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☆ Saudi Arabia, Syria welcome thaw in ties, agree to fight drug trafficking
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-12 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

[1/3] Deputy Minister of Saudi Foreign Ministry, Waleed El Khereiji meets with Syrian Minister of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates, Faisal Mekdad in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, April 12, 2023. Saudi Press Agency/Handout via REUTERSRIYADH, April 12 (Reuters) - Saudi Arabia and Syria's foreign ministers on Wednesday welcomed a thaw in bilateral ties, including steps to resume consular services and flights, and agreed to cooperate to fight drug trafficking and facilitate Syria's return to the Arab fold. Assad, with the help of his main allies Iran and Russia, regained control over much of Syria, and Saudi Arabia has said isolating him was not working. Much of it is thought to be sold to buyers in Gulf Arab countries, including Saudi Arabia. Mekdad's trip to Jeddah came two days before Saudi Arabia hosts another meeting of regional foreign ministers that will discuss Syria's return to the Arab League.

Summary Sources: Military equipment disguised as relief suppliesSyria is a conflict zone for Israel and IranIsrael mounts swift campaign against IraniansAMMAN, April 12 (Reuters) - Iran has used earthquake relief flights to bring weapons and military equipment into its strategic ally Syria, nine Syrian, Iranian, Israeli and Western sources said. The sources told Reuters that the goal was to buttress Iran's defences against Israel in Syria and to strengthen Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. The supplies included advanced communications equipment and radar batteries and spare parts required for a planned upgrade of Syria's Iran-provided air defence system in its civil war, said the sources, two regional sources and a Western intelligence source said. Regional sources told Reuters that Israel quickly became aware of the flow of weapons into Syria and mounted an aggressive campaign to counter it. A radar station used for drones was also hit on April 3, the regional source added, corroborating what two Western intelligence sources had told Reuters.

☆ Bud Light's inclusive ad campaigns are good for business
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-12 | by ( Danielle Wiener-Bronner | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +7 min

For Bud Light in particular, reaching a new audience is crucial, Alissa Heinerscheid, vice president of marketing at Bud Light, said in a recent Make Yourself at Home podcast interview. Bud Light had “been in decline for a really long time,” she said. From dylanmulvaney/InstagramCurrently, we’re about two weeks into the Bud Light backlash. The performer and TikTok personality, who had partnered with Bud Light previously, has been open about transitioning on Instagram and TikTok. And Texas congressman Dan Crenshaw also weighed in, saying he’s in favor of a Bud Light boycott but doesn’t stock the beer.

☆ 5 Reasons Democrats Picked Chicago for Their 2024 Convention
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-11 | by ( Reid J. Epstein | Shane Goldmacher | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

The arena also has twice as many suites as Atlanta’s State Farm Arena, which would have hosted the convention there. Crime and local politicsIt’s pretty clear how Republicans will portray Mr. Biden’s convention city. Democrats answered that pandemic-era spikes in crime were easing, in Chicago and across the country. “The truth is that things have gotten better and better,” Mr. Pritzker said. “It’s a recovery across the nation in major cities that includes a recovery on the issue of crime.

☆ 'Stranger Things' animated series coming to Netflix
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-10 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

REUTERS/Mario AnzuoniLOS ANGELES, April 10 (Reuters) - An animated series set in the sci-fi world of "Stranger Things" is in development at Netflix (NFLX.O), part of the streaming service's efforts to expand the hit series into a wide-ranging franchise. Netflix announced the series in a statement released on Monday but gave no title or release date and few details. "We’ve always dreamed of an animated 'Stranger Things' in the vein of the Saturday morning cartoons that we grew up loving," the Duffer brothers, creators of the original "Stranger Things" series, said in the statement. "Stranger Things" debuted on Netflix in 2016 and became the company's most-watched English language series. Netflix had previously announced that a "Stranger Things" spinoff show was in the works and a play that will debut at London's West End in November.

Salvoes of rockets from Lebanon and Gaza struck north and south in Israel over the past day and the Israeli military replied with air strikes. Palestinian militant group Hamas, which rules Gaza, praised the shooting attack but stopped short of claiming responsibility. [1/3] Israeli troops stand guard at a shooting attack scene in the Jordan Valley, in the Israeli-occupied West Bank April 7,2023. With the international-led peace process long moribund, Palestinians' hopes of creating an independent state in the West Bank and Gaza, with East Jerusalem as its capital, have faded. Israel's new hard-right government is set on expanding Jewish settlements in the West Bank and includes members who rule out a Palestinian state.

