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☆ Video of man driving over woman repeatedly reignites China's domestic violence debate
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-30 | by ( Nectar Gan | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +8 min

The wife had reportedly suffered years of domestic violence and was planning on a divorce, her family told state media outlet The Paper. “Given its prevalence, domestic violence is an issue everyone knows about, even if they have not encountered it themselves.”Volunteers in Ma Anshan city, Anhui province sign their names on a banner against domestic violence on December 14, 2011. TopPhoto/AP‘Family affair’In China, domestic violence has traditionally been regarded as a private family matter. The law defines domestic violence for the first time, covering both physical and psychological violence – though it fails to address sexual abuse such as marital rape. “Domestic violence allegations, even when they’re supported by evidence, make no difference – like judges just don’t care at all,” he said.

Persons: –, ”, Feng Yuan, Feng, …, Ethan Michelson, Michelson, they’re, it’s, “, Xi Jinping Organizations: Hong Kong CNN, Twitter, “, ” Volunteers, Ministry of Civil Affairs, Indiana University , Bloomington Locations: Hong Kong, China, Shandong, Dongying, Guangdong, Chengdu, –, Weibo, Beijing, Ma Anshan, Anhui, Michelson

☆ Should the U.S. government pay reparations for slavery and its legacy?
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-27 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +10 min

The poll found that 74% of Black Americans favor reparations compared to just 26% of white Americans. A divided America Views on whether the U.S. government should provide some form of reparations for slavery and its legacy are split along party and racial lines. They also say it’s wrong to have taxpayers finance reparations, given that no one alive today is responsible for slavery. In April 2021, Gohmert went on the attack by proposing an amendment calling for the Democratic Party to pay for reparations. In the slavery era, the Democratic Party supported slavery; the Republican Party, led by Abraham Lincoln, called for slavery’s restriction and eventually abolished it.

Persons: –, Elizabeth Warren, Chris Van Hollen, Lloyd Doggett, Tommy Tuberville, John N, Kennedy, Louie Gohmert, ”, Black, Robert Lindsay, Gohmert, Abraham Lincoln, Lindsay, Valentine, ” Tuberville, “, Tuberville, Valentine Brazil, Nathan Calhoun, ” Kennedy, Nathan Calhoun’s, Dabney P, Calhoun, John Crawford, ’ Warren, Warren, – Crawford, Crawford, ” Warren, Isaac Hollingsworth, ’, Van Hollen, ” Van Hollen, Miller Doggett, Doggett, ” Doggett, Jim Crow, Tom Bergin, Makini Brice, Nicholas P, Brown, Donna Bryson, Lawrence Delevingne, Brad Heath, Andrea Januta, Gui Qing Koh, Tom Lasseter, Grant Smith, Maurice Tamman, Catherine Tai Design, John Emerson, Jeremy Schultz, Blake Morrison Organizations: Black, Reuters, –, 117th, U.S ., Louie Gohmert Former U.S, Representative, Republican, Democratic Party, Republican Party, Vigilance, Kennedy U.S, Massachusetts Democrat, Senate, Chris Van Hollen U.S, Maryland, Lloyd Doggett U.S, H.R, Texas Democrat Locations: United States, America, U.S . Civil, Louie Gohmert Former, Texas, Europe, Bowie County , Texas, Boston, Bowie County, Alabama, Valentine Brazil, Nevada, Tuberville, Saline County , Arkansas, Brazil, Ouachita, Louisiana, Abbeville , South Carolina, Massachusetts, Dorchester County , Maryland, Maryland, Virginia, Tennessee

☆ 75 Years After ‘The Lottery’ Was Published, the Chills Linger
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-26 | by ( Scott Heller | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

David SedarisAuthor, “Happy-Go-Lucky”If I’m not mistaken, my seventh-grade teacher showed us the movie of “The Lottery” before having us read it, which is unfortunate. I remember sitting in the dark when it flickered to an end, completely destroyed. I reread “The Lottery” every few years and have listened to many audio versions, none of which get the last line right in my opinion (the closest is Maureen Stapleton for The Caedmon Short Story Collection). When I first read the story it seemed fresh — was fresh, I suppose, only 23 years old. I was a kid when I first read “The Lottery,” and a weird kid at that.

