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☆ A new crop of startups wants to help solve loneliness among millennials and Gen Z. Here's how they're connecting strangers and making money.
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-10 | by ( Lauren Johnson | Sydney Bradley | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +10 min

Plus, the pandemic and the shift to working from home have made millennials and Gen Z lonelier than ever, thanks in part to doomscrolling. "I believe the conventional 'make friends' apps too closely mimic the dating model, which can feel awkward and high-pressure for making friends," he said. The group hosts "reading parties" at bars and event spaces with the goal of helping people connect through reading. Dinner With Friends, a group that throws dinner parties, has worked on sponsored events with brands like Bumble and Geneva. Dinner With Friends founder Anita Michaud said brands typically either sponsor entire dinners or provide products — like canned cocktails — for the dinner parties.

Persons: —, they've, Danial Hashemi, Sydney, Z, millennials, Cliff Lerner, Lisa Oreshkina, Saneblidze, Tom Worchester, Andreessen Horowitz, Victor Pontis, Luma, Liz Chick, Gen, Mira Hobbs, ReCreate's Chick, Anita Michaud, Peter Boyce II, Boyce, Maitree Mervana Parekh, Marlon Nichols, they're, it's, Ben Bradbury Organizations: Service, Business, Sydney Bradley, Big Tech, Tech, Timeleft, Reading, Facebook, VC, Wine, Bumble, New, Acrew, MaC Venture, Reading Rhythms Locations: New York City, Los Angeles, New York, Brooklyn, Squarespace, Lisbon, Amsterdam, London, San Francisco, Geneva

Two of three speakers at the engineering school’s ceremony disappeared abruptly from the school’s graduation website. A self-described “fourth-generation Trojan” from Pasadena, Ms. Blain, who has spent much of her life imagining her own U.S.C. Pro-Palestinian students tried to set up an encampment on campus days later, and university officials summoned the Los Angeles police. At the engineering school, where Ms. Tabassum, the valedictorian, will be graduating, professors were trying to resurrect her chance to speak. A university committee had picked Ms. Tabassum, who is Muslim and of South Asian ancestry, from about 100 undergraduates with near 4.0 grade point averages.

Persons: Kevin Feige, Liza Colón, Zayas, Tina, “, ”, Jaren Lewison, they’re, Ella Blain, Blain, Linda Thomas, Greenfield, Biden, U.S.C, Asna Tabassum, Jon M, Chu, Marcia McNutt, Blain’s, Annette Ricchiazzi, Carol Folt, Missives, Sean Penn, —, Goodwin Liu, Merrill Balassone, Phil Chan, Pam Zhang, Safiya Umoja Noble, Lewison, Jane Coaston, Tabassum, Yannis C, Folt, Kevin Crawford Knight, Didi Global, Zohreh, Khademi, Knight, ” Hossein Hashemi, Hashemi, Dustin Jeffords Organizations: University of Southern, Angeles, Marvel Studios, Hollywood, Netflix, Dornsife, of Letters, Arts and Sciences, Los Angeles Memorial, School of Dramatic Arts, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor , Indiana University, Bloomington, Northeastern University, United Nations, University, Vermont’s, Columbia University, National Academy of Sciences, Los Angeles police, Community, Dodger, California Supreme, MacArthur, Rossier School, Education, Jewish, commencements, New York Times, Microsoft, Media, “ Locations: University of Southern California, Los Angeles, Coast, Aude, Pasadena, Gaza, Ann Arbor ,, Boston, U.S, Israel, U.S.C, California, San Bernardino County

When it comes to newer consumer-social startups, the environment they're entering is turbulent — investor checks have dwindled, users are facing subscription burnout, and successful advertising models require massive scale. AdvertisementSo how are the emerging, buzzy social startups approaching monetization in 2024? "There's really only two monetization business models for consumer products," said Tiffany "TZ" Zhong, founder of new social platform NoSpace and early-stage VC firm Pineapple Capital. 3 ways new social-networking startups are approaching monetizationWhile some newer social startups are already monetizing their product, many are still pre-revenue and experimenting with different models to see which will make sense for their product and audience. And Verse CEO Bobby Pinckney told BI that the social platform, centered around music, plans to add a premium subscription that will unlock advanced AI tools, analytics, and templates.

