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    AMC shares tank more than 30% as Regal Cinemas owner warns of potential bankruptcy

    AMC was down more than 30% in premarket trading, building on a loss of more than 26% last week.
    The drop comes as rival Cineworld said on Monday it is considering filing bankruptcy.
    A new preferred share dividend from AMC could also be impacting trading.

    The AMC 25 and Regal Cinemas on 42nd Street in Times Square in New York.
    Richard Levine | Corbis | Getty Images

    Shares of theater chain and meme trader favorite AMC fell sharply on Monday as the struggles of a rival company appeared to weigh on the stock.
    AMC was down more than 30% in premarket trading, building on a loss of more than 26% last week. The drop comes as rival Cineworld said on Monday it is considering filing bankruptcy.

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    After Cineworld released a warning about its liquidity position last week, AMC CEO Adam Aron said in a statement that “we remain confident about AMC’s future” and that the company was “quite optimistic” about movies coming in the fourth quarter and in 2023.
    Even as 2022 has seen big movie hits like “Top Gun: Maverick” and studio executives have signaled an interest in pivoting back to theaters instead of streaming-only releases, the U.S. box office remains well below its pre-pandemic levels.
    AMC reported more than $5 billion in long-term debt at the end of the second quarter. That total climbs to more than $10 billion when including lease obligations and other long-term liabilities.
    A new preferred share dividend from AMC could also be impacting trading. The theater chain’s “APE units,” a tool for the company to potentially raise additional cash in the future, are slated to begin trading on Monday. The new share class resembles a stock split in some ways.
    “Remember, with the APE seeing its first trade on the NYSE at some time tomorrow morning, the value of your AMC investment will be the combination of your AMC shares and your new APE units. An AMC share plus a new APE unit added together — compared to just an AMC share previously,” Aron wrote on Twitter on Sunday.
    The recent decline for AMC’s stock coincides with the sharp reversal for Bed Bath & Beyond. Both names have become meme stocks, with a large percentage of retail investors and social media followings. Bed Bath & Beyond fell more than 40% on Friday after activist investor Ryan Cohen revealed that he sold his entire stake in the company.

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    This couple travels the world full time. Here’s what it costs — and how they pay for it

    Ernestas Tyminas felt “stuck” in his role as a marketing manager at a newspaper in Colorado Springs, Colorado.
    So he requested two months off to backpack through Asia, he said, landing in Beijing in January 2019.

    “On the first day … I meet this one,” he said, gesturing to Darina Karpitskaya, sitting by his side.
    The couple, speaking to CNBC via video from Dubai, said they met via the travel app Couchsurfing, which links solo travelers together. Karpitskaya, 31, and a flight attendant at the time, had been grounded in Beijing for two days because of mechanical problems with her return flight.
    Though more solo travelers agreed to meet that day, Tyminas and Karpitskaya were the only two who showed up.
    After one day together, they planned to meet again in Asia one month later.

    A monthlong second date

    Karpitskaya returned to Asia, and the couple’s second date was a “crazy one-month adventure” to Singapore, Thailand and the Philippines, said Tyminas, 29.

    It was in the Philippines, he said, that he decided he wasn’t going back to his old life.  
    “We were … laying on the beach under the stars,” he said. “We were kind of starting to dream about this lifestyle.”

    After returning to Colorado, Tyminas quit his job, sold his belongings and moved to Europe, he said.
    Karpitskaya wasn’t quite there yet, saying, “At first it sounded like: Oh my God, you’re quitting your job. You’re moving from America. Maybe it’s too soon. But at the same time, when I came back from that trip I felt like I’m living a life that I’m not enjoying.”

    A dog in tow

    Tyminas flew from Denver to Paris with his dog — an 82-pound Borzoi, once known as the “Russian Wolfhound,” named Cosmo, who is over 6 feet tall on his hind legs.   
    “They gave me three rows of seats, and the dog was just laying on the floor,” he said.
    From there, the couple traveled often — to places like Italy and Iceland — but not yet full time, they said.

    Ernestas Tyminas and Darina Karpitskaya have taken his dog, Cosmo, to 26 of the more than 40 countries that they have visited together, said Tyminas. Cosmo is a great networking tool, added Karpitskaya: “We meet a lot of people walking the dog.”
    Source: Dream Team Travels

    Then Karpitskaya got what she called her “dream job” — a position with Emirates airline. She moved to Dubai, but the couple continued to meet and travel together.
    Then Covid hit, and Karpitskaya accepted four months of unpaid leave from her job.
    “We said: We have four months — we can go explore whatever is open,” said Tyminas.
    The trio — including Cosmo, who traveled in a huge bed in the back of their SUV — traveled first to Croatia, then slowly across much of Europe, including many former Soviet states, said Karpitskaya.
    She never returned to her job, and couple have been traveling ever since, she said.

    What it costs to travel the world

    In the beginning, they spent between $1,000 and $2,000 a month — all from savings — by staying in cheap accommodations, cooking at home and seeking out free activities, said Tyminas.
    As money started to dry up, Tyminas took several online jobs, which netted between $2,000 and $3,000 a month, which wasn’t far from his salary of $3,300 in Colorado, he said.

