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☆ Why election polls were so wrong in 2016 and 2020 — and what's changing to fix that
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-04 | by ( Rebecca Picciotto | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

Atkeson, a political scientist who researches election surveys and public opinion, has been conducting voter polls since 2004. She is currently a professor at Florida State University and has authored several books. "People were not answering their phones," Rachael Cobb, a political science professor at Suffolk University, told CNBC. Polarization and technology are among the obstacles that pollsters cite as complicating the task of taking accurate voter surveys. As a result, over the past several election cycles, polling organizations have made some major mistakes.

Persons: Ron DeSantis, Donald Trump, Nikki Haley, Lonna Atkeson, Atkeson, Rachael Cobb Organizations: Florida, Republican, Florida State University, CNBC, Suffolk University Locations: Loudon , New Hampshire

Mr. Trump’s top lawyer said in response that Mr. Trump was simply defending himself from political attacks. The tabloid discovered that the story was apparently false, but paid $30,000 anyway, “because of the potential embarrassment” it could have caused Mr. Trump, Mr. Pecker said. When he proposed the magazine, Mr. Pecker said, Mr. Trump’s biggest question was, “Who’s going to pay for it?”Trump’s short leash could get shorter. For their part, prosecutors said they were not seeking to jail Mr. Trump, but wanted him to be fined. When Mr. Blanche finished his argument, Mr. Trump immediately beckoned him over before he snatched a piece of paper off the defense table.

Persons: Donald J, Trump, Juan M, Merchan, Trump’s, ”, Justice Merchan, Todd Blanche, “ you’re, David Pecker, Mr, Stormy Daniels, Daniels, —, Pecker, Michael D, Cohen, Marion Curtis, Pecker’s, Trump “ Donald, “ Who’s, Christopher Conroy, Michael Cohen, “, ” Mr, Conroy, Blanche, Mark Peterson Organizations: National Enquirer, ” Prosecutors, Republican, Trump, Credit, Associated, Trump Mr Locations: Manhattan, York, Washington, New York

☆ Camels evolved from a cold-weather ancestor. We could learn from their remarkable transformation
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-16 | by ( Bill Weir | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +11 min

“Gentoo penguins are big climate change winners in the Antarctic,” Heather Lynch told me. Conversely, the more flexible gentoo penguins keep moving farther and farther south, chasing new prey, and even abandoning nests to increase the odds of long-term survival. Julian Quinones/CNNThe gentoo population has exploded by as much as 30,000% in just a few years. Bill Weir/CNNHere lieth the lesson of the camel and the gentoo: Heat will move us, one way or another. I just know River won’t be satisfied without a magic plot twist that somehow saves all creatures great and small.

Persons: Bill Weir, —, “, ”, Bill, CNN's, Julian Quinones, Camels, CNN Bill, I’d, ” Heather Lynch, penguins, we’ve, it’s, Xiulin Ruan, CNN Julian Quinones, “ Don’t, Energy's Organizations: CNN, Brooklyn, Central Park Zoo, CNN Penguins, Stony Brook University, gentoo, Purdue, International Energy Agency, Global Locations: Canada, North America, dromedaries, Sudanese, Egypt, Southern Ocean, Antarctica, Manhattan, British Columbia, Yorkshire, England, Phoenix, Japan, Seville, Spain, Miami, Los Angeles, Angeles, Olivia, Colombia, CNN Seville, China, India, Maine

☆ AI-generated voices of dead shooting victims are sending gun-control pleas to lawmakers
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-19 | by ( Faith Karimi | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +8 min

We have tried almost every single way to approach gun violence in a way that people will pay attention. There have been 50 mass shootings in the United States so far this year, according to the Gun Violence Archive. Brett Cross says he's unfazed by critics who are against the use of AI-generated voices of children killed by gun violence. But earlier this month, it announced that robocall scams using AI-generated voices are a violation of telecommunications law. He says some parents who’ve lost children to gun violence were reluctant to take part in the project.