☆ The first video uploaded to YouTube, 18 years ago, featured cofounder Jawed Karim at the zoo. Watch it here.
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-07 | by ( Aaron Mok | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Jawed Karim posted the first-ever YouTube video called "Me at the zoo" 18 years ago. Since leaving the company in 2005, Karim has become a vocal critic of new changes to the platform. The 18-second video, entitled "Me at the zoo," features Karim, a YouTube cofounder, at the San Diego Zoo standing in front of a bunch of elephants. "The cool thing about these guys is that they have really, really, really long trunks, and that's, that's cool. Watch the first video ever posted to YouTube, an 18-second-long, grainy home video:Since leaving YouTube, Karim has become a vocal critic of Youtube's proposed changes.

☆ Ukrainian dolphin refugees delight Romanian kids
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-06 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

REUTERS/Olimpiu GheorghiuBUCHAREST, April 6 (Reuters) - At the dolphinarium in the Black Sea port city of Constanta, Romanian and Ukrainian trainers are letting dolphins guide them despite language barriers. Last year, the dolphinarium took in four dolphins and three sea lions alongside their trainers and doctors fleeing the shelling in the eastern Ukrainian city of Kharkiv. "Now we have more colleagues ... Ukrainian colleagues and Ukrainian dolphin colleagues," Romanian trainer Mona Mandrescu said at the edge of the pool after a mid-morning performance for hundreds of delighted school children. Romania is one out of some fourteen European Union states that have dolphinariums and captive sea animals. In Kharkiv, the local dolphinarium sought to move their dolphins and sea lions as soon as the shelling started last February.

☆ Ukrainian dolphins find new home in Romanian aquarium
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-06 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

BUCHAREST, April 6 (Reuters) - At the dolphinarium in the Black Sea port city of Constanta, Romanian and Ukrainian trainers are letting dolphins guide them despite language barriers. Last year, the dolphinarium took in four dolphins and three sea lions alongside their trainers and doctors fleeing the shelling in the eastern Ukrainian city of Kharkiv. "Now we have more colleagues ... Ukrainian colleagues and Ukrainian dolphin colleagues," Romanian trainer Mona Mandrescu said at the edge of the pool after a mid-morning performance for hundreds of delighted school children. Romania is one out of some fourteen European Union states that have dolphinariums and captive sea animals. [1/4] Ukrainian dolphin trainer Sonia Chezghanova interacts with two dolphins at the Constanta Dolphinarium, where four dolphins and three sea lions from a destroyed aquarium in Ukraine found refuge, in Constanta, Romania, April 4, 2023.

[1/4] Israeli policemen stand next to smoke from a fire following incoming rockets from Lebanon to Israel in Bezet, northern Israel, April 6, 2023. The Israeli military said 34 rockets were launched from Lebanon, of which 25 were intercepted by Israel's Iron Dome, anti-missile system. There was no claim of responsibility but an Israeli military official also said that Israel was working on the assumption that the attack was Palestinian-linked. "It's not Hezbollah shooting, but it's hard to believe that Hezbollah didn't know about it," Tamir Hayman, a former head of Israeli military intelligence said on Twitter. In response, Israel has hit targets in Gaza linked to Hamas, which it holds responsible for any attacks from the blockaded coastal strip.

☆ European investigators to revisit Lebanon in central banker fraud case
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-05 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

BEIRUT, April 5 (Reuters) - European investigators will return to Beirut in April to question two key people who have been charged in Lebanon in a case involving alleged fraud by Lebanese central bank governor Riad Salameh, two sources with direct knowledge of the probe told Reuters. Lebanon and at least five European countries are investigating whether Salameh and his brother Raja Salameh took more than $300 million from the central bank between 2002 and 2015. The three have been charged in Lebanon with embezzlement, illicit enrichment and money laundering in two separate cases but have not been detained. The European investigators are due to arrive in Beirut on April 24. The governor enjoyed strong backing from Lebanese elites in his three decades as central bank chief, during which the central bank financed a state rife with corruption and enforced policies that earned commercial banks massive profits.

☆ Study finds 45 negative health effects of added sugar
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-05 | by ( Kristen Rogers | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +7 min

CNN —There are at least 45 good reasons to cut back on added sugar, according to a new study. Copious research has shown the negative effects of excessive sugar intake on health, which has informed recommendations to limit consumption of “free” or added sugar to less than 10% of a person’s daily caloric intake. “This means that whole, intact grains don’t cause the same spikes in blood sugar that we experience when we eat simple sugars. A doughnut has around 15 to 30 grams of sugar, according to the Cleveland Clinic. Cooking and baking at home more often is one of the best ways to reduce sugar intake, Aggarwal said.

