and receive the compensation they are owed," Liss-Riordan said in a statement.

"The conduct of Twitter since Musk took over is incredibly egregious, and we will pursue every avenue to protect workers and extract from Twitter the compensation that is due to them."

She added that this was just the "first wave" of arbitration demands against the company. "More are coming," she said.

Liss-Riordan told Reuters that the workers had signed agreements saying they would bring legal disputes against the company in arbitration rather than in court, likely barring them from participating in the four pending class-action lawsuits she has already filed against Twitter.

The law firm said that Tuesday's filings incorporated claims that had already featured in the class-action suits, including accusing the company of breach of contract related to severance pay, of targeting female workers with layoffs, and of laying off staff on parental or medical leave in violation of federal law.

Some of the new filings also include claims that employees lost their jobs because Musk had placed "unreasonable demands" on the workforce.

After Musk's $44 billion takeover deal went through on October 27, he swiftly fired some of the company's top execs, including CEO Parag Agrawal and CFO Ned Segal.

The next week Musk started laying off staff, with around half of the company's 7,500-strong workforce being cut. Musk also began firing some workers who criticized him and his leadership of the company.

Remaining employees were then given an ultimatum. Staff were asked to respond to an email from Musk and commit to his vision for "Twitter 2.0," which he said would involve working "long hours at high intensity." Staff who didn't sign up by a certain cutoff time were laid off.

One of the pending class-action lawsuits filed by Liss-Riordan in California accused the company of pushing disabled employees to leave because they didn't feel they could meet the new performance standards.

Twitter did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Insider.

Spacewalkers continue International Space Station power upgrade

William Harwood
Thu, December 22, 2022

Astronauts Josh Cassada and Frank Rubio spent seven hours outside the International Space Station Thursday, successfully installing a fourth set of roll-out solar array blankets in an ongoing $103 million power system upgrade.

"Outstanding job today," radioed Nick Hague from mission control. "You made it look easy and routine ... You've got a lot of people who are very glad they're holiday plans are still secure!"

"We're incredibly happy that that's the case," said Rubio, laughing, back inside the space station airlock.

Joked Cassada: "Frank and I are going to put in for some leave."

Josh Cassada, left, and Frank Rubio prepare rolled-up solar array blankets for installation aboard the International Space Station as the lab complex approach the southwest coast of Africa. / Credit: NASA TV

Senior station managers, meanwhile, said Russia is holding open the possibility of launching a replacement Soyuz crew ferry ship to replace a virtually identical craft now docked at the station that suffered a major coolant leak last week.

But a final decision is not expected until engineers complete their analysis of a small hole in the Soyuz MS-22/68S spacecraft. The damage and subsequent coolant leak apparently were caused by a micrometeoroid or space debris impact last week that ruptured a radiator coolant line.

If engineers conclude the damaged Soyuz cannot safely carry its three-man crew back to Earth as planned in late March, a Soyuz scheduled to carry their replacements to the space station could be moved up a few weeks and launched without a crew on board. The damaged Soyuz would make an unpiloted return to Earth for additional analysis.

Under that scenario, it's not clear when Soyuz MS-22/68S commander Sergey Prokopyev, Dmitri Petelin and NASA astronaut Frank Rubio would come home, or when their replacements might be launched.

Back aboard the ISS, Cassada and Rubio switched their spacesuits to battery power at 8:19 a.m. EST Thursday, officially kicking off the 257th spacewalk devoted to station assembly and maintenance, and the 12th this year.

The goal of the excursion was to install the second of two ISS Roll-Out Solar Array blankets — IROSAs — that were carried to the space station aboard a SpaceX Dragon cargo ship on Nov. 22.

The station is equipped with four huge rotating solar wings, two on each end of a truss stretching the length of a football field. Each of the four wings is made up of two sets of solar cells extending in opposite directions from a central hub.

The new ISS Roll-Out Solar Array (IROSA) blankets unroll after installation, extending in front of an original-equipment array in the background. The new IROSA blankets are smaller than the space station's original solar wings, but they are more efficient and will eventually generate an additional 120 kilowatts of power. / Credit: NASA TV

The eight sets of blankets deliver electricity to eight main circuits, or power channels, during daylight to operate the lab's systems and to recharge batteries. The stored battery power is used when the station is in orbital darkness.

