LOUISVILLE, Kentucky (AP) — A Kentucky Derby look isn’t complete without headwear. Hats or fascinators for women. Hats for men, and not only traditional ones.
People create their own statement pieces involving the Twin Spires, horses and even the starting gate at Churchill Downs, which is celebrating the 150th running of the famous race this weekend in Louisville, Kentucky.
The Derby was created by Meriweather Lewis Clark Jr, who wanted to bring the class and elegance of European racing to America. The tradition of wearing hats to the Derby began with its first running in 1875. But they began taking on a life of their own in the 1960s, growing larger and more ornate so the people wearing them could be spotted on television.
That meant fancy clothing and shoes too. The tradition has never wavered in the Derby’s history and, in fact, it continues to grow. There is a contest for best dressed at Churchill Downs and there are three official milliners this year.
A race fan walks through the grounds of Churchill Downs before the 150th running of the Kentucky Derby horse race Saturday. PHOTO: APA race fan walks though the stands at Churchill Downs before the 150th running of the Kentucky Derby horse race Saturday. PHOTO: AP
LAS VEGAS (AP) — Jaime Munguia said to expect “a full-out Mexican war” against Canelo Alvarez on Cinco de Mayo weekend.
And while Munguia (43-1) may have suffered the first loss of his career Saturday night, he made good on his promise.
Alvarez (61-2-2), who has been on boxing’s pound-for-pound lists for more than a decade, retained his undisputed super middleweight belt with a unanimous decision.
Judge Tim Cheatham scored the fight 117-110, Steve Weisfeld had it 115-112 and David Sutherland 116-111.
And in a fight that was sure to be significant for Munguia, win or lose, the fiery and powerful boxer put his talent on display early on, overcame being knocked down in the fourth round, and took Alvarez to the distance for a fifth straight fight.
“I came out strong and was winning the early rounds,” said Munguia, 27. “I let my hands go, but he’s a fighter with a lot of experience. The loss hurts because it’s my first loss and I felt strong.”
Munguia who closed a 3-to-1 underdog at BetMGM, ignited the announced crowd of 17,492 quickly, landing a sharp left to Alvarez’s face in the first round. He came alive inside the two-minute mark of the second and set the tone in the third before closing the round with a flurry of punches culminating with a big right to head.
Then it was Alvarez’s turn.
The 33-year-old champion reminded Munguia of who he was fighting by using a left-right combination that resulted in a knockdown – the first time he’d been dropped in his career – and seemingly reverberated the rest of the way.
Alvarez’s stronger punches coupled with Munguia’s deflated energy over the next five rounds.
The elder fighter credited his younger challenger afterward by saying he was strong, but also added he’s “a little slow” and “I could see every punch.”
“That’s why I’m the best,” Alvarez said. “I took my time. I have a lot of experience. Munguia is a great fighter. He’s strong and smart. But I have 12 rounds to win the fight and I did. I did really good and I’m proud of it.”
Munguia, who was thriving under new trainer Freddie Roach, appeared to be peaking both physically and mentally.
“There’s no doubt I would have beaten anyone else tonight,” Munguia said. “He has a lot of experience. I started well, but he’s a fighter who creates a lot of problems.”
Roach made his debut in Munguia’s corner in a win over John Ryder in January, and will now go back to the drawing board to prepare his young fighter for whatever promoter Oscar De La Hoya throws his way next.
There are several viable options for Munguia, including Christian Mbilli, the No 1 WBC contender from Canada who has yet to face top-notch competition and would likely be more than willing for the bout.
Los Angeles’ Diego Pacheco is ranked No 1 in the WBO, and is a fellow Mexican fighter who would be a formidable foe.
Finally, Puerto Rican boxer Edgar Berlanga is ranked No 1 by the WBA, and is another big puncher that would electrify the ring with Munguia.
“This experience for Jaime will take him to another level,” De La Hoya said. “He gains experience. He didn’t get schooled. He gained experience and becomes a better fighter.”
Jaime Munguia hits Canelo Alvarez in a super middleweight title fight Saturday, in Las Vegas. PHOTO: AP
LONDON (AP) — Kevin Spacey, the Oscar-winning actor, has denied new allegations of inappropriate behaviour from men who will feature in a documentary on British television that is due to be released next week.
