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☆ The global synthetic drugs crisis has hit West Africa, where people are digging up human bones to make a drug called 'kush'
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-05 | by ( Rebecca Rommen | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +8 min

Cemeteries are bolstering their security measures because gravediggers are stealing human bones to make powerful synthetic drugs, local journalists told Business Insider. AdvertisementA vendor sells daily necessities at a market in Freetown, Sierra Leone, Feb. 21, 2024. Formaldehyde also has euphoric properties, says the National Library of Medicine, which explains why kush users could be raiding Freetown's cemeteries. JOHN WESSELS | Getty ImagesJalloh noted that the use of synthetic drugs was not unique to Sierra Leone. ReutersIn 2015, BI's Erin Brodwin covered the rise of these synthetic drugs, marketed as "spice," "K2," "black mamba," or "crazy clown."

Persons: —, Sierra, Julius Maada, Michael Cole, Sally Hayden, JOHN WESSELS, Cole, Mabinty Magdalene Kamar, Abdul Jalloh, HUGH KINSELLA CUNNINGHAM, Thomas Dixon, Jalloh, Salifu Kamara, kush, BI's Erin Brodwin, Brodwin, tranq Organizations: Service, Business, Xinhua News Agency, Getty, Anglia Ruskin University, The Irish Times, National Library of Medicine, Politico, Sierra, Sierra Leone Psychiatric Teaching Hospital, Police, Getty Images Local, Salone Times, BBC, Freetown Police Force, National Drug Agency, NPR, Guardian, Disease Control, Prevention, Reuters, Financial Times Locations: Freetown, African, Sierra Leone, West Africa, Mabinty, Waterloo , Sierra Leone, kush, New York City, New York, Kensington, North Philadelphia

☆ Sophie Kinsella: ‘Shopaholic’ author reveals brain cancer diagnosis
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-18 | by ( Amarachi Orie | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +2 min

CNN —Sophie Kinsella, the best-selling author behind the “Shopaholic” book series, has revealed that she is receiving treatment for brain cancer. “I’ve wanted for a long time to share with you a health update and I’ve been waiting for the strength to do so,” she wrote in an Instagram post on Wednesday. “At the end of 2022 I was diagnosed with glioblastoma, a form of aggressive brain cancer. Glioblastomas are a fast-growing type of brain tumor and the most common type of cancerous (malignant) brain tumor in adults, according to charity Cancer Research UK. The wonderful response to The Burnout has really buoyed me up, during a difficult time,” she continued.

Persons: Sophie Kinsella, “ I’ve, I’ve, ”, Kinsella, Madeleine Wickham, Becky Bloomwood, Isla Fisher, ” Fisher, Kinsella’s, ” Kinsella Organizations: CNN, “, glioblastoma, Cancer Research Locations: United Kingdom, London, Australian, “

Sophie Kinsella, the best-selling English author of the “Shopaholic” book series, revealed on social media on Wednesday that she had been undergoing treatment for an aggressive and often fatal form of brain cancer. Kinsella said that she had been diagnosed with glioblastoma in 2022, but waited to make the diagnosis public so her children could “ hear and process the news privately and adapt to our ‘new normal.’” She added that her condition was stable after a successful operation and ongoing chemotherapy and radiation at University College Hospital in London. Kinsella, whose real name is Madeleine Wickham, has written a string of hit novels, starting with “Confessions of a Shopaholic” in 2000, about a financial journalist in New York City with a serious shopping addiction. About a decade later, a movie starring Isla Fisher based on the original novel and a sequel was released. Since the smashing success of the first novel, nine sequels following the life of the protagonist Rebecca Bloomwood have been released, earning Kinsella, 54, a loyal following and a reigning position among authors of romantic comedy books.

Persons: Sophie Kinsella, Kinsella, glioblastoma, Madeleine Wickham, Isla Fisher, Rebecca Bloomwood Organizations: University College Hospital Locations: London, New York City

☆ A.I. human-voice clones are coming for the Amazon, Apple, Google audiobook
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-17 | by ( Trevor Laurence Jockims | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +14 min

"For many publishers, audiobook production can be a major investment," said Judy Chang, director of product management for Google Play Books. Even with AI voice, there is nominally a voice actor somewhere in the process. What voice actors sayFor some voice actors, the choice is being made to stay away. Kinsella noted that AI voice played a foundational role in the integration of AI into daily life at an earlier point. But he added, "I've yet to find a client who tells me they've chosen an AI voice over hiring me.

Persons: Ciccarell, Ciccarelli, David Ciccarelli, Alexa, Judy Chang, It's, it's, Bret Kinsella, Brad Ziffer, Michele Cobb, Cobb, Siri, OpenAI's ChatGPT, Kinsella, … Siri, ChatGPT, Ziffer, Andrea Collins, Collins, John Kubin, I've, Kubin Organizations: Google, Apple, Audio Publishers Association, Alexa Locations: U.S

☆ Baldwin charged for 'reckless acts' leading to 'Rust' shooting
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-31 | by ( Andrew Hay | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +6 min

Baldwin and set armorer Hannah Gutierrez-Reed were each charged with two counts of involuntary manslaughter. Baldwin's case is remarkable in that there is little or no precedent for a Hollywood actor to face criminal charges for an on-set shooting. A statement of probable cause by the prosecution's special investigator, Robert Shilling, made clear Baldwin was being charged as an actor and producer on the low-budget movie. Videos from inside the church prior to the shooting show Baldwin with his finger on the trigger, Shilling said. [1/6] Actor Alec Baldwin departs his home, as he will be charged with involuntary manslaughter for the fatal shooting of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins on the set of the movie "Rust", in New York, U.S., January 31, 2023.

