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☆ Why predicted gains for right-wing populists could make Europe vulnerable to attack
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-11 | by ( Luke Mcgee | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +6 min

CNN —Right-wing populists are set to make unprecedented gains in the elections to the European Parliament taking place next month. Polling data suggests that far-right Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) could have enough seats to, together, block the passage of European Union legislation, creating a massive headache for the union as a whole. “For some countries, that is a six-month process, in others it can take two years,” a senior European Parliament source told CNN. Britain's Nigel Farage used his seat in the European Parliament to promote Brexit. It only becomes an issue if they are working with foreign powers to advance their agenda,” an EU security source told CNN.

Persons: Ursula von der Leyen, Yiannis Kourtoglou, Reuters “, ”, James Shires, you’ll, don’t, Britain's Nigel Farage, SEBASTIEN BOZON, it’s, — Organizations: CNN, Parliament, European, Reuters, “, Brexit, Getty, British, EU, Brussels Locations: Brussels, China, Russia, Strasbourg, AFP, Britain, Ukraine, EU, Europe

☆ ‘One Day’ stars Ambika Mod and Leo Woodall didn’t have to work hard on their chemistry
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-08 | by ( Sandy Thin | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +4 min

“Every episode kind of felt standalone,” Mod explained to CNN. (Full disclosure: I attended university with Mod, where we became friends.) Mod (left) and Woodall (right) filmed on location in Greece, Paris, Edinburgh and London for "One Day." Courtesy NetflixLike Emma, Mod also studied English at university, only to spend her early twenties in jobs she didn’t really want. "One Day" is the first time either Mod or Woodall have played the lead in a TV show, after both had breakout supporting roles in 2022.

Persons: ” Emma Morley, Dexter Mayhew, ” David Nicholls ’, Dexter glibly, Emma, Ambika, Anne Hathaway, Jim Sturgess, Dexter, Swithins, “, Andrew Shires, Megan, Woodall, Mod, ”, I’ve, Leo Woodall, Jack, Tom Hollander’s, ” Woodall Organizations: CNN, BBC, Edinburgh Fringe, Durham Revue, Netflix Locations: St, Greece, Paris, Edinburgh, London, Yorkshire, Wolverhampton

☆ Hundreds of Firefighters Battle Western Australia Wildfire
▼ + stars: | 2024-01-13 | by ( Jan. | At P.M. | ) www.usnews.com time to read: +1 min

SYDNEY (Reuters) - Hundreds of firefighters on Sunday battled an out-of-control bushfire near Western Australia's capital Perth, prompting authorities to urge residents in the fire's path to flee. A high-risk bushfire season is underway in Australia due to an El Nino weather event, associated with events such as cyclones, droughts, heatwaves and wildfires. A state Department of Fire and Emergency Services spokesperson said 240 firefighters were battling the blaze, which was at emergency level, the highest threat rating. "If the way is clear, leave now for a safer place," the agency said on its website. The nation's weather forecaster on Sunday issued a warning for "extreme fire danger" in some parts of Western Australia state amid a heatwave alert in place since Saturday.

Persons: Australia's, Sam McKeith, Michael Perry Organizations: SYDNEY, Sunday, of Fire, Emergency Services Locations: Western Australia's, Perth, Gingin, Chittering, Australia, El Nino, Western Australia, Turkey, Sydney

☆ A Summer of Live Music, From Stadiums to Clubs
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-29 | by ( ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +3 min

The Canadian dream-pop band Alvvays played first; its last album, “Blue Rev,” was one of my favorites of 2022, and I especially love this fuzzed out, gently melancholic second track. Tanya Tucker: “Delta Dawn”When I traveled to the Gorge in Washington earlier this summer to catch Brandi Carlile’s Echoes Through the Canyon festival — and, you know, a certain very, very special headliner — I was lucky enough to catch an early evening set by the country icon Tanya Tucker. My first favorite part was when Tucker uncorked a bottle of her signature tequila and passed it around the front row. Each Highwoman played a solo cover during the set, and Shires wowed me with a poignant rendition of “Always on My Mind,” which she dedicated to Bobbie Nelson. Luckily, you didn’t just have to be there: The studio recording of the song, on which Nelson played piano shortly before she died last year, is gorgeous, and quite close to the version Shires played live.

