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☆ 'Barbie' and 'Oppenheimer' are both about death
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-26 | by ( Maiya Focht | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

In their shared opening weekend, "Barbie" and' "Oppenheimer" have been breaking box office records. In box office-shattering numbers, people flocked to the theaters for the premieres of Christopher Nolan's "Oppenheimer" and Greta Gerwig's "Barbie". Life in plastic, not so fantasticIn what is now a viral meme, Barbie begins having incessant thoughts of death early on in the film, mid-dance sequence. 'Death, the destroyer of worlds'Cillian Murphy as J. Robert Oppenheimer in "Oppenheimer." Universal PicturesIt's easier to understand what "Oppenheimer" has to do with death.

Persons: Barbie, Oppenheimer, Christopher Nolan's, Greta Gerwig's, pinker, Mari Faines, Robert Oppenheimer, we're, Ruth Handler, Murphy, J, Albert Einstein, Einstein, Daniel Uhlfelder, you've, — we've, Faines, We're Organizations: Service, Global, Manhattan Project, Pictures Locations: Wall, Silicon, Florida, Russia

[1/2] "Junts x Catalunya" members raise up an "Estelada" flag (Catalan separatist flag) as they celebrate the results of the European Parliament elections in Barcelona, Spain, May 27, 2019. REUTERS/Albert Gea/File PhotoBARCELONA/MADRID, July 26 (Reuters) - Spain may be heading for a repeat of Sunday's inconclusive election unless Catalan separatist parties compromise on their demands for an independence referendum in exchange for their support. After neither the right nor left bloc won enough seats to form a majority, Catalan separatist parties Esquerra Republicana de Catalunya (ERC) and Junts have emerged as kingmakers. However, Sanchez, who rejects Catalan independence, has long said he opposes a referendum or an amnesty. INDEPENDENCE SUPPORT DECLININGEven if Sanchez were willing to concede, a referendum could prove difficult to implement.

Persons: Albert Gea, Esquerra, Pedro Sanchez, Sanchez, Junts, Carles Puigdemont, Ramon Tremosa, mignon, Tremosa, Josep Rius, Alberto Nunez Feijoo, Feijoo, Mariano Rajoy, Joan Esculies, Isabel Rodriguez, Yolanda Diaz, Diaz, Jaume Asens, Puigdemont, Wayne Griffiths, Rius, Pedro Sanchez's, Joan Faus, Belen Carreno, Charlie Devereux, Aislinn Laing, Rosalba O'Brien Organizations: REUTERS, ERC, Junts, Sanchez's Socialists, Socialists, European Union, People's Party, Socialist, Monday, Volkswagen's, SEAT, Catalans, Vox, Thomson Locations: Catalunya, Barcelona, Spain, BARCELONA, MADRID, Catalan, Catalonia, Belgium, Socialist, Madrid, Volkswagen's Barcelona, Spanish

☆ The remarkable story of the world's first atomic bomb and how Oppenheimer reacted to the historic moment
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-25 | by ( Amanda Macias | Joshua Zitser | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

The world's first atomic bomb was detonated in the New Mexico desert on July 16, 1945. But in a later interview about the decision to drop the bomb, Oppenheimer said that at the moment of the explosion he thought of a line from the Hindu scripture Bhagavad-Gita, "Now I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds." Norris Bradbury stands next to the partially assembled Gadget atop the test tower. WikipediaLess than a month later, on August 6, 1945, the US dropped a five-ton atomic bomb on the Japanese city of Hiroshima. Oppenheimer later told the American Philosophical Society: "We have made a thing, a most terrible weapon, that has altered abruptly and profoundly the nature of the world."

