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☆ Can Republicans Embrace Voting by Mail? Pennsylvania Offers a Test.
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-21 | by ( Michael Wines | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: 1 min

When voters turned out in February to fill a vacant seat in the Pennsylvania House of Representatives, the stakes were nothing less than control of the chamber, which Democrats held by a single seat. But as Election Day dawned, a nor’easter dumped several inches of snow, stranding would-be voters at home. Bad luck dogged others: One woman backing Ms. Cabanas skipped the polls after she fell ill and was rushed to the hospital. Ms. Cabanas’s Democratic opponent faced similar hurdles but had one advantage: More than 3,300 of his voters had mailed in their ballots early. Ms. Cabanas could count only 532.

Persons: Candace Cabanas, Cabanas, Cabanas’s Organizations: Republican, Cabanas’s Democratic Locations: Pennsylvania

☆ Live Updates: Trump’s Lawyers Are Expected to Rest Case in Criminal Trial
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-21 | by ( Matthew Haag | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +6 min

Here are five takeaways from Mr. Trump’s 19th day on trial. Last week, Todd Blanche, Mr. Trump’s lead lawyer, confronted Mr. Cohen about a phone call on Oct. 24, 2016. After cross-examination, prosecutors sought to introduce a photo showing Mr. Trump with Mr. Schiller that was taken about the same time as the call. He tried to raise questions about other calls that Mr. Cohen said he placed to Mr. Trump around the time of the hush-money payment. Mr. Cohen, Mr. Trump’s combustible former lawyer and fixer, never lost his temper, despite admitting all manner of bad behavior.

Persons: Michael D, Cohen, Donald J, Trump, sully, Juan M, Merchan, Stormy Daniels, Daniels, Trump’s, Robert Costello, Costello, “, ”, Justice Merchan, Mr, . Costello, ” Prosecutors, Todd Blanche, —, Keith Schiller —, Schiller, Cohen’s, Blanche, Susan Hoffinger, ” Cohen, Dave Sanders Organizations: Mr, Defense, Trump Organization, The New York Times Locations: Manhattan, Lake Tahoe, Nev

☆ Opinion | Student Activism Over Gaza: Admirable or Ill Informed?
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-21 | by ( ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Re “Dear Boomers, the Student Protesters Are Not Idiots,” by Elizabeth Spiers (Opinion guest essay, nytimes.com, May 17):Ms. Spiers’s characterization of the student protests misses the mark. As a recent college graduate myself, I don’t disagree that college students “are capable of having well thought-out principles,” but the principles underlying these protests are troubling. Ms. Spiers alludes to my generation possessing elevated moral sensibilities due to our experience with mass shootings. If these chants are part of well thought-out principles and not naïveté, then it behooves us to scrutinize the moral framework that informs these principles. Why is it that these protests project outrage toward Israel’s conduct in the war but conveniently elide the horrific details of Oct. 7?

Persons: Elizabeth Spiers, Spiers, “, Bret Stephens Organizations: Boomers, “

☆ Scarlett Johansson says she declined Sam Altman's offer to voice ChatGPT. Now she's lawyered up after an 'eerily similar' voice was released.
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-21 | by ( Kelsey Vlamis | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

"We believe that AI voices should not deliberately mimic a celebrity's distinctive voice — Sky's voice is not an imitation of Scarlett Johansson but belongs to a different professional actress using her own natural speaking voice," the blog post said. AdvertisementIn a statement provided to BI, Altman said the Sky voice is not Johansson and was not intended to be similar to hers. "We cast the voice actor behind Sky's voice before any outreach to Ms. Johansson. Out of respect for Ms. Johansson, we have paused using Sky's voice in our products," Altman said. "We are sorry to Ms. Johansson that we didn't communicate better."

Persons: —, Scarlett Johansson, OpenAI, Sam Altman's, Johansson, Altman, Sky's, Katie Notopoulos, Sam Altman Organizations: Service, Business, BI

☆ Sam Altman's self-own with ScarJo reveals a troubling question about OpenAI: What's with these clowns?
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-21 | by ( Katie Notopoulos | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Read previewOpenAI's fight with Scarlett Johansson isn't just a PR disaster (and a big one at that). Most of all, it shows there's just really, really bad judgment going on at the highest levels of Sam Altman's company. But everyone immediately noticed that the "Sky" voice that ended up on ChatGPT reminded them of ScarJo. And then Sam Altman, in one of the greatest self-own moves of the generative AI era, tweeted out "her" during the product demo last week. The OpenAI team used a Scarlett Johansson sound-alike voice — also completely avoidable.