Persons: CNN — Joaquin Oliver’s, Marjory Stoneman, “ It’s, ”, ” Manuel, Patricia Oliver, Joaquin, Marjory Stoneman Douglas, Cody Jackson, “, Manuel Oliver, Uzi, Garcia, Mitch Renfro Uzi Garcia, “ I’m, Brett Cross, he’s, he's unfazed, Nuri Vallbona, Ethan Song, Akilah Dasilva, Mike Baughan, Jaycee Webster, Uzi Garcia, Jordan Vonderhaar, Biden, ’ landlines, Oliver, they’re, Alex Quilici, ’ —, Robert Wahl, ” Manuel Oliver, who’ve, It’s Organizations: CNN, Capitol, Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, Parkland, Kansas City, Robb Elementary School, Reuters, Maryland, Federal Communications Commission, New, Telephone Consumer, Concordia University Wisconsin, Hollywood Locations: Parkland, Parkland , Florida, Florida, Kansas, United States, Uvalde , Texas, Connecticut, Tennessee, Maryland, New Hampshire

☆ Premarket stocks: Wall Street is worried about another regional banking crisis
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-06 | by ( Nicole Goodkind | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +8 min

But while the last crisis was all about interest rate risk, this one revolves around the $20 trillion commercial real estate market. What’s happening: After decades of growth bolstered by low interest rates and easy credit, commercial real estate has hit a wall. The increase was driven partly by expected losses on commercial real estate loans, it said. “As losses from a [commercial real estate] loan portfolio accumulate, they can spill over into the broader financial system,” they wrote. “There’s some smaller and regional banks that have concentrated exposures in these areas that are challenged and we’re working with them,” he said.

Persons: It’s, Goldman Sachs, Anna Cooban, Janet Yellen, Jerome Powell, Gary Gensler, ”, Chip Somodevilla, She’s, Powell, “, ” McDonald’s, McDonald’s, Jordan Valinsky, Samantha Murphy Kelly, “ We’ve Organizations: CNN Business, Bell, New York CNN, New York Community Bancorp, US Regional Bank, Japan’s Aozora Bank, Deutsche Bank, Canadian Public Pension Investment Board, Boston Properties, US Securities and Exchange, Financial, Biden, Senate, CBS, Verizon, Old Telephone Service, landlines, UK, Consumers, CNN, California Public Utilities Commission Locations: New York, Manhattan, Boston, Washington ,, East, United States, California, France, California ”

☆ Still love your landline? Phone service providers are getting closer to phasing it out
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-05 | by ( Samantha Murphy Kelly | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +5 min

CNN —More people who are still using telephone landlines will soon need to decide if they want to finally hang up on their service. That’s part of a sweeping move by phone service providers to replace older copper wire-based telephone systems lines, also known as Plain Old Telephone Service (POTS), with faster and more advanced technology that doesn’t work with landlines. In the United States, the shift away from copper landlines will most likely impact people over age 65 and small business owners. “Traditional landline telephone service is the most dependable communications tool currently available in rural communities and is vital to reliably accessing 9-1-1,” he said. Because phone service workers will need to be deployed during the removal process, this could extend the completion time.

Persons: CNN —, “ We’ve, “, ”, Lisa Pierce, Patrick Blacklock, ” Pierce, Will McKeon, White, ” McKeon Organizations: CNN, Verizon, Old Telephone Service, landlines, UK, Consumers, California Public Utilities Commission, Gartner, California, Federal Communications Commission, Forrester Research Locations: California, France, California ”, United States, Pennsylvania, Rural County

LONDON (AP) — A lawsuit by Prince Harry, Elton John and five other public figures accusing a newspaper publisher of using private detectives and listening devices to illegally snoop on them should go to a full trial, a British judge ruled Friday. Judge Matthew Nicklin rejected a bid by the publisher of the Daily Mail to dismiss the case without trial, saying defense lawyers had not delivered a “knockout blow” to the claimants' case. Associated Newspapers strongly denies the allegations and asked the judge to throw out the case. No date has been set for the trial, where Prince Harry could give evidence. He unexpectedly attended the March hearings in the Associated Newspapers case, though he did not take the stand.

