CMR is the leading provider of funding and management support for small to medium-sized businesses and entrepreneurs 

Taiwanese pager manufacturer Gold Apollo Co., at the center of the exploding pagers incident used by Hezbollah fighters in Lebanon—resulting in nine deaths and nearly 3,000 injuries—shifted the blame onto Budapest-based BAC Consulting Kft. 

The Washington Post cites Hsu Kuang, the founder of Gold Apollo, who told reporters that BAC Consulting "entirely handled" the AR-924 pager manufacturing process. 

On Wednesday, Kuang told reporters at the company's headquarters in New Taipei City that BAC has been selling Gold Apollo's pager brand for less than two years. He was completely stumped by how a pager could be weaponized into an explosive device. 

"I'm just doing my business, why am I getting involved in a terrorist attack?" he told reporters, adding, "The product was not ours. It was only that it had our brand on it."

CEO of Gold Apollo, Hsu Ching-Kuang denied manufacturing the explosive pager. When asked abt AR-924, he said “it is produced & sold by BAC…we only provide brand trademark authorisation & have no involvement in design or manufacturing of this product.” See my exchange w him. pic.twitter.com/eb6k65oyKl

— Tingting Liu ??? (@tingtingliuTVBS) September 18, 2024

A statement from Gold Apollo noted that it authorized "BAC to use our brand trademark for product sales in specific regions, but the design and manufacturing of the products are entirely handled by BAC." 

On Tuesday, at around 330 local time across Lebanon, the pagers from hell exploded. Sources told Reuters that Hezbollah fighters began recently using pagers to evade Israeli tracking of their locations. 

Here's more about the exploding pagers from Bloomberg: 

One of the outstanding questions is how the blasts were planned and then triggered with such coordination. Small amounts of explosive were planted in beepers that Hezbollah had ordered, the New York Times reported, citing US and other officials briefed on the operation. Just one or two ounces of the material was added next to the battery of each pager, and a switch was embeded to trigger the detonation, the newspaper reported. Devices exploded simultaneously around the country at about 3:30 p.m.

Meanwhile, the Lebanese government has identified "Israeli aggression" as being behind the attack, while Hezbollah also says it holds Israel "fully responsible." Israel has yet to issue an official comment, but there are several reports from the region that war preparations are underway.

According to a report prepared by the American Center for Levant Studies (ACLS), early estimates suggest 4,000 Hezbollah fighters were injured in yesterday's attack, affecting about a quarter of leadership. 

Around 4,000 Hezbollah operatives in Lebanon were injured after their communication pagers exploded. Eleven members of Hezbollah, including leaders, were confirmed dead in today's attack with 400 in critical condition and 500 losing their sight. This significant blow left 10% to 25% of the party's leadership out of service, marking a major disruption in Hezbollah's command structure. Experts in the region are calling the incident a "checkmate" for Hezbollah. Explosions spread into Syria as devices detonated in a car in Damascus, injuring 18 fighters.

ACLS noted that pentaerythritol tetranitrate explosives were embedded into each of the pagers:

The pagers, acquired as part of a technological upgrade, were brought to Lebanon five months ago from the Taiwanese company Gold Apollo. The explosive material was inserted before the devices arrived in Lebanon. Initial reports indicate they contained PETN, a powerful explosive material. Each device had no more than 20 grams of PETN, known for its strength and sensitivity. While PETN doesn't explode on impact or ignition, it can be triggered by continuous vibrations. For reference, 1 kilogram of PETN equals 1.25 kilograms of TNT. Repeated, continuous messages sent to the pagers caused prolonged vibrations, leading to the explosion.

Now, everyone is checking their electronic devices for explosives.

By Charles Kennedy of OilPrice.com

Power prices in France turned negative for hours on Tuesday morning amid tepid demand in a struggling economy and increased renewables generation.

French intraday power prices traded at as low as -$22.25 (-20 euros) per megawatt-hour (MWh) on the Epex Spot exchange, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

So far this year, France’s power demand has been undershooting projections by grid operator RTE as the French and European economies are seeing little – if any – growth.

