Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has clarified earlier comments on the situation in Bakhmut, saying that it was “not occupied” by Russia “as of today”. Earlier, he told reporters that there was “nothing left” of the eastern city and that the Russians had “destroyed everything“.
Russia has claimed to have fully captured Ukraine’s Bakhmut, with President Putin congratulating his troops and the mercenary Wagner Group for taking the largely-ruined eastern city.
Colonel General Oleksandr Syrsky, the commander of Ukraine’s ground forces, has said Ukrainian troops were approaching a “tactical encirclement’ of Bakhmut,” according to the Kyiv Independent. The commander earlier visited the front line.
A Russian-installed official in Ukraine’s southern Zaporizhia region has said Kyiv struck the Russian-occupied port city of Berdyansk with UK-supplied Storm Shadow cruise missiles. Kyiv said it had hit a Russian headquarters there but did not say what weapons it used.
President Zelenskyy has compared the “total destruction” of the Ukrainian city of Bakhmut with the World War II devastation of Hiroshima after it was hit by a US atomic bomb.
The White House has said it estimated Russia’s army had suffered 100,000 casualties in the last five months — including the deaths of 20,000 Russian soldiers.
Diplomacy
The three-day G7 summit has wrapped up in Japan, with leaders pledging more support for Ukraine following Russia’s February 2022 full-scale invasion. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy took part in the summit in person.
The G7 meeting has resulted in “unwavering unity” in supporting Ukraine to fend off Russian war, and Zelenskyy’s presence has sent “a strong message” to the world, Japan’s Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said after the three-day summit.
Tens of thousands of Moldovans have rallied in the capital Chisinau to support their pro-Western government’s drive towards Europe amid what officials have said are Russian efforts to destabilise their country.
Canada will support Ukraine for as long and as much as necessary in its conflict with Russia, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has said at the G7 summit.
Weaponry
United States President Joe Biden has confirmed a new military aid package worth $375m for Ukraine, saying the US would provide ammunition, artillery, armoured vehicles and training. The new pledge came days after Washington agreed to allow training on US-made F-16 fighter jets, laying the groundwork for their eventual transfer to Ukraine.
On April 16, 2021 big news was issued from NASA regarding their future plans for the Artemis Program. Previously, they had announced that by 2024 astronauts are scheduled to land on the lunar surface once again, including the first woman and first person of color.
how does the future of SpaceX tie into any of this? Well, NASA plans to use portions of their budget for Artemis to hire independent contractors that will provide additional equipment and technology. And, this past April, NASA granted SpaceX a whopping $2.9 billion in exchange for the development and use of a lunar lander to be used by the Artemis astronauts.
It’s true that since then Jeff Bezos and his aerospace company Blue Origin have filed a protest and thus NASA’s contract with SpaceX is suspended. Even so, it is likely that the contract will go through eventually and in their modern space race with Blue Origin it could undoubtedly be a big leap forward, and one that could potentially propel SpaceX to domination of the private space industry.
Future Projects Already In Motion
While the lunar lander for Artemis missions could certainly be a large project for SpaceX in the future, by no means is it their most complex or time consuming endeavor. In fact, the lunar lander is only one variant of one of their biggest projects, Starship. Below are some of SpaceX’s largest and potentially most groundbreaking developments, that are either already partially in use or in the testing phase.
Starship
Possibly one of the most well-known future projects for SpaceX is the making of Starship. With development beginning back in 2012, Starship will be an absurdly complicated spacecraft with different variants. SpaceX plans to have the first Starship ready to launch by 2023, and a fleet of them manufactured in the years after. They will all be fairly similar, but some Starships will be designed for Earth to Earth transportation, some for transporting large payloads, a few for landing on the Moon during Artemis missions, and some will serve other purposes.
With many malfunctions during test flights of prototype Starship rockets, the future was not looking bright for the spacecraft. However, on May 5, 2021 Starship prototype SN15 completed the first successful high-altitude flight test, with all systems functioning nominally and a smooth landing. It’s hard to get a good idea of the scale of it from most pictures, but Starship truly is a massive rocket, and one capable of carrying 100 astronauts into orbit, as well as potentially to Mars one day.
Starlink
Starlink is an incredibly ambitious project aimed to provide high-speed and low-latency internet to locations across the globe for a fraction of the price that many older and more established telecommunication companies are offering.
The difference between normal satellite internet and what Starlink hopes to accomplish isn’t too complex at its core.
For the satellite internet we have today, there is one very large satellite circling the globe, about 22,000 miles above the surface of the Earth. However, the internet being provided is limited to coming from just one satellite, and because that satellite is required to be so far from Earth the internet speeds are often slow.