    Tyminas said the couple stayed longer in Romania because “we saw how the people are nice … how they how much they have to offer. Sometimes you Google and you’re like: ‘There’s nothing to do here,’ and then you get there and [realize] that’s only because nobody travels here.”
    Source: Dream Team Travels

    But the work was cumbersome, and it “felt like I still had a job,” he said.
    So the couple decided to open a marketing and graphic design company, despite the fact that “we didn’t know a lot,” said Tyminas.
    They reached out to thousands of people, they said, often working late into the night. Potential customers would ask, “Can you design book covers?” “Can you promote music?” Tyminas said his response was always the same, “Of course I can.”
    In reality, he was learning on the job, he said, relying on YouTube, Google and online research. But clients were very happy, he said.  
    “They paid me half of what they would pay other marketing agencies and the results, they said, were better than they had before,” said Tyminas.
    In the first month, the couple made $6,000, he said. Now, sometimes they earn several thousand dollars in a day working with real estate companies and music labels, he added.
    “We write blogs for people — we do everything,” said Tyminas. Plus “we don’t have to report to anybody. We’re our own bosses.”
    In the past six months, the couple said they spent an average of $4,000 a month. More than half goes to accommodations, which vary by location — from $3,100 per month in Dubai to $1,500 in Lisbon, Portugal, they said. They limit stays in expensive locations, like Switzerland, to no more than a week, they said.

    One way to save money is booking monthlong stays on Airbnb, which cuts down average nightly rates and reduces service and cleaning fees, said Tyminas. But even when they bounced from place to place to visit Europe’s Christmas markets last year, they still ended up paying about $2,500 that month, he said.
    Karpitskaya said she doesn’t want these costs to scare people because they spent far less in the beginning. At the time, they spent about 80-100% of their income, but now Tyminas said “we spend about 30% and … save the rest.”
    The couple told CNBC they still travel modestly — no five-star hotels — and they still cook most meals at home. But they spend more on activities that they film for their YouTube channel Dream Team Travels — another “completely self-taught” venture, they said.

    Hiccups on the road

    A life of constant travel isn’t all fun and games, they said.
    They encounter dirty Airbnbs and hosts who cancel reservations at the last minute. They’ve also had their camera equipment and clothing stolen twice — once in Mexico, and more recently in France — plus an attempted theft of their belongings from their car in Barcelona, while they were sitting in it.
    They have also thought about settling down when they find a place they really love, such as the beaches of Portugal or the French Riviera, said Tyminas.   
    “But then … we drive somewhere else and we’re like this place is also just as good,” he said.
    When Russia invaded Ukraine, quickly occupying the Kherson region where Karpitskaya’s parents live, Tyminas emailed CNBC to say that they’d stopped traveling for the time being.     

    Tyminas and Karpitskaya (pictured here in Abu Dhabi) stopped traveling at the outset of the Russian-Ukraine war. Karpitskaya’s family is now out of Ukraine, except her brother, who “has signed up to be in the military to defend his country,” said Tyminas.
    Source: Dream Team Travels

    “The first few weeks we didn’t even leave our apartment,” he said. “We spent a lot of time arranging transportation for civilians as well as many dogs from shelters to be taken out of dangerous regions for adoption in Europe.”
    By the summer, they had resumed traveling, but were still helping to evacuate Karpitskaya’s family.
    “Just a week ago we were able to finally get Darina’s parents out of Ukraine,” said Tyminas, adding that they are currently in his family’s home in Lithuania. “We also did a trip to Romania to pick up Darina’s sister and her five-month-old baby from the border and took her to live in Germany.”
    The couple are now in Malaysia, they said, and plan to explore Southeast Asia for the next two months.    More

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    Australian bank to scrap loans for new diesel and gasoline cars as country looks to increase EV uptake

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    While there will be no more loans for new combustion engine vehicles — including hybrids — from 2025, Bank Australia will continue to provide them for used ones.
    Australian government says it’s “significantly behind the pack when it comes to electric vehicles.”
    According to the International Energy Agency, electric vehicle sales hit 6.6 million in 2021.

    Cars and buses in Sydney, Australia, on Monday, May 25, 2020. Authorities in the country are looking to set up a National Electric Vehicle Strategy.
    Brendon Thorne | Bloomberg | Getty Images

    An Australian bank plans to stop giving loans for new diesel and gasoline cars as the country tries to encourage the use of electric vehicles and catch up with other developed countries.
    In a statement Friday, Bank Australia said it would scrap loans for new fossil fuel vehicles from 2025. Sasha Courville, its chief impact officer, said that date had been picked “because the change to electric vehicles needs to happen quickly.”