Persons: —, Scarlett Johansson isn't, there's, Sam Altman's, ScarJo, Johansson, OpenAI, Scarlett Johansson, Sam Altman, wasn't, Johansson's, Altman, it's, Ilya Sutskever Organizations: Service, Business, Hollywood, SAG, CNN, Reuters, Marvel, tech's, Facebook, Microsoft, eventual Locations: Turkey

☆ Kristin Chenoweth reveals she’s a domestic abuse survivor: ‘I was deeply injured’
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-21 | by ( Lisa Respers France | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +2 min

CNN —Kristin Chenoweth had a personal reaction to the footage of Sean “Diddy” Combs assaulting his former girlfriend, Cassie Ventura. “Honestly i have my reasons for the Sean Combs video bothering me so much. When a commenter implored Chenoweth to instead “pray for victims’ deliverance, not for evil abusers,” the actor and singer opened up about the intent of her message. Combs‘ decision to settle the lawsuit does not in any way undermine his flat-out denial of the claims. There yall go.”Editor’s Note: If you or someone you know is struggling with intimate partner violence, there are resources available, including the National Domestic Violence Hotline.

Persons: CNN — Kristin Chenoweth, Sean “ Diddy ” Combs, Cassie Ventura, Sean Combs, ” Chenoweth, Chenoweth, “, Combs, Ventura, ” Ben Brafman, “ Mr, ”, yall Organizations: CNN

☆ Elvis’s Granddaughter Sues to Block Sale of Graceland, Charging Fraud
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-21 | by ( Matt Stevens | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Lawyers for the actress Riley Keough, the granddaughter of Elvis Presley, have sued to stop what they say is a fraudulent scheme to sell Graceland, the family’s cherished former home in Memphis. Court papers that Ms. Keough’s lawyers filed this month claim that a company planning to auction off Graceland is fraudulently claiming that her mother — Elvis’s daughter, Lisa Marie Presley, who died in 2023 — had borrowed money and put Graceland up as collateral. The papers say that the company, Naussany Investments & Private Lending LLC, “appears to be a false entity” and that the documents it presented about the loan were also fake. “There is no foreclosure sale,” Elvis Presley Enterprises, which operates Graceland, said in a statement, in which it also said that the lawsuit had been filed to “stop the fraud.”Graceland, a popular tourist attraction, is a major source of income for Elvis Presley Enterprises and the family trust.

Persons: Riley Keough, Elvis Presley, —, Lisa Marie Presley, “ Organizations: Graceland, Naussany Investments, Lending, Elvis Presley Enterprises Locations: Memphis, Graceland

☆ More Than 800,000 Have Fled Rafah, UN Official Says: Israel-Hamas War Latest Updates
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-21 | by ( Victoria Kim | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +3 min

Top NewsMore than 800,000 people have had to relocate from the city of Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip in the past two weeks, crowding into other parts of the territory without access to the most basic hygiene and infrastructure, a United Nations official said on Monday. The latest wave of displacement in Gaza began in early May when Israel sent out evacuation notices and launched military operations in Rafah, which is along the border with Egypt. More than half of the enclave’s civilians had been seeking refuge in the city — most of them after fleeing fighting elsewhere in Gaza multiple times. Israel’s military said on Monday that more than 950,000 civilians had left the Rafah area since its expanded evacuation orders. Israel has cast the orders as a humanitarian step to protect civilians ahead of further military action, which they say is necessary to root out Hamas fighters in southern Gaza.

Persons: Israel, Edem, Khan Younis, Deir al Balah, “, ” Ms, Wosornu, Philippe Lazzarini, ” Organizations: United Nations, Security, Maxar Technologies, Reuters, Humanitarian Affairs Locations: Rafah, Gaza, Egypt, Khan

☆ U.S. Seeks to Join Forces With Europe to Combat Excess Chinese Goods
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-21 | by ( Alan Rappeport | Liz Alderman | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Treasury Secretary Janet L. Yellen said on Tuesday that the United States and Europe needed to work together to push back against China’s excess industrial capacity, warning that a wave of cheap Chinese exports represents a grave threat to the global economy. Ms. Yellen’s remarks, delivered during a speech in Germany, highlighted what is expected to be a central topic of discussion when the Group of 7 finance ministers meet in Italy this week. “China’s industrial policy may seem remote as we sit here in this room, but if we do not respond strategically and in a united way, the viability of businesses in both our countries and around the world could be at risk,” Ms. Yellen said at the Frankfurt School of Finance and Management, where she received an honorary doctoral degree. China’s excessive production of green energy technology has become a pressing trans-Atlantic concern in recent months. Officials in President Biden’s administration have grown increasingly worried that his efforts to finance domestic manufacturing of clean energy and other next-generation technologies will be undercut by China, which is churning out steel, electric cars and solar panels at a rapid clip.

