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The impoverished child of a single mother and the only Black Republican in the U.S. Senate, Scott often points to his personal story as proof that America remains a land of promise. As a Black conservative, Scott is a rarity in a country where politics are sharply divided along racial lines. Some 92% of Black voters backed Democrat Joe Biden in the 2020 presidential election, while 55% of white voters backed Trump. At the same time, the South Carolina senator has accused Democrats of exploiting racial tensions for partisan gain. Scott's entrance into the race puts him in direct competition with Nikki Haley, the former governor of South Carolina, who launched her campaign in February.

☆ An Insider’s View of the George Floyd Murder Trial
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-17 | by ( Julie Bosman | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

The country was riveted for three weeks in 2021 during the trial of the former police officer Derek Chauvin, as a jury in Minneapolis considered whether the death of George Floyd was murder. Through it all, Keith Ellison, the attorney general of Minnesota who was directing the prosecution, was a constant yet silent presence in the courtroom. “I wasn’t trying to be a stenographer,” Mr. Ellison, 59, said in an interview this month. “I was thinking, ‘What do I need to remember?’”Those notes informed the prosecution's nightly meetings during the trial. It is a trial diary of sorts, a clear, methodical account of his experience directing the prosecution of Mr. Chauvin, in the rare murder conviction of a police officer for an on-duty death.

☆ Insiders say Oracle is crushing morale at $28 billion acquisition Cerner by cutting over 3,000 workers, banning raises, and sidelining its former CEO
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-16 | by ( Ashley Stewart | Blake Dodge | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

After the acquisition closed in June, Oracle has laid off more than 3,000 of the 28,000 original Cerner employees, one of the people said. According to his LinkedIn, Feinberg left the CEO role in September before becoming "chairman" of Oracle Health. After Johnson left, Oracle moved data and artificial-intelligence back under its cloud business. Internally, the face of the unit appears to be Oracle Health General Manager Travis Dalton, who has been in charge of all-hands meetings. Oracle Health is in charge of a contract worth several billion dollars to overhaul the US Department of Veterans Affairs' information systems.

☆ The funniest joke suggestions for Elon Musk's Twitter CEO successor, from Elizabeth Holmes to Meghan Markle
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-12 | by ( Pete Syme | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Elon Musk announced Thursday he would be handing over the Twitter CEO role to a woman. But Twitter users have been having fun suggesting several joke candidates. Months after Twitter users voted for Elon Musk to step down as the company's CEO, the billionaire announced Thursday that he'd found someone to takeover the position. Musk tweeted. The Wall Street Journal also reported that Yaccarino is in talks to take over as Twitter CEO.

Prosecutors have until May 29 to respond to Bankman-Fried's dismissal request, and Kaplan will hear arguments on June 15. EXTRADITIONBankman-Fried has acknowledged that FTX had inadequate risk management but denies stealing funds, and has sought to distance himself from FTX's day-to-day operations. In pleading guilty, Singh admitted to making political donations in his own name that were funded in part by transfers from Alameda. "The campaign finance allegations reveal, yet again, the consequences of the Government's rush to indict Mr. Bankman-Fried," his lawyers wrote. Bankman-Fried has largely been confined to his parents' home since his December arrest in the Bahamas, where he had lived and where FTX was based.

FTX imploded after a flurry of customer withdrawals in the wake of reports it had commingled assets with Alameda Research, Bankman-Fried's crypto-focused hedge fund. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology graduate has pleaded not guilty to 13 counts of fraud and conspiracy. He has acknowledged that FTX had inadequate risk management but denies stealing funds, and has sought to distance himself from FTX's day-to-day operations. Three onetime close associates - former Alameda co-chief executive Caroline Ellison, former FTX technology chief Gary Wang, and former FTX engineering chief Nishad Singh - have all pleaded guilty and agreed to cooperate with prosecutors. Bankman-Fried has limited access to technology, after prosecutors warned he might tamper with witnesses.

New York CNN —Lawyers for FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried on Monday filed motions to dismiss the US government’s fraud charges against him. Bankman-Fried’s attorneys said the government failed to properly explain what offenses the former CEO of the bankrupt crypto exchange committed. Bankman-Fried has pleaded not guilty to the 13 charges. Prosecutors allege that Bankman-Fried stole FTX customer deposits to finance risky bets at his hedge fund, Alameda Research, and to funnel contributions to American politicians. Three of Bankman-Fried’s former business partners — Gary Wang, Caroline Ellison and Nishad Singh — have pleaded guilty to numerous charges and are cooperating with investigators.

