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Scientists with the National Weather Service and the National Hurricane Center began sounding the alarm as early as Sept. 23. In a YouTube video posted that morning, the National Hurricane Center’s deputy director, Jamie Rhome, described a tropical cyclone that would “briskly develop” into a hurricane. Monday night, the National Weather Service posted on X that heavy rain and powerful wind gusts would hit the Southeast later in the week. “It is not common for the National Weather Service to use words like ‘catastrophic’ to describe forecasts,” Buncombe County Manager Avril Pinder said at a news conference Thursday morning. That has made even apolitical groups like the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the National Weather Service a target of some Republicans.

Persons: Hurricane Helene, Amanda Wright, Wright, ” Wright, “, Jamie Rhome, David Novak, Avril Pinder, grimly, ” Novak, ”, Mae Creadick, Donald Trump, Helene, ” Trump, Kelli Burns, ” Burns, Chris Gloninger, Gloninger, we’re, ” Gloninger, Asheville ”, ” Ophir Organizations: Hurricane, National Weather Service, National Hurricane Center, NWS, Prediction, Social, NBC News, ”, Oceanic, Atmospheric Administration, NOAA, University of South, University of Buffalo Locations: U.S, Knoxville , Tennessee, Asheville , North Carolina, Florida’s Big Bend, Hurricane, North, Buncombe, Taylor County , Florida, Buncombe County, Asheville, Columbia , South Carolina, ” In Tennessee, University of South Florida, North Carolina, Kings Mountain , North Carolina, Ophir

☆ Biden’s Announcement Puts Netanyahu on the Spot
▼ + stars: | 2024-06-02 | by ( Aaron Boxerman | Mike Ives | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +5 min

But he has been put on the spot this weekend by President Biden’s announcement outlining a proposal for a truce. Mr. Netanyahu, a conservative, has long juggled competing personal, political and national interests. Now, analysts say, it is crunch time for Mr. Netanyahu, or Bibi, as he is popularly known. Mr. Biden “booted Netanyahu out of the closet of ambiguity and presented Netanyahu’s proposal himself,” Ben Caspit, a biographer and longtime critic of Mr. Netanyahu, wrote in Sunday’s Maariv, a Hebrew daily. Instead, they were conditional and open to interpretation — seemingly designed to leave Mr. Netanyahu’s options open.

Persons: Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel, Biden’s, Mr, Netanyahu, Biden, Bibi, Biden “, ” Ben Caspit, Sunday’s, Bezalel Smotrich, Itamar Ben, Gvir, —, Netanyahu’s, Benny Gantz, Gadi Eisenkot, Ophir Falk, Falk, “, ” Organizations: American, Qatari, Mr, Hamas, National Unity, Britain’s Sunday Times Locations: Gaza, Israel, Sunday’s Maariv

☆ Netanyahu aide says Israel agreed to Biden's cease-fire plan for Gaza
▼ + stars: | 2024-06-02 | by ( Freddie Clayton | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +5 min

An aide to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in an interview with Britain's Sunday Times that Israel had agreed to the framework for President Joe Biden's plan to bring an end to the war in Gaza, though he said it was "not a good deal." He added that Israel's conditions "have not changed" — the release of the hostages and the destruction of Hamas. "Indefinite war in pursuit of an unidentified notion of total victory will only bog down Israel in Gaza," Biden said. U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken made calls to Arab leaders on Saturday affirming their commitment to the cease-fire. Tens of thousands of Israelis gathered in Tel Aviv on Saturday night to urge the government to accept a cease-fire.

Persons: Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel, Joe Biden's, Biden, Netanyahu, Ophir Falk, — it's, Biden's, Bezalel Smotrich, Itamar Ben Gvir, Yair Lapid, Ben Gvir, Lapid, Smotrich, Laura Blumenfeld, Antony Blinken Organizations: Britain's Sunday Times, NBC News, Minister's, Sunday Times, Zionist Party, Jewish Power Party, Johns Hopkins School, International Studies, U.S, Families Locations: Gaza, Israel, Hamas, East, Washington, Spain, France, Germany, Belgium, Qatar, Egypt, U.S, Tel Aviv

[1/2] Israeli soldiers stand in order, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas, near Israel's border with Gaza, in southern Israel, December 4, 2023. The U.S. official spoke after three days of resumed aerial bombardments of southern Gaza left residents pulling the bodies of children and adults from the rubble. But the U.S. official said reducing military support to Israel would carry major risks. On Friday, Israel's military began posting grid-based maps online ordering Palestinians to leave parts of southern Gaza, directing them towards the Mediterranean coast and Rafah, near the Egyptian border. Residents and journalists on the ground said intense Israeli airstrikes hit southern Gaza on Monday, killing and wounding dozens of Palestinians.

