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☆ Sudanese refugees in Chad risk losing aid as rainy season looms, says MSF
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-12 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

N'DJAMENA, June 12 (Reuters) - Thousands of Sudanese refugees who fled to Chad to escape fighting in their country could be cut off from humanitarian and medical aid during the approaching rainy season, medical charity Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) said on Monday. Rains will also bring a higher risk of waterborne and infectious diseases given poor access to clean water and sanitation, she said. Nearly 30,000 refugees are in Sila, where they lack shelter, water and food due to deficiencies in humanitarian assistance. One of the poorest countries in the world, Chad was already hosting close to 600,000 refugees before the latest Sudanese crisis. This has caused food and commodity prices to soar in areas already suffering from high levels of malnutrition, MSF said.

Persons: MSF's, Audrey van der Schoot, Rains, Chad, Mahamat, Sofia Christensen, Mark Heinrich Our Organizations: United Nations, MSF, UNHCR, Thomson Locations: N'DJAMENA, Chad, Sudan, Sila, Central

☆ A gamma-ray explosion that was so bright it blinded scientists' equipment is even weirder than first thought
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-09 | by ( Marianne Guenot | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

Scientists marveled at the power of the gamma-ray jet, which likely marked the birth of a black hole. Astronomers have since been trying to work out what could have made the gamma-ray burst so bright, and may finally have an answer. Researchers have discovered that the gamma-ray explosion ejected a jet with an unusual structure which dragged a large amount of stellar material along with it. The analysis demonstrates that the most extreme explosions do not obey the standard physics assumed for normal gamma-ray bursts, he said. Still, according to O'Connor, this finding "a massive step forward in our understanding of gamma-ray bursts," the "equivalent Rosetta stone of long GRBs."

Persons: marveled, —, Brendan O'Connor, Levan, Gladys Kober, O'Connor, NASA’s, Alexander van der Horst, Hendrik Van Eerten, Eleonora Troja, it's, Van Eerten Organizations: Service, George Washington University, Hubble, NASA, ESA, CSA, Radboud University, NASA’s Goddard Space, University of Bath, University of Rome

Joran van der Sloot, 35, was extradited to Birmingham, Alabama, from a prison in Peru on Thursday for arraignment in federal court in northern Alabama. The teenager was last seen in Aruba with van der Sloot and another man. Beth Holloway watched as van der Sloot was arraigned in the courtroom, according to local media. During the brief court appearance, van der Sloot wore a T-shirt. Van der Sloot will be returned to Peru upon the trial's conclusion in Alabama.

Persons: Natalee Holloway, Joran van der Sloot, Holloway, van der Sloot, Van der Sloot, Beth Holloway, Tyler Clifford, Cynthia Osterman Organizations: CBS News, Thomson Locations: Alabama, Aruba, U.S, Birmingham , Alabama, Peru, Birmingham, New York City

☆ Peru extradites Dutch murderer in case of missing Alabama teen
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-08 | by ( Marco Aquino | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Joran Van der Sloot, a Dutch national from the Caribbean island of Aruba, has departed for the U.S. from a Peruvian Air Force base. Holloway's remains have never been found, though an Alabama judge declared her legally deceased in 2012, without settling the case. The young student was last seen in Aruba with Van der Sloot and another man. Van der Sloot, 35, is accused of extortion and fraud for offering Holloway's family false information about the whereabouts of the teenager, according to U.S. authorities. Van der Sloot was convicted in 2012 to 28 years in prison in Peru after he confessed to beating, strangling and suffocating a 21-year-old Peruvian business student in 2010.

Persons: Joran van der Sloot, Natalee Holloway, Read, Joran Van der Sloot, Carlos Lopez, Interpol Lima, Van der Sloot, Lopez, Marco Aquino, Lucinda Elliott, Peter Graff, Jonathan Oatis, Marguerita Choy Organizations: Peruvian, Peruvian Air Force, Interpol, Peru's, Ministers, Thomson Locations: Peru, U.S, LIMA, Alabama, Caribbean, Aruba, United States, Dutch, Lima, Birmingham , Alabama, Van

☆ Ukraine is kicking off its big offensive armed with powerful Western tanks and weapons, but breaking Russian lines may be anything but easy
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-08 | by ( Ryan Pickrell | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

The Ukrainians are armed with Western weapons, including tanks and armored vehicles, but they are facing tough Russian defenses. There appear to be Ukrainian offensive operations against Russian defenses in the Zaporizhzhia and Donetsk oblasts, among other locations along the front lines. As some experts have said, the stakes for the Ukrainian offensive are high. Unlike last summer's sweeping offensive around Kharkiv, Ukrainian forces are facing much more heavily defended positions. The think tank added, as Russia makes claims of thwarting Ukraine's offensive, that "the success or failure of this phase may not be apparent for some time."

