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☆ Furby, Is That You?
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-15 | by ( Maggie Lange | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Not long after Furby’s release, the F.A.A. urged against using the toy on flights during takeoff and landing because there were concerns it would interfere with planes’ computer systems. In 1999, the National Security Agency banned Furby at its headquarters to prevent the toy, which could record and repeat audio, from capturing state secrets. “But people thought that Furby was weird because it encroached on being human,” Ms. Boyd said. Though the toy may have been unsettling to some, it found an audience: According to Hasbro, some 58 million Furbys have been sold since its release.

Persons: Kim Boyd, Furby, Ms, Boyd Organizations: National Security Agency, Hasbro Locations: mohawk

☆ Strong U.S. demand eases pressure on Novo to show weight-loss drug's health benefits
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-14 | by ( Maggie Fick | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

Investors had been banking on the study results being the next big driver of the company's shares. That's due to high demand and after Novo raised its profit outlook in April, said Berenberg analyst Kerry Holford. If the risk reduction was between 10 and 14%, shares would decrease by less than 5%. A year ago, investors said a risk reduction of 10 to 14% in the trial would put significant downward pressure on the stock, Holford said. Barclays analyst Emily Field said a risk reduction as low as 11% could boost the stock.

Persons: Novo, Kerry Holford, Holford, Emily Field, Maggie Fick, Josephine Mason, Alexandra Hudson Organizations: Soaring U.S, Novo Nordisk's, Nestle, UBS, Reuters, Barclays, May, BMO Global Asset Management, Alexandra Hudson Our, Thomson Locations: Danish, United States

The same is true with pretty much any skilled tradesperson these days. Don’t take it personally: There are all sorts of explanations, and only some may be your fault.

☆ The Year Is Half Over. Here Are the Books You Might Have Missed.
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-14 | by ( ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

This week on the podcast, Gilbert Cruz is joined by fellow editors from the Book Review to revisit some of the most popular and most acclaimed books of 2023 to date. First up, Tina Jordan and Elisabeth Egan discuss the year’s biggest books, from “Spare” to “Birnam Wood.” Then Joumana Khatib, MJ Franklin and Sadie Stein recommend their personal favorites of the year so far. Books discussed on this week’s episode:“Spare,” by Prince Harry“I Have Some Questions for You,” by Rebecca Makkai“Pineapple Street,” by Jenny Jackson“Romantic Comedy,” by Curtis Sittenfeld“You Could Make This Place Beautiful,” by Maggie Smith“The Wager,” by David Grann“Master, Slave, Husband, Wife,” by Ilyon Woo“King: A Life,” by Jonathan Eig“Birnam Wood,” by Eleanor Catton“Hello Beautiful,” by Ann Napolitano“Enter Ghost,” by Isabella Hammad“Y/N,” by Esther Yi“The Sullivanians,” by Alexander Stille“My Search for Warren Harding,” by Robert Plunket“In Memoriam,” by Alice Winn“Don’t Look at Me Like That,” by Diana AthillWe would love to hear your thoughts about this episode, and about the Book Review’s podcast in general. You can send them to books@nytimes.com.

Persons: Gilbert Cruz, Tina Jordan, Elisabeth Egan, Birnam, Joumana Khatib, MJ Franklin, Sadie Stein, “, Prince Harry “, Rebecca Makkai, Jenny Jackson, Curtis Sittenfeld, Maggie Smith “, ”, David Grann, Ilyon Woo, Jonathan Eig, Eleanor Catton “, Ann Napolitano, Isabella Hammad “ Y, Esther Yi “, Alexander Stille, Warren Harding, Robert Plunket “, Alice Winn “, Diana Athill Locations: ”

Wegovy is a weekly injection that can help patients shed 15% of their weight alongside diet and exercise changes. Walgreens (WBA.O), one of the biggest U.S. pharmacies, is experiencing supply shortages for the higher strengths, spokesperson Erin Loverher confirmed. Doctors in six U.S. states told Reuters patients are reporting problems filling their prescriptions for the higher doses. Three of the doctors said supply delays at pharmacies had resulted in patients missing their Wegovy injections at the prescribed weekly interval. "Patients are often having to delay their injections because it's harder for pharmacies to get Wegovy in stock," he said.