Persons: David Sedaris, I’m, Maureen Stapleton, Bobby, Dickie, Old Man Warner, “, ”, Rob Savage, Carmen Maria Machado, Shirley Jackson’s, …, ” — Organizations: Old Man, Lottery

☆ Yellow-crested cockatoos find an unlikely urban refuge in Hong Kong
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-26 | by ( Rebecca Cairns | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +18 min

Hong Kong CNN —It’s dusk in Hong Kong Park. On a sweltering summer day in Hong Kong Park, nestled between skyscrapers in the urban center of the Asian metropolis, a yellow-crested cockatoo perches on a branch. Noemi Cassanelli/CNN Yellow-crested cockatoos nest in old trees, typically more than 100 years old, which form cavities in the trunk. Hong Kong, despite its urban sprawl and concrete veneer, is a stronghold for several endangered species, including Chinese pangolins, Hong Kong groupers, and the black-faced spoonbill. (According to the AFCD, it has “not received any report related to poaching of yellow-crested cockatoos in the past three years.”)Extremely picky about where they roost, the yellow-crested cockatoos use cavities that form in the trunks of trees that are typically older than 100 years.

Persons: Hong Kong CNN —, –, Astrid Andersson, it’s, ”, Andersson, Quadrupling, Noemi Cassanelli, Cassanelli, CNN Andersson, CNN There's, they’ve, “, Tom Booth, Fox, It’s, ’, Fiona Woodhouse, Woodhouse, Hong Kong’s, Jovy Chan, Chan, “ They’ve Organizations: CNN, Hong Kong CNN, Press, University of Hong, Timor Leste, International Trade, Fisheries, Conservation Department, CITES, Scottish wildcats, ADM Capital Foundation, Society for, Bird, Cultural Services Department, Facebook, Hong, SPCA HK, WWF Locations: Hong Kong, Swedish, Indonesia, Timor, Australia, University of Hong Kong, Hong, ”, Mainland China, HKD28,000, Indonesian

☆ A psychologist says she broke down in tears when she learned the horrors that 2 castrated Ukrainian soldiers endured, says report
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-18 | by ( Isobel Van Hagen | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

A Ukrainian psychologist described the horrors two soldiers went through in a new report by The Times. Anzhelika Yatsenko cried when she learned the young men were castrated while prisoners of Russia. It was "the first time I behaved not like a professional psychologist," she told The Times. The soldiers struggled to tell their psychologist, who specializes in troubled young men, what happened to them. While sexual violence against women and girls is widely covered in the context of war, sexual violence against men is less well-documented.

Persons: Anzhelika Yatsenko, —, Christina Lamb, Yatsenko, I'd Organizations: The Times, Times, Service, Sunday Times, UN Locations: Ukrainian, Russia, Ukraine, Poltava, Russian

☆ Opinion | Taylor Swift Has Rocked My Psychiatric Practice
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-17 | by ( Suzanne Garfinkle-Crowell | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +3 min

Taylor doesn’t force you to choose, because she is both The Lucky One you want to be, and every bit the Anti-Hero you are inside. Like Taylor, she dresses to be pretty and cool (and sometimes, for revenge), but inside, she is in all kinds of pain. She finds in Taylor Swift an actual hero who meets her where she is but also shows her the badass place she could get to — so intoxicating precisely because it is within reach. “What would Taylor Swift do?” is a refrain among certain patients in my practice. Taylor Swift articulates not only the treachery of bullying but also the cruelty just shy of it that is even more pervasive: meanness, exclusion, intermittent ghosting.