Starlink, on the other hand, will be a connection of much smaller satellites. They will orbit the Earth significantly closer, at about 300-400 miles above the surface. As of June 2021, around 1,500 Starlink satellites are estimated to be in space and operational. SpaceX plans to launch a total of 12,000 satellites by the end of 2025, and then an additional 30,000 in the years afterwards if they are permitted to.
Depiction of a Starlink satellite orbiting the Earth — Image Credit: SpaceX
The process to connect to and use Starlink’s internet is quite simple. You just need to have a small satellite dish, similar to those used for other internet providers only not quite as large.
According to SpaceX president Gwynne Shotwell, if Starlink could acquire 25 million users then they would be profiting about $30 billion per year, much more than launching satellites earns them as of now. That money could help to fund the manufacturing of Starship and other future projects such as infrastructure on Mars.
While Starlink sounds great, especially considering its low price, there are some pretty big issues caused by the network of satellites. For starters, they can be pretty bright. Even without a telescope you can see some passing through the night sky if you live in the right area.
Unfortunately, Starlink satellites are most bright around dawn and dusk, which is the time when astronomers are performing critical observations to determine if there are any objects that could potentially collide with Earth. To address this, SpaceX has used a dark paint to coat the brightest part of the satellites, but even then they’re still fairly bright. And, with more satellites being added to the network every month the light pollution can only get worse.
Another problem caused by Starlink is space debris. Even though SpaceX has stated that Starlink satellites have the ability to maneuver to avoid other objects in space, there have already been some that are unable to do so. Highly unlikely as it is, if 42,000 Starlink satellites were orbiting the Earth and some of them experienced malfunctions resulting in immovability, the problem could rapidly get out of control.
If a few satellites were to collide that would only create more space debris that could collide with other satellites, and in a worst case scenario there could end up being so much debris circling the Earth that outer space would be deemed unsafe because of the chances of debris hitting rockets as they exit the atmosphere.
Projects to be Started in the Coming Years
Ambitious as Starship and Starlink are, SpaceX has even greater future plans. In an ideal world, they would use revenue from Starlink to fund their large future plans detailed below.
Space Tourism To the Moon
In addition to likely designing a lunar lander for NASA’s Artemis missions, SpaceX also plans to supply a Starship for the dearMoon project. Funded by Japanese billionaire Yusaku Maezawa, the dearMoon project aims to bring Maezawa, eight civilians, and likely one or two crew members on a trip to orbit the Moon and then return to Earth.
Applications for astronauts are open to anyone, although Maezawa stated he wanted mainly artists to travel with him. If the project stays on schedule then they will launch in 2023, but recently there have been doubts expressed as to whether or not Starship will be fully ready to carry passengers by then. If the dearMoon mission goes well it would be very likely that other billionaires may be interested in doing some sort of space tourism.
Colonization of Mars
After the development of many Starship rockets, Musk and SpaceX hope to send humans to Mars by 2026, and to have a colony of one million people living there by 2050. By crunching the numbers and thinking practically you can begin to realize that it’s unlikely such a large number of people will have a home on a planet 34 million miles away at its closest in less than thirty years.
However, it is still very much possible that SpaceX is able to transport a decent amount of people to Mars, and more importantly provide the infrastructure and life support systems needed to maintain a colony on the red planet. Musk himself has said that SpaceX aims to launch three Starships per day to bring people and supplies to Mars.
Rendering of what a Martian settlement could look like in the future — Image Credit: SpaceX
If SpaceX were to launch three Starships every day that would be a true feat of both engineering and manufacturing prowess. After all, they may be reusable but if they’re traveling all the way to Mars there would need to be thousands to sustain that flow of necessary supplies.
In addition, SpaceX would have to actually build a habitat for Martian colonists, whether that’s underground to protect from radiation or a series of cylindrical and dome-like structures to ensure the inside pressure stays at a good level.
Once the colony gets more established it will hopefully grow to be more and more self-sufficient, but until then there’s still lots of work to be done
Protesters gathered in front of the parliament building on Friday before filing by the government’s HQ and on to a highway bridge spanning the Sava River, where evening commuters had to turn their vehicles around to avoid getting stuck. At the head of the column was a black banner reading “Serbia against violence.”
As the demonstrators passed the government buildings, many chanted slogans decrying Serbia’s populist president, Aleksandar Vučić, whom they blame for creating an atmosphere of hopelessness and division in the country that they say indirectly led to the mass shootings.
Pro-government media criticised the bridge blockade, with the Novosti daily newspaper reporting that “harassment has begun, hooligans have blocked the bridge”.
