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☆ Biden confirms that White House cat Willow has 'no limits' and sleeps on top of his head at night
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-27 | by ( Azmi Haroun | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

At a Lunar New Year reception, Biden said that Willow sleeps on top of his head at night. The Biden family adopted the cat after she jumped on stage at a 2020 campaign rally in Pennsylvania. Willow is a wild child with "no limits," and often ends up dozing off on top of his head at night, Biden told the crowd. The White House did not immediately respond to Insider's request for more information about Willow. The Bidens brought 3-year-old Willow, a gray tabby, to the White House a year ago, after the cat jumped on stage during a presidential campaign stop in Pennsylvania.

☆ Sam Bankman-Fried's new dog is reportedly trained to attack would-be assailants with a secret code word
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-26 | by ( Sindhu Sundar | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Sam Bankman-Fried's new dog can attack with a single command, per Forbes. His parents reportedly gave him the dog, a German shepherd named Sandor. Bankman-Fried has said in court filings that his family has faced "harassment and threats." The former FTX CEO's animal companion, named Sandor, pounces in response to a "secret word," according to Forbes. The 75-pound Sandor, whose name evokes the meaning "defender of men," was a gift from Bankman-Fried's parents, per a Puck interview.

☆ With Great Salt Lake at rock bottom, lawmakers aim for rescue
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-21 | by ( Evan Bush | Evan Bush Is A Science Reporter For Nbc News. He Can Be Reached At Evan.Bush Nbcuni.Com. | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +4 min

Water volume on the Great Salt Lake has dropped by more than two-thirds since pioneers once settled the Salt Lake Valley. Much of the lake surface is now exposed. Photographs of empty marinas and the cracking crust of the lake’s surface often illustrate the lake’s decline. The rivers and streams that feed The Great Salt Lake are overallocated, which means farmers and other water users collectively have rights to more water than what typically flows through each year. Spencer Cox last November closed the Great Salt Lake basin to appropriations for new water uses, effectively capping the line of water users wanting to use what flows into the lake.

☆ Biden White House chief of staff Ron Klain set to step down in coming weeks: report
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-21 | by ( John L. Dorman | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

White House chief of staff Ron Klain is expected to depart his role in the coming weeks, per The New York Times. Klain worked as President Barack Obama's White House Ebola response coordinator and also previously served as chief of staff to former vice president Al Gore. He also was chief of staff to then-Vice President Joe Biden during the first two years of the Obama administration. Anita Dunn — who rejoined the White House last year after having previously served in the White House as a senior advisor from January 2021 to August 2021 — has been a name long rumored to be a contender upon a Klain departure. Other individuals thought to be under consideration include former Delaware governor Jack Markell, White House counselor Steve Ricchetti, and White House domestic policy director Susan Rice.

☆ Italy’s Friuli region is one of Europe’s best kept secrets
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-18 | by ( Silvia Marchetti | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +10 min

With 13 natural reserves and the pristine park of the Friuli Dolomite Mountains, the region lures tourists seeking to connect with nature or explore the outdoors. There’s also the spellbinding Grotta Gigante, or Giant Cave, one of the world’s largest tourist caverns. Golden beachesThe Grotta Gigante is one of the world's largest tourist caverns. Trieste boasts an unusual segregated beach, with origins dating back several centuries. “Residents are very fond and proud of this place,” says Trieste local Maria Bonacci.

☆ Guide to the funeral of Pope Emeritus Benedict on Thursday
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-04 | by ( Philip Pullella | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

VATICAN CITY, Jan 4 (Reuters) - Pope Francis will preside at a funeral Mass in St. Peter's Square on Thursday for his predecessor former Pope Benedict, who died on Saturday at the age of 95. Here is a guide to what is expected to happen:END OF LYING IN STATESince Monday, the body of the Emeritus Pope has been lying in state in St. Peter's Basilica, where more than 160,000 people had filed past to pay their respects as of midday Wednesday. The funeral Mass presided over by Pope Francis is due to start at 9:30 a.m. (0830 GMT). At the end of the Mass, Francis will recite "The Final Commendation and Farewell" asking God to "console the Church". Near the end of the Mass, Francis will sprinkle holy water on the coffin and incense it.