Persons: Prince Harry, Elton John, snoop, Judge Matthew Nicklin, David, Elizabeth Hurley, Sadie Frost, Harry, Chelsy Davy, ”, Doreen Lawrence, Simon Hughes, Princess Diana, Meghan, Hugh Grant Organizations: Daily Mail, Newspapers Ltd, Associated Newspapers, “, Newspapers, Daily, The Sun Locations: Paris, California

☆ Australia to investigate Optus internet and phone outage
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-08 | by ( Renju Jose | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

SYDNEY, Nov 9 (Reuters) - Australia said on Thursday it would launch an investigation into a 12-hour national outage at telco Optus that cut off internet and phone connections to nearly half of its population, hitting critical services including payments, transport and hospitals. The federal government would undertake a post-incident review into the outage, Communications Minister Michelle Rowland said, describing its impacts as "particularly concerning." Australia's media regulator will conduct a separate review into the outage after emergency triple zero ("000") calls went down on Optus landlines, Rowland added. Optus, owned by Singapore Telecommunications (STEL.SI), has not given the cause for the unprecedented outage, one of the biggest the country has witnessed. The outage happened 14 months after Optus was hit by one of Australia's biggest cyber breaches.

Persons: telco, Michelle Rowland, Rowland, Renju Jose, Jamie Freed Organizations: SYDNEY, Optus, Optus landlines, Singapore Telecommunications, Telstra, Australian Broadcasting Corp, Thomson Locations: Australia, Sydney

☆ Optus outage nationwide affects millions of Australians, phone and internet connections still down
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-07 | by ( ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +3 min

Millions of Australians were left without a phone or internet connection on Wednesday after the country’s second-largest telecommunications provider experienced an unexplained nationwide outage. “It is highly unlikely (that the problem started within software in Optus networks), our systems are actually very stable … This is a very, very rare occurrence,” she said. It has wide ramifications across mobile, fixed, and broadband services for Optus customers,” Rowland told reporters. Ramsay Health Care, which owns 70 hospitals and clinics in Australia, its phone services were impacted. “We encourage any customers who need to contact emergency services to use a mobile line to call 000,” Optus said in a statement.

Persons: Kelly Bayer Rosmarin, ”, Angela Ican, Kyle, couldn’t, it’s, “, Michelle Rowland, ” Rowland, Ramsay Organizations: Optus, ABC Radio, Singapore Telecommunications, “, Reuters, ”, Bank, Federal Communications, Health Care, Optus landlines, ” Optus Locations: Australia

☆ He's been at the same company for 50 years. Here's why he stayed so long and what he tells workers who want to jump from job to job.
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-28 | by ( Tim Paradis | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

Look a little closer and you see how long he's been with the telecom giant: 50 years and two months. Turner, who goes by Kip, has far outlasted most of us in how long he's stayed with the same company. Government figures from 2022 show that the median time US workers have been with their current employer is 4.1 years. And I think people may be afraid to do that — that they think you're unhappy. For example, he's traveled around the country to complete technical training, which has helped him keep pace with the technology.

Persons: Paul, Kip, Turner, —, Paul Turner, I've, they're, that's, It's, it'll, kiddos —, Clinton's, Kip Turner, He's, I'm, he's Organizations: Service, Bell Telephone Locations: Conway , Arkansas, Faulkner County , Arkansas, Little Rock , Arkansas, Hickory Ridge , Arkansas

☆ Elon Musk's control of Starlink gives him unchecked power over elected governments
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-13 | by ( Charles R. Davis | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +9 min

Elon Musk's control over Starlink is in the spotlight after he thwarted a Ukrainian attack. "If the Ukrainian attacks had succeeded in sinking the Russian fleet, it would have been like a mini Pearl Harbor and led to a major escalation," Musk told Isaacson. (Musk later reassured a Russian ambassador that Ukraine would not be able to use Starlink for offensive operations, according to Isaacson). AdvertisementAdvertisementAs Ukrainian officials see it, sinking Russia's fleet, if that was indeed a possibility, would have prevented hundreds of missiles from raining down on the country's infrastructure, and spared civilian lives. Even if it wanted to change Musk's mind, it is not clear that it can actually compel him to do anything when it comes to Ukrainian attacks on territory controlled by Russia.

Persons: Elon, Musk, —, Walter Isaacson, Isaacson, Starlink, Biden, Pettyjohn, it's, Paul Hennessy, David Frum, George W, Bush, Nicholas Grossman, Grossman, Joe Biden, Josh Marshall, cdavis@insider.com Organizations: Service, SpaceX, Fleet, Russian, Pentagon, Ukraine, Center, New, New American Security, Defense Department, Falcon, Getty, University of Illinois, Daily, Washington, Twitter Locations: Wall, Silicon, Sevastopol, Crimea, Ukraine, Crimean, Russian, Sevastopol —, United States, New American, Washington, Ukrainian, Russia

☆ Ohio voters appear primed to back abortion rights measure, the latest sign of the post-Roe fury
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-24 | by ( Brent D. Griffiths | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Ohio voters appear primed to pass an abortion rights constitutional amendment. According to a new poll, 58% of likely Ohio voters would vote in favor of the amendment. Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose must declare by tomorrow whether the abortion rights measure has enough signatures to qualify for the November ballot. As Insider previously reported, abortion rights measures could prove to deliver major political benefits to Democrats. During the 2022 midterms, abortion rights groups passed every state measure they sought and also beat back efforts to restrict abortion access.

