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A new “anti-woke” investment fund is eyeing an activist raid on Starbucks — with executives reportedly set to unveil their blueprint for taking on the java giant at Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort on Thursday.

The fledgling startup’s fund, named the Azoria Meritocracy ETF, will invest in companies in the S&P 500 with the exception of a few dozen that its managers conclude employ quantitative commitments to diversity when recruiting employees, its CEO James Fishback said in an interview.

Fishback and his Azoria Partners co-founder Asaf Abramovich have drummed up a list of some three dozen companies it will blacklist over their alleged “wokery.”

The Financial Times reported on Thursday that one of Azoria’s targets is Starbucks.

Starbucks has denied that it has “targets or quotas at any stage of the hiring process,” according to the FT.

The company told the FT that a supposed goal to reach racial and ethnic diversity of at least 30% among its staff was merely an aspiration.

Starbucks shares were down less than 1% Thursday, at just under $100.

Fishback, who previously worked for David Einhorn’s Greenlight Capital as a trader until an acrimonious split in the summer of 2023, aims to raise $1 billion by the end of 2025.

Americans, whether they voted for President Trump or not, do not want to invest in companies running woke science experiments, Fishback told the Financial Times.

“We are representing shareholders here, and human capital hiring quotas that hurts all shareholders,” he added. Cut that crap out. Hire the best and brightest. Dont apologize for it, make money, give it to shareholders, and do the right thing.

The incoming Trump administration has vowed to crack down on the controversial DEI initiatives across the entire federal government and some companies fear that they too could be targeted.

The event at the president-elect’s private members resort will feature speeches from Kevin Roberts, president of the Heritage Foundation, a prominent right-wing think tank, and Cathie Wood, founder of Ark Investment Management.

Starbucks stock has spiked roughly 20% since August after the company appointed ex-Chipotle boss Brian Nicol as its new CEO to turn around the floundering business.

Elliott Management, the activist fund owned by Wall Street titan Paul Singer, built a stake in the coffee giant that eventually led to the ouster of ex-chief executive Laxman Narasimhan.

Self-styled woke capitalists have irked Republicans and their allies on Wall Street in recent years, with former presidential candidates Ron DeSantis and Vivek Ramaswamy taking aim at so-called ESG policies.

Environmental, social and governance strategies focus on elements such as racial justice and climate change, but conservatives say they harm investments made by ordinary Americans.

Two industry analysts who declined to be named were skeptical of whether it is possible to demonstrate a correlation between any underperformance and a company’s recruiting policies.

Others questioned whether the ETF would gain traction and said ESG-focused funds may not be out of favor.

“Investors may turn further to ESG ETFs because they believe the government will not fully support their personal objectives,” said Todd Rosenbluth, head of ETF research at VettaFi.

He declined to comment on the Azoria ETF.

Bryan Armour, ETF analyst at Morningstar, said a small ETF may struggle to exert leverage on corporate America.

“It will be really hard to gain power and influence,” Armour said.

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Man who died after being pulled into MRI machine was wearing 9kg weight-training chain, wife reveals

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Man who died after being pulled into MRI machine was wearing 9kg weight-training chain, wife reveals

A man who died after being pulled into an MRI machine in New York was wearing a large weight-training chain around his neck, his wife has said.

Keith McAllister, 61, entered a room at the Nassau Open MRI clinic while a scan of his wife’s knee was under way.

The machine’s strong magnetic force drew him in by the 9kg metal chain around his neck, according to Nassau County Police.

His wife, Adrienne Jones-McAllister, said she had called out to her husband to help her off the table.

“I yelled out Keith’s name, [shouting] Keith, come help me up,” she said in an interview with News 12 Long Island.

She said her husband entered the room wearing the chain, which he uses for weight training.

“I saw the machine snatch him around and pull him into the machine,” Ms Jones-McAllister said as tears streamed down her face. “He died, he lost, he went limp in my arms.”

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Police said that the accident last Wednesday “resulted in a medical episode” and left Mr McAllister in a critical condition in hospital.

Ms Jones-McAllister said her husband had suffered a series of heart attacks after he was freed from the MRI machine. He was later pronounced dead.

A file picture of an MRI scanner
Image:
A file picture of an MRI scanner

MRI stands for Magnetic Resonance Imaging. The machines use strong magnetic fields and radio waves to create detailed images of the inside of the body.

Due to the magnetic fields, “very powerful forces” are exerted on objects made of iron, some steels, and other magnetic materials, the National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering says.

It says the forces are “strong enough to fling a wheelchair across the room”.

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Sky News’ US partner network NBC New York reported that MRI accidents are rare but can be fatal.

It is not the first time someone has been killed by an MRI machine in New York.

