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Russian President Vladimir Putin oversees the training of the strategic deterrence forces, troops responsible for responding to threats of nuclear war. ALEXEI BABUSHKIN/SPUTNIK/AFP via Getty Image The Wagner rebellion weakened Russian President Vladimir Putin, experts say. His reduced standing could make him even less likely to order a nuclear strike in Ukraine. The revolt showed that some in the military might not even carry out such an order. Ever since its "special military operation" became a grueling slog of a war, the Russian government has periodically reminded the world that it is a nuclear power determined to use all means necessary to secure its existence. Its underlying philosophy hasn't changed, experts say — on paper, Russia's policy on nukes is not so different than the United States' — but the saber-rattling has had a clear implication: back off, and don't help Ukraine take back annexed territory, or the Kremlin could go a little craz...

Welcome to Startups Weekly. Sign up here to get it in your inbox every Friday. This week, I’ve been doing a lot of thinking about how some of the biggest companies in the world have as much — if not more — power than entire countries. Most countries, at least, have some level of democratic oversight, but that isn’t true in the same way for companies. My question, then: In a world where the policies of, say, Facebook, YouTube and Twitter become de facto standards all around the world, should we have a greater degree of say (TC+) in what those policies are? The other thing that’s kept me busy this week is fundraising. Alex talked with 11 VCs (TC+) about how hard it was for their companies to raise so far this year. Meanwhile, I talked with a number of founders who were really struggling to raise money. The truth is, the founders struggling the most have three things in common (TC+). Now let’s take a look at what happened in the world of startups this week. Notes from the securi...

John M Lund/Getty Images Housing affordability isn't improving anytime soon, Realtor.com economist Danielle Hale said. Hale expected home prices to dip just 0.6% this year, while mortgage rates might only ease to 6%. The tightness in the market can be chalked up to a decade of housing undersupply.  Housing affordability isn't improving soon for prospective home buyers, thanks to the high cost of borrowing and the undersupply of homes built over the past decade, Realtor.com's Danielle Hale said.  In an interview with CNBC on Friday, the chief economist pointed to the precarious state of the housing market, with demand far outstripping supply. That's largely due to high mortgage rates, which have discouraged existing homeowners from listing their properties for sale, as many cling to low mortgage rates they locked in during the last decade of ultra-low interest rates.  Meanwhile, the housing market is slammed with nearly a decade of underbuilding, Hale said...

Pokémon GO maker Niantic laid off 230 employees today, just one year after it laid off around 90 employees . During last year’s layoffs, Niantic canceled four projects, including a Transformers game. Some Niantic games will meet the same fate this time around. After four months in the App Store, Niantic is shutting down NBA All-World ; the company will also cancel production on a game based on the Marvel franchise. “In the wake of the revenue surge we saw during Covid, we grew our headcount and related expenses in order to pursue growth more aggressively,” CEO John Hanke wrote in an email to employees , cross-posted to the company blog. This has been a common refrain among the hundreds of tech companies that have conducted layoffs over the last year — companies claimed they overhired during the pandemic and now need to right-size their teams. In Niantic’s case, Hanke said that revenue has returned to pre-pandemic levels, and new projects have not delivered as much revenue as they ...

The Supreme Court is set to rule on two cases seeking to block Biden's student-loan forgiveness plan. Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images The Supreme Court will decide on Biden's student-loan forgiveness plan on Friday. The relief has been paused since November due to two conservative-backed lawsuits. Regardless of the outcome, Biden is preparing to restart student-loan payments in October. Friday is the last day of the Supreme Court's term before summer recess — and it means a student-loan forgiveness decision is finally upon us . Americans will finally learn the outcomes of the three remaining cases, two of which are seeking to block Biden's student-debt relief plan:   Biden v. Nebraska and US Department of Education v. Brown. Biden v. Nebraska was brought on by six Republican-led states that argued the president's plan to cancel up to $20,000 in student debt for federal borrowers will hurt their states' tax revenues, along with the revenue of Missouri...

Sen. Lindsey Graham, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, and Sen. JD Vance are among the Republican elected officials already backing Trump in 2024. Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images; Bill Clark/CQ-Roll Call via Getty Images; Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call via Getty Images Former President Donald Trump launched his third presidential campaign in November. He was the first major Republican to announce a 2024 candidacy.  Just a fraction of GOP elected officials are backing him — but he's leading the pack on endorsements. Former President Donald Trump announced a comeback presidential campaign in November . And while he's currently leading the pack in terms of endorsements, many Republicans are continuing to stay out of it. As of Wednesday, June 28, 10 senators and more than 60 House members have announced they're backing Trump in 2024 or expressed support for his bid, even as he faces criminal charges in New York. Just two governors have endorsed the former president. Trump was the...