Persons: Roe, Frank LaRose, Mike DeWine, Ohioans, Wade Organizations: Service, USA, Suffolk University, GOP, Republican Gov, Republican, National Conference of State Legislatures, The, The Mississippi Supreme, Voters Locations: Ohio, Wall, Silicon, The Mississippi

"Given the events, their relationship with the Syrian defence ministry is now over." Mali authorities did not respond to a request for comment on the flights and whether any Wagner fighters had been redeployed from Syria to Mali. Wagner fighters secured Syrian oilfields and Western officials say Wagner is linked to Evro Polis, a company that profits from those assets. Reuters was unable to determine the fate of those commercial interests in the wake of the Russian defence ministry's moves against Wagner in Syria and Russia. In the wake of the Wagner uprising, Syria's leadership quickly restated publicly the importance of its military alliance with Russia.

Persons: Wagner, Nawar Shaban, Yevgeny Prigozhin, Bashar al, Assad, Vladimir Putin, Prigozhin, Russian Wagner, Evro Polis, Asmaa al, Laila Bassam, Tom Perry, Ed McAllister, Joanna Plucinska, Mike Collett, White, Daniel Flynn Organizations: Omran Center, Strategic Studies, Syrian Republican Guard, Republican Guard, Reuters, Russian Reconciliation Center, Moscow State University, Thomson Locations: BEIRUT, Moscow, Syria, Russian, Russia, Istanbul, Damascus, Ukraine, Belarus, Syrian, Syria's, Homs, Hmeimim, Latakia, Bamako, West African, Mali, Evro Polis, Libya, elswhere, Africa, Western, U.S, Deir, Beirut, London

☆ South Africa fights to keep phone networks up as lights go out
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-05 | by ( Nqobile Dludla | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +8 min

A bank of expensive backup batteries, theft-proofed within a block of concrete. "Our costs have gone through the roof," lamented Sitho Mdlalose, managing director of Vodacom South Africa (VODJ.J). President Cyril Ramaphosa in February declared a national state of disaster, calling the crisis an existential threat to South Africa's social fabric. While most network towers in South Africa are equipped with a battery for backup power, more advanced systems are less common. That risks delaying South Africa's pivot to the digital economy and could leave rural areas, which already suffer from sparse coverage, lagging even further behind.

These included hacking mobile phone messages, bugging calls, getting private information such as medical records by deception or "blagging", and "commissioning the breaking and entry into private property", their lawyer David Sherborne said. Harry, who flew in from his California home, sat just feet away from reporters, watching intently and taking notes. Elton John, Furnish, Frost and another claimant, Doreen Lawrence, mother of Black teenager Stephen Lawrence who was murdered in a 1993 racist attack, were also in court on Monday. Harry hugged Lawrence at the end of the day's hearing and chatted to her and Furnish, and gave a thumbs up to crowds outside as he left court. [1/8] Britain's Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex, arrives at the High Court in London, Britain March 27, 2023.

☆ Premarket stocks: Why the Fed is increasingly flying blind on the economy
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-27 | by ( Nicole Goodkind | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +7 min

But lately, some economists have begun to worry that the data on which Fed officials rely is becoming increasingly inaccurate. That causes more volatility in the incoming data and hence more volatility in markets, economists say. To what extent are declining response rates to surveys actually impacting the data we use? It is absolutely critical for the Fed and markets that the incoming data is as reliable as possible. Those earnings reached what Buffett called a “record” — $30.8 billion in 2022, topping the $27.5 billion in the prior year.

☆ AT&T Earnings Show Wireless Customer Gains, $25 Billion Charge on Landlines
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-25 | by ( Will Feuer | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

AT&T said it added 656,000 postpaid phone connections in the December quarter. AT&T Inc. added subscribers for its core wireless business in its latest quarter, and the company said it plans to keep spending this year on the build-out of 5G infrastructure and the fiber network. The telecommunications company recorded a large fourth-quarter loss after it booked a $25 billion accounting charge tied to its legacy landline infrastructure.