    The bank, Courville added, believed this could happen “with the right supporting policies in place to bring a greater range of more affordable electric vehicles to Australia.”
    While there will be no more loans for new combustion engine vehicles — including hybrids — from 2025, Bank Australia will continue to provide them for used ones.
    “We’ll continue to offer loans for second-hand fossil fuel vehicles until there is a viable and thriving market for electric vehicles,” it said.
    On that front, Friday also saw the Australian government provide information about plans to set up a National Electric Vehicle Strategy for the country, with a discussion paper on the matter due to be released for consultation.

    Read more about electric vehicles from CNBC Pro

    In an announcement, the government said Australia was “significantly behind the pack when it comes to electric vehicles.”

    It added that, at just 2%, the country’s uptake of new low-emission vehicles was “nearly five times lower than the global average — national leadership is needed to ensure we don’t continue to be left behind.”
    “In this context, we believe that now is the time to have an orderly and sensible discussion about whether vehicle fuel efficiency standards could help improve the supply of electric vehicles into the Australian market, to address the cost-of-living impacts of inefficient cars, and to reduce emissions from the transport sector.”

    More from CNBC Climate:

    Customer-owned Bank Australia traces its roots back to 1957. According to its Statutory Financial Report for 2021, it said total assets had grown to 8.5 billion Australian dollars ($5.9 billion), with profit after tax coming in at 40.7 million Australian dollars.
    It is not unique in its strategy toward vehicles powered using fossil fuels. In 2020, Denmark’s Merkur Cooperative Bank said it would halt financing for new diesel and gasoline cars.
    All of this comes as major European economies are laying out plans to move away from road-based vehicles that use diesel and gasoline.
    The U.K. wants to stop the sale of new diesel and gasoline cars and vans by 2030. It will require, from 2035, all new cars and vans to have zero-tailpipe emissions. The European Union — which the U.K. left on Jan. 31, 2020 — is pursuing similar targets.
    According to the International Energy Agency, electric vehicle sales hit 6.6 million in 2021. In the first quarter of 2022, EV sales came to 2 million, a 75% increase compared to the first three months of 2021. More

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    “Game of Thrones” v “Lord of the Rings”: a tale of old v new Hollywood

    Half a billion dollars’ worth of swordplay, sorcery and sex is on its way to a small screen near you. On August 21st Warner Bros Discovery will launch “House of the Dragon”, a spin-off of its racy smash-hit, “Game of Thrones”, made at a reported cost of over $150m. Hot on its heels, on September 1st Amazon Prime Video will release “The Rings of Power”, a more chaste but even pricier drama based on the “Lord of the Rings” books. With a rumoured pricetag of $465m, Amazon’s offering will be the most expensive piece of television ever made.The near-simultaneous releases will make for an epic ratings battle. But they are also part of a longer-running war that pits old Hollywood studios against new streaming upstarts. Warner Bros, one of America’s most venerable film studios, will mark its 100th birthday next year. Amazon, which makes its money from e-commerce and cloud computing, launched its video sideline only five years ago. As the streaming wars intensify, each side believes it has an advantage over the other.Lately the dragons of old Hollywood have gained ground. Investors flocked to streaming specialists during the lockdowns of 2020-21, but have lost interest as new subscribers have dried up. Netflix, which once talked of a potential market of 800m households, appears to have stalled at 220m and has seen its share price fall by 60% this year. On August 10th old Hollywood claimed a symbolic victory when Disney announced that it had overtaken Netflix, with 221m streaming subscriptions. That figure double-counts subscribers to Disney’s various services, and ignores the fact that many are in low-paying countries like India. But Disney’s success has banished any doubt that ageing studios can play the streaming game.Hollywood’s old hands are also refocusing on the business of making money, after two expensive years of chasing subscribers. Disney says its main streaming service, Disney+, will see its losses peak this year before turning a profit in 2024. A steep price rise, beginning in December, will help. On a recent earnings call David Zaslav, Warner’s new boss, bluntly criticised the old approach of “spend, spend, spend and then charge very little”. Warner will aim for its streaming business to generate a gross operating profit of $1bn by 2025, he said. “If we do that, I don’t really care what the [subscriber] number is…We want to make sure we get paid.”Old media formats will play a role in that. Cinemas, whose worldwide takings fell by 80% in 2020, are open again. The box office is still not what it was: Cineworld, the world’s second-largest theatre chain, is preparing to file for bankruptcy, according to the Wall Street Journal. But Paramount, a 110-year-old Hollywood dragon, held back the release of “Top Gun: Maverick” during the pandemic and was rewarded in May with a box-office run of over $1bn. Warner, which in 2021 released all its films on its streaming platform at the same time that they launched in cinemas, has gone back to exclusive theatrical runs.Theme parks are full again, too, with Disney’s American ones generating record revenues and margins. Even broadcast and cable tv, long in decline, look like relative safe havens as the streaming business gets tougher. “We effectively have four, five or six cash registers,” Mr Zaslav told investors. “And in a world where things are changing, and there’s a lot of uncertainty and there’s a lot of disruption, that’s a lot more stable and a lot better than having one cash register.”That may be a convincing argument against an upstart like Netflix, which depends entirely on streaming. The trouble for old Hollywood is that some of its new competitors have even bigger and more varied cash registers. Whereas Warner’s path to profit will involve drastic cuts—it has already scrapped its streaming news service, cnn+, and canned unfinished productions including “Batgirl”—Amazon shows no sign of tightening its belt. Besides the lavish “Rings of Power”, it recently bought Metro Goldwyn Mayer, the studio behind “James Bond”, for $8.5bn, acquired rights to the America’s National Football League worth a reported $1bn a year, and expanded its international output with its first Nigerian originals. Morgan Stanley, an investment bank, estimates that Amazon will spend $16bn on media content this year, the bulk of it video. That is more than Netflix’s $14bn. Next year Amazon’s spending could reach $20bn.Unlike the old Hollywood dragons, some new streamers don’t even need to make sure they get paid, in Mr Zaslav’s words. Amazon Prime Video exists to keep people signed up to Prime, whose main benefit is free delivery of Amazon purchases. Apple’s steadily expanding tv+ service is geared towards keeping customers in Apple’s ecosystem of phones and computers, where the company makes its real money. The video services from Amazon and Apple also provide future real estate for advertising, a business in which both companies have ambition to grow.Old Hollywood is fighting back, offering viewers bigger “bundles” of content at a reduced cost. Warner plans to combine its main streaming service, hbo Max, with Discovery+ next summer. Disney is experimenting with discounted packages of services like espn+ and Hulu; some wonder if entry to its parks could one day form part of a Disney mega-bundle.Yet Hollywood’s new rivals offer bundles of a different sort. Apple’s video vault is far smaller than that of Disney or Warner, but its “Apple One” package includes not just tv but music, games, storage, news and fitness. (A subscription to the iPhone itself is reportedly in the works.) Amazon Prime comes with a similarly eclectic bunch of benefits. As households look for savings, all-media deals like these may prove tempting.That may be why some old Hollywood dragons are deciding to do business with the upstarts. On August 15th Paramount announced a deal with Walmart, a giant retailer, in which members of Walmart+, the store’s answer to Amazon Prime, will get free access to the Paramount+ streaming service. Like Amazon and Apple, Walmart sees media as a way to keep customers loyal to its main business. It recently added music to the Walmart+ bundle, via a deal with Spotify, the leading audio streamer.As competition for viewers intensifies, the battle between old and new Hollywood is proving as bloody as an episode of “Game of Thrones”. For consumers, who have more choice and more deals than ever, it is just as entertaining.■ More

