Most event organisers don’t think much about crowd management until something nearly goes wrong: a bottleneck at a single exit, someone who’s had too much to drink pushing back against a steward, a queue backing up onto a public pavement while a passer-by complains.

None of that needs to happen if the provider running the event actually planned for it beforehand, rather than turning up on the day with enough bodies to cover the headcount.

That’s really the difference between a security company and a crowd management specialist. Supplying people in hi-vis is the easy part. Building a plan around the venue’s actual layout, the crowd it’s likely to attract, and where things tend to go wrong at that particular type of event takes a fair bit more thought, and it’s worth checking a provider’s done that thinking before you sign anything.

Look at Their Planning Process, Not Just the Numbers

A lot of quotes come back as a straightforward number: so many stewards, so many supervisors, one control room operator. What that number doesn’t tell you is whether anyone’s actually walked the site, checked exit capacity against the expected crowd, or thought about how people will move once the main act finishes and everyone heads for the door at once.

A provider worth using will want to see the venue before pricing it. If a quote lands without anyone asking for the layout, capacity figures, or timings, that’s usually a sign the “plan” is really just a headcount with a price attached.

Check Licensing and Experience With Your Type of Event

Every steward or security operative working a licensable event needs a valid SIA licence, and that’s the baseline rather than the differentiator. What actually separates providers is whether they’ve run your kind of event before. A team that’s spent years on corporate conferences approaches a crowd very differently to one that’s cut its teeth on festivals, and neither necessarily transfers cleanly to a sporting fixture with its own particular flashpoints around kick-off.

Asking for a couple of specific, comparable events a provider has covered tends to reveal more than a general client list. A provider whose only reference is a retail security contract is worth thinking twice about.

Confirm Communication Actually Works on the Day

The best-planned event still needs someone coordinating in real time. Radios, a functioning control point, and a clear chain of command between stewards, supervisors, and the organiser make the difference between a small issue getting managed quietly and the same issue escalating because nobody knew who to tell.

It’s worth asking exactly how communication works between the team on the ground and whoever’s making decisions. Some providers run this well. Others hand out radios and hope for the best, and that usually shows the moment something unplanned happens.

Ask How They Work With the Venue

A provider that’s worked your venue before, or is willing to liaise directly with venue management and, where needed, the local authority or police, tends to save a lot of friction closer to the event date. That relationship matters particularly for larger events where licensing conditions or safety certificates require direct input from the security provider, not secondhand through the organiser.

Making the Final Call

Price will always be part of the decision, but it shouldn’t be the deciding factor on its own. A cheaper quote that hasn’t accounted for exit capacity or communication planning can end up costing far more if something goes wrong on the day, both financially and to an organiser’s reputation.

Crowd Management Security built around proper preparation tends to look like this: site visits before pricing, staff matched to the type of event, and a control structure that actually gets used rather than sitting in a briefing pack nobody reads.

The right provider makes an event run so smoothly that nobody outside the security team notices they were there at all, which is usually the clearest sign the planning happened weeks before the doors opened, not on the day itself.

NEW YORK — Shares of SK Hynix Inc. American depositary receipts rose sharply on Wednesday, climbing 8.02% to $153.02 as of late morning Eastern time, extending a rebound in the South Korean memory chipmaker amid sustained optimism over artificial intelligence-related demand.

The Nasdaq-listed ADRs, trading under the ticker SKHY, gained $11.37 on the session. The move tracked strength in the company’s primary Seoul-listed shares and broader gains across South Korean semiconductor stocks that helped lift the KOSPI index more than 3% to close near 6,579.

SK Hynix is a leading supplier of high-bandwidth memory chips critical to advanced AI processors. Its products have benefited from heavy spending by technology companies building data centers and AI infrastructure. The ADRs began trading on Nasdaq in July after the company raised approximately $26.5 billion in what ranked as the largest first-time U.S. share sale by a foreign company.

The offering priced the ADRs at $149 each. Each receipt represents one-tenth of a common share traded in Seoul. Demand for the sale was reported as more than seven times oversubscribed. Proceeds are earmarked for capacity expansion and equipment purchases as the company seeks to meet elevated orders for advanced memory.

In South Korea on Wednesday, SK Hynix shares advanced more than 5% while rival Samsung Electronics rose more than 6%. Foreign and institutional buyers provided support, according to market reports, with the session including a brief program trading halt after rapid gains. Analysts cited solid semiconductor export data and follow-through buying after recent strength in the U.S.-listed ADRs.