Persons: —, there's, Eric Wittman, Tiffany, Zhong, VCs, Bianca Ambrosini, Ambrosini, Marlon Nichols, Nichols, Emma Bates, Andrew Kahn, Danial Hashemi, Alexandra Debow, Bobby Pinckney Organizations: Service, Meta, Business, Pineapple, Mac Venture Capital, Twitter, Crush Ventures, Crush, BI Locations: Berlin

☆ The IRL social startup 222 is moving from LA to NYC as it launches an app and raises $2.5 million
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-05 | by ( Sydney Bradley | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

For the founders behind the IRL social startup 222, it's all about the "magic of the backyard." The 222 team then organizes a multi-stage meetup, which includes a restaurant as well as another venue like a museum or a bar. At its events, 222 wants attendees to feel comfortable and leave "judgment at the door," said Hashemi, 222 's COO. "A lot more people are coming around to this idea of in real-life social," Hashemi said. Kazemian, Hashemi, and Roshannai, meanwhile, want to help swing the pendulum back to IRL — back to real relationships.

Persons: Keyan Kazemian, Danial Hashemi, Arman Roshannai, — Kazemian, Hashemi, Roshannai, Kazemian, —, Catalyst, Arash Ferdowsi, Cory, Catalyst's Niko Bonatsos, Sydney Bradley Organizations: Business, Scrum Ventures, Dropbox, University of Southern, YC, Tech, IRL Locations: Los Angeles, California, New York, New York City, University of Southern California, SoHo , New York

The terrorist threat from al-Qaida, the Islamic State group and their affiliates remains high in conflict zones in Africa and in Afghanistan – and threat levels have risen in some regions including Europe, U.N. experts said in a new report. The Islamic State group broke away from al-Qaida over a decade ago and attracted supporters from around the world. In Iraq, they are carrying out “a low-intensity insurgency with covert terrorist cells” while in Syria attacks have intensified since November, the experts said. In West Africa and the Sahel, the panel said, “violence and threat have escalated again” in conflict zones, raising concerns among U.N. member nations. The experts point to “a deficit in counterterrorism capabilities,” which Islamic State and al-Qaida affiliated groups are continuing to exploit.

Persons: Abu Hafs al, Hashemi, “, ”, Al Organizations: Islamic State, . Security, Central, Islamic Locations: Africa, Afghanistan, Europe, Iran, Pakistan, Central Asian, “, al, Iraq, Syria, Islamic, West Africa, Islamic State, Somali, Shabab, “ al, Mogadishu, Somalia, Israel, Gaza, Al, Islam, Jerusalem, France, Belgium

☆ The Israeli-Palestinian Conflict and the Long Shadow of 1948
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-01 | by ( Emily Bazelon | A Discussion Moderated Emily Bazelon | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +18 min

In 1948, Jews realized their wildly improbable dream of a state, and Palestinians experienced the mass flight and expulsion called the Nakba, or catastrophe. It’s only in 1948 that the Arabs become Palestinians and the Jews become Israelis. Many Jews became lower-level officers during World War II, and they brought their new military expertise to the 1948 war. Zoltan Kluger/GPO, via Getty Images Palestinian bombers destroyed buildings on Ben Yehuda Street in Jerusalem in March 1948. Bettmann/Getty Images A Palestinian refugee cut off from her home by the border established after the 1948 war.

Persons: Matson, —, Khalil Raad, Yaakov Ben Dov Delegates, Haj Amin al, Husseini, ”, It’s, Avraham Avinu, David, Fox, King David Hotel, David Ben, Gurion, “, Hitler, Hans Pinn, Abd al, Qadir al, Chalil, Zoltan Kluger, Ben Yehuda, Hugo H, Mendelsohn, John Phillips, Palestine ”, UNSCOP, Bettmann, Ruth Orkin, David Seymour, Jordan, Israel, Abdullah, Nadim, Leena Dallasheh, Abigail Jacobson, Moshe Naor, ” Derek Penslar, ” Itamar Rabinovich, Salim Tamari, Emily Bazelon, Herzl, Faisal Al, Hashemi, James Russell &, Bain, Jabotinsky, Abraham Pisarek, Weizmann, Heinrich Hoffmann Organizations: Congress, Institute for Palestine, Palestinian, . Institute for Palestine, Matson, Palestine, Getty, of Congress British, Peel, Zionist, Jewish, British Armed Forces, Allied, King, of Congress Women, Hulton, Biltmore, British, Agence France, Getty Images, Refugees, West Bank, Shutterstock, United Nations, League of Nations, United, United Nations Jewish, Madver, The, Palestine Studies, Columbia University, Columbia University , New York University, Rice University, Islamic, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Center for Jewish Studies, Harvard University, Tel Aviv University, Birzeit University, Institute for Palestine Studies, The New York Times Magazine, James Russell & Sons, of Congress, Israel, Ben, General Photographic Agency, Society, International Affairs Locations: Palestine, City, Jerusalem, Canadian American, Israel, British, Jaffa, Damascus, Old City, Hebron, Safed, Europe, Arab, North Africa, New York City, Middle Eastern, Haifa, Cyprus, Jenin, U.S, United Nations, Iraq, Tel Aviv’s Lod, Lebanon, Eyal, el Bared, Egypt, Syria, Gaza, Tel Aviv, Ashdod, Palestinian, United States, Qatar, Iran, Columbia University ,, Nazareth, Israeli, Husseini