Persons: —, It’s, Tori Amos, Ani DiFranco, Taylor, she’d, Romeo, Taylor Swift

☆ A 5-year-old Rottweiler named Loki earned an honorary 'dogtorate' degree from the University of Maryland Baltimore
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-17 | by ( Ashley R. Williams | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +2 min

CNN —If every dog has its day, graduating with honorary “dogtorate” degrees marked that moment for a group of service and therapy dogs who have gone above and beyond. The University of Maryland, Baltimore presented the dogs, dressed in their caps and gowns, with their special degrees alongside their handlers Tuesday at a ceremony reserved just for the devoted animals. “Dogtor” Loki received her honorary Dogtorate of Medicine for extraordinary service during the Covid-19 pandemic, according to the university. Loki received an honorary Dogtorate of Medicine during Tuesday's ceremony. University of Maryland, BaltimoreLoki has won national awards, including from the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, for her efforts to grow the university’s therapy dog program.

Persons: ” Loki, Caroline Benzel, Benzel, Loki, Baltimore Loki, ” Benzel, “, ”, “ Loki, wouldn’t, It’s, they’re Organizations: CNN, The University of Maryland, University of Maryland, American Society for, ‘, Pharmacy Locations: Baltimore

☆ Greece boat disaster: A Pakistani father's anguish over his missing son
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-17 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

Now, the father fears his son was among those lost in a disastrous boat capsize off Greece on Wednesday in which hundreds of people are thought to have died, among them Pakistanis. Mehmood, 60, said a local travel agent had charged 2.2 million Pakistani rupees ($7,653) for his son's trip, with the promise he would earn well in Europe. He said he last heard from his son when Sultan got on a boat, which he believes was the doomed vessel. "He sent a (text) message saying that he was sitting in a boat with around 400- 500 people. Most of the people on board the capsized boat were from Egypt, Syria and Pakistan, Greek government officials have said.

Persons: Shahid Mehmood, Sultan, Mehmood, Adnan Iftikhar, Shahbaz Sharif, Ariba Shahid, Frances Kerry Organizations: country's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Thomson Locations: KARACHI, Pakistan, Pakistani, Europe, Greece, Faisalabad, Dubai, Egypt, Libya, Tripoli, Pylos, Syria, Karachi

☆ A Firefighter Drowns After Rushing into the Sea to Save His Daughter
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-11 | by ( Chelsia Rose Marcius | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: 1 min

The day began with a dip into the cool Atlantic waters along the New Jersey shore near Avon-by-the-Sea. Soon after, his daughter made a beeline toward the waves, splashing as she waded deeper into the dark blue. The narrow, fast-moving stream swept her farther and farther away from the shore. Mr. Batista rushed in to rescue her, friends and authorities said. But the ocean, in all its cruelty, pulled him under.

Persons: Mark Batista, Batista Organizations: New York Fire Department Locations: New Jersey, Avon

☆ ChatGPT, AI Tech Will Worsen America's Loneliness Crisis, Friendship Recession
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-07 | by ( Daniel Cox | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +14 min

And there are definitely areas where AI chatbots could be useful — especially when it comes to business. Artificial IntimacyThe shift toward AI relationships isn't just a theoretical possibility: Some entrepreneurs and companies are already working to create chatbot-driven connections. While it has garnered a lot of attention, CarynAI isn't the first attempt at providing people with companionship through an AI chatbot. Snap recently deployed its own AI chatbot, called My AI, aimed at supplementing social interactions on the app. In researching new AI chatbots, I was struck by the missed opportunity for disconnected people to forge new connections.