CNN —A Minnesota judge found former Minneapolis police officer Tou Thao guilty of aiding and abetting second-degree manslaughter for his role in the May 2020 killing of George Floyd, according to court documents filed Monday. “Like the bystanders, Thao could see Floyd’s life slowly ebbing away as the restraint continued,” Cahill wrote in the verdict. Tou Thao Hennepin County Sheriff's Office“The conviction of Tou Thao is historic and the right outcome,” Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison, the lead prosecutor of Floyd’s murder, said in a statement. Chauvin was found guilty of second-degree unintentional murder, third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter in state court and was sentenced to 22.5 years in prison in June 2021. Lane, Kueng and Thao were found guilty in federal court of violating Floyd’s civil rights and of failing to intervene to stop Chauvin during the restraint.

☆ The world's 12 wealthiest people got richer by $36 billion in a day - and have now gained $264 billion in net worth this year
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-28 | by ( Theron Mohamed | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, and their peers have added $264 billion to their fortunes this year. The surge in their companies' stock prices this year has added $46 billion and $42 billion to their respective fortunes. Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, Tesla CEO Elon Musk, and L'Oreal heiress Francoise Bettencourt-Myers have gained around $27 billion, $25 billion and $23 billion each. The billionaire best friends have added $13 billion and $7 billion to their respective fortunes since the start of January. Meanwhile, the $36 billion of wealth they gained on Thursday rivals the the market values of grocery giant Kroger and Taco Bell-owner Yum!

☆ Benioff vs. Benioff
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-28 | by ( Ashley Stewart | Ellen Thomas | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +29 min

Within Salesforce, Benioff riffs are at times met with backlash from an angry workforce. "You're not going to fire your family during times of need," a former Salesforce executive told Insider. "I don't think they understand Ohana," Benioff told Insider. "Look, we have to be the example of stakeholder capitalism," Benioff told Insider. A 'New Day' at Salesforce"I use the Japanese principle of shoshin, beginner's mind," Benioff told Insider in a phone interview in March.

☆ Opinion: Harry Belafonte lived in – and transformed – two worlds
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-26 | by ( Opinion Gene Seymour | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +5 min

Gene Seymour Jeremy Freeman/CNNBut history, as it often does, had other ideas for Belafonte, who died April 25 at 96, having lived a long, full life as both entertainer and activist. The times he lived in paved a smoother way for him than the one faced by his mentor and hero Paul Robeson. On the other hand, there was, relatively speaking, only so much Belafonte could do on the entertainment side. Here, as elsewhere in Belafonte’s life, the activism and the entertainment sides of his public life worked in tandem to buttress, offset and enhance the other. Join us on Twitter and FacebookAnd in a gratifying sense, the push-pull of history’s demands worked in Belafonte’s favor as a screen actor.

☆ Media insiders would often gossip about which anchor was about to leave Fox News. None of them guessed Tucker Carlson.
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-24 | by ( Matt Turner | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

The Dominion lawsuit was an embarrassment to Fox, airing text messages the company would rather have kept private. Tucker Carlson's departure is a huge surprise. Like a plot twist in "Succession," the departure of Tucker Carlson from Fox News is one we didn't see coming. The news of Carlson's departure almost immediately wiped close to $1 billion off of Fox Corporation's market capitalization. Upon confirmation that Carlson had left Fox, veteran media reporter Sarah Ellison simply wrote: "Incredible."

☆ Front-line NATO allies worry they could be next after Russia's invasion of Ukraine and are getting ready for a fight
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-23 | by ( Sinéad Baker | Jake Epstein | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +13 min

These countries along the military alliance's front line are now scrambling to make sure they're protected should the Russian military ever come knocking. "There is an imminent need of a stronger NATO presence in our region," Estonia's Foreign Minister Urmas Reinsalu said. For nearly 14 months, the Russian military has been bogged down by its grinding war in Ukraine. More boots on the groundSome leaders in the Baltic countries have said that they ultimately want to host more NATO troops, including permanent brigades, in the years to come. So as the threat landscape continues to shift, the Baltic defense has adapted along with it, Townsend said.

