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The rift over the war in Gaza between Israel and the United States, its closest ally, broadened on Sunday when Israel’s prime minister accused a top-ranking American lawmaker of treating his country like a “banana republic.”Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who is facing increasing pressure to negotiate a cease-fire, lashed out at Senator Chuck Schumer over his call for elections to be held in Israel when the war winds down. In an interview on CNN’s “State of the Union,” Mr. Netanyahu suggested that Mr. Schumer, the Senate majority leader, was trying to topple his government and said his call for an election was “totally inappropriate.”“That’s something that Israel, the Israeli public, does on its own,” he said. “We’re not a banana republic.”On Thursday, Mr. Schumer, a Democrat from New York who is the highest-ranking Jewish elected official in the United States, delivered a scathing speech on the Senate floor, accusing Mr. Netanyahu of letting his political survival supersede “the best interests of Israel” and of being “too willing to tolerate the civilian toll in Gaza.”

Persons: Benjamin Netanyahu, Chuck Schumer, ” Mr, Netanyahu, Schumer, ”, “ We’re, Mr, Israel ”, “ Organizations: ”, CNN’s, Union Locations: Gaza, Israel, United States, CNN’s “ State, ”, New York

The Justice Department is sending subpoenas and using a recently convened grand jury in Seattle as it widens a criminal investigation into the door plug that blew off a Boeing 737 Max 9 jetliner in January, a person familiar with the matter said on Friday. A preliminary report by the National Transportation Safety Board said four bolts meant to secure the door plug in place were missing before the panel blew off. This month, it was reported that the Justice Department had opened a criminal investigation of Boeing, which had reinstalled the door plug during maintenance in Renton, Wash., before delivering the plane to Alaska Airlines in October. The subpoenas and use of the grand jury were reported earlier Friday by Bloomberg. Boeing said it agreed with the F.A.A.’s decision and pledged to cooperate.

Persons: jetliner Organizations: Boeing, Max, Alaska Airlines, Portland International, National Transportation Safety, Justice Department, Bloomberg, Federal Aviation Administration Locations: Seattle, Oregon, Renton, Wash, Alaska

☆ What Happens When TikTok Is Your Marketing Department
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-11 | by ( David Segal | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: 1 min

In 2018, The Pink Stuff was little more than a home cleaning product with a cute name. “The miracle cleaning paste,” as it said on every container, was sold by just two retail chains in Britain. At a factory near Birmingham, The Pink Stuff line operated for about two hours every month. “It was a brand with a lot of uses,” said Henrik Pade, a managing director at Star Brands, the company behind the product. “But nobody used it.”

Persons: ”, Henrik Pade Organizations: Star Brands Locations: Britain, Birmingham

☆ Their Songs Were Stolen by Phantom Artists. They Couldn’t Get Them Back.
▼ + stars: | 2024-01-13 | by ( David Segal | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: 1 min

But not long after “The Jukebox of Regret” was finished in July and posted on SoundCloud, nearly every song on it somehow turned up on Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube and at least a dozen other streaming platforms. This might have counted as a pleasant surprise, except for a bizarre twist: Each song had a new title, attached to the name of a different artist. This mysterious switcheroo might have gone unnoticed. But by happenstance, it was discovered when the guy who produced the album posted one of the songs on his studio’s Instagram account. To his astonishment, Instagram automatically tagged the song “Preston” by Bad Dog as a song called “Drunk the Wine” by Vinay Jonge — a “musician” with no previous songs and zero profile on the internet.

Persons: ”, Instagram, Preston, Vinay Jonge — Organizations: Apple Music, YouTube Locations: SoundCloud

☆ Is This the World’s Highest Grossing Photograph?
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-21 | by ( David Segal | More About David Segal | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

But the notion that “Girls” might well belong in a discussion about the most valuable photographs in history raises a question: How did an otherwise obscure commercial photographer, who spent much of his career photographing celebrities and politicians for magazines like Parade and Life, crash a party filled with some of the most famous artists in the world? The answer starts with the image, of course, which is a brassy, joyful combination of glamour and urban grit with a dash of “Mad Men”-era nostalgia. The building embodies a glorious slab of vanishing New York City, and those women look like they’re ready to break into song. Starting around 2010, and before his death in 2019, Gigli produced, printed and signed hundreds of copies of the photograph, in a variety of sizes and on a variety of photographic papers. He did so at the behest of his son, Ogden, 63, a photographer who now runs his father’s estate and who masterminded the unique sales strategy that turned the image into a phenomenon.

Persons: we’ve, ”, Etheleen Staley, Staley, Wise, Gigli, Ogden, “ Organizations: Windows Inc Locations: York City, SoHo, Pittsfield , Mass

☆ In a leaked memo, Shopify CEO Tobi Lütke discourages employees from having side hustles, saying Shopify requires 'unshared attention'
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-28 | by ( Madeline Stone | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Shopify CEO Tobi Lütke wrote a company-wide memo Wednesday discouraging employees from having side hustles. "This surprises me because it directly contradicts the countless times I've said Shopify is like a professional sports team that requires our unshared attention." The Vault is a set of internal web pages where Shopify employees can access information about company policies. "He was someone who could devote his full attention and time to that quest," Finkelstein wrote. Lütke said Wednesday that employees should start their own Shopify stores because it helps them to stay familiar with the platform.