Persons: Janet L, Yellen, Yellen’s, Ms, Biden’s Organizations: Frankfurt School of Finance, Management Locations: United States, Europe, Germany, Italy, China

☆ What to Watch as Voters Head to Polls in Georgia, Oregon and Elsewhere
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-21 | by ( Chris Cameron | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Voters are headed to the polls on Tuesday in several states. Vince Fong, a state lawmaker and onetime aide to Mr. McCarthy, had a significant lead in the primary. Georgia, Kentucky, Oregon and Idaho have primary contests today. In Kentucky and Oregon, voters will also weigh in on the presidential primaries, raising the possibility of protest votes against both President Biden and former President Donald J. Trump. Fani T. Willis, the Fulton County district attorney, will face a challenger in the Democratic primary for her position.

Persons: Kevin McCarthy, Vince Fong, Mr, McCarthy, Mike Boudreaux, Biden, Donald J, Fani Willis, Fani, Willis, Christian Wise Smith, Scott McAfee, Trump’s, Robert Patillo II, Tiffani Johnson Organizations: Congressional District, Trump, Democratic Locations: Tulare County, Georgia, Kentucky, Oregon, Idaho, Fulton County

☆ Kerry Kennedy Leads ‘Heart-Wrenching’ Campaign Against Her Brother’s White House Bid
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-21 | by ( Adam Nagourney | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

When members of the Kennedy family joined President Biden in Philadelphia to endorse his re-election — and denounce the presidential candidacy of the best-known Kennedy of this generation, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. — one person stepped forward to make the family’s case: his younger sister Kerry. “Nearly every single grandchild of Joe and Rose Kennedy supports Joe Biden,” Ms. Kennedy said as her siblings, and Mr. Biden, flanked her onstage. “That’s right: The Kennedy family endorses Joe Biden for president.”That was not the first time that Ms. Kennedy, the seventh child of Robert and Ethel Kennedy, had been the face of the family’s pushback against her brother. As Mr. Kennedy has emerged as a skeptic of Covid-19 vaccines and a purveyor of conspiratorial theories on the assassination of his father, it has fallen to Ms. Kennedy to distance her family from the brother she has long held close and to guard the legacy of a proud and private family as it fades from the political stage. It is political as well: She argues that her brother’s insurgent campaign threatens the re-election of Mr. Biden and is aware that her family could shoulder some of the blame should Donald J. Trump return to the White House next year.

Persons: Kennedy, Biden, —, Robert F, Kennedy Jr, Kerry, “, Joe, Rose Kennedy, Joe Biden, ” Ms, Robert, Ethel Kennedy, Kennedy’s, Mr, Donald J, Trump, White Locations: Philadelphia, Hickory Hill, Va, —

☆ Election Updates: Trump shares, then deletes, a video with headlines about a ‘unified Reich’ if he wins.
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-21 | by ( Chris Cameron | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +8 min

Mr. Trump’s campaign still lags far behind in total cash on hand, the April filings show. Mr. Trump is leading Mr. Biden in many polls, including recent New York Times/Siena College/Philadelphia Inquirer surveys that had the former president ahead in five of six top battleground states. Mr. Trump also continues to spend millions of dollars on legal bills, the filings show. Still, the filings and campaign statements reflect a busy fund-raising month for Mr. Trump. Save America also received $2.75 million in April from a super PAC backing Mr. Trump, Make America Great Again Inc., and $183,000 from a new joint fund-raising committee Mr. Trump has with the Republican Party.