Persons: Oppenheimer, Albert Einstein, Leslie Groves, J, Robert Oppenheimer, Christopher Nolan's, Oppenheimer's, John Donne, Einstein, Gadget, Amanda Macias, Norris Bradbury Organizations: Manhattan, Service, Department of Energy, YouTube, US, Japan's, Getty, American Philosophical Locations: New Mexico, Wall, Silicon, —, Alamogordo , New Mexico, American, Germany, America, Hiroshima, Japan's Nagasaki, Japan, New York

☆ Alexander Karp of Palantir on A.I. Weapons Development - The New York Times
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-25 | by ( Alexander C. Karp | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

The United States is far from perfect. Our company, Palantir Technologies, has a stake in this debate. At Palantir, we are fortunate that our interests as a company and those of the country in which we are based are fundamentally aligned. It was the raw power and strategic potential of the bomb that prompted their call to action then. It is the far less visible but equally significant capabilities of these newest artificial intelligence technologies that should prompt swift action now.

Persons: Albert Einstein, Leo Szilard, Franklin Roosevelt, Einstein, Szilard, “, ” Organizations: Palantir Technologies Locations: United States, Palantir, Ukraine, Russia, Long

☆ Who was Lewis Strauss, the villain played by Robert Downey Jr. who tried to frame J. Robert Oppenheimer as a communist?
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-24 | by ( Sebastian Cahill | Hannah Getahun | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

Lewis Strauss oversaw J. Robert Oppenheimer as chairman of the Atomic Energy Commission. Strauss used Oppenheimer's communist sympathies to begin stripping his security clearances. However, Strauss was the first to take serious action about Oppenheimer's Communist accusations. The film reenacts another instance when Strauss feels Oppenheimer slighted him — as Oppenheimer and Albert Einstein, played by Tom Conti, speak by a pond after Strauss offers Oppenheimer a prestigious job at the Institute for Advanced Study. Strauss also began a separate security proceeding with the AEC over Oppenheimer's alleged Communist ties, which resulted in his security clearances being suspended.

Persons: Lewis Strauss, J, Robert Oppenheimer, Strauss, Nolan's, Oppenheimer, Robert Downey Jr, J.Robert Oppenheimer, Herbert Hoover, Cillian Murphy, Murphy, Harry Truman, Eisenhower, Jean Tatlock, Florence Pugh, —, Albert Einstein, Tom Conti, Einstein, Edgar Hoover, surveilling Oppenheimer, Oppenheimer's, Hoover, William Liscum Borden, Nolan, David Dastmalchian, Downey, Christopher Nolan, Amadeus, that's, Mozart, Salieri, Emily Blunt, Kitty Organizations: Atomic Energy Commission, Service, US Navy, AEC, —, Manhattan Project, Institute for, FBI, Joint Atomic Energy, Commerce, Democrats, Rotten, The New York Times Locations: Wall, Silicon, West Virginia, Nolan's, Soviet Union, Canada

☆ What causes someone to become a serial killer? Criminology experts explain
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-24 | by ( Alaa Elassar | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +16 min

CNN —For decades, criminologists and true crime documentaries have attempted to understand what causes serial killers to commit the atrocities they do. CNN spoke with three forensic psychologists and serial killer experts to better understand what causes people to become serial killers. Scott Bonn: Not all psychopaths are serial killers, and not all serial killers are psychopaths. In the case (of a serial killer who) is a psychopath, their brain functions differently than a normal human brain. Are all serial killers serial sexual murderers?

Persons: Dennis Rader, John Wayne Gacy, Jeffrey Dahmer, Albert DeSalvo, Ted Bundy, Rex Heuermann, Heuermann, he’s, Long, Scott Bonn, Psychopaths, Louis Schlesinger, Katherine Ramsland, DeSalvo, Joe Dennehy, Scott, –, you’re, they’re, Bundy, There’s, BTK, Jack, who’ve, They’re, Marny Malin, Sygma, William Heirens, ”, Ted Bundys, John Wayne Gacys, Dennis, they’re chameleons, it’s, He’s, there’s, Jeffrey Dahmer's Organizations: CNN, University of Michigan, John Jay College of Criminal, DeSales University, Boston, Boston Globe, Des, Des Plaines Police Department, Chicago Tribune, Tribune, Service, Getty, Lutheran Church, Boy Scout, Suffolk County Sheriff's, Scott Bonn Locations: United States, New York, Shore, criminologist, Scott Bonn, Chicago, Des Plaines, Milwaukee, Suffolk County, Long

