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☆ Newly minted RNC chair Lara Trump says they've got lawsuits cooking in 81 states. There are 50 states.
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-26 | by ( Kwan Wei Kevin Tan | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Advertisement"We have lawsuits in 81 states right now," Trump told Bolling. "Maybe there are 81 states in the future and she's a time traveler," an X user named Mike Freeman said in a post. AdvertisementLate-night host Jimmy Kimmel couldn't resist mocking Lara Trump either when he referenced the moment in his monologue on Wednesday night. "In 81 states! Last week, she fired back when a viewer questioned her intellect on her podcast, "The Right View with Lara Trump."

Persons: —, Lara Trump, — who's, Donald Trump's, Eric —, we're, Eric Bolling, Jocelyn Benson, Trump, Bolling, 3vZ8mRYvgE —, Mike Freeman, Jimmy Kimmel, they're, Kimmel, Donald Trump, Michael Whatley, Lara, MAGA, hasn't, Lara Trump's Organizations: Service, Republican National, RNC, Business, South Virginia ., North, North Carolina GOP Locations: Tennessee, . West Dakota, South Virginia, South Virginia . Indiana, North Carolina

☆ Google is once again dictating the future of the online ad industry and all its rivals can do is brace for impact
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-24 | by ( Lara O'Reilly | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

When Google sneezes, the entire online advertising industry catches a cold. Google's announcement Tuesday that it would again delay its planned timeline for killing off third-party tracking cookies had long been anticipated by the digital advertising industry. Google has a 28% share of the online ad market, according to market research firm Emarketer (a sister company to BI). Regulators could step in to resolve the cookie chaosSome industry experts are hoping regulators will step in to untangle the mess. Amid the four years of confusion, chaos, and harumphing, there has been one consistent theme: When it comes to the future of online advertising, Google calls the shots.

Persons: Ciaran O'Kane, WireCorp, hasn't, Sundar Pichai, Stephen Lam, Mathieu Roche, James Rosewell, Google's, haven't, Pierre Devoize, Devoize Organizations: Google, Business, Gmail, Antitrust, US Department of Justice, European Commission, UK's, Markets Authority, CMA, Industry, IAB Tech, EU Google, Chrome, Movement Locations: FirstPartyCapital

☆ Sex and marriage patterns in an ancient empire revealed by DNA
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-24 | by ( Katie Hunt | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +8 min

With opulent graves but no written records, the empire and its people have remained largely in the shadows of history until recently. But a landmark April 2022 study involving ancient DNA taken from the graves of the Avar elite shed light on the empire’s far-flung origins. A tiny sample is drilled from a bone at the ancient DNA laboratory at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig, Germany. In the case of men, researchers found two partners in 10 cases, three partners in four cases and four partners in one case. “Polygamy (having multiple marriage partners), serial monogamous marriages and extramarital relations are all possible explanations,” she said.

Persons: ”, Zsófia Rácz, Rácz, aren’t, Guido Alberto Gnecchi, Max Planck, Eötvös Loránd University Múzeum Lara Cassidy, “, polygyny, Ruscone, Cassidy, Bryan Miller, wasn’t Organizations: CNN, of Archaeological Sciences, Eötvös Loránd, Múzeum, University’s, Archaeological Sciences, Max, Max Planck Institute, Eötvös Loránd University, Trinity College Dublin, Turks, Central, University of Michigan Locations: Central, Eastern Europe, Hungary, Rákóczifalva, Budapest, Leipzig, Germany, Europe, Mongolia, Caucasus, what’s, Constantinople, Byzantine, Eurasia

☆ Aid to Ukraine Is on the Way. Here’s How It Might Help.
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-24 | by ( Lara Jakes | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: 1 min

Now that the Senate has approved a nearly $61 billion aid package to Ukraine, and with President Biden poised to sign it, desperately needed American weapons could be arriving on the battlefield within days. The weapons package — which has been delayed over political wrangling by House Republicans since last fall — is “a lifeline” for Kyiv’s military, said Yehor Cherniev, the deputy chairman of the Ukrainian Parliament’s national security committee. But it will not include everything that President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine has asked for as his military struggles to hold firm after two years of war against invading Russian forces. Here is a look at what Ukraine says it needs, what it is expected to get in the American aid package and whether it will be enough to make an immediate difference.

