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☆ Bayer Leverkusen: Record 44-game unbeaten run brings to an end 31 years of hurt and ridicule
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-19 | by ( Ben Morse | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +6 min

However, if you were a fan of German soccer club Bayer Leverkusen, little changed for you over those 31 years – there was just a lot of disappointment. Since winning the German Cup in 1993, Leverkusen relentlessly explored increasingly agonizing ways of spurning chances to win trophies. The current season has already reaped rewards in the form of the Bundesliga title, with potential domestic and European competition success transforming this into a season for the ages. Everybody was on the pitch this evening, everybody was crying.”After years being the butt of the joke, Leverkusen fans could finally spin the narrative. Leverkusen fans celebrated en masse on the pitch after winning the German league title.

Persons: ’, David Letterman ’, Xabi, Alonso, Mike Hewitt, ”, Schwarzroten, ‘ You’ll, Olaf Schmidt –, –, midfifelder, Jeremie Frimpong, Xabi Alonso, Lars Baron, Florian Wirtz’s wizardry, Deutscher Meister ’, ” Schmidt, ‘, Schmidt, Andreas Rentz, ” Uwe Schewiola Organizations: CNN, Chicago Bulls, NBA, The Bulls, Bayer Leverkusen, Basque, Bundesliga, Europa League, West Ham United, Getty, Real Madrid, ’, Olaf Schmidt – Leverkusen, CNN Sport, Bayern, Spain, Leverkusen, Bayern Munich, Bayer, Werder Bremen, Black, Reds, FC Kaiserslautern Locations: German, Europe, Real, London, Liverpool, Bayern Munich, Real Madrid, Germany, England, Spain, Italy, Tolosa, West Ham

☆ Neanderthal glue points to complex thinking
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-21 | by ( Katie Hunt | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +4 min

CNN —Neanderthals likely made a type of glue from two natural compounds to help them better grip stone tools, according to a new analysis of forgotten artifacts recently rediscovered in a Berlin museum. “The fact that Neanderthals made such a substance gives insight into their capabilities and their way of thinking,” he said. The stone tools were unearthed around 1910 at a French archaeological site called Le Moustier that scientists believe Neanderthals used between 120,000 and 40,000 years ago. Their study, published Wednesday in the journal Science Advances, found that the makers of the stone tools used the adhesive to mold a handle rather than haft the tool to wood. P. SchmidtMicroscopic wear showed the stone tools appeared polished over the handheld part but not elsewhere, likely revealing abrasion from the movement of the tools within the ocher-bitumen grip.

Persons: Patrick Schmidt, ”, Moustier, Gunther Möller, Schmidt, It’s, sapiens, Marie, Hélène, ” Schmidt Organizations: CNN, University of Tübingen’s, French National Museum of, Schmidt Locations: Berlin, Paris, Europe, ocher, Italy, France

The Russian war machine is running at full tilt and has a much larger pool of men to draw from than Ukraine to replenish its ranks. Zelensky said he and Zaluzhnyi had a “frank discussion about what needs to be changed in the army. Frontline units in several vulnerable areas told CNN in recent weeks that they were often chronically short of ammunition, particularly Western 155mm artillery shells. The Russian military continues to make mistakes, but it is learning and adapting, especially in the exploitation of attack and reconnaissance drones and electronic warfare. The Russian military has also exploited glide technology to deliver aerial bombs more accurately, one reason that the Ukrainian offensive in the south faltered last summer.

Persons: Volodymyr Zelensky, Valerii Zaluzhnyi, Zaluzhnyi, Zelensky, Oleksandr Syrskyi, Syrskyi, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, ”, Matthew Schmidt, ” Schmidt, Frontlines, Diego Herrera Carcedo, “, Kyrylo Budanov, Schmidt, Vadim Ghirda, Dmytro Kuleba, Budanov, Valerie Zaluzhnyi, ’, Serhii Naiev, Zaluzhnyi’s, Putin, Vladimir Putin, Donald Trump, Mick Ryan, –, Zaporizhzhia, Maxym, it’s Organizations: CNN, Presidential Press Service, Reuters, International Affairs, University of New, Getty, Ukrainian Military Intelligence, Biden, EU, Ukrainian, Russian, Ukrainian Armed Forces, Ukraine Gold Star, Ukrainian Presidential Press Service, Ukraine’s Joint Forces, St, Budanov, Security Service, US Naval Institute ., Hungary Locations: Kyiv, Russia, Donetsk, Kharkiv, Russian, Ukraine, Kupiansk, University of New Haven , Connecticut, Avdiivka, Anadolu, Zelensky, St Petersburg, Volgograd, Crimea, ”, US Naval Institute . Ukraine, Australian, Ukrainian

ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) — When the Texas Rangers retired Adrián Beltré's No. All those Hall of Fame third basemen told Beltré that night in 2019 they would see him in Cooperstown as soon as he became eligible for election. Beltré was among 12 first-timers and 26 players overall on the ballot for the Class of 2024 that will be revealed Tuesday. “I don’t know how I’m going to feel,” Beltré said when asked about that possibility of being a first-ballot pick. Players who get 75% of the votes submitted by Dec. 31 will make the Hall, and Beltré has consistently been well above that threshold according to Ryan Thibodaux’s Hall of Fame ballot tracker.

Persons: Adrián, George Brett, Mike Schmidt, Chipper Jones, Beltré, ” Schmidt, Brooks, ” Beltré, — Beltré, Ryan Thibodaux’s, Scott Rolen, Ivan Rodríguez, Gerry Davis motioned, “, ” Brett, Elvis Andrus, Andrus, Michael Young, ” Young, ___ Organizations: Texas Rangers, of Fame, Rangers, Seattle, Dodgers, Los, Boston Red Sox Locations: ARLINGTON , Texas, Cooperstown, Texas, Los Angeles, Seattle

☆ Sam Altman, CEO of ChatGPT parent company Open AI, is out after board found he was ‘not consistently candid’
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-17 | by ( Samantha Murphy Kelly | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +6 min

CNN —OpenAI, the company behind the viral chatbot ChatGPT, fired its CEO and founder, Sam Altman, on Friday. The company, in a statement, said an internal investigation found that Altman was not always truthful with the board. ChatGPT launched late last year, making Altman an overnight quasi-celebrity and the face of a new crop of AI tools that can generate images and texts in response to simple user prompts. Google has a rival called “Bard,” and other generative AI tools have been developed in recent months. “I am sure the OpenAI board took this decision after a lot of deliberation,” he said.

Persons: CNN — OpenAI, Sam Altman, shockwaves, Altman, Mr, ” OpenAI, Mira Murati, “, ”, what’s, ChatGPT, “ Bard, Kamala Harris, Joe Biden, OpenAI, Elon Musk, Arun Chandrasekaran, he’s, Murati, Mira, Eric Schmidt, ” Schmidt, ” Reece Hayden, ” Hayden, CNN’s Clare Duffy Organizations: CNN, Fortune, Microsoft, Google, “, White House, Gartner Research, Dartmouth, OpenAI, Tesla, ABI Research Locations: openai, San Francisco, Albania

☆ A tide of election worker resignations raises alarms ahead of 2024
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-05 | by ( Fredreka Schouten | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +10 min

CNN —A wave of departures by election officials in key states risks adding new stress to the nation’s election system ahead of next year’s presidential contest, voting rights groups and several state election chiefs warn. The growing alarm over the resignations and retirements comes as officials say election workers continue to face a barrage of threats and harassment and partisan interference in their duties, first ignited by false claims of a stolen White House election in 2020. In King County, Washington – which includes Seattle – Julie Wise, the county election director, recalled receiving a letter over the summer with a rant about elections. Election watchdogs say more action is needed – including boosting federal funding and extending a federal law that criminalizes the release of restricted personal information about federal workers to cover election officials. Brinson Bell began tracking the departures when she became the state’s election chief that year.