☆ Pfizer says supply of some drugs may be disrupted after NC tornado
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-24 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

NEW YORK, July 24 (Reuters) - Drugmaker Pfizer Inc (PFE.N) said over 30 drugs, including injections of painkiller fentanyl and anesthetic lidocaine, may see supply disruption after a tornado destroyed a warehouse at its Rocky Mount, North Carolina, plant last week. The company sent a letter late last week to its hospital customers saying it had identified around 64 different formulations or dosages of those more than 30 drugs produced at the plant that may experience continued or new supply disruptions. The company has placed limits on how much supply of those drugs its customers can buy. It said the list was "based on Pfizer market share and inventory levels of less than 3 months across our Pfizer distribution centers and the wholesale chain." The Rocky Mount plant is one of the largest factories for sterile injectable medicines in the world.

Persons: Albert Bourla, Michael Ganio, Michael Erman, Aurora Ellis Organizations: YORK, Drugmaker Pfizer Inc, Pfizer, American Society of Health, System, Thomson Locations: North Carolina

☆ Oppenheimer never won a Nobel Prize, but these 31 scientists with ties to the Manhattan Project did
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-24 | by ( Jenny Mcgrath | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +26 min

Manhattan Project: After a harrowing escape from Nazi-occupied Denmark in 1943, Bohr began consulting on the Manhattan Project. Manhattan Project: Between 1943 and 1944, Muller was a civilian advisor for the Manhattan Project, consulting on experiments studying the effects of radiation. Maria Goeppert Mayer, Nobel Prize in Physics, 1963Maria Goeppert Mayer worked on the Manhattan Project and later won the Nobel Prize in physics. Manhattan Project: Working as an assistant to his father, Niels Bohr, Aage Bohr proved instrumental in interpreting for some members of the Manhattan Project. Manhattan Project: At 18, Glauber was still a student at Harvard when he became one of the youngest scientists to join the Manhattan Project.

Persons: Robert Oppenheimer, Alfred Nobel, Joseph Rotblat, Albert Einstein, Christopher Nolan's, Oppenheimer, Niels Bohr, Bohr, Nicholas Baker, Nick, James Franck, Boyer, Roger Viollet, Gustav Ludwig Hertz, Niels Bohr's, Franck, Arthur Compton, Imagno, Compton, Harold Urey, Harold, Urey, James Chadwick, Chadwick, Enrico Fermi, Fermi, Ernest Lawrence, Lawrence, Isidor Isaac Rabi, Nancy R, Schiff, Rabi, Hermann Muller, Muller, Edwin McMillan, Bettmann, Glenn Seaborg, McMillan, Elsie McMillan, Seaborg, Felix Bloch, Edward Purcell, Nobel, Hans Bethe, Bloch, Purcell, Emilio Segrè, Owen Chamberlain, Chamberlain, Segrè, Willard Libby, Leona Libby, Lowell, Libby, Linus Pauling, Leona Woods Marshall Libby, Eugene Wigner, Wigner, Leo Szilard's, Einstein, Franklin D, Roosevelt, Maria Goeppert Mayer, J, Hans Jensen, Goeppert Mayer, Teller, Richard Feynman, Tomonaga, Julian Schwinger, Fenynman, Hans Bethe's, Feynmwan, Feynman, Schwinger, Robert Mulliken, Mulliken, Szilard, Hans A, Bethe, Luis Alvarez, Alvarez, Enola Gay, Walter Alvarez, James Rainwater, Aage Bohr, Ben Mottelson, Rainwater, Wu, Aage Niels Bohr, Mottelson, mumbled, Val Fitch, James Cronin, Fitch, Jerome Karle, Isabelle, Larry Morris, Herbert Hauptman, Karle, Isabella Karle, Norman Ramsey, Ellie Welch, Ramsey, Norman Ramsey's Nobel, David Cheskin, Rotblat, Russell, Bertrand Russell, Enstinen, Frederick Reines, Philippe Caron, Sygma, Reines, Roy Glauber, Gail Oskin, Glauber Organizations: Manhattan Project, Service, Manhattan, US Army, AP, Getty, University of Chicago's Metallurgical Laboratory, Chicago Met, Los Angeles Examiner, USC, Columbia, Keystone, Gamma, Columbia University, University of Chicago, Trinity Test, University of California, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Hulton, Trinity, Deutsch, Los Alamos, University of Chicago's Metallurgical, Atomic Energy Commission, Harvard University, MIT Rad Lab, Denver, Chicago Met Lab, Materials Laboratory, Los, Radiation Laboratory, MIT, University of Chicago's, Princeton University, Naval Research Lab, Washington, US Naval Research Laboratory, Science, World Affairs, Einstein, Los Alamos National Laboratory, Harvard, Institute for Locations: Wall, Silicon, Polish, Denmark, Copenhagen, Nazi, London , Washington, Los Alamos, German, Germany, Japan, Manhattan, British, France, Washington, DC, Berkeley, Ridge , Tennessee, Los, New Mexico, Hanford, antiprotons, Hiroshima, Lowell Georgia, San Diego, Chicago, Washington ,