The power system needs an upgrade because the first set of original-equipment blankets, located on the left end of the station's power truss, have been in space for more than 20 years. Subsequent wings were added in 2006, 2007 and 2009.

All of them have suffered degradation from years in the harsh space environment, and they do not generate as much power as they did when they were new. In a major upgrade, NASA is installing the smaller but more-powerful IROSA blankets to augment the output of the original-equipment blankets.

The first two IROSA blankets were installed on the left-side outboard arrays — the oldest set on the station — during spacewalks in 2021. Cassada and Rubio carried out two earlier spacewalks to install mounting brackets, and one of the two new IROSAs on a right-side inboard wing to augment power channel 3A.

During Thursday's excursion, the second new IROSA was attached to an inboard left-side array to boost power channel 4A. A final set of IROSAs are scheduled for delivery to the station next year.

The IROSA blankets are about half the size of the original arrays, but they are more efficient and will eventually generate an additional 120 kilowatts of power. They were designed to be mounted on brackets at the base of an existing wing, extending outward at a 10-degree angle to minimize the shade they cast on the array below.

Once all six roll-out arrays are installed, overall power generation will be boosted between 20 and 30 percent, roughly matching the output of the original arrays when they were new.

Even Recession Fears Cannot Push Athleisure Out Of Style

Upwallstreet
Thu, December 22, 2022 


Nike (NYSE: NKE) shares rose after quarterly earnings showed buoyant North America sales. Despite heavy discounting due to excessive inventory hitting profit margins and causing flat profits on higher sales, the US athleisure company topped estimates. Its European’s peers also gained from Nike's good news, with Puma (PTC: PUMSY) and adidas AG (OTC: ADDYY) both rising roughly 6 per cent in Frankfurt, while JD.com Inc. (NASDAQ: JD) jumped 8 per cent in London.

Nike did it again, despite a challenging environment

With high consumer demand that drove a strong business momentum in a dynamic environment, Nike’s management stayed focus on what it can control. Although inventories rose 43% compared to last year, they declined from the previous quarter. For the quarter that ended on November 30th, revenues rose 17 percent to $13.3 billion while profits remained flat compared to the year ago period, amounting to $1.3 billion.

Direct sales amounted to $5.4 billion, rising 16 percent for the quarter, with digital sales also rising 25 percent due to record growth in the brand’s digital membership platform.

Gross margin declined compared with the prior quarter due to higher markdowns, especially in North America with profit margins also pressured by higher marketing, logistics and freight costs.

As for China that was shaped by COVID-19 restrictions, sales did drop 3 percent but, it is still a far more gentle drop compared to prior quarter’s 16%.

The success secret

Chief Financial Officer Matthew Friend explained that the challenging market conditions were offset by strong demand, especially in North America where revenue rose 30% from last year’s comparable period. Nike’s strategy of shifting its sales directly to consumers and becoming a ‘direct-to-consumer’ brand is undoubtedly working.

New (streaming) horizons

As of December 30th, Netflix will start streaming Nike Training Club classes, taking a page from Peloton’s (NASDAQ: PTON). Nike Training Club is the company's fitness app that hosts videos of strength, yoga, and high-intensity interval training. By including Nike's speciality content, Netflix made a smart move to lure exercisers stay on their platform while doing fitness and Nike only continued expanding its already impressive global presence, something it is well known for and that many find to be one of the secrets behind its success.

Despite costs squeezing margins, Nike now sees its revenue growing for the full fiscal year. Like many other times throughout its history, Nike again showed it why it deserves its market leader title, year after year.

Brookfield Unit’s Rough Start Looks Like an Opportunity to Goldman


Derek Decloet
Thu, December 22, 2022 






(Bloomberg) -- Brookfield Asset Management Ltd. has had a bumpy start as a standalone public company. That may represent an opportunity for investors, according to some Wall Street analysts who are picking up coverage of the firm.

