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☆ Opinion: Why we can’t let go of Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck’s love story
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-29 | by ( Opinion Holly Thomas | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +6 min

After expressing anxiety over other actors’ reluctance to star in the movie, Lopez brings up her spouse. Ben Affleck and Jennifer Lopez attend the 75th Annual Academy Awards at the Kodak Theater on March 23, 2003 in Hollywood, California. Now, with an album, film and documentary themed around their second act, Lopez has invited that scrutiny back again, despite her beloved’s obvious reluctance. “The Greatest Love Story Never Told” is swiftly becoming The Greatest Love Story Never Off Duty. Neither Lopez nor Affleck has addressed the current breakup rumors so far.

Persons: Holly Thomas, Katie Couric, Jennifer Lopez’s, Ben Affleck, Lopez, “, Benny Medina, I’m, Affleck, I’ve, ”, Jennifer Lopez, Kevin Winter, Jenny, that’d, Ben, You’ve, Elaine Goldsmith, Thomas, Derek Hough, that’s, Icarus, Simu Liu, “ We’re, ” Affleck, We’re Organizations: Katie Couric Media, CNN, Kodak Theater, Netflix Locations: London, Hollywood , California, Bennifer, Las Vegas, Vegas

☆ Grigory Rodchenkov: ‘The Russian flag and anthems have become symbols of murder and rape,’ says doping whistleblower
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-07 | by ( Molly Stazicker | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +10 min

CNN —Much like Mark Twain, Russian doping whistleblower Dr. Grigory Rodchenkov says that reports of his death have been greatly exaggerated. “There is no question that – if the IOC wants to have any credibility – it would ban them [Russian athletes] for 10 years, no less,” Rodchenkov said. Michel Euler/AP/FILEInternational sporting federations have the first say on whether Russian and Belarusian athletes can even attempt to qualify for the Olympics. “The only way to bring it to an end is to prosecute the organizers under the Rodchenkov Anti-Doping Act. Lira is the first person to be charged and convicted under the Rodchenkov Anti-Doping Act.

Persons: Mark Twain, Grigory Rodchenkov, Rodchenkov, –, Grigory Rodchenkov ”, Jim Walden, Oscar, Russia’s, Rodchenkov’s, ” Rodchenkov, That’s, ” Grigory Rodchenkov, Vladimir Putin, ”, Dmitry Peskov, Michel Euler, it’s, doesn’t, Walden, “, didn’t, ‘, “ It’s, haven’t, Matthieu Reeb, WADA, Eric Lira, Lira, who’s, Dewayne Barrett, Wright –, Barrett’s, Wright didn’t Organizations: CNN, CNN Sport, Netflix, International Olympic Committee, IOC, Paris, Russian Olympic, Olympic, Athletics, BBC, Weightlifting, Doping Agency, Tokyo Games, Liberian, Tokyo Olympics Locations: Sochi, Russia, Russian, Paris, Ukraine, Belarus, Soviet, Ukrainian, Bucha, Belarusian, ’, Texas, Walden, Nigeria, Switzerland, United Kingdom

PARK CITY, Utah (AP) — Filmmaker Yance Ford was in a “Sundance haze” when he took a meeting with Netflix following the premiere of “Strong Island” in 2017. “Strong Island” would go on to get an Oscar nomination, too, as would its Sundance and Netflix peer “Icarus,” which would win best documentary in 2018. “Netflix understood what ‘Strong Island’ was doing and what it could say to a big, broad audience.”Ten years after “The Square,” an acquisition that put Netflix documentaries on the map, the streamer is back at the 40th Sundance Film Festival with an eye towards acquisitions and two very different originals. “We really were the new kids on the block trying to persuade filmmakers that having the reach of the platform was something that was really important,” Del Deo said. “I think it's going to put a lot of smiles on people,” Del Deo said.