It was Dr. Scott Rivkees, the Florida surgeon general. Ron DeSantis had decided that the worst was over for Florida, he said. Mr. DeSantis had begun listening to doctors who believed the virus’s threat was overstated, and he no longer supported preventive measures like limiting indoor dining. Mr. DeSantis was going his own way on Covid. Nearly three years later, the governor now presents his Covid strategy not only as his biggest accomplishment, but as the foundation for his presidential campaign.

Persons: Deborah L, Scott Rivkees, “, ’ ”, Ron DeSantis, DeSantis, ” Organizations: White, Gov, The New York Times Locations: Florida, Covid, New York, California

[1/2] The roof of a Pfizer facility shows heavy damage after a tornado passed the area in Rocky Mount, North Carolina, U.S. July 19, 2023. ABC Affiliate WTVD via REUTERSJuly 21 (Reuters) - Most of the tornado damage at Pfizer Inc's (PFE.N) Rocky Mount, North Carolina plant was to the warehouse and not manufacturing facilities, CEO Albert Bourla said on Friday, easing concerns about long-term drug shortages from the plant. Nonetheless, Bourla told a news conference in Rocky Mount that it will be a monumental task to repair the damage. "We are moving full speed to bring this manufacturing plant into action again," Bourla said, noting that crews were working to restore power to the plant. The Rocky Mount plant is one of the largest factories for sterile injectable medicines in the world.

Persons: Albert Bourla, Bourla, Soumi Saha, Saha, Lisa Mulloy, Erin Fox, David Ljunggren, Michael Erman, Shivani Tanna, Rami Ayyub, Doina Chiacu, Cynthia Osterman, Diane Craft Organizations: Pfizer, ABC, WTVD, REUTERS, Pfizer Inc's, U.S, American Society of Health, System Pharmacists, U.S . Food, Drug Administration, FDA, Premier Inc, University of Utah Health, Thomson Locations: Rocky Mount, North Carolina, U.S, Rocky, Bengaluru

July 21 (Reuters) - Pfizer Inc(PFE.N) CEO Albert Bourla said on Friday that tornado damage this week had almost completely destroyed the drugmaker's warehouse at its Rocky Mount, North Carolina, plant, but that production facilities there do not seem to have suffered damage. "It appears that most of the damage sustained at the site was at our warehouse ... the facilities that are producing, (it) doesn't seem that they have suffered any damage." In the meantime, the company is working to identify alternative manufacturing locations for production around the U.S. Nearly 25% of Pfizer's sterile injectables used in U.S. hospitals are produced there, according to the company's website. "There are so many shortages already," said Erin Fox, senior director of drug information at University of Utah Health.