Brookfield Asset has dropped roughly 13% since it began trading in New York on Dec. 12. It was spun out from its parent, now called Brookfield Corp., to create a investment-management company that intends to pay out the vast majority of its earnings in dividends.

The Canadian firm runs about $400 billion in private funds and other investment strategies, making it the world’s No. 2 alternative asset manager. Its funds have a strong tilt toward credit, infrastructure and hard assets and an aggressive growth target — $1 trillion in assets by 2027.

“They kind of are in the best place to be right now,” Goldman Sachs analyst Alex Blostein said in a phone interview. “Within private markets, the two things that really resonate today are credit and infrastructure. And then within infrastructure, there’s a tremendous amount of focus on clean energy.”

The goal of the spinoff is to get a higher multiple for the fund-management business then when it was embedded in a conglomerate. It should trade at around 20 times earnings or more, Blostein said, based on the valuations of peers including Blackstone Inc. and Ares Management Corp.

Goldman rates Brookfield Asset a buy with a $40 price target; that would imply 42% upside from Wednesday’s close of $28.20. The average price target of analysts tracked by Bloomberg is $34.35 with five rating it a buy and four saying hold. None recommend selling the stock.

Brookfield is counting on credit to drive much of its growth after it acquired Howard Marks’s Oaktree Capital Group three years ago and expanded its insurance business. Brookfield’s real estate funds and private-equity group may become relatively less important to the overall business, according to a company presentation.

Some of the asset growth may come through acquisitions, Chief Executive Officer Bruce Flatt suggested at a Goldman conference earlier this month. Having its own stock will make it easier for the asset manager to make deals, “if opportunities come along that we think are as good as what we have,” said Flatt, who’s also CEO of Brookfield Corp.

There are, however, a few hurdles to cross on the way to $1 trillion. In the short term, higher interest rates may be one of the biggest.

Toronto-based Brookfield has thrived as it built up an investment track record that attracted heaps of capital from large pension and sovereign wealth funds seeking stable, cash-producing assets like utilities and toll roads as an alternative to bonds. The sharp rise in government yields has taken the shine off such alternative strategies.

“BAM benefited significantly and grew massively in very large part, in our opinion, due to ever declining interest rates that enabled them to attract more and more capital,” said Dimitry Khmelnitsky, head of accounting and special situations at Toronto-based Veritas Investment Research Corp.

Khmelnitsky sees rates as a bigger problem for alternative asset managers like Brookfield than most investors are factoring in. All of Brookfield Corp.’s publicly traded divisions have underperformed the S&P 500 in this year’s rate-driven equity selloff.

As a result, the analyst thinks Brookfield Asset Management should trade at a more modest valuation of 15 times earnings — which, he adds, is not far off from the multiple that Brookfield paid to acquire Oaktree in 2019.

Other analysts don’t see rates as a major roadblock for Brookfield, especially given that it’s not that reliant on private equity, where a shortage of debt financing has slowed down dealmaking.

“If we look on a longer time frame, rates aren’t really that high in a historical context,” Credit Suisse analyst Andrew Kuske said. Brookfield Asset “is a very large business and has very good momentum on a number of fronts — on fundraising, deployments, client reach.”

Hertz Rent-a-Car Company Faces Another Scandal

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration says that it received "information" on Hertz.

 

VERONIKA BONDARENKO
DEC 21, 2022 3:

Car-rental company Hertz (HTZZW) is once again in hot water after a year of navigating a false theft report lawsuit, rising car prices and recalls and a changing post-pandemic driving landscape.

This year has seen several large-scale recalls of many popular car models. In December, General Motors (GM) - Get Free Report recalled more than 740,000 cars over issues with daytime running lights. Tesla (TSLA) - Get Free Report recalled over 1.1 million cars in September over window closures while reports of car fires prompted Ford (F) - Get Free Report to recall nearly half a million cars in the same year.

These are just some examples of the many more widespread auto recalls at a time when a global semiconductor shortage and supply chain disruption is already limiting the number of new cars leaving factories. Some estimates found that global carmarkers produced 8 million fewer cars than planned in 2022.

