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☆ Putin is fighting an 'internal power struggle' to weaken critics amid Russia's mounting military failures in Ukraine, war experts say
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-12 | by ( John Haltiwanger | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Putin is likely moving to silence critics with this move as he fights an internal power struggle, analysts say. Ukrainian intelligence has also suggested that Surovkin is a rival of Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu, ISW said. ISW said Gerasimov's appointment was also designed to "support an intended decisive Russian military effort in 2023, likely in the form of resumed Russian offensive operations." After failing to take Kyiv in the early months of the war, Russia turned its attention to Ukraine's east. It's unclear whether the recent change in leadership in Ukraine will drastically alter Russia's narrowing options on the battlefield.

☆ Analysis: Democrats' downgrade of Iowa's role is a blow to Corn Belt, biofuels
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-05 | by ( Jarrett Renshaw | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

Iowa's political importance created a cottage industry out of educating and supporting candidates on issues that corn farmers and ethanol manufacturers care about. "Forward looking, to get Democratic candidates exposed to farm issues and get these issues in front of them is going to be extremely challenging. “It’s a blow to the industry, in terms of educating and informing the Democratic candidates,” Link said. Link noted that many of the Democratic candidates vying for the nomination were often already serving as elected leaders in Washington or would later become vice presidents or cabinet secretaries. The Iowa caucuses helped developed empathy for rural issues that could later be tapped for legislative success.

☆ Meta lawsuit: An Ethiopian professor was murdered by a mob. Son alleges Facebook fueled the violence
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-14 | by ( Eliza Mackintosh | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +8 min

The case is a constitutional petition filed in Kenya’s High Court, which has jurisdiction over the issue, as Facebook’s content moderation operation hub for much of east and south Africa is located in Nairobi. “They have suffered human rights violations as a result of the Respondent failing to take down Facebook posts that violated the bill of rights even after making reports to the Respondent,” reads the complaint. The legal filing alleges that Facebook has failed to invest adequately in content moderation in countries across Africa, Latin America and the Middle East, particularly from its hub in Nairobi. In a statement to CNN, Meta did not directly respond to the lawsuit:“We have strict rules which outline what is and isn’t allowed on Facebook and Instagram. Last year, whistleblower Frances Haugen, a former Facebook employee, told the US Senate that the platform’s algorithm was “literally fanning ethnic violence” in Ethiopia.

☆ Fired startup CEO says he was tarnished as the 'LSD CEO' for accusing investors of anti-Asian bias, and now he's suing
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-05 | by ( Sindhu Sundar | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

Iterable's former CEO Justin Zhu said he was removed due to racial bias, not his use of LSD in 2019. "The 'LSD CEO' label is deliberate, but it's a wrong characterization," Zhu told Insider. "While Andrew is half Asian American, I don't think his experiences — better, worse and similar — change what I went through," Zhu told Insider. One particularly tense encounter with investors took place in June 2020, Zhu told Insider, during an unusual meeting in person during the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic. Zhu's attorney, Charles Jung, told Insider that the goal of the lawsuit was to shed light on legal protections that allow workers to report their experiences of bias.

WASHINGTON — Democrats advanced a plan Friday to reorder the early voting states in their presidential primary calendar, one that would put South Carolina first, jettison Iowa and demote New Hampshire. The overhaul calls for South Carolina to hold its Democratic primary on Feb. 3, followed by Nevada and New Hampshire on Feb. 6. Georgia would hold its primary on Feb. 13, with Michigan rounding out the early voting on Feb. 27. Democrats have spent months debating their primary calendar, aiming to increase the diversity of states that help select the party’s standard-bearer and to add more general election battlegrounds to the mix. "Our first-in-the-nation primary is part of our culture and has been in place for over 100 years.

☆ It’s the wrong time for Trumponomics
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-16 | by ( Ben Winck | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

NEW YORK, Nov 16 (Reuters Breakingviews) - Former U.S. President Donald Trump tried to juice U.S. economic growth by enacting massive tax cuts and championing lower interest rates. As he sets his sights again on the White House, the country is turning its back on Trumponomics. The U.S. Federal Reserve has been jacking up interest rates in hopes of weakening demand and easing the climb in prices. Former UK Prime Minister Liz Truss proposed tax cuts for Britain's top earners and homebuyers in a mini-budget revealed in September, posing the policy as a way to spur growth. Surging inflation prompted the Fed to start raising interest rates in March to cool demand and slow price growth.

☆ How social media platforms plan to fight Election Day misinformation
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-07 | by ( Lauren Feiner | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +12 min

Andrew Caballero-Reynolds | AFP | Getty ImagesSocial media platforms including Meta's Facebook and Instagram, Twitter, TikTok and Google's YouTube are readying themselves for another heated Election Day this week. The company is once again banning new political ads in the week before the election, as it did in 2020. Political ads, including information on how much money was behind them and how much they were viewed, are included in the company's transparency report. The NYU and Global Witness study found YouTube performed the best out of the platforms it tested in blocking ads with election misinformation. WATCH: The messy business of content moderation on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube

☆ Russian roulette: Is Putin serious about nuclear war, or bluffing?
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-14 | by ( Jason Corcoran | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +14 min

On Oct. 26, President Vladimir Putin appeared on Russian state television overseeing a practice run of Russia's strategic nuclear deterrence forces. The conflict has revived Cold War-era fears of nuclear war across the region. In August, a Ukrainian official said that 9,000 Ukrainian military personnel had been killed, though another source said the number could be far higher. (President Zelensky previously estimated that 30% of Ukraine's power stations have been damaged or destroyed, although the figure is now likely to be greater.) In a wide-ranging answer, Putin had offered, almost as an aside, that Russian victims of nuclear war "will go to heaven as martyrs" while Western citizens would perish without having "time to repent."

☆ EXCLUSIVE IDB board sees 'emerging consensus' that Claver-Carone should be removed - source
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-21 | by ( Andrea Shalal | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

REUTERS/Carlos JassoWASHINGTON, Sept 21 (Reuters) - The Inter-American Development Bank's board of directors is reaching an "emerging consensus" that its president Mauricio Claver-Carone should be removed after an independent ethics investigation, a source familiar with the process told Reuters. read moreRegister now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com RegisterA decision by the board of directors could come in "days, not weeks," with the final decision up to the bank's board of governors, the source added. The 14-member board met for a third day about the matter on Wednesday, joined by representatives from all 48 member countries. Claver-Carone and the staffer have both denied the allegations in general terms. The Washington-based IDB is a development bank that, while far smaller than the International Monetary Fund or World Bank, is a major provider of development funding in Latin America.

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