Persons: Albert Bourla, Bourla, Soumi Saha, Saha, Erin Fox, Lisa Mulloy, David Ljunggren, Michael Erman, Rami Ayyub, Doina Organizations: Pfizer Inc, Engineers, U.S, Products, Premier Inc, American Society of Health, System Pharmacists, Pfizer, University of Utah Health, Thomson Locations: North Carolina, Rocky, U.S

☆ 'Oppenheimer' fact v. fiction: A nuclear historian breaks down what the movie got right and wrong
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-21 | by ( Jenny Mcgrath | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +18 min

J. Robert Oppenheimer was an immensely complex figure, and the movie's based on a biography of him. Fact: Oppenheimer mocked Strauss about isotopesJ. Robert Oppenheimer testifies before the Senate in October 1945. Fact: A big thunderstorm delayed the Trinity TestOppenheimer (Cillian Murphy) stands next to the test bomb in "Oppenheimer." If it weren't for the atomic bomb, Oppenheimer would likely be best known for bolstering theoretical physics at the University of California, Berkeley. Fiction: Oppenheimer consulted Einstein about Teller's calculations(L-R) Tom Conti as Albert Einstein and Cillian Murphy as J. Robert Oppenheimer in "Oppenheimer."

Persons: Christopher Nolan's, Oppenheimer, Robert Oppenheimer, J, Alex Wellerstein, Kai Bird, Martin Sherwin, Wellerstein, Niels Bohr wasn't, Patrick Blackett, Bird, Sherwin, Blackett, Niels Bohr, Ernest Rutherford, Bohr, Oppenheimer's, Cillian Murphy, Abraham Pais, Baudelaire, e.e, cummings, who's, Haakon Chevalier, Peter, Peter Oppenheimer, Kitty, Haakon, Barbara Chevalier, Robert, Perro, Werner Heisenberg, peppering Bohr, Heisenberg, Strauss, David Hill, Lewis Strauss, Dwight D, David Inglis, Inglis, I've, Arthur Compton, Trinity Test Oppenheimer, Jack Hubbard, Leslie Groves, Hubbard, Feynman, Richard Feynman, I'm, Groves, Robert Serber, David Bohm, Philip Morrison, Willis Lamb, Hitler, Hartland Snyder, Kip Thorne, John Wheeler, Roger Penrose, Penrose, Murphy, Trinity, there's, —, Karl T, Compton, Stimson, Henry Stimson, that's, Harry Truman, Wallenstein, Einstein, Tom Conti, Albert Einstein, Melinda Sue Gordon, Edward Teller, Hans Bethe, Enrico Fermi, Bethe, Roger Robb, He's, Teller, Stanislaw Ulam, Gordon Dean, Charlotte Serber, Charlotte Serber's, she's, Serber Organizations: Service, Manhattan Project's Los Alamos Laboratory, Stevens Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Eisenhower's, Federation of American Scientists, Time, Atomic Energy Committee, Trinity Test, Trinity, Los, University of California, Clovis, National Security Research, Manhattan Project . National Security Research, FBI Locations: Wall, Silicon, England, Leiden, Holland, New Mexico, Perro Caliente, Los Pinos , New Mexico, Germany, Nazi, Denmark, Sweden, Los Alamos, Europe, Berkeley, Poland, Amarillo , Texas, Japan, Kyoto, Alamos

☆ Putellas fit and ready to go for Spain's World Cup campaign - coach
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-20 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

"All players are available to play tomorrow," Vilda said via a translator at a media conference in Wellington on Thursday. "In the case of Alexia, it's optimising all the training sessions that we've had to have Alexia with us. "We are very careful with everything that we do and we're trying every possible means so that Alexia would be in condition to play tomorrow." The Barcelona midfielder is expected to be a key cog in Spain's third World Cup campaign where they are favourites to top Group C ahead of Costa Rica, Zambia and Japan. Spain were eliminated in the last 16 by eventual champions, the United States, in France in 2019, four years after failing to reach the knockout phase on their World Cup debut in 2015.

