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☆ Russian mafia expert rates 10 Russian mob scenes in movies and TV
▼ + stars: | 2024-12-05 | by ( Margaret Guzman | Korey Isbell | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Joe Serio, former CIA agent and Russian mafia investigator, rates Russian mob scenes in movies and TV, such as "John Wick," for realism. Eventually, he worked as a security consultant, and later as the Director of Operations, for Kroll Associates — a global corporate investigation and business intelligence firm — where he conducted investigations on Russian mafia groups. He was also a CIA agent for five years in Moscow, where he provided information regarding Russian organized crime. Serio wrote two books focusing on the Russian mafia and his life in Moscow, "Investigating the Russian Mafia" and "Vodka, Hookers, and the Russian Mafia: My Life in Moscow." You can find his books about the Russian mafia here.

Persons: Joe Serio, John Wick, Keanu Reeves, James Gandolfini, Michael Imperioli, Barry, Bill Hader, Viggo Mortensen, of, Nicolas Cage, Ewan McGregor —, Denzel Washington, Pierce Brosnan, Serio, Joe Organizations: CIA, Russian, Italian Mafia, Soviet Union, Chechen, Control Department, Soviet, Kroll Associates, Russian Mafia Locations: United States, Russia, Moscow

The Dallas-area influencer who had her spider monkey taken from her Saturday after a drunk driving crash is under investigation after the monkey was determined to be malnourished, officials said Friday. Brandi Botello's spider monkey, named Jorgie Boy, was taken from her following the crash in which Dallas police arrested the driver on a charge of driving while intoxicated. She told the station she was drunk and asleep in the passenger seat while holding Jorgie Boy when the crash happened. Jorgie Boy is the size of a 1-year-old monkey even though he will turn 3 in February. It might take over a year to get Jorgie Boy to a point where he is strong enough to play with other monkeys again, Johns said.

Persons: Brandi Botello's, Irving, Delaney Brey, Brey, rickets, Brandi Botello, Fort Worth Botello, Botello, Jorgie, Dwan Johns, Johns, Boy, Jorgie Boy, wasn't Organizations: Dallas, Police, Botello, NBC Dallas, Fort Worth, Irving Animal Services Department, Fort, Dwan, NBC, Jorgie, Irving Animal Control Locations: Dallas, Texas, Irving, Fort Worth

The monkey, named Jorgie Boy, was taken from his owner, Brandi Botello, on Saturday morning after Dallas police officers responded to a single-vehicle accident. Botello told NBC Dallas-Fort Worth that she was charged with DWI but maintained that she was not driving. Botello told the station that the driver was a male acquaintance and that he was charged with public intoxication. Because Botello lives in Irving, a neighboring suburb, the monkey was transferred to Irving's animal control department, Dallas police said. The sanctuary's owner said the monkey would not be returned to its previous owner, the Morning News reported.

Persons: influencer, Brandi Botello, Botello, Irving, Boy, Jorgie Organizations: Dallas, Police, NBC Dallas, Fort, Dallas Morning News, Morning News, NBC News, Morning, Irving Locations: Dallas, Fort Worth, Irving, Texas

☆ China's state-owned tobacco behemoth is booming, defying global trends and anti-smoking efforts
▼ + stars: | 2024-11-12 | by ( Dylan Butts | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +4 min

These trends — fueled by China Tobacco — come against the backdrop of a long-term decline in cigarette sales globally. While Beijing has made commitments to curb smoking prevalence, it hasn't appeared to have materially impacted tobacco sales. In the case of China Tobacco, industry and government policy directly overlap. "China Tobacco has been exploiting this insider status and wielding its influence within the government to effectively block the adoption of tobacco control policies," he added. China Tobacco and its Hong Kong-based subsidiary China Tobacco International (HK) did not respond to an inquiry from CNBC.

Persons: Euromonitor, hasn't, Philip Morris, Gan Quan, Quan, STMA, Judith Mackay Organizations: Getty, China National Tobacco Corporation, China Tobacco, Retail, World Health Organization, State Tobacco Monopoly Administration, Philip Morris International, World, Tobacco Control, CNBC, Vital, Tobacco, Bath University, Asian Consultancy, China Tobacco International, HK, Global Locations: Shanghai, China, Euromonitor, Beijing, Hong Kong

☆ US airs concerns to China about 'dangerous and unlawful' South China Sea actions
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-03 | by ( David Brunnstrom | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

