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This post was written by Alison Green and published on Ask a Manager. The site is having some server issues today so while we work on those, here’s an older post. This was originally published in 2019. (And hopefully everything will be back to normal shortly.) A reader writes: I’m a mid-level college administrator. One of my direct reports is positioning himself to move up in a couple of years (from department member to department head). He would still report to me, but the working relationship would be a little different. I need to work closely with department heads, and it can have a major impact on my work and the organization if that relationship is toxic. The problem is that he thinks he is a LOT smarter than me. He apparently read something about “managing up” and now he is trying to manage me. He is very, very bad at it. His attempts to manipulate me are clumsy and obvious, but he doesn’t realize that I know what he is doing (because he’s sure that he is much smarter than me). There’s also some sexism going on here (I’m female, and he seems to have problems with that sometimes) and I’m relatively new to the organization, so he doesn’t know me well. Every conversation degenerates into incredibly irritating condescension and smugness on his part. For example, he has said things like: • “My expectation is that you will give me a hint if you think there may be a change coming up.” Me: No, not happening. I try to squelch rumors, not spread them. And if there is a change coming, your department head will know first. • “My expectation is that you will change the meeting time.” Me: No, a meeting that involves 27 people and has been scheduled for a month will not be rescheduled just for you. • About a minor snafu with the bookstore: “I’m sure you understand why you need to have this person fired.” Me: Let’s just talk about how we are going to handle a fairly small problem. • About a trivial department matter that could easily have been resolved before it even got to me: “I know that you will do the right thing and bring this to the Chief Academic Officer.” (That’s the equivalent of the CEO.) Me: Here’s the solution that I see. He always ends with a smirk and a slow nod. His body language says that he is certain he has programmed me to respond correctly. Right now, I just smile, ignore it whenever possible, and get back to the issue at hand. Occasionally I have addressed it head on, when I need to clarify that he will definitely not be getting what he wants this time. I want to call him on this, because it is getting very tiresome. It also sidetracks the conversation away from the important stuff we need to be discussing. And I don’t enjoy being treated with such disrespect. If he does become the department head, it will be even more important that he have some respect for my intelligence. I’m tempted to give him a book on the topic and tell him he needs to study some more before trying this again. But in calmer moments, I know that level of bluntness (sarcasm, snark, whatever you want to call it) will just embarrass him and put him on the defensive. How can I stop this behavior without doing too much damage to our work relationship? Or do I just have to put up with sentences that start, “My expectation is that you will…” forever? (A complicating factor is that he’s popular with his colleagues, which is why he will be very seriously considered for the department head position. In academia, that decision is made by the faculty. I could potentially veto their decision, but right now I don’t have enough ammunition to go nuclear. And it would destroy my credibility with the rest of the department. That’s why I would rather figure out how to make this work if I can.) This guy sounds incredibly obnoxious. And also, if he’s trying to manage you, he’s really bad at it. “Managing up” doesn’t mean “pretend that you’re your boss’s manager and tell them what to do.” It means working with your boss in a way that will produce the best possible results for both of you and figuring out what is and isn’t within your sphere of control to act upon. So he’s confused on the concept. But you’re right that your options are complicated by what sounds like a genuine need to handle him more delicately than you ideally would. Ideally — in a situation with politics different than this one — you’d just name what he’s doing and tell him to stop. The next time he started in with “my expectation is that you will…” you’d say, “Framing this as ‘your expectations of me’ is coming across really strangely. My job is to make the decisions on this type of thing. I will ask for your input and perspective at times, and you’re certainly welcome to ask when there’s something you’d like to see, but ultimately that’s a call I’ll make myself.” And actually, it’s possible you could do that here too! If you feel you can, do. Alternately, you can convey that same message without spelling it out so explicitly, simply by making it clear that you aren’t being swayed by whatever weird technique he’s attempting. For example: Him: “My expectation is that you will give me a hint if you think there may be a change coming up.” You: “No, that’s not something you should expect. If there is a change coming, your department head will be the first person to talk with you about it.” Him: “My expectation is that you will change the meeting time.” You: “No, I’m not going to reschedule this meeting since it involves so many other people and has been on calendars for a while.” Him: “I’m sure you understand why you need to have this person fired.” You: “I don’t agree that’s warranted here. This is a small problem, and I will handle it directly with Jane.” Him: “I know that you will do the right thing and bring this to the Chief Academic Officer.” You: “No. (The Chief Academic Officer) and I are in agreement that I’ll handle this type of issue. What I will do is…” Another option is to have a natural reaction to his “my expectation is…” language, meaning that you let yourself seem visibly surprised. For example, when he said his expectation was that you’d change a meeting time, you could say, “I’m surprised you expect that, given how many other people the meeting involves. Can you clarify for me why you’d expect that?” or “That’s landing with me quite strangely! Can you explain what you mean?” There’s a pretty good chance this if you repeat this a few times, he’ll feel awkward enough that he’ll stop doing it — and ideally may even realize that he can’t push you around. In a normal work situation — read: not academia — I’d also say to loop your own boss in on what’s going on, given the likelihood of promotion for this guy. Someone above you needs to hear, a minimum, that he has problems respecting women’s authority. But academia is full of weird politics that I don’t have any expertise in, so I can’t tell you if that makes sense to do here or not — but at least consider it as an option. Read an update to this letter here. View the full article