Persons: Biden, Yehor Cherniev, Volodymyr Zelensky Organizations: House Republicans, Ukrainian Locations: Ukraine, Russian

☆ Mark Penn's Stagwell Group is on the hunt for adtech as the ad company continues its acquisition spree
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-23 | by ( Lara O'Reilly | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Stagwell Group, the advertising agency holding group operated by Mark Penn, a former advisor to Bill and Hillary Clinton, is actively looking to buy adtech companies as it continues to grow through acquisitions. Penn's theory is that by bringing such adtech in-house, Stagwell can offer more self-service software to advertisers who want it while also shrinking those clients' ad prices and expanding its own margins. Challenger brand Stagwell is competing for bigger contractsPenn founded Stagwell Group in 2015 with $250 million in funding from investors, including former Microsoft Chief Executive Steve Ballmer. Stagwell recently made a near-$700-million bid for S4 Capital, another challenger ad company founded by longtime WPP CEO Martin Sorrell, The Wall Street Journal reported. Publicis Groupe has the biggest market capitalization of the largest holding companies, at $28.2 billion, while Stagwell is trading at around $1.6 billion.

Persons: Mark Penn, Bill, Hillary Clinton, Penn, we're, Stagwell, Penn didn't, Ana Milicevic, Milicevic, Brian Wieser, Wieser, Steve Ballmer, Sunny, GALE, Allison, Martin Sorrell, they're Organizations: Stagwell, Penn, Business, Google, Harris Poll, Next Partners, Sparrow, Madison, Challenger, Stagwell Group, Microsoft, MDC Partners, WPP, Publicis Groupe, Veritas, S4 Capital, Street Journal, S4, EMEA Locations: adtech, London

☆ Half of American workers support a ban on talking politics in the office
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-23 | by ( Eric Rosenbaum | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

Office politics have always been a point of frustration for workers, but now it's politics in the office that's getting to many American workers. In an era during which more workers have felt emboldened to challenge bosses over politics — with the recent Google worker protests and arrests a prime example — just under half of American workers polled by CNBC and SurveyMonkey say they would support a ban on political conversations at work. Younger workers show less hesitancy toward political discussions, with 41% of Gen Z workers saying they would choose to bar any political discussions at work. That's lower than millennial workers (46%), Gen X workers (52%), and boomers (49%). The CNBC | SurveyMonkey online poll was conducted April 3-5 among a national sample of 5,993 workers in the United States.

Persons: Lara Belonogoff Organizations: Google, CNBC, SurveyMonkey, Survey, Columbia University Locations: Google's San Francisco, Gaza, San Francisco , California, United States, Israel

☆ Ukraine War Helped Push World Military Spending to 35-Year High, Study Says
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-22 | by ( Lara Jakes | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

The study, by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, concluded that global military spending reached $2.4 trillion last year — a 6.8 percent increase from 2022. “The unprecedented rise in military spending is a direct response to the global deterioration in peace and security,” said Nan Tian, a senior researcher at the institute, which has tracked military expenditures since at least 1988. He described an “increasingly volatile geopolitical and security landscape.”Ukraine, in its first full year of war with Russia, devoted $64.8 billion to its military in 2023. That accounted for 58 percent of the government’s overall spending last year and 37 percent of the country’s gross domestic product. Only seven other countries spent more on military and defense costs than Ukraine in 2023, analysts found.

Persons: spender, ”, Nan Tian Organizations: Stockholm International Peace Research Institute Locations: Ukraine, Stockholm, Asia, United States, Russia

☆ Do Tanks Have a Place in 21st-Century Warfare?
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-20 | by ( Lara Jakes | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

The drone combat in Ukraine that is transforming modern warfare has begun taking a deadly toll on one of the most powerful symbols of American military might — the tank — and threatening to rewrite how it will be used in future conflicts. Over the last two months, Russian forces have taken out five of the 31 American-made M1 Abrams tanks that the Pentagon sent to Ukraine last fall, a senior U.S. official said. A vast majority of those are Soviet-era, Russian or Ukrainian-made tanks; only about 140 of those taken out in battle were given to Ukraine by NATO states. And Russia has so far lost more than 2,900 tanks, the Oryx data show, although Ukraine claims that the number exceeds 7,000. German Leopard tanks have also been targeted in Ukraine, with at least 30 having been destroyed, Oryx says.

