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☆ GOP lawmakers urge DOJ to probe Chinese IP theft from U.S. small businesses
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-15 | by ( Chelsey Cox | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

WASHINGTON — Two top Republican congressmen on Thursday urged the Justice Department to investigate intellectual property theft from American small businesses by Chinese actors. "Ensuring the safety of American small businesses from IP-related crimes is crucial, and we urge the U.S. Department of Justice to utilize all tools and capabilities at its disposal," the lawmakers wrote. Gallagher is chairman of the House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party, while Williams chairs the House Committee on Small Business. Evidence of Chinese IP theft from U.S. businesses dates back several years. In 2019, 1 in 5 North American companies on the CNBC Global CFO Council reported IP theft from Chinese companies within the last year.

Persons: Mike Gallagher, Elise Stefanik, Steve Scalise, Wisconsin, Roger Williams of, General Merrick Garland, Gallagher, Williams, China — Organizations: Chinese Communist Party, Republican National Committee, Washington , D.C, WASHINGTON —, Justice Department, U.S . Department of Justice, Small, National Bureau, Asian, Commission, American Intellectual, U.S . Trade Representative, U.S, CNBC Global, CCP, DOJ's, Force, Intellectual, Fox Business, China, GOP Locations: Washington ,, WASHINGTON, Roger Williams of Texas

☆ Opinion | I Pledged $1 Million to Plant New Trees. I Wish I Could Invest the Money in Saving Old Ones.
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-14 | by ( Roger Worthington | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Most of that money went to reforestation projects on national forest land carried out by a nonprofit I began. The agency manages its lands for multiple uses, including timber harvesting, and has allowed the cutting of carbon-rich, old-growth forests whose destruction contributes to global warming. But overcome, I suppose, by pie-in-the-sky do-gooderism, I pledged the money anyway. Over the next few years, over 650,000 trees were planted. Today, with a balance of over $250,000 remaining, we’re on track to exceed the target of one million trees.

Organizations: U.S . Forest Service, Forest Service

☆ US calls Roger Waters performance in Berlin 'deeply offensive to Jewish people'
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-06 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

[1/2] Pink Floyd co-founder Roger Waters performs during his This Is Not a Drill tour at Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles, California, U.S., September 27, 2022. REUTERS/Mario Anzuoni/File PhotoWASHINGTON, June 6 (Reuters) - The U.S. State Department on Tuesday weighed in on a controversy over a performance by Pink Floyd co-founder Roger Waters, denouncing the show in Berlin as "deeply offensive to Jewish people" and accusing Waters of having a record of using antisemitic tropes. Berlin police said they were investigating Waters on suspicion of "incitement of the people." loadingIn comments sent by email and not attributed to a named official, the State Department stood by Lipstadt's comment, and said Waters' Berlin concert "contained imagery that is deeply offensive to Jewish people and minimized the Holocaust." "The artist in question has a long track record of using antisemitic tropes to denigrate Jewish people," the department added.

Persons: Pink Floyd, Roger Waters, Mario Anzuoni, Waters, Deborah Lipstadt, Lipstadt's, Pink Floyd's, Simon Lewis, Marguerita Choy Organizations: Pink, Crypto.com Arena, REUTERS, WASHINGTON, U.S . State Department, State Department, Twitter, UN Security Council, Thomson Locations: Los Angeles , California, U.S, Berlin, European, Israel

☆ Fact Check-Inflatable pig at Roger Waters show 10 years ago featured Star of David
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-05 | by ( Reuters Fact Check | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

However, one Facebook user uploaded the image (here) alongside the caption: “So apparently, THIS is what was on hand at Roger Waters' Berlin concert last night. News outlets have also included the picture in reports about one of Waters’ 2023 Berlin shows (here, archived: here) (here, archived: here). The Pink Floyd co-founder did not mention the use of a Star of David in his statement about the Berlin concerts (here). A black inflatable pig with a Star of David featured at Roger Waters’ concerts at least 10 years ago. It did not appear at Waters’ 2023 Berlin shows.

Persons: Pink Floyd, Roger Waters, David, Rogers, Waters, Pink Floyd’s, George Orwell, Martin Halweg, Read Organizations: Waters, Reuters, Facebook, Twitter, Stone, Washington D.C, YouTube, Pink, Berlin Police, Star Locations: Berlin, Washington, Belgium, Nazi

☆ The Album Art Studio That Made Pink Floyd’s Pig Fly
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-01 | by ( Mark Yarm | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

The Dutch filmmaker Anton Corbijn, the director of “Squaring the Circle (The Story of Hipgnosis),” a documentary on the design firm that opens in New York on June 7, had a slightly different take. “It’s just not normal to fly all the way to Hawaii to do that picture,” he said. Among the 415 album covers Hipgnosis made between 1968 and 1983 was Pink Floyd’s “Animals” (1977), for which a 40-foot inflatable pig was photographed floating between the chimneys of London’s Battersea Power Station. Unfortunately, the single cable affixed to the pig snapped, and up the balloon went — into the flight zone for Heathrow Airport. Noel Gallagher, a fan, provides some modern-day context and comic relief.