Executive, 78, steps down as the Reimann family’s investment group turns to insurance and asset managementView the full article

A Texas judge earlier this month threw out a federal rule that would have capped credit card late fees at $8. The Consumer Finance Protection Bureau finalized the rule last year as part of the Biden administration’s efforts to do away with what it called junk fees. It was paused by the courts before it could take effect. At the time, the CFPB estimated that American families would have saved more than $10 billion in late fees annually had the fees been capped at $8, significantly less than the $32 average. Banks and industry groups argued that the rule didn’t allow card issuers to charge fees high enough to deter late payments and discourage repeat violations. The Texas judge’s ruling earlier this month came a day after a collection of major industry groups and the CFPB under President Donald The President announced that they had reached an agreement to throw out the rule. Here’s what to know about credit card late fees: What is the average credit card late fee? The average late fee for major issuers has steadily ticked up since the 2010s, going from $23 at the end of 2010 to $32 in 2022, according to the CFPB. WalletHub, which tracks financial data, found the average late fee in 2025 to be $30.50, with the maximum $41. A September 2023 Consumer Reports study estimated that one in five American adults, or about 52 million people, paid a credit card late fee in the previous year. People with lower incomes pay proportionately bigger fees, according to the CFPB, with the highest burden falling on communities of color and those living paycheck to paycheck. How can consumers avoid the fees? Enrolling in auto-pay for your credit cards can help you avoid making late payments, and there are some credit cards that don’t charge late fees at all (though it’s important to note that these cards may have other fee or penalty structures, or higher interest rates.) Citi Simplicity and the Apple card do not currently charge late fees, and Discover offers a card that will automatically waive the first late fee. It’s also possible to appeal credit card late fees charged by your credit card company by calling them directly. The companies will often reverse the fees, especially if it’s your first late payment. You may also want to consider making payments on your credit card balances during the month. That means you’ll have paid more of the balance by the time the amount comes due, and keeping your balance low relative to your credit limit can improve your credit score. If you’re having trouble making ends meet, you can ask your credit issuers about hardship programs. These are typically available to people affected by job loss, illness or medical conditions, natural disasters, or other emergencies. What was the CFPB credit card late fee cap rule about? Concerned that credit card companies were building a business model based on high penalties, Congress passed the Credit Card Accountability Responsibility and Disclosure Act of 2009 (CARD Act), which banned the companies from charging excessive late fees and established clearer disclosures and consumer protections. In 2010, the Federal Reserve Board of Governors voted to issue a regulation implementing the CARD Act, which said that banks could only charge fees to recover costs associated with late payment. However, the rule included an “immunity provision” that let some banks charge $25 for the first late payment and $35 for subsequent late payments, adjusted for inflation each year. Those amounts subsequently grew to $30 and $41. After a review of market data, the CFPB finalized a rule that would have capped late fees at $8 and ended automatic inflation adjustments. Based on records analyzed by the CFPB, a late fee of $8 would be sufficient for card issuers, on average, to cover collection costs incurred as a result of late payments. How have banking groups responded to the court decision? Industry groups, including the Consumer Bankers Association, American Bankers Association, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, and others, said they welcomed the court’s decision eliminating the cap. The groups said that the rule would have led to higher interest rates and reduced credit access for card holders. The groups also said the rule would have “reduced important incentives for consumers to manage their finances.” The CFPB has estimated that banks bring in roughly $14 billion in credit card late fees a year. How have consumer advocates responded? Horacio Méndez, president and CEO of Woodstock Institute, an organization for advancing economic equity, called the ruling a “devastating blow.” “By tossing out the CFPB’s common-sense rule to cap these predatory late fees—some as high as $41—a federal judge is putting corporations over the lives of everyday consumers,” he said. “The CFPB’s rule was borne out of clear evidence: the credit card industry was using inflated late fees as a profit engine, forcing families with the least financial cushion to pay.” Méndez said that while consumers have come to expect fees for services, those fees needn’t be punitive to be effective. ___ The Associated Press receives support from Charles Schwab Foundation for educational and explanatory reporting to improve financial literacy. The independent foundation is separate from Charles Schwab and Co. Inc. The AP is solely responsible for its journalism. —Cora Lewis, Associated Press View the full article

Thanking your AI chatbot when it provides a response to a query may not require much energy on its own, but the cost of your interactions will add up over time—and a new tool from Hugging Face can tell you approximately how much. The ChatUI energy interface estimates the energy consumption involved in messaging with an AI model in real time, with comparisons to common appliances like LED light bulbs and phone chargers. You can type in any query or utilize one of the suggested inputs to generate a response along with the corresponding energy requirement. For example, a "professional email" took an AI just over 25 seconds to create and required 0.5 watt-hours, the equivalent of 2.67% of a phone charge. A 90-second script for testing transcription software required 1.4 watt-hours—7.37% of a phone charge, 22 minutes of an LED bulb, or 0.6 seconds of microwave use. (Responding to my "thank you" equaled 0.2% of a phone charge.) Note that ChatUI is approximating, not providing exact measurements. The tool can run on various models, including Meta’s Llama 3.3 70B and Google’s Gemma 3. How AI energy use compares to a Google searchAccording to estimates from the International Energy Agency (IEA), a single ChatGPT request requires nearly 10 times the electricity of a typical Google search at 2.9 watt-hours vs. 0.2 watt-hours, respectively. If ChatGPT was utilized in all 9 billion daily searches, that would require nearly 10 terawatt-hours of additional electricity per year, the equivalent usage of 1.5 million European Union residents. AI's environmental impact comes in large part from the power and water demands of running data centers. The IEA expects global AI electricity consumption to be ten times in 2026 what it was in 2023, and the water requirements by 2027 could be more than the entire annual usage of all of Denmark. View the full article