'Without Having Performed Required Safety Recalls'

While this has sent the price of both new and used cars skyrocketing, it is still not a reason to forgo safety. In a filing published on Tuesday, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) announced that it was investigating whether Hertz had still rented cars that had been subject to safety recalls.

"NHTSA is in receipt of information that indicates Hertz rented vehicles to customers without having performed required recall repairs," the agency said in a public filing. "Accordingly, we are opening this audit query to seek additional information concerning this issue."

Individual owners of recalled cars are customarily given time to replace them free-of-charge but not everyone performs this in a timely fashion. For a car rental company, this could also take away from a given car's availability while it is being replaced.

NHTSA said that the investigation concerns recalls over latches and locks on Ford Explorer and Nissan Altima (NSANF) cars that Hertz owned between 2018 and 2020. The investigation is currently looking for "additional information concerning this issue" to determine Hertz did anything wrong.

"The Safety Act requires, among other things, that a rental company shall not rent a vehicle subject to a safety recall unless the recall remedy has been performed," NHTSA said in reference to a 2015 law for rental companies with over 35 vehicles.

Hertz told TheStreet that it was "looking forward to working with NHTSA on the review."

"We take the safety of our customers seriously and manage the Hertz fleet of approximately 500,000 cars around the world with that as our principal objective," a company spokesperson said. "Our policies require us to remove from our rentable fleet vehicles that are under a safety recall, consistent with applicable law."

SEC Intensifies Check On Auditors' Report On Crypto After FTX Collapse

Anusuya Lahiri
Thu, December 22, 2022 


The SEC ramped up scrutiny of audit firms' service to cryptocurrency companies, fearing unscrupulous audit reports misleading investors.

The SEC warned investors against some claims from crypto companies, Paul Munter, the SEC's acting chief accountant, said in an interview.

The increased scrutiny has led at least one audit firm to drop crypto clients, in some cases soon after producing reports on the companies' assets and liabilities, the Wall Street Journal reports.

Many of these companies were closely held or based offshore, helping them evade regulatory actions.

The SEC is particularly worried about so-called proof-of-reserves reports, which aim to show that the crypto company has sufficient assets to cover customers' funds.

In December, leading crypto exchange Binance showcased its "audited proof of reserves," independently verified by audit firm Mazars.

However, the report contained sparse financial information, and Mazars did not express an opinion.

A report for exchange Crypto.com this month did not disclose the nominal amounts of assets and liabilities, citing confidentiality reasons. The same Mazars partner in South Africa signed off on both the Crypto.com and Binance reports.

Such a report "is not enough information for an investor to assess whether the company has sufficient assets to cover its liabilities," Munter added.

Mazars last week paused doing proof-of-reserves crypto work and pulled copies of the reports from its website.

Other audit firms, including Marcum LLP and BDO, also reevaluated their work for crypto companies, fearing lawsuits, reputational damage, and heightened regulatory scrutiny.

The high-profile scrutiny of FTX's external auditors after the crypto exchange filed for bankruptcy disclosed the risks of signing off on unreliable numbers.

Amplify Transformational Data Sharing ETF (NYSE: BLOK) traded lower by 0.97% at $15.29 in the premarket on the last check Thursday.

The SEC’s Crypto Crackdown Is Just Getting Started After FTX Blowup

Allyson Versprille
Thu, December 22, 2022 

The SEC’s Crypto Crackdown Is Just Getting Started After FTX Blowup


(Bloomberg) -- The US Securities and Exchange Commission is just getting started with its crackdown on crypto firms that refuse to abide by its rules.

SEC Chair Gary Gensler said in an interview on Thursday that the agency’s patience is wearing thin for digital-asset exchanges and other firms that shirk its regulations. Just hours earlier, the watchdog - which had already filed a lawsuit against FTX co-founder Sam Bankman-Fried — sued two more prominent crypto executives for their alleged roles in the collapse of the digital-asset exchange.

“The runway is getting shorter” to start following rules and register with the agency, said Gensler. “The casinos in this Wild West are non-compliant intermediaries,” he added.