Persons: Joe Biden, ”, Adrian Fontes, Pennsylvania –, Republican Al Schmidt, “, Nick Penniman, Schmidt, Donald Trump’s, ” Schmidt, Seattle – Julie Wise, Wise, ’, ” Penniman, Meagan Wolfe, Trump, Wolfe, there’s, Roy Cooper, Critics, Karen Brinson Bell, Brinson Bell, Kathy Holland, Holland, –, Brinson, ” Adam Byrnes, he’s, ” Byrnes, Fontes, ” Fontes, that’s Organizations: CNN, Democrat, Republican, US Justice Department, National Conference of State Legislatures, Committee, ” Workers, GOP, supermajorities, Gov, North Carolina State Board, Emory University, “ Locations: Arizona, Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, King County , Washington, Seattle, In Wisconsin, Wisconsin, North Carolina, Alamance County, Swain County, Georgia

☆ Salman Rushdie stabbing: Trial date set for suspect accused in the author’s attack
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-28 | by ( Jay Croft | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +2 min

CNN —The man accused of stabbing author Salman Rushdie and another person onstage has been scheduled for trial in January, prosecutors say. Hadi Matar is expected to stand trial January 8, Chautauqua County District Attorney Jason Schmidt said Friday. Rushdie was blinded in the eye and the attack also affected the use of one of his hands. A week after the stabbing, Matar, then 24, pleaded not guilty to charges of second-degree attempted murder and second-degree assault, CNN previously reported. Rushdie has a memoir, “Knife: Meditations After an Attempted Murder,” set to be published next year.

Persons: Salman Rushdie, Hadi Matar, Jason Schmidt, Schmidt, Rushdie, “ I’ve, ” Schmidt, Ruhollah Khomeini, Matar, ” Organizations: CNN, Chautauqua Institution, Police Locations: Chautauqua County, New York

☆ Dean Phillips launches primary challenge against President Biden
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-26 | by ( Arit John | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +10 min

CNN —Minnesota Rep. Dean Phillips announced Thursday that he is running for president, kicking off a long-shot Democratic primary challenge to President Joe Biden. “I think President Biden has done a spectacular job for our country, but it’s not about the past. Phillips is expected to formally announce his campaign Friday in Concord, where he’ll file to run in New Hampshire’s Democratic primary. Biden will not file to appear on the New Hampshire Democratic primary ballot because the state isn’t complying with the national party’s revised nominating calendar, which demoted its first-in-the-nation primary status to second. And it all points to the same thing,” Phillips told CNN after he stepped down from leadership.

Persons: Dean Phillips, Joe Biden, “, Biden, ” Phillips, Phillips, Jeff Zients, Biden “, ”, Zients, —, Steve Schmidt, Schmidt, George W, Bush, Arizona Sen, John McCain, ‘ I’m Dean Phillips, ” Schmidt, he’ll, Gavin Newsom, Gretchen Whitmer, Abigail Van Buren, Abby, ” Phillips ’, he’s, Ron Harris, I’m, Trump, Biden —, Kamala Harris, That’s, Marianne Williamson, Robert F, Kennedy Jr, Donald Trump, Kennedy, hasn’t, Karine Jean, Pierre, CNN’s Jeff Zeleny, Arlette Saenz, David Wright Organizations: CNN, Minnesota, Democratic, CBS News, House Democratic, Biden, White House, New Hampshire Democratic, New Hampshire Democrats, New, GOP, California Gov, Michigan, Democratic National Committee, Palmetto, South Carolina Democratic, Affordable, Communications Committee, Granite State, Democratic Party, Incumbents, Environmental, Republicans, Allies Locations: Concord, New, AdImpact, New Hampshire, Arizona, Washington, California, South Carolina, “ South Carolina, Spain, Minnesota, Twin Cities, ”, New York, Ohio, Granite

“This feels like a really precarious spot.”In Pennsylvania, officials estimate 40 of the state’s 67 county election offices have new directors or deputy directors since 2020. In North Carolina, where the Republican Legislature recently moved to gain more control of state and local election boards, roughly a third of 100 county election directors have left since the 2020 election. Of the local election office, Fitzgerald said he knows they are trying to improve: “But they are not coming through when you need them the most,” he said. Local election officials were in a tough position trying to explain what happened given the active investigation, Sanguedolce said. She recalls angry voters showing up at the election office, contentious public meetings and law enforcement officials warning her about threats.