In an online interview with journalist Dan Wootton, Spacey said he has never done anything illegal and admitted that he has struggled to get back to work after being acquitted last year of criminal charges in a London court.
“I can’t go through this again, allowing myself to be baselessly attacked without defending myself,” he said in the interview entitled “Kevin Spacey: Right Of Reply” which was aired late Friday on Wootton’s YouTube channel.
Last July, a London jury acquitted Spacey on sexual assault charges stemming from allegations by four men dating back 20 years. The court victory was his second since he saw off a USD40 million lawsuit in 2022 in New York brought by “Star Trek: Discovery” actor Anthony Rapp.
The documentary “Spacey Unmasked” is set to be aired on May 6 and 7 on Channel 4 in Britain and streamed on Max in the US.
The documentary is said to feature testimony from men regarding events between 1976 and 2013, the actor revealed during the interview.
“I take full responsibility for my past behaviour and my actions, but I cannot and will not take responsibility or apologise to anyone who’s made up stuff about me or exaggerated stories about me,” said Spacey, who won Academy Awards for “The Usual Suspects” and “American Beauty”.
“I’ve never told someone that if they give me sexual favours, then I will help them out with their career, never,” he added.
Spacey, who served as artistic director of the Old Vic Theatre in London from 2004 to 2015, again admitted that he was a “flirt” with men in their 20s and that he made “clumsy” passes at times.
“I’ve clearly hooked up with some men, who thought they might get ahead in their careers by having a relationship with me,” he said. “But there was no conversation with me, it was all part of their plan, a plan that was always destined to fail, because I wasn’t in on the deal.”
The actor also claimed on X, formerly Twitter, that he had “repeatedly requested” that Channel 4 give him more than seven days to respond to the allegations made about him in their documentary.
Spacey said the broadcaster refused “on the basis that they feel that asking for a response in 7 days to new, anonymised and non-specific allegations is a ‘fair opportunity’ for me to refute any allegations made against me.”
“Each time I have been given the time and a proper forum to defend myself, the allegations have failed under scrutiny and I have been exonerated,” he added.
Spacey said he has struggled to get back to work after being acquitted of all criminal charges, describing his experience as a “life sentence.”
His acting career has been adversely affected since 2017 when he was first publicly accused of inappropriate behaviour at the beginning of the #MeToo movement. He then lost his lead role as Frank Underwood in the Netflix drama “House of Cards”.
Channel 4 has been contacted for comment.
Actor Kevin Spacey addresses the media outside Southwark Crown Court in London, July 26, 2023. PHOTO: AP
LONDON (AP) — Sadiq Khan, the Labour Party’s mayor of London, romped to victory Saturday, securing a record third straight term at City Hall, on another hugely disappointing day for the UK’s governing Conservatives ahead of a looming general election.
Khan won a little over a million votes, or nearly 44 per cent of the vote, more than 11 percentage points ahead of his main challenger, the Conservative Party’s Susan Hall. His is the biggest individual mandate of any politician in the UK.
There had been frenzied speculation on Friday that the result would be closer than previously thought, but Khan’s victory showed a swing from Conservative to Labour when compared with the previous mayoral election in 2021, even though that was conducted under a different electoral system.
Khan, who replaced Boris Johnson as London mayor in 2016 and who has widespread policing and budget powers, has been an increasingly divisive figure in the past few years regardless of the facts for or against, particularly in the suburbs, where he fared worse than in the inner city.
His supporters say he has multiple achievements to his name, such as expanding housebuilding, free school meals for young children, keeping transport costs in check and generally backing London’s minority groups. His critics say he has overseen a crime surge, been anti-car and has unnecessarily allowed pro-Palestinian marches to become a regular feature at weekends.
“We faced a campaign of non-stop negativity, but I couldn’t be more proud that we answered the fearmongering with facts, hate with hope, and attempts to divide with efforts to unite,” Khan said at the declaration of the final result. Among the candidates standing behind him was Count Binface, his head covered by a garbage can, a regular colorful presence in British elections.