Gamal Roshdy, spokesperson for the Arab League secretary general, said the organisation is not privy to every move on the bilateral level between Arab countries. Assad's attendance at an Arab League summit would mark the most significant development in his rehabilitation within the Arab world since 2011, when Syria was suspended from the organisation. The Saudi foreign ministry did not confirm an agreement was reached but said it was in talks with the Syrian foreign ministry to resume consular services. Arab League heavyweight Egypt has also resumed contacts with Assad. An Egyptian security source told Reuters the visit was aimed at putting in place steps for Syria's return to the Arab League through Egyptian and Saudi mediation.

☆ How 2 Gen Z climate leaders turn their eco-anxiety into action: 'This isn't a fad. This is the future'
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-02 | by ( Jennifer Liu | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

The climate crisis impacts everyone, and young people feel especially stressed about the warming planet. In a recent conversation at the South by Southwest conference in Austin, Texas, tech founder and philanthropist Alexis Ohanian spoke with two Gen Z climate leaders about how they manage their eco-anxiety. Penn says the biggest way she confronts climate anxiety is by taking action, and her biggest motivator is using hope and joy as tools of resilience. Most recently, Penn says she channels her climate anxiety through art, namely through her first animated short film "Asali: Power of the Pollinators" with executive producer Viola Davis, which comes out in April. She also stresses the need to tap into Black, Brown and Indigenous communities to measure negative impact as well as seek solutions.

☆ Syria foreign minister makes first Egypt visit for more than a decade
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-01 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

CAIRO, April 1 (Reuters) - Syria's foreign minister met his Egyptian counterpart in Cairo on Saturday, the first such visit in more than a decade and the latest sign of Arab states mending ties with President Bashar al Assad. Faisal Mekdad was embraced by Sameh Shoukry as he arrived at the Egyptian foreign ministry, the first official trip since before the uprising and conflict that began in Syria in 2011. President Assad was shunned by many Western and Arab states due to the war in Syria, which splintered the country and left hundreds of thousands of people dead. The Cairo-based Arab League suspended Syria's membership in 2011 and many Arab states pulled their envoys out of Damascus. But key regional powers including the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia have recently signalled increasing openness towards Damascus.

☆ Leaked org chart shows the 15 most important leaders in Google's AI division as it races to catch Microsoft
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-30 | by ( Hugh Langley | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Central to those efforts is its Research and AI group, led by senior vice president Jeff Dean. An internal org chart seen by Insider shows the 14 other leaders under Dean who drive Google's efforts to catch the sudden success of OpenAI. Jeff Dean, senior vice president, Google AI Thomas Samson/Getty ImagesReporting directly to Dean is Eli Collins, a VP leading work on Google's ChatGPT competitor, Bard. Collins also works on AI Test Kitchen, an app that gives select users access to some of Google's latest AI demos. Jay Yagnik, VP of research, oversees the biggest number of employees within Dean's organization.

☆ Lebanon has 'no other way out' than IMF deal, U.S. official says
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-30 | by ( Maya Gebeily | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

[1/3] Retired Lebanese army officer holds Lebanese pound banknotes during a protest over the deteriorating economic situation in Beirut, Lebanon March 30, 2023. REUTERS/Emilie MadiBEIRUT, March 30 (Reuters) - Lebanon has no alternative for economic recovery but to make progress on a deal with the International Monetary Fund, a senior U.S. official said on Thursday. Leaf said in an online briefing she had urged Lebanese officials to make progress on the full deal and to end a months-long vacuum in the presidency. Leaf said that talks between Israeli and Palestinian officials in Egypt and Jordan in recent weeks had "very slowly, painstakingly" been moving towards de-escalation. Reporting by Maya Gebeily; Editing by Alex Richardson, Alison Williams and Jonathan OatisOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Syria port authority shuts all ports due to bad weather
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-29 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

[1/3] Waves crash during high winds in the Syrian port city of Banias, Syria, March 29, 2023. SANA/Handout via REUTERSDAMASCUS, March 29 (Reuters) - Syria's port authority has shut down all the country's sea ports including Tartous due to poor weather and high winds, state media reported on Wednesday. The port of Tartous had initially been exempt from the closure but the country's ports authority later said it was shutting down as conditions worsened. "There are winds and high waves in bursts and we cannot risk opening the ports at this time," Brigadier General Samer Kobrosli, the director general of the authority, told Reuters. The war-ravaged country operates seven sea ports through which it brings in basic needs including food and petroleum products.