Persons: Johan Cruyff, Sant Joan Despi, FC Barcelona's Alexia Putellas, Ballon, Albert Gea, Alexia Putellas, Jorge Vilda, Putellas, Vilda, Alexia, it's, we've, Ian Ransom Organizations: Soccer, League, FC Barcelona, Benfica, FC Barcelona's, REUTERS, Costa, eventual, Thomson Locations: Spain, AUCKLAND, Costa Rica, Wellington, Barcelona, Zambia, Japan, United States, France, Melbourne

☆ 'Something very strange' explains why a US recession has been delayed
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-20 | by ( Matthew Fox | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

"Something very strange has happened" in the economy that is preventing a recession, Societe Generale said. The bank highlighted that as the Fed raised interest rates over the past year, corporate net interest payments actually fell. According to Societe Generale, "something very strange has happened" that explains why a US recession has been delayed, and it has to do with some timely moves made by corporations. The bank highlighted that going back to at least 1975, corporate net interest payments would rise as the Fed raised interest rates. "Normally when interest rates rise, so too do net debt payments, squeezing profit margins and slowing the economy.

Persons: Societe Generale's Albert Edwards, SocGen's Edwards, Edwards Organizations: Societe Generale, Service, Federal Reserve, Societe Generale's, Bank of America, Companies Locations: Wall, Silicon

☆ Who was J. Robert Oppenheimer? What you need to know before watching Christopher Nolan's biopic
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-20 | by ( Caolán Magee | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +5 min

Director Christopher Nolan’s latest creation concerns an earlier existential threat, telling the story of the atomic bomb through the lens of its creator, J. Robert Oppenheimer – played by “Peaky Blinders” star Cillian Murphy. ullstein bild Dtl./ullstein bild/Getty ImagesWho was J. Robert Oppenheimer? Oppenheimer is widely considered the father of the atomic bomb. He quickly rose to prominence as an internationally renowned physicist, employed by the US government to create an atomic bomb to quell the threat of Nazi Germany. In the post-WWII era, as the world entered the Cold War, Oppenheimer was suspected by US intelligence of having ties with communists.

Persons: Oppenheimer ”, Christopher Nolan’s, J, Robert Oppenheimer –, “ Peaky, Cillian Murphy, Matt Damon, Emily Blunt, Florence Pugh, Robert Downey Jr, Kai Bird, Martin J, Sherwin’s Pulitzer, Robert Oppenheimer, ” Oppenheimer, Oppenheimer, Fotosearch, Adolf Hitler, Albert Einstein, Leo Szilard, Eugene Wigner, Jennifer Granholm, ” Organizations: CNN, Trinity, Los Alamos National Laboratory, United States Atomic Energy Commission, Manhattan, Institute for, Study, Committee, Atomic Energy Commission, US Department of Energy, ” Locations: New York, Nazi Germany, New Mexico, Alamogordo , New Mexico, Germany, Los Alamos , New Mexico, Hiroshima, Nagasaki, Princeton , New Jersey, Spanish

☆ Why Einstein wasn't part of the Manhattan Project even though he convinced President Roosevelt to build an atomic bomb
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-19 | by ( Sonam Sheth | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Albert Einstein sent a letter in 1939 that helped convinced FDR to launch the Manhattan Project. But Einstein was not part of the secretive program run by J. Robert Oppenheimer to develop a nuclear weapon. The letter cited the Hungarian physicist Leo Szilard's work, and Szilard helped draft the letter, which Einstein signed. The Manhattan Project was officially created in August 1942, months after the US entered the war. The Manhattan Project is the center of a new biopic from director Christopher Nolan.

Persons: Albert Einstein, FDR, Einstein, J, Robert Oppenheimer, Einstein's, Franklin D, Roosevelt, Leo Szilard's, Szilard, Oppenheimer, Eugene Wigner, Christopher Nolan, Cillian Murphy Organizations: Manhattan, Service, US Army Intelligence, American Museum of, . Intelligence, US, Newsweek, The New York Times Locations: Wall, Silicon, Hungarian, Hiroshima, Nagasaki, Manhattan

☆ China's property sector recovery could be 'sluggish' for quite a while, ADB economist says
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-19 | by ( ) www.cnbc.com time to read: 1 min

Share Share Article via Facebook Share Article via Twitter Share Article via LinkedIn Share Article via EmailChina's property sector recovery could be 'sluggish' for quite a while, ADB economist saysAlbert Park, chief economist of the bank, says the caution of Chinese consumers and businesses is the "dampener" behind China's sluggish economic recovery.