Persons: Erin Loverher, Novo, Alicia Shelly, Shelly, Robert Kushner, Wegovy, Kushner, Denise Wells, Wells, Holly Lofton, New York University Langone, Disha Narang, Narang, Maggie Fick, Patrick Wingrove, Elissa Welle, Caroline Humer, Bill Berkrot Organizations: Reuters, Walgreens, Wellstar, Northwestern University's Feinberg School of Medicine, Amazon Pharmacy, New York University, Northwestern Medicine, Barclays Research, Novo, Thomson Locations: U.S, Danish, Georgia, Chicago, Michigan, Chicago , New York, San Francisco, Detroit, Atlanta, Charlottesville , Virginia, London, New York

Unlike other candidates who have employed online gimmicks to secure 40,000 donors, Mr. Pence has invested little in seeking out contributors on the internet. The super PAC supporting Mr. Pence, Committed to America, had raised an additional $2.7 million during the fund-raising reporting period that ended June 30, an aide said. Other Republican presidential candidates have announced far larger fund-raising sums from the three-month reporting period; some of them, unlike Mr. Pence, were in the race for the entire quarter. Mr. Trump said his campaign and his joint fund-raising committee had raised $35 million in the second quarter. Senator Tim Scott of South Carolina said his campaign had raised $6.1 million.

Persons: Pence, Vivek Ramaswamy, Trump, Ron DeSantis, Nikki Haley, Tim Scott of Organizations: Facebook, Google, PAC, Republican, Gov, South, United Nations Locations: America, Florida, South Carolina, Tim Scott of South Carolina

The employee, whom the person declined to name, received the letter in the past few weeks after appearing in May before a federal grand jury in Washington. Footage from the cameras at Mar-a-Lago has been at the center of the case against Mr. Trump and was an instrumental part of the evidence used to obtain a warrant to search Mar-a-Lago last August. hauled away a trove of more than 100 classified documents that Mr. Trump had taken with him from the White House and kept even after receiving a subpoena demanding their return. The surveillance footage was also key to the indictment that Mr. Smith’s office brought last month against Mr. Trump and his personal aide, Walt Nauta, in the Southern District of Florida. The indictment charges both men with conspiring to obstruct the government’s efforts to reclaim dozens of highly classified documents and Mr. Trump alone of illegally holding onto the documents after he left office.

Persons: Jack Smith, Donald J, Trump’s, Lago, Trump, Walt Nauta Organizations: Trump Organization, Prosecutors, Lago, White, Mr, Southern District of Locations: Washington, Mar, Florida, Southern District, Southern District of Florida

In the super PAC’s filing, those two payments were labeled “event planning and consulting,” according to Federal Election Commission records. Federal rules are generally lax when it comes to requiring that the final destination of money be revealed. Instead, committees must disclose only the first vendor paid. It is rare for the spouse of a potential presidential candidate to be paid directly by a campaign or an outside group affiliated with the candidate. The fee was $125,000, and the second $30,000 payment was for additional services rendered out of the scope of the first contract, the representative said.

Persons: Charles Gantt, ”, Trump Organizations: Commission, PAC, Trump, Make, Inc

“Words are incredibly powerful in white-collar cases because in a lot of them you’re not going to hear from a defendant, as they are seldom going to take the stand,” he said. Some aides and allies who interacted with Mr. Trump in the days after the election have previously disclosed that Mr. Trump indicated that he knew he lost the election. In testimony before the House select committee, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Mark A. Milley, said that in an Oval Office meeting in late November or early December 2020, Mr. Trump acknowledged that he had lost the election. There wasn’t anything — the subject we were talking about was a very serious subject, but everything looked very normal to me. But I do remember him saying that.”General Milley said, though, that in subsequent meetings Mr. Trump had increasingly discussed how the election was stolen from him.

