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☆ South Africa’s Shifting Stance on a Sensitive Question: Quit the I.C.C.?
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-26 | by ( John Eligon | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

President Cyril Ramaphosa of South Africa said on Tuesday that his party, the African National Congress, had decided “it is prudent” to withdraw from the International Criminal Court — only for representatives for him and the party to later clarify that neither was actually advocating quitting the court, at least for now. The shifting statements underscore the complexities and sensitivity of the matter at a fraught geopolitical moment, when South Africa and other countries are pushing back against a world order dominated by the United States and the West. has issued an arrest warrant on war crimes charges for President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia, who has been invited to a summit in South Africa in August. South African officials have not said whether they would honor their commitment to the I.C.C. and arrest Mr. Putin, and Mr. Ramaphosa said his government was still considering what to do.

Lilly has not previously discussed its Medicare coverage optimism publicly. The U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Such "coverage with evidence development" requirements are rare and historically used by Medicare to evaluate medical devices. Amyvid, Lilly's Alzheimer's imaging agent that can detect amyloid plaques on PET scans, has been subject to CMS' evidence development program for a decade. "It shuts out many patients," said Dr. Maria Carrillo, chief science officer of the Alzheimer’s Association, "especially minorities and rural patients."

☆ Racial Disparities are worsening disaster recovery for people of color. With climate change, things could get worse
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-14 | by ( Lauren Lee | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +13 min

Rolling Fork, Mississippi suffered massive damage from a powerful tornado on March 24. Racial disparities existed in Rolling Fork for decades. She started I-DIEM after spending over 14 years in disaster management. Shirley Stamps stands in the rubble of her home in the aftermath of the Rolling Fork tornado. And increasingly, non-profits are doing things differently to address racial disparities in disaster management.

Sentencing Commission approved new guidelines on Wednesday that will expand federal inmates' ability to qualify for compassionate release from prison. The First Step Act, signed into law by former President Donald Trump in 2018, expanded compassionate release criteria for sick and elderly federal inmates. Requests for compassionate release then surged during the COVID-19 pandemic, with 7,014 motions filed in fiscal year 2020. The new compassionate release guidelines approved on Wednesday expanded the criteria for what can qualify as "extraordinary and compelling reasons" to grant compassionate release, and it will give judges more discretion to determine when a sentence reduction is warranted. Among the new categories that could make an inmate eligible for compassionate release is if he or she becomes the victim of sexual assault by a corrections officer.

☆ Ex-Bon Appétit editor Marissa Ross says the wine world ruined her. Now she's back and ready to give it hell.
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-23 | by ( Anna Silman | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +40 min

Her rise was tied to a period of reinvention for the wine world during which natural wine conquered millennial taste buds and became ubiquitous on menus across the US. Marissa Ross, Bon Appétit's wine editor from 2016 to 2020, often posted pictures of herself chugging straight from the bottle — a technique she called "The Ross test." "Natural wine," a nebulous term that generally refers to wine made with minimal intervention and without additives like sulfites, was tentatively entering the American wine world. Many in the wine world took the idea that you didn't have to be educated to know about wine as a personal insult. When she first told BA that she planned to cover only natural wines, Ross said, Rapoport called to try to change her mind.

The richest Black mothers and their babies are twice as likely to die as the richest white mothers and their babies. Yet there is one group that doesn’t gain the same protection from being rich, the study finds: Black mothers and babies. The researchers found that maternal mortality rates were just as high among the highest-income Black women as among low-income white women. The richest Black women have infant mortality rates at about the same level as the poorest white women. Generally, rates for Hispanic mothers and Asian mothers track more closely with those of white mothers than Black mothers.