Although he declined to identify firms facing scrutiny, or comment on where the FTX probe may go next, Gensler warned about a number of practices that are rampant in the industry.

Over the past year and a half, the SEC chief has argued that most tokens are really just unregistered securities trading on the blockchain. He says they must follow the agency’s tough trading and investment rules.

Client Funds

Gensler chided platforms for not walling off the different parts of their business, such as custody and market-making functions. He also said client funds often aren’t being properly segregated — a problem that’s gained a lot of attention following the failure of FTX.

The SEC has accused former FTX chief executive officer Bankman-Fried and two of his former top associates — Caroline Ellison and Gary Wang — of participating in a multi-year scheme to defraud investors by falsely touting the exchange as a safe platform, while at the same time diverting customer funds to trading firm Alameda Research and concealing other risks and problems.

On Thursday, Gensler also took issue with so-called proof-of-reserves reports, which some crypto firms publish to prove they have enough funds on hand to back customer deposits. Gensler said the practice, which has been used by major crypto firms including Binance Holdings Ltd., falls short of the disclosures needed to protect investors.

“Proof of reserves is neither a full accounting of the assets and liability of a company, nor does it satisfy segregation of customer funds under the securities laws,” Gensler said.

More broadly, the SEC chief signaled that regulators remain focused on crypto firms’ financial record keeping.

“There are some in this field that have talked about ways to give customers confidence that their crypto is really there,” Gensler said, without referencing any specific firm. “They should do that by coming into compliance with time-tested custody, segregation of customer funds rules and accounting rules.”

Self-Driving Truck Company TuSimple Axed Close To 350 Employees As Macro Uncertainties Weigh

Anusuya Lahiri
Thu, December 22, 2022

Autonomous driving technology company TuSimple Holdings Inc (NASDAQ: TSP) disclosed a restructuring plan to consolidate its position as a leader in the autonomous trucking industry.

The restructuring plan involves a 25% reduction of TuSimple's total workforce, equivalent to 350 employees.

About 80% of the remaining 1,100 staff are in research and development.

Also Read: TuSimple Fires Its CEO And Chair Following Internal Investigation, Draws Regulatory Scrutiny

The layoffs followed the termination of TuSimple and Navistar's deal to co-develop purpose-built autonomous semi trucks, TechCrunch reports.

TuSimple plans to actively work with crucial shipping partners and scale back freight expansion, including unprofitable freight lanes and respective trucking operations.

There was a one-time restructuring charge of $10 million - $11 million, with the majority recognized in the fourth quarter of 2022 and paid in the first quarter of 2023.

The compensation-related restructuring savings will likely be $55 million - $65 million annually.

"I returned to TuSimple as CEO to help address a number of challenges and set the Company up for long-term success. This required evaluating our entire workforce and making tough decisions. It's no secret that the current economic environment is difficult," – Cheng Lu, TuSimple President and CEO.

TuSimple had named three independent directors to the board, reconstituted its board committees, and stabilized the management team, including naming its interim CFO, Eric Tapia, as permanent CFO.

Reportedly, TuSimple looked to downsize 50% of its workforce, affecting 700 employees.

Price Action: TSP shares closed lower by 5.96% at $1.42 on Wednesday.

Self-driving truck company TuSimple to lay off 25% of workforce

Rebecca Bellan
Wed, December 21, 2022


Update: CEO Cheng Lu said laid off workers will remain on the payroll for two months and will receive severance.

Well, we knew it was coming. Self-driving trucking technology company TuSimple confirmed Wednesday it plans to lay off 25% of its total workforce as part of a broader restructuring plan designed to keep the company running.

The layoffs come a couple of weeks after TuSimple and Navistar ended their deal to co-develop purpose-built autonomous semi trucks. The staff reductions, which we estimate to affect around 350 workers, also follow a rough year for the company, including a series of executive shakeups, multiple federal investigations, a truck crash and a plummeting stock price. Like many other companies exploring pioneer technology, TuSimple has struggled to make up enough revenue to cover its cash burn.