☆ 411 is going out of service for millions of Americans
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-07 | by ( Nathaniel Meyersohn | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +11 min

Starting in January, AT&T customers with digital landlines won’t be able to dial 411 or 0 to reach an operator or get directory assistance. The human telephone operator, a job that came to be dominated by White women during the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. In 2021, there were fewer than 4,000 telephone operators, down from a peak of around 420,000 in the 1970s, according to Bureau of Labor Statistics data. “0” became universal for operator assistance and “411” was the number for directory assistance. By 2004, at the dawn of the smartphone age, 56,000 people were employed as telephone operators.

☆ North Korea sees more use of cell phones, WiFi networks - U.S. researchers
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-15 | by ( Hyonhee Shin | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

SEOUL, Nov 15 (Reuters) - Up to 7 million North Koreans use cell phones daily, and WiFi networks have sharply expanded in recent years as the mobile devices increasingly became a key tool for market activity in the isolated country, U.S. researchers said on Tuesday. Since 3G network services began in 2008, the number of users has risen to 6.5 million to 7 million, more than a quarter of North Korea's 25 million population, the researchers said. The country's antiquated 3G network and limits on foreign investment in upgrades because of sanctions over its weapons programmes has prompted the emergence of faster WiFi networks around the country, Williams said. The WiFi networks do not offer any Internet access but provide connections to domestic services, especially scientific databases for the research community, he added. The private sector has overtaken state-led agents to become North Korea's biggest economic actor in recent years, with its rationing system crumbling and leader Kim Jong Un allowing markets abhorred by his father.

☆ Opinion | Frustrated With Polling? Pollsters Are, Too
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-24 | by ( Quoctrung Bui | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +18 min

But what’s really troubling pollsters going into this election is that it’s unclear how much more error these problems will add during this cycle. Just because you put the right ingredients in a bowl, doesn’t mean you’re going to end up with a cake. I think a lot of that has been swept under the rug because the move to online polling seems so inexorable. Pollsters don’t know what people are seeing, hearing and reading. I know at FiveThirtyEight you can search by A-rated or B-rated, but I don’t know how they’re coming up with these ratings.

☆ In one North Carolina community, mental health workers respond to 911 calls
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-07 | by ( Nadia Kounang | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +9 min

As one recent caller to the 911 center in Durham, North Carolina, said: “I feel kind of dangerous to myself. It’s often linked to someone who is unhoused and dealing with substance use and mental health problems. The most significant concern: a lack of training and awareness from police on how to deal with mental health issues. The KFF CNN Mental Health Survey was conducted by SSRS from July 28 through August 9 among a random national sample of 2,004 adults. Mental health already carries a stigma, and the presence of law enforcement officers in marked cars can add to that.

☆ Long waiting lists, long drives and costly care hinder many kids’ access to mental health care
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-06 | by ( Brenda Goodman | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +12 min

Nearly half of those parents, 47%, say the pandemic has negatively affected their kids’ mental health, with 17% saying it had a major negative impact. Mental health providers who specialize in care for kids are concentrated in urban areas but missing from rural communities. One, TeamUp for Children, has placed full-time mental health providers in seven federally qualified health centers around the Boston area. She says this model – integrating mental health services into primary care – is being copied to varying degrees in pilot projects across the country. The KFF CNN Mental Health Survey was conducted by SSRS from July 28 through August 9 among a random national sample of 2,004 adults.

☆ Iran must deal decisively with protests, president says
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-24 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

People light a fire during a protest over the death of Mahsa Amini, a woman who died after being arrested by the Islamic republic's "morality police", in Tehran, Iran September 21, 2022. WANA (West Asia News Agency) via REUTERSDUBAI, Sept 24 (Reuters) - Iran must deal decisively with protests which have swept the country after the death in custody of a woman detained by the Islamic Republic's morality police, President Ebrahim Raisi said on Saturday. Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com RegisterState media quoted Raisi on Saturday as saying Iran must "deal decisively with those who oppose the country's security and tranquillity". The president "stressed the necessity to distinguish between protest and disturbing public order and security, and called the events ... a riot," state media reported. It was the bloodiest confrontation in the Islamic Republic's history.

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