Sellers have roughly a month to bring transactions involving properties from the "claims without conveyance of title" and REO programs in line with the changes. View the full article

Officials are worried US president will use minor progress in talks as ‘excuse’ to disengageView the full article

The fraudsters aren't doing anything new or sophisticated, but are successfully using familiar tactics, said reports from CertifID and FundingShield. View the full article

Energy drink company Celsius Holdings announced today that its subsidiary brand, Alani Nu, has notched more than $1 billion in sales over the past 52 weeks—representing a head-turning 72.4% year-over-year sales increase. The company’s impressive success demonstrates that the functional beverage craze may not be merely a passing fad for consumers. Celsius Holdings, which also owns the popular energy drink Celsius, officially acquired Alani Nu last month for $1.8 billion. The brand was originally founded by entrepreneur Katy Schneider and husband Haydn Schneider in 2018, and has since found a growing audience of Gen Z and millennial consumers looking for a low-calorie, zero-sugar energy drink option. According to a press release, Alani Nu’s $1 billion milestone “has been fueled by accelerated brand growth, strong and unique innovation, and a growing female energy drink consumer segment seeking better-for-you, functional beverages that fit their health and wellness lifestyles.” As of this writing, Celsius Holdings stock is up slightly by 0.16% since market open. What Alani Nu’s success says about the future of “functional beverages” Over the past several months, “functional beverages,” or drinks that offer some kind of mood or health boost (in the case of Alani Nu and Celsius, that would be the added jolt of caffeine), have gained popularity in the mainstream beverage market. A study by Nielsen IQ last spring found that sales of functional beverages grew by 54% between March 2020 and March 2024 to $9.2 billion, accounting for 10% of the total nonalcoholic beverage market in the U.S. Subcategories of this market, including energy drinks and sports beverages, are similarly trending up. Experts across the beverage industry largely attribute this trend to a rising interest in health and wellness among Gen Z and millennial consumers, who are increasingly choosing to ditch alcoholic beverages in favor of more “healthy” drinks that can offer one or more benefits. In the past year, new brands like the DTC sports beverage company Magna and influencer Alex Cooper’s electrolyte drink brand Unwell have emerged to capitalize on this widening consumer base. Meanwhile, existing brands like Mio, Bodyarmor, and Liquid I.V. have all introduced refreshed looks to emphasize their “functional” features. Alani Nu, which has positioned itself as a “health and wellness” brand for women since its founding, was uniquely prepared to capitalize on this trend as it emerged. The energy drink comes with 200 mg of caffeine per 12-ounce can (the equivalent of about two cups of coffee) and is vegan, sugar-free, gluten-free, and low-calorie. The brand’s $1 billion milestone shows that, more than a year after the initial hype around functional beverages first began, the sector has taken root as a more permanent beverage category—one that’s both attracting a new generation of consumers and causing beverage giants to rethink how they market their products. View the full article

U.S. stocks are drifting Monday ahead of potential flashpoints looming later in the week that could bring more sharp swings for financial markets. The S&P 500 was virtually unchanged in morning trading, coming off a winning week in its whipsaw ride that’s been rattling investors for weeks. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 145 points, or 0.4%, as of 10:15 a.m. Eastern time, and the Nasdaq composite was 0.1% lower. The relatively calm trading offers a respite following historic swings that have come as hopes rise and fall that President Donald The President may back down on his tariffs, which investors expect would otherwise cause a recession. The S&P 500 has roughly halved its drop that had taken it nearly 20% below its record set earlier this year. This upcoming week will feature earnings reports from some of Wall Street’s most influential companies, including Amazon, Apple, Meta Platforms, and Microsoft. Their performances carry huge sway over the market because they’ve inflated to become the biggest by far in terms of size. Outside of Big Tech, executives from Caterpillar, Exxon Mobil, and McDonald’s may also offer clues about how they’re seeing economic conditions play out. Several companies across industries have recently been slashing their estimates for upcoming profit or pulling their forecasts completely because of uncertainty about what will happen with The President’s tariffs. “We heard more plans to mitigate tariff impacts than in prior months and than during 2018” from U.S. companies, including preordering, shifting production, and increasing prices for their own products, according to Bank of America strategist Savita Subramanian. But she also said in a report that she’s seeing “some indications of a pause: no hiring/no firing, no new projects/no cancellations etc.” A fear is that The President’s on-again-off-again tariffs may be pushing households and businesses to alter their spending and freeze plans for long-term investment because of how quickly conditions can change, seemingly by the hour. Domino’s Pizza was flipping between small losses and gains after it reported weaker profit for the latest quarter than analysts expected. The pizza chain’s CEO, Russell Weiner, called the global economic environment “challenging,” and its stock was most recently up 0.7% DoorDash added 1.2% after Deliveroo, the food delivery service based in London, said it heard from DoorDash about a possible cash offer to take over the company. So far, economic reports have mostly seemed to show the U.S. economy is still growing, though at a weaker pace. On Wednesday, economists expect a report to show that U.S. economic growth slowed to a 0.8% annual rate in the first three months of this year, down from a 2.4% rate at the end of last year. But most reports Wall Street has received so far have focused on data from before The President’s “Liberation Day” on April 2, when he announced tariffs that could affect imports from countries worldwide. That could raise the stakes for upcoming reports on the U.S. job market, including Friday’s, which will show how many workers employers hired during all of April. Economists expect it to show a slowdown in hiring down to 125,000 from 228,000 in March. The most jarring economic data recently have come from surveys showing U.S. consumers becoming much more pessimistic about the economy’s future because of tariffs. The Conference Board’s latest reading on consumer confidence will arrive on Tuesday. In the bond market, Treasury yields held relatively steady. They’ve calmed since an unsettling, unusual rise rise in yields earlier this month rattled both Wall Street and the U.S. government. That rise had suggested investors worldwide may have been losing faith in the U.S. bond market’s reputation as a safe place to park cash. The yield on the 10-year Treasury slipped to 4.25% from 4.29% late Friday. In stock markets abroad, indexes were mixed across Europe and Asia. The CAC 40 in Paris rose 0.8%, but stocks slipped 0.2% in Shanghai. —Stan Choe, AP business writer AP Writers Jiang Junzhe and Matt Ott contributed. View the full article