France, which derives about 70% of its electricity from nuclear energy, returned last year to the top spot of Europe’s net power exporters, as its nuclear fleet returned from maintenance and domestic demand was lower. Even with high levels of electricity exports, power supply in France is set to exceed demand for several hours on Tuesday.

European wholesale electricity markets have seen zero or negative power prices for the most hours on record this year amid soaring renewable energy generation and a mismatch between supply and demand hours for solar power.

Negative pricing occurs when there is more electricity supply than demand, a scenario becoming more frequent as Europe continues its aggressive push toward renewable energy.

The number of tradable hours in which power prices were zero or negative have jumped so far this year in major wholesale power markets, including Germany, France, the Netherlands, Spain, Finland, and southern Sweden, per LSEG data cited by Reuters.

Zero or negative wholesale power prices have started to slow investment in capacity additions and make the case for the need for higher investment in energy storage, through which power producers would avoid curtailing electricity output or having to pay to offload electricity.

The rapid expansion of wind and solar capacity is reshaping the continent’s energy landscape. On days when both sources are generating at high levels, the market can become saturated with inexpensive power, driving prices down to the point where they even turn negative. While this benefits consumers in the short term, it also highlights the challenges of managing an energy grid increasingly reliant on intermittent renewable sources.

Lazard Chief Executive Officer Peter Orszag doesn't seem to be bothered by recent complaints of junior bankers being overworked on Wall Street. As a matter of fact, he took to Bloomberg yesterday to proclaim his young bankers are actually asking for longer hours, providing the work is interesting.

Whether its just PR spin aside, Orszag's comments come days after we reported that JPMorgan is now capping junior bankers' hours at 80 per week, while Bank of America is rolling out a tool requiring detailed time tracking. 

Those moves come years after the infamous Goldman Sachs slide deck, wherein junior bankers complained about working long hours on...of all places, Wall Street. Despite this, we wrote back in July that junior bankers were working 100 hour weeks again

Orszag said in an interview this week: “There are many, many people who would rather work whatever number of hours per week on interesting, important things rather than fewer hours on things that are not that interesting. And that’s what we’re looking for. That’s the trade-off.”

The Bloomberg report says Orszag attributes his ability to ask for 80-90 hour weeks to giving remote work two days a week and offering "flexibility to ensure staff still have the agency to focus on other important things in their lives". 

Employers must offer junior bankers more meaningful work, not just "make-work," said Orszag, though professions do require effort at the end of the day.

As we noted last week, the debate over junior bankers' hours resurfaced after Bank of America associate Leo Lukenas died in May, with complaints that hours were exceeding 100 a week despite prior commitments to protect worker health.

Orszag concluded by hailing the company's diversity as its strength: “The evidence is clear that more diverse teams produce better outcomes when the problems are not routine. We’re going to be better on behalf of our clients as a result.”

Ghosting isn't just for dating apps anymore. It's also happening in the world of hiring...

"Ghost jobs" are defined as job listings for roles with no hiring activity. And a new Bloomberg report says that those types of listings have hit a two year high, citing data from Greenhouse.

In the world of consulting, these 'ghost' listings rose to 31% in Q2, up from 26% two years ago, the report says. These jobs are seen as "a bellwether for the white-collar economy", the report says.

Consultants have also reported being "ghosted," where recruiters abruptly stop communication during the hiring process without explanation, according to Bloomberg. The shift has left many jobseekers frustrated.

One job seeker told Bloomberg: “It can be so awful. I don’t care for automated rejection letters, but would prefer that, just to have closure.”

Declining demand for traditional consulting services has led to job cuts and slower hiring at firms like Accenture, Ernst & Young, and McKinsey.

Growth in the U.S. consulting market slowed to 5.2% last year, down from 14%, with many firms scaling back or canceling projects. This year's growth is projected at around 6%, according to Source Global Research.