Persons: Markus Reisner, Abrams, ” Organizations: Abrams, Pentagon, NATO, Leopard, Hudson Institute Locations: Ukraine, U.S, Austrian, Russia, Washington

☆ Trump campaign and RNC pledge to unleash thousands to monitor vote counting in battleground states
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-19 | by ( Fredreka Schouten | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +3 min

CNN —The Trump campaign and Republican National Committee are pledging to deploy 100,000 volunteers and lawyers to monitor vote counting across battleground states this year – part of what officials describe as a stepped-up focus on “election integrity” by the national party. As the party’s presumptive presidential nominee, Trump now controls the RNC and recently installed a new chairman, Michael Whatley, and his daughter-in-law Lara Trump as party co-chair. “Having the right people to count the ballots is just as important as turning out voters on Election Day,” Trump said in a statement. It’s not unusual for political parties and candidates to work to recruit and deploy lawyers and partisan poll watchers to protect their interests as voters cast their ballots and election officials tally the results. Spies promised aggressive legal action if officials deviate from established election procedures or “try to change them at the last minute.”The new election monitoring program comes as the RNC has engaged in dozens of election-related lawsuits around the country.

Persons: Donald Trump’s, Trump, Michael Whatley, Lara Trump, “, ” Trump, hotlines, It’s, –, Charlie Spies, ” “, we’re, ”, Spies Organizations: CNN, Trump, Republican National Committee, Politico, RNC, Republicans, GOP

☆ Middle East Crisis E.U. Will Impose New Sanctions on Iran for Attacking Israel
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-18 | by ( Lara Jakes | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +3 min

Mr. Abu Jayyab said the strike hit less than 10 meters from where the children were playing. Mr. Abu Jayyab said Luji had been eager to meet the new baby that her parents, Mr. Abu Jayyab’s brother and sister-in-law, were expecting. In his grief, Luji’s father decided they would name the baby after her, Mr. Abu Jayyab said. “Doctors say he needs a miracle to survive, and we should prepare ourselves for the bad news,” Mr. Abu Jayyab said in a phone interview. Two of the girls’ cousins, 15-year-old Ahmed and 18-year-old Abdullah, as well as a 60-year-old neighbor were also killed in the strike, Mr. Abu Jayyab said.

Persons: Abu, Yousef Abu Jayyab, Abu Jayyab, ”, Abdel Kareem Hana, Luji, Abu Jayyab’s, Luji’s, Mila, Ahmed, ” Mr, Abdullah, Aric Toler Organizations: Palestinian, The New York Times, Al Aqsa Martyrs Hospital, Associated Press, United Nations Locations: Gaza, Israeli, Al Aqsa, Credit

☆ NPR editor who criticized outlet for liberal bias out
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-17 | by ( Oliver Darcy | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +2 min

CNN —Uri Berliner, a National Public Radio senior editor who wrote a scathing online essay accusing the public radio network of harboring a liberal bias, said Wednesday he had resigned from the outlet. “I am resigning from NPR, a great American institution where I have worked for 25 years,” Berliner wrote in a resignation letter to NPR chief executive Katherine Maher, which he posted to his X account. Berliner’s resignation came after he was suspended for five days without pay over his 3,500-word piece in the anti-establishment publication The Free Press. In his resignation letter, Berliner said he did not support calls to defund NPR and that he wants to see the audio-focused outlet thrive. Berliner’s allegations of network bias were billed as a top story, with right-wing outlets and personalities portraying Berliner as a “whistleblower.”

Persons: CNN — Uri Berliner, ” Berliner, Katherine Maher, Berliner’s, Berliner, Donald Trump colluded, Hunter, Edith Chapin, Maher, Trump, Isabel Lara, Maher “, Donald Trump, ” Organizations: CNN, Public Radio, NPR, Free Press, Fox News Locations: American, Russia, York, ”

☆ NPR suspends editor who accused outlet of liberal bias
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-16 | by ( Jon Passantino | Oliver Darcy | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +4 min

It described the notice as a “final warning,” saying Berliner would be fired if he violated NPR’s policy again, Folkenflik reported. An NPR spokeswoman told CNN the outlet “does not comment on individual personnel matters, including discipline.” Berliner did not immediately respond to a CNN request for comment. Other NPR staffers publicly rejected Berliner’s assessment in social media posts. “Many things wrong w/terrible Berliner column on NPR, including not observing basic fairness,” NPR TV critic and media analyst Eric Deggans wrote. On his Truth Social media platform, Trump called NPR a “LIBERAL DISINFORMATION MACHINE,” that “NOT ONE DOLLAR” of government funds should be sent to in the future.