Persons: Tobi Lütke, Lütke, I've, Shopify, Harley Finkelstein, David Segal, Finkelstein, Segal, Jess Hertz, Read, Jess, Tia, Truman Locations: Shopify, mstone@insider.com

☆ A Summer Rite in Spain: Coping With the British Tourist Invasion
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-20 | by ( David Segal | More About David Segal | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

A fit and ruddy 19-year-old with blond hair and a sheepish smile, James Henderson is tanning on a beach in Magaluf, a town on the Spanish island Mallorca that has long been the destination of choice for young Britons in search of a boozy holiday in the sun. Asked to recount the revelry of the day before, he grins like a man who has just completed a decathlon and is pretty psyched about his performance. There was a few hours of “pre-drinking,” as he put it, at his hotel, then on to Punta Ballena, a crammed and gritty strip of pubs, tattoo parlors and lap dance emporiums that bursts with action until dawn every summer day. By the time he and his vacation buddy headed to bed, at 3 a.m., they had each knocked back roughly 20 drinks over the course of 15 hours. There are also G-rated home comforts, like kebab shops, Yorkshire pudding and pubs, all at strikingly affordable prices.

Persons: ruddy, James Henderson, “, ” Mr, Henderson, Magaluf Locations: Magaluf, Mallorca, Punta Ballena, United Kingdom, London, Yorkshire

Revenue from beekeeping will reach $624 billion this year in the United States alone, reports IBISWorld, a market research firm. While techniques for nurturing hives have improved, honey bees remain vulnerable animals. As of a few years ago, nearly 30 percent of commercial honey bees still did not survive the winter months, says the Environmental Protection Agency. That’s a large number and one that puts a financial strain on commercial beekeepers. There are more than 20,000 species of wild bees in the world, and many people don’t realize they exist.

Persons: Honey, Black, It’s, IBISWorld, ” Mr Organizations: Environmental Protection Agency, Food and Agriculture Organization, Nations Locations: United States, California, That’s

☆ Billionaire Parts With Group Behind Israel’s Judicial Overhaul
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-04 | by ( David Segal | More About David Segal | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Arthur Dantchik, the American multibillionaire who provided millions to the think tank behind Israel’s highly polarizing judicial overhaul plan, announced on Friday that he would no longer donate to the organization. Mr. Dantchik, 65, said in a statement that he would part ways with the Kohelet Policy Forum, which conceived a series of measures to transform Israel’s judicial system. “When a society becomes dangerously fragmented, people must come together to preserve democracy,” Mr. Dantchik said in the statement, posted to Calcalist, an Israeli news site. “I stopped donating to think tanks in Israel, including the Kohelet Policy Forum. A spokesman for Mr. Dantchik said he would have no further comment.

Persons: Arthur Dantchik, Dantchik, Mr, “, ” Kohelet Locations: Israel

☆ The End of the Magic World’s 50-Year Grudge
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-08 | by ( David Segal | More About David Segal | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

The science fiction author Arthur C. Clarke wrote that “any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic,” and today magic and technology are merging. He still prefers nondigital methods, though, which he attributes in no small part to the influence of Mr. Geller. Mr. Money-Coutts first met Mr. Geller in 2003. A student at the British prep school Eton who was a budding magician, he invited Mr. Geller to perform for 700 gobsmacked schoolboys. Mr. Geller had relocated to Britain by then, having spent 12 tumultuous years in the United States, most of them in New York City.

Persons: Arthur C, Clarke, ”, Alice Pailhès, Volodymyr Zelensky, Randi, Ben Harris, Drummond, Coutts, conjurer, Midjourney, Pope Francis, Geller, Mr Organizations: Magic, Netflix, Eton Locations: Ukraine, Britain, United States, New York City

☆ A Top U.K. Newspaper Explores Its Ties to Slavery, and Britain’s
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-08 | by ( David Segal | More About David Segal | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

It is the kind of historical artifact that would be easy to miss: an old and fragile little book unearthed in the archives of the Derbyshire Record Office, in the East Midlands of England. The book, a commercial ledger from 1822, holds the names of enslavers who ran cotton plantations on islands along the coast of Florida, Georgia and South Carolina. The Taylor in question was none other than John Edward Taylor, founder of The Manchester Guardian, now known simply as The Guardian, the most prominent progressive newspaper in Britain for more than two centuries. “In that moment, what I realized is that we can now connect the founder of The Guardian to the enslaved people of the Sea Islands,” Ms. Gooptar said in a recent call from Trinidad, where she grew up. “It proved that he was importing cotton, picked by slaves, for profits.”