“We ran a campaign that was in keeping with the spirit and values of this great city, a city that regards our diversity not as a weakness, but as an almighty strength, and one that rejects right hard-wing populism and looks forward, not back,” Khan added.
The incumbent Labour mayors in Liverpool, Greater Manchester and West Yorkshire were also re-elected Saturday. For Labour, arguably the best result was in the West Midlands, widely regarded as the key bellwether region of the UK where the Conservative incumbent lost.
The latest successes for Labour came after it seized control of councils across England that it hasn’t held for decades. The party was also successful in a special election for a seat in Parliament, that if translated to a general election would lead to one of the Conservatives’ biggest-ever defeats.
Though the Conservatives suffered a drubbing in the local elections, it looks as though Prime Minister Rishi Sunak will not face a further rebellion among his ranks.
Sunak was able to breathe a sigh of relief when the Conservative mayor of Tees Valley in the northeast of England was reelected, albeit with a depressed share of the vote. Sunak had hoped that Andy Street would hold on in the West Midlands but he lost to Labour’s Richard Parker, who claimed a majority of under 2,000 votes.
One negative for Labour was that its vote in strongly Muslim areas in England was depressed by opposition to the party leadership’s strongly pro-Israel stance over the war in Gaza.
Starmer conceded that the party has had issues with Muslim voters, but the results in general were positive for the man who is favorite to become prime minister at the next general election.
Sunak has the power to decide on the date of the next election, and has indicated that it will be in the second half of 2024. Starmer urged him not to wait.
“We’re fed up with your division, with your chaos, with your failure,” he said Saturday. “If you leave your country in a worse state than when you found it, 14 years later, you do not deserve to be in government a moment longer.”
Thursday’s elections in large parts of England were important in themselves, with voters deciding on who runs many aspects of their daily lives, such as garbage collection, road maintenance and local crime prevention. But with a national election looming, they are being viewed through a national prism.
John Curtice, professor of politics at the University of Strathclyde, said the results show that Sunak has not helped the Conservative brand following the damage accrued by the actions of his predecessors, Boris Johnson and then Liz Truss.
“That in a sense is the big takeaway,” he told BBC radio.
Sunak became prime minister in October 2022, after Truss’s short-lived tenure. She left office after 49 days following a budget of unfunded tax cuts that roiled financial markets and sent borrowing costs for homeowners surging.
Her chaotic — and traumatic — leadership compounded the Conservatives’ difficulties following the circus surrounding her predecessor Johnson, who was forced to quit after being adjudged to have lied to Parliament over coronavirus lockdown breaches at his offices in Downing Street.
By late afternoon Saturday, with most of the 2,661 seats up for grabs in the local elections counted, the Conservatives had lost around a half of the 1,000 seats they were defending, while Labour had picked up about 200 despite some seemingly Gaza-related losses.
Other parties, such as the centrist Liberal Democrats and the Greens, also made gains. Reform UK, which is trying to usurp the Conservatives from the right, also had some successes, notably in the special parliamentary election in Blackpool South, where it was less than 200 votes from grabbing second place.
Sadiq Khan makes a speech as he is re-elected for a record third time as Mayor of London, following the counting of votes, at City Hall in London, Saturday. PHOTO: AP
LONDON (AP) — King Charles III’s decision to be open about his cancer diagnosis has helped the new monarch connect with the people of Britain and strengthened the monarchy in the year since his dazzling coronation at Westminster Abbey.
Charles has used his illness to highlight the need for early diagnosis and treatment, showing leadership at a time of personal hardship. And in the process, people have begun to see him as a more flesh-and-blood character who faces the same challenges as them, not just an archetype of wealth and privilege.
“Ultimately, the great leveller is health,” said Anna Whitelock, a professor of the history of the monarchy at City University, London. “And the fact is, the royal family, like so many other families, are coping with a cancer diagnosis. And I think that has…taken the energy out of big challenges to the king.”
Questions still remain. Can a 1,000-year-old inherited monarchy represent the people of modern Britain? How will the institution address concerns about its links to empire and slavery? Should the monarchy be replaced with an elected head of state?
But for now, at least, those issues have been largely set aside as the 75-year-old king undergoes treatment for an undisclosed type of cancer.