Persons: —, Klaus, Dietmar Gabbert, Mark Milley, Laurent van der, ISW, Volodymyr Zelenskyy Organizations: Service, Ukrainian, Washington Post, Financial Times, Kyiv hasn't, ABC News, NBC, Institute for, Bundeswehr, Getty Images, US, Joint Chiefs of Staff, CNN, New York Times, 81st Airmobile Battalion, Le Monde, Russian Ministry of Defense, Wall Locations: Ukraine, Donetsk, Russia, Russian, Klietz, Germany, Ukrainian, Kharkiv, Seversk, Novopokrovka

FBI agents flew with van der Sloot on a US Department of Justice plane to an airport in Birmingham, Alabama, where he landed Thursday afternoon. Van der Sloot was seen leaving the Ancón 1 prison in Lima early Thursday, as he was driven away in a black van while in the custody of law enforcement. Peru initially agreed to extradite van der Sloot to the US to face those charges only after he serves his murder sentence. “I want to go to the US,” van der Sloot told Altez in a letter. Holloway was last seen alive with van der Sloot and two other men leaving a nightclub in Aruba 18 years ago.

Persons: Joran van der Sloot, Natalee Holloway, van der Sloot, Holloway’s, Beth Holloway, John Kelly, van, Sloot, –, Van der Sloot, Daniel Maurate, ”, Joran Van Der Sloot, Elizabeth Ann Holloway, Maximo Altez, Altez, ” van der Sloot, Stephany Flores, Holloway, – van der Sloot, Deepak, Satish Kalpoe Organizations: CNN, Alabama, Dutch, FBI, US Department of Justice, Northern District of Alabama, Agents, Peru’s Air Force Base Grupo, ”, CNN en Espanol, Police Locations: United States, Aruba, Birmingham , Alabama, Northern District, Netherlands, Holloway’s, Alabama, Peru, Lima, Lima , Peru, America

“I want to go to the US,” Van der Sloot told Altez in a letter. Van der Sloot was convicted in 2012 of murdering Stephany Flores, 21, in his Lima hotel room and sentenced to 28 years in prison. Peru initially agreed to extradite Van der Sloot to the US to face those charges only after he serves his murder sentence. Peru agreed to Van der Sloot’s “temporary relocation to the United States, because he is condemned here and he must serve his sentence here,” Justice Minister Daniel Maurate said. Police in Aruba arrested and released the three men – van der Sloot and brothers Deepak and Satish Kalpoe – multiple times in 2005 and 2007 in connection with Holloway’s disappearance.

Persons: Joran Van der Sloot, Natalee Holloway, Maximo Altez, Altez, ” Van der Sloot, Van der Sloot, Stephany Flores, he’s, Van der, Daniel Maurate, ” Holloway, – van der Sloot, Deepak, Satish Kalpoe Organizations: CNN, Joran, CNN en Espanol, ”, Aruba . Police Locations: Alabama, Peru, Lima, United States, Aruba, An Alabama

☆ Natalee Holloway case suspect Joran van der Sloot beaten in Peruvian prison, attorney tells ABC News
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-30 | by ( Tatiana Arias | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +3 min

CNN —Joran van der Sloot, the prime suspect in the 2005 disappearance of Alabama teenager Natalee Holloway, was “severely” beaten in a Peruvian prison, his attorney told ABC News on Monday. It may be connected to gang rules inside the Challapalca Prison where van der Sloot is being held, Altez said. Natalee Holloway was last seen alive with van der Sloot and two other men 18 years ago leaving a nightclub in Aruba. The three men – van der Sloot and brothers Deepak and Satish Kalpoe – were arrested in 2005 and released due to insufficient evidence. They were rearrested and charged in 2007 for “involvement in the voluntary manslaughter of Natalee Holloway or causing serious bodily harm to Natalee Holloway, resulting in her death,” Aruban prosecutors said at the time.