"It's no secret that the current economic environment is difficult. We must be prudent with our capital and operate as efficiently as possible," said Cheng Lu, TuSimple's president and CEO, in a statement. Lu recently re-joined the company as CEO after he was ousted earlier this year. His predecessor and TuSimple’s founder Xiaodi Hou was fired following an internal probe that showed certain employees having ties and sharing confidential information with Hydron, a China-backed hydrogen-powered trucking company.

"While I deeply regret the impact this has on those affected, I believe it is a necessary step as TuSimple continues down our path to commercialization. This is part of our overall strategy to prioritize investments that bring the most value to shareholders, and position TuSimple as a customer-focused, product-driven organization."

TuSimple is in the process of selling off its Asia-focused business, so the layoffs are only affecting staff in the U.S. TuSimple has workers in San Diego, Arizona and Texas. It's not yet clear which teams were affected or if the layoffs will hit a specific region, although one deep perception engineer in Los Angeles has already posted on LinkedIn about being cut. About 80% of the remaining staff are in research and development and are responsible for working in hardware and software resilience, reliability, safety and information security, TuSimple said in a statement.

The company is scaling back freight expansion, including unprofitable freight lanes and respective trucking operations that still rely on previous generations of autonomous software, which TuSimple says provides limited value to its ongoing technology development.

The focus now is on validating and commercializing its autonomous trucking technology by working with shipping partners, the company said. TuSimple had previously received around 7,000 reservations for its Navistar trucks with customers like DHL Supply Chain, Schneider and U.S. Xpress. It's not clear if any of those partnerships remain, or if TuSimple will have to shop around again. A source familiar with the matter recently told TechCrunch TuSimple would find another truck-maker to work with in the future.

The restructure will cost TuSimple about $10 million to $11 million, a line item that'll show up on Q4's balance sheet and be paid in the first quarter of 2023. TuSimple estimates it'll save $55 million to $65 million on an annual basis as a result of the layoffs and restructuring.

At the time of publishing, TuSimple is trading at $1.42, which is down nearly 6% today and 96% year-to-date.

Employees will remain on the payroll for two months, as required under the WARN Act, and TuSimple plans to offer severance on top of that, Lu told TechCrunch.

Bankrupt miner Core Scientific may sell facilities under development: report

Core Scientific, one of the world’s largest publicly-listed Bitcoin miners, said it may sell some of its mining facilities under development that could be worth up to a gigawatt of power after it filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on Wednesday, The Block reported, citing the firm’s chief mining officer.

See related article: U.S. crypto miner Core Scientific files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, continues to mine Bitcoin

Fast facts

• The U.S.-based miner said that it will only consider selling facilities under development that were planned to go online in 2023. It doesn’t plan to sell existing mining sites that are worth up to 850 megawatts, according to The Block’s report.

• A Core Scientific spokesperson has confirmed the report with Forkast.

• The Nasdaq-listed mining company’s shares closed down 75.53% to US$0.051 on Wednesday, a significant drop from US$11.34 a year ago.

• Core Scientific’s liquidity crisis comes as low Bitcoin prices and high electricity costs continue to damage Bitcoin miners’ profits.

• The company said in a statement on Wednesday that it will “continue to operate its existing self-mining and hosting operations, which remain significantly cash flow positive on a debt-free basis.”

• In October, Core Scientific warned that it expected to run out of cash resources by the end of this year.

• Earlier this week, another troubled U.S.-based miner Greenidge Generation Holdings Inc. entered a debt restructuring agreement with NYDIG, a cryptocurrency service provider to which Greenidge owes US$74 million.

• Last month, mining firm Foundry Digital LLC said that it plans to acquire two turnkey mining facilities from embattled miner Compute North.

Core Scientific Declares Bankruptcy as Crypto Winter Lingers

Carly Wanna and David Pan
Wed, December 21, 2022 


(Bloomberg) -- Core Scientific Inc., one of the largest miners of Bitcoin, became the latest crypto company to file for bankruptcy as the industry reckons with a plunge in digital-asset prices.