Persons: ”, ” Andrew Goldstein, Trump, Cooley, Trump’s, ” Mr, Goldstein, Mark, “, Mr, Milley, Biden Organizations: Department of Justice, Mr, Joint Chiefs of Staff Locations: Russia

☆ Maggie Siff and Erica Schmidt on a Williams Play ‘Shot Through With Desire’
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-12 | by ( Sarah Bahr | More About Sarah Bahr | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

She felt the theme would resonate in 2020, when the play was originally set to be staged before the pandemic forced a postponement — even more so now, amid a wave of anti-immigrant sentiment nationwide. “That’s possibly why it hasn’t been so successful in the past,” Schmidt, 48, said at a rehearsal on a sweltering Wednesday last month at the Brooklyn Academy of Music. Why did you want to do this play? ERICA SCHMIDT The play is shot through with desire; this need to really live life and to cling to what matters to you with both your hands until your fingers break, as Carol [an eccentric aristocrat character] says. It felt like an undeniable piece of work that one would need to throw oneself into.

Persons: Schmidt, ”, “, ” Schmidt, Williams, Schmidt —, —, ERICA SCHMIDT, Carol, Thornton Wilder, MAGGIE SIFF Organizations: Brooklyn Academy of Music Locations: London, United States, “ Our

In March, as Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida laid the groundwork for his presidential run, he joined the Fox News host Brian Kilmeade to play a nationally televised game of catch on his hometown baseball field outside Tampa. The questions Mr. DeSantis faced were as relaxed as the tosses. “Locker room gets you ready for the press, right?” Mr. Kilmeade asked. Four months later, with Mr. DeSantis’s campaign having failed to immediately catch fire against Mr. Trump, Fox News is not taking it quite so easy on Mr. DeSantis anymore.

Persons: Ron DeSantis, Brian Kilmeade, DeSantis, “, Kilmeade, Donald J, Trump, Rupert Murdoch, DeSantis’s Organizations: Fox News, ”, Republican Party, Mr Locations: Florida, Tampa

☆ Flooding threatens Vermont's capital as crews rescue more than 100
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-11 | by ( ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +8 min

Emergency services work following flooding, in Montpelier, Vermont, July 11, 2023 in this still image taken from video obtained from social media. A person rows a paddle board in a flooded area in Montpelier, Vermont, July 11, 2023. A vehicle makes its way through a flooded street, in Montpelier, Vermont, July 11, 2023, in this picture obtained from social media. There have been no reports of injuries or deaths related to the flooding in Vermont, where swift-water rescue teams aided by National Guard helicopter crews have done more than 100 rescues, Vermont Emergency Management said Tuesday. Emergency services work following flooding, in Montpelier, Vermont, July 11, 2023 in this still image taken from video obtained from social media.

Persons: Neal P, Goswami, Brian Snyder, Irene, Phil Scott, Scott, Mike Cannon, Bill Fraser, Eric Nordenson, John Montes, Reuters Syd Straw, Joe Biden, Dennis Pinkham, Karine Jean, Pierre, Maggie Lenz, Pamela Nugent, Kathy Hochul Organizations: Reuters, City, National Guard helicopter, Vermont Emergency Management, New Hampshire, Vermont Urban, Montpelier Police, City Hall, Police, National Weather Service, NATO, Federal Emergency Management Agency, Reuters FEMA, White, The U.S . Military Academy, West, New York Gov Locations: Montpelier , Vermont, Vermont, Montpelier, New York, New, Massachusetts, Canada, U.S, Barre, John Montes ,, Northern New England, New England, Connecticut, New Hampshire, Weston, Hartford, Lithuania, Massachusetts , Connecticut, Montpelier and Middlesex, North Carolina , Michigan, Hudson Valley, Fort Montgomery, The, Highland Falls, Hudson