Persons: Emily Cook, “, ”, Cook, Jennifer Morrell, Al Schmidt, Schmidt, ” Schmidt, “ We’ve, ‘, ’ ”, Walter Griffith Jr, you’re, Griffith, “ They’re, Denise Williams, I’ve, ” Cook, we’ve, Theodore “ T.J, ” Fitzgerald, Al Gore, John Kerry, Barack Obama, Fitzgerald, Sam Sanguedolce, Sanguedolce, Bryan Steil, Romilda Crocamo, ” Crocamo, I’m Organizations: Republicans, Republican Legislature, Republican, ” Lawmakers, Justice Department, Democrat, Trump, U.S . Rep, Cook, Associated Press, AP Locations: BARRE, Pa, Pennsylvania, Luzerne County, Utah, Colorado, ”, In Nevada, Arizona, North Carolina, Philadelphia, Illinois, Luzerne County’s

☆ 2024 will probably be hotter than this year because of El Niño, NASA scientists say
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-20 | by ( Ella Nilsen | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +3 min

Climate change, caused by burning fossil fuels, is unequivocally warming the Earth’s temperature, NASA scientists said. “It’s really only just emerged, and so what we’re seeing is not really due to that El Niño,” Schmidt told reporters. But, he added, it is likely that a sweltering 2024 will exceed it, precisely because of El Niño’s influence. “We anticipate that 2024 is going to be an even warmer year because we’re going to be starting off with that El Niño event,” Schmidt said. “This issue with ocean temperature is not a problem that stays in the ocean – it affects everything else.” Castillo noted hotter ocean temperatures can make hurricanes stronger and make ocean levels rice due to glacial melt.

Persons: El Niño, Gavin Schmidt, “ It’s, El, ” Schmidt, Schmidt, we’re, ”, Carlos Del Castillo, ” Castillo Organizations: CNN, Hemisphere – NASA, El, NASA, NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies, Service, ”, NASA’s, Ecology Laboratory Locations: South, Europe, Atlantic

☆ Maggie Siff and Erica Schmidt on a Williams Play ‘Shot Through With Desire’
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-12 | by ( Sarah Bahr | More About Sarah Bahr | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

She felt the theme would resonate in 2020, when the play was originally set to be staged before the pandemic forced a postponement — even more so now, amid a wave of anti-immigrant sentiment nationwide. “That’s possibly why it hasn’t been so successful in the past,” Schmidt, 48, said at a rehearsal on a sweltering Wednesday last month at the Brooklyn Academy of Music. Why did you want to do this play? ERICA SCHMIDT The play is shot through with desire; this need to really live life and to cling to what matters to you with both your hands until your fingers break, as Carol [an eccentric aristocrat character] says. It felt like an undeniable piece of work that one would need to throw oneself into.

Persons: Schmidt, ”, “, ” Schmidt, Williams, Schmidt —, —, ERICA SCHMIDT, Carol, Thornton Wilder, MAGGIE SIFF Organizations: Brooklyn Academy of Music Locations: London, United States, “ Our

☆ Opinion: We’re going in the wrong direction on online harassment
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-04 | by ( Opinion Kara Alaimo | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +7 min

CNN —Last week, the Supreme Court issued a ruling that makes it harder to hold people responsible for harassment. So it’s clearly urgent for institutions to strike the right balance in protecting the free speech of critics without allowing them to chill the free speech of those with whom they disagree. It sends a symbolic message that protecting freedom of speech requires tolerating lower-level harassment speech, which often intimidates speakers into silencing themselves. Free speech is crucial to academic discourse, but something is wrong with a statement of “free speech” that allows courses to be censored due to online harassment of their instructors. The Supreme Court’s newly declared permissiveness toward online harassment is only likely to embolden more of it.