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    Disney CEO Bob Chapek again distances himself from Bob Iger with Disney+ pricing decision

    Disney CEO Bob Chapek’s decision to hike Disney+’s price by $3 per month runs counter to the strategy his predecessor, Bob Iger, had set in place.
    Chapek’s pricing decisions were his alone, according to people familiar with the matter.
    The new strategy emphasizes profitability over subscriber additions.

    Disney Co. executives CEO Bob Chapek, left, and Bob Iger, executive chairman, deliver remarks at Cinderella Castle at the Magic Kingdom during the rededication ceremony marking the 50th anniversary of Walt Disney World, in Lake Buena Vista, Florida, Thursday night, Sept. 30, 2021.
    Joe Burbank | Tribune News Service | Getty Images

    Disney Chief Executive Officer Bob Chapek keeps making decisions that distance himself from his predecessor, Bob Iger.
    As CNBC reported earlier this year, Iger hasn’t agreed with several decisions Chapek has made as Disney’s CEO, including his reorganization of the company and his handling of Florida’s controversial “Don’t Say Gay” legislation.

    The latest break is the 38% price increase for Disney+, announced last week as part of a slew of announcements surrounding Disney’s new advertising-supported service, which will launch on Dec. 8. Disney+, without ads, will increase from $7.99 per month to $10.99 per month. Disney+ with ads will begin at $7.99 per month.
    Chapek’s pricing strategy differs from the philosophy Iger espoused, according to people familiar with both men’s thinking. Iger wanted Disney+ to be the lowest-priced major streaming offering, said the people, who asked not to be named because the discussions were private. That way, customers would view Disney+ as a stronger value proposition to its competitors even if it felt other services’ content might be more robust. This is also why Iger argued to keep Disney+ separate from Hulu and ESPN+, a strategy Chapek has thus far maintained.
    At $7.99 per month with ads, Disney+ will now be more expensive than several other ad-supported products, including NBCUniveral’s Peacock ($4.99) and Paramount Global’s Paramount+ ($4.99), though it will remain cheaper than Warner Bros. Discovery’s HBO Max ($9.99). At $10.99, the ad-free Disney+ will not only be more expensive than Peacock and Paramount+, but it will also be pricier than Amazon Prime Video ($8.99), which also doesn’t include commercials.
    Disney+ without ads will still significantly underprice Netflix ($15.49) and HBO Max ($14.99). Disney’s bundled offering of Disney+, Hulu with ads and ESPN+ with ads, will be $14.99 per month, an increase of $1 from its previous cost.
    “We launched at an extraordinarily compelling price across all the platforms that we have for streaming,” Chapek said last week. “I think it was easy to say that we’re probably the best value in streaming. Since that initial launch, we’ve continued to invest handsomely in our content. We believe because the increase in the investment over the past two-and-a-half years relative to a very good price point that we have plenty of room on price value.”