A Philippine supply boat sails near a Chinese Coast Guard ship during a resupply mission for Filipino troops stationed at a grounded warship in the South China Sea, October 4, 2023. REUTERS/Adrian Portugal/File Photo Acquire Licensing RightsWASHINGTON, Nov 3 (Reuters) - The United States and China held "candid" talks on maritime issues on Friday, including on the contested South China Sea, and the U.S. side underscored its concerns about "dangerous and unlawful" Chinese actions there, the U.S. State Department said. It described the talks as "substantive, constructive, and candid" and said they covered a range of maritime issues, including the South China Sea and East China Sea, which are contested by China and other nations. "The United States underscored concerns with the PRC's dangerous and unlawful actions in the South China Sea," it said, referring to the People's Republic of China. A State Department spokesperson said the U.S. Assistant Secretary for Arms Control Mallory Stewart would host Sun Xiaobo, head of the arms-control department at China's Foreign Ministry, at the State Department next week.

Persons: Adrian Portugal, Mark Lambert, Ocean Affairs Hong Liang, Joe Biden, Xi Jinping, Wang Yi, Mallory Stewart, Sun Xiaobo, Biden, Xi, David Brunnstrom, Sandra Maler, David Gregorio Our Organizations: Coast Guard, REUTERS, Rights, U.S . State Department, Ocean Affairs Hong, State Department, APEC, U.S ., U.S, Arms, Sun, China's Foreign Ministry, Biden, Thomson Locations: Philippine, South China, United States, China, U.S, Beijing, Boundary, San Francisco, The U.S, South, East China, People's Republic of China, Washington

☆ China agrees to nuclear arms-control talks with US -WSJ
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-01 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

The flags of the United States and China fly from a lamppost in the Chinatown neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts, U.S., November 1, 2021. REUTERS/Brian Snyder/File Photo Acquire Licensing RightsNov 1 (Reuters) - China and the United States will discuss nuclear arms control next week, the first such talks since the Obama administration, the Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday. Those arms talks would be led on Monday by Mallory Stewart, a senior State Department official, and Sun Xiaobo, the head of the arms-control department at China's Foreign Ministry, the Wall Street Journal report said. Since then, U.S. officials had expressed frustration that China showed little interest in discussing steps to reduce nuclear weapons risks. Daryl Kimball, executive director of the Washington-based Arms Control Association, said the overdue arms talks would likely focus on promoting greater transparency of each countries' nuclear doctrines and more effective crisis-communication channels.

Persons: Brian Snyder, Obama, Wang Yi, Mallory Stewart, Sun Xiaobo, Jake Sullivan, Joe Biden, Xi Jinping, Daryl Kimball, Kimball, Jasper Ward, Dan Whitcomb, Michael Martina, David Brunnstrom, Sandra Maler, Grant McCool Organizations: REUTERS, Wall Street, China's, State Department, China's Foreign Ministry, Wall, U.S . State Department, Reuters, U.S . National, Pentagon, Biden, Control, Thomson Locations: United States, China, Chinatown, Boston , Massachusetts, U.S, Washington, Russia, Beijing, San Francisco

☆ Treaty Shift Doesn't Mean Russia Plans Nuclear Test - Foreign Ministry Official
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-16 | by ( Oct. | At A.M. | ) www.usnews.com time to read: +1 min

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia's planned withdrawal of its ratification of the global treaty banning nuclear tests does not mean that it intends to conduct such a test, a senior foreign ministry official told Russian media. Russia ratified the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT) in 2000 but the lower house of parliament, the State Duma, is due to vote on Tuesday on a bill to reverse that step. He said Russia's position was set out by Putin in February when he said that Russia would only conduct a test if the United States did so first. No country except North Korea has conducted a test involving a nuclear explosion this century. Putin said earlier this month he was not ready to say whether a nuclear test was needed or not.

Persons: Vladimir Putin, Vladimir Yermakov, Yermakov, Putin, Mark Trevelyan, Guy Faulconbridge Organizations: Russian, State Duma, Duma, TASS, Reuters Locations: MOSCOW, Russia, United States, Washington, North Korea, Ukraine

BEIJING, July 29 (Reuters) - Rain soaked northern China on Saturday as Doksuri, one of the strongest storms to hit the country in years, prompted thousands to evacuate in Beijing after pummelling the Philippines and Taiwan, and lashing China's coast. The city's flood control department said it has mobilised 203,230 rescue personnel and 3,031 people had been evacuated, local media reported. Doksuri is the most powerful typhoon to hit China this year and the second-strongest to hit the southeastern province of Fujian since Typhoon Meranti in 2016. Provincial media reported rescue efforts in the storm's aftermath, of elderly trapped at home and a heavily pregnant woman, who was transferred to hospital on a stretcher in knee-deep waters. ($1 = 7.1488 Chinese yuan renminbi)Reporting by Liz Lee, Jenny Wang and Ryan Woo; Editing by William Mallard and Lincoln Feast.