Persons: NPR’s David Folkenflik, Uri Berliner’s, Berliner, Folkenflik, ” Berliner, Donald Trump colluded, York Post’s Hunter Biden, Edith Chapin, Eric Deggans, “ Didn’t, Trump, “, ”, Jesse Watters, Katherine Maher, Isabel Lara, Christopher Rufo, Maher “ Organizations: New, New York CNN, NPR, CNN, Free Press, York, Corporation for Public Broadcasting, Social, Trump, Fox News, Berliner Locations: New York, Russia, LIBERAL

☆ For Many Western Allies, Sending Weapons to Israel Gets Dicey
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-13 | by ( Lara Jakes | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

For months, Western governments have provided military support for Israel while fending off accusations that their weapons were being used to commit war crimes in Gaza. But as a global outcry over the growing death toll in Gaza mounts, maintaining that balance is becoming increasingly difficult, as was clear on a single day this past week. On Tuesday, in a United Nations court, Germany found itself having to defend against accusations that it was complicit in genocide against Palestinians in Gaza by exporting weapons to Israel. A few hours later, in Washington, a top Democrat and Biden administration ally, Representative Gregory W. Meeks of New York, said he might block an $18 billion deal to sell F-15 fighter jets to Israel unless he was assured that Palestinian civilians would not be indiscriminately bombed. And two miles away, at a media briefing at the State Department, Britain’s foreign minister, David Cameron, was pressed on what his government had concluded after weeks of internal review about whether Israel has breached international humanitarian law during its offensive in Gaza.

Persons: Gregory W, Meeks, David Cameron Organizations: Israel, United Nations, Biden, State Department Locations: Gaza, Germany, Israel, Washington, New York

☆ Adtech company Criteo is laying off up to 4% of staff as it prepares for the cookie apocalypse
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-12 | by ( Lara O'Reilly | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

download the appSign up to get the inside scoop on today’s biggest stories in markets, tech, and business — delivered daily. Read previewCriteo, the publicly traded adtech company, told staffers this week it would lay off up to 4% of its staff, people familiar with the matter told Business Insider. The company had 3,563 employees as of December 31, meaning the reduction could affect around 140 people. AdvertisementIn its most recent quarter, Criteo reported a return to profit on flat revenue, having made $70 million in cost savings over 2023. Criteo also made a round of layoffs last year, Digiday reported, though the company didn't disclose the number of employees affected.

Persons: —, we've, Criteo, retargeting, It's, Petrus, Digiday Organizations: Service, Business, Google Locations: Paris

☆ I tried 5 virtual-reality workouts. The best ones transported me around the globe and got me to exercise for way longer.
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-12 | by ( Lara Walsh | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +10 min

So, I tested popular apps with VR workouts like Supernatural, Litesport, Xponential+, FitXR, and Les Mills XR Bodycombat. The Supernatural VR app combined beautiful surroundings with full-body workoutsI worked out while wearing my Meta Quest 3 VR headset. The app's music library set it apart from the other VR workout apps I've tried, many of which didn't have recognizable songs. Many of the workout apps I tried tapped into my competitive drive by creating a video-game-like environment. The next time I feel unmotivated to work out, I might try a VR exercise app.

Persons: —, Lara Walsh, I've, FitXR, Les, Mills, would've, they're Organizations: Service, VR, Les, Pico Locations: Machu Picchu, China, Barre, StretchLab

☆ Meet the 33 rising stars of adtech solving digital advertising's toughest challenges
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-11 | by ( Lauren Johnson | Lara O'Reilly | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +1 min

Advertising tech companies are rushing to move away from third-party cookies. They're also developing new products for hot areas like streaming TV and retail media. With big challenges like the death of third-party cookies and new opportunities from areas like retail media and streaming TV, adtech companies are in a race for the industry's top talent. And they're hoping to cash in on the rise of retail media from the likes of Amazon, Walmart, and Kroger. They're also aiming to solve for cookieless advertising as Google's Chrome browser removes third-party cookies used for targeting and measuring digital ads, and they're developing next-generation generative AI tools.