    Iger vs. Chapek

    Iger’s strategy was to slowly raise prices over time, targeting a $1 per month increase each year for the near future, the people said. That’s what happened in March 2021, when Chapek was CEO and Iger was still chair. Disney+ jumped from $6.99 to $7.99. Iger stepped down as Disney’s chair in December.
    Slow price increases would allow Disney to suck up as many consumers at each price level — $6.99, $7.99, $8.99, etc. — as possible. Iger declined to comment about Disney+’s new pricing. A Disney spokesperson declined to comment on the differences between Chapek’s and Iger’s strategies.
    Chapek’s decision to bump Disney+ by $3 per month, from $7.99 to $10.99, suggests he’s moving Disney’s strategy from maximizing subscriber growth to emphasizing profitability. The pricing decision goes hand-in-hand with Chapek’s decision not to pay for the streaming rights of Indian Premier League, the country’s top cricket league. Chapek also decided to raise ESPN+’s price by $3 per month, from $6.99 to $9.99.
    Without the Indian Premier League, starting in 2023, Chapek lowered Disney’s guidance, first made in 2020, that Disney+ would have 230 million to 260 million subscribers by the end of 2024. Disney’s new subscriber forecast by the end of 2024 is 215 million to 245 million.
    During the last two years of Iger’s tenure, in 2020 and 2021, lowering streaming guidance likely would have led to Disney shares plummeting. Instead, last week, Disney shares barely budged when CFO Christine McCarthy announced the news on a conference call and rose 6% the day after Disney’s earnings, which included a 15 million Disney+ subscriber gain in the quarter.
    The change has to do with investors’ collective souring on Netflix this year, which has affected the entire streaming video industry.

    Netflix effect

    Chapek is betting investors are OK with a smaller total addressable market of streaming subscribers if the paying customers lead to a profitable business. Disney’s streaming services lost $1.1 billion in its most recent quarter. The large price hikes should get the streaming business to profitability by the end of 2024 even with a lower total subscriber count, Chapek said last quarter. Still, it’s notable Disney had previously planned on getting to streaming profitability by 2024 even before the price increases.
    Netflix’s growth has, for the moment, topped out at around 220 million global subscribers. Shares are down more than 60% this year after Netflix has lost subscribers through the first half of the year and projects to add just 1 million paying customers in the third quarter.

    Walt Disney Company CEO Bob Chapek reacts at the Boston College Chief Executives Club luncheon in Boston, Massachusetts, November 15, 2021.
    Katherine Taylor | Reuters

    The Netflix valuation decline gives cover to executives such as Chapek and Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav to reprioritize profit over subscriber growth.
    Disney is also taking strides to show the market that it should be focusing on average revenue per user now, rather than just Disney+ subscriber adds. Disney made a point during its third-quarter earnings presentation last week to separate its “core Disney+” subscribers from its Disney+ Hotstar subscribers, based in India, to showcase the much higher average revenue per user for Disney+. The average revenue per Disney+ subscriber was $6.29 per month at the end of Disney’s fiscal third quarter. The ARPU for a Hotstar subscriber was $1.20 per month.
    Disney plans to have 135 million to 165 million core Disney+ subscribers by the end of 2024 and “up to” 80 million Hotstar customers.

    Near-term profits

    By pricing Disney+ with commercials at $7.99, the current price of Disney+, Chapek is favoring higher ARPU over accumulating data on how many customers may be willing to pay for Disney+ at a lower price that won’t subscribe at $7.99. Chapek ostensibly already knows the Disney+ market at $7.99 in the U.S. and Canada, because that’s what Disney+ is priced at currently.
    Another of Iger’s motivations to underprice competition with incremental raises was that Disney could get a good sense of demand trends as they bumped Disney+ up by $1 per month per year, according to a person familiar with the matter.
    Chapek could have learned how many subscribers would be interested in Disney+ at, say, $4.99 per month, if he made that the starting price with advertisements. His decision to start at $7.99 again suggests he’s more interested in near-term profitability rather than quick subscriber gains that could morph into higher paying customers over time.
    It also suggests he’s confident the price increase won’t cause a drop in Disney+ demand.
    “We do not believe that there’s going to be any meaningful long-term impact on our churn as a result” of the price hikes, Chapek said.
    WATCH: Streaming viewership surpasses cable for the first time ever, according to Nielsen.

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    Usyk vs AJ: Heavyweight champion Oleksandr Usyk takes spectacular repeat victory over Anthony Joshua

    Oleksandr Usyk repeated, taking a second consecutive heavyweight boxing victory over Anthony Joshua.
    Both fighters were under acute pressure going into the championship clash.
    The fight was closely contested through the first six rounds. Joshua started to break through in the ninth, but Usyk raised the tempo in astonishing fashion in the next round.