Persons: ChatGPT, Derek Thompson, —, you've, Eric Klinenberg, Jenny Leigh, isn't, Caryn Marjorie, Marjorie, Caryn, CarynAI, Replika, Evan Spiegel, Joshua Bote, Zers, Brent Orrell, Daniel Cox Organizations: Pew Research Center, University of Pennsylvania, Software, New York, Washington Post, San Francisco Chronicle, Brown University, Hasbro, Science Foundation, Survey Center, American Enterprise Institute Locations: New York City

☆ AI Tech Like ChatGPT Will Make Americans More Lonely
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-07 | by ( Daniel Cox | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +14 min

☆ India violence against women: Brutal killings of two young girls show one of country's biggest problems is only getting worse, advocates say
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-07 | by ( Tara Subramaniam | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +7 min

Advocates had hoped the shocking murder case would represent a watershed moment in India’s approach to violence against women. In fact, as others like Swati Maliwal, chairperson of the Delhi Commission for Women, point out, such crimes are becoming more common. Violence against women has prompted past protests with calls for greater government action. She’s concerned that it suggests a societal apathy towards violence against women and girls, or worse, acceptance. “I think why the recent case is so shocking is it happened so blatantly in a public place,” Kothari said.

Persons: bludgeoned, Jayna, we’ve, ”, Kothari, “, ” Kothari, Swati Maliwal, Sayantan Chakraborty, there’s, Yogita Bhayana, shaming, ” Bhayana, Maliwal, Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh, Mantar, Sanchit Khanna Organizations: CNN, Delhi Commission, Women, Pacific Press, Crime Records, Wrestling Federation of India, Hindustan Times Locations: India, ”, Delhi, Gujarat’s Surat district, “

☆ Isabel Allende Has a Message: History Repeats Itself
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-03 | by ( Lauren Fox | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

THE WIND KNOWS MY NAME, by Isabel AllendeIf the measure of a civilization is the way in which it cares for its most vulnerable, by most standards, ours isn’t doing too well. Consider the record number of family separations at the U.S. border under President Donald J. Trump’s “zero tolerance” policy; as of February 2023, on the second anniversary of the creation of President Biden’s Family Reunification Task Force, close to 1,000 children still remained separated from their families. This travesty and tragedy is the engine of Isabel Allende’s new novel, “The Wind Knows My Name.” The deliberate cruelty of the bureaucracies that enforce the separations, and the enduring psychic wounds these ruptures inflict on children, are the novel’s foundation and its psychological backbone. All of the characters in this timely, provocative story carry the weight of painful history, and their lives converge near the end of the book.

Persons: Isabel Allende, Donald J, Biden’s, Isabel Allende’s Organizations: Task Force Locations: U.S

☆ This couple bootstrapped their way to a multimillion-dollar business. Here are their top tips for success
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-01 | by ( Goh Chiew Tong | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +5 min

The duo shared three tips with CNBC Make It on how to run a successful business — in good and bad times. Putting customers firstWhen it comes to building a successful business, Hamilton has one guiding principle: you have to make products that people love. She launched the hair masque in 2018 when she saw a "mid-tier space" in hair care products that had yet to be filled — products of salon-grade quality, but at an affordable price. When people love one product, you can convert product love to brand love. "When people love one product, you can convert product love to brand love," Ostrowski shared.

Persons: Emily Hamilton, Alexander Ostrowski, Coco, Tik, Ostrowski, Emily, Hamilton, Emily Hamilton Co, they're, —, it's, Alexander Ostrowski Co, there's, I've Organizations: CNBC, Hamilton, Eve, Coco Locations: Bali, Singapore, Covid

☆ The Senate just passed a bill to block student-loan forgiveness and immediately end the payment pause
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-01 | by ( Ayelet Sheffey | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

The Senate just passed a bill to overturn student-debt relief and end the payment pause. On Thursday, the Senate passed a bill — first introduced in March — to overturn Biden's plan to cancel up to $20,000 in student debt for federal borrowers making under $125,000 a year by a vote of 52-46. Chuck Grassley and Bill Cassidy — sponsors of the bill — wrote an opinion piece in Fox News urging their colleagues in the Senate to pass the legislation to overturn student-loan forgiveness. Before the vote, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer wrote on Twitter that "the Senate GOP is pushing a terrible measure to end the pause on student loan payments and overturn @POTUS's student loan cancellation program. But to overturn his landmark student debt relief program just to score political points?