Persons: They're Organizations: Business, Netflix, Disney, Amazon, Walmart, Kroger

☆ Trump and Johnson Trump build alliance on the falsehood of the stolen election
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-11 | by ( Stephen Collinson | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +11 min

The stolen election falsehood that dominates the GOPJohnson’s willingness to lend the authority of his office to Trump’s “election integrity” campaign shows how Trump’s stolen election conspiracy theory has consumed almost every pillar of power in the GOP. Trump and Johnson are also expected to relitigate the 2020 election during Friday’s press conference, a Trump adviser told CNN. “IT’S SO THEY CAN VOTE, VOTE, VOTE,” Trump said on his Truth Social network in December. Two days after the election, Trump declared, “If you count the legal votes, I easily win. “I support President Trump, I’m one of his biggest fighters here in Congress.

Persons: Mike Johnson, Donald Trump, Trump, Aileen Cannon, Trump’s, Johnson, ”, CNN’s Kristen Holmes, Fredreka Schouten, CNN’s KFile, Lara Trump, William Barr, Hillary Clinton, Joe Biden’s, ” Trump, ” Johnson, Biden, There’s, —, Matt Gaetz –, “, ” Gaetz, Marjorie Taylor Greene, Greene, she’d, ” Greene, CNN’s Manu Raju, Kevin McCarthy, McCarthy —, Trump — Organizations: CNN —, Republican, GOP, Trump’s, Trump, Republicans, Republican National Committee, RNC, CNN, Democratic, Electoral, “, Christian Broadcasting Network, Biden, Georgia Republican, House Republicans, Capitol Locations: Trump, Congress, Lago, Florida, New York, Georgia, American, Texas, Georgia , Michigan, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Ukraine, Mar, November’s

☆ RNC under Lara Trump spreads ‘massive fraud’ claims about 2020 election
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-10 | by ( Andrew Kaczynski | Em Steck | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +7 min

Lara Trump has a long history of echoing his election fraud claims, according to a CNN KFile analysis of her past statements as a commentator and surrogate for the former president. There is no evidence of widespread fraud in the 2020 election, as even some state GOP election officials and former Trump Attorney General William Barr have acknowledged. But in the years since the 2020 election, Lara Trump has continued to push claims of fraud. In the same interview, Trump also added the GOP needed to “trust mail-in voting.”Neither the RNC nor Lara Trump responded to multiple requests for comment. “No, we don’t believe that.”On her internet show and podcast, and in public events, she often spread outlandish and nonsensical claims about the 2020 election.

Persons: Lara Trump, Donald Trump, Donald Trump’s, “, Trump, ”, CNN’s KFile, Michael Whatley, Drew McKissick, Ronna McDaniel, William Barr, who’s, Joe Biden’s “, ” Trump, Cecile Clocheret, Biden, Joe Biden, Lara, They’re, We’re Organizations: CNN, Republican National Committee, RNC, GOP, Trump, Republicans, NBC, ”, Getty, Biden, US Census Bureau, Pew Research Locations: American, Houston, AFP, South Carolina, United States

☆ IBM's marketing chief explains how the company is harnessing AI to boost productivity
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-09 | by ( Lara O'Reilly | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

IBM aims to be "client zero" of the AI products it sells to clients, marketing chief Jonathan Adashek said. He said AI has augmented the work IBM staffers do and even made its ads more effective. In April 2020, our CEO Arvind Krishna said IBM is going to be the leading hybrid cloud and AI company. That means acquisitions, that means divestitures, that means prioritizing some areas of work over others. Dropping 'hybrid work' from the return-to-office vernacularI think a lot of what drives productivity in the wrong direction is when you get people not focused on the must-haves and spending more time on the nice-to-dos.