☆ Carnivorous plants may lure their insect prey with specialized scents
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-19 | by ( Kate Golembiewski | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +6 min

CNN —Sarracenia pitcher plants, found in bogs throughout eastern North America, look like trumpet-shaped flowers, often in purplish or reddish hues. Different kinds of Sarracenia pitcher plants tend to eat different kinds of insects — some species trap more ants, while others feast on bees and moths. But recently opened pitcher plants that don’t stink of rotting bug carcasses provide an opportunity to identify the scents, she explained. The biggest challenge with the study, honestly, is that they did it in France,” rather than in the Sarracenia pitcher plants’ native North American bogs. It’s important to study pitcher plants due to the unique role they play in their increasingly fragile ecosystems, he added.

Companies Altria Group Inc FollowApril 17 (Reuters) - E-cigarette company Juul Labs Inc and its former largest investor, Marlboro maker Altria Group Inc (MO.N), on Monday settled claims by the state of Minnesota that they fueled teen vaping addiction. The settlement, whose terms are not yet public, was announced by Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison and by Juul as a trial in the case was nearing its end. Juul has now settled vaping-related claims with 48 U.S. states and territories. Reporting By Brendan Pierson in New York Editing by Nick ZieminskiOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ The stock market rally in 2023 has added $213 billion to the wealth of the world's top 10 billionaires
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-15 | by ( Matthew Fox | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

A strong start to the stock market this year has helped reverse some of the big losses billionaires saw in 2022. So far this year, the world's top 10 billionaires added a collective $213 billion to their net worth. MARTIN BUREAU/AFP via Getty ImagesNet Worth: $92.8 billion2023 Gain: $21.3 billionSource of Wealth: L'Oreal9. Elon MuskElon Musk Gilbert Carrasquillo/GC ImagesNet Worth: $180 billion2023 Gain: $43.2 billionSource of Wealth: Tesla, SpaceX, Twitter1. Bernard ArnaultEric Piermont/Getty ImagesNet Worth: $210 billion2023 Gain: $47.8 billionSource of Wealth: LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton

☆ Juul settlement: E-cigarette maker to pay $462 million in several states for marketing nicotine for youth vaping
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-12 | by ( Associated Press | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Juul Labs Inc. will pay $462 million for its role in the youth vaping surge. The settlement includes restrictions on Juul's marketing and distribution of vaping products. Like some other settlements reached by Juul, this latest includes restrictions on the marketing and distribution of the company's vaping products. For example, it is barred from any direct or indirect marketing that targets youth, which includes anyone under age 35. The spokesperson added that underage use of Juul products has declined by 95% since 2019 based on the National Youth Tobacco Survey.

☆ Sam Bankman-Fried reportedly joked about losing track of assets worth millions of dollars
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-10 | by ( Beatrice Nolan | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Sam Bankman-Fried joked about losing track of millions of dollars in assets, a debtors' report said. The document accused the individuals in charge of FTX and Alameda of misusing funds and lying. In an internal communication cited in the report, Bankman-Fried once said FTX's sister company Alameda Research was "hilariously beyond any threshold of any auditor being able to even get partially through an audit." According to the report, Alameda struggled to understand what its own positions were, "let alone hedging or accounting for them." This inner circle reportedly included Bankman-Fried, FTX cofounder Gary Wang, former Alameda CEO Caroline Ellison, and FTX's former engineering director Nishad Singh.

☆ Failed crypto exchange FTX's spectacular collapse was due to 'hubris, incompetence, and greed,' says first debtors' report
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-10 | by ( Huileng Tan | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

On Sunday, its debtors released their first report on the collapse of the crypto exchange. The report alleged a lack of controls including in management, governance, and accounting. Read further for the three key allegations from the debtors' report. The report alleged the management and governance of FTX were largely limited to Bankman-Fried, Singh, and Wang. The report also alleged FTX failed to put in place "basic, widely accepted" security controls to safeguard its crypto assets.

☆ Starbucks new CEO wants senior leaders to work in stores. Every leader should follow suit.
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-10 | by ( Avery Hartmans | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

Former Walmart CEO Greg Foran used to visit stores every week to observe factors like customer service, inventory levels, in-stock levels, and assortment. Fewer retail CEOs got their start working in storesLowe's CEO Marvin Ellison started his retail career as a Target security guard. Others went through management-training programs operated by department stores. As department stores started facing stiff competition from specialty stores, they scrambled to cut costs. These days, finding a qualified retail CEO seems like one of the hardest jobs to fill, with many companies looking outside the retail industry.