Persons: Kara Alaimo, Coles Whalen, ” Kara Alaimo, Rebecca Journey, Daniel Schmidt, Schmidt, Journey, ” Schmidt, “, — Organizations: Fairleigh Dickinson University, Women, Press, CNN, University of Chicago, ”, Twitter, University, The New York Times, University of Waterloo, Facebook, Court Locations: Chicago, Canada

☆ Silicon Valley escalates the battle over returning to the office
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-10 | by ( Catherine Thorbecke | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +5 min

The updated policy includes tracking office badge attendance and possibly factoring it into performance reviews, according to CNBC, citing internal memos. Other tech companies are also grappling with how best to compel workers to come into the office after they’ve grown accustomed to greater flexibility. At Amazon, tensions boiled over last week as hundreds of office workers staged a walkout to call attention to their grievances, including the three-day return-to-office mandate that was implemented in May. In response to the walkout, Amazon previously told CNN it may “take time” for some workers to adjust to being in the office more days. (A Meta spokesperson told CNN the updated policy was not set in stone, and employees designated as remote workers will be allowed to keep their remote status).

Persons: Chris Schmidt, Ryan Lamont, ” Lamont, “ we’re, they’ve, Pamela, it’s, Schmidt, ” Schmidt, “, ” Organizations: CNN, Silicon, Google, CNBC, Alphabet Workers Union, Facebook, Good, “ Locations: New York City

☆ Austria: Hitler speech and Nazi slogans played on train's loudspeakers
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-15 | by ( Inke Kappeler | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +3 min

Nazi slogans such as “Heil Hitler” and “Sieg heil” were also heard via the train’s intercom, according to several passengers on the train. “Someone has illegally opened the intercom with a duplicate key and played a Hitler speech over a loudspeaker,” a spokesperson for the rail operator ÖBB told CNN on Monday. ‘Completely helpless’After hearing the broadcast of Hitler’s speech, David Stögmüller, member of Austria’s upper house of parliament, tweeted a video of himself expressing disbelief. “Could you please enlighten us as to why an entire train” heard Hitler’s speech, she asked. Speaking to CNN, Schmidt said Hitler’s speech was about 20 seconds long, followed by the Nazi slogans, and that the recording was on a loop.

Pennsylvania's incoming Democratic governor, Josh Shapiro, announced Thursday that he is tapping a Republican who stood up to Donald Trump after the 2020 election to be the state's top elections official. As the vice chair of Philadelphia's Board of Elections, Al Schmidt was at the center of defending the 2020 vote in Pennsylvania, a key presidential battleground that narrowly went to President Joe Biden. Trump prematurely declared victory in the state and tried to stop Philadelphia officials from counting all the ballots there. In Pennsylvania, the top elections official, the secretary of the commonwealth, is nominated by the governor rather than elected. Schmidt said he is "honored to have the chance to continue working to protect the integrity of our elections and strengthen our democracy."

☆ Republican who defied Trump tapped to oversee Pennsylvania elections
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-05 | by ( James Oliphant | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Jan 5 (Reuters) - Pennsylvania's newly elected Democratic Governor Josh Shapiro has named a Republican who resisted former President Donald Trump’s claims of election fraud to oversee the battleground state’s elections. Schmidt also rejected Trump's claims that thousands of dead people were counted as Democratic votes in the election, calling the allegations "fantastical" and "ridiculous." President Joe Biden narrowly won Pennsylvania, and the state became a central front for Trump’s bogus fraud assertions. Pennsylvania law allows the governor to choose the state's elections chief. That made last November’s election, in which Shapiro defeated Republican Doug Mastriano who backed Trump's election lies, particularly consequential in the wake of efforts by Trump and his supporters to undermine the 2020 results.

☆ JCPenney was once a shopping giant. Can it make a comeback?
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-27 | by ( Nathaniel Meyersohn | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +14 min

People walk past a JCPenney store at the Queens Center Mall in New York in 2016. The Denver Post/Getty Images Shoppers hurry across an intersection in front of a JCPenney store in Denver in 1964. Anne Cusack/The Los Angeles Times/Getty Images Customers shop at a new JCPenney store in New York in 2009. Mary Altaffer/AP A customer goes down an escalator at a JCPenney store in Westminster, Colorado, in 2009. Don Emmert/AFP/Getty Images JCPenney CEO Jill Soltau speaks during an interview in Fort Worth, Texas, in 2019.

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