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☆ The Scramble to Take Over What Bed Bath & Beyond Left Behind
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-18 | by ( Jordyn Holman | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

Competitors of Buy Buy Baby, which Bed Bath & Beyond owns and is also being liquidated, are seeing benefits, too. Babylist, an online registry business, said the number of registries created on its platform in the last few weeks since Bed Bath & Beyond filed for bankruptcy was 35 percent higher than a year ago. Bed Bath & Beyond and Buy Buy Baby suppliers have been revising their strategies in recent months. Still, because Bed Bath & Beyond is known for its ability to carry a vast array of products, it continued to attract smaller companies trying to raise their profiles. In August, when Bed Bath & Beyond rolled out its turnaround plan, Buy Buy Baby cut its order with Primary, as it did with several other suppliers.

☆ OpenAI CEO wows lawmakers at closed dinner: 'Fantastic…forthcoming'
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-16 | by ( Lauren Feiner | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +6 min

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman spoke to an engaged crowd of about 60 lawmakers at a dinner Monday about the advanced artificial technology his company produces and the challenges of regulating it. The wide-ranging discussion that lasted about two hours came ahead of Altman's first time testifying before Congress at a Senate Judiciary subcommittee on privacy and technology hearing on Tuesday. The dinner discussion comes at a peak moment for AI, which has thoroughly captured Congress' fascination. "There isn't any question where he pulls back on anything," she said, adding that lawmakers had very thoughtful things to ask. Khanna said the question of openness of the model is something he's discussed with Altman before, though not at Monday's dinner.

☆ American jailed for spying by China rubbed shoulders with senior Chinese officials, CNN reporting shows, CNN reporting shows
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-16 | by ( Nectar Gan | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +9 min

“He’s a very famous person, known by many overseas Chinese in the southern US,” Tang said. Reports published by Chinese-language media in Texas and China’s state media show Leung’s long-running access to senior Chinese officials. In 2014, he met with the director of Jiangsu Provincial Overseas Chinese Affairs Office during a visit to Nanjing, the provincial capital. This photo shows John Leung with Wang Hua, the former director of Jiangsu Provincial Overseas Chinese Affairs Office. It also comes as American and Chinese officials are resuming high-level engagements since a dispute over a suspected Chinese spy balloon shattered efforts to mend ties earlier this year.

☆ Opinion | Justice Delayed
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-16 | by ( Lisa Belkin | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +3 min

“We investigated this thing upside down,” said Jerry Hill, a retired state attorney, in a “Bone Valley” interview with Mr. King’s co-host, Kelsey Decker, minutes after the board denied parole to Mr. Schofield in 2020. And so it went in the Adams and Schofield cases, as the prosecutors all but physically barred the jailhouse door. There was no expression of regret from the prosecutors who convicted Randall Dale Adams in Dallas. (Mr. Lindsey himself spent three years on death row before the Florida Supreme Court concluded the evidence was insufficient to sustain his conviction. He is one of 30 death row inmates in Florida to be exonerated since 1972, according to the Death Penalty Information Center.)

☆ Contaminated water in North Carolina has been linked to a higher risk of Parkinson's in a new study of over 300,000 veterans
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-15 | by ( Chris Panella | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

A new study found a connection between contaminated water at a military base and Parkinson's disease. The risk of Parkinson's was 70% higher for over 300,000 veterans from Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune. Those stationed at Camp Lejeune were there for at least three months between 1975 and 1985. Even veterans who were not diagnosed with Parkinson's disease still had "significantly higher" risk for early signs and symptoms of the illness, the researchers reported in the study. Both Veterans Affairs and the Department of Defense have previously acknowledged the exposure of trichloroethylene at Camp Lejeune.

☆ Etsy launches wedding registry service for handmade gifts in wake of Bed Bath & Beyond bankruptcy
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-10 | by ( Aaron Mcdade | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Etsy launched a wedding registry service Wednesday. The move comes as some stores roll back wedding registry services and on the heels of Bed Bath & Beyond's bankruptcy. In conjunction with the launch of the registry service, Etsy published several blog posts outlining popular wedding trends and gift ideas. Personalized wedding and bridal gifts have long been popular on Etsy and frequently showcased in gift guides. Other recent retail closures, restructurings, and bankruptcy filings from companies like JCPenney, Lord & Taylor, Barneys, and Neiman Marcus have also impacted the registry market, retail expert Burt Flickinger told CNN.