Chinese robotaxi technology company Pony AI Inc. (Nasdaq: PONY) was up a whopping 55% on Monday—yes, you read that right—after Chief Technology Officer Lou Tiancheng told the Wall Street Journal it can now build its autonomous driving system for 70% less and is on the road to profitability. Pony AI makes the technology that allows cars to become autonomous, or self-driving, not the cars itself, but is partnering with companies that do. It also operates a fleet of robotaxis in China. Last week, Pony AI unveiled three new driver-less vehicles at the Shanghai Auto Show, which were co-developed with Chinese state-owned automakers BAIC Motor and Guangzhou Automobile Group, as well as, Toyota. Analysts estimate the company has slashed its bill-of-materials, or BOM, (all the materials, components, sub-assemblies, and instructions needed to manufacture a product) costs for its robotaxis from $137,217 to a $41,165. Cheaper production could enable Pony AI to achieve single-unit breakeven, the point it makes a profit each time a new robotaxi is added to its fleet, according to the WSJ. Some analysts think they could reach that coveted goal by the end of 2025, but that the company wouldn’t likely turn a profit until at least 2030 when it hits 50,000 robotaxis. “The key is software optimization,” Lou told the WSJ. “For example, our software performance has tripled under the same computing power.” It’s worth noting, Pony AI, which focuses on developing and deploying autonomous driving technology, including robotaxi services, has yet to turn a profit and, in fact, posted a loss last quarter, it first reporting since going public last year. If all goes well, Pony plans to to start production of its robotaxis mid-year, with the goal of expand from 300 vehicles to from 1,000 at the end of 2025, per the WSJ. View the full article

David Spector, the firm's CEO, touted Pennymac's technology, consistency and support for the broker channel. View the full article

Block Advisors by H&R Block has announced the launch of its second annual Fund Her Future grant program, designed to support women-owned small businesses with high growth and community impact potential. Applications are now open and will be accepted through May 30, 2025. The 2025 program will award a total of $100,000 in grant funding and nearly $30,000 worth of small business services to six recipients. One grant recipient will receive a $50,000 package, while up to five additional winners will each receive $10,000 grants. All winners will also gain a year of access to Block Advisors’ small business services, which include tax preparation, payroll, bookkeeping, and business structure analysis. “We understand the challenges entrepreneurs face as they grow their businesses. They need more than just capital; they need trusted expertise that saves them time and puts their mind at ease,” said Jamil Khan, Chief Small Business Officer at H&R Block. “That’s why Fund Her Future provides not only financial support but also access to Block Advisors year-round small business services, including such business-critical services as tax preparation, payroll, bookkeeping and business structure analysis.” Block Advisors highlighted that despite women being among the fastest-growing segments of new small business owners, they continue to face significant barriers to funding and resources. According to the 2024 State of Women’s Small Business Report by Block Advisors, 42% of women business owners who applied for a bank loan were never approved, and nearly 90% reported relying on personal finances and credit cards to fund their ventures. To apply for the Fund Her Future program, applicants must be over 18 years old and own a United States-based business. Businesses that demonstrate a strong community impact are especially encouraged to apply. Full eligibility requirements can be found on the Fund Her Future website. Recipients of the 2025 grants will be notified by the end of July. Last year’s inaugural Fund Her Future program attracted more than 6,000 applicants and awarded grants to five entrepreneurs whose businesses demonstrated significant growth potential. Grant recipient Heather Jiang, owner of Allégorie, a New York City-based small-batch accessory line that turns food waste into fashion, expanded her product lines and hired additional staff with the help of her grant. “There is a sense of relief in handing off my bookkeeping to a Block Advisors expert,” Jiang explained. “It frees up my time to focus on other aspects of the business. They ensure everything is handled properly. The recognition from the grant has been amazing, as well. We’ve seen a 50 percent increase in online traffic to our website since the 2024 grant was announced.” Another 2024 grant recipient, Erica Cole, owner of Richmond-based No Limbits, used the funding and support to scale her accessible apparel brand. “The funding and small business support from Block Advisors has allowed me to scale my business. It enabled me to launch my sensory-friendly collection in Walmart and acquire Buck & Buck, a leader in adaptive apparel,” Cole shared. Ameka Coleman, owner of Strands of Faith based in Pearl, Mississippi, also saw significant growth following her 2024 grant. “This grant allowed us to onboard two more hospital networks, which significantly increases demand for our products. We’re looking at a 400% increase in revenue from this workstream,” said Coleman. For more information about the Fund Her Future program and how to apply, visit www.BlockAdvisors.com/FundHerFutureGrant. To learn more about Block Advisors’ year-round services for small businesses, visit www.BlockAdvisors.com. This article, "Block Advisors by H&R Block Opens Applications for 2025 Fund Her Future Grant Program" was first published on Small Business Trends View the full article

