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Joel Klatt discussed the Georgia Bulldogs in the National Championship against the TCU Horned Frogs. Georgia is looking to be the first back-to-back national champions since Alabama in 2011-12. Joel then discusses Georgia’s success and explains their skills on offense. In their semifinal game, Georgia was the first team to come back from a 14-point fourth quarter deficit in a CFP game.

AN HOUR AGO・The Joel Klatt Show・6:33

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Over the course of 10 days, celebrity recruits will see if they have the courage to be a hero. The 16 recruits of Special Forces: World’s Toughest Test are flown to Wadi Rum, Jordan, to take on some of the most grueling challenges ever. Their faces are covered upon arrival as they await their first challenge. “I’ve been through a lot of pain — physically, emotionally — and I really want to find out what I can do,” Jamie Lynn Spears says.

On day one, the recruits are told to get in a water tank and then get out right away. Kate Gosselin needs help getting out. The recruits then have to lay on their backs and cover themselves from top to bottom in the sand.

The DS (Directing Staff) reveals that the only way to get out of the competition is voluntary withdrawal. The first true test is the backward dive from a helicopter into the ocean. This is designed to test the element of fear. The recruits have to enter the water headfirst.

Kate begins to cry and admits she’s “terrified of water and heights.” Mike Piazza is the first to attempt the backward dive, and he passes the test. Kate is next. “I feel like I’m gonna pass out,” Kate says. She begins to cry again because she can’t swim. The Kate Plus 8 star does get into the helicopter. “I’m so afraid,” she cries. Kate does attempt the test, but she doesn’t go in head first as ordered.

After her dive, Kate starts to feel pain in her neck. She gets checked out by a medic who thinks she needs to go to the hospital for an X-ray. Kate breaks down in tears because she doesn’t want to go. “My main goal is to walk away proud of myself because this is not for the faint of heart,” Kate says. She has to withdraw from the course.

When Jamie Lynn is called to go for the backward dive, she confesses that the water reminds her of the worst moment of her life when her daughter, Maddie, nearly drowned in an accident. Jamie belly flops on the attempt. When she faces the DS, she throws up. “This reminds me of rescuing my daughter,” Jamie cries.

The DS wants to dig deeper with Jamie Lynn with tactical questioning, which will explore the recruits’ psychological state. They confront her over her backward dive meltdown. She recalls trying to save her daughter in a pond after an ATV accident. “She wasn’t breathing and she was blue. It was bad,” Jamie Lynn.

The Zoey 101 star also admits to feeling worthless, which the DS questions her about. “It just feels like every time I work really hard to get something on my own. It’s like it’s not really worth it. I mean, growing up, my sister [Britney Spears] became famous, worldwide famous when I was very young… I’m proud of her, love her to death. And I don’t know I feel like sometimes I’ve never been able to really have anything for myself,” Jamie Lynn confesses.

She goes on to say that she “can be extremely proud of my sister but also have my own identity and be expected to be seen as my own person. I struggle with self-esteem all the time. And as a parent, you really want to fake it because you don’t want to ever see your children feel the feelings you feel. The hardest thing is being away from my kids, but I’m here to do something to make them proud.”

After the first challenge, Dr. Drew starts to feel ill. He gets checked out by a medic and discovers that he’s suffering from heat exhaustion. He has to medically withdraw from the course. Meanwhile, the recruits are called for a spot check. They were instructed to keep the water bottles full, but not everyone followed directions. All the recruits are punished for the lack of water discipline.

On day two, only 14 recruits remain. The DS forces the recruits to line themselves up from strongest to weakest. Dwight Howard is at the front, while Beverley Mitchell puts herself at the end.

The next test is to cross a 300-foot wide canyon while side-stepping on two pieces of rope as they are suspended in the air. Dwight is first, and he struggles from the get-go. He attempts to walk the rope across, but he doesn’t get far. Multiple recruits fail this challenge.

Before even attempting the test, Tyler Florence voluntarily withdraws from the course. It’s his wife’s birthday, and he promised her that he wouldn’t do anything to hurt himself. This makes him the third recruit to leave the course.

Beverley puts in a good effort on the rope, but she doesn’t make it across. Nastia Liukin completes the test, as well as Gus Kenworthy and Danny Amendola. When the remaining recruits are called to base camp, the DS calls in Dwight for questioning.