Persons: Amir Cohen, Israel's, Biden, Kamala Harris, Antony Blinken, Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu, Ophir Falk, Seth Binder, Binder, Eylon Levy, Jake Sullivan, Omar Shakir, Humeyra Pamuk, Jonathan Saul, Maggie Fick, James Mackenzie, Steve Holland, Don Durfee, Daniel Wallis Organizations: Hamas, REUTERS, U.S, Health Ministry, Washington, United, Reuters, Reuters Graphics, East Democracy, Biden, Democratic, Israel, . National, Palestine, Human Rights, Amnesty, Thomson Locations: Israel, Palestinian, Israel's, Gaza, LONDON, BEIRUT, U.S, United States, East, Gaza City, Rafah, Jerusalem, Washington

According to three regional sources, Israel related its plans to its neighbours Egypt and Jordan, along with the United Arab Emirates, which normalised ties with Israel in 2020. He declined to offer details when asked whether those plans had been raised with international partners, including Arab states. A U.S. official, who declined to be identified, said Israel had "floated" the buffer zone idea without saying to whom. The regional sources compared the Gaza buffer zone plan to the "security zone" Israel once had in south Lebanon. "The buffer zone could make (Prime Minister Benjamin) Netanyahu's forces a target also in the zone," he said.

Persons: Ronen, Israel, Abu Dhabi, Ophir Falk, Benjamin Netanyahu, Lebanon's, it's, Mohammad Dahlan, Benjamin, Netanyahu's, Samia Nakhoul, Ahmed Mohamed Hassan, Jonathan Saul, Dan Williams, Aidan Lewis, Humeyra Pamuk, Steve Holland, Edmund Blair, Daniel Flynn Organizations: REUTERS, Israel, United Arab Emirates, Saudi, Reuters, U.S, Lebanon's Hezbollah, Hamas, Palestine Liberation Organization, PLO, Palestinian Fatah, Thomson Locations: Gaza, Gaza Israel, Egypt, Jordan, UAE, Saudi Arabia, U.S, DUBAI, CAIRO, LONDON, Israel, Riyadh, Arab Turkey, Qatar, Qatari, Turkish, Palestinian, Cairo, Lebanon, PLO, Dubai, London, Jerusalem, Washington

Heavy fighting broke out around the Indonesian Hospital, which has housed thousands of patients and displaced people for weeks. More than 250 patients with severely infected wounds or other urgent conditions remain stranded at Shifa Hospital days after Israeli forces entered the compound. Four other babies died in the two days before the evacuation on Sunday, according to Mohamed Zaqout, the director of Gaza hospitals. NETANYAHU EXTENDS CENTRAL BANK GOVERNOR’S TERMTEL AVIV, Israel — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says he has decided to grant the country’s central bank chief a second term. Jordan will build the hospital in southern Gaza to help with the territory's health crisis.

Persons: Yemen’s, Egypt’s, ”, Mohamed Zaqout, “, Hirokazu Matsuno, Yemen’s Houthi, Abraham Ungar, Ungar, Matsuno, NYK, BILL, Itamar Ben, ” Gil Dikman, Gvir, Ophir Katz, Benjamin Netanyahu’s, Netanyahu, NETANYAHU, Benjamin Netanyahu, Amir Yaron, Yaron, Bezalel Smotrich, Israel —, Gila Gamliel, Gamliel, Israel’s, Gamliel’s, GAZA KHAN YOUNIS, JERUSALEM —, Elad Aderi, Aderi Organizations: Health Ministry, Indonesian Hospital, World Health Organization, Shifa, West Bank, Israel’s, Palestinian, Crescent, Galaxy Leader, Ray Car Carriers, Associated Press, Houthi, Galaxy Maritime Ltd, British military’s United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations, Israel Defense Forces, Firefighters, National, National Security, CENTRAL BANK, Gov, Finance, BE, Intelligence, Jerusalem Post, Palestinian Authority, Street Journal, Monday, Israel Democracy Institute Locations: Gaza, Gaza City, Israel, Gaza's, China, Pakistan, israel, EGYPT, Gaza’s, Egypt, Palestinian, JAPAN, Japan, Iran, Bahamas, Philippines, Bulgaria, Ukraine, Mexico, Romania, Gulf of Oman, Saudi Arabia, Oman, India, Hodeida, British, ISRAEL, Lebanon, Biranit, JERUSALEM, Israel’s, TEL AVIV, Israeli, GAZA, Jerusalem, United States, U.S, JORDANIAN, Jordanian, Rafah, Jordan

☆ Courts force people to download Covenant Eyes, the porn blocker used by Mike Johnson. Even the app's CEO says they shouldn't.
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-08 | by ( Katherine Long | Jack Newsham | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +8 min