Britain’s King Charles III and Queen Camilla wave to the crowds from the balcony of Buckingham Palace after the coronation ceremony in London, May 6, 2023. PHOTO: AP
Of all the things experts expected the royal family to face in the year following Charles’ coronation, the events of the last five months took Britain by surprise.
First, Charles was treated for an enlarged prostate, then he revealed his cancer diagnosis. That was followed quickly by the announcement that the Princess of Wales, Prince William’s wife, Kate, also had cancer.
Both retreated from public duties to focus on their health.William followed suit so he could support his wife and the couple’s three young children.
It was not just the septuagenarian monarch who was ill, but the much younger future queen. Her spouse needed to help out. Suddenly the royal family seemed much more vulnerable, more human.
With three senior royals out of action, the Windsors were stretched thin as they tried to keep up with the perpetual whirl of ceremonial appearances, awards presentations and ribbon cuttings that make up the life of a modern royal.
Into the breach stepped, of all people, Queen Camilla.
Once seen as the scourge of the House of Windsor because of her role in the breakup of Charles’ marriage to the late Princess Diana, Camilla emerged as one of the monarchy’s most prominent emissaries. Increasing her schedule of appearances, the queen played a crucial role in keeping the royal family in the public eye.
Wherever she went, royal fans offered get well cards and words of encouragement for Charles and Kate.
In many ways, the story of Charles’ first year since the coronation is about the rise of Camilla and how effective she’s been in representing the king, Whitelock said.
“The crowds reaching out to her has actually been quite remarkable,” she said. “So I think this first year has very much been the reign of Charles and Camilla in a way that we would never have imagined.”
Together, they helped create a year of stability for the monarchy, despite predictions from some critics that the death of Queen Elizabeth II would usher in an era of change.
That’s not to say Charles is free from troubles, many in his own family.
The king’s relationship with his younger son was strained even before Prince Harry and his wife Meghan ditched royal duties and moved to California in 2020. But the publication early last year of Harry’s bombshell memoir, “Spare,” deepened the rift with allegations about the unintentional racism of the royal family and sweetheart deals with the tabloid press.
And then there is Charles’ brother Prince Andrew, whose links to the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein continue to cause headaches for the king. Just last month, Netflix dropped a full-length movie about the disastrous 2019 interview in which Andrew tried to justify his relationship with Epstein.
But throughout the last year, Charles worked to increase openness about the workings of the monarchy, continued to speak out on environmental issues and promoted interfaith dialogue, said George Gross, a royal historian at King’s College London.
Then came the king’s decision to publicize his health problems to demonstrate the benefits of early intervention in a country where cancer survival rates lag behind those in many other wealthy nations.
“Out of adversity, he’s managed to turn it around. It’s wrong to say he’s taken advantage of it, because it’s a disastrous situation to be in, and anyone with a cancer diagnosis will be very worried, very concerned,” Gross said. “But it has been this way that, as a head of state, he’s been able to do good with a very simple message, and I think that’s an extraordinary thing.”
Charles underscored his message last week when he began his return to public-facing duties with a visit to a cancer-care center.
Touring the University College Hospital Macmillan Cancer Centre in central London, the king sat with Lesley Woodbridge, a 63-year-old cancer patient, and held her hand as chemotherapy drugs dripped slowly into her arm.
“It’s always a bit of a shock, isn’t it, when they tell you?” he said, adding: “I’ve got to have my treatment this afternoon as well.”
It’s the kind of personal connection Britons don’t usually expect from the royals, who are known more for reserve than emotion.
After the king announced his diagnosis, Cancer Research UK recorded a 33 per cent increase in visits to its website as people sought information about the signs of cancer, said Michelle Mitchell, chief executive of the charity.
That may have saved lives. And it connected people to the king.
Mitchell said she was struck by how very personal the king’s visit to the cancer center was.
Patients willingly told their cancer stories to Charles and Camilla, and the royal couple responded with intimate details of their own journey, she said.
“I observed not just empathy, but real compassion,” Mitchell said. “And overall, the atmosphere of the day was one of hope — but hope, I think, framed with the importance of research bringing greater progress.”