Jon Stross, co-founder and president of Greenhouse said: “When the economy is hot, you have to treat job candidates better and make decisions faster."

He continued: “When it flips and there are way too many candidates, it slows down decision making. Recruiters can wait for that perfect person, so they treat people worse and get away with it.”

The report notes that some consultants are applying to hundreds of jobs without success, as many roles are put on hold or canceled.

According to industry expert Hung Lee, this is partly due to recruiters being overwhelmed and outdated job postings remaining online.

Meanwhile, wage growth in consulting is slowing, with salary increases projected to rise only 3.85% next year, down from nearly 5% in 2023.

Update(1445ET): Official Lebanese Health Ministry figures are that nine people were killed in the simultaneous pager explosions, including a young girl, and some 2,750 wounded. The Lebanese government has identified "Israeli aggression" as being behind the attack, while Hezbollah also says it holds Israel "fully responsible". Israel has yet to issue official comment, but there are several reports from the region that war preparations are underway. There are reports of evening Israeli shelling of Hezbollah positions in south Lebanon.

Israel's Channel 14 is reporting that "senior Israeli military officials are preparing for a third Hezbollah war which is expected to begin almost immediately." The US State Department has said the US "was not aware of this operation and was not involved" in the attack. The Biden administration says it is "still gathering information".

The WSJ has offered some initial details on the sophisticated attack, which Lebanese and Arabs have condemned as a major 'terror attack'. "The affected pagers were from a new shipment that the group received in recent days, people familiar with the matter said," WSJ writes. "A Hezbollah official said hundreds of fighters had such devices, speculating that malware may have caused the devices to explode. The official said some people felt the pagers heat up and disposed of them before they burst."

How did Israel manage to sell pagers with explosive devises to Hezbollah members?

This will be the question Hezbollah leadership will have to explain to their followers. https://t.co/uSvrwoplo4

— Joshua Landis (@joshua_landis) September 17, 2024

And more: "Hezbollah said a number of pagers carried by its members exploded simultaneously at 3:30 p.m. It couldn’t immediately be determined what caused the blasts, which were spread out across the country in several areas where Hezbollah has a heavy presence."

Israeli media says Mossad rigged the pager batteries of a shipment that was imported five months ago:

The Israeli spy agency placed a quantity of PETN, a highly explosive material, on the batteries of the devices, and detonated them by raising the temperature of the batteries from afar, the source says.

There are initial reports that more European airlines have began cancelling flights to Lebanon and Israel amid more headlines of war plans. Lebanese schools and colleges have announced widespread closures tomorrow. The US administration appears to be standing idly by in the meantime.

Amid the Hezbollah pager incident, I’m reminded of what a Pentagon official told me not long ago: “We have let Israel face 0 consequences for crossing all our red lines in Gaza so they are emboldened & know they face no consequences for going into Lebanon” https://t.co/odsQguFPMI

— Akbar Shahid Ahmed (@AkbarSAhmed) September 17, 2024

War looks imminent:

It's likely we will see the start of an israeli invasion into South Lebanon... timing matters, and Hezbollah will need some weeks to recover at least some of its strength. Another reason is US elections in 50 days, Gaza war hurt Biden, and possibly a Lebanon war will hurt Kamala https://t.co/8JY17QFg7m

— Aram (@AramKrdstn) September 17, 2024

* * *

Update(1050ET): An eyewitness tells Al Jazeera: "There’s more than 400 men here. Their pagers exploded, the ones they use for communication." There are regional Lebanese media reports of over 1,200 Hezbollah operatives injured.

Reuters is confirming that Iranian Ambassador to Lebanon Mojtaba Amani is among the wounded in the series of pager explosions, based on a report in Iran’s Mehr news outlet. Follow up reports say he was only lightly injured. Some of the explosions happened in Syria as well, reports say. There are reports of civilian deaths in Beirut, including children. Some of the explosions happened inside homes, where the pagers were on shelves or bedstands.