The next test is to fight one of the DS. Mel B is up first. “I was in this abusive relationship that I couldn’t get out of. You just feel helpless on a daily basis… you’re being yelled at and called horrible names,” the Spice Girls star says. Mel B goes after the DS and gets out all her anger. All the recruits complete the test, but many of them are left broken and bruised. Mel B’s knee is hurting her, while Montell Jordan thinks he has hurt his hands. He later withdraws from Special Forces with a possible broken thumb.

Beverley is called for questioning by the DS. She admits that she is struggling and cries in front of them. The 7th Heaven star reveals that she’s almost afraid to succeed because she doesn’t want to fail.

By the end of day two, 12 recruits remain. The recruits have to put themselves from strongest to weakest again. Danny and Gus put themselves in front of Dwight, while Beverley moves further up the ranks.

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SINGAPORE — Asian shares rose on Thursday on investor hopes for China’s emergence from the COVID-19 pandemic, while the dollar stayed under pressure even as the U.S. Federal Reserve had a warning against market bets on interest rate cuts this year.

MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan rose 1% to touch a four-month high in morning trade. Japan’s Nikkei bounced off a three-month low.

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China has abruptly dropped ultra-strict curbs on travel and activity, unleashing the virus on the nation’s 1.4 billion people. Many funeral homes and hospitals say they are overwhelmed, but investors hope that once the infection waves pass, life and spending can return to normal and are looking beyond the most immediate difficulties.

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“China reopening has a big impact…worldwide,” said Joanne Goh, an investment strategist at DBS Bank in Singapore, since it not only spurs tourism and consumption but can ease some of the supply-chain crunches seen during 2022.

“There will be hiccups on the way,” Goh said, during an outlook presentation to reporters. “We give it six months adjusting to the process. But we don’t think it’s reversible.”

China’s central bank also said overnight it will step up financing support to spur domestic consumption and key investment projects and support a stable real estate market.

E-commerce and consumer stocks were among the biggest gainers in Hong Kong, lifting the Hang Seng 2% to a six-month high while reopening hopes have driven China’s yuan to four-month highs and supported regional stocks and currencies.

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The yuan rose about 0.2% to 6.8750 on Thursday.

China has partially eased an unofficial ban on Australian coal imports and the Australian dollar made a three-week high overnight just below $0.69. It last bought $0.6833.

Oil sounded the loudest note of caution, falling sharply overnight on worries that the near-term outlook is precarious in China and that a global slowdown will hurt demand.

Brent crude futures steadied at $78.42 a barrel on Thursday after dropping 1.5% on Wednesday.

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Asia’s optimism comes while minutes from the Federal Reserve’s December meeting, published on Wednesday, contained a caution against late-year rate cuts traders have priced in.

Fed committee members noted that “unwarranted easing in financial conditions” would complicate efforts to restore price stability, the minutes showed.

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“Translating Fed speak, this is a warning to markets, that being too optimistic may ironically backfire,” said Vishnu Varathan, Mizuho Bank’s head of economics in Singapore.

“That is, insofar that premature rate cut bets drive looser financial conditions, the Fed may have to tighten even more to compensate.”

Fed funds futures pricing shows traders think the benchmark U.S. interest rate will peak just below 5% in May or June, before being cut back a little bit in the second half of 2023.

Wall Street indexes fluctuated on Wednesday, before closing with modest gains, but futures struggled in Asia trading and S&P 500 futures were last down about 0.4%.

Treasuries hung on to recent gains, with 10-year yields down a dozen basis points this week to 3.7070%. Yields fall when prices rise.

In currency markets, the dollar has been wobbly as investors navigate between the Fed’s hawkish tone and the support for riskier currencies driven by China’s reopening.

The yen was reeling back overnight losses and up about 0.5% to 131.87 per dollar as traders think this year – at last – will be one of policy tightening in Japan.

In Europe, unseasonally warm weather has disappointed skiers but been a boon for a euro basking in falling gas prices. Benchmark Dutch gas prices fell to 14-month lows overnight and the euro has climbed to $1.0619.

(Editing by Jacqueline Wong)

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We recognize that some applicants may still face extended visa wait times, and we’re making every effort to further reduce visa interview appointment wait times as quickly as possible in India and around the world, the U.S. said.
| Photo Credit: Getty Images

The United States is making every effort to reduce the waiting time for visa interview appointments in India as soon as possible, a State Department spokesperson said Wednesday.