☆ A continuous glucose monitor helped me discover I have hypoglycemia. Here's how startup January uses AI to predict blood sugar spikes and crashes and coached me to better food choices.
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-14 | by ( Samantha Stokes | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +16 min

The healthcare startup January uses CGMs and AI to monitor glucose levels, exercise, and sleep. I have low blood sugar, and January used machine learning to coach me to healthier habits. Low blood sugar, or hypoglycemia, is less common than high blood sugar, or hyperglycemia. Samantha Stokes/InsiderAt the end of January's AI training, I unlocked a suite of tools to track my food, exercise, blood sugar, and more. But January encouraged me to take a short walk after eating, which can help moderate glucose levels following a meal.

Persons: Marc Benioff, they're, Noosheen Hashemi, Hashemi, Marissa Mayer, Samantha Stokes, Mike Snyder, Insider's, What's, I've, CGM, didn't, Jesus Weligsander Perez Organizations: Felicis Ventures, AME Cloud Ventures, Apple Watch, Drug Administration, Stanford Medicine, Pace Locations: That's, SignalFire, Mount Sinai

CNN —Iran on Saturday executed two men it accused of carrying out a deadly attack on a shrine in Shiraz in October 2022, according to state-run news agency IRNA. Iran’s Supreme Court had rejected an appeal filed for the two men, Mohammed Ramez Rashidi and Sayed Naeem Hashemi Qatali, IRNA quoted Fars Province Chief Prosecutor as saying. Thirteen people were killed, and 40 others injured in the attack that took place at Shahcheragh Shrine in the city of Shiraz in southern Iran on October 26, 2022, according to IRNA. The attack took place on a Wednesday evening, one of the busiest times for the shrine. Protests swept through the Islamic Republic following the death of the 22-year-old Kurdish Iranian woman.

Persons: Mohammed Ramez Rashidi, Sayed Naeem Hashemi Qatali, IRNA, “, Mahsa Amini Organizations: CNN, ISIS Locations: Iran, Shiraz, Iran’s, Fars Province, Shahcheragh, Islamic Republic

☆ Iraqi court sentences police officer to death for murder of government adviser
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-07 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

BAGHDAD, May 7 (Reuters) - An Iraqi court on Sunday sentenced to death a police officer blamed for leading a group that gunned down well-known analyst and government adviser Hisham al-Hashemi three years ago in Baghdad. A Baghdad court issued a death sentence on Sunday against Ahmed Hamdawi under Iraqi counter-terrorism laws, a judicial authority statement said. Media were not allowed access, but a lawyer who attended the court session said Hamdawi did not say anything in the court in response to the judge's ruling. In 2021, Iraqi state television aired a video showing Hamdawi saying he led the group that killed Hashemi. Some Islamic State supporters cheered his death, but no group had claimed the murder.

☆ Iran's 'death committee' president unyielding in defence of clerical rule
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-17 | by ( Parisa Hafezi | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +7 min

Raisi, then deputy prosecutor general for Tehran, was a member of the capital's death committee, according to Amnesty. In 2016, another member of the Tehran "death committee" said, "We are proud to have carried out God's order,” state media reported. "Raisi has been brought up as president for a few reasons, including his brutality, loyalty, and lack of conscience. SANCTIONED BY U.S.Raisi was born in 1960 to a religious family in Iran's northeastern Shi'ite Muslim city of Mashhad. Khamenei, not the president, has the final say on all major policy under Iran's dual political system split between the Shi'ite clerical establishment and the government.

☆ Iran sentences former president's daughter to a five-year prison term
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-10 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

DUBAI, Jan 10 (Reuters) - The activist daughter of former Iranian president Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani has been sentenced to five years in prison, her lawyer said on Tuesday. The lawyer did not give detail of the charges against Faezeh Hashemi. But Tehran's public prosecutor indicted Hashemi last year on charges of "propaganda against the system", according to the semi-official ISNA news agency. "Following the arrest of Ms. Faezeh Hashemi, she was sentenced to five years in prison but the sentence is not final," defence lawyer Neda Shams wrote on her Twitter account. In 2012, Faezeh Hashemi was sentenced to jail and banned from political activities for “anti state propaganda” dating back to the 2009 disputed presidential election.