Persons: Biden, —, Joe Biden's, Democratic Sens, Joe Manchin, Jon Tester, Independent Sen, Kyrsten Sinema, Chuck Grassley, Bill Cassidy —, Chuck Schumer, Massachusetts Sen, Elizabeth Warren, New Jersey Democratic Sen, Bob Menendez Organizations: Service, Democratic, Independent, Republicans, GOP, Fox News, Senate, Twitter, House Republicans, New, New Jersey Democratic Locations: Massachusetts, New Jersey

☆ Miss ‘Succession’ Already? Here’s What to Watch Next
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-29 | by ( Margaret Lyons | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

The end of “Succession” leaves a Waystar Royco-sized hole in our hearts. Bickering and jockeying abound, fueled by the mutually understood but outwardly denied reality that no one in the second generation is truly up to the task. The daughter is married to a bumbling oaf, whom she bullies with real glee. In “Succession,” the stakes are grave, but the characters approach them with flippancy; in “Gemstones,” the circumstances are absurd, but the characters take them incredibly seriously. If “Succession” is an ice bath, “The Righteous Gemstones” is a slip-n-slide, but the water is springing from the same source.

☆ Haiti's deadly vigilante movement sees decline in gang violence, report says
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-28 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

The situation in the Caribbean country remains extremely volatile as heavily armed gangs continue to drive a humanitarian crisis that has displaced tens of thousands amid frequent kidnappings for ransom, gang rapes, tortures and murders. The vigilante movement, known as "Bwa Kale", began after residents of the capital Port-au-Prince lynched and set fire to over a dozen suspected gang members in the early morning of April 24. "Without making a value judgment, the 'Bwa Kale' movement has in just one month produced convincing, visible results; fear has changed sides," CARDH said in the report. Port-au-Prince, which CARDH estimates is now 60% controlled by armed gangs, sits in Haiti's Ouest Department where most of vigilante killings that it recorded - including lynchings, stonings, beatings and burnings - took place. Bwa Kale, CARDH said, likely emerged from the extreme cruelty inflicted by gangs, the ineffectiveness of the government, police and army and lack of international action.

☆ Christians caught with a Bible in North Korea have faced death and had their families, including children, thrown in prison for life, a new report says
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-26 | by ( Ryan Pickrell | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

North Korea offers freedom of religion to its citizens on paper but not in practice. A recently released Department of State report notes that while North Korea constitutionally allows for religious freedom, there is no such thing in practice. One NGO, Open Doors USA, has reported that for Christians in North Korea, life is a "constant cauldron of pressure" and "capture or death is only a mistake away." The North Korea flag flutters next to barbed wire at the North Korean embassy in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. That report found that North Korea "denied the rights to freedom of thought, conscience, and religion" and engaged in "crimes against humanity."

☆ US economy on the brink as time runs low to avert debt default
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-22 | by ( Stephen Collinson | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +10 min

After a weekend of acrimony between negotiators for House Republicans and the White House, Biden will meet House Speaker Kevin McCarthy Monday for critical talks on pulling the economy back from the precipice. Biden and McCarthy to meet MondayThe rhetoric eased a little, however, after Biden and McCarthy spoke as the president flew home on Air Force One. McCarthy already passed a bill raising the debt ceiling in exchange for a wish list of Republican demands. This is a balance of power that ought to drive both sides towards a compromise, but extremist elements in the House GOP could make that impossible. Like McCarthy, Biden also faces political pressure within his own party after some progressive Democrats expressed fears he would offer the speaker too much in any deal.