Persons: Shuttleworth, Cassandra Gooptar, Taylor, John Edward Taylor, Ms, Gooptar, ” Organizations: Taylor, University of Hull, The Manchester Guardian, Guardian Locations: Derbyshire, East Midlands, England, Florida , Georgia, South Carolina, Britain, Trinidad

☆ Shopify's president on why he prefers paying micro-influencers to grow his own side hustle
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-07 | by ( Eric Rosenbaum | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +6 min

But Finklestein also had another side business on his mind last week in an interview that had been pre-taped for CNBC's Small Business Playbook event, the loose-leaf tea side hustle, Firebelly Tea, that he co-founded as an independent entrepreneur. Finkelstein said it will be cheaper and also likely a more effective way to grow a new business. The creator economy is changing the way business success is generated, Finkelstein said, with the old "Field of Dreams" model — "If you build, it, they will come" — no longer enough. But that does not mean every small business owner with a great product should be chasing MrBeast or Emma Chamberlain for product endorsements. He cited the TikTok hashtag "TikTok Made Me Buy It" which has 50 billion impressions.

☆ Chess’ Governing Body Delays Report on Cheating Scandal
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-04 | by ( David Segal | Dylan Loeb Mcclain | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

The internet was soon awash with theories about how Niemann might have secreted a radio device on his body. In a postgame interview at the Cup, Niemann offered to play naked, in a radio signal-proofed room, to prove he was playing clean. He also said emphatically that he had never cheated during an over-the-board game, as in-person chess is known. Many in the chess world did not believe him. Viswanathan Anand, a five-time world champion, put it this way: “I thought Carlsen literally cracked at the end.”

☆ In Transylvania, Anyone With $200 Can Live Like a King. (Well, One Specific King.)
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-01 | by ( David Segal | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Mr. Kalnoky, who is tall, urbane and fluent in five languages, was raised in exile in Paris, where his family resided after Communists took over Romania. As a count from Transylvania, he would like to cordially invite everyone to spare him the Dracula jokes. The story of how King Charles came to own a guesthouse in Romania starts with one of Mr. Kalnoky’s ancestors. That factory has long since vanished from what is today the right-next-door village of Zalánpatak, population 94. “As he was describing his dream house, I realized that I might know that very house,” he recalled.

☆ Limerick’s Once-Hapless Hurlers Get Used to Something New: Winning
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-20 | by ( David Segal | Paulo Nunes Dos Santos | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

CORK, Ireland — For decades, the story of Limerick hurling was a tale of failure so filled with off-field drama and on-field defeat that it verged on farce. And it was a farce played out on the country’s grandest, most public stage. The conclusion looked so foregone that Limerick fans left their seats and headed toward the field, anticipating pandemonium. Offaly scored 7 points in a frenzy. Limerick won a single All-Ireland title in 1973, after a decades-long drought, and then didn’t win again for more than 40 years.

☆ Shopify's new C-suite: After a year of high turnover, the new leaders at Shopify include a CFO poached from Morgan Stanley and a new HR lead who is working to overhaul the e-commerce company's perform
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-31 | by ( Madeline Stone | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +11 min

Here are the people leading the e-commerce company through its next phase. Leinwand was previously senior vice president of engineering at Slack, and before that he was CTO at ServiceNow. Tia Silas, chief human resources officerTia Silas, Shopify's chief talent officer. John Asante, chief information-security officerJohn Asante, Shopify's chief information-security officer. Bobby Morrison, chief revenue officerMorrison joined Shopify as chief revenue officer — a new role for Shopify, reporting to the COO — in August.

☆ Meet 38 members of the 'Shopify Mafia' who embraced the e-commerce giant's entrepreneurial spirit and launched their own companies
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-30 | by ( Madeline Stone | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Here are some of the most notable companies founded by former Shopify employees. Shopify also encourages employees to start their own Shopify stores. Even the company's president, Harley Finkelstein, runs his own Shopify store, Firebelly Tea, which he cofounded with the DavidsTea creator David Segal in 2021. "We have long said that Shopify is a company for entrepreneurs, built by entrepreneurs," a Shopify spokesperson told Insider. Meet some of the most notable entrepreneurs in the bunch, and learn about the startups they've worked on since leaving Shopify:

☆ Shopify's new guard: Meet the 11 people leading the company after rampant turnover wiped out most of its C-suite
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-28 | by ( Madeline Stone | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +11 min

Here are the people leading the e-commerce company through its next phase. Leinwand was previously senior vice president of engineering at Slack, and before that he was CTO at ServiceNow. Tia Silas, chief talent officerTia Silas, Shopify's chief talent officer. John Asante, chief information-security officerJohn Asante, Shopify's chief information-security officer. Bobby Morrison, chief revenue officerMorrison joined Shopify as chief revenue officer — a new role for Shopify, reporting to the COO — in August.

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