☆ ‘The View’ pays tribute to Barbara Walters
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-03 | by ( Jordan Valinsky | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +5 min

New York CNN —“The View” returned from its holiday hiatus to pay tribute to its creator, Barbara Walters, who died last week at 93 years old. Vieira thanked Walters for allowing her to “reinvent” herself from a journalist to a talk show host. Former hosts pay tributeOver the past few days, former co-hosts of “The View,” which first aired in 1997, honored Walters on social media. Matenopoulos, who was 22 years old when Walters picked her as one of the show’s original co-hosts, thanked her on Instagram for taking a chance on her. At that network, Walters launched “The Barbara Walters Specials” and “10 Most Fascinating People” before becoming a co-host and correspondent for ABC News’ “20/20” in 1984.

☆ Hiking has become a nationwide New Year's Day tradition
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-01 | by ( The Associated Press | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +3 min

Just 380 people participated in the initial First Day Hike in 1992 at the nearly 7,000-acre Blue Hills Reservation just south of Boston. On Sunday, tens of thousands of people are expected to take part in First Day Hikes at hundreds of parks in all 50 states. The late Patrick Flynn, the former supervisor at Blue Hills, came up with the original plan. In 2012, First Day Hikes went nationwide when the National Association of State Park Directors endorsed the idea. Elijah Bristow State Park near Eugene is even offering a first day horseback ride.

☆ Rituals for Benedict's passing could be template for future ex popes
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-30 | by ( Philip Pullella | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

[1/2] Emeritus Pope Benedict XVI waves as he arrives to attend a mass for the beatification of former pope Paul VI in St. Peter's square at the Vatican October 19, 2014. The Vatican has painstakingly elaborate rituals for what happens after a reigning pope dies but no publicly known ones for a former pope. They could be a template for other popes who choose to resign instead of ruling for life, including Pope Francis himself someday, Vatican sources say. The last pope to die, John Paul II, was buried on April 8, 2005, six days after he died. Benedict, as Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, presided at John Paul's funeral in 2005 in St. Peter's Square and Francis is expected to preside at Benedict's.

☆ The not-quite-redemption of South Africa's infamous ultra-marathon cheats
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-30 | by ( Ryan Brown | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +35 min

"A runner can always recognize another runner," Eugene tells me. Ryan Brown for insiderIn those days, they didn't run for South Africa, but for QwaQwa – one of ten "homelands" established for Black South Africans. Tiny, non-contiguous territories – supposedly, the original territory of different Black South African ethnic groups – dotted across the country. It didn't turn out like that, but it didn't turn out like that for most Black South Africans either. As I sat speaking to Sergio, South Africa's president, Cyril Ramaphosa, was fighting for his political life after revelations that wads of cash, potentially ill-gotten, had been stolen from inside his sofa.

☆ Vote for me! Cyprus clerics scramble to get public vote
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-18 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

The Greek Orthodox Church of Cyprus is one of the few Orthodox Churches worldwide to recognise the independence of the fellow-Orthodox Church of Ukraine, in a move which triggered a rift within the Cypriot church in 2020. Chrysostomos had recognised the independence of the Ukrainian church away from Moscow's influence, butting heads with clerics considered pro-Russian. Today it has business interests as diverse as real estate to Cyprus's award-winning KEO beer. "In Cyprus the flock has the privilege of choosing who will be its shepherd," said theologian Theodoros Kyriakou. Reporting by Michele Kambas, Editing by Louise HeavensOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Pelosi knew how to deal with Trump because she raised 5 kids and the ex-president 'was a child,' Schumer said
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-16 | by ( Kimberly Leonard | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Pelosi's experience as a mom helped her deal with Trump, Schumer told CNN. Pelosi said Trump and Schumer 'understood each other' because they're both New Yorkers. And that's what helped her deal with Trump, because he ultimately was a child." During the interview, Schumer sat down with Pelosi for a dinner of Chinese food with CNN's Jamie Gangel. In the CNN interview, Schumer said he and Pelosi were able to get Trump to say that he would take ownership of the shutdown.

☆ The solution to low productivity and quiet quitting is simpler than most managers realize: It's about making people feel that they matter.
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-12 | by ( Marguerite Ward | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Meanwhile, more than half of the workforce and "probably more" engaged in quiet quitting this year, according to a June Gallup poll. The solution is simple, but it requires work on the part of leaders to make workers feel like they matter. Managers who don't give their employees a sense of meaning risk higher turnover, increased rates of quiet quitting, and lower productivity. Managers who don't give their employees a sense of meaning risk higher turnover, rates of quiet quitting, and lower productivity. An employee who only gets compliments will begin to wonder whether her manager is being sincere, the Babson professors wrote.