But opposition politician Srdjan Milivojevic told TV station N1: “This is a battle for survival.” He added: “If the president does not understand his people, it’s time he resigned.”
Police did not intervene.
Before the protest, Vučić, who holds nearly all the levers of power, said the protest amounted to “violence in politics” and the “harassment” of citizens. But he said police would not get involved “unless people’s lives are in danger”.
“What gives them the right to block other people’s normal lives?” said Vučić, who accused opposition leaders of “abusing the tragedy” following the shootings that deeply rattled the nation and triggered calls for change.
“They are harassing citizens and not allowing them to travel,” Vučić insisted. “But we don’t like to beat protesters, like France and Germany do.”
At the prior Belgrade protest, demonstrators demanded the resignations of government ministers and the withdrawal of broadcast licences for two private TV stations that are close to the state and promote violence. They often host convicted war criminals and crime figures on their programmes.
The two shootings happened within two days of each other and left 17 people dead and 21 wounded. On 3 May, a 13-year-old boy used his father’s gun to open fire at his school in central Belgrade. The next day, a 20-year-old man randomly fired at people in a rural area south of the capital.
Opposition parties have accused Vučić’s populist government of fuelling intolerance and hate speech while taking hold of all institutions. Vučić has denied this. He has announced his own rally on 26 May in Belgrade, which he said will be the “biggest ever”.
“We do not organise spontaneous rallies in order to play with people’s emotions,” Vučić said. “Ours will be a rally of unity, when we will announce important political decisions.”
Vučić also told reporters that citizens had handed in more than 9,000 weapons since police announced a one-month amnesty for people to surrender unregistered guns and ammunition or face possible jail sentences after that period.
Serbia is estimated to be among the top countries in Europe for the number of guns per capita, many of them left over from the wars in the 1990s.
Other anti-gun measures after the shootings include a ban on new gun licences, stricter controls on gun owners and shooting ranges, and tougher punishments for the illegal possession of weapons.
Introduction: Reaching a million views on your WordPress blog may seem like an ambitious goal, but with the right strategies and a sprinkle of creativity, it’s within your reach. In this article, we will dive into proven techniques that can help you unlock the true potential of your blog and attract a massive audience. Get ready to unleash the power and skyrocket your views to the coveted million mark.
Compelling Content is King: Creating content that captivates and resonates with your target audience is the cornerstone of your success. Develop a deep understanding of your readers’ interests and pain points, and craft compelling blog posts that address their needs. Be original, thought-provoking, and provide unique insights or solutions. Aim to become a go-to resource in your niche, offering value that readers can’t find elsewhere.
Master the Art of Storytelling: Humans are wired for stories. By incorporating storytelling techniques into your blog posts, you can create a powerful emotional connection with your audience. Craft engaging narratives, share personal experiences, or present real-life examples to make your content relatable and memorable. By stirring emotions and taking readers on a journey, you’ll keep them coming back for more.
Implement Advanced SEO Strategies: To reach a million views, you need to optimize your blog for search engines. Go beyond basic keyword research and delve into advanced SEO strategies. Conduct thorough competitor analysis to identify content gaps and opportunities. Focus on long-tail keywords with high search volumes and low competition. Optimize your blog posts with compelling meta titles and descriptions, internal linking, and schema markup. Consider leveraging the power of backlinks through guest blogging or collaborations with influencers.
Harness the Power of Social Media: Social media platforms are gold mines for expanding your blog’s reach. Develop a solid social media strategy tailored to your target audience. Identify the platforms where your audience is most active, and create engaging, shareable content specifically designed for each platform. Build a strong presence, interact with your followers, and actively promote your blog posts. Utilize eye-catching visuals, videos, and live streams to stand out in the crowded social media landscape.
Build an Email Subscriber Base: Email marketing remains a potent tool for driving traffic to your blog. Offer valuable content upgrades, such as e-books, exclusive guides, or access to a members-only area, in exchange for visitors’ email addresses. Nurture your email list by sending regular newsletters featuring your latest blog posts, exclusive content, and personalized recommendations. Cultivate a relationship of trust and provide continuous value to keep your subscribers engaged and eager to visit your blog.
Collaborate with Influencers and Industry Experts: Partnering with influencers and industry experts can significantly boost your blog’s visibility and credibility. Identify influencers or thought leaders within your niche and reach out to them for collaborations. Co-create content, interview them for a blog post, or invite them to guest post on your blog. Their endorsement and promotion can expose your blog to a wider audience and potentially attract thousands of new readers.