President Joe Biden speaks at the White House on January 12, 2023. AP Photo/Andrew Harnik A majority of Democrats now say the pandemic is over. This is the first time that group has said so since Gallup started tracking it. The opinion shift comes as the White House takes steps to show the nation is turning the page. A majority of Democrats now say the pandemic is over, further signaling that the US is trying to return to some sense of normal after COVID-19. According to a new Gallup online poll , 51% of Democrats agree the pandemic is over in the nation. While 84% of Republicans say the same thing, they crossed the majority threshold in April 2022. As for independents, they are, not surprisingly, in the middle, with 65% of such voters feel the pandemic is over. Gallup says that 64% of overall Americans agree the pandemic is over, the largest number since it began tracking the question. The polling firm also found that fewer than 2 in 10 Americans express concern about contr...

The United States Department of Homeland Security caused a stir last February when it revealed that it was exploring deploying robot dogs on the U.S./Mexico border. “The southern border can be an inhospitable place for man and beast, and that is exactly why a machine may excel there,” the DHS’s Brenda Long said at the time. “This [Science and Technology Directorate]-led initiative focuses on Automated Ground Surveillance Vehicles, or what we call ‘AGSVs.’ Essentially, the AGSV program is all about…robot dogs.” The story raised the ire of several Democratic politicians, including New York Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who tweeted, “It’s shameful how both parties fight tooth + nail to defend their ability to pump endless public money into militarization. From tanks in police depts to corrupt military contracts, funding this violence is bipartisan + non-controversial, yet healthcare + housing isn’t. It’s BS.” It’s shameful how both parties fight tooth + nail to defend thei...

The bright light of a solar flare on the left side of the sun in an image taken in June 2013. NASA/SDO The sun is entering a period of peak activity that will last several years, an expert said. This means the sun will produce more solar flares, powerful bursts of energy. Solar flares can disrupt radio communications and electric power grids on Earth. The sun is waking up after almost a decade of relative calm and could reach peak activity by the end of this year , scientists say — and that could cause problems on Earth . As more sunspots appear on the surface of our star during its active period , it may prompt more solar storms , creating bursts of electromagnetic energy that can affect everything from the power grid to GPS signals. These so-called solar maximums occur roughly every 11 years, and they haven't been much of a problem in the past. Scientists, however, fear that our reliance on electricity and interconnectivity could mean we're far more vulnerable ...

UBS' rescue takeover of Credit Suisse will lead to tens of thousands of job cuts Samantha Lee/Business Insider UBS is set to begin slashing jobs at Credit Suisse. New York bankers and traders are among those most at risk of the chop. Huge cuts follow layoffs by Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, JPMorgan and others. Everyone knew that deep cuts would be coming at Credit Suisse, the bank that was taken over by local rival UBS in an emergency rescue  one weekend in March. Yet the scale of the planned reductions are still eye-popping.  More than half of Credit Suisse's global workforce will be pruned beginning in July, Bloomberg reports, citing unidentified people familiar with the matter. That's more than 20,000 people.  That's more than the headcounts of Blackstone, Jefferies, Lazard, and Moelis combined .  Credit Suisse bankers, traders, and support staff  in New York will be among those bearing the brunt of the cuts, Bloomberg says, in addition to those...

Large language models (LLMs) like OpenAI’s GPT-4 are all the rage these days, owing to their unparalleled ability to analyze and generate text. But for organizations looking to leverage LLMs for specific tasks — say, writing ad copy in a brand’s style — their generalist nature can become a liability. When the instructions get too precise, even the best LLMs struggle with consistency. Fine-tuning, or narrowing an LLM’s scope, is one solution. But it’s often challenging from a technical standpoint, not to mention costly. Motivated to find an easier way, a team of researchers from DeepMind, Google, Baidu and Meta founded Reka , which emerged from stealth today with $58 million. DST Global Partners and Radical Ventures led the tranche with participation from strategic partner Snowflake Ventures, alongside a cohort of angel investors that included former GitHub CEO Nat Friedman. San Francisco-based Reka is the brainchild of Dani Yogatama, Cyprien de Masson, Qi Liu Head and Yi Tay. While...

View shows credit cards Thomson Reuters Tighter interest rates could lead to a spike in credit card defaults for young adults, Moody's said. Young borrowers have accumulated credit card debt to offset the effects of inflation. Credit card balances grew 16% for card holders under the age of 25 last year, more than any other age group. Defaults and delinquencies could spike among young adults who've racked up credit card debt, thanks to tighter financial conditions that are starting to impact how US consumer spend, Moody's Analytics said.  In a note on Tuesday, Moody's pointed to higher interest rates, which have raised the cost of borrowing and slowed down consumer credit usage. Outstanding balances across all consumer credit products grew just 0.2% in May, compared to 5.3% in May of last year. Meanwhile, accounts grew at a rate of just 0.1%, compared to 2.8% a year ago. But higher rates potentially spell trouble for young adults, some of whom have already rac...