Rep. Mike Johnson, the Speaker of the House, uses an anti-porn app called Covenant Eyes. Johnson lauded Covenant Eyes at a Christian convention last year, according to a clip of the event shared on social media. That's despite the fact that Covenant Eyes shouldn't be used in a legal setting, its CEO Ron DeHaas told Insider. AdvertisementAdvertisementOn Apple devices, Covenant Eyes isn't allowed to take random screenshots of anything except the user's activity in Safari or the Covenant Eyes app itself because , according to the terms of service listed in Apple's App Store. He also declined to share how Covenant Eyes trained its AI algorithm, saying that was also "proprietary."

Persons: Mike Johnson, —, Johnson, That's, Ron DeHaas, DeHaas, Josh Duggar, he'd, Sarah McDonald, Yotam Ophir, Ophir, Michael Holm, Holm didn't, Insider's, Holm Organizations: Service, Apple, Wired, Penn View Bible Institute, Roman Catholic Archdiocese, University of Buffalo, Christian Locations: Eastern Washington, Ohio, Tennessee, Indiana, Colorado, Washington, Montana, Pennsylvania, New Orleans

☆ Experts warn the program Mike Johnson used to keep himself from watching porn is akin to 'a modern day wiretap program'
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-07 | by ( Madison Hall | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

The main use of the service, Covenant Eyes, is to stop its customers from viewing porn. Experts said it's "frightening" and "terrifying" that Johnson installed the programs on his devices. AdvertisementAdvertisementExperts told Insider it's "frightening" and "terrifying" that Speaker Mike Johnson installed monitoring programs on his devices to keep him and his son from watching porn as it sets him up for possible extortion attempts. According to Covenant Eyes' website, the program uses artificial intelligence to monitor everything on the user's screen and send screenshots to its servers for review. Covenant Eyes did not respond to Insider's request for comment.

Persons: Mike Johnson, Johnson, —, " Johnson, Michael Coates, it's, Coates, that's, Ophir, there's, " Coates Organizations: Service, Twitter, Mozilla, University of Buffalo, Republicans Locations: Russia, China, North Korea

☆ LinkedIn issues warning to a site shaming pro-Palestinian sentiment.
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-22 | by ( Ryan Mac | More About Ryan Mac | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +4 min

Online posts asking to “#PrayForPalestine.” Entreaties for peace. The site asked users to submit posts that they believed should be exposed, and included a numeric “hate score” for companies. Some people who were highlighted on the site have already deleted their LinkedIn posts or their LinkedIn profiles. Mr. Liptz, who said he did not expect the site to become as popular as it did after spreading via WhatsApp groups, called the far-ranging capture of all pro-Palestinian sentiment a mistake. Mr. Liptz denied that his site extracted the LinkedIn information through scraping, while Mr. Ophir said he believed that LinkedIn was trying to infringe on his right to free speech.

Persons: employees.com, Ernst & Young, Itai, ” “, ”, Liptz, “, Guy Ophir, Ophir, ’ Organizations: LinkedIn, Amazon, Mastercard, Ernst, The New York Times, Meta, Facebook, The Times Locations: Gaza, israel, Israel, Palestine

☆ Arm Holdings options draw robust trading volume as shares slide
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-18 | by ( Saqib Iqbal Ahmed | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Arm shares fell 5.3% to $57.50, after rising as high as $69 on Friday, its second day of trading. Some 29,000 Arm options contracts changed hands by 11:45 a.m. (1545 GMT) on Monday, the first day options were available for trading, with volume projected to hit 63,000 by the end of the day, according to options analytics service Trade Alert. The 2012 listing of options on Facebook Inc, now known as Meta Platforms, holds the record for the most active options market debut with some 360,000 contracts changing hands on the first day of trading. About 80% of the options trading volume was concentrated in contracts set to expire on Oct. 20, with much of the volume in puts, typically used to guard against or bet on share price declines. On Monday, puts that would guard against Arm shares slipping below $55 by mid-October were the most actively traded Arm options with some 4,500 contracts traded.

Persons: Rene Haas, Brendan McDermid, Ophir Gottlieb, Gottlieb, Matt Amberson, Amberson, Saqib Iqbal Ahmed, Richard Chang Organizations: Nasdaq, REUTERS, SoftBank's Arm Holdings, Facebook Inc, Los, Market Laboratories, Arm, Thomson Locations: New York, U.S, Los Angeles

☆ Arm Holdings shares slide as options draw robust trading volume
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-18 | by ( Saqib Iqbal Ahmed | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

The shares closed down 4.5% at $58.00, having risen as high as $69 on Friday, its second day of trading. Some 74,000 Arm options contracts changed hands on Monday, the first day options were available for trading. Arm made the list of the 50 most actively traded single-stock names in the options market on Monday, according to options analytics service Trade Alert. About 82% of Arm's options trading volume was concentrated in contracts set to expire on Oct. 20, with much of the volume in puts, typically used to guard against or bet on share price declines. On Monday, puts that would guard against Arm shares slipping below $50 by mid-October were the most actively traded Arm options, with nearly 11,000 contracts traded.