An Al Jazeera correspondent writes, "We are talking about hundreds of members of the group in hospitals. We are seeing videos online of injuries to their arms, to their legs, even to their faces." The Lebanese Health Ministry is urging for doctors and nurses to rush to south Beirut hospitals amid a shortage. Reuters is reporting that among the confirmed killed is a Hezbollah Member of Parliament's son, who was part of the armed wing. According to more of the latest:

• Eight dead, 2,750 injured in Lebanon exploding pagers: minister
• Health Ministry: 200 people in critical condition

From an alleged Hezbollah source cited in AP and Israeli media:

The official, speaking on condition of anonymity because he is not authorized to speak to the media, says the explosions were the result of “a security operation that targeted the devices.”

“The enemy [Israel] stands behind this security incident,” the official says, without elaborating.

He adds that the new pagers that Hezbollah members were carrying have lithium batteries that apparently exploded.

Does this signal the start of a larger anti-Hezbollah campaign? It appears so. And Hezbollah is definitely expected to escalate from its side. This could be the start of a new Lebanon war, bigger in scope that than the 2006 war.

Many will ask: why pagers? A regional correspondent and past ZeroHedge contributor explains:

Military analyst Elijah Magnier has told Al Jazeera that Hezbollah relies heavily on the so-called pagers to avoid Israel intercepting its members’ communications.

He also suggested that these devices might have been pre-tampered before they were dispersed among Hezbollah members.

“This is not a new system. It has been used in the past,” he said. “So in this case there has been involvement of a third party … to allow access … to remotely activate the explosion,” he said.

* * *

An apparent covert Mossad operation has unleashed chaos in a southern Beirut neighborhood on Tuesday, resulting in large-scale casualties among Hezbollah operatives and reportedly Lebanese civilians.

Telecommunications devices used by Hezbollah members began exploding, resulting in up to hundreds wounded in the suburb of Dahiyeh. There appears to be fatalities, according to graphic social media images.

Reuters reports, "Hundreds of members of the Lebanese armed group Hezbollah, including fighters and medics, were seriously wounded on Tuesday when the pagers they use to communicate exploded," according to security sources. Al Jazeera has cited eyewitnesses who say there are over 400 victims at just one hospital.

"A Reuters journalist saw 10 Hezbollah members bleeding from wounds in the southern suburb of Beirut known as Dahiyeh," the report continues.

It is as yet unclear how precisely Israeli intelligence was able to infiltrate Hezbollah's telecoms - whether small bombs were placed in the pagers or possibly the result of some kind of large-scale cyberhack. But what is becoming clear is that they were remotely detonated.

A Hezbollah official was cited anonymously in Reuters, calling the incident the "biggest security breach" the group has ever faced since the start of the nearly-year long conflict with Israel. Groups like Hezbollah often use low-tech devices to communicate with each other, given cell phones are easier for intelligence services to intercept.

"Residents said explosions were taking place even 30 minutes after the initial blasts," the report notes further, citing eyewitnesses. People are also urgently calling for blood donations, given this appears a mass casualty event.

Good morning cyber folks. A borderline literally incredible story from Lebanon, where Reuters is reporting that a simultaneous mass attack on Hezbollah members was...Israel hacking their pagers. Possibly Teletrim, per @michaelh992 https://t.co/FVBNqrNTdChttps://t.co/IhLlbMBFID

— Kevin Collier (@kevincollier) September 17, 2024

Local hospitals are said to be inundated with victims as well as groups of family members rushing to entrances trying to find out what's going on.

Israel has yet to comment on the apparent covert operation.

?? Security camera footage shows a pager being detonated in a market.

A Hezbollah official, speaking anonymously to Reuters, stated, "This is the most significant intelligence breach." https://t.co/6KVC80wvBi pic.twitter.com/pegD3LLbvT

— BigBreakingWire (@BigBreakingWire) September 17, 2024

A prominent Lebanese and regional war monitor account had this to say...