Persons: Yance Ford, “, Miss Simone, ” Liz Garbus, Nina Simone, Ford, ” Ford, ’, ”, Bao Nguyen’s, ” Adam Del Deo, Lisa Nishimura, Del Deo, It’s, “ Crip, they’ve, Garbus, John Legend, ” Garbus, ” “, Simone ”, Harry, Meghan ”, Nishimura, Jon Batiste, Barbie ”, —, Lionel Richie, Harry Belafonte, Bruce Springsteen, Smokey Robinson, Cyndi Lauper, Dionne Warwick, Huey Lewis, ” Del Deo, Nguyen, it’s, ” Nguyen Organizations: Netflix, Sundance, Associated Press, Toronto, Eccles Locations: CITY , Utah, America, Park City , Utah, Brazil, France, Garbus, “, Telluride, Vietnam

☆ Sam Bankman-Fried Was a Grown Up Criminal, Not an Impulsive Man-Child
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-03 | by ( Ginia Bellafante | More About Ginia Bellafante | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

Sam Bankman-Fried, crypto’s Icarus, was convicted of seven counts of fraud and conspiracy on Thursday night after a trial that generated 10 million pages of documents and only a few hours of jury deliberation. As ever, it is perhaps best to start from the very beginning. Or, in the specific absence of that, what would 12 ordinary people see when they were seated on the other side of the witness stand from him? The prosecution hoped that they would observe a grown man, steeped in self-contradiction and capable of criminality, rather than the 31-year-old boy Mr. Bankman-Fried appeared to be, someone whose adolescent enthusiasms and distractibility caused him to make billions of dollars worth of hapless, innocent errors. In the end, the jury saw only the duplicitous adult.

Persons: Sam Bankman, Michael Lewis, Bankman, “, Fried, Ostentatiously, Shakespeare, distractibility

☆ A doping free-for-all Enhanced Games calls itself the answer to doping in sports. Opponents say it poses a danger to health
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-30 | by ( Molly Stazicker | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +23 min

The Enhanced Games is the brainchild of businessman Aron D’Souza. Aron D'Souza is the founder of the Enhanced Games. But that isn’t the only potential legal jeopardy the Enhanced Games faces, according to American lawyer Jim Walden, who represents Russian whistleblower Grigory Rodchenkov. “If you look at the Enhanced Games website, it’s almost as though they’re advertising their disregard of the law,” Walden told CNN Sport. If it goes ahead as planned in December 2024, D’Souza insists that the Enhanced Games will unlock the potential of humanity.

Persons: Dr, Grigory Rodchenkov, –, Rodchenkov, Oscar, Aron D’Souza, ”, D’Souza, “, Raphael Faiss, Faiss, WADA, they’re, Aron D'Souza, ” WADA, Travis Tygart, Jim Walden, ” Walden, Alex Wong, ” Rodchenkov, USADA’s Tygart, ” D’Souza, he’d, “ They’re, Ben Johnson, Johnson, Mike Powell, Pierre de Coubertin –, Ben Johnson –, Eugene, Simona Halep, – Faiss, CNN Roxadustat, Michele Verroken, ” Verroken, Verroken, Hamish Coffey, ’, Brett Fraser, ” Fraser, “ I’ve, I’ll, Jess Ennis, Hill, CNN D’Souza, Trevor Painter, ” Painter, John William Devine, ” Devine, don’t, Martial Saugy Organizations: CNN, Olympics, ”, Testing Agency, ITA, International Olympic Committee, Olympic Games, IOC, CNN Sport, Netflix, Doping Agency, Research, University of Lausanne, United, United States Anti, US Drug Enforcement Administration, FBI, Sports, Gaming Initiative, “, Games, Seoul, London Games, Bettmann, Athletics Integrity Unit, National Institutes of Health, Sporting Integrity, Australian Olympic, Olympic, United States Patent, Sciences, Swansea University Locations: Paris, United States, Seoul, South Korea, Eugene , Oregon, Cayman Islands, Tokyo, Wales

☆ Netflix and others have pulled back on hard-hitting documentaries as streamers seek more true crime and 'nothing too political'
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-17 | by ( Lucia Moses | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +10 min

"Beyond Utopia" attracted interest at Sundance from streamers like Amazon's Prime Video and Netflix. Interest peaked four years ago at the Sundance Film Festival, fueled by Amazon and Netflix, which paid a record $10 million for the Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez doc "Knock Down the House." In the crime realm, WME advised, Netflix was seeking films based on big, well-known cases and scams like "Dahmer" and "Tinder Swindler." Filmmakers point to streamers' self-censorship and 'cold feet' over sensitive topicsSome filmmakers said there are still champions at the streamers for documentaries that push the envelope. "Beyond Utopia" is among a number of recent films that have been snubbed by the big streamers, despite winning awards and buzz.