☆ Opinion | How to Use the Debt Ceiling to Inflict Cruelty on the Poor
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-17 | by ( David Firestone | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +3 min

In 2021, 61 percent of the 25 million people on Medicaid were working in full- or part-time jobs. The bill would also require many adults 19 to 55 to work 80 hours a month to receive federally subsidized health coverage from Medicaid. Republicans couldn’t repeal the act through the front door, so they are using the leverage provided by the debt ceiling to try to achieve their ideological aim. It’s been clear for years that these kinds of work requirements don’t actually put people back to work; they just pry people away from the benefits they need. In 2018, Arkansas became the first state to impose very similar work requirements on Medicaid, before a federal judge ended the experiment the next year.

☆ Elon Musk called downtown San Francisco — where Twitter is headquartered — a 'derelict zombie apocalypse' amid its huge homelessness and drug issues
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-16 | by ( Sawdah Bhaimiya | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Elon Musk commented on the drugs and homelessness crisis in San Francisco calling it a "disaster." The billionaire CEO said the "once beautiful and thriving" area has become a "zombie apocalypse." Twitter CEO Elon Musk tweeted his thoughts about downtown San Francisco lamenting the decline of the "once beautiful and thriving" area and called it a "disaster." San Francisco is also a major tech hub with the likes of Google, Twitter, Apple, and Meta headquartered in or near the city. She considered the conditions in San Francisco as bad as in cities like Mumbai and Delhi, which are notorious for having some of the worst poverty crises on earth.

☆ U.S. Supreme Court allows death row inmate's lawsuit after failed execution
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-15 | by ( Andrew Chung | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

A majority of the justices in November cleared the way for the execution of Smith, sentenced to death for his role in a 1988 murder-for-hire plot. The method in Alabama posed an "intolerable risk of torture, cruelty or substantial pain," Smith's lawsuit stated. A judge dismissed Smith's lawsuit, but on Nov. 17, the day of his scheduled execution, the Atlanta-based 11th U.S. The 11th Circuit also in a separate decision stayed his execution, but after the state appealed to the Supreme Court, the justices allowed it to proceed. Smith's case is not a challenge to the death penalty itself.

☆ Philippine court acquits top critic of ex-president Duterte's 'war on drugs'
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-12 | by ( Adrian Portugal | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

De Lima has spent the past six years in detention, five of which as senator, and has one more case pending. "Glorious day, glorious day, beginning of my vindication," she added. Duterte has accepted the court judgement, Salvador Panelo, his legal counsel during his administration, said in a statement on Saturday. "Freeing her now is critical so she can return to her family, leaving the injustice of years behind bars in pre-trial detention caused by Duterte's vengeful cruelty," he said. "The charges against Leila de Lima are bogus and the result of the peaceful exercise of her right to freedom of expression.

☆ Three New Story Collections Make Place a Protagonist
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-12 | by ( Justin Taylor | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

The Turkish president Recep Erdogan looms large in Kenan Orhan’s I AM MY COUNTRY: And Other Stories (Random House, 227 pp., $27), a powerful and provocative debut collection with a vivid sense of place. A garbagewoman hoards discarded items she finds in the course of her collections: musical scores, musical instruments, eventually musicians. This smart, heartfelt saga is dragged down by talking birds who pithily argue ethics with their would-be keeper. In “The Smuggler,” set during the Syrian civil war, a Syrian man must get a pregnant 15-year-old Kurdish girl across the border into Turkey by pretending to be her husband. This is Orhan at his best: finding comedy lurking on the outskirts of tragedy, reveling in the inherent absurdism of the all-too-real.

☆ ‘The Mother’ Review: Are You My Sniper?
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-11 | by ( Lisa Kennedy | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

This arrangement has kept the Mother and child safe for 12 years when Agent Cruise reaches out with news that Zoe (Lucy Paez) has been found by the Mother’s former partners: Adrian Lovell (Joseph Fiennes) and Hector Alvarez (Gael García Bernal). Lovell is a nasty-smooth piece of work. As Alvarez, Bernal basks in some candlelit cruelty when the action shifts to Cuba. Lovell trained the Mother as a sniper in Afghanistan. Apart from some deadpan exchanges between the Mother and Zoe, Lopez plays the role fierce.

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