Persons: Anton Corbijn, ”, “ It’s, Hipgnosis, Pink Floyd, Nick Mason, Roger Waters, Corbijn, Powell, David Gilmour, Mason, Waters, Robert Plant, Jimmy Page, Paul McCartney, Peter Gabriel, Gouldman, Noel Gallagher Organizations: Battersea Power, Heathrow Airport, Pink Locations: New York, Hawaii, London, Battersea

☆ Sen. Tim Scott pushes bill that would require disclosure of apps' country of origin
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-30 | by ( Chelsey Cox | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

WASHINGTON — Sen. Tim Scott, R-S.C., is pushing for more transparency from social media applications amid privacy concerns about China-based apps like TikTok. App stores would be charged to warn users of the risks of downloading foreign applications and provide a filtering method by country of origin. Four out of 5 of the top most popular apps in March are of Chinese origin, according to The Wall Street Journal. "Requiring app stores to display an app's country of origin is a commonsense solution that can help them do just that." "The Know Your App Act would bring much-needed transparency to app stores, empowering Americans to safeguard their families from exploitation," he added.

☆ Roger Waters says Nazi outfit at Berlin concert was anti-fascist
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-26 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Waters said the depiction of "an unhinged fascist demagogue" had been a feature of his shows since "The Wall". Waters is being investigated under a separate law on suspicion of "incitement of the people", police said. Other German cities including Munich, Frankfurt and Cologne tried to cancel Waters' concerts after Jewish groups including the Central Council of Jews accused him of anti-Semitism. The final German tour date at Frankfurt's Festhalle venue on Sunday is still listed on Waters' website. Reporting by Friederike Heine in Berlin and Sachin Ravikumar in London, Editing by Andrew Heavens and Andrew CawthorneOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ The Pentagon made a $3 billion accounting blunder that could mean the US can send more arms to Ukraine, reports say
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-20 | by ( Bethany Dawson | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

The Pentagon overvalued the cost of weapons sent to Ukraine by $3 billion, Reuters reported. Biden's administration could now send more weapons without having to get budget approval from Congress. The error was caused by the Pentagon using replacement costs to value the arms. The accounting error could enable the Department of Defense to send more weapons to Ukraine without the Biden administration needing to get budget approval from Congress, Reuters reported. Of this, just over 43 billion euros, or around $46.5 billion, was for military support.

☆ A Look at Philip Jefferson, the Fed’s Likely Next No. 2 - The New York Times
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-15 | by ( Peter Coy | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Philip Jefferson, an economist who joined the Federal Reserve’s Board of Governors in May 2022, was nominated by President Biden on Friday to be its vice chair. I didn’t write about his appointment last year; his proposed elevation gives me a second chance to discuss his ideas. He became a Fed staff economist, a professor and then the vice president for academic affairs and dean of faculty at Davidson College in North Carolina. On the Board of Governors he is considered a centrist. If confirmed as vice chair, as is expected, Jefferson would become the second Black person to serve in the post, following Roger W. Ferguson Jr., who held it from 1999 to 2006.

☆ Enraged congressional Republicans call Biden's reelection bid a sign of the apocalypse. But some of his former GOP colleagues say America can simply do better.
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-26 | by ( Warren Rojas | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

incumbent President Joe Biden is officially running for reelection in 2024 to "finish the job." Some House and Senate Republicans cast a second Biden term as certain doom. "Finishing the job would be truly catastrophic," Ted Cruz said, riffing on Biden's reelection theme. Cruz delved even deeper into the bleakness, predicting that a second Biden administration would usher in more inflation, crime, illegal crossings at the southern border and embolden global adversaries including Russia, China, Iran and North Korea. And surely, we can do better than that," Wicker told Insider at the US Capitol.

☆ How moving food from farm to table puts global supply chain logistics to extreme tests
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-17 | by ( Sponsor Post | Created Cargill With Insider Studios | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Regional conflicts like the invasion of Ukraine have had far-reaching global consequences, impacting global food supply and food security. Prior to the war, Ukraine could produce enough food to feed 400 million people per year. To keep food growing and moving in the region, operators like Cargill must rely on critical data, partnerships, and dedicated employees. Farmer livelihoods and the rebuilding of Ukraine's agriculture economy are also critical to ensure ongoing global food systems and security. Click here for more information about Cargill's efforts to address needs of the food supply chain in Ukraine and around the world.