The Austin, Texas-based company listed $1.4 billion of assets against $1.33 billion of liabilities in its Chapter 11 petition, which was filed in the Southern District of Texas. The company’s shares, already down 98% this year to trade at a fraction of a dollar, lost a further 40% on Wednesday morning.

Chapter 11 bankruptcy allows a company to continue operating while it works out a plan to repay creditors. Core Scientific said in a statement that it intends to reach a restructuring agreement with a group of convertible bondholders and continue operating its mining and hosting business.

The company contributes about 10% of the computing power to secure the entire Bitcoin network. It had 243,000 servers for Bitcoin mining with 143,000 for self-mining. It has provided hosting services to the largest miners in the industry.

In court filings, the company attributed its bankruptcy to falling Bitcoin prices, soaring energy costs and the July bankruptcy of Celsius, one of its largest hosting customers.

The company also over-committed on construction costs to build out its mining operations and owed around $275 million on equipment financing debts that it wasn’t paying significant amounts on before the filing.

Core Scientific is among a handful of Bitcoin mining companies that went public in 2021 through special-purpose acquisition companies before crypto prices fell. However, the “crypto winter” and energy cost hikes have wrecked havoc on the industry, and many major miners now face liquidity crunches.

A slew of crypto companies have sought bankruptcy protection this year as slumping token prices continue to weigh on the sector. Compute North Holdings Inc., a provider of data services for miners and blockchain companies, filed for bankruptcy in September, while Voyager Digital Ltd. sought court protection in July. Sam Bankman-Fried’s FTX exchange filed for bankruptcy in November under a cloud of alleged mismanagement, a move that forced lender BlockFi Inc. to follow suit soon after.

Among Bitcoin miners, Greenidge Generation Holdings Inc., once one of the largest public Bitcoin miners in the US, warned Tuesday that it may seek bankruptcy protection while entering into debt restructuring talks with lender New York Digital Investment Group.

Bankrupt Crypto Miner Soars in Move Reminiscent of Hertz

Matt Turner and David Pan
Thu, December 22, 2022


(Bloomberg) -- Core Scientific Inc. surged by a record 73% on Thursday just a day after the Bitcoin miner became the latest cryptocurrency company to file for bankruptcy.

It’s a move reminiscent of the one seen in Revlon Inc. earlier this year after its own Chapter 11 filing. Retail traders caused similarly confusing spikes of other bankrupt companies in mid-2020 including Hertz Global Holdings Inc. and JCPenney.

“Maybe after seeing the list of creditors and assets on hand, investors could have gained some confidence that there actually will be a positive future,” said Matthew Kimmell, digital asset analyst at crypto investment firm CoinShares. “It is not an FTX situation, where they are heavily weighted in the liability category versus assets.”

The company’s bankruptcy fillings show that it has $1.4 billion assets against about $1.3 billion liabilities and that makes the miner different from most bankrupt crypto firms. US authorities are pursuing a sprawling investigation into the collapse last month of FTX, which was once one of the world’s biggest crypto exchanges.

On Thursday, Core Scientific received permission to access a $37.5 million loan to help fund its bankruptcy. The Bitcoin miner is working on a plan to restructure its debts that would nearly wipe out existing shareholders.

About 544 million Core Scientific shares changed hands, nearly 3,000% more than its daily average over the past three months. But, unlike with Hertz and Revlon, retail investors appeared to be avoiding the frenzy. Roughly 1,000 buy orders were placed on Fidelity’s platform, according to data provided by the firm, markedly lagging demand for true retail-trader favorites.

Even with Thursday’s sudden rally, Core Scientific remains as one of the worst performing stocks in the US for 2022. After starting the year trading at roughly $11 per share, the company has watched its share price crater by 99% year-to-date, trading as low as 5 cents following Wednesday’s bankruptcy announcement.

Austin, Texas-based Core Scientific is the largest Bitcoin miner by computing power and the first major public mining company that has declared bankruptcy. Bitcoin miners raised billions of dollars from debt financing during the last bull run but have struggled to repay debt due to low Bitcoin prices and power cost hikes.

--With assistance from Bailey Lipschultz and Jeremy Hill.