    Oleksandr Usyk celebrates with a flag of Ukraine after his heavyweight boxing victory over Britain’s Anthony Joshua in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
    Francois Nel | Getty Images Sport | Getty Images

    Oleksandr Usyk took a second consecutive victory over Anthony Joshua to defend his unified WBO, WBA and IBF world heavyweight titles over the course of an epic 12-round battle.
    Usyk triumphed on a split decision at the King Abdullah Sports City Arena in Jeddah, taking it 116-112 and 115-113 respectively on the cards of Ukraine’s Viktor Fesechko and Britain’s Steve Gray. Glenn Feldman of the USA scored 115-113 for Joshua.

    The result infuriated Joshua. He picked up two championship belts and threw them out of the ring before storming off briefly.
    Joshua then returned to seize the microphone and vent his emotions in a passionate outburst.
    “I’m stealing this Usyk, I’m sorry, but it’s because of the passion we put into this,” Joshua told the crowd during his two-minute speech.
    Usyk holds three of the four major heavyweight belts. There is one missing from his collection. Tyson Fury, ostensibly retired, still holds the WBC title. That’s the only fight Usyk is interested in.
    “I’m sure that Tyson Fury is not retired yet,” the champion said. “I’m sure, I’m convinced he wants to fight me.

    How champion Usyk rebuffed much-improved Joshua
    Usyk did have to endure tremendous pressure from an implacable Joshua, who delivered a vastly-improved performance from their first fight in September.
    Last year, after just two pro fights in the heavyweight division, Usyk outpointed Joshua in London in an outstanding performance. Formerly an undisputed champion down at cruiserweight, Usyk proved himself one of the best fighters pound-for-pound in the world today.
    Joshua triggered an immediate rematch, determined to restore his place as a top-tier heavyweight. To that end he brought in a new trainer, Robert Garcia to join Angel Fernandez in his corner and devoted himself to rectifying the mistakes he made in the first fight.

    Read more stories from Sky Sports

    Joshua had lost before meeting Usyk, but avenged his defeat against Andy Ruiz on his first visit to Saudi Arabia in 2019. He was fighting to become a three-time heavyweight champion and knew his legacy depended on victory tonight.
    Both fighters were under acute pressure going into this championship clash. Neither could contemplate defeat.
    It made for a tense beginning. Usyk let his southpaw jab flicker out, sometimes feinting, occasionally landing. He let a quick cross fly through and blocked Joshua’s right well. Joshua though got on the front foot, sending his right hook to the body and leaning on when the Ukrainian stepped in close.

    Oleksandr Usyk connects with the right hand on Anthony Joshua during their heavyweight bout, dubbed the Rage on the Red Sea, in Saudi Arabia on 20 August.
    Francois Nel | Getty Images Sport | Getty Images

    He continued those attentions to the body, driving his right into the body when he could and seeing an opening to let it shoot the head.
    But Usyk remained elusive, bobbing his head round further jabs and chipping away at the bigger challenger.
    Joshua threw his shots with weight behind him, they were heavy even when Usyk took them on his gloves or the elbows.
    He grew in confidence, letting his own punches flow more in the fourth round. He looked for Usyk as he threatened uppercuts. The Ukrainian, though, finished that round with an excellent left cross.

    Pace quickened in fifth

    The pace quickened in the fifth round, only for a brief pause when Joshua swung an uppercut in below the belt. Joshua continued that attack to the trunk and hit the body with a hard right. Usyk looked to dissuade him, landing a countering left as Joshua came in.
    The challenger now, Joshua continued to press Usyk, much more willing to engage than in their first fight. His right missed but he clipped Usyk with a good left hook. Joshua dug to the body as Usyk had to stay on the back foot.
    Usyk had though marked him up round his right eye.
    The fight was closely contested through the first six rounds. Usyk’s hand speed told at times, his left a sniping shot that caught Joshua through openings.

    Usyk speaks to reporters after his victory of Anthony Joshua in King Abdullah Sports City Arena in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
    Francois Nel | Getty Images Sport | Getty Images

    In the eighth round, Joshua slammed a heartening left hook into the body. Usyk came back at him, probing at Joshua with a combination of punches. As Usyk peppered him to the head, Joshua swatted a right down to club Usyk away.
    Joshua started to break through in the ninth round. He finally drove Usyk into the ropes and Joshua kept up the pressure, hammering at the Ukrainian with heavy hooks. He dug in a wicked body shot and smile spread across Joshua’s face. He was about to seize momentum his way.
    Yet Usyk changed the fight again. He raised the tempo in astonishing fashion in the next round. He stunned Joshua with an accurate right hook. He unloaded with stern lefts and drove Joshua back step after step. A heavy right barrelled into Usyk’s chin but he took it and pressed on with his assault, whipping shots into Joshua as the 10th round ended.
    Usyk was handling the pressure and Joshua knew he need to find something special in the last round. He tried valiantly, hitting hard punches into the head once again. But Usyk kept his feet beneath him and kept on moving, working well even off the ropes. He closed the fight like a champion, not letting up in the 12th round.
    It was Usyk who finished strongly, clipping Joshua with heavy counter-punches to close out the final seconds of the bout.
    The decision was closer than expected but Usyk was a deserving winner.