☆ Logan Roy's fiery speech atop printer-paper boxes on 'Succession' evokes a real-life Rupert Murdoch moment
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-04 | by ( Sindhu Sundar | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

"Succession" patriarch Logan Roy rallied his fictional newsroom with a speech atop printer-paper boxes. In his speech, Murdoch told the reporters present that "We have to entertain, inform, enrich all our readers in their lives and in their businesses," according to Ellison's book. Representatives for Dow Jones and the Wall Street Journal did not respond to Insider's request for comment. "Then we all kind of stood around as people were literally dispatched to drag the printer boxes over to where Rupert planned to stand," she added. "The printer boxes, especially since we literally saw them dragged to their place, were key to the mood of menace and worry that day."

☆ Starbucks' new CEO plans to spend time working at his company's coffee shops. Here's why every retail leader should take a shift on the sales floor.
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-03 | by ( Avery Hartmans | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

Former Walmart CEO Greg Foran used to visit stores every week to observe factors like customer service, inventory levels, in-stock levels, and assortment. Fewer retail CEOs got their start working in storesLowe's CEO Marvin Ellison started his retail career as a Target security guard. David Swanson/ReutersOf course, times have changed — in the past, many retail CEOs got their start at the store level. As department stores started facing stiff competition from specialty stores, they scrambled to cut costs. These days, finding a qualified retail CEO seems like one of the hardest jobs to fill, with many companies looking outside the retail industry.

☆ 'My Neighbour Totoro,' Paul Mescal, Jodie Comer win at Olivier awards
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-02 | by ( Marie-Louise Gumuchian | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

[1/3] Jodie Comer poses with the award for Best Actress for "Prima Facie" accompanied by Paul Mescal at the Olivier Awards at the Royal Albert Hall in London, Britain, April 2, 2023. It won best entertainment or comedy play as well as the director, set, lighting, sound and costume design category prizes. It won best revival, best actor for Paul Mescal for his role as Stanley Kowalski and best actress in a supporting role for Anjana Vasan, for her portrayal of Stella. "Killing Eve" star Jodie Comer won best actress in one-woman play "Prima Facie," in which she portrays a barrister who defends men accused of sexual assault before herself being assaulted. won best musical revival and best actor in a musical for Arthur Darvill.

☆ Sam Bankman-Fried pleads not guilty to new federal charges
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-30 | by ( Kara Scannell | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +2 min

New York CNN —Sam Bankman-Fried, the founder of failed cryptocurrency trading platform FTX, pleaded not guilty to five new federal charges of fraud and conspiracy, including one count of conspiring to bribe Chinese government officials. An attorney for Bankman-Fried entered the plea on his behalf of his client, who was seated beside him in the New York courtroom Thursday. He previously pleaded not guilty to eight other charges stemming from what prosecutors have described as one of the biggest financial frauds in US history. In the latest indictment, prosecutors alleged that Bankman-Fried sought to pay off Chinese officials to unfreeze accounts belonging to his hedge fund, Alameda Research. Three of Bankman-Fried’s former business partners — Gary Wang, Caroline Ellison and Nishad Singh — have pleaded guilty to numerous charges and are cooperating with investigators.

☆ FTX's Bankman-Fried to plead not guilty to campaign finance, China bribery charges
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-30 | by ( Luc Cohen | Thomson Reuters | Reports On The New York Federal Courts. Previously Worked As A Correspondent In Venezuela | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

NEW YORK, March 30 (Reuters) - Indicted FTX cryptocurrency exchange founder Sam Bankman-Fried is expected to plead not guilty on Thursday to new U.S. criminal charges, which include conspiring to violate campaign finance laws and bribe Chinese authorities. Bankman-Fried, 31, had earlier pleaded not guilty to eight counts of fraud and conspiracy for allegedly stealing billions in FTX customer funds to plug losses at his hedge fund, Alameda Research. A person familiar with the matter told Reuters he also plans to plead not guilty to the new 13-count indictment. Bankman-Fried is confined to his parents' Palo Alto, California, home on $250 million bond pending trial. Reporting by Luc Cohen in New York; Editing by Noeleen Walder and Daniel WallisOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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