☆ Etsy is wasting no time jumping into the wedding registry business
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-10 | by ( Parija Kavilanz | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +3 min

While Bed Bath and Beyond and its popular wedding registry service teeter on the edge, Etsy is stepping in to fill any potential void. Etsy announced on Wednesday that the online marketplace for handcrafted items is launching its own wedding registry. In addition to selecting registry items from Etsy’s vast offerings of handmade and vintage items, the company said the Etsy Registry will also provide couples with a personalization service for nuptial-related paraphernalia, such as wedding decor and bridal party items. “So, launching Etsy Registry was a natural next step,” she said. Etsy has launched its own wedding registry called Etsy Registry.

☆ How El Chapo’s sons built a fentanyl empire poisoning America
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-09 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +23 min

Headed by Iván, El Chapo’s oldest son, the siblings have emerged as key figures in the Sinaloa Cartel, U.S. and Mexican anti-narcotics officials said. But he was killed in 2008 in Culiacán in a hail of bullets amid infighting between warring factions of the Sinaloa Cartel. The agency in April placed Iván on the list of its 10 Most Wanted Fugitives, joining Jesús Alfredo and Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada, a Sinaloa Cartel legend and El Chapo’s alleged former business partner. They also kidnapped eight soldiers and surrounded military housing where wives and children of Mexican soldiers lived, Mexican officials said. Despite that blow to the Sinaloa Cartel, fentanyl keeps flowing north.

☆ A new law allows Putin to draft Russians via an online portal — even if they don't have an account. It 'brings the digital Gulag much, much closer,' critics say
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-07 | by ( Katherine Tangalakis-Lippert | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

A new law allows Russian conscripts to be notified of their military service via government portal. Critics say the move creates "a digital system of social control" akin to a virtual Gulag labor camp. The new conscription law, she wrote, "brings the Digital Gulag much, much closer." What is the Digital Gulag? With the digital registry and harsh punishments for noncompliance, "the government wants to create a digital system of social control by regulating individual access to rights and benefits," Stanovaya wrote.

☆ Beijing expects foreigners to trust, not verify
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-05 | by ( Pete Sweeney | Thomson Reuters | Asia Economics Editor Pete Sweeney Joined Reuters Breakingviews In Hong Kong In September Previously He Served As Reuters' Chief Correspondent For China Economy | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

In recent months, Chinese investigators have detained employees of U.S. due-diligence firm Mintz Group, visited consultancy Bain & Company and suspended auditor Deloitte’s Beijing operations for three months. Security watchdogs have restricted overseas access to financial data providers like Wind Information, as well as academic database China National Knowledge Infrastructure. Local banks loaned 3.9 trillion yuan ($560 billion) in March alone while corporations issued 328 billion yuan of bonds. Besides Wind, other Chinese data providers including company databases Qichacha and TianYanCha have stopped opening to offshore users, according to three of the sources. They do not reflect the views of Reuters News, which, under the Trust Principles, is committed to integrity, independence, and freedom from bias.

HONG KONG, May 4 (Reuters) - China's biggest financial data provider Wind Information Co told some customers late last year that it was restricting offshore users from accessing certain business and economic data as a result of the cybersecurity regulator's new data rules, two sources said. Restricted access to Wind by offshore users comes as China sharpens its focus on data usage and security amid rising geopolitical tensions and concerns about privacy in the world's second-largest economy. A Wind salesperson told the source in September the company had made the changes as per instructions from the Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC), which asked it to stop providing offshore users with certain data. The restrictions on offshore users' access to certain Wind data have expanded since last September, said the first source. Reuters has reported, citing sources that Chinese data providers including company databases Qichacha, partially owned by Wind, and TianYanCha have stopped opening to offshore users for at least months.

☆ Crate & Barrel offers to take over gift registries for jilted Bed Bath & Beyond couples and BuyBuy Baby parents-to-be. Here's how to switch.
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-04 | by ( Ben Tobin | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Crate & Barrel is allowing Bed Bath & Beyond customers to transfer their registries to furniture and home-decor chain. Crate & Barrel says customers who created wedding or baby gift registries at Bed Bath & Beyond or its BuyBuy Baby brand can transfer them to the Illinois-based furniture and home-decor retailer. To do a transfer, the customer would need to create a Crate & Barrel or Crate & Kids registry, take a screenshot of their Bed, Bath & Beyond or BuyBuy Baby registry, then bring it into a Crate & Barrel store. And stores like JoAnn, The Container Store, and Big Lots are all accepting Bed Bath & Beyond coupons. Do you have a wedding or baby registry through Bed Bath and Beyond?