Block Advisors by H&R Block has announced the launch of its second annual Fund Her Future grant program, designed to support women-owned small businesses with high growth and community impact potential. Applications are now open and will be accepted through May 30, 2025. The 2025 program will award a total of $100,000 in grant funding and nearly $30,000 worth of small business services to six recipients. One grant recipient will receive a $50,000 package, while up to five additional winners will each receive $10,000 grants. All winners will also gain a year of access to Block Advisors’ small business services, which include tax preparation, payroll, bookkeeping, and business structure analysis. “We understand the challenges entrepreneurs face as they grow their businesses. They need more than just capital; they need trusted expertise that saves them time and puts their mind at ease,” said Jamil Khan, Chief Small Business Officer at H&R Block. “That’s why Fund Her Future provides not only financial support but also access to Block Advisors year-round small business services, including such business-critical services as tax preparation, payroll, bookkeeping and business structure analysis.” Block Advisors highlighted that despite women being among the fastest-growing segments of new small business owners, they continue to face significant barriers to funding and resources. According to the 2024 State of Women’s Small Business Report by Block Advisors, 42% of women business owners who applied for a bank loan were never approved, and nearly 90% reported relying on personal finances and credit cards to fund their ventures. To apply for the Fund Her Future program, applicants must be over 18 years old and own a United States-based business. Businesses that demonstrate a strong community impact are especially encouraged to apply. Full eligibility requirements can be found on the Fund Her Future website. Recipients of the 2025 grants will be notified by the end of July. Last year’s inaugural Fund Her Future program attracted more than 6,000 applicants and awarded grants to five entrepreneurs whose businesses demonstrated significant growth potential. Grant recipient Heather Jiang, owner of Allégorie, a New York City-based small-batch accessory line that turns food waste into fashion, expanded her product lines and hired additional staff with the help of her grant. “There is a sense of relief in handing off my bookkeeping to a Block Advisors expert,” Jiang explained. “It frees up my time to focus on other aspects of the business. They ensure everything is handled properly. The recognition from the grant has been amazing, as well. We’ve seen a 50 percent increase in online traffic to our website since the 2024 grant was announced.” Another 2024 grant recipient, Erica Cole, owner of Richmond-based No Limbits, used the funding and support to scale her accessible apparel brand. “The funding and small business support from Block Advisors has allowed me to scale my business. It enabled me to launch my sensory-friendly collection in Walmart and acquire Buck & Buck, a leader in adaptive apparel,” Cole shared. Ameka Coleman, owner of Strands of Faith based in Pearl, Mississippi, also saw significant growth following her 2024 grant. “This grant allowed us to onboard two more hospital networks, which significantly increases demand for our products. We’re looking at a 400% increase in revenue from this workstream,” said Coleman. For more information about the Fund Her Future program and how to apply, visit www.BlockAdvisors.com/FundHerFutureGrant. To learn more about Block Advisors’ year-round services for small businesses, visit www.BlockAdvisors.com. This article, "Block Advisors by H&R Block Opens Applications for 2025 Fund Her Future Grant Program" was first published on Small Business Trends View the full article