Persons: Alvvays, ”, Alex G, “ Gretel ”, Taylor Swift, Archer ”, Taylor, Tanya Tucker, Brandi Carlile’s, —, Tucker, Amanda Shires, Bobbie Nelson, “, Carlile, Maren Morris, Natalie Hemby, Nelson Organizations: Spotify, BRIC Arts, YouTube, Philadelphia, “, Delta, Shires Locations: Prospect, Brooklyn, Washington

☆ PBS Explores Storytellers of the South - The New York Times
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-31 | by ( Margaret Renkl | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

Today, entertainment options abound, and the writers at the heart of this documentary work within many artistic and intellectual traditions. The diverse group includes Jericho Brown, Jason Isbell, Lyle Lovett, Amanda Shires, Mary Steenburgen, Angie Thomas and Natasha Trethewey, among others. And often they are writing from a perspective that was almost entirely absent — or violently silenced — in the South of Ms. Welty and Ms. Lee. “There’s this erasure of people, this erasure of the past, this erasure of these lived histories. These are the narratives that get woven out of the glorification of the South as a moonlight-and-magnolias place.”Other storytellers in this documentary may seem, on the surface, to have almost nothing to do with the Southern past.

Persons: Jericho Brown, Jason Isbell, Lyle Lovett, Amanda Shires, Mary Steenburgen, Angie Thomas, Natasha Trethewey, —, Welty, Lee, Jesmyn Ward, “ It’s, ”, Michael W, Twitty, “, Qui Nguyen, Adia Victoria Organizations: Ms, Southern, Memorial for Peace, Justice Locations: The Mississippi, Montgomery , Ala, Arkansas, Southern

July 20 (Reuters) - FTX Trading on Thursday sued founder Sam Bankman-Fried and other former executives of the cryptocurrency exchange, seeking to recoup more than $1 billion they allegedly misappropriated before FTX went bankrupt. FTX is now led by John Ray, who helped manage Enron after the energy trader's 2001 bankruptcy. FTX said Bankman-Fried and Wang also misappropriated $546 million to buy shares of Robinhood Markets (HOOD.O), while Ellison used $28.8 million to pay herself bonuses. The case is FTX Trading Ltd et al v Bankman-Fried et al, U.S. Bankruptcy Court, District of Delaware, No. The main bankruptcy case is In re FTX Trading Ltd et al in the same court, No.

Persons: Sam Bankman, FTX, Caroline Ellison, Gary, Wang, Nishad Singh, Fried, John Ray, Ellison, Singh, Jonathan Stempel, Mike Scarcella, Leslie Adler Organizations: Alameda Research, Enron, U.S, Robinhood, Bankruptcy, District of, FTX, bk, Thomson Locations: Delaware, Alameda, U.S, District, District of Delaware, New York

☆ The Saudi crown prince wants to build a trillion-dollar utopia in the desert. His deals with China reveal a darker vision.
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-23 | by ( Tom Porter | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +9 min

It's part of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman's modernizing vision of the country. But behind the outlandish plan, developed by Saudi Arabia's powerful crown prince Mohammed bin Salman, is a much darker reality. Crown Prince Mohammed appears keen to replicate those projects on a grander scale. Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman announces a zero-carbon city called "The Line" to be built at NEOM in northwestern Saudi Arabia, January 10, 2021. It appeared to be the beginning of a fruitful partnership for Crown Prince Mohammed.