☆ Here's what to do if you find a secret inappropriate boss-employee relationship in your workforce
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-13 | by ( Rebecca Knight | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

Office romance is tricky— especially if you find out a manager is in a relationship with a report. I have heard from someone on my team that one of my employees is in a close relationship with a woman he supervises. "You could be wrong, and if you accuse Roger of something untrue, that could hurt your relationship with him," she said. Anticipate that Roger will deny the relationship or push back and say it's none of your business. Say that you're not trying to police people's lives but that the relationship creates a conflict of interest.

☆ Here are all of the Republican elected officials backing Trump's 2024 campaign
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-10 | by ( Bryan Metzger | Oma Seddiq | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +11 min

Michael Burgess — the Texas congressman endorsed Trump in March after being named to the former president's campaign's Texas leadership team. Eli Crane — the Arizona freshman tweeted his support for Trump's 2024 bid the night of his announcement. Barry Moore — the Alabama congressman endorsed Trump in a radio interview in December, citing the former president's "experience level." 3 House Republican endorsed Trump days before his widely expected 2024 announcement in November. Roger Williams — the Texas congressman endorsed Trump in March after being named to the former president's campaign's Texas leadership team.

☆ U.S. lawmakers introduce bipartisan bill to help news media negotiate with Big Tech
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-31 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

WASHINGTON, March 31 (Reuters) - A bipartisan group of U.S. lawmakers reintroduced a bill to allow news organizations to join together to negotiate ad rates with tech giants such as Alphabet Inc's (GOOGL.O) Google. The measure would allow news broadcasters and publishers with fewer than 1,500 full-time workers to jointly negotiate ad rates -- many of which face financial struggles. The bill was introduced by Democratic Senator Amy Klobuchar, chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee's antitrust subcommittee, along with Senator John Kennedy, a Republican. The News/Media Alliance, a media trade association, praised the bill it says will protect and sustain local journalism. Reporting by Diane Bartz; additional reporting by David Shepardson; Editing by Aurora EllisOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Premarket stocks: The FDIC could ask big banks to clean up $23 billion mess
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-31 | by ( Nicole Goodkind | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +7 min

While regional and mid-sized banks are behind the recent turmoil, it appears that large banks may be footing the bill. Ultimately, that means higher fees for bank customers and lower rates on their savings accounts. The law also gives the FDIC the authority to decide which banks shoulder the brunt of that assessment fee. Passing it on: Regardless of who’s charged, the fees will eventually get passed on to bank customers in the end, said Isaac. In 2021, Wall Street was estimated to be responsible for 16% of all economic activity in the city.

☆ Josh Hawley splits Senate GOP over 'duplicative' idea to create a new office tracking US aid to Ukraine
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-28 | by ( Bryan Metzger | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

The Senate rejected a bill from Josh Hawley to establish a new office to oversee Ukraine aid. Many Republicans said they were confident in the Biden administration's aid tracking efforts. "We already have a very extensive operation to oversee spending in Ukraine," said Sen. Mitt Romney of Utah. Hawley's bill did win over at least one Republican who's a vocal supporter of aiding Ukraine: Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina. The underlying AUMF repeal bill, which is backed by a large bipartisan majority of senators and has been endorsed by the White House, is expected to pass the Senate on Wednesday.

Donziger's lawyers argued that this appointment violated separation-of-powers principles set out in the Constitution delineating the authority of the three branches of the U.S. government. In 2011, an Ecuadorian court entered an $18 billion judgment that was later reduced to $9.5 billion against Chevron for contamination resulting from oil production. In 2014, Kaplan concluded in that case that the Ecuadorian judgment against Chevron in Ecuador was obtained fraudulently through a corrupt process, rendering it unenforceable in the United States. When Chevron suspected Donziger was violating a related ban on trying to monetize or profit from the judgment, Kaplan ordered him to turn over electronic devices and email accounts for examination. After federal prosecutors in Manhattan declined to take the case, Kaplan in an unusual move tapped a private lawyer, Rita Glavin, to lead the prosecution of Donziger.

☆ Republican lawmakers press Biden to send cluster bombs to Ukraine -letter
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-21 | by ( Mike Stone | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

WASHINGTON, March 21 (Reuters) - Four Republican members of Congress urged U.S. President Joe Biden to send cluster munitions to Ukraine, alleging in a Tuesday letter to the White House that the administration fears doing so would be seen as an escalation by Russia. Kyiv had urged members of Congress to press the White House to approve sending the weapons. The letter criticized Biden for "reluctance to provide Ukraine the right type and amount of long-range fires and maneuver capability to create" a breakthrough against Russian forces. It urged Biden to send the Dual-Purpose Conventional Improved Munitions (DPICM) found in several types of U.S. munitions, including 155 millimeter artillery, GMLRS and ATACMS. Cluster munitions, banned by more than 120 countries, normally release large numbers of smaller bomblets that can kill indiscriminately over a wide area, threatening civilians.