Britain’s King Charles III holds up flowers he was given as he leaves after a visit to University College Hospital Macmillan Cancer Centre in London, April 30. PHOTO: AP
NEW YORK (AP) – The United States is gearing up for Cinco de Mayo. Music, all-day happy hours and deals on tacos are planned at venues across the country on Sunday — May 5 — in a celebration with widely misunderstood origins that is barely recognised south of the border.
In the US, the date is largely seen as a celebration of Mexican American culture stretching back to the 1800s in California. Typical festivities include parades, street food, block parties, mariachi competitions and baile folklórico, or folkloric dance, with whirling dancers wearing shiny ribbons with braids and bright, ruffled dresses.
For Americans with or without Mexican ancestry, the day has become an excuse to toss back tequila shots with salt and lime, and gorge on tortilla chips smothered with melted orange cheddar that’s unfamiliar to most people in Mexico.
The focus on drinking and eating has brought some criticism of the holiday, especially as beer manufacturers and other marketers have capitalized on its festive nature and some revelers embrace offensive stereotypes, such as fake, droopy mustaches and gigantic straw sombreros.
Folklorico dancers from the group Viva Mexico perform their routine during a Cinco de Mayo celebration and mixer hosted by the Odessa Hispanic Chamber of Commerce at the Odessa Marriott Hotel and Convention Centre, May 5, 2021, in Odessa, Texas. PHOTO: AP
What it is
Cinco de Mayo marks the anniversary of the 1862 victory by Mexican troops over invading French forces at the Battle of Puebla. The triumph over the better equipped and more numerous French troops was an enormous emotional boost for the Mexican soldiers led by General Ignacio Zaragoza.
Historical reenactments and parades are held annually in the central Mexico city of Puebla to commemorate the inspirational victory, with participants dressed in historical French and Mexican army uniforms.
What it isn’t
Cinco de Mayo is not Mexican Independence Day, Mexico’s most important holiday.
Mexicans celebrate their country’s independence from Spain on the anniversary of the call to arms against the European country issued September 16, 1810, by the Reverend Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla, a priest in Dolores, Mexico.
Mexico’s president reenacts el Grito de Independencia, or the Cry of Independence, most years on Sept. 15 at about 11pm from the balcony of the country’s National Palace, ringing the bell Hidalgo rang.
The commemoration typically ends with three cries of “¡Viva México!” above a colorful swirl of tens of thousands of people crowded into the Zócalo, or main plaza, in central Mexico City.
Members of the Odessa High School mariachi band perform at a Cinco de Mayo celebration hosted by the Odessa Hispanic Chamber of Commerce at the Odessa Marriott Hotel and Convention Centre, May 5, 2021, in Odessa, Texas. PHOTO: AP
This year’s celebrations
May 5 this year falls on a Sunday, an ideal day for many people to relax and enjoy the day. There are celebrations planned across the country, especially in places with large Mexican American populations.
Among the festivities In California, San Jose will host a parade and festival featuring live music, dancers and lowrider cars, while in San Francisco there will be a festival at District Six.
An outdoor market in El Paso, Texas, will feature a car show, vendors and live music from Krystall Poppin, Ka$h Go Crazy and 2 Sexy Ashley.
In New Orleans, there will be celebrations on Saturday and Sunday at Fat City Park, with two stages and eight bands, as well as a taco-eating contest.
Across the country, bars and restaurants are promoting their Mexican fare and specials including all-day happy hours. For something different, New York even has a floating Mexican restaurant on a yacht that cruises the Hudson River.
PARIS (AP) — A well-known British Palestinian surgeon who volunteered in Gaza hospitals said he was denied entry to France on Saturday to speak at a French Senate meeting about the Israel-Hamas war.
Dr Ghassan Abu Sitta was placed in a holding zone in the Charles de Gaulle airport and will be expelled, according to French Senator Raymonde Poncet-Monge, who had invited him to speak at the Senate.
”It’s a disgrace,” Poncet-Monge posted on X.
A French official said that Abu Sitta was turned away because he is barred from entry to all Schengen zone countries based on a German request. The official, who was not authorised to be publicly named according to government policy, wouldn’t provide details or further information.