☆ Caroline Ellison made $6 million at Alameda – a fraction of Sam Bankman-Fried's $2.2 billion's haul
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-19 | by ( Pete Syme | Sam Tabahriti | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Caroline Ellison received $6 million by Alameda, according to court documents filed Wednesday. Sam Bankman-Fried transferred himself $2.2 billion, while $587 million went to Nishad Singh. Alameda Research has been accused of using customer deposits from Bankman-Fried's crypto exchange FTX for daily operations, including risky investments. FTX filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on November 11 after it imploded, wiping out billions in customer deposits. Court documents filed Wednesday show he transferred $2.5 million from Alameda to American Yacht Group in March 2022, with the cited reason "for the benefit of John Samuel Trabucco."

☆ Sam Bankman-Fried's companies racked up a $400,000 DoorDash bill, documents show, after reportedly giving staff $200 a day to spend on food deliveries
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-17 | by ( Pete Syme | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Court documents filed Wednesday show Sam Bankman-Fried's companies spent over $400,000 with DoorDash. FTX US gave employees $200 of DoorDash food credit every day, the FT previously reported. The documents filed in the Delaware bankruptcy court on Wednesday show bills of a combined $403,765 from the food delivery firm to FTX entities. The food delivery company is still owed $46,239 by Alameda, the documents show. Former employees previously told the Financial Times that FTX US gave employees $200 of DoorDash food credits a day.

☆ Anthony Scaramucci's SkyBridge Capital limited redemptions as bets on FTX and crypto resulted in a 39% loss last year
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-27 | by ( Brian Evans | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Anthony Scaramucci's SkyBridge Capital suffered a 39% loss in its top funds in 2022, according to Bloomberg. That's due to losing bets on FTX and cryptocurrencies, pushing investors to pull their money out. SkyBridge investors asked to withdraw 60% of a top fund's capital in the September 30 redemption period, but it only returned 10%. SkyBridge investors asked to withdraw 60% of the top fund's capital in the September 30 redemption period, but it only returned 10%, according to filings cited by Bloomberg. Additionally, SkyBridge funds were listed as owning 244,196 common shares and 61,049 Series B-1 Preferred shares of FTX Trading.

☆ FTX bankruptcy documents show list of investors set to be completely wiped out, including Tom Brady and Robert Kraft
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-10 | by ( Matthew Fox | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

FTX released a list of its equity holders on Monday as it continues to navigate the bankruptcy process. Some of the top holders of FTX equity included in the list are Tom Brady, Robert Kraft, and Gisele Bündchen. The FTX shares owned by Brady, Kraft, and Bündchen are expected to be worthless. Billionaire Robert Kraft, who owns the New England Patriots football team, was also listed in the FTX bankruptcy document. Other investors on FTX's equity-holder list include Wall Street's elite hedge funds and growth investors, according to the bankruptcy document.

News of the FTX's fall first prompted questions to lawmakers about Bankman-Fried's political donations. Bill Cassidy of Louisiana and John Boozman of Arkansas said they would donate Bankman-Fried’s campaign contributions, though they did not specify the charities they intended to donate the money to. Bankman-Fried also poured millions into super PACs that support candidates outside of their campaigns, including the Senate Majority PAC, or SMP, a super PAC supporting Democratic Senate candidates. The disclosed sums likely don't capture the full breadth of Bankman-Fried's political spending. "The candidates who received money from dark money organizations don't really have to answer for it," Sherman said.

Federal authorities on Tuesday charged FTX co-founder Sam Bankman-Fried with using what they said was tens of millions of dollars of misappropriated customer funds to make illegal political donations to both Democratic and Republican candidates. He then used those funds to make "large political donations," to make investments and buy "lavish real estate," the SEC complaint alleged. The campaign finance allegations come days after a private watchdog group asked the Federal Election Commission to investigate Bankman-Fried's political contributions. Most of Bankman-Fried's publicly disclosed campaign contributions, which totaled nearly $40 million in the 20222 election cycle, went toward Democrats, FEC records show. "The question is whether regulators, including the SEC, backed off from aggressive investigation of FTX because of this political influence," Painter said.