Iran and the United States will hold talks Saturday in Oman, their third round of negotiations over Tehran’s rapidly advancing nuclear program. The talks follow a first round held in Muscat, Oman, where the two sides spoke face to face. They then met again in Rome last weekend before this scheduled meeting again in Muscat. The President has imposed new sanctions on Iran as part of his “maximum pressure” campaign targeting the country. He has repeatedly suggested military action against Iran remained a possibility, while emphasizing he still believed a new deal could be reached by writing a letter to Iran’s 85-year-old Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei to jump start these talks. Khamenei has warned Iran would respond to any attack with an attack of its own. Here’s what to know about the letter, Iran’s nuclear program and the tensions that have stalked relations between Tehran and Washington since the 1979 Islamic Revolution. Why did The President write the letter? The President dispatched the letter to Khamenei on March 5, then gave a television interview the next day in which he acknowledged sending it. He said: “I’ve written them a letter saying, ‘I hope you’re going to negotiate because if we have to go in militarily, it’s going to be a terrible thing.’” Since returning to the White House, the president has been pushing for talks while ratcheting up sanctions and suggesting a military strike by Israel or the U.S. could target Iranian nuclear sites. A previous letter from The President during his first term drew an angry retort from the supreme leader. But The President’s letters to North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in his first term led to face-to-face meetings, though no deals to limit Pyongyang’s atomic bombs and a missile program capable of reaching the continental U.S. How did the first round go? Oman, a sultanate on the eastern edge of the Arabian Peninsula, hosted the first round of talks between Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi and U.S. Mideast envoy Steve Witkoff. The two men met face to face after indirect talks and immediately agreed to this second round in Rome. Witkoff later made a television appearance in which he suggested 3.67% enrichment for Iran could be something the countries could agree on. But that’s exactly the terms set by the 2015 nuclear deal struck under U.S. President Barack Obama, from which The President unilaterally withdrew America. Witkoff hours later issued a statement underlining something: “A deal with Iran will only be completed if it is a The President deal.” Araghchi and Iranian officials have latched onto Witkoff’s comments in recent days as a sign that America was sending it mixed signals about the negotiations. Yet the Rome talks ended up with the two sides agreeing to starting expert-level talks this Saturday. Analysts described that as a positive sign, though much likely remains to be agreed before reaching a tentative deal. Why does Iran’s nuclear program worry the West? Iran has insisted for decades that its nuclear program is peaceful. However, its officials increasingly threaten to pursue a nuclear weapon. Iran now enriches uranium to near weapons-grade levels of 60%, the only country in the world without a nuclear weapons program to do so. Under the original 2015 nuclear deal, Iran was allowed to enrich uranium up to 3.67% purity and to maintain a uranium stockpile of 300 kilograms (661 pounds). The last report by the International Atomic Energy Agency on Iran’s program put its stockpile at 8,294.4 kilograms (18,286 pounds) as it enriches a fraction of it to 60% purity. U.S. intelligence agencies assess that Iran has yet to begin a weapons program, but has “undertaken activities that better position it to produce a nuclear device, if it chooses to do so.” Ali Larijani, an adviser to Iran’s supreme leader, has warned in a televised interview that his country has the capability to build nuclear weapons, but it is not pursuing it and has no problem with the International Atomic Energy Agency’s inspections. However, he said if the U.S. or Israel were to attack Iran over the issue, the country would have no choice but to move toward nuclear weapon development. “If you make a mistake regarding Iran’s nuclear issue, you will force Iran to take that path, because it must defend itself,” he said. Why are relations so bad between Iran and the U.S.? Iran was once one of the U.S.’s top allies in the Mideast under Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, who purchased American military weapons and allowed CIA technicians to run secret listening posts monitoring the neighboring Soviet Union. The CIA had fomented a 1953 coup that cemented the shah’s rule. But in January 1979, the shah, fatally ill with cancer, fled Iran as mass demonstrations swelled against his rule. The Islamic Revolution followed, led by Grand Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, and created Iran’s theocratic government. Later that year, university students overran the U.S. Embassy in Tehran, seeking the shah’s extradition and sparking the 444-day hostage crisis that saw diplomatic relations between Iran and the U.S. severed. The Iran-Iraq war of the 1980s saw the U.S. back Saddam Hussein. The “Tanker War” during that conflict saw the U.S. launch a one-day assault that crippled Iran at sea, while the U.S. later shot down an Iranian commercial airliner that the American military said it mistook for a warplane. Iran and the U.S. have see-sawed between enmity and grudging diplomacy in the years since, with relations peaking when Tehran made the 2015 nuclear deal with world powers. But The President unilaterally withdrew America from the accord in 2018, sparking tensions in the Mideast that persist today. ___ The Associated Press receives support for nuclear security coverage from the Carnegie Corporation of New York and Outrider Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content. —Jon Gambrell, Associated Press Associated Press writer Amir Vahdat contributed to this report. View the full article

This post was written by Alison Green and published on Ask a Manager. As long as we have employers, we’ll also have managers who issue nonsensical or inefficient edicts — even when their employees point out a smarter way to go. Sometimes that’s because they’re more focused on control or appearances than on actual results. Sometimes it’s because they’re out of touch with the day-to-day realities of the work. And sometimes they’re just bad managers. Today at Slate, I wrote about how some irritated employees have learned to respond to these policies with “malicious compliance”: scrupulously doing exactly what they’re being told to do, but in a way that exposes the absurdity of the request. You can read it here. View the full article

The Minnesota Department of Agriculture (MDA) has announced that applications are now open for the Agricultural Growth, Research, and Innovation (AGRI) Value-Added Grant Program. The initiative aims to boost the state’s agricultural and renewable energy sectors by supporting value-added businesses with targeted equipment investments. Through the AGRI Value-Added Grant, eligible applicants — including individuals, farmers, businesses, agricultural cooperatives, nonprofit organizations, educational institutions, local governments, and tribal governments — can apply for funding to enhance the production capacity, market diversification, and market access of value-added agricultural products. For this program, “value-added” is defined as the addition of value to an agricultural product through processing. The MDA expects to award a combined $2 million in funding through the AGRI Value-Added and AGRI Meat, Poultry, Egg, and Milk (MPEM) Grants. Funding priorities for this round include projects that increase food safety and expand hemp fiber production capacity. Grant recipients are required to meet specific cash match requirements. Applicants must provide 50% of the first $50,000 of project costs to qualify for up to $25,000 in reimbursement. For expenses beyond the first $50,000, recipients must cover 75% of the additional costs, with the state reimbursing 25%, up to a maximum grant award of $150,000. For example, a project costing $400,000 would be eligible for $112,500 in total grant reimbursement. Applicants would receive $25,000 for the first $50,000 of expenses and $87,500 for the remaining $350,000, requiring them to contribute $287,500 of their own funds. Applications for the AGRI Value-Added Grant are due by 4 p.m. Central Time on Thursday, August 7, 2025. Interested parties are encouraged to carefully review the Value-Added Request for Proposals – Spring document for full eligibility and requirement details. Applications must be submitted online through the designated MDA portal, and new users will need to create an account before applying. The AGRI Program is a key component of Minnesota’s strategy to advance its agricultural economy, offering resources to help businesses grow while promoting innovation and sustainability in the industry. Image: Canva This article, "Minnesota Department of Agriculture Opens Applications for AGRI Value-Added and MPEM Grant Programs" was first published on Small Business Trends View the full article