☆ Syria's president appoints new oil minister in reshuffle
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-29 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

DAMASCUS, March 29 (Reuters) - Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has appointed a new oil minister and changed four other ministers in a cabinet reshuffle, state media said on Wednesday. Hassan Kaddour, who was the general director of the Syrian Petroleum Company for the last two years, replaces Bassam Touma as oil minister, the report said. Assad named Mohsen Abdelkarim Ali as internal trade minister, Abdelqader Jokhdar as industry minister, Louay al-Munajjed as social affairs minister and Ahmed Bostachi as a state minister. Assad switched out his defence minister in April 2022. The conflict raging in Syria since 2011 has cost the country much of its domestic oil production, especially with the northeastern oil producing fields outside government control.

☆ Ukrainian troops are putting a Vietnam-era US anti-tank weapon into use against Russian armor
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-28 | by ( Maya Carlin | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Ukrianian troops are using US-made TOW missiles against Russian armored vehicles in Ukraine. TOW missiles were first used by US troops in the Vietnam War and have been in service since then. Ukrainian troops are using an array of foreign-made anti-tank missiles against Russian forces. A US Army mockup of the Heavy Antitank Weapon, a project that led to the TOW missile, in 1964. The TOW missile in UkraineOn Monday, Ukraine Weapons Tracker tweeted footage depicting an M41A7 TOW HMMWV-mounted ITAS being fired by a Ukrainian soldier.

☆ Moscow to host Syria, Turkey, Iran, Russia meeting - official sources
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-28 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

[1/2] Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov speaks with journalists before a meeting of Russian President Vladimir Putin with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the Kremlin in Moscow, Russia February 27, 2019. The situation on the ground in Syria would be discussed at the April 3-4 in Moscow, a senior Turkish official said. A previously planned meeting of four countries' deputy foreign ministers scheduled in March was postponed. A senior Iranian foreign ministry official confirmed the meeting in Moscow in the first week of April. Citing Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov, Russian state-owned news agency RIA reported on Monday that the deputy foreign ministers of Russia, Turkey, Iran and Syria may hold consultations in Moscow in early April.

CNBC: You were the first Hispanic woman to serve on one of the top five Fortune 100 corporate boards, but as of 2022, corporate boards continue to remain majority white and male. What do you see as the biggest obstacle to diversifying corporate boards? Ford director Kimberly Casiano was the first Hispanic woman to serve on a Fortune 100 top five corporate board. I also believe entrepreneurs, who have much more limited resources and leverage than major corporations, are better at compromise and subtle persuasion. Casiano: It is important to remember that gender diversity on corporate boards came years before ethnic diversity started to show its head.

MAYA BAY, Thailand, March 27 (Reuters) - On any given day in Thailand's Maya Bay, up to 40 blacktip reef sharks cruise in the cyan shallows while about 4,000 tourists visit its white-sand beach flanked by towering cliffs. Marine researcher Metavee Chuangcharoendee said that thanks to the pause in tourism the island was once again functioning as a nursery for young sharks. A number of factors affect the sharks around Phi Phi Leh Island, including seasonal movement patterns and human activity like fishing, Metavee said. For Phi Phi Island National Park, annual revenue was almost halved from 638.3 million baht ($18.7 million) in 2018 to 373.6 million baht in 2019 after authorities closed the beach. "If you can create a new image of Maya Bay as a nature reserve ...

☆ Lebanon's cabinet reverses decision to delay daylight savings time
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-27 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

REUTERS/Mohamed AzakirBEIRUT, March 27 (Reuters) - Lebanon's caretaker premier said the cabinet had voted to move clocks one hour ahead on Wednesday night, reversing his decision to postpone the move to daylight savings time by a month that had sparked uproar across the country. Mikati angered many Lebanese when he decided last Thursday not to start daylight savings time over the last weekend of March but instead to roll clocks forward an hour on April 20. Moving clocks forward means Muslims would have to fast an additional hour as sunset would be at a later time on the clock. But the move was defied by Lebanon's top Christian authority as well as some schools, media outlets and businesses, which rolled their clocks forward on Saturday night. Mikati even faced objections from within cabinet, including the justice minister who said Lebanon had more important challenges to focus on.

☆ Syria condemns US strikes on Deir Al-Zor
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-26 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: 1 min

CAIRO, March 26 (Reuters) - Syria’s foreign ministry on Sunday condemned U.S. strikes on its territory, saying Washington had lied about what was targeted and pledging to “end the American occupation” of its territory. The U.S. said it carried out strikes on facilities affiliated to Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps in Syria after a drone attack killed an American contractor in Syria. Reporting By Maya Gebeily;Editing by Elaine HardcastleOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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