Abu Sitta posted on social networks that he was denied entry in France because of a one-year ban by Germany on his entry to Europe. Germany denied him entry last month, and France and Germany are part of Europe’s border-free Schengen zone. Abu Sitta posted Saturday that he was being sent back to London.
The French Foreign Ministry, Interior Ministry, local police and the Paris airport authority would not comment on what happened or give an explanation.
Abu Sitta had been invited by France’s left-wing Ecologists group in the Senate to speak at a colloquium Saturday about the situation in Gaza, according to the Senate press service. The gathering included testimony from medics, journalists and international legal experts with Gaza-related experience.
Last month Abu Sitta was denied entry to Germany to take part in a pro-Palestinian conference. He said he was stopped at passport control, held for several hours and then told he had to return to the UK. He said airport police told him he was refused entry due to “the safety of the people at the conference and public order.”
Abu Sitta, who recently volunteered with Doctors Without Borders in Gaza, has worked during multiple conflicts in the Palestinian territories, beginning in the late 1980s during the first Palestinian uprising. He has also worked in other conflict zones, including in Iraq, Syria and Yemen.
France has seen tensions related to the Mideast conflict almost daily since the October 7 Hamas revolt. In recent days and weeks police have cleared out students at French campuses holding demonstrations and sit-ins similar to those in the United States.
Dr Ghassan Abu Sitta, a Palestinian-British surgeon specialising in conflict medicine, speaks during an interview at the Institute for Palestine Studies in Beirut, Lebanon, December 9, 2023. PHOTO: AP
NEW YORK (AP) – South and Southeast Asian countries have been coping with a weekslong heat wave rendering record high temperatures that have posed a severe health risk.
Umbrellas to shield against blazing sunlight are popular, air-conditioned malls are serving as urban oases, and schools in Cambodia have been cutting back their hours. In the Philippines, India and Bangladesh, officials have told students to stay home and do their lessons remotely.
In April, the United Nations Children’s Fund warned that the sweltering weather could put millions of children’s lives at risk and asked caregivers to take extra precautions.
A UNICEF statement said that in the Asia-Pacific region, “around 243 million children are exposed to hotter and longer heatwaves, putting them at risk of a multitude of heat-related illnesses, and even death.”
The advice everywhere for everyone? Avoid outdoor activities and drink plenty of water.
Meteorologists in Cambodia say the country is facing its hottest temperatures in 170 years, reaching as high as 43 degrees Celsius.
In Myanmar, weather experts said some parts of the country experienced record high temperatures in the past week. Several towns were included on lists of the hottest spots worldwide in April, in at least one case surpassing 48.2 C.
Parts of eastern India experienced their hottest April on record as a heat wave scorched the region amid a general election.
The recorded highs reflect only air temperature, the historical measure for hot and cold weather. They don’t factor in the debilitating effects of humidity, which can make it feel even hotter.
The Thai capital Bangkok has touched 40 C, but the heat index reportedly topped 50 C.
Cities such as Bangkok constitute urban heat islands, where the temperatures are hotter than in the surrounding countryside because of the mass of buildings and concrete that trap and retain heat.
Benjamin Horton, director of the Earth Observatory of Singapore where natural phenomena such as climate change are studied, said there are three causal factors for heat waves: El Nino, a naturally occurring climate phenomenon; an increase in global temperatures; and human-induced climate change.
Parking attendant Andy Tinto uses laundry clips to put a blue towel over his cap to protect himself from the sun in Manila, Philippines on April 29. PHOTO: AP
OMAHA, Nebraska (AP) — Warren Buffett cautioned the tens of thousands of shareholders who packed an arena for his annual meeting that artificial intelligence scams could become “the growth industry of all time.”
Doubling down on his cautionary words from last year, Buffett told the throngs he recently came face to face with the downside of AI. And it looked and sounded just like him. Someone made a fake video of Buffett, apparently convincing enough that the so-called Oracle of Omaha himself said he could imagine it tricking him into sending money overseas.
The billionaire investing guru predicted scammers will seize on the technology, and may do more harm with it than society can wring good.
“As someone who doesn’t understand a damn thing about it, it has enormous potential for good and enormous potential for harm and I just don’t know how that plays out,” he said.