“Visa processing is recovering faster than projected and over the coming year, we expect to reach pre-pandemic processing levels,” State Department spokesperson Ned Price told reporters at his daily news conference.

The U.S. issued more student visas in the fiscal year 2022 than in any year since 2016, he said, adding that its embassy and consulates in India in particular broke their all-time record for the number of student visas issued in a single fiscal year.

“We issued nearly 1,25,000 student visas. We recognize that some applicants may still face extended visa wait times, and we’re making every effort to further reduce visa interview appointment wait times as quickly as possible in India and around the world, including for first time tourist visa applicants,” he said.

Responding to a question, Mr. Price said he certainly understands the frustrations of those having long wait times. “I can tell you that it is a priority of the Secretary and of the Department to do everything we can to reduce that backlog and ultimately to reduce the wait times. We are committed to safeguarding national security while facilitating legitimate travel to nonimmigrant travellers,” he said.

“And we know that timely visa processing is essential to the U.S. economy and to the administration’s goal of family reunification. We’ve made great strides in recovering from pandemic-related closures and staffing challenges, but we’re still working to respond to the significant demand for visa services,” he added.

Mr. Price said the demand for visa services has only increased as pandemic restrictions have eased in countries across the world and people are looking for opportunities to travel to the United States.

“We are successfully lowering visa wait times worldwide. We’ve doubled our hiring of U.S. Foreign Service personnel to do this important work. Visa processing is recovering faster than projected and over the coming year, we expect to reach pre-pandemic processing levels,” he said in response to a question.

Ready for the roses! Zach Shallcross’ adventure to find love is about to begin and the women vying for his hand have officially been announced.

During the finale of Rachel Recchia and Gabby Windey’s joint Bachelorette season, Zach (who previously competed for Rachel’s affections) met a few of the women who are set to appear on the 27th season of the ABC dating series. The California native was introduced to Bailey, Brianna, Brooklyn, Cat and Christina.

“I was telling you there were women from all over America who were coming to see you. In fact, some of those women have flown here and they’re going to meet you here tonight on this stage,” host Jesse Palmer told the newly appointed leading man on stage in September 2022. “One of these women will be receiving a first impression rose. … For the first time in the history of this show, we’re going to be awarding America’s first impression rose.”

Zach awarded the first impression rose to Brianna after she took a selfie with him in front of the Bachelor Mansion backdrop. “I wanted to do something special for us so we would always remember this,” she said to Zach, before they snapped the sweet photo. “It’s a little something for you to remember me by, and I’ll see you at the mansion soon.”

Brianna will be safe from elimination that first night. While the tech executive was the most impressed with the New Jersey native, he revealed that the introductions made him even more excited to get started.

“Everyone impressed me. That was incredible,” he said at the time. “Everyone [is] obviously beautiful, but everyone had their own way to make an impression.”

In November 2022, Jesse exclusively teased to Us Weekly that Zach’s season was the “most emotional show” that he’s hosted so far.

“It’s really all about the love story and romance and a little bit less about the drama, I think,” the Canadian host dished to Us. “The women are really into Zach. Zach’s so emotionally mature and he’s a guy that’s not afraid to wear his emotion on his sleeve. He’s very, very intentional. This is easily the most emotional show that I’ve hosted in the franchise.”

The ABC personality also revealed that the new season’s contestants match the lead’s energy — and there will likely be a lot of tears.

“It’s gonna be emotionally charged, but it’s because everybody really wants this,” Jesse added. “It’s a [totally] different vibe than I’ve [ever] had hosting any of the other shows. I think he’s doing amazing and I can’t wait for people to see his journey.”

Tune into season 27 premiere of The Bachelor on ABC January 23, 2023, at 8 p.m. ET.

Keep scrolling to meet the women hoping to win Zach’s affections:

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(Bloomberg) — Amazon.com Inc. is laying off more than 18,000 employees — a significantly bigger number than previously planned — in the latest sign that a technology slump is deepening.

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Chief Executive Officer Andy Jassy announced the move in a memo to staff Wednesday, saying it followed the company’s annual planning process. The cuts, which began last year, were previously expected to affect about 10,000 people. The reduction is concentrated in the firm’s corporate ranks, mostly Amazon’s retail division and human resources functions like recruiting.

“Amazon has weathered uncertain and difficult economies in the past, and we will continue to do so,” he said. “These changes will help us pursue our long-term opportunities with a stronger cost structure.”