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☆ Iran seizes second oil tanker in a week in Gulf, US Navy says
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-03 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

DUBAI, May 3 (Reuters) - Iran has seized a second oil tanker in a week on Wednesday in Gulf waters, the U.S. Navy said, the latest escalation in a series of seizures or attacks on commercial vessels in Gulf waters since 2019. In Iran's first response, Tehran's prosecutor announced the oil tanker was seized on a judicial order following a complaint by a plaintiff, the judiciary's Mizan news agency said. The incident comes after Iran on Thursday seized a Marshall Islands-flagged oil tanker in the Gulf of Oman called the Advantage Sweet. The Niovi oil tanker seized on Wednesday had been travelling from Dubai toward the UAE's Fujairah port when it was forced by IRGCN boats to change course towards Iranian territorial waters, the Navy said. Since 2019, there have been a series of attacks on shipping in the strategic Gulf waters at times of tension between the United States and Iran.

☆ US criminal justice alliance seeks to erase 'trial penalty'
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-03 | by ( Sarah N. Lynch | Thomson Reuters | Sarah N. Lynch Is The Lead Reporter For Reuters Covering The U.S. Justice Department Out Of Washington | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

The effort is complicated by the U.S. criminal justice system's diffuse nature, with local, state and federal courts. Defendants who plead guilty typically get credit for accepting responsibility for their crimes and spend less time in prison. Criminal justice advocates point to a downside. Defendants who plead guilty are not given access to all evidence against them and their appeal rights are limited. The National Registry of Exonerations, which collects information about exonerations of innocent criminal defendants, has tracked 3,300 exonerations since 1989.

☆ Amazon, Target, and Walmart will be the biggest winners from Bed Bath & Beyond's demise
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-02 | by ( Dominick Reuter | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Bed Bath & Beyond has filed for bankruptcy and is conducting an "orderly wind down" of its stores. 1 in several of the categories that Bed Bath & Beyond is best known for: kitchen and bathroom supplies, decor, storage, and bedding. Consumers will have fewer options with the demise of Bed Bath & Beyond, said Peter Greene, Numerator's Insights Practice Director for General Merchandise, in a statement. "Bed Bath & Beyond was slow to embrace and adopt the e-commerce boom, which was pioneered, advanced, and utilized to great success by direct competitors like Target, Walmart, and Amazon," Bed Bath & Beyond CFO Holly Etlin wrote in bankruptcy filings. Bed Bath & Beyond's sales plummeted from $11.1 billion in 2019 to an estimated $5.4 billion in 2022.

☆ Oklahoma bodies found: Convicted sex offender Jesse McFadden and 2 teen girls among 7 bodies found at his home
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-02 | by ( Tina Burnside Caroll Alvarado Eric Levenson | Tina Burnside | Caroll Alvarado | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +4 min

CNN —A convicted sex offender and two missing teenage girls were believed to be among seven bodies found at the man’s Oklahoma home on Monday, authorities said. Brittany Brewer, 16, left, and Ivy Webster, 14, right, were the subject of an endangered/missing advisory issued by the Oklahoma Highway Patrol. From Nathan Brewer/Okmulgee County Sheriff's OfficeThe seven bodies were found at a property where McFadden lived and was listed as his home in the Oklahoma Sex Offender Registry. “Our hearts are hurting, and we have considered what would be best for our students in the coming days,” the school system said. “Please continue to keep these families in your thoughts and prayers.”Located in central Oklahoma, Henryetta had a population of 5,640 at the 2020 US census.

The bodies were found at a property in Henryetta, a city about 90 miles from Oklahoma City, authorities said. The bodies were found “not in the residence, but just on the property,” Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation spokesperson Gerald Davidson told reporters Monday. “Our hearts are hurting, and we have considered what would be best for our students in the coming days,” the school system said. The school system added that classes would not be canceled and that students would have access to mental health professionals and faith-based clergy. “Please continue to keep these families in your thoughts and prayers.”A vigil for the “families affected by this tragedy” was scheduled for Monday evening, the school system said on Facebook.

☆ Bride had her wedding dress held 'hostage' in a billing dispute between Bed Bath & Beyond and preservation company
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-29 | by ( Ramishah Maruf | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +4 min

Last week, Bed Bath & Beyond (BBBY) announced it was planning to liquidate its inventory and go out of business. After reading good reviews about Houston-based Memories Gown Preservation, she decided to order the $120 kit through Bed Bath & Beyond. “I knew I wouldn’t look good in a white wedding dress,” she said. The MemoriesGP website still advertises Bed Bath & Beyond as an authorized dealer and as a registry option. “We take concerns raised by our customers very seriously,” Bed Bath & Beyond said.