Michelle King of San Francisco does yoga in the See’s Candies booth before the arrival of shareholders for the Berkshire Hathaway annual meeting on Saturday. PHOTO: AP
Earnings before musings
The day started early Saturday with Berkshire Hathaway announcing a steep drop in earnings as the paper value of its investments plummeted and it pared its Apple holdings. The company reported a USD12.7 billion profit, or USD8.825 per Class A share, in first the quarter, down 64 per cent from USD35.5 billion, or USD24,377 per A share a year ago.
But Buffett encourages investors to pay more attention to the conglomerate’s operating earnings from the companies it actually owns. Those jumped 39 per cent to USD11.222 billion, or USD7,796.47 per Class A share, led by insurance companies’ performance.
None of it that got in the way of the fun.
Throngs flooded the arena to buy up Squishmallows of Buffett and former Vice Chairman Charlie Munger, who died last fall. The event attracts investors from all over the world and is unlike any other company meeting. Those attending for the first time are driven by an urgency to get here while the 93-year-old Buffett is still alive.
“This is one of the best events in the world to learn about investing. To learn from the gods of the industry,” said Akshay Bhansali, who spent the better part of two days traveling from India to Omaha.
A notable absence
Devotees come from all over the world to vacuum up tidbits of wisdom from Buffett, who famously dubbed the meeting ‘Woodstock for Capitalists.’
But a key ingredient was missing this year: It was the first meeting since Munger died.
The meeting opened with a video tribute highlighting some of his best known quotes, including classic lines like “If people weren’t so often wrong, we wouldn’t be so rich.” The video also featured skits the investors made with Hollywood stars over the years, including a “Desperate Housewives” spoof where one of the women introduced Munger as her boyfriend and another in which actress Jaimie Lee Curtis swooned over him.
As the video ended, the arena erupted in a prolonged standing ovation honoring Munger, whom Buffett called “the architect of Berkshire Hathaway.”
Buffett said Munger remained curious about the world up until the end of his life at 99, hosting dinner parties, meeting with people and holding regular Zoom calls.
“Like his hero Ben Franklin, Charlie wanted to understand everything,” Buffett said.
For decades, Munger and Buffett functioned as a classic comedy duo, with Buffett offering lengthy setups to Munger’s witty one-liners. He once referred to unproven internet companies as “turds.”
Together, the pair transformed Berkshire from a floundering textile mill into a massive conglomerate made up of a variety of interests, from insurance companies such as Geico to BNSF railroad to several major utilities and an assortment of other companies.
Munger often summed up the key to Berkshire’s success as “trying to be consistently not stupid, instead of trying to be very intelligent.” He and Buffett also were known for sticking to businesses they understood well.
“Warren always did at least 80 per cent of the talking. But Charlie was a great foil,” said Stansberry Research analyst Whitney Tilson, who was looking forward to his 27th consecutive meeting.
Next gen leaders
Munger’s absence, however, created space for shareholders to get to know better the two executives who directly oversee Berkshire’s companies: Ajit Jain, who manages the insurance units; and Abel, who handles everything else and has been named Buffett’s successor. The two shared the main stage with Buffett this year.
The first time Buffett kicked a question to Abel, he mistakenly said “Charlie?” Abel shrugged off the mistake and dove into the challenges utilities face from the increased risk of wildfires and some regulators’ reluctance to let them collect a reasonable profit.
Morningstar analyst Greggory Warren said he believes Abel spoke up more Saturday and let shareholders see some of the brilliance Berkshire executives talk about.
Abel offered a twist on Munger’s classic “I have nothing to add” line by often starting his answers Saturday by saying “The only thing I would add.”
“Greg’s a rock star,” said Chris Bloomstran, president of Semper Augustus Investments Group. “The bench is deep. He won’t have the same humor at the meeting. But I think we all come here to get a reminder every year to be rational.
A look to the future
Buffett has made clear that Abel will be Berkshire’s next CEO, but he said Saturday that he had changed his opinion on how the company’s investment portfolio should be handled. He had previously said it would fall to two investment managers who handle small chunks of the portfolio now. On Saturday, Buffett endorsed Abel for the gig, as well as overseeing the operating businesses and any acquisitions.