Persons: Madeleine Gavin, It'll, It's, Gavin, Hulu, Peter Broderick, Hulu didn't, Sundance fests, Broderick, WME, Dahmer, Ted Hope, Hope, Vanessa Hope, Taiwan's, he'd've, Oscar, Bryan Fogel, Jamal Khashoggi, Thom Powers, it's, Keith Ochwat, Ochwat Organizations: Sundance, Netflix, PBS, Sundance Film, Amazon, Alexandria, Paradigm Consulting, Amazon Prime, Apple, Hulu, Hollywood, Gravitas Ventures, & $ Locations: Joy, Congo, arthouses, Hulu, China, Park City, Syria, Russian, Ukraine, Venice

☆ Neptune’s disappearing clouds linked to solar cycle
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-22 | by ( Kristen Rogers | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +6 min

The findings are “extremely exciting and unexpected, especially since Neptune’s previous period of low cloud activity was not nearly as dramatic and prolonged,” Chavez added. The findings also contradict the idea of the clouds being affected by Neptune’s four seasons, which each last about 40 years. Additionally, Neptune storms rising from the deep atmosphere do influence the planet’s cloud cover — but aren’t related to clouds formed in the upper atmosphere. That variable could interfere with studies looking at correlations between photochemically produced clouds and the solar cycle. More research could also suggest how long the near absence of clouds on Neptune might last.

Persons: ”, Imke de Pater, Neptune brightened, Erandi Chavez, ” Chavez, Neptune, Patrick Irwin, wasn’t, Irwin, Carlos Alvarez, ” Irwin, “ Organizations: CNN —, University of California, NASA, Hubble, Keck, Lick, Center for Astrophysics, Harvard & Smithsonian, JPL, Caltech, University of Oxford, Keck Observatory Locations: Berkeley, Hawaii, California

☆ Bull market or fool's market? Investors say the latter
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-18 | by ( Krystal Hur | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +10 min

Mega-cap tech stocks that were battered by rising interest rates in 2022 have also seen a huge boost this year. The Federal Reserve on Wednesday held interest rates steady but indicated that it could hike rates twice more this year. Tech stocks’ record runApple shares closed at a record high on Thursday, creeping closer to reaching a $3 trillion market capitalization. The rally’s next testDespite some bullish signs in the market, investors say the math isn’t adding up to a sustained rally — especially considering a possible recession looms on the horizon. The central bank last Wednesday paused interest rates and indicated that it could raise rates two more times this year.

Persons: Dow, ”, Amanda Agati, Wednesday’s, Stocks, Joe Biden, Dan Ives, “, ” Ives, Richard Steinberg, Jerome Powell, Agati, Sylvia Jablonski, Christopher Waller, Thomas Barkin, ” Waller, Sarah Henry, Henry, Here’s, Price, Refinitiv, Paul Eitelman, ” Eitelman Organizations: CNN Business, Bell, New York CNN, Apple, Nasdaq, PNC Financial Services, Management, “, Federal Reserve, Nvidia, Wedbush Securities, Microsoft, The Colony, Treasury, ”, Federal, Richmond Fed, Logan Capital Management, CPI, PPI, University of, Consumers, North America, Russell Investments, Wednesday, National Association of Realtors, Senate Locations: New York, what’s, Oslo

Almost any of the 16 Giorgio de Chirico paintings in “Horses: The Death of a Rider” could sustain an exhibition by itself. A couple from the late 1920s are less polished, and you could reasonably call “Two Horses on a Seashore,” 1970, a little glib. As the exhibition title suggests, every canvas also holds one or more horses, often backed by one of the mysterious landscapes he’s known for. The majestic white steed in the title piece, “Death of a Rider,” rears up on a twilit beach, letting its rider tumble off like Icarus behind it. In the distance stands a city on a hill; nearby, two voyagers or gods watch from a rowboat.