Conclusion: Reaching a million views on your WordPress blog is an ambitious goal, but with a solid strategy and unwavering dedication, it’s well within your grasp. Focus on creating compelling content, master the art of storytelling, implement advanced SEO techniques, leverage the power of social media, build an email subscriber base, and collaborate with influencers and industry experts. Remember, consistency, persistence, and a passion for delivering value are key. So unleash your creativity, connect with your audience, and watch your blog soar to new heights, attracting a million views and beyond!
– Ukrainian columns have been moving all day toward order with #Belgorod region near #Kupyansk.
Judging by the actions of Great Britain, this country decided to directly enter the war with Russia. Are the bomb shelters in London ready?
British Defense Secretary confirms that London will transfer Storm Shadow long-range cruise missiles to Ukraine…
US Attorney General Merrick Garland has approved the first transfer of confiscated Russian funds to be used for aid to Ukraine
South Africa accuses USA of giving weapons to Ukraine in a conflict with Russia. The US Ambassador has been given an ultimatum to respond why the US is escalating the war and getting involved in other countries’ matters as if they are prefects of the world.
Apple’s stock was a buy on the dip. Since the publication of my prior update, the company’s share price rose by +25.7% (source: Seeking Alpha price data), while the S&P 500 went up by +5.2% in the same time frame.
My latest write-up touches on the three key reasons for staying bullish on AAPL. The expected launch of the mixed reality or MR headset in mid-2023 could ignite investor interest in Apple’s stock and expand the long-term addressable market for AAPL. Separately, Apple’s potential introduction of an iPhone subscription plan will help to grow AAPL’s recurring revenue streams and increase the average user spend over time. Lastly, AAPL is expected to continue returning a substantial amount of excess capital to shareholders in the future, considering its free cash flow generation profile and its policy of moving towards “neutral net cash.”
AAPL Stock Key Metrics
The most important metrics for Apple relate to the company’s installed base.
AAPL revealed at the company’s Q1 FY 2023 (YE September 30) earnings briefing that its “installed base of active devices” increased by +100% over a seven-year period to 2 billion, which is equivalent to a CAGR of approximately +10%. In the past 12 months, Apple’s installed base expanded by 150 million devices or +8% YoY, and the installed base for AAPL in certain high-growth markets like Brazil and India even grew by more than +10% in the past one year.
It is inevitable that some investors will focus their attention on Apple’s YoY top line declines of -5.5% and -4.4% for Q4 FY 2022 and Q1 FY 2023, respectively. AAPL will witness weak product sales when its supply chain faces disruptions and demand is temporarily weakened during periods of slow economic growth. But as long as Apple continues to enlarge its installed base, it is reasonable to assume that the company’s revenue and earnings will eventually follow a similar upward trajectory over time.
At its first quarter results call, Apple stressed that the company’s growing installed base “represents a great foundation for future expansion of our ecosystem” and expands its “addressable pool of customers.” In the subsequent sections of this article, I explain how Apple’s installed base growth is closely linked to the key reasons for buying AAPL’s shares.
Reasons To Buy Apple Stock
In my view, the three main reasons to buy Apple’s stock now are the potential introduction of a iPhone subscription plan, the planned launch of new extended reality or XR products, and sustained shareholder capital return.
Potential iPhone Subscription Plan
An earlier February 12, 2023 Bloombergarticle mentioned that Apple’s “iPhone hardware subscription program” is expected to “still arrive eventually” despite potential “delays.”
Many Apple iPhone users will typically include in their respective budgets a certain sum of money that is allocated for new model purchases. Assuming that AAPL does launch a iPhone subscription plan as reported by the media, this will allow iPhone owners to have greater capacity to spend more on Apple’s other services and products. This implies that Apple’s overall revenue can potentially grow faster, as users subscribes to more services and buy other ancillary products without having to fork up a meaningful sum of money for new iPhone upgrades every year. Also, an iPhone subscription plan will increase switching costs, and reduce the likelihood of current iPhone users switching to smartphones sold by other brands.
More significantly, I believe that Apple suffers from a valuation discount due to its dependence on non-recurring product sales. In FY 2022, AAPL derived 52% and 20% of its revenue from iPhone and services, respectively as per its 10-K filing. Other products contributed the remaining 28% of its top line in the recent fiscal year. If Apple can increase the proportion of its revenue earned from recurring sources (subscriptions and services) with an iPhone subscription offering, it will be easier for AAPL to command a higher valuation multiple.
New MR Product Launches
There is a frustration lack of innovation when it comes to smartphones. It is pretty common to hear from friends that the new iPhone (or any other branded smartphone) isn’t that much different from its prior iteration. Unlike other technology segments which have seen increased investor interest in recent times due to new investment themes like chatbots, the smartphone space seems relatively “boring” in comparison. This has obviously capped the capital appreciation and valuation re-rating potential for Apple’s shares to a large extent.