    Joshua vents emotions

    Joshua, however, could not contain his emotions after the bout. “If you knew my story you would understand the passion. I ain’t no amateur boxer from five-years-old that was an elite prospect from youth. I was going to jail, I got bail and I started training my arse off, I wanted to be able to fight,” he roared.
    It was Usyk’s moment, yet Joshua was alone with the microphone and kept on talking.
    “This guy to beat me tonight, maybe I could have done better, but it shows the level of hard work I put in so please give him a round of applause as our heavyweight champion of the world,” Joshua said.
    When the defending champion Usyk got his opportunity to speak, he said, “I did this victory for my country, for all people, militaries who are defending the country. Thank you very, very much.
    “This is already historic. Many generations are going to watch this fight, especially the round when someone tried to beat me hard, but I withstood it and turned it in a different way.”
    Anthony Joshua’s heavyweight rematch against Oleksandr Usyk is on Sky Sports Box Office. Book the repeats now!

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    FDA authorizes emergency use for Novavax Covid-19 vaccine for ages 12 to 17

    Novavax announced on Saturday that its Covid-19 vaccine has been authorized for emergency use by the Food and Drug Administration for adolescents between the ages of 12 and 17.
    In July, Novavax’s two-dose Covid-19 vaccine for adults ages 18 and over got its emergency approval from the FDA.

    A box of the Novavax Covid-19 vaccine arranged at a pharmacy in Schwenksville, Pennsylvania, US, on Monday, Aug. 1, 2022.
    Bloomberg | Bloomberg | Getty Images

    Biotechnology company Novavax announced on Friday that its Covid-19 vaccine has been authorized for emergency use by the U.S Food and Drug Administration for adolescents between the ages of 12 and 17.
    In July, Novavax’s two-dose Covid-19 vaccine for adults ages 18 and over got its emergency approval from the FDA.

    Having more vaccine options for adults and children will “hopefully help increase vaccination rates, particularly as we prepare for ongoing surges of Covid-19 with the start of fall and the back-to-school season,” Stanley C. Erck, president and CEO of Novavax, said in a statement.
    Novavax was one of the original participants in the U.S. government’s race to develop a Covid vaccine in 2020, receiving $1.8 billion in taxpayer funding from Operation Warp Speed. However, the small Maryland biotech company struggled to quickly get manufacturing in place and its clinical trial data read out much later than rivals Pfizer or Moderna.
    Dr. Peter Marks, a senior FDA official, has said that Novavax’s vaccine would potentially appeal to unvaccinated people who would prefer a shot that is not based on the messenger RNA technology used by Pfizer and Moderna.

    How Novavax is different

    The Novavax shot is based on more conventional protein technology used for decades in hepatitis B and HPV vaccines, while Pfizer and Moderna are the first FDA-approved vaccines to use mRNA.
    Pfizer and Moderna’s vaccines use mRNA, a molecule encoded with genetic instructions, to tell human cells to produce copies of a virus particle called the spike protein. The immune system responds to these copies of the spike, which prepares the human body to attack the actual virus.

    Novavax makes copies of the virus spike outside human cells. The genetic code for the spike is put into an insect virus that infects moth cells, which produce copies that are then purified and extracted during the manufacturing process. The finished spike copies are injected into the human body, inducing an immune response against Covid.
    The Novavax vaccine also uses an additional ingredient called an adjuvant, which is extracted and purified from the bark of a tree in South America, to induce a broader immune response. The shots consist of 5 micrograms of the spike copy and 50 micrograms of the adjuvant.

    Effectiveness and safety

    Two doses of the Novavax vaccine were 90% effective at preventing illness from Covid across the board and 100% effective at preventing severe illness, according to clinical trial data from the U.S. and Mexico. However, the trial was conducted from December 2020 through September 2021, months before the omicron variant became dominant.
    Novavax did not present any data on the shot’s effectiveness against the variant at the FDA committee meeting in June. However, the vaccine will likely have lower effectiveness against omicron as is the case with Pfizer and Moderna’s shots. Omicron is so distinct from the original strain of Covid that the antibodies produced by the vaccines have trouble recognizing and attacking the variant.
    Novavax published data in December showing that a third shot boosted the immune response to levels comparable to the first two doses which had 90% effectiveness against illness. The company plans to ask the FDA to authorize a third dose of its vaccine.
    FDA authorization of Novavax’s vaccines comes as the U.S. is preparing to update Covid shots to target the omicron BA.4 and BA.5 variants to increase protection against the virus. Novavax’s vaccine, like all the other shots, is based on the original version of the virus that first emerged in Wuhan, China. The effectiveness of Covid vaccines against mild illness has slipped substantially as the virus has evolved, though they still generally protect against severe disease.
    Novavax presented data at an FDA committee meeting in late June demonstrating that a third dose of its vaccine produced a strong immune response against omicron and its subvariants. Committee members were impressed by the company’s data on omicron.
    The Novavax vaccine also appears to carry a risk of heart inflammation for younger men, known as myocarditis and pericarditis, similar to Pfizer and Moderna’s shots. Myocarditis is an inflammation of the heart muscle and pericarditis is inflammation of the outer lining of the heart.
    FDA officials flagged four cases of myocarditis and pericarditis from Novavax’s clinical trial in young men ages 16 to 28. People who develop heart inflammation as a side effect of Covid vaccines are usually hospitalized for several days as a precaution but then recover.
    The FDA has issued a fact sheet for health-care providers warning that clinical trial data indicates there is an increased risk of myocarditis with the Novavax vaccine. People who experience chest pain, shortness of breath and feelings of a fluttering or pounding heart should immediately seek medical attention, according to the FDA.
    In the case of the mRNA shots, the CDC has found that the risk of myocarditis is higher from Covid infection than vaccination. Myocarditis is usually caused by viral infections.