The company reported record second-quarter results at the end of July. Revenue reached 79.32 trillion won, up 257% from a year earlier. Operating profit climbed 557% to 60.54 trillion won, producing an operating margin of 76%. Net profit came in at 93.92 trillion won. Management attributed the performance to higher prices and expanded sales of high-value products, including high-bandwidth memory, AI server DRAM and enterprise solid-state drives.

SK Hynix said it began mass shipments of its HBM4 product in the second quarter and planned to increase production in the second half of the year. Samples of the next-generation HBM4E have been delivered to customers, with volume production targeted for 2027. The company has secured long-term supply agreements with around 10 major customers and continues discussions on additional multiyear contracts.

Capital spending for 2026 is projected in the high-40-trillion-won range as the company expands production capacity. Cash and cash equivalents stood at 88 trillion won at the end of the second quarter. Management has previously indicated plans to enhance shareholder returns through a combination of dividends, buybacks and share cancellations, though specific details of a broader program remain pending.

At the July listing ceremony, SK Hynix Chief Executive Kwak Noh-Jung described the day as historic for the company and stated that high-bandwidth memory sits at the core of the AI revolution. The firm has repeatedly emphasized that AI infrastructure investment and resulting memory demand are expected to remain robust beyond the current year, with supply constraints limiting the risk of near-term oversupply.

Brokerages initiated or resumed coverage of the ADRs after the post-listing quiet period expired in early August, issuing predominantly positive ratings. Price targets from some firms ranged as high as $320, reflecting expectations that the U.S. listing could support a valuation re-rating closer to global peers and longer-term visibility tied to AI end markets.

The stock has experienced significant volatility since the U.S. debut. Early trading featured sharp swings, with periods of premium for the ADRs relative to the Seoul shares driven by restrictions on convertibility and differences in investor bases. Broader semiconductor sector fluctuations, including profit-taking after strong runs and shifting expectations around the duration of AI spending, have also influenced prices.

SK Hynix operates as the world’s second-largest memory chipmaker by many measures and holds a leading position in the high-bandwidth memory segment used in Nvidia and other AI accelerators. Industry participants have described ongoing supply tightness for advanced memory, with fulfillment rates constrained relative to demand and capacity additions taking time to come online.

Market participants continue to weigh the company’s earnings power against elevated capital expenditure plans and the competitive landscape, including advances by peers in next-generation products. Samsung has reported progress on its own HBM yields in the push to narrow gaps in the high-end segment.

Wednesday’s gains occurred against a mixed backdrop in U.S. equity markets, where major indexes closed modestly lower the prior session. The focus for SK Hynix remains on execution of its expansion plans, delivery of higher volumes of advanced memory, and any forthcoming details on capital returns to shareholders.

Trading volumes in the ADRs have been elevated at times since the listing as global investors gained more direct access to the stock. The company’s market value has fluctuated with the AI narrative, having previously exceeded $1 trillion on the strength of its Seoul listing before the secondary offering.

As of the latest available data, SK Hynix continues to highlight structural demand growth linked to AI adoption across servers and related applications. Both DRAM and NAND pricing trends supported the strong second-quarter results, according to the company, with high-value product mix contributing to peak margins.

Investors will monitor upcoming quarterly updates, progress on HBM4 ramp-up, and any announcements regarding the shareholder return framework for further direction. For now, the combination of robust AI memory fundamentals and coordinated buying across Asian and U.S. markets has supported the latest advance in the ADRs.

The boom in weight-loss drugs may have transformed the obesity market, but Novo Nordisk’s CEO says the industry is still only scratching the surface with tens of millions of Americans potentially eligible for treatment.

Novo Nordisk President and CEO Mike Doustdar joined FOX Business’ Cheryl Casone on “Mornings with Maria” to discuss the adoption of GLP-1 drugs, their potential economic impact and the company’s outlook for medicines, including Wegovy.

Mike Doustdar, chief executive officer of Novo Nordisk, speaking during an interview. (Michael Nagle/Bloomberg / Getty Images)

“We are clearly at early innings,” Doustdar said, pointing to the large population living with obesity and relatively limited use of GLP-1 medications. He said more than 100 million people in the U.S. are suffering from obesity, while “somewhere around 10, 15% in a good day” have used a GLP-1.