Chinese hackers intent on collecting intelligence on the United States gained access to government email accounts, Microsoft disclosed on Tuesday night. In a blog post, Microsoft said about 25 organizations, including government agencies, had been compromised by the hacking group, which used forged authentication tokens to get access to individual email accounts. Hackers had access to at least some of the accounts for a month before the breach was detected, Microsoft said. The new intrusion involved far fewer email accounts and did not go as deep into the targeted systems, Microsoft officials said. Nevertheless, having access to government email for a month before being detected could allow the hackers to learn information useful to the Chinese government and its intelligence services.

Organizations: United, Microsoft Locations: United States

Iowa may be the most important state on Donald J. Trump’s early 2024 political calendar, but he hasn’t been making many friends there lately. He lashed out at Iowa’s popular Republican governor, Kim Reynolds, and then his campaign informed one of the state’s politically influential evangelical leaders, Bob Vander Plaats, that the former president would skip a gathering of presidential candidates this week in Des Moines. The back-to-back moves on Monday — which the campaign of Gov. “With Trump’s personality, I feel he thinks he owns Iowa,” said Steve Boender, a board member for the Family Leader, the conservative Christian group organizing the event on Friday that Mr. Trump is skipping. “And I’m not sure he does.”

Persons: Donald J, Trump’s, hasn’t, Kim Reynolds, Bob Vander Plaats, Ron DeSantis, ”, Trump, Steve Boender Organizations: Republican, Gov, Family, Christian Locations: Iowa, Des Moines, Florida

Lawyers for former President Donald J. Trump asked a federal judge on Monday night to indefinitely postpone his trial on charges of illegally retaining classified documents after he left office, saying that the proceeding should not begin until all “substantive motions” in the case had been presented and decided. If granted, it could have the effect of pushing Mr. Trump’s trial into the final stages of the presidential campaign in which he is now the Republican front-runner or even past the 2024 election. While timing is important in any criminal matter, it could be hugely consequential in Mr. Trump’s case, in which he stands accused of illegally holding on to 31 classified documents after leaving the White House and obstructing the government’s repeated efforts to reclaim them. There could be complications of a sort never before presented to a court if Mr. Trump is a candidate in the last legs of a presidential campaign and a federal criminal defendant on trial at the same time. If the trial is pushed back until after the election and Mr. Trump wins, he could try to pardon himself after taking office or have his attorney general dismiss the matter entirely.

Persons: Donald J, Trump, Aileen M, Cannon, Trump’s Organizations: Trump, Republican, White

Ms. Reynolds is said to have tired of Mr. Trump, and she reacted with disbelief to his comment that she owed him her governorship, according to people familiar with her thinking and her response. Before Mr. Trump’s latest visit to Iowa on Friday, a behind-the-scenes standoff played out for days over whether Ms. Reynolds would join him. Ms. Reynolds has said she will make an effort to appear with whomever invites her, but an aide said she had not actually been invited. The relationship with Mr. DeSantis, who has privately courted Ms. Reynolds for many months, has been strikingly different. They banter with a degree of familiarity and friendship that Mr. DeSantis rarely flashes with other politicians.

Persons: Reynolds, Trump, ”, Trump’s, DeSantis, Kim, Ron Organizations: Mr, Biden, America, Republican Party, Trump Locations: Iowa

☆ Focus: Biotech firms target weight-loss drugs without Wegovy's side-effects
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-07 | by ( Maggie Fick | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +8 min

[1/7] Rebecca Vogt, a former user of the weight-loss drug Wegovy, poses for a photo, in Irving, New York, U.S., June 20, 2023. It leads to 22.5% weight loss, according to a Lilly trial published last year. An even earlier stage biotech firm, Antag Therapeutics in Denmark, told Reuters that the ballooning obesity market has improved its fundraising prospects. It curbs appetite by restoring the natural release of GLP-1 and other hormones, without causing nausea, Phase I data showed. The effect of the drug on weight loss is being tested in the Phase II study.