☆ Dog show teaches Nigerians new tricks about pet ownership
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-12 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

[1/5] Dogs attend the annual Lagos Dog Carnival, with the theme "Splash of colours", in Lagos, Nigeria, December 10, 2022. Jackie Idimogu, organiser of the Lagos Dog Festival, now in its fourth year, said the show was aimed at debunking stereotypes of Africans mistreating dogs. "I am happy to say that Nigerians are beginning to understand the love language of these animals." Pasha, a six-year-old Caucasian shepherd mix, was crowned dog of the year. He wore black sunglasses and a matching red and black scotch outfit with her owner Hadiza Saidu.

☆ Democratic senators won't say whether the party should support Kyrsten Sinema's re-election in 2024
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-12 | by ( Bryan Metzger | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

"It doesn't change my life one bit," said Democratic Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island. "I don't think anybody's announcing anything," Democratic Sen. Mark Kelly of Arizona told reporters, saying he didn't want to get into "hypotheticals." Democratic Sen. Gary Peters of Michigan, the head of the DSCC for 2022, also declined to say whether the party should back Sinema. But she too declined to say whether the party should back Sinema in 2024, waving as the elevator closed. Asked by reporters on Monday what he made of Sinema's announcement, Democratic Sen. Chris Coons of Delaware dramatically shrugged as he boarded an elevator.

Smith takes over a staff that’s already nearly twice the size of Robert Mueller’s team of lawyers who worked on the Russia probe. Smith will also take on national security investigators already working the probe into the potential mishandling of federal records taken to Mar-a-Lago after Trump left the White House. Those lawyers maintain the former president is unlikely to be indicted, according to two sources familiar. Special Counsel Robert Mueller makes a statement about the Russia investigation on May 29, 2019 at the Justice Department in Washington, DC. Trump allies have consistently maintained that nothing Trump did related to the election and January 6 itself amounts to a crime.

☆ New Zealand court takes guardianship of baby after parents refuse vaccinated blood for heart surgery
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-07 | by ( Kathleen Magramo | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +3 min

CNN —A critically-ill six-month-old baby will be placed under the temporary guardianship of New Zealand’s High Court after his parents refused to allow him to undergo lifesaving heart surgery using blood from people vaccinated against Covid-19. The court also appointed two doctors as its agents to oversee issues around the operation and the administration of blood, according to court documents. The baby’s parents believed there were “spike proteins in the blood of people who have been vaccinated and that these proteins were causing unexpected deaths relating to transfusions,” according to the judgment. The parents had previously demanded the New Zealand Blood Service take a donation from a person chosen by the family, but the agency refused and said it does not make a distinction between vaccinated and unvaccinated donors. CNN has reached out to the lawyer representing the baby’s parents but has not received a response.

☆ Colorado grandmother sues police detective following SWAT raid based on false 'Find my iPhone' ping
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-05 | by ( Julianne Mcshane | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +5 min

The complaint specifies Johnson is suing Staab “in his individual capacity.” Johnson is seeking a jury trial and unspecified damages, according to the filing. The complaint contends that Staab's affidavit violated Johnson's right, afforded by the state constitution, to "be free of unreasonable searches and seizures." Staab then used that claim as the basis for the raid, according to a copy of the affidavit obtained by NBC affiliate KUSA of Denver. The filing claims that Staab "acknowledged to Ms. Johnson’s children the harm his DPD officers caused to Ms. Johnson’s well-being, home, and personal property," but that he told them the police department wouldn't pay for repairs from the search. Neither Staab nor the police department apologized for the raid, according to the complaint.

☆ Take a look at the off-grid property billed as the 'most remote house' in England set in a stunning landscape
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-27 | by ( Bethany Dawson | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

The six-bedroom, five-bathroom Skiddaw House is off-grid and is totally self-maintained. Nestled amid the inspiring landscape of England's Lake District, the isolated six-bedroom, five-bathroom Skiddaw House is off-grid. Its electricity comes from private solar panels, and water is supplied by mountain springs, according to the website of Mitchell's Land Agency, which is organizing its sale. Skiddaw House Mitchell's Land and PropertySkiddaw House Mitchell's Land and PropertyThe hostel is the highest in the UK and will continue to operate until 2027, even after the sale of the building, Insider has been told. Skiddaw House Hostel Skiddaw House HostelSkiddaw House Mitchell Land and PropertySkiddaw House Mitchell Land and PropertySkiddaw House sits 1,500 feet above sea level and the land being sold includes three mountain tops.