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“There is a long runway still,” he said.

Beyond weight loss, Doustdar said wider use of the drugs could eventually help Americans save on healthcare costs while bringing broader economic benefits.

“I do think as we get there, not only you see the health benefits of these drugs, you also see the economical benefit of these drugs,” he said.

Doustdar pointed to medication use as one area where a healthier, smaller population could reduce consumption. He used insulin, another product sold by Novo Nordisk, as an example of how dosage can vary with body size.

NOVO NORDISK SUES ELI LILLY OVER CLAIMS IN WEIGHT-LOSS DRUG ADS

“I sell insulin, and I know that a person who is larger does more insulin dose than someone who’s smaller,” he said.

He also pointed to the potential value of healthier people returning to work and becoming more productive, arguing that the benefits could extend beyond the number on a scale.

“Then, of course, comes on top of that, the economical value that comes from people getting back to work healthier,” Doustdar said. “People are more productive.”

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The stock traded between $216.11 and $235.96 after opening at $226, compared with its previous close of $193.23.

Nebius reported its results a day after its larger rival CoreWeave raised its annual forecasts, fuelling a broader rally in AI infrastructure stocks as both companies signalled that demand for computing capacity continued to outpace supply.

Nebius reported a sixfold surge in revenue from its core AI cloud business, which took overall sales to $582.3 million in the June ended quarter, beating analysts’ estimates of $572.75 million, according to LSEG data.

Nebius is turning rising demand into “contracted, profitable growth,” CEO Arkady Volozh told Reuters.

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The Nvidia-powered AI cloud provider secured four deals averaging over $1 billion each, nearly quadrupling its total contract value, while contracts from new customers surged more than ninefold.
Asked about growing competition from newcomers such as xAI, Volozh told Reuters that demand for AI computing continued to far outstrip supply, adding that Nebius could sell its entire planned capacity for 2027 at current terms.Emarketer analyst Jacob Bourne said that demand for AI cloud capacity remained strong despite increasing competition. However, he said the key question was whether that demand would prove diversified and sustainable beyond the AI industry.

Nebius spent about $5.7 billion during the quarter, above analysts’ estimate of $4.7 billion, as it continued to invest heavily in GPUs and data-centre expansion. The company said AI cloud contracts signed during the period, with annual values exceeding $20 million per megawatt, were expected to come online late in the fourth quarter.

Nebius raised its contracted power target for 2026 to 5 gigawatts from more than 4 GW and plans to add over 1 GW of capacity annually from 2027—enough to power about 750,000 US homes. It expects more than $9 billion in customer prepayments this year and has secured over $40 billion in customer commitments.

(Disclaimer: This article is based on inputs from agencies. These do not represent the views of The Economic Times)

Customers of Metronet, the fiber-optic internet provider serving communities across 16 states, reported problems accessing their internet service Wednesday morning, according to outage-tracking service Downdetector, in what appeared to be a developing disruption affecting the company’s network.

Downdetector said user reports indicating problems with Metronet began climbing at 8:23 a.m. Eastern time. The tracking service posted about the rising number of reports on its official account on the social platform X, asking affected users to describe how the outage was impacting them and tagging the post with the hashtag “MetronetDown.”

Separate outage-monitoring service StatusGator later reported detecting a likely Metronet disruption as of 12:33 p.m. Eastern time Wednesday, logging 89 user-submitted reports of problems over the preceding 24-hour window. StatusGator noted that, based on its analysis of issue reports, page visits and signal strength data, Metronet appeared to be experiencing or to have recently experienced an outage, even though the company had not officially acknowledged any service disruption as of the time of that assessment.

Not every outage-tracking service showed the same picture, however. Separate monitoring tools, including ISPDown.com and Outage.report, indicated at various points Wednesday that Metronet appeared to be “operating normally,” with one service reporting zero outages logged in the preceding 24 hours. That discrepancy between different third-party tracking tools underscored the difficulty of pinning down the precise scope and timeline of an internet service disruption using crowdsourced and automated monitoring systems alone, particularly for an outage that may affect some geographic areas or customer segments more heavily than others.