☆ Record retail theft puts pressure on Australian supermarket giants
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-02 | by ( Byron Kaye | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

SYDNEY, March 2 (Reuters) - Retail theft has hit record levels in Australia, government statistics show, putting pressure on grocery giants Woolworths Group Ltd (WOW.AX) and Coles Group Ltd (COL.AX) that are already struggling with soaring supply costs and freight blockages. Queensland, Australia's third-largest state, had the highest monthly rate of shop stealing on record this January, according to publicly available police data. Neither state's data specified which retailers reported theft. That may impact profit at Woolworths and Coles, which together ring up two-thirds of Australian grocery sales and noted rising store theft in trading updates last month. Supermarkets refer to goods lost to theft, expiry or payment error as stock losses.

☆ U.S. Republicans ask Biden to boost Taiwan in his budget request
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-16 | by ( Patricia Zengerle | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

REUTERS/Stephen LamWASHINGTON, Feb 16 (Reuters) - The top Republicans on U.S. congressional foreign affairs and armed services committees pressed Democratic President Joe Biden on Thursday to include $2 billion in military assistance grants for Taiwan in his upcoming budget request. Congressional aides said they expect Biden to release the budget on March 9. They stressed the need to support Taiwan, an independently ruled island that China views as a breakaway province. Congress late last year overwhelmingly approved legislation authorizing $10 billion - or $2 billion per year for five years - of annual FMF grants for Taiwan. The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the letter.

☆ Ukrainian UN diplomat tells Pink Floyd co-founder Roger Waters to keep to 'strumming guitar' after pushing Ukraine misinformation during council meeting
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-09 | by ( Azmi Haroun | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Pink Floyd co-founder Roger Waters spoke on behalf of Russia at the UN security council Wednesday. He regurgitated conspiracies about the Ukraine war, calling it "illegal" in the same breath. During Wednesday's meeting, Waters struck a more flimsy tone, criticizing Russia on one hand and obfuscating its role on the other. I'm on the fucking list," Waters told Rolling Stone in October 2022. He has also denied the existence of chemical weapons attacks by the Syrian government and defended Russian bombardment in Syria, according to Rolling Stone.

☆ Invited by Russia, Roger Waters tells UN: Ukraine invasion illegal
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-08 | by ( Michelle Nichols | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Ambassador Ferit Hoxha told the 15-member Security Council. Soon after Moscow's Feb. 24 invasion of Ukraine, Russia introduced tough new laws on spreading "misinformation" about the war or discrediting the Russian army. Russia called the Security Council meeting on Wednesday to discuss the delivery of weapons to Ukraine and asked Waters to brief. While Waters condemned Russia's invasion of Ukraine as illegal, he also said it "was not unprovoked" and he also condemned "the provocateurs in the strongest possible terms." "The only sensible course of action today is to call for an immediate ceasefire in Ukraine," Waters saidUkraine's U.N.

☆ Russia asks Pink Floyd's Roger Waters to speak on Ukraine arms at UN
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-07 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

UNITED NATIONS, Feb 7 (Reuters) - Russia has asked Pink Floyd co-founder Roger Waters to speak to the U.N. Security Council on Wednesday at a meeting that Moscow requested to discuss the delivery of weapons to Ukraine. said a U.N. Security Council diplomat, speaking on condition of anonymity. Waters was criticized by supporters of Ukraine when he published an open letter on his website in September to Ukrainian first lady Olena Zelenska. The 15-member Security Council has met dozens of times since Russia invaded neighboring Ukraine last Feb. 24. But it is unable to take any action because Russia is a veto power, along with the United States, China, Britain and France.

☆ Republicans are blaming Biden for letting a suspected Chinese spy balloon cross into the US. It happened 3 times during the Trump administration, officials say.
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-05 | by ( Lloyd Lee | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Republicans are criticizing the Biden administration's response to the Chinese spy balloon. "Would Trump have let China fly a spy balloon over our country?" Chinese spy balloons were sighted three times during the Trump administration, US officials said. The CCP [Chinese Communist Party] can send spy balloons over our nuclear silos and we will do nothing." It's unclear what information the suspected Chinese spy balloon could have gleaned from its various positions.

[1/2] U.S. President Joe Biden speaks to the media after his arrival to the White House in Washington, U.S., January 30, 2023. The White House says it will only discuss future spending cuts after the debt ceiling is raised. Biden will call on McCarthy to release a budget plan in the meeting and to commit to support the nation's debt obligations, according to a White House memo seen by Reuters. The White House has said it would release its budget proposal on March 9. House Republicans, meanwhile, will aim to produce their budget proposal in April, said House Republican Leader Steve Scalise.

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