☆ 'Goncharov' isn't a real Martin Scorsese movie, but Tumblr convinced the internet it's a classic
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-26 | by ( Morgan Sung | Morgan Sung Is A Trends Reporter For Nbc News Digital. | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +5 min

Martin Scorsese presents GONCHAROV. In 2020, another Tumblr user reblogged the post with a screenshot of a comment that read, "this idiot hasn't seen goncharov." The New York Times reports that "Goncharov" was the top trending topic on Tumblr by Monday evening, followed by "Martin Scorsese." "The goncharov bit on tumblr right now is one of the insane things I eve ever seen," Twitter user @gwenstacying said. Martin Scorsese is in on the joke.

☆ The mall where Black Friday refuses to die
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-25 | by ( Alicia Wallace | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +10 min

Black Friday serves as the kickoff of the holiday shopping season here, ever since mall officials decided seven years ago to close on Thanksgiving Day. Jamie Kelter Davis for CNNShoppers walk through the mall during the day. “This particular year is going to be a real test of the traditional Black Friday shopping mall experience,” he said. Jamie Kelter Davis for CNNThe 30th Black Friday at the ‘megamall’The Mall of America was America’s brand-new “megamall,” hosting its first-ever Black Friday on November 27, 1992. Jamie Kelter Davis for CNN

☆ In South America's Andes, farmers pray for rain to end drought
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-25 | by ( Monica Machicao | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

[1/5] An indigenous woman raises her hands in prayer asking for rain in the Lloko Lloko community, in Tihuanacu, Bolivia November 23, 2022. REUTERS/Claudia MoralesTIHUANACU, Bolivia, Nov 25 (Reuters) - High in the mountains of the Bolivian Andes, farmer Alberto Quispe has one thing on his mind: rain. The drought has hit crops in Bolivia as well as in Argentina, Paraguay and Peru. In the Andean regions, drought in recent years has caused falling water reservoir levels in places like Chile and led to important glaciers retreating. Drought has hit crops like wheat and soy, including this year in major grains producer Argentina.

☆ Joe Biden pardons turkeys Chocolate and Chip, gives thanks for 'no ballot stuffing' and 'no fowl play'
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-22 | by ( Cheryl Teh | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Biden quipped that there had been "no ballot stuffing" and "no fowl play" during the midterms. He also said the "only red wave this season" would be if his dog, Commander, knocked over cranberry sauce. "The votes are in, they've been counted and verified, there's no ballot stuffing, there's no fowl play," Biden said on the White House South Lawn, according to a transcript of the speech. "The only red wave this season is gonna be if German Shepherd, Commander, knocks over the cranberry sauce on our table." Biden's quips came after a widely-touted "red wave" for the Republican Party failed to materialize during the midterms.

☆ Thanksgiving turkeys get Biden pardon as president makes election joke
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-21 | by ( Emma Kinery | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: 1 min

President Joe Biden pardoned the official Thanksgiving turkeys on Monday — and in the process made a series of "Dad" jokes at the expense of Republicans for falling well short of expectations in the midterm elections. There's been no ballot stuffing, there's been no fowl play," Biden punned at the White House as he granted presidential reprieves to the turkeys, named Chocolate and Chip. "The only red wave this season will be if our German shepherd Commander knocks over the cranberry sauce at our table," the Democratic president quipped. Chocolate and Chip are guaranteed not to be eaten this holiday season due to what have become traditional annual presidential pardons for would-be Thanksgiving main courses. The birds will live out their days back in their home state, at the University of North Carolina.

☆ In Thanksgiving tradition, Biden pardons two chatty turkeys
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-21 | by ( Jeff Mason | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

[1/2] U.S. President Joe Biden attends the annual ceremony to pardon Chocolate and Chip, the National Thanksgiving Turkeys, on the South Lawn of the White House in Washington, U.S., November 21, 2022. REUTERS/Evelyn HocksteinWASHINGTON, Nov 21 (Reuters) - U.S. President Joe Biden, wearing his trademark aviator sunglasses, pardoned two turkeys from North Carolina named Chocolate and Chip on Monday, sparing them from Thanksgiving dinner tables. In return, the pair of enormous turkeys gobbled their appreciation in the latest installment of the smile-inducing tradition at the White House to kick off the holiday season. From the balcony of the White House behind Biden, his German shepherd Commander observed and barked loudly. The White House turkey pardon is a tradition that dates back decades.

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