☆ 4 things 'Succession' gets wrong about business
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-28 | by ( Sindhu Sundar | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

HBO's hit show "Succession" airs its series finale Sunday night, with Waystar Royco's future in the balance. It captures the spirit of boardroom drama, but takes some liberties with corporate law, experts said. On HBO's hit show "Succession," the beats of a proxy fight are sometimes just as intense as a scheming betrayal from a once loyal lackey. Over four seasons, the show has laid out a thesis about the all-encompassing gravitational force of Logan Roy, the media mogul behind the fictional news and entertainment conglomerate Waystar Royco. "But the failure of the board to engage in any succession planning at all, is a first thing to note," she said.

[1/5] Cars belonging to the Palmen collection are displayed in the warehouse in which they were stored over the last 40 years, ahead of Friday's auction, in Dordrecht, Netherlands May 25, 2023. He never showed off his cars but rather kept them a secret, scared people might steal them, Nico Aaldering from Gallery Aaldering said. Palmen could afford to buy the cars thanks to smart investments, including in real estate, said Hans van der Pluijm from Classic Car Auctions, which is running the auction. "It's a collection you will probably never find in this condition, in this quantity again," said Hans van der Pluijm from Classic Car Auctions. It's special in every shape and it's wanted in every collection," Van der Pluijm said.

☆ A husband hid $500,000 in bitcoin during a divorce — and got busted by a crypto hunter
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-20 | by ( Mackenzie Sigalos | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +23 min

Thumb drive-size devices, such as a Trezor or Ledger, offer another way to secure crypto tokens cold by safeguarding both the crypto itself and the keys to access it. Transfers of digital assets between chains has helped to expand the crypto market by giving people more ways to pay and transact. With crypto staking, investors typically vault their crypto assets with a blockchain validator, which verifies the accuracy of transactions on the blockchain. The tax implications are another major consideration when choosing how to divide crypto assets. I think the people that are interested in digital assets are going to continue to be interested in digital assets," she said.

May 18 (Reuters) - Equity markets in North Asia will outperform the broader region this year, buoyed by China's reopening and a post-pandemic recovery-led earnings rebound, investors and strategists said. Liquidity from easing monetary and fiscal policy, along with Asian central banks' early victory on inflation, is expected to defend against an incoming downtrend, keeping North Asian equities resilient. Grace Tam, chief investment officer-Asia at BNP Paribas Wealth Management, expects North Asia to outperform this year following a strong 2022 from South Asian equities. Goldman Sachs sees the north versus south disparity in Asia as a top investment theme in 2023. "China's growth recovery and North Asia's earnings rebound in 2024 remain our key investment themes and overweight areas," it said in its second-quarter outlook.

☆ Want to Fix Your Mind? Let Your Body Talk.
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-18 | by ( Daniel Bergner | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +4 min

In explaining our psychological troubles, van der Kolk highlights the role of what can loosely be labeled the primal regions of the brain, along with that of the body. The book has a certain kind of romantic appeal; it restores us to the natural world, to the animal kingdom. But while van der Kolk’s readership is vast, he is probably not the most essential figure in the somatic therapy movement. And beyond modern credit for its concepts, somatic therapy owes a debt to timeless practices like mindfulness and meditation.) Van der Kolk’s best-seller-dom and Levine’s legion of new practitioners speak to a current yearning for the holistic.

☆ Sweden's SAS receives US court approval for equity bid
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-15 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

May 15 (Reuters) - Sweden's SAS AB (SAS.ST) said on Monday the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York has approved equity solicitation procedures which will allow the airline to secure available terms and conditions for new equity capital. The final deadline for potential investors to bid will take place in approximately 13 weeks, the company said. "We will conduct a competitive and broad solicitation process to secure equity capital that will help drive our airline forward and facilitate our emergence from the Chapter 11 process," Anko van der Werff, president and chief executive officer of SAS said. Last month, the Scandinavian airline had initiated steps to raise equity and bids as part of its ongoing Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceedings in the United States. The airline earlier said the final sum would depend on the bidding process and generation of additional liquidity by the airline.