Persons: Donald J, Trump, Biden, Biden’s, Trump’s, Money, Pete Marovich, Julie Chavez Rodriguez, “ We’re, “, Crooked Joe Biden, ” Mr, Timothy Mellon, Mellon, Robert F, Kennedy Jr, Kennedy’s, Nicole Shanahan, Kennedy, Shanahan Organizations: Republican Party, Mr, Democratic National Committee, Federal, Biden Trump, Republican, Republican National Committee, Biden, New York Times, Siena College, Philadelphia Inquirer, Radio City Music Hall, Democratic, The New York, Republicans, Trump, America, PAC, Make, Inc, Mellon Locations: Palm Beach, Fla, America, Hollywood, Wyoming

☆ Israel Seizes Camera From A.P., Citing Use of Its Images by Al Jazeera
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-21 | by ( Adam Rasgon | More About Adam Rasgon | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Israel’s Communications Ministry confiscated camera equipment from The Associated Press on Tuesday, claiming the agency had violated a new broadcasting law by providing images of northern Gaza to Al Jazeera. The seizure was an escalation in Israel’s efforts to punish Al Jazeera, the pan-Arab broadcaster that the Israeli government voted to shut down two weeks ago. In a statement, the Communications Ministry said inspectors had gone to a location in southern Israel used by The A.P. reported that Israeli authorities had conveyed a verbal order last week to shut down the live feed, but it did not comply. Al Jazeera has said that Israel’s decision to shutter its operations in the country violated “the basic right to access of information.”

Persons: Al Jazeera, Lauren Easton, ’, Easton, Al Jazeera’s, Jazeera, ” Organizations: Israel’s Communications Ministry, Associated Press, Qatari, Communications Ministry, Al Locations: Gaza, Al Jazeera, Israel

☆ Opinion | Israel and Gaza: Despair and What-Ifs
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-20 | by ( ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

To the Editor:Re “In Israel, ‘the Darkness Is Everywhere,’” by Megan K. Stack (Opinion guest essay, May 18):I appreciate Ms. Stack’s essay, in which she makes several important observations about current attitudes among Israelis. However, she leaves out the tragic choices that Palestinians have themselves made in Gaza and the West Bank. Instead, they diverted essentially all investment into war preparations, including the rocket and tunnel technology that has proved so formidable in several wars with Israel since then. Stephen HallSan FranciscoTo the Editor:I am grateful to The New York Times for publishing Megan K. Stack’s essay. We need more articles on what it is really like on the ground in Israel, and, as disheartening as it may be, we are all better and more informed for reading it.

Persons: Megan K, Gazans, Stephen Hall Organizations: West Bank, Stephen Hall San Francisco, The New York Times Locations: Israel, Gaza

☆ Scarlett Johansson Says OpenAI Asked to Use Her Voice. Twice.
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-20 | by ( Tripp Mickle | More About Tripp Mickle | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: 1 min

Days before OpenAI demonstrated its new, flirty voice assistant last week, the actress Scarlett Johansson said, Sam Altman, the company’s chief executive, called her agent and asked that she consider licensing her voice for a virtual assistant. It was his second request to the actress in the past year, Ms. Johannson said in a statement on Monday, adding that the reply both times was no. Despite those refusals, Ms. Johansson said, OpenAI used a voice that sounded “eerily similar to mine.” She has hired a lawyer and asked OpenAI to stop using a voice it called “Sky.”OpenAI suspended its release of “Sky” over the weekend. The company said in a blog post on Sunday that “AI voices should not deliberately mimic a celebrity’s distinctive voice — Sky’s voice is not an imitation of Scarlett Johansson but belongs to a different professional actress using her own natural speaking voice.”

Persons: OpenAI, Scarlett Johansson, Sam Altman, Johannson, Johansson, ” OpenAI, ”

☆ In a House Race in N.H., a Famous Spouse, and a Traumatic Pregnancy
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-20 | by ( Lisa Lerer | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Maggie Tamposi Goodlander gave birth to her stillborn son in a hotel bathtub on Easter. Doctors recommended a two-day procedure to remove him, with an overnight stay at a hotel near the hospital. The procedure that Ms. Goodlander needed is also commonly used for abortions later in pregnancy. Her surgery came just a day too late: Ms. Goodlander, 37, delivered the baby in 2023 at a hotel near the hospital, relying on her experience taking a hypnobirthing course on YouTube. The national security adviser to the president, Jake Sullivan, was there, too — in his unofficial capacity, as her husband.