☆ Lawyers for FTX customers accuse debtors of failing to file full financial disclosures
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-07 | by ( Pete Syme | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Lawyers at Eversheds Sutherland represent FTX's non-US customers – 98% of its 1.2 million users. The lawyers say that Chapter 11 debtors should file full financial disclosures. The law firm Eversheds Sutherland represents the Ad Hoc Committee of Non-US Customers of FTX.com, established to protect users outside the US. Erin Broderick, an attorney at Evershed Sutherland, said "Chapter 11 debtors are typically required to file full financial disclosures shortly after the bankruptcy filing." Adam Landis, the lawyer representing FTX and its entities, did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment.

☆ The unraveling of $3 billion crypto lender BlockFi amid FTX's 'death spiral', according to bankruptcy filings
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-03 | by ( Morgan Chittum | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

The crypto platform owes $30 million to the SEC, per bankruptcy filings. FTX, which once offered BlockFi a $400 million credit line, ultimately led to the firm's bankruptcy. BlockFi cited significant exposure to Sam Bankman-Fried's crypto empire, which filed for bankruptcy on November 11. Ironically, once FTX's "death spiral" began, BlockFi's liquidity crisis ensued and the company paused user account withdrawals on its platform. Due to the loan agreement and $355 million in digital assets held on FTX, BlockFi had substantial exposure.

☆ BlockFi files for bankruptcy as the crypto lender succumbs to the contagion of the FTX collapse
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-28 | by ( Morgan Chittum | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Cryptocurrency lender BlockFi filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on Monday. Earlier this year, BlockFi received a $400 million credit line from FTX. According to the bankruptcy filing, BlockFi has more than 100,000 creditors, with liabilities and assets of $1 billion-$10 billion. In July, the company signed a deal with FTX to obtain a $400 million revolving credit facility. After FTX filed for bankruptcy on November 11, BlockFi announced that it would pause withdrawals and customer deposits on its platform.

Lawyers for collapsed crypto exchange FTX said in the company's first bankruptcy hearing on Tuesday that regulators from the Bahamas, where FTX was headquartered, have agreed to consolidate proceedings in Delaware. "What we are dealing with is a different sort of animal," said FTX counsel James Bromley. FTX lawyers confirmed earlier reports that the Southern District of New York's Cyber Crimes unit has begun an investigation into the matter. FTX lawyers have also made reference to cyberattacks, suggesting there were multiple attacks beyond the $477 million hack that occurred shortly after the company entered bankruptcy on Nov. 11. FTX customers had a global presence, but many were based in tax havens.

- Ray said he had secured $740 million in cryptocurrency, a "fraction" of what he hopes to recover during the bankruptcy. Bankman-Fried and his co-founders failed to identify wallets that might contain FTX assets, he added. - Record keeping was so lax that Ray said he was unable to compile a complete list of FTX employees. - The second silo is Alameda Research LLC, which Ray described as a crypto hedge fund owned by Bankman-Fried and Wang with assets of $13.46 billion. - The other silos were Ventures, which manages private investments and had around $2 billion in assets, and Dotcom, which owned non-U.S. exchanges with $2.25 billion in assets.

☆ The future of FTX and Sam Bankman-Fried is now in the hands of these 3 lawyers who have worked for Enron, Michael Milken, and Elon Musk
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-11 | by ( Jack Newsham | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

A senior Paul Weiss lawyer has been hired to defend FTX founder and ex-CEO Sam Bankman-Fried. FTX said on Twitter that a sprawling group of companies founded by Bankman-Fried, known as SBF, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in Delaware. The new CEO of FTX is John J. Ray III, a lawyer-turned-executive with a colorful past leading troubled companies, most notably Enron. The firm Paul Weiss and its lawyer Martin Flumenbaum, who represented the junk-bonds king Michael Milken, are representing Bankman-Fried personally. John J. Ray IIIRay joined FTX as CEO just in time to sign its bankruptcy filing.

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