☆ Two rare, unknown Rembrandt portraits worth millions discovered in private collection
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-15 | by ( Lianne Kolirin | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +3 min

London CNN —A pair of unknown and “exceptionally rare” portraits by Rembrandt have been discovered in a private collection in the UK. Signed and dated 1635, the pictures are of an elderly husband and wife who were related to Rembrandt by marriage. In 1635, the year the portraits were painted, the subjects acquired a garden next to that of Rembrandt’s mother in Leiden. They then traveled to Warsaw, to the private collection of Count Vincent Potocki, before briefly entering the collection of Baron d’Ivry in Paris in 1820 and then James Murray, 1st Baron Glenlyon. They had never appeared in any of the Rembrandt literature of the 19th or 20h century, so they were completely unknown,” said Pettifer.

☆ FC Groningen vs Ajax suspended due to fans throwing fireworks onto the pitch
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-15 | by ( Homero De La Fuente | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +2 min

CNN —A Dutch soccer match between FC Groningen and Ajax was called off on Sunday because fans twice threw fireworks onto the pitch. “FC Groningen - Ajax has been suspended after 10 minutes of playing due to multiple incidents in which fireworks were thrown onto the pitch,” the Amsterdam-based club Ajax said in a statement. “But as always: thank you fans for your unconditional support!”According to FC Groningen, its home fixture between the two clubs in the Eredivisie – the Netherlands’ top-flight league – was first stopped six minutes into the match. After the players returned to the pitch 15 minutes later, referee Jeroen Manschot was forced to stop the game a second and final time when more fireworks were thrown, the club said. Sunday’s suspension marks the fourth Dutch top-flight league match to be temporarily paused since Friday due to objects being thrown onto the pitch.

☆ Buying global A.I. stocks? Here are the 3 risks investors should watch closely, HSBC says
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-11 | by ( Ganesh Rao | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

Asian companies exposed to artificial intelligence have seen a 30% increase in value since November 2022 — when ChatGPT was unveiled. However, HSBC has warned that investors should consider three significant risks before investing in AI stocks: disappointing demand, increased competition, and regulations. "Nothing is more exciting for investors and entrepreneurs than discovering a potentially huge market for new products and services," said the bank's strategists led by Herald van der Linde. They added that these powerful narratives pushed stock prices up but eventually saw prices come back down due to various factors. Having laid out its framework, HSBC also named the following stocks exposed to artificial intelligence that their analysts cover.

☆ Joran van der Sloot: One of the last people to see Natalee Holloway alive in 2005 is being extradited to the US
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-10 | by ( Joe Sutton | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +2 min

CNN —Joran van der Sloot, one of the last people to see American Natalee Holloway alive in Aruba in 2005 before she disappeared, will be extradited to the US, according to a family statement released Wednesday which was obtained by CNN. “In May 2005 my 18-year-old daughter Natalee Holloway left Birmingham for Aruba to attend her high school graduation trip and was never seen again,” mother Beth Holloway said in the statement. Holloway was last seen in the early hours of May 30, 2005, leaving a nightclub in Aruba with van der Sloot and two other men. Dutch citizen Joran Van der Sloot walks inside the courtroom during the reading of his verdict, in the Lurigancho prison in Lima January 13, 2012. Together, we are finally getting justice for Natalee.”Van der Sloot, a Dutch national, has been indicted in the US on federal charges of extortion and wire fraud.

☆ The 10 Best Things We Saw at Salone del Mobile
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-27 | by ( Ella Riley-Adams | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Dimore Studio’s Cinematic RoomsAt their new Dimore Centrale headquarters and gallery, which opened during last year’s fair, the Dimore Studio designers Britt Moran and Emiliano Salci presented a set of scenes that combined vintage furniture with their own pieces, each one with a distinct narrative and aesthetic. The first four spaces — including Ambulatorio a Chicago (Clinic in Chicago), meant to evoke a therapist’s office, and Pied-à-Terre con Vista Napoli (Pied-à-Terre With a View of Naples), adorned with handmade teal tiles — could be viewed only through holes in their walls. There were windows into the fifth and largest room, which was inspired by the works of the Modernist architects Marcel Breuer and Ludwig Mies van der Rohe and included pieces by them: a wicker D52 armchair by Mies van der Rohe and a cane Breuer desk chair. The studio’s new carpet designs, created in collaboration with the French interior design company Pierre Frey, were on view throughout (in the therapist’s office, the leafy Iris Field pattern covered the walls as well as the floor) along with new lamps and fabrics, which in the final room were spread across antique beds sourced from a monastery.