Persons: Maggie Tamposi Goodlander, Goodlander, Roe, Wade, Jake Sullivan Organizations: YouTube, Roe America Locations: New Hampshire

Once Mr. Trump was elected, he agreed to repay Mr. Cohen for the $130,000 hush-money deal and more. And at a meeting in Trump Tower just weeks before he was sworn in, Mr. Trump signed off on the fakery, Mr. Cohen recounted from the stand. “What, if anything, did Mr. Trump say at that time?” a prosecutor asked Mr. Cohen. There, he said, Mr. Trump’s chief financial officer, Allen Weisselberg, explained how Mr. Trump would reimburse Mr. Cohen for the payoff. To reach Mr. Trump, Mr. Cohen testified, he called the candidate’s bodyguard, Keith Schiller.

Persons: Donald J, Todd Blanche, Blanche, Michael D, Cohen, Trump, Trump’s, —, Alvin L, Bragg, Cohen —, Marc F, Scholl, ”, ” Mr, Stormy Daniels, Mr, “, Michael M, Joshua Steinglass, Juan M, Merchan —, “ Trump, David Pecker, Pecker, Hope Hicks, Penny, Daniels, Allen Weisselberg, Weisselberg, Susan Hoffinger, Cohen’s, Keith Schiller, Schiller, William K, Rashbaum Organizations: Trump, Mr, Trump “, New, National Enquirer, Playboy, fixer Locations: Manhattan, New York

An aide to Mayor Eric Adams who served as his longtime liaison to the Turkish community and whose home was searched by the F.B.I. has been cooperating with the corruption investigation into the mayor and his 2021 campaign, according to three people with knowledge of the matter. Originally from Azerbaijan, Ms. Abbasova, 41, had worked for Mr. Adams for about four years in the Brooklyn borough president’s office before he became mayor. agents and federal prosecutors conducting the corruption investigation in the weeks after her home was searched on Nov. 2. On the same day, agents also searched the homes of the mayor’s chief fund-raiser and a former Turkish Airlines executive.

Persons: Eric Adams, Rana Abbasova, Adams’s, Adams, Abbasova Organizations: —, Fire Department, International Affairs, Mr, Turkish Airlines Locations: Turkish, New York, Turkey, Azerbaijan, Brooklyn

☆ Amal Clooney Was Among the Experts Consulted on I.C.C. Warrants
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-20 | by ( Amanda Holpuch | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Amal Clooney revealed on Monday that she had reviewed the International Criminal Court prosecutor’s investigation that led to the request for arrest warrants for three Hamas leaders and two Israeli leaders, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant. Ms. Clooney, a prominent British lawyer, specializes in international law and human rights. She has appeared before the International Criminal Court and the International Court of Justice, where she has represented victims of mass atrocities. For this investigation, the panel was asked to determine if the prosecutor’s applications for arrest warrants met the International Criminal Court’s standard. Specifically, the group was asked whether there were “reasonable grounds to believe” that those named in the warrant applications had committed crimes within the court’s jurisdiction, including genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity.

Persons: Amal Clooney, Benjamin Netanyahu, Yoav Gallant, Ms, Clooney, Karim Khan Organizations: Criminal Court, International Court of Justice, International Locations: British, Israel

☆ Forced to Relive Childhood Horrors in Old Age
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-20 | by ( Emile Ducke | Evelina Riabenko | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: 1 min

When she first heard that Ukraine was under attack by an invading army, Halyna Semibratska, now 101 years old, was confused. “It’s not the Germans who have attacked us?” Ms. Semibratska asked. Ms. Semibratska is one of a small group of elderly Ukrainians who have lived through not one but multiple invasions. As children and teenagers, they saw their land and people ravaged in World War II. German troops and tanks swept through in 1941, seizing Ukraine from the Soviet Union, already seen by many Ukrainians as an occupying force.

Persons: Halyna Semibratska, “ It’s, Semibratska, Iryna Malyk Locations: Ukraine, Russia, Soviet Union

☆ Opinion | A Trump Conviction Doesn’t Hang on Michael Cohen
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-20 | by ( Jeffrey Toobin | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

But the verdict is likely to turn on the other half — whether Mr. Trump caused the false information to appear on the invoices and vouchers. According to the prosecution, on the eve of the 2016 election, Michael Cohen, Mr. Trump’s onetime lawyer and fixer, paid $130,000 to Stormy Daniels, the porn star, to guarantee her silence about a tryst she and Mr. Trump allegedly had a decade earlier. Mr. Trump then reimbursed Mr. Cohen for his outlay, plus a bonus and additional funds for taxes. Several witnesses support the government’s claim that Mr. Trump’s payments to the lawyer were not legal fees. Mr. Trump himself tweeted in 2018 that Mr. Cohen received a “reimbursement” and said as much in a White House financial disclosure form.