“He understands businesses extremely well. and if you understand businesses, you understand common stocks,” Buffett said. Ultimately, it will be up to the board to decide, but the billionaire said he might come back and haunt them if they try to do it differently.
Overall, Buffett said Berkshire’s system of having all the noninsurance companies report to Abel and the insurers report to Jain is working well. He himself hardly gets any calls from managers anymore because they get more guidance from Abel and Jain.
“This place would work extremely well the next day if something happened to me,” Buffett said.
Nevertheless, the best applause line of the day was Buffett’s closing remark: “I not only hope that you come next year but I hope that I come next year.”
OMAHA, Nebraska (AP) — Shareholder proposals are usually uneventful at Berkshire Hathaway’s annual meeting. But Warren Buffett and the company are now facing a lawsuit over the way one presenter was treated last year.
Peter Flaherty with the National Legal and Policy Centre came back with another proposal this year on a different subject even after he was cut off in the middle of his presentation last year and arrested for trespassing. The charges were later dropped, but Flaherty decided to sue because of the way he was treated to stand up for any shareholder who wants to bring a proposal. He said he had never had trouble at dozens of meetings he has presented at since 2005, including Berkshire’s 2022 meeting.
“I’ve never been interrupted while making a shareholder presentation. I’ve never had my mic cut, and I’ve never been removed from a meeting room. And I’ve certainly never been arrested,” Flaherty said, “Those things were unprecedented for me.”
The issue last year was that Flaherty questioned the character of one of Buffett’s best friends and a former Berkshire board member, Bill Gates. Flaherty suggested that Buffett’s close association with Gates could hurt Berkshire’s reputation because of reports that Gates had been associated with Jeffrey Epstein before he was arrested for sex trafficking. So he was proposing that Berkshire give someone else Buffett’s chairman title while leaving him as CEO.
Buffett has donated billions to Gates’ foundation over the years and plans to give him the bulk of his fortune to distribute.
Berkshire didn’t immediately respond to the federal lawsuit that was filed Friday, and it wasn’t mentioned during Saturday’s meeting. Berkshire officials didn’t even address any of the proposals during the meeting — instead they relied on their statements of opposition that were filed in the official meeting proxy.
Buffett stayed silent during the business meeting after spending all day Saturday answering shareholder questions at the main part of the shareholder meeting. He let his eventual successor Vice Chairman Greg Abel take the lead. He only reminded the presenters of all six proposals to keep their comments related to the proposals.
Flaherty’s proposal was one of six rejected at Berkshire’s meeting this year. They were all opposed by the board, and Buffett still controls roughly one-third of the vote so anything he opposes is almost certain to fail. None of the proposals received more than 85,000 votes. Flaherty’s proposal only drew 6,150 votes while getting 443,544 votes against it.
Some of the other proposals rejected Saturday included ones to require Berkshire to create reports on climate change risks and diversity and inclusion efforts at the massive conglomerate. Another proposal would have required Berkshire to create a board committee focused on railroad safety.
The safety chief for the SMART-TD rail union that represents conductors and other rail workers, Jared Cassity, said that if BNSF wants to argue that safety is the railroad’s top priority, Berkshire’s board should focus on it and review staffing and operational practices to help prevent derailments like the disastrous one Norfolk Southern had last year in East Palestine, Ohio.
Berkshire argued that BNSF is already focused on improving safety and doesn’t need more oversight.
With regard to the other proposals, Berkshire officials argued that such reports would be cumbersome because of the decentralized way the company is run and unnecessary. Plus, some of its subsidiaries like its massive utility unit already produce reports on greenhouse gas emissions, Berkshire said.
This year, Flaherty was allowed to make his case that Berkshire should produce a report on the risks of doing business in China, before the proposal was summarily rejected.
“China poses unique risks for Berkshire Hathaway,” Flaherty said, arguing that the company’s existing disclosures about subsidiaries like Fruit of the Loom that have factories in China are inadequate.
Harold and Caroline Ernst of St Louis chat with fellow shareholders as they wait for the Berkshire Hathaway annual meeting to begin on Saturday. PHOTO: AP