The Minnesota Department of Agriculture (MDA) has announced that applications are now open for the Agricultural Growth, Research, and Innovation (AGRI) Value-Added Grant Program. The initiative aims to boost the state’s agricultural and renewable energy sectors by supporting value-added businesses with targeted equipment investments. Through the AGRI Value-Added Grant, eligible applicants — including individuals, farmers, businesses, agricultural cooperatives, nonprofit organizations, educational institutions, local governments, and tribal governments — can apply for funding to enhance the production capacity, market diversification, and market access of value-added agricultural products. For this program, “value-added” is defined as the addition of value to an agricultural product through processing. The MDA expects to award a combined $2 million in funding through the AGRI Value-Added and AGRI Meat, Poultry, Egg, and Milk (MPEM) Grants. Funding priorities for this round include projects that increase food safety and expand hemp fiber production capacity. Grant recipients are required to meet specific cash match requirements. Applicants must provide 50% of the first $50,000 of project costs to qualify for up to $25,000 in reimbursement. For expenses beyond the first $50,000, recipients must cover 75% of the additional costs, with the state reimbursing 25%, up to a maximum grant award of $150,000. For example, a project costing $400,000 would be eligible for $112,500 in total grant reimbursement. Applicants would receive $25,000 for the first $50,000 of expenses and $87,500 for the remaining $350,000, requiring them to contribute $287,500 of their own funds. Applications for the AGRI Value-Added Grant are due by 4 p.m. Central Time on Thursday, August 7, 2025. Interested parties are encouraged to carefully review the Value-Added Request for Proposals – Spring document for full eligibility and requirement details. Applications must be submitted online through the designated MDA portal, and new users will need to create an account before applying. The AGRI Program is a key component of Minnesota’s strategy to advance its agricultural economy, offering resources to help businesses grow while promoting innovation and sustainability in the industry. Image: Canva This article, "Minnesota Department of Agriculture Opens Applications for AGRI Value-Added and MPEM Grant Programs" was first published on Small Business Trends View the full article

Two Democratic members of the National Credit Union Administration board of directors are suing the The President administration for wrongful dismissal, a suit that could have implications for the Federal Reserve and Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. View the full article

Audit requires innovation. By Alan Anderson, CPA Transforming Audit for the Future Go PRO for members-only access to more Alan Anderson. View the full article

Audit requires innovation. By Alan Anderson, CPA Transforming Audit for the Future Go PRO for members-only access to more Alan Anderson. View the full article

By CPA Trendlines Research Individual tax returns often turn up a need for eldercare for a client or a client’s relatives. MORE Listicles here Exclusively for PRO Members. Log in here or upgrade to PRO today. Often younger family members … Continued Go PRO for members-only access to more CPA Trendlines Research. View the full article

By CPA Trendlines Research Individual tax returns often turn up a need for eldercare for a client or a client’s relatives. MORE Listicles here Exclusively for PRO Members. Log in here or upgrade to PRO today. Often younger family members … Continued Go PRO for members-only access to more CPA Trendlines Research. View the full article

For the past five years, Google's Emoji Kitchen has offered a way for users to make unique emojis from existing icons. The feature lets you take two emojis and combine them into one to make emojis that are familiar yet new. You can take the saluting emoji and combine it with the robot emoji to make a saluting robot, or the alien emoji and the "shh" emoji to make an alien telling you to be quiet. You can't necessarily mix each and every emoji that you see in your emoji keyboard, though—first, Google has to make those combinations possible. Every now and then, Google will include new combinations within software updates, even if they don't advertise each one. The more often you use emojis with Gboard, the more combinations you're bound to discover. But now, you no longer need to experiment with Emoji Kitchen in order to discover new combinations. In fact, Google will do the combining for you: All you have to do is scroll. Browse Emoji Kitchen combinations on PixelAs reported by 9to5Google, Google is rolling out an update to the emoji keyboard on Pixel devices. Once the update hits your Pixel, you'll now see a short row of emoji combinations along the top of the emoji keyboard, with an arrow at the end of the row. Tap the arrow, and you'll open up a full grid of emoji combinations, which you can scroll through for a long time. If you somehow reach the bottom without finding an emoji you like, you can return to the top of the grid and pull down to refresh the browser. Credit: Jake Peterson/Lifehacker When you do find a combination you like, tap on it. The emoji keyboard will reveal a pop up, showing you which two emojis were used to make this new one. If you want to use it, just tap Send. Credit: Jake Peterson/Lifehacker While the Emoji Kitchen is available on all devices using Gboard, the new Emoji Kitchen browser is exclusive to Pixel devices. Other devices will still need to create Emoji Kitchen icons by hand. Alternatively, you can use the "Randomize" option in the Emoji Kitchen tool built into Google: just search Emoji Kitchen in the web browser, then click Get cooking. View the full article