Persons: Jonathan Adashek, —, Arvind Krishna, we've, Intentionality Organizations: IBM, Service, Adobe, Masters, Java

☆ Check out the pitch deck that helped adtech identity company ID5 raise $20 million from investors including TransUnion and Martin Sorrell's S4S
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-09 | by ( Lara O'Reilly | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Adtech company ID5 said Tuesday it had raised $20 million in Series B investment. The ID5 identifier has been deployed by more than 66,000 publishers, per the metadata company Sincera. ID5 has now raised just over $27 million in funding to date, though the company declined to disclose its post-money valuation. New investors in this round included the credit reporting and data agency TransUnion and advertising veteran Martin Sorrell's venture capital firm S4S Ventures. Check out key slides from the pitch deck that helped ID5 raise $20 million in Series B funding.

Persons: ID5, Mathieu Roche, Martin Sorrell's, Sorrell, Matt Spiegel, Spiegel, Matt, Roche Organizations: Business, Data Protection, Publishers, Trade, S4S Ventures, Progress Ventures, Seventure Partners, Capital Partners, Aperiam Ventures

☆ Trump’s campaign said it raised $50.5 million at a high-dollar Florida fundraiser
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-07 | by ( ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +6 min

Donald Trump's campaign said it raised $50.5 million on Saturday, a staggering reported haul as his campaign works to catch up to the fundraising juggernaut of President Joe Biden and the Democratic Party. Trump and the GOP announced earlier in the week that they raised more than $65.6 million in March and closed out the month with $93.1 million. Biden and the Democrats announced Saturday that they took in more than $90 million last month and had $192 million-plus on hand. Campaign fundraising reports filed with the Federal Election Commission detailing donations from Saturday's event are not expected until a mid-July filing date. But when checks of any amount are written to the combined campaign, the campaign and Save America get paid first by default.

Persons: Donald Trump, John Paulson, Melania Trump, —, that's what's, Trump, Biden, Chris LaCivita, Susie Wiles, Bill Clinton, Barack Obama, Donald Trump's, Joe Biden, Jaime Harrison, Lara Trump, Robert Bigelow, Ron DeSantis, John Catsimatidis, Linda McMahon, Steve Wynn, Georgia Sen, Kelly Loeffler, South Carolina Sen, Tim Scott, Doug Burgum, Vivek Ramaswamy —, Nelson Mandela, South Africa's, Jasmine Harris, Jesus Christ, that's Donald Trump Organizations: America, Trump, Republican, Radio City Music Hall, Democratic Party, GOP, Mar, Democratic, Federal, Commission, Republican National Committee, Save, RNC, Save America, Florida Gov, World Wrestling Entertainment, Small Business Administration, South, Tim Scott , North Dakota Gov Locations: Palm Beach , Florida, Beach , Florida, New York, Florida, Las Vegas, Georgia, South Carolina, Tim Scott , North, York

☆ Snap's courting of political advertisers is set to bring it a much-needed 2024 revenue boost
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-04 | by ( Lara O'Reilly | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Analysts at the World Advertising Research Center forecast Snap's ad revenue will grow by 13.7% to $5.2 billion this year, up from a 0.1% increase in 2023. The biggest year-over-year growth is set to come from political and advocacy advertisers in the US, ahead of the November presidential election, WARC said. Beyond the political ad boost, Snap's expected return to double-digit revenue growth will be driven by the platform leaning on artificial intelligence for ad optimization, an improved content experience, and user growth, according to WARC. To be sure, with US political ad spend forecast to exceed $12 billion in 2024, according to Emarketer, Snap will be a drop in the ocean for most political advertisers. Traditional media still takes the lion's share of political ad dollars.

Persons: WARC, Snap's, Biden, Alexandria Ocasio, Alex Brownsell, Brownsell, That's, Liz Bennett, Bennett, Danielle Butterfield, Butterfield, TikTok doesn't, It's, Seat's Bennett, Jason Poinsette, Evan Spiegel Organizations: Advertising Research, Business, Republican National Committee, Google, ESPN, Meta, USA Locations: Alexandria, Texas, Los Angeles

☆ NATO Wants to Show Support for Ukraine, but Only So Much
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-04 | by ( Lara Jakes | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

When NATO’s leaders gather this summer to celebrate the 75th anniversary of their military alliance, the last thing they want to see is a resurgent Russian military marching across Ukraine because Europe was too weak to provide Kyiv with the support it needed. What Ukraine wants, ultimately, is a formal invitation to join NATO. NATO has no appetite for taking on a new member that, because of the alliance’s covenant of collective security, would draw it into the biggest land war in Europe since 1945. That has sent NATO searching for some middle ground, something short of membership but meaty enough to show that it is backing Ukraine “for the long haul,” as Jens Stoltenberg, the NATO secretary general, put it this week. What that will be has so far proven elusive, according to senior Western diplomats involved in the discussions.