[1/2] Alec Baldwin arrives at the 2nd Annual NFL Honors in New Orleans, Louisiana, February 2, 2013. REUTERS/Lucy NicholsonJan 23 (Reuters) - Western movie "Rust" will continue filming with Alec Baldwin in the lead role, a lawyer for the production said Monday, days after prosecutors said they would charge the actor in the fatal shooting of the movie's cinematographer Halyna Hutchins. Baldwin will continue to play grandfather Harland Rust while Joel Souza will return as "Rust" director following his wounding in the October 2021 shooting, said Melina Spadone, an attorney for Rust Movie Productions. Baldwin in October reached a settlement of a wrongful-death lawsuit filed by the Hutchins family under which Hutchins would take a production role in "Rust" and filming would resume this month. Baldwin has denied responsibility for the shooting, saying live ammunition should never have been allowed on set and weapons handlers were responsible for firearm safety.

☆ Shoppers scrambled to grab the Prime energy drink promoted by YouTubers Logan Paul and KSI at Aldi, leaving shelves bare
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-31 | by ( Grace Dean | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Aldi says it's sold out of Prime just one day after it started selling the energy drink. "It's not a nice drink at all," one shopper who bought the drink for his son told Insider. Leat told Insider he had followed KSI for a long time, "so I wanted to see for myself if his product lived up to the hype." Sam Kinsella, a landscape gardener from Bedfordshire, told Insider that he'd bought it because his son had seen it on TikTok. Jake Dickinson, a motor factory manager from Lincoln, told Insider that some flavors were better than others.

☆ 'Sextortion' attacks on the rich and famous are on the rise. Here's how their lawyers discreetly fight back.
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-25 | by ( Laura Italiano | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +15 min

Celebrities, sports stars, CEOs have never been more at risk of 'sextortion' attacks, lawyers say. "I'm going to blow up you and your business," the screen read. "If you can't get me money," she texted the terrified CEO, according to records reviewed by Insider, "I'm going to fuck up your whole company." East Coast, West CoastHigh-end sextortions like the case of that Manhattan CEO, one of Saland and Weisberg's recent clients, are spawning a growing legal practice. It's different in ManhattanIn contrast, Manhattan sextortion clients tend to hail not from the A-list, but from the city's vast pool of the anonymously wealthy.

☆ Guy Fawkes Night: What those fireworks and bonfires are all about
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-05 | by ( Francesca Street | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +11 min

CNN —Every year on November 5, skies across England, Scotland and Wales are illuminated by fireworks as Brits head out into the night to enjoy Guy Fawkes Night celebrations. Also called Fireworks Night or Bonfire Night, this autumn tradition has been a staple of the British calendar for the past 400 years. A photograph from 1955, depicting children at a school in Surrey, England, preparing the Guy Fawkes Night bonfire. What’s Guy Fawkes Night like today? Lewes Bonfire Night celebrationsEffigies of former UK prime minister Boris Johnson and fellow UK Conservative politician Jacob Rees-Mogg are paraded through the streets of Lewes during traditional Bonfire Night celebrations in 2019.

Persons: Guy Fawkes, Guido Fawkes, Fawkes, Tudor King Henry VIII, Robert Catesby, Catesby, King James I, James Sharpe, Sharpe, ”, What’s Guy Fawkes, Ronald Hutton, ” Hutton, Hutton, That’s, you’re, Boris Johnson, Jacob Rees, Mogg, Peter Summers, it’s, that’s, “ They’re, Donald Trump, “, Mary, Phil Clarke Hill, Ottery, Mary’s, Patrick Kinsella, parkin, there’s, –, Alexandra, Chris J Ratcliffe, Hallows, Halloween’s, you’ll Organizations: CNN, Getty, Catholic, of, London, University of York, CNN Travel, Conservative, Lewes, Lewes Bonfire Society, Alexandra Palace, Celtic, Battersea Power Locations: England, Scotland, Wales, of England, Surrey, Britain, Lewes, Zulu, Lewes . The, spectate, Ottery St Mary, Devon, Ottery, North America, In Yorkshire, Lancashire, Yorkshire, London, Northern Ireland, Republic of Ireland, Ireland, York, South, Battersea

☆ We're Opendoor execs who took paternity leave. It didn't just improve our personal lives — it made us better leaders.
▼ + stars: | 2022-04-04 | by ( Ian Wong | Mark Kinsella | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

They say taking paternity leave when their respective kids were born was one of the best decisions. However, there are numerous benefits to taking paternity leave. While taking paternity leave seems like an individual action, it has significant meaning. We've seen employees, regardless of their seniority, take paternity leave without reservations and with the full support of their teammates. For both of us, the benefits of taking paternity leave were immeasurable.

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