Persons: Donald Trump, “, Trump, Michael Cohen, Trump’s, Stormy Daniels, Cohen, Daniels, ” Organizations: White Locations: Manhattan

☆ Ocasio-Cortez Backs N.Y. Bill Limiting Donations to Israeli Settlements
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-20 | by ( Karen Zraick | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

A long-shot effort by left-leaning New York state lawmakers to curtail financial support for Israeli settlements has drawn a big-name backer — but she doesn’t have a vote in Albany. Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who rarely wades into state politics, publicly backed a bill on Monday that could strip New York nonprofits of their tax-exempt status if their funds are used to support Israel’s military and settlement activity. Her involvement underscores the extent to which the war in Gaza and Israel’s treatment of Palestinians more broadly have animated the left flank of the Democratic Party as a pivotal election approaches. “It is more important now than ever to hold the Netanyahu government accountable for endorsing and, in fact, supporting some of this settler violence that prevents a lasting peace,” Ms. Ocasio-Cortez said at a news conference. It was widely criticized by Albany lawmakers and declared a “nonstarter.” Now its sponsors say they plan to revise the bill to prohibit “aiding and abetting” the resettling of the Gaza Strip or providing “unauthorized support” for Israeli military activity that violates international law.

Persons: —, Representative Alexandria Ocasio, Cortez, Netanyahu, ” Ms, Ocasio, Zohran Mamdani, Jabari Brisport, ” Organizations: Representative, Democratic Party, West Bank, Albany Locations: New York, Albany, York, Gaza, New York State

Mr. Keys and his wife, Charae Williams Keys, were getting into their car after a Father’s Day visit in 2021 with her grandparents in a leafy neighborhood near Walnut Hill Park in Columbus, Ohio. A 72-year-old neighbor carrying a rifle accosted them in the belief, he later told the police, that Mr. Keys had let the air out of his daughter’s tires and poisoned his lawn. It took a moment for everyone to realize that the shots had come from a fourth gun across the street. Elias Smith, a 24-year-old ex-Marine, had stepped to his front door with a so-called ghost gun, an AR-style rifle that Mr. Smith had assembled from parts ordered online. Within seconds, he opened fire, hitting Mr. Keys five times.

Persons: Jason Keys, Keys, Charae Williams, Elias Smith, Smith Locations: Walnut Hill, Columbus , Ohio

☆ This ‘Russian’ Woman Loves China. Too Bad She’s a Deepfake.
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-20 | by ( Vivian Wang | Siyi Zhao | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: 1 min

But her lip movements don’t quite match the audio of the videos, which were posted recently to an account using the name “Ladina.” That is because it is footage of Shadé Zahrai, an Australian career strategist with more than 1.7 million TikTok followers, that has been modified using artificial intelligence. Someone dubbed Ms. Zahrai’s video clips with a voice speaking Mandarin Chinese to make it seem that she was peddling Russian products. Welcome to a flourishing genre on Chinese social media: A.I.-manipulated videos that use young, purportedly Russian, women to rally support for China-Russia ties, stoke patriotic fervor or make money — and sometimes all three at once.

Persons: Shadé Organizations: stoke Locations: Australian, China, Russia

☆ U.S. and Europe Move Closer to Using Russian Assets to Help Ukraine
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-19 | by ( Alan Rappeport | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

The United States and Europe are coalescing around a plan to use interest earned on frozen Russian central bank assets to provide Ukraine with a loan to be used for military and economic assistance, potentially providing the country with a multibillion-dollar lifeline as Russia’s war effort intensifies. Treasury Secretary Janet L. Yellen said in an interview on Sunday that several options for using $300 billion in immobilized Russian assets remained on the table. But she said the most promising idea was for Group of 7 nations to issue a loan to Ukraine that would be backed by profits and interest income that is being earned on Russian assets held in Europe. The urgency to find a way to deliver more financial support to Ukraine has been mounting as the country’s efforts to fend off Russia have shown signs of faltering. “It would generate a significant up-front amount that would help meet needs we anticipate Ukraine is going to have both militarily and through reconstruction.”

Persons: Janet L, Yellen, “, Ms, ” Organizations: Finance Locations: States, Europe, Ukraine, Italy, Russia, Germany

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