Persons: Albert Park

☆ China's cautious consumer confidence is dampening economic recovery, says ADB
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-19 | by ( Sumathi Bala | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

China's cautious consumer confidence has been a "a dampener" for its fragile recovery, according to Albert Park, chief economist at the Asian Development Bank. On Monday, the world's second largest economy reported second quarter GDP numbers that largely missed expectations. China's economy grew 6.3% from a year ago in the quarter ending June, while retail sales for June rose by 3.1%, fueling concerns its post-Covid growth is faltering. "What we really hope is that China's consumers and businesses will regain confidence to start spending more and to invest more," Park told CNBC's "Squawk Box Asia" on Wednesday. "We're seeing their caution in this respect really being a dampener that's causing the sluggish recovery in China."

Persons: Albert Park, CNBC's Organizations: Asian Development Bank Locations: China

☆ The QAnon Shaman's plan to get his guilty plea reversed is 'silly' — and might land him back in prison, ex-prosecutor says
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-18 | by ( Natalie Musumeci | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

The QAnon Shaman, who pleaded guilty to his January 6 involvement, wants his plea reversed. "Regrets only weigh down the mind," Chansley told the BBC in a report published this week. Chansley told the news outlet that statements his former lawyer made in an attempt to get him a lesser sentence were not true. "I never said I was duped by [former President Donald] Trump," Chansley told the BBC. Meanwhile, Aidala told Insider that Chansley should be "grateful that he is no longer incarcerated and that he has his freedom."

Persons: Jacob Chansley, Jacob Chansley's, Arthur Aidala, Ghislaine Maxwell, Harvey Weinstein —, He's, Aidala, Chansley, Donald, Trump, Q, Albert Watkins, Watkins, Lil Wayne Organizations: Service, Capitol, BBC, Trump Locations: Brooklyn , New York, Wall, Silicon

☆ Spain election: Trans youths' families fear for rights under a right-wing government
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-18 | by ( Horaci García | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

[1/4] Members of Chrysallis (Association of Transgender Children and Youth Families) take part in a Gay Parade in Barcelona, Spain, July 15, 2023. REUTERS/ Albert Gea/file photo/file photoBARCELONA, July 18 (Reuters) - Ana Valenzuela and her 12-year-old trans daughter, like some other families with transgender children, fear that if Spain's conservative People's Party (PP) and far-right Vox take power in this month's election, they could roll back hard-won LGBT rights. "It's very sad that children are conscious of this," said Valenzuela, who advised the government during the drafting of the "Trans Law". Vox has vowed to repeal the Trans Law and has joined the PP in challenging it before the Constitutional Court, arguing it violates child protection rights and the right to bodily integrity. Olga Nadal, vice-president of trans youth rights group Chrysallis Catalunya, said the community could not afford to see the law repealed.

Persons: Albert Gea, Ana Valenzuela, Valenzuela, Vox, Olga Nadal, Mariano Rajoy, Emi Blanco, Horaci García, David Latona, Alexandra Hudson Organizations: Chrysallis, of Transgender Children, REUTERS, People's Party, Vox, Trans, Alexandra Hudson Our, Thomson Locations: Barcelona, Spain, BARCELONA, Sunday's, Chrysallis, Catalan

☆ Kai Bird on Christopher Nolan's ‘Oppenheimer’ - The New York Times
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-17 | by ( Kai Bird | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

Oppenheimer took the occasion to explain to Einstein that he was going to be absent from the Institute for some weeks. He was being forced to defend himself in Washington, D.C., during a secret hearing against charges that he was a security risk, and perhaps even disloyal. “He loved America,” said Verna Hobson, his secretary who was a witness to the conversation, “and this love was as deep as his love of science.”“Einstein doesn’t understand,” Oppenheimer told Ms. Hobson. But as Einstein walked back into his office he told his assistant, nodding in the direction of Oppenheimer, “There goes a narr [fool].”Einstein was right. Oppenheimer was foolishly subjecting himself to a kangaroo court in which he was soon stripped of his security clearance and publicly humiliated.