I severely doubt it’s some technological strike, most likely explosive planted inside the pager.

Whatever it is, the consequences will be dire.

(Stop taking pictures of the wounded, you fucking imbeciles) pic.twitter.com/RIScKZrGTK

— War Monitor (@WarMonitors) September 17, 2024

Most videos are too graphic, but the below shows some of the chaos in the aftermath of the initial explosions.

Footage from Dahiyeh, #Lebanon ????, where a @Reuters journalist reports seeing 10 Hezbollah members bleeding from wounds due to their pagers exploding pic.twitter.com/XmyJBLZYvZ

— Aleph ? (@no_itsmyturn) September 17, 2024

developing...

Headlines in major US outlets last week and this week point to some behind the scenes scrambling and a degree of panic among Ukraine's Western backers. There is beginning to be acceptance that Kiev forces are losing the war, and that Moscow won't quit until Putin sees the goals of the 'special military operation' through. The alternatives include either nuclear-armed escalation (NATO vs. Russia) or ceasefire negotiations, and Zelensky is now being pressed to think about a "plan B"—as The Wall Street Journal recently wrote.

Be realistic... is the new message coming from NATO allies to Zelensky. "Now, with Russia continuing to make slow gains on the battlefield and Western support for Ukraine showing signs of fatigue, Ukraine may need to come up with a more realistic plan, at least for the next year of the war, according to European diplomats," WSJ wrote last week.

"The West still backs Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s long-term stated aim of taking back control of its territory," the report continued. "But some European diplomats say Ukraine needs to be more pragmatic in its wartime aims and strategy. That could help Western officials advocate to their respective voters the need to funnel arms and aid to the country."

...Or to put it another way, the taxpaying Western public wants this conflict to end as fast as possible, and without sinking billions more into it, because they are sick and tired of the constant escalation and want to see peace.

Earlier this month White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby spelled out that "Certainly a negotiated end is the most likely outcome here, but when that happens, and under what conditions and circumstances, that’s going to be up to President Zelensky."

And yet, simultaneous to this talk of a "plan B" toward peace negotiations, the US and UK are mulling allowing Kiev to attack Russian territory with long-range weapons.

Bloomberg on Tuesday has followed WSJ's reporting by confirming that Western diplomats are increasingly vocal on the prospect of a quicker negotiated end to the drawn out conflict.

"As part of their discussions of strategy for the next year, officials are more seriously gaming out how a negotiated end to the conflict and an off-ramp could take shape, according to people familiar with the matter who asked for anonymity to discuss private deliberations," the report says. But the hawks are concerned this could lead to a 'pre-mature' ceasefire.

The report continues:

The people made clear that any decision to negotiate would be for Kyiv to make and that nobody is pressuring Volodomyr Zelenskyy into talks. Ukraine’s president has been adamant, publicly and privately, that ceding territory to Russia would be unfair, the people said. With no sign that Russia has scaled back its objectives, the prospect of real negotiations still remains distant, they said.

But as the war heads toward another winter, there’s little sign of breakthrough on the battlefield. That’s prompting some allied officials to start exploring ways in which diplomacy could break the deadlock.

Indeed the question of what's fair or unfair is a moot point, as the outcome is being decided on the battlefield, hence the growing pressure for Kiev to get serious about negotiations.

Pro-Ukraine hawks are still pushing hard for US to greenlight escalation...

NEW!!! Still no new announcement on Ukraine’s request to strike back deep inside russia, State Dept says.

“How do you expect Ukraine to win this war with one hand tied behind?” — I asked DoS Spox ???????? pic.twitter.com/AYpPOUC72Z

— Alex Raufoglu (@ralakbar) September 17, 2024

But Zelensky still hopes to draw NATO in deeper, which is why the big lobbying push has been in full swing for the US/UK to allow launching missiles deep into Russian territory. The Biden administration has looked hesitant in the face of Putin threats and red lines, and this is a good thing. Let's hope saner minds prevail and that negotiations begin soon.