☆ China doesn’t want US cars like Ford and General Motors. That’s a big problem for their futures.
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-24 | by ( Diamond Naga Siu | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

America has a problem: China — the world's largest car market — doesn't want its vehicles. In 2022, data shows Ford and General Motors' car sales in China each dropped more than 20% from the year before. My colleagues Alexa St. John and Nora Naughton break down how the future of US automakers hinges on China. Although Google founder Larry Page's flying car company Kittyhawk majorly flopped, it left us with some interesting vehicles. Hop aboard to see all the funky flying car models here.

☆ This English Country Home Is a Master Class in Decorating With Personality
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-20 | by ( Antonia Van Der Meer | ) www.wsj.com time to read: +1 min

MAD HOUSE In a family home near London, designers Salvesen Graham didn’t want any room too perfect—in the British country-house tradition. Photo: Simon BrownAN ALMSHOUSE is, historically, a place of refuge where all are welcome, which is an excellent ethos for a warm and comfortable family home. Constructed to provide housing for rotating guests, the structure outside London comprised a row of rooms, with a chapel at the end. At the same time, the series of idiosyncratic and colorful rooms that would reflect the client’s “bubbly, vivacious and really fun” personality had to somehow cohere. A few of the unifying aesthetics: From a richly floral Josef Frank fabric on the family-room sofa to the blush-painted cabinets in the kitchen, “fresh, bright and breezy pinks and reds thread the property,” said Ms. Graham.

☆ Inside a Texas Socialite’s Party Palace, Where She Entertained Tom Brady and George H.W. Bush
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-19 | by ( Katherine Clarke | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

When they say opposites attract, they might well be talking about wealthy Texas couple John Thrash and his wife, Becca Cason Thrash. While Mr. Thrash, a green energy entrepreneur and architecture wonk, sometimes hides from the spotlight, his wife admits she courts it shamelessly. In some ways, their elaborate Texas home, slated to come up for auction next month with a guide price of $19.5 million, is the physical manifestation of those differences. When Mr. Thrash, 68, built the home in the late 1990s, he was inspired by his love of the work of both Ludwig Mies van der Rohe and Frank Lloyd Wright. He envisioned doing some entertaining, but he didn’t count on the property becoming Houston’s party central.

☆ New world body to defend Olympic status in break from IBA
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-13 | by ( Alan Baldwin | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

LONDON, April 13 (Reuters) - A group of national federations including the United States and Britain announced a new boxing world body on Thursday in a breakaway move aimed at securing the troubled sport's Olympic future. Leaders of the Swiss-registered body, World Boxing, told a news conference that they would seek recognition from the International Olympic Committee (IOC). The group includes federations who have already announced boycotts of this year's men's and women's world championships organised by the Russian-led International Boxing Association (IBA). Amateur boxing's governing body defied IOC guidance and lifted a ban on Russian and Belarusian boxers competing under their flags last October. The United States tops the all-time Olympic boxing medal table with 50 golds and 117 medals, ahead of Cuba and with Britain third.

☆ Katie Holmes Still Doesn’t Understand Why Her Cashmere Bra Went Viral
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-10 | by ( Laura Neilson | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

After her breakout role as girl-next-door Joey Potter on “Dawson’s Creek,” Katie Holmes has gone on to play many other parts, including writer, producer, director and mom. Still, her teen-drama roots remain close to her heart. When she was starring in the off-Broadway production “The Wanderers” earlier this year, Dawson’s parents were in the audience. “Mary-Margaret Humes, who played Dawson’s mom, flew out with John Wesley Shipp, who played his dad, and they came to the play—which was so sweet and supportive,” she said. (Dawson was famously played by James Van Der Beek.)

☆ A tech CEO who's rolling out AI across his company says it will give workers 'superpowers' because it's 'crazy powerful'
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-09 | by ( Grace Dean | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Job van der Voort, CEO of HR-tech company Remote, says AI will give workers "superpowers." Van der Voort said he thinks AI won't replace workers but will instead transform their jobs. AI "gives you superpowers," van der Voort said. AI "is going to transform every single business going forward, I think without any exception," van der Voort said. But rather than replacing people's jobs completely, van der Voort said said that AI would instead cause a redeployment of the workforce.

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