Persons: Rebecca Vogt, Handout, Wegovy, Vogt, Jayson Dallas, Noushin Irani, Mounjaro, Eli Lilly's, Lilly, Andrew Levin, Rivus, Mark Fineman, Ashish Nimgaonkar, Nimgaonkar, Alexander Sparre, Ulrich, Tim Opler, Opler, Stifel, Maggie Fick, Josephine Mason, Daniel Flynn Organizations: REUTERS, Nordisk's, Food and Drug Administration, U.S, Reuters, Rivus Pharmaceuticals, Investors, Deutsche, FDA, Pfizer, Capital Management, Rivus, Therapeutics, Johns Hopkins University, pharma, Antag Therapeutics, Aphaia Pharma, Thomson Locations: Irving , New York, U.S, GLP, Buffalo , New York, United States, Dallas, Baltimore , Maryland, Denmark, Switzerland

☆ Weight loss without Wegovy’s side-effects on biotech firms' radar
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-07 | by ( Maggie Fick | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +8 min

It leads to 22.5% weight loss, according to a Lilly trial published last year. The effect achieves far more weight loss than predecessors. An even earlier stage biotech firm, Antag Therapeutics in Denmark, told Reuters that the ballooning obesity market has improved its fundraising prospects. It curbs appetite by restoring the natural release of GLP-1 and other hormones, without causing nausea, Phase I data showed. The effect of the drug on weight loss is being tested in the Phase II study.

☆ Chinese investors are not expecting much stimulus as growth stalls, Goldman Sachs says
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-06 | by ( Jihye Lee | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

Goldman Sachs' said its clients in mainland China have "low expectations" for further stimulus measures to prop up the economy, the firm's economists wrote in a Wednesday note. "Local clients held low expectations for policy easing and structural reforms this year," Goldman's economists led by Maggie Wei wrote in the note. This comes after the People's Bank of China lowered policy rates last month, which included the medium-term lending facility (MLF) rate and loan prime rates (LPR). "Local clients did not expect major policy easing measures or structural reform measures to be rolled out in the July Politburo meeting," the economists added. Goldman's note added that while its local clients carry a "seemingly less pessimistic view" on China's near-term growth, they remain cautious about a longer-term trajectory for the economy.

Persons: Goldman Sachs, Maggie Wei, it's Organizations: Lujiazui Financial, 5th China, Visual China, Getty, People's Bank of, U.S Locations: SHANGHAI, CHINA, Shanghai, China, People's Bank of China, China's

A federal magistrate judge unsealed on Wednesday additional portions of the affidavit that the F.B.I. used last summer to obtain a warrant to search for sensitive documents at Mar-a-Lago, former President Donald J. Trump’s private club and residence in Florida, revealing a few new details about how that extraordinary process had unfolded. Much of the material in the affidavit unsealed on Wednesday had already been made public in the expansive indictment of Mr. Trump and Mr. Nauta issued in Miami last month. That indictment charged the former president with 31 counts of illegally retaining national defense information and a separate count of conspiring with Mr. Nauta to obstruct the government’s efforts to reclaim them. The judge who ordered the unsealing, Bruce E. Reinhart, had issued two previous orders unsealing separate portions of the warrant affidavit in response to media requests.

Persons: Donald J, Walt Nauta, Trump, Mr, Nauta, Bruce E, Reinhart, unsealing Organizations: Mar Locations: Florida, Mar, Miami

☆ Where the Republican Candidates Stand on Ukraine
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-05 | by ( Maggie Astor | More About Maggie Astor | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Few issues have been more divisive among the Republican presidential candidates than the war in Ukraine and how, if at all, the United States should be involved. It has illuminated one of the biggest ideological divides within the Republican Party: between traditional members who see the United States as having a significant role to play in world affairs, and an anti-interventionist wing that sees foreign involvement as a distraction from more important issues at home. The old school has more adherents in the 2024 field, including Nikki Haley, Mike Pence and Tim Scott, who support sending Ukraine military equipment and weapons but not troops. This aligns with President Biden’s strategy, though they maintain that Mr. Biden is executing it wrong. But the anti-interventionist wing is dominant in terms of influence, with two members, Donald J. Trump and Ron DeSantis, far outpolling everybody else.