In 2001, six-year-old Michael Colombini died at the Westchester Medical Centre when an oxygen tank flew into the chamber, drawn in by the MRI’s 10-ton electromagnet.

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‘Broken’ water industry set to be overhauled – nine key recommendations from landmark report

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'Broken' water industry set to be overhauled - nine key recommendations from landmark report

The system for regulating water companies in England and Wales should be overhauled and replaced with one single body, a major review of the sector has advised.

It has recommended abolishing regulator Ofwat as well as the Drinking Water Inspectorate (DWI), which ensures that public water supplies are safe.

The report, which includes 88 recommendations, suggests a new single integrated regulator to replace existing water watchdogs, mandatory water metering, and a social tariff for vulnerable customers.

The ability to block companies being taken over and the creation of eight new regional water authorities with another for all of Wales to deliver local priorities, has also been suggested.

The review, the largest into the water industry since privatisation in the 1980s, was undertaken by Sir Jon Cunliffe, a career civil servant who oversaw the biggest clean-up of Britain’s banking system in the wake of the financial crash.

He was coaxed out of retirement by Environment Secretary Steve Reed to lead the Independent Water Commission.

Here are nine key recommendations:

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• Single integrated water regulators – a single water regulator in England and a single water regulator in Wales. In England, this would replace Ofwat, the Drinking Water Inspectorate and water-environment related functions from the Environment Agency and Natural England

• Eight new regional water system planning authorities in England and one national authority in Wales

• Greater consumer protection – this includes upgrading the consumer body Consumer Council for Water into an Ombudsman for Water to give stronger protection to customers and a clearer route to resolving complaints

• Stronger environmental regulation, including compulsory water meters

• Tighter oversight of water company ownership and governance, including new powers for the regulator to block changes in water company ownership

• Public health reforms – this aims to better manage public health risks in water, recognising the many people who swim, surf and enjoy other water-based activities

• Fundamental reset of economic regulation – including changes to ensure companies are investing in and maintaining assets

• Clear strategic direction – a new long-term National Water Strategy should be published by both the UK and Welsh governments with a “minimum horizon of 25 years”

• Infrastructure and asset health reforms – including new requirements for companies to map and assess their assets and new resilience standards

In a speech responding to Sir Jon’s report, Mr Reed is set to describe the water industry as “broken” and welcome the commission’s recommendations to ensure “the failures of the past can never happen again”.

Final recommendations of the commission have been published on Monday morning to clean up the sector and improve public confidence.

Major other suggested steps for the government include greater consumer protection by upgrading the Consumer Council for Water into an ombudsman with advocacy duties being transferred to Citizens Advice.

Stronger and updated regulations have been proposed by Sir Jon, including compulsory water metering, changes to wholesale tariffs for industrial users and greater water reuse and rainwater harvesting schemes. A social tariff is also recommended.

Oversight of companies via the ability to block changes in ownership of water businesses and the addition of “public benefit” clauses in water company licences.

To boost company financial resilience, as the UK’s biggest provider Thames Water struggles to remain in private ownership, the commission has recommended minimum financial requirements, like banks are subject to.

It’s hoped this will, in turn, make companies more appealing to potential investors.

The public health element of water has been recognised, and senior public health representation has been recommended for regional water planning authorities, as have new laws to address pollutants like forever chemicals and microplastics.

A “supervisory” approach has been recommended to intervene before things like pollution occur, rather than penalising the businesses after the event.

A long-term, 25-year national water strategy should be published by the UK and Welsh governments, with ministerial priorities given to water firms every five years.

Companies should also be required to map and assess their assets and resilience

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Alaska Airlines grounds all flights after IT outage

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Alaska Airlines grounds all flights after IT outage

Alaska Airlines has grounded its planes following an IT outage.

The carrier said it experienced the outage impacting its operations at around 8pm Pacific time on Sunday (4am Monday UK time).

It did not specify the nature of the outage.

“We requested a temporary, system-wide ground stop for Alaska and Horizon Air flights until the issue is resolved,” the Seattle-based airline said in a statement.

Horizon Air is the regional subsidiary operating Alaska Airlines flights.

Alaska Airlines apologised for the ground stop of its flights and warned of “residual impacts to our operation throughout the evening”.

“Please check the status of your flight before leaving for the airport,” it added.

Read more from Sky News:
Man who died in MRI was wearing weight-lifting chain
Trump diagnosed with chronic venous insufficiency

Alaska Air Group maintains an operational fleet of 238 Boeing 737 aircraft and 87 Embraer 175 aircraft, according to its website.

In June, Hawaiian Airlines, which is also owned by Alaska Air Group, said some of its IT systems were disrupted by a hack.

The firm said it was still trying to determine the financial impact of the incident.

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