Though the prospect of layoffs has loomed over Amazon for months — the company has acknowledged that it hired too many people during the pandemic — the increasing total suggests the company’s outlook has darkened. It joins other tech giants in making major cuts. Earlier Wednesday, Salesforce Inc. announced plans to eliminate about 10% of its workforce and reduce its real estate holdings.

Amazon investors gave a positive reaction to the latest belt-tightening efforts, betting it may bolster profits at the e-commerce company. The shares climbed nearly 2% in late trading after the Wall Street Journal first reported on the plan.

Eliminating 18,000 workers would be the biggest cut yet for tech companies during the current slowdown, but Amazon also has a far bigger workforce than Silicon Valley peers. It had more than 1.5 million employees as of the end of September, meaning the latest cuts would represent about 1% of the workforce.

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Read More: Amazon, Salesforce Join Wave of Tech Layoffs as Slowdown Spreads

At the time the company was planning its cuts in November, a spokesperson said Amazon had roughly 350,000 corporate employees worldwide.

The world’s largest online retailer spent the end of last year adjusting to a sharp slowdown in e-commerce growth as shoppers returned to pre-pandemic habits. Amazon delayed warehouse openings and halted hiring in its retail group. It broadened the freeze to the company’s corporate staff and then began making cuts.

Jassy has eliminated or curtailed experimental and unprofitable businesses, including teams working on a telehealth service, a delivery robot and a kids’ video-calling device, among other projects.

The Seattle-based company also is trying to align excess capacity with cooling demand. One effort includes trying to sell excess space on its cargo planes, according to people familiar with the matter.

Amazon, which began as an online bookstore, is seeing parts of its business level off. But it continues to invest in its cloud-computing and advertising businesses as well as video streaming.

The first wave of cuts landed heaviest on Amazon’s Devices and Services group, which builds the Alexa digital assistant and Echo smart speaker, among other products. The group’s chief told Bloomberg last month that layoffs in the unit totaled less than 2,000 people, and that Amazon remained committed to the voice assistant.

Some recruiters and employees in the company’s human resources group were offered buyouts. Jassy told employees in November that more cuts would come in 2023 at its retail and HR teams.

In Wednesday’s memo, Jassy said the company would provide severance, transitional health benefits and job placement to affected workers. He also chided an employee for leaking the news, an apparent reference to the Wall Street Journal report. The company plans to begin discussing the moves with affected employees on Jan. 18, he said.

“Companies that last a long time go through different phases,” Jassy said. “They’re not in heavy people expansion mode every year.”

(Updates with more from memo in 13th paragraph.)

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Amazon CEO Andy Jaffy said Wednesday that the company’s recent review will result in the elimination of more than 18,000 jobs, a confirmation came soon after a report earlier in the day in the Wall Street Journal cited the total number of employees impacted by staff reductions that began back in November.

“We typically wait to communicate about these outcomes until we can speak with the people who are directly impacted. However, because one of our teammates leaked this information externally, we decided it was better to share this news earlier so you can hear the details directly from me,” Jaffy wrote in a company blog post this evening. “We intend on communicating with impacted employees (or where applicable in Europe, with employee representative bodies) starting on January 18.”

Back in November, cuts came across Amazon’s Devices and Books businesses, along with voluntary reduction offers for some in the company’s People, Experience, and Technology (PXT) divisions.

Jaffey wrote today that several additional teams will be impacted with the latest cuts this month, with “the majority of role eliminations are in our Amazon Stores and PXT organizations.”

“S-team and I are deeply aware that these role eliminations are difficult for people, and we don’t take these decisions lightly or underestimate how much they might affect the lives of those who are impacted,” he wrote. “We are working to support those who are affected and are providing packages that include a separation payment, transitional health insurance benefits, and external job placement support.”

Read his full blog post below.

The news comes on a day when one investor raised the notion that Amazon founder Jeff Bezos could return to run the company, which along with many in the tech sector had a rough 2022. Bezos, the company’s founder and previous CEO, handed the reins to Jassy in July 2021.

Amazon alone lost 50% of its stock price, the company’s biggest drop since 2000 when the dot-com bubble burst. The losses resulted in a loss of $840 billion in market value in just a year’s time, along with some $100 billion from Bezos’ personal net worth.