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Youth culture moves fast. New slang is created and abandoned in days, whole communities organize around a blurry photograph, jokes become memes, memes become rituals, and everything might is abandoned before you even notice it exists. It's like to trying to study a snowflake: Once you can look at it, it's already melted. So it is this week, as I take a look a new lexicon of brain-rot slang (that might not really be slang), a meme format based on threatening to eat your Uber driver, and the performative disappointment of youth. Plus, as a reminder that we still still share something, a video about humanity's never-ending fascination with digging holes. What do "Kevin," "gurt," and "IKIAB" mean? I cover slang a lot in this column and keep a running glossary of Gen Z and Gen A words, but I'm not sure what to make of "Kevin," "gurt," "IKIAB," and countless other slang terms born in the past couple of weeks. To many young people, anything bad can be described as Kevin, and the word gurt means something like "smart but dangerous" and IKIAB is an acronym for "Imma keep it a buck," which means "I'm telling the truth." But maybe they don't mean anything. All these new words are part of the quickly evolving world of brain-rot memes, and they straddle a line between self-aware parody of slang and actual slang. IKIAB was coined a few weeks ago by TikTok user @xznthos, who declared it was new slang that everyone would now use. Gurt was invented and defined a few days later, and Kevin a few days after that. This led to making up slang words becoming a meme format in brain-rot videos, with all kinds of people declaring that all kinds of words now mean all kinds of things. But do they? Is slang really slang just because someone says it is and a lot of people see the video? Taking it a step further, a writer at Daily Dot asked Google Search’s generative AI Overview to define nonsense phrases like “banana slurp” and “cyclops vibing," and it answered that banana slurp "could potentially be a misinterpretation of ‘that’s bananas’ or ‘she/he went bananas,’ which both mean something is crazy, wild, or extremely agitated," and that cyclops vibing "essentially suggests that a person is enjoying themselves and in a good place, even if they are depicted with a somewhat intimidating or unusual image like a cyclops.” So you don't even need a person to have ever used a word or phrase for it to have a definition (at least to a computer), so when is a word slang and when is it nonsense? That's the kind of question only a total stork smoother would ask. What is the "I'm so hungry I could eat..." trend?The "I'm so hungry I could eat..." trend is way easier to understand than brain-rot slang. It's a form of prank video where you secretly record someone's reaction to you saying, "I'm so hungry I could eat X," with X being whatever is likely to get the biggest reaction. It started with videos of parents saying "I'm so hungry I could eat a kid" to their kids, which is adorable: Then dog owners started threatening to eat their dogs: Then things started getting stranger, like this video where someone threatens to eat their Uber driver. But the height of the trend is saying you're so hungry they could eat a random, specific person from their victim's past. Like an old classmate who might have been dangerous: or their first boyfriend: or their coke dealer from the 90s. What is the Hiccup Cult?If your child has just joined The Hiccup Cult, don't worry. It's not a cult like The People's Temple; it's just a random TikTok thing with no real meaning. A few weeks ago, TikToker @annesstinkysock posted a video where they pointed out that the character Hiccup from How to Train Your Dragon is kind of funny-looking, and that she'd changed her profile picture to an image of Hiccup. That's it. That's the whole origin story. For some reason no one can explain, this video was spat out to millions of TikTok users, thousands (maybe hundreds of thousands) of whom changed their own profile pictures to Hiccup. Many of them started following each other, and a cult was born. To join, you just have to change your profile picture to Hiccup and you're in. TikTok cults aren't new. There have been a ton of them revolving around a picture of a hamster, or Dragon Ball character Goku, or minions. It's the kind of thing that will be forgotten quickly, but maybe it provides some sense of belonging for the 12 seconds it exists. "Rejection cakes" take over the internetIt's the time of year when high school seniors are crossing their fingers and receiving their acceptance or rejection emails from the colleges they applied to. As you'd probably expect, social media is filled with videos of over-achievers crying happy tears because they were accepted at Harvard, Boston College, or all four of the Ivy League schools they applied to. As you'd probably expect, it's getting ridiculous. Just check out how elaborate this video is for getting into UT Austin: Good for her and all, but I mean, it's UT Austin? Anyway, I'm more interested in the people who won't be choosing between Yale and Dartmouth this fall. The trend for the rest of us, the also-rans and the almost-made-its, this year is rejection cakes. Videos like this one: and this one: are providing a much-needed counter-narrative to all the terrible success some people experience. I think there's something more valuable in performative displays of resilience than displays of pride, because we can't all get into Stanford, but we can all eat cake. Anyway, If you'd like to look at young people who have had their hopes dashed early instead of having them dashed when they graduate from their dream college there's a bunch of videos here. Viral video of the week: A Video About Digging A Hole A lot of youth culture these days lives up to the "brain-rot" name, but there's always a yin to the yang, like this week's viral video, "A Video About Digging a Hole." This video will not rot anyone's brain. In it, YouTuber Jacob Geller goes deep into the subject of holes. People, particularly younger people, have always been fascinated with holes, and Geller's video examines the cultural and symbolic power of the simple hole in the ground, finding connections between Louis Sachar's classic young adult novel Holes, Minecraft's constant digging and tunneling, 2025's unexpected blockbuster video game A Game About Digging a Hole, and way more hole-based media. This video is worth the watch just for the section on The Kola Superdeep Borehole—the deepest hole humans have ever dug. View the full article

FTSE 100 company tells hundreds of workers to stay at home and admits it has no idea when operations will recoverView the full article