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    I talked to 70 parents of highly successful adults—here are 4 phrases they never used when their kids were young

    Wouldn’t it be nice if your kid grew up to become an entrepreneur?
    Entrepreneurs, in my view, are not just founders of for-profit businesses. They are resilient, hard-working people who start something, who come up with ideas and bring them to life, and who turn passion into projects. 

    As research for my book, “Raising an Entrepreneur,” I interviewed 70 parents who raised highly successful adults about how they helped their children achieve their dreams.
    What I found is that communication plays a big role in a child’s future entrepreneurial spark. Here are four phrases these parents never used when their kids were young:

    1. “I don’t trust you, so I reviewed your homework and fixed the mistakes for you.”

    The parents all stressed the importance of responsibility and accountability. They wanted their kids to take ownership, fix problems, learn from mistakes and be more confident as they got older.
    But it’s not just about homework. John Arrow dropped out of college a few credits before he graduated to start Mutual Mobile, a technology company that has generated more than $200 million in revenue.
    When he was in fifth grade, he and his friends wrote a school newspaper, which sold out immediately. But they failed to do the fact-checking. The principal was furious, and his friends got in trouble with their parents. But John’s parents laughed and told him to fix his mistakes.

    “Knowing my parents would support me, even when an authority was against me, made me double down and work harder to show them they were right to believe in me,” John said.

    2. “We’re increasing your allowance so you can buy whatever you want.”

    “Never hand out free cash,” one father told me.
    The parents I spoke to all came from a wide range of socioeconomic backgrounds, and taught their children the value of money. Even the more affluent kids had to work to spend money.
    Nyla Rodgers is the founder of Mama Hope, a non-profit that funds and advocates for community organizations. When Nyla was in high school, she wanted to go overseas with her French class.
    But instead of paying the full amount, her mom said she had to earn half the cost of the trip. With no other choice, Nyla babysat, mowed lawns, walked dogs, taught swimming and did data entry.
    “I worked 15 hours a day, seven days a week to raise the money. By the end of the summer, I’d raised enough to go. That’s what started my entrepreneurial journey,” she said.

    3. “No after-school activities until your grades improve.”

    Many of the parents I talked to didn’t understand their kids’ passions, but they all gave them a lot of time to dive into it. 
    Some kids pursued their passion in addition to being great students. Others put all their energy into their passion and weren’t so great in school. The parents supported them regardless.
    Jon Chu, director of blockbuster hits like “Crazy Rich Asians,” had a passion for making movies from the time he was in second grade. His immigrant parents ran a restaurant, and they hoped he would achieve the American dream by working hard, but it never occurred to them it could be in film.
    In high school, Jon’s mom got upset one night when she found him working on a video instead of his homework. He started crying: “But this is what I love! I want to do it my whole life.”
    When she picked him up at school the next day, she had filmmaking books she’d gotten from the library. “If you want to do this,” she said, “study it, and be the best at it.”

    4. “I’ll give you money if you get good grades.”

    Growing up, the future entrepreneurs were never taught the life goal was to be rich. Instead, it was to succeed, to do better, to improve, and to create something great.
    The parents understood that their kids would never be happy if they were plugging away at something they didn’t enjoy, and that they would never excel at something if they didn’t work non-stop at it, and that they would never work non-stop if they didn’t love it.
    So they raised kids who put their passions into their businesses and made better products and services. The kids trusted that, in all likelihood, the money would come. And even if it didn’t, it’d still be better than working hard at something they hated.
    As a result, they grew up with a sense of purpose and wanting to make a difference in the world.
    Margot Machol Bisnow is a writer, mom and parenting expert. She spent 20 years in government, including as an FTC Commissioner and Chief of Staff of the President’s Council of Economic Advisers, and is the author of “Raising an Entrepreneur: How to Help Your Children Achieve Their Dreams.” Follow her on Instagram @margotbisnow.
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