As part of its third-quarter earnings report in October, Amazon gave guidance that its total revenue would rise only 2%-8% in 2023 from last year. Earlier this week, it signaled in an SEC filing that it had obtained a loan of $8 billion for “general corporate purposes” amid the uncertainty in the marketplace.

Here’s Jassy’s blog post:

As I shared back in November, as part of our annual planning process for 2023, leaders across the company have been working with their teams and looking at their workforce levels, investments they want to make in the future, and prioritizing what matters most to customers and the long-term health of our businesses. This year’s review has been more difficult given the uncertain economy and tha we’ve hired rapidly over the last several years. In November, we communicated the hard decision to eliminate a number of positions across our Devices and Books businesses, and also announced a voluntary reduction offer for some employees in our People, Experience, and Technology (PXT) organization. I also shared that we weren’t done with our annual planning process and that I expected there would be more role reductions in early 2023.

Today, I wanted to share the outcome of these further reviews, which is the difficult decision to eliminate additional roles. Between the reductions we made in November and the ones we’re sharing today, we plan to eliminate just over 18,000 roles. Several teams are impacted; however, the majority of role eliminations are in our Amazon Stores and PXT organizations.

S-team and I are deeply aware that these role eliminations are difficult for people, and we don’t take these decisions lightly or underestimate how much they might affect the lives of those who are impacted. We are working to support those who are affected and are providing packages that include a separation payment, transitional health insurance benefits, and external job placement support.

We typically wait to communicate about these outcomes until we can speak with the people who are directly impacted. However, because one of our teammates leaked this information externally, we decided it was better to share this news earlier so you can hear the details directly from me. We intend on communicating with impacted employees (or where applicable in Europe, with employee representative bodies) starting on January 18.

Amazon has weathered uncertain and difficult economies in the past, and we will continue to do so. These changes will help us pursue our long-term opportunities with a stronger cost structure; however, I’m also optimistic that we’ll be inventive, resourceful, and scrappy in this time when we’re not hiring expansively and eliminating some roles. Companies that last a long time go through different phases. They’re not in heavy people expansion mode every year. We often talk about our leadership principle Invent and Simplify in the context of creating new products and features. There will continue to be plenty of this across all of the businesses we’re pursuing. But, we sometimes overlook the importance of the critical invention, problem-solving, and simplification that go into figuring out what matters most to customers (and the business), adjusting where we spend our resources and time, and finding a way to do more for customers at a lower cost (passing on savings to customers in the process). Both of these types of Invent and Simplify really matter.

To those impacted by these reductions, I want you to know how grateful I am for your contributions to Amazon, and the work you have done on behalf of customers. You have made a meaningful difference in a lot of customers’ lives. To those who will continue on the journey with us, I look forward to partnering with you to keep making life better and easier for customers every day and relentlessly inventing to do so.

Andy

Amid the wave of layoffs by companies, online retailer Amazon has said that it is likely to lay off more than 18,000 workers.  

According to a public staff note by Chief Executive Andy Jassy, Amazon layoffs will now stretch to more than 18,000 roles as part of a workforce reduction it previously disclosed, Reuters reported.

The layoffs will largely impact the company’s e-commerce and human-resources organizations. Impacted employees will be contacted by the company beginning January 18. The 18,000 people who will be sacked by the company represent 6 per cent of Amazon’s roughly 300,000-person corporate workforce.

Jassy said in the note that annual planning “has been more difficult given the uncertain economy and that we’ve hired rapidly over the last several years.”

Amazon reportedly has more than 1.5 million workers including warehouse staff. It began letting staff go in November from its devices division, with a source telling Reuters at the time it was targeting 10,000 job cuts.

Meanwhile, Amazon Inc on Tuesday announced that it had reached an agreement with certain lenders to provide the e-commerce giant an $8 billion unsecured loan.

The term loan will mature in 364 days, with an option to extend for another 364 days and the proceeds would be used for general corporate purposes.

The online retailer has been bracing for likely slower growth, as soaring inflation forces businesses and consumers to cut back spending.

Not just Amazon, even Salesforce said on Wednesday that it plans to lay off about 10 per cent of its employees as part of a restructuring. The company said it is facing an economic downturn as it hired too many people.

In a letter to employees, Salesforce co-Chief Executive Officer Marc Benioff said: “The environment remains challenging and our customers are taking a more measured approach to their purchasing decisions.”

(With inputs from Reuters)

Also Read: ‘We hired too many people’: Salesforce to layoff 10% of employees