An earlier February 15, 2023 Seeking Alpha Newsarticle mentioned that AAPL’s first “mixed-reality headset” might be introduced to the market in the middle of this year. Notably, Apple’s CEO Tim Cook shared in a recent interview with GQ that he thinks mixed reality products “could greatly enhance people’s communication, people’s connection,” and “empower people to achieve things they couldn’t achieve before.” It is clear that Tim Cook sees new mixed reality products as a game-changer for consumers.
It isn’t just about the excitement with new products leveraged to technologies such as mixed reality. In quantitative terms, the potential of Apple’s mixed reality headset and other related products is promising. Research firm Mordor Intelligenceforecasts that the worldwide mixed reality will grow at a +41.8% CAGR for the 2022-2027 time frame. The consumer headset market is estimated to a $50 billion market by the end of this decade as per Globaldata’sprojections.
As a start, AAPL has the potential to generate around $3 billion revenue from its MR headset in the initial year of launch assuming a target of 1 million and an average selling price of around $3,000. Recall that Apple currently has an installed base of 2 billion active devices, so it won’t be farfetched to see Apple’s headset sales rise substantially in the coming years through active cross-selling.
Shareholder Capital Return
Looking ahead, Apple’s installed base should continue to expand, and the company is well-positioned to increase average spending per user with the introduction of the iPhone subscription plan and other new products & services. This suggests that AAPL’s recurring cash flow will grow over time, and I believe that this should translate into a sustained level of dividends and buybacks in the future. Apple delivered $111 billion in free cash flow for FY 2022 and the company returned $111 billion of capital to its shareholders in the most recent fiscal year, which is equivalent to a free cash flow payout ratio of 100%.
Apple had roughly $54 billion of net cash on its books as of the end of the first quarter of fiscal 2023. At its Q1 FY 2018 investor call in February 2018, AAPL disclosed for the first time that it was “targeting to become approximately net cash neutral over time.” As per S&P Capital IQ’s consensus data, analysts see AAPL’s free cash flow increasing by a +10% CAGR from $97 billion in FY 2023 to $141 billion for FY 2027. Considering Apple’s current net cash position and its expected cash flow generation for the years ahead, it is realistic to expect AAPL to continue returning substantially all of its free cash flow to shareholders.
Is Apple Worth Investing In?
Apple is a worthwhile investment, as I see the potential for AAPL to benefit from a positive valuation re-rating.
The market currently values AAPL at approximately 25 times forward FY 2024 normalized P/E, based on its last done stock price of $163.76 as of April 5, 2023 and its consensus forward FY 2024 EPS of $6.59.
I think that Apple could trade at a P/E ratio of 30 times or higher in time to come. A higher proportion of recurring revenue supported by product subscriptions, the venture into the mixed reality headset product category, and shareholder-friendly capital allocation policies are expected to be factors driving a P/E multiple expansion for AAPL.
Bottom Line
The market should award a higher valuation multiple to AAPL going forward, assuming that Apple maintains a steady level of shareholder capital return, and its new offerings and subscription plans are well-received by its customers. I continue to have a bullish view of Apple’s stock.
Before COVID outbreak in 2019, mortgage rates were 3.94% and many economist thought that this is the lowest level where federal bank could go. But 2020-21 proved them wrong.
Due to global pandemic, governments all over the world had to increase their expenditure and even ordinary people needed money to satisfy their needs.
Now, if government wanted to tackle this situation, they will have to print more money and lower lending rates so people can use excess line of credit. This is basic economics. Therefore, central banks all over the world reduced their lending rates and tried to fight and then revive from this disaster.
Similarly, federal bank which is USA’s central bank reduced their lending rate to 3% in 2020 and 2.65% in 2021.
Now, when the situation starts to recover (Post Pandemic) inflation rises as more money is pumped in the economy. The most basic thing to understand inflation is if you check your monthly grocery bill before pandemic and post pandemic you will see almost 8-10% increase. This is inflation.
Now, As prices increases, there is fear of hyper-inflation so federal bank raises interest rates. Due to this, liquidity is sucked from the market. And it eventually helps to stabilize the economy.
This same policy is followed all over the world.
Now, Why does Federal Bank or Governments do these things ?
The simplest answer is ” ECONOMY’s BEST STAGE IS WHEN IT IS STABILIZE ” Stabilize means not inflationary or deflationary stage. the reason behind this is altogether a different topic for discussion.
Further, when Economy is stabilize, Federal Bank will again start reducing the Lending interest rates at very slow speed. (Not like it did at the time of COVID).
NEWS 