As of Wednesday, Metronet had not issued a detailed public statement addressing the scope, cause or expected resolution timeline for the reported outage. The company’s own website includes a dedicated outage information page directing customers experiencing service disruptions to first check for alerts through the myMetronet customer portal, confirm their account is current on payments, verify that their power and equipment connections are functioning properly, and power-cycle their modem or router by unplugging it for at least 10 seconds before restoring power. Metronet has said that if those basic troubleshooting steps do not resolve a customer’s issue, the disruption may be part of a broader network outage, and has directed affected customers to contact its technical support team for further assistance.

Metronet describes itself as a 100% fiber-optic internet provider delivering symmetrical, multi-gigabit internet speeds to homes and businesses, with particularly strong coverage across Indiana, Illinois and Florida, among the 16 states where the company operates. The company markets residential and business internet plans reaching speeds of up to 10 gigabits per second, along with television service featuring cloud DVR and access to streaming platforms including Netflix and YouTube TV, positioning itself as a fiber-focused alternative to larger, more established internet providers in the mid-sized markets it serves.

Wednesday’s reported disruption would not be the first outage to affect Metronet’s network. According to data compiled by StatusGator, the company has experienced several previous service disruptions over the past two months, including outages detected on July 15, June 23, June 16 and June 13, ranging in duration from roughly 18 minutes to just over two hours. StatusGator noted that none of those earlier incidents were ever officially acknowledged by Metronet, mirroring the pattern seen with Wednesday’s reported disruption.

Given the nature of fiber-optic internet service, outages affecting Metronet’s network can leave customers without home internet access entirely, disrupting everything from remote work and video streaming to smart home devices and, for some customers, television and phone service bundled through the same connection. Because Metronet also offers business-tier internet plans, service disruptions can carry a meaningful economic impact for small and mid-sized businesses that rely on the company’s fiber connections for day-to-day operations, a factor the company has acknowledged on its own outage information pages by offering separate business-specific outage resources.

Customers experiencing problems with their Metronet service were, consistent with the company’s own published guidance, generally advised to first check the myMetronet customer portal for any posted service alerts before assuming a broader network-wide issue was responsible for their disruption. Metronet has said it aims to provide customers with timely updates during confirmed outages through both email and text notifications, which customers can opt into through their online account settings.

This remains a developing situation, and additional details regarding the precise scope, underlying cause and expected resolution timeline of Wednesday’s reported Metronet outage were not immediately available. The company had not issued an official public acknowledgment of the disruption as of Wednesday afternoon, leaving affected customers largely reliant on third-party outage trackers and the company’s standard troubleshooting guidance to determine whether their service issues were part of a broader, network-wide problem.

Brazil’s data protection authority (ANPD) has ordered Discord to suspend its livestreaming feature after a teenage girl was allegedly encouraged to take her own life in a broadcast on the platform.

The messaging service allows people to create and join groups based on their interests, with users able to enter voice or video calls in real time through Discord’s “Go Live” feature.

The investigation by the ANPD began on 7 August after the death of a 13-year-old girl, who was reportedly pressured to end her life by others in the Discord server – or group – she was in.

Discord told the BBC it was “thoughtfully reviewing” the ANPD’s order and is “committed to user safety”.

“Groups or individuals who promote or encourage violence have no place on Discord,” a spokesperson said.

“We swiftly investigated and shut down the private, invite-only server involved shortly after its creation and continue to cooperate with law enforcement in its investigation.”

According to Reuters, external, the ANPD said it found Discord lacks ‌real-time ⁠access to livestream content, which prevents automated violation detection.

The site, which can be accessed on desktop or as a mobile app, has over 200 million monthly active users, and is popular with gamers.

Discord’s spokesperson said in its investigation, evidence was found that the criminal activity “was coordinated on other platforms before the Discord server was created” as well as continuing “after the individuals involved were banned from Discord”.

Five teenagers have reportedly been arrested in connection to the teenage girl’s death.

Discord now has three days to comply with the suspension and can appeal the decision within 10 business days.

The platform faces potential fines of ​up to 50m reais ($9.67m) per ⁠violation.

The ANPD said the suspension will remain in place until Discord proves it has implemented “adequate protective measures for minors”, which may include age verification checks.

In August 2024, the social media platform X was banned in Brazil after failing to pay existing fines and to meet a deadline set by a Supreme Court judge to name a new legal representative in the country.

It was unbanned by the Supreme Court in October 2024 after it complied with court orders by paying fines totalling 28m reais ($5.1m; £3.8m) and agreed to appoint a local representative, as required by Brazilian law.