☆ Ukraine's military intelligence agency is showing off the Black Hawk helicopter it got through a crowdfunding campaign
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-27 | by ( Stefano D'Urso | The Aviationist | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Ukraine's military intelligence agency has released footage of a Black Hawk helicopter it recently received. Special-operations personnel from Ukraine's military intelligence agency train with a Black Hawk helicopter in April. Currently, Ukraine can easily accommodate about a hundred Black Hawk multirole helicopters, about 50 Apache attack helicopters and about 40-60 Chinook cargo helicopters", said the first Ukrainian Black Hawk pilot, who carries the call sign "Maestro." So far this is the only UH-60 helicopter in Ukraine. We now know that the Black Hawk in question is a 1980 UH-60A model, which formerly served in the US Army with the serial number 80-23439.

☆ Sam Altman is building his utopia, whether you want it or not
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-27 | by ( Melia Russell | Julia Black | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +41 min

Altman told Insider, "We debate our approach frequently and carefully." "I don't think anyone can lose your dad young and wish he didn't have more time with him," Altman told Insider. Altman told Insider that his thinking had evolved since those posts. (When asked about guns, Altman told Insider he'd been "happy to have one both times my home was broken into while I was there.") When asked about this, Altman told Insider in an email: "i can guess what that's about; these stories grow crazily inflated over the years of getting re-told!

☆ He's played chess with Peter Thiel, sparred with Elon Musk and once, supposedly, stopped a plane crash: Inside Sam Altman's world, where truth is stranger than fiction
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-27 | by ( Melia Russell | Julia Black | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +41 min

But, "you do at some point need to start having contact with reality," he told Insider. The plan was still only a rough sketch, Blania told Insider, but that didn't seem to matter to his host. "He always wanted to understand everything at a very deep level," Thrun told Insider in an email. (When asked about guns, Altman told Insider he'd been "happy to have one both times my home was broken into while I was there.") When asked about this, Altman told Insider in an email: "i can guess what that's about; these stories grow crazily inflated over the years of getting re-told!

☆ Deal hunters arrive at Bed Bath & Beyond store and can't find throwaway prices -- yet
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-26 | by ( Parija Kavilanz | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +5 min

Bed Bath & Beyond has already shuttered 400 stores over the past year. If it’s able to find a buyer, Bed Bath & Beyond will halt store closings. Bed Bath & Beyond's 20% coupons will no longer be accepted beginning Wednesday. Scenes from outside the Bed Bath & Beyond store in Manhattan, New York on Tuesday, April 25, 2023. Bed Bath & Beyond did not immediately respond to request for comment on the timing and level of liquidation discounts.

☆ You've only got a couple of days left to use Bed Bath & Beyond coupons after the retailer filed for bankruptcy
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-23 | by ( Aaron Mcdade | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Shoppers have just days left to use any Bed Bath & Beyond coupons they may have been holding on to. The 360 remaining Bed Bath & Beyond stores, as well as 120 BuyBuy Baby stores, will start liquidating stock Wednesday. Bed Bath & Beyond CEO Sue Gove said: "Our teams have worked with incredible purpose to support and strengthen our beloved banners, Bed Bath & Beyond and buybuy BABY. Couples who used Bed Bath & Beyond for their wedding registry, a number that has dropped significantly in recent years, will have their data transferred to a new partner yet to be named. Bed Bath & Beyond did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Insider, made outside normal working hours.

☆ Got a stash of Bed Bath & Beyond coupons? You'd better use them soon
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-23 | by ( Parija Kavilanz | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +4 min

Bed Bath & Beyond said it would sell off its merchandise and then go out of business. Instead, Bed Bath & Beyond expects to offer “deep discounts” on its products as part of its going-out-of-business sales. Bed Bath & Beyond, a staple of wedding registries for years, said customers who registered with Bed Bath & Beyond will eventually have their information transferred to a competitor’s service, where guests can purchase similar items. With stores closed for months, and consumers rethinking their nonessential purchases, Bed Bath & Beyond sales and profit took a hit. Now that the company is going through a liquidation process, Bed Bath & Beyond said it’s the end of the road for the coupons.

☆ Bed Bath & Beyond files for bankruptcy
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-23 | by ( Nathaniel Meyersohn | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +9 min

Chris Hammons unloads a bag of items she purchased at a Bed Bath & Beyond store in Dallas, Texas September 23, 2009. In its bankruptcy filing, Bed Bath & Beyond said it had $5.2 billion in debt and assets of just $4.4 billion. Discount chains such as HomeGoods and TJ Maxx have also undercut Bed Bath & Beyond’s prices. Without the differentiators of the lowest prices or widest selection, Bed Bath & Beyond’s sales stagnated from 2012 to 2019. And Bed Bath & Beyond is the latest retail chain to file for bankruptcy this year.

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