Persons: Ukraine “, Jens Stoltenberg Organizations: NATO Locations: Russian, Ukraine, Europe, Washington, NATO

☆ C.I.A. Director Is Heading to Cairo for New Truce Talks
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-04 | by ( Julian E. Barnes | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +14 min

During a 30-minute call with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel, President Biden went further than ever in pressing for change in the military operation. Credit... Fatima Shbair/Associated PressBy the middle of the night in Jerusalem, Israel made its first gestures to Mr. Biden. The reported agreement came as American officials held out the prospect of consequences if Mr. Netanyahu resisted. But Mr. Kirby would not outline specific metrics for judging Israel’s response or what Mr. Biden would do if not satisfied. Mr. Biden called himself “outraged and heartbroken” over the incident and made a point of calling Mr. Andrés to express his condolences.

Persons: Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel, President Biden, Biden, Biden’s, “, Netanyahu, ”, Fatima Shbair, Mr, Antony J, Blinken, ” Mr, Chris Coons, Coons, Kamala Harris, Jake Sullivan, Biden “, William J, Burns, Mohammed Saber, John F, Kirby, emboldening, John Hannah, José Andrés, Andrés, Zomi Frankcom, Damian Soból, Barack Obama, Bibi, ” Ben Rhodes, Obama, ” Jon Favreau, doesn’t, ‘, ’, aggravation, Jill Biden, Joe, ” Julian E, Barnes, Katie Rogers, David E, Sanger, Lara Jakes Organizations: Israel, Hamas, Credit, Associated, U.S . National Security Council, NATO, Democratic, CNN, Republican, American Israel Public Affairs Committee, Iran, Central Kitchen, Shutterstock, Jewish Institute for National Security of America, Biden, Mr, Israel Defense Forces, White Locations: Gaza, Israel, Rafah, Jerusalem, Ashdod, Jordan, Brussels, Michigan, Washington, Delaware, Iran, Syria, United States, Cairo, “ Hamas, Haiti, Cyprus, U.S, “

☆ Biden Chides Netanyahu, Threatening to Pivot U.S. Policy
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-04 | by ( Cassandra Vinograd | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +13 min

During a 30-minute call with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel, President Biden went further than ever in pressing for change in the military operation. “President Biden emphasized that the strikes on humanitarian workers and the overall humanitarian situation are unacceptable,” according to a White House summary of the call. But Mr. Kirby would not outline specific metrics for judging Israel’s response or what Mr. Biden would do if not satisfied. Mr. Biden called himself “outraged and heartbroken” over the incident and made a point of calling Mr. Andrés to express his condolences. Bibi obviously doesn’t care what the U.S. says, its about what the U.S. does.”Jon Favreau, a former chief speechwriter for Mr. Obama, was even more derisive of Mr. Biden.

Persons: Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel, President Biden, Biden, “, Netanyahu, ”, Fatima Shbair, Antony J, Blinken, ” Mr, Biden’s, Chris Coons, Mr, Coons, Kamala Harris, Jake Sullivan, Biden “, Mohammed Saber, John F, Kirby, emboldening, John Hannah, José Andrés, Andrés, Zomi Frankcom, Damian Soból, Barack Obama, Bibi, ” Ben Rhodes, Obama, ” Jon Favreau, doesn’t, ‘, ’, aggravation, Jill Biden, Joe, Katie Rogers, David E, Sanger, Lara Jakes Organizations: Israel, Hamas, Credit, Associated, NATO, Democratic, CNN, Republican, American Israel Public Affairs Committee, Iran, Central Kitchen, Shutterstock, Jewish Institute for National Security of America, Biden, Mr, Israel Defense Forces, White Locations: Gaza, Israel, Rafah, Brussels, Michigan, Washington, Delaware, Jerusalem, Iran, Syria, United States, “ Hamas, Haiti, Cyprus, U.S, “

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