Persons: J, Robert Oppenheimer, Albert Einstein, Oppenheimer, Einstein, Oppenheimer “, ” Oppenheimer demurred, “, ”, Verna Hobson, ” Oppenheimer, Hobson, ” Einstein, Oppenheimer’s Organizations: Institute for, Study, Institute, Washington , D.C, Atomic Energy Locations: Princeton, N.J, Germany, Washington ,, America

☆ Wagner troops arrive in Central African Republic ahead of referendum
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-17 | by ( Judicael Yongo | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

The government had said previously that the troops' movement was part of a rotation of forces rather a withdrawal. "They are also here to secure the constitutional referendum," the spokesperson said, declining to say how many troops had arrived. A senior CAR military official in the capital told Reuters that hundreds of troops had arrived. CAR President Faustin-Archange Touadera, who was first elected in 2016, and won reelection in 2020, turned to Russia for help to tackle the rebel groups. He is on the campaign trail for the constitutional referendum which, if passed, could remove a two-term presidential limit and enable him run again.

Persons: wagner, Faustin, Russia's Wagner, Wagner, Yevgeny Prigozhin, Albert Yaloke Mokpem, Francois Bozize, Touadera, Judicael Yongo, Bate Felix, Anait Miridzhanian, Alison Williams Organizations: Central, Reuters, Thomson Locations: Bangui, Central, Read, BANGUI, Central African Republic, Russia

☆ The DC Circuit just upheld a controversial law aimed at protecting sex trafficking victims. Advocacy groups say it 'inadvertently encouraged the kind of abuse it sought to eradicate,' as more women ar
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-16 | by ( Katherine Tangalakis-Lippert | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

Consensual sex workers and advocates say the law, an addition to Section 230, makes them less safe. I was doing online work in the past and this feels more dangerous' or 'I've experienced assault' since it happened," Cleary told Insider. After FOSTA was passed, sex workers, advocates, and some anti-trafficking groups predicted this outcome, warning lawmakers that the overbroad law would lead to a chilling effect and reduced resources for consensual sex workers and trafficking victims. If this law has had an effect on rates of trafficking in the United States, it has evidently only increased the risks sex workers and trafficking survivors face." "As Bardot Smith has said, 'Sex workers are often the canaries in the coal mine,'" Kendra Albert, the cyberlaw clinic instructor at Harvard Law School, told WHYY.

Persons: Rebecca Cleary, I've, Cleary, FOSTA, they're, SESTA, Lexi, HuffPost, TechDirt, Bardot Smith, Kendra Albert, WHYY Organizations: DC, Service, Communications, Twitter, Baylor University and West Virginia University, Craigslist, Harvard Law School Locations: Wall, Silicon, United States, Florida

☆ QAnon Shaman, who pleaded guilty and made a heartfelt apology in Jan. 6 case, has changed his mind and wants his plea reversed
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-16 | by ( Katie Balevic | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

The QAnon Shaman who pleaded guilty for his January 6 involvement wants to reverse his plea, BBC reported. At least not for the QAnon Shaman who was charged and imprisoned following his participation in the January 6 Capitol riot in 2021. Jacob Chansley once issued a moving apology as he pleaded guilty for his participation in the riot. Now that he's out of prison early, what he regrets now is his guilty plea. "Regrets only weigh down the mind," Chansley told the BBC.

Persons: Jacob Chansley, Chansley, ineffectively, Albert Watkins, Watkins, Donald Trump, Trump, Chansely, Q Organizations: BBC, Service Locations: Wall, Silicon

☆ J. Robert Oppenheimer’s Defense of Humanity
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-15 | by ( David Nirenberg | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

From the moment the atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima in August 1945 until his death in 1967, J. Robert Oppenheimer was perhaps the most recognizable physicist on the planet. During World War II, Oppenheimer directed Los Alamos Laboratory, “Site Y” of the Manhattan Project, the successful American effort to build an atomic bomb. He went on to serve for almost 20 years as director of the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, N.J., home to some of the world’s leading scientists, including Albert Einstein.

Persons: J, Robert Oppenheimer, Oppenheimer, Albert Einstein Organizations: Los Alamos Laboratory, Manhattan Project, Institute for, Study Locations: Hiroshima, Princeton, N.J

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