Persons: Nikki Haley, Mike Pence, Tim Scott, Biden’s, Biden, Donald J, Trump, Ron DeSantis Organizations: Republican, Republican Party, Ukraine Locations: Ukraine, United States

☆ Commercial Real Estate Finds a Rare Bright Spot by Campuses
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-04 | by ( Maggie Eastland | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

This copy is for your personal, non-commercial use only. Distribution and use of this material are governed by our Subscriber Agreement and by copyright law. For non-personal use or to order multiple copies, please contact Dow Jones Reprints at 1-800-843-0008 or visit www.djreprints.com. https://www.wsj.com/articles/commercial-real-estate-finds-a-rare-bright-spot-by-campuses-ed90cbe1

Persons: Dow Jones

☆ Maggie Harrison’s War on Wine
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-04 | by ( Alex Halberstadt | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +4 min

But the friend kept calling, and eventually she relented, flew to Portland and drove to a hillside in Amity. In 2019, she began offering an annual seminar for wine professionals that she named Beauty School. In her pursuit of maximally beautiful wines, Harrison has devised possibly the world’s most laborious way of making them. This blending period is when Harrison’s wines find their identities. “Though they can be punishingly difficult,” Ready told me, “those blending sessions are about trusting yourself, believing in the process and letting go of the desire to second guess.”Punishingly difficult seems to be Harrison’s thing.

Persons: Harrison, Lillian, ” Harrison, ”, Vladimir Nabokov’s, Mimi Adams, Nate Ready, Adams, “, ” Adams, Maggie Organizations: Beauty Locations: Willamette, Oregon, Ventura, Portland, Amity, Hood River, California

☆ Republicans Have to Sign a Loyalty Pledge to Debate. Who Will and Who Won’t?
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-03 | by ( Maggie Astor | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

To participate in the first Republican presidential debate on Aug. 23, candidates must meet challenging new criteria, including having at least 40,000 donors and voter support of at least 1 percent in three approved polls. But the requirement causing the most consternation is a pledge to support the eventual nominee. Former President Donald J. Trump has not said whether he will sign the pledge. He signed the same pledge in 2015 and then reneged on it. Asked last month whether he would support Mr. Trump in a general election, Gov.

Persons: Donald J, Trump, Hugh Hewitt, Ron DeSantis Organizations: Trump, Republican National Committee, Gov Locations: Florida

July 3 (Reuters) - AstraZeneca (AZN.L) said on Monday an experimental precision drug slowed progression of lung cancer in a late-stage trial, but the company's shares fell as much as 6% as analysts said the benefits may not be as pronounced as hoped. It declined to provide more trial details, saying they would be presented at an as yet undisclosed medical conference. At 0855 GMT, shares in AstraZeneca were down 5.8% at their lowest level in more than three months. Gilead (GILD.O) has pioneered the targeting of TROP2 with an ADC named Trodelvy, approved to treat certain types of breast and bladder cancer. AstraZeneca said that the datopotamab deruxtecan trial would continue as planned to assess the effect of the drug on overall survival of patients, another important efficacy criterion.

Persons: datopotamab, AstraZeneca, British drugmaker, Kelun, Maggie Fick, Ludwig Burger, Sinchita Mitra, Lucy Raitano, Krishna Chandra Eluri, Susan Fenton Organizations: AstraZeneca, Japan's, Merck & Co, Biotech of, Barclays, Thomson Locations: British, Biotech of China, London, Frankfurt, Bengaluru

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