☆ Islamic State leader Quraishi blew himself up after being surrounded -sources
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-01 | by ( Suleiman Al-Khalidi | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

AMMAN, Dec 1 (Reuters) - Islamic State (IS) militant leader Abu al-Hassan al-Hashemi al-Quraishi, who was killed in mid-October in Syria, blew himself up after he and his aides were surrounded by local fighters in the town of Jasem, fighters involved in the clash told Reuters. The province was brought under the control of the Syrian army following Russian-brokered reconciliation agreements in 2018 that gave control of southern Syria back to Damascus. Islamic State has selected Abu al-Hussein al-Husseini al-Quraishi as its new leader, a spokesman for the group said in a recording. Islamic State emerged from the chaos of the civil war in neighbouring Iraq and took over vast swathes of Iraq and Syria in 2014. Former IS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi declared an Islamic caliphate from a mosque in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul that year and proclaimed himself caliph of all Muslims.

☆ Twitter has grown under Elon Musk — mainly in the U.S., data shows
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-30 | by ( David Ingram | David Ingram Covers Tech For Nbc News. | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +5 min

Elon Musk has generated fresh interest in Twitter, and you don’t have to take his word for it. The growth was slower outside the U.S., though, with 14% growth from a month earlier and 4% growth from a year earlier, Apptopia data showed. Musk, who already had a huge following when he bought Twitter, has continued to add followers at a rapid clip. Those apps count their users in the billions, while Twitter has about 259 million daily users, according to Musk. But it may have already ended, with Substack downloads peaking Nov. 6, the firm’s data showed.

He said Abu al-Hassan al-Hashemi al-Quraishi was killed while "fighting enemies of God", without elaborating. The spokesman urged Islamic State members in all countries to pledge allegiance to the new leader, adding that "he is one of the loyal sons of the (Islamic) state". The White House welcomed the news that Abu al-Hassan al-Hashemi al-Quraishi had been killed, National Security Council spokesman John Kirby told reporters. Islamic State announced Abu al-Hassan al-Hashemi al-Quraishi as its new leader in March after the death of predecessor Abu Ibrahim al-Hashemi al-Quraishi. Islamic State emerged from the chaos of the civil war in neighbouring Iraq and took over vast swathes of Iraq and Syria in 2014.

☆ Niece of Iran's Supreme Leader urges world to cut ties with Tehran over unrest -online video
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-27 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

"O free people, be with us and tell your governments to stop supporting this murderous and child-killing regime," Moradkhani said in the video. "This regime is not loyal to any of its religious principles and does not know any rules except force and maintaining power." HRANA said 450 protesters had been killed in more than two months of nationwide unrest as of Nov. 26, including 63 minors. On Nov. 23, Mahmoud Moradkhani reported her sister's arrest as she was heeding a court order to appear at the Tehran prosecutor's office. Criticism of the Islamic Republic by relatives of top officials is not unprecedented.

☆ EXCLUSIVE Deadly Iran jail fire erupted as police clashed with inmates, sources say
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-20 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +8 min

A view of the aftermath of the fire in Evin prison in Tehran, Iran October 17, 2022. The patrols at the Tehran jail began without any apparent provocation by inmates, the sources said. The prisoner and other sources spoke to Reuters on condition of anonymity due to concern for their safety. Ward 7 holds prisoners convicted of general crimes and political prisoners, and is in the same building housing ward 8. "Prisoners from ward 7 tried to break the door of ward 8 to let them out too.

☆ Iran protests over woman's death persist despite crackdown, oil workers strike
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-11 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com RegisterAt least 185 people, including 19 minors, have been killed, hundreds injured and thousands have been arrested by security forces, according to rights groups. The Iranian government says more than 20 security forces have been killed. Iranian authorities have said they will investigate civilian deaths. Governor Ali Hashemi said some Iranians tried to hijack the workers' protests by chanting anti-government slogans, according to Iran’s Young Journalists Club News (YJC) telegram account. The Hengaw human rights group said on Monday security forces fired towards residences in the Kurdish city of Sanandaj.

☆ Iran protests over woman's death persist despite crackdown
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-11 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

At least 185 people, including 19 minors, have been killed, hundreds injured and thousands have been arrested by the security forces, according to rights groups. The government says more than 20 members of the security forces have been killed. The Hengaw human rights group said on Monday security forces had fired towards residences in the Kurdish city of Sanandaj. Interior Minister Ahmad Vahidi reiterated accusations that Iranian Kurdish dissident groups were supporting the protests and said security forces would "neutralize the desperate anti-revolutionary effort". Governor Ali Hashemi said some Iranians had tried to hijack the workers' protests by chanting anti-government slogans, according to Iran’s Young Journalists Club News (YJC) Telegram account.

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