Persons: Doksuri, Meranti, Liz Lee, Jenny Wang, Ryan Woo, William Mallard Organizations: China Meteorological Administration, Firefighters, cnsphoto, Provincial, Thomson Locations: BEIJING, China, Beijing, Philippines, Taiwan, Tianjin, Hebei, Shanxi, Henan, Fujian, Anhui, Quanzhou, Fujian province, Shandong, Putian city, Fuzhou, Putian

☆ 'I feel my eyes burn': Thailand says stay indoors as air pollution spikes
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-02 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

[1/4] A view of the city amid air pollution in Bangkok, Thailand, February 2, 2023. REUTERS/Athit PerawongmethaBANGKOK, Feb 2 (Reuters) - Air pollution in Bangkok and neighbouring Thai provinces spiked past safe levels on Thursday, prompting authorities to urge people to stay indoors and avoid strenuous outdoor activity. The country's pollution control department said "stagnant weather conditions" were exacerbating vehicle emissions and seasonal fires on agricultural lands. The level in Bangkok and the surrounding areas is currently 70.5 micrograms per cubic metre. Every year, exposure to outdoor air pollution is estimated to cause 4.2 million premature deaths, according to the WHO.

☆ TikTok Parent ByteDance Says Employees Improperly Accessed User Data
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-22 | by ( Salvador Rodriguez | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Employees in TikTok’s Internal Audit and Risk Control department accessed the data of journalists to try to identify leaks of confidential company information, the company’s general counsel said. TikTok parent ByteDance Ltd. said Thursday that its employees improperly accessed the user data of two journalists on the social media service, according to several emails sent by company leaders to employees on Thursday. Employees misused their authority to access the data of journalists in an effort to identify leaks of confidential company information, General Counsel Erich Andersen wrote in an email to employees on Thursday. Mr. Andersen described the improper access of user data as “a misguided plan” that looked at the IP addresses of the journalists “to determine if they were in the same location as the employees suspected of leaking confidential information.”

☆ ByteDance finds employees obtained TikTok user data of two U.S. journalists
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-22 | by ( David Shepardson | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

WASHINGTON Dec 22 (Reuters) - ByteDance, the Chinese parent company of popular video app TikTok, said on Thursday that some employees this summer improperly accessed TikTok user data of two U.S. journalists and were no longer employed by the company, an email seen by Reuters shows. ByteDance employees accessed the data as part of an unsuccessful effort to investigate leaks of company information and were aiming to identify potential connections between two journalists and company employees, said the email from ByteDance general counsel Erich Andersen. A person briefed on the matter said four ByteDance employees who were involved in the incident were fired, including two in China and two in the United States. Company officials said they were taking additional steps to protect user data. "We are completing the migration of protected US user data management to the USDS department and have been systematically cutting off access points."

☆ China-owned TikTok denies it could use location information to track U.S. users
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-21 | by ( Arjun Kharpal | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

TikTok, which is owned by Beijing-based tech giant ByteDance, is used by over 1 billion people worldwide every month. TikTok on Friday denied that it used specific location data to track certain U.S. individuals, pushing back against a Forbes report that alleged the Chinese-owned video app was planning on carrying out such monitoring. The Forbes article also said that its unclear whether any data was actually collected. TikTok said Forbes "chose not to include the portion of our statement that disproved the feasibility of its core allegation: TikTok does not collect precise GPS location information from US users, meaning TikTok could not monitor US users in the way the article suggested." Washington has been concerned that data collected on U.S. citizens by TikTok could get into the hands of the Chinese government.

☆ TikTok's Chinese parent company reportedly intended to use the app to surveil specific Americans' locations
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-20 | by ( Travis Clark | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

TikTok's parent ByteDance planned to use the app to surveil specific Americans' locations, Forbes reported. A China-based team intended to gather location data on at least two specific US users, per the report. The report is sure to raise more privacy and national-security concerns over TikTok. TikTok is often at the center of privacy and security debates, and Forbes' report is sure to raise more eyebrows. Trump threatened to ban the app if it didn't find a US-based buyer, something that never came to fruition.

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