Persons: Rene Haas, Brendan McDermid, Bernstein, Ophir Gottlieb, Gottlieb, Matt Amberson, Amberson, Saqib Iqbal Ahmed, Richard Chang, Rosalba O'Brien Organizations: Nasdaq, REUTERS, SoftBank's Arm Holdings, Facebook, Los, Market Laboratories, Arm, Thomson Locations: New York, U.S, Los Angeles

☆ US options traders bet on near-term recovery as bank stocks rebound
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-14 | by ( Saqib Iqbal Ahmed | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

Options traders were buying up short-term call options on a variety of names, including the SPDR S&P regional banking ETF (KRE.P) and regional banks such as First Republic Bank (FRC.N) and Western Alliance Bancorp (WAL.N). "It's early days here but … there is some stability returning in bank share price action," said Michael Purves, chief executive of Tallbacken Capital. "Risk-on appears to be the flavor for regional banks today," said Ophir Gottlieb, chief executive of Los Angeles-based Capital Market Laboratories. Bullish speculation was particularly heavy in options expiring in less than a week, while longer-dated options saw less interest, he said. With some calm returning on Tuesday, options traders' also dialed back expectations for more near-term fireworks from the sector.

☆ Elite Israeli reserve fighter pilots and intelligence officers boycott training to protest against Netanyahu's right-wing government
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-05 | by ( Bethany Dawson | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Reserve pilots in a top Israeli air force squadron are boycotting training in an anti-government protest. Thirty-seven of the 40 reserve pilots in Israeli Air Force's 69th Squadron joined the protests by refusing to attend pre-scheduled training this week, the Jerusalem Post reports. The 69th Squadron is one of Israel's most prestigious air force units, according to Haaretz. The Israel reserve is 465,00-strong, and the mandatory service is part of the national ethos. Critics of this plan by Netanyahu's right-wing government say that this will weaken Israel's courts, and reduce civil liberties, per Reuters.

☆ Israelis rally again against government's judicial overhaul
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-04 | by ( Emily Rose | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

[1/5] An aerial view shows Israelis demonstrating as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's nationalist coalition government presses on with its contentious judicial overhaul, in Tel Aviv, Israel March 4, 2023. REUTERS/Ilan RosenbergTEL AVIV, March 4 (Reuters) - Tens of thousands of protesters took to the streets of Israeli cities for the ninth straight week on Saturday to fight a government plan to overhaul the country's court system. Saturday night's demonstrations in Tel Aviv and other locations continued peacefully, unlike protests earlier this week that descended into violent clashes with police. Proponents say the Supreme Court needs to be reined in from overreaching into the political sphere. Israeli police had fired stun grenades and scuffles broke out in Tel Aviv on Wednesday during a nationwide "day of disruption," raising the intensity of the protests.

☆ Volunteers who used digital ads to counter Russian propaganda about Ukraine plan to fight misinformation in countries like Syria and Iran
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-30 | by ( Lara O'Reilly | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

A group of volunteer 'spammers' who used ads to counter Russian propaganda about Ukraine plans to expand the campaign. Rob Blackie, organizer of the Breaking Putin's Censorship campaign. Earlier this month, the Kremlin said that anyone found simply posting a link to the banned independent Russian news site Meduza could face a six-year prison sentence. An example of one of the Breaking Putin's Censorship ads, which reads, "Why have 141 countries condemned Russians invasion of Ukraine? Breaking Putin's CensorshipThe group, which has now grown to around 60 volunteers, is already structured similarly to an ad agency.

☆ Markets in a tailspin get a big dose of chill from the Bank of England
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-28 | by ( Allison Morrow | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +7 min

The global financial system is “like a pressure cooker” right now, said Chris Turner, global head of markets at ING. Once, the idea of paying sticker price at a dealership was laughable — a trap that only suckers would fall into. The South Korean company’s sedans and SUVs are selling for about 6% over their sticker price, according to data from Edmunds.com. Used car prices — which shot up to dizzying heights early in the pandemic — have finally begun falling. “Speak to any (very) large used car dealer and you will hear the same - an absolute vortex of deflation is coming to used car prices,” tweeted Ophir Gottlieb, the CEO of Capital Market Laboratories, earlier this month.

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