Persons: Giorgio de Chirico, de Chirico, It’s, Chirico, ”, HEINRICH

☆ ‘Succession’ Season 4, Episode 6: Cool New Rule
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-30 | by ( Noel Murray | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +3 min

Roman’s initial response is to troll, by making a snide comment about the “incredibly evolved, ruthlessly segregated” community of Los Angeles. But Kendall is excited about them putting their own stamp on Waystar, and thinks these two firings may impress the markets. It’s a reasonable assumption too, because Kendall is in full Icarus mode throughout this episode. There are few things more entertaining in “Succession” than Kendall in a boss groove, tossing out big ideas and buzzy business jargon at a rapid clip. (“Numbers aren’t just numbers, they’re numbers,” Pete sputters.)

☆ He's played chess with Peter Thiel, sparred with Elon Musk and once, supposedly, stopped a plane crash: Inside Sam Altman's world, where truth is stranger than fiction
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-27 | by ( Melia Russell | Julia Black | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +41 min

But, "you do at some point need to start having contact with reality," he told Insider. The plan was still only a rough sketch, Blania told Insider, but that didn't seem to matter to his host. "He always wanted to understand everything at a very deep level," Thrun told Insider in an email. (When asked about guns, Altman told Insider he'd been "happy to have one both times my home was broken into while I was there.") When asked about this, Altman told Insider in an email: "i can guess what that's about; these stories grow crazily inflated over the years of getting re-told!

☆ Sam Altman is building his utopia, whether you want it or not
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-27 | by ( Melia Russell | Julia Black | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +41 min

Altman told Insider, "We debate our approach frequently and carefully." "I don't think anyone can lose your dad young and wish he didn't have more time with him," Altman told Insider. Altman told Insider that his thinking had evolved since those posts. (When asked about guns, Altman told Insider he'd been "happy to have one both times my home was broken into while I was there.") When asked about this, Altman told Insider in an email: "i can guess what that's about; these stories grow crazily inflated over the years of getting re-told!

☆ The Crypto Politics of Bankman-Fried
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-16 | by ( The Editorial Board | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Cryptocurrency mogul Sam Bankman -Fried’s Icarus-like crash could make compelling Netflix material. One story line that deserves more attention is how the FTX founder tried to buy influence with Democrats in Washington. Mr. Bankman-Fried became a celebrity and spokesman for the crypto-currency industry by embracing progressive causes and giving liberally—literally. Last year FTX committed to making its trading platform “carbon neutral” and promised millions of dollars to climate causes.

☆ From Cerebral to Cedar, here's every digital-health startup that's cut workers so far this year
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-25 | by ( Rebecca Torrence | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +1 min

Digital-health startups are slicing their workforces after two years of record industry growth. Many startups that announced layoffs this year raised mega-rounds of $100 million or more in 2021. Last year, the digital-health industry was flying high. Digital-health startups in the US banked a record $29.1 billion in 2021, almost double 2020's record of $14.9 billion. Here are the digital-health startups that have announced layoffs this year, as of October 25:Have a tip about digital health layoffs that you want to share?

Steve Bannon was sentenced to four months behind bars and a $6,500 fine on Friday for his contempt of Congress conviction. Bannon left the Trump administration in 2017. Following Bannon’s indictment last fall, other Trump allies appeared to take the consequences of blowing off the Jan. 6 committee more seriously. It was yet another astounding act from a president unbridled by any sense of the responsibility the office carries. While these statements do not prove his guilt, they certainly place him in a circle of possible co-conspirators.

☆ From Cedar to Ro, here's every digital-health startup that's cut workers so far this year
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-28 | by ( Rebecca Torrence | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +1 min

Digital-health startups are slicing their workforces after two years of record industry growth. Many startups that announced layoffs this year raised mega-rounds of $100 million or more in 2021. Last year, the digital-health industry was flying high. Digital-health startups in the US banked a record $29.1 billion in 2021, almost double 2020's record of $14.9 billion. Here are the digital-health startups that have announced layoffs this year, as of September 28:Have a tip about digital health layoffs that you want to share?

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