Companies Apple Inc FollowJan 20 (Reuters) - A U.S. appeals court on Friday affirmed a decision to throw out a $308.5 million jury verdict against Apple Inc (AAPL.O) for allegedly infringing a patent related to digital rights management. PMC, a patent licensing company, first sued Apple for infringing several patents in 2015. He said PMC's patent was unenforceable because the company had used a "deliberate strategy of delay" in applying for the patent, representing a "conscious and egregious misuse of the statutory patent system." The Federal Circuit affirmed Gilstrap in a 2-1 ruling, finding that PMC's "inequitable scheme to extend its patent rights" had prejudiced Apple. Reporting by Blake Brittain in Washington Editing by David Bario and Matthew LewisOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Rep. Jimmy Gomez takes his baby to the Capitol during House speaker votes: ‘We have to normalize Dads'
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-05 | by ( Danielle Campoamor | Danielle Campoamor Has Been Published In Teen Vogue | Harper'S Bazaar | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +7 min

Rep. Jimmy Gomez, D-Calif., knew things could go awry during the House speaker vote on Tuesday. It was new for Gomez’s family members, who had plans to watch Gomez be sworn in for a fourth term and then tour the nation’s capital. “But that took another 30 minutes.”Gomez had planned on being on the House floor at 11:30 in the morning. “In the end, we have to normalize dads taking their kids with them, be it stay-at-home dads or working dads,” Gomez says. I mean, babywearing is cool now!”On Wednesday, Gomez and his family, along with Hodge, returned to the House floor as Republican members tried again to elect a speaker.

☆ Congressman says Donald Trump 'abused his power' to hide his finances on a scale not seen since Nixon
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-30 | by ( Rebecca Cohen | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Rep. Don Beyer said Donald Trump "abused his power" to hide his finances. A House committee published six years' worth of Trump's tax returns on Friday after a years-long legal fight. Six years of Trump's personal and business tax returns were released by the House Ways and Means Committee on Friday. Beyer accused the former president of having "something to hide" as he refused to release tax documents as presidents since Nixon had done and fought Congress' attempts to access them. Beyer noted that tax laws in the US are "often inequitable, and that enforcement of them is often unjust."

House Democrats are scrutinizing why the Internal Revenue Service failed to fully audit Donald Trump's tax returns when he was in the White House, despite an agency policy mandating such a review. Some insight into the lapse came in a report Tuesday from the Joint Committee on Taxation (JCT), a bipartisan congressional panel that examined Trump's tax returns from 2015-20. The JCT report was issued Tuesday, after the House Ways and Means Committee voted to make Trump's 2015-20 tax returns public. Trump was the first president not to make his tax returns public since the 1970s. Neal is pressing for legislation that would require the IRS to publish and audit presidential tax returns.

The majority of states have declined to reimburse SNAP skimming victims. If Congress’ massive $1.7 trillion funding package passes, a provision tucked inside it would require states to replace SNAP benefits stolen in October or later. Dutch Ruppersberger, D-Md., who introduced a bill last month to help SNAP skimming victims get their benefits reinstated. Washington, D.C., also reimburses SNAP skimming victims. Current regulations prohibit federal funds from being used to replace stolen SNAP funds, according to the Agriculture Department.

☆ The Vatican is returning Parthenon sculptures to the Greek Orthodox Church as a 'donation' more than 200 years after they were stolen from the country. But other European museums with pieces of the an
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-21 | by ( Katherine Tangalakis-Lippert | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

The Vatican will return three Parthenon fragments to the Greek Orthodox Church as a "donation." The Vatican Museum has kept the fragments since 1803, when Greece says they were stolen. For years, Greece has sought to regain Parthenon marbles from The Vatican and British Museums. Elgin sold the relics to the Vatican Museum in 1803 and additional fragments to the British Museum in 1816. The British Museum did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment.

A female police officer in Chicago says a supervisor forced her to perform oral sex on him inside a car. A female officer in Philadelphia says a sergeant grabbed her hand and placed it on the crotch of his pants. And a female officer in New York says one of her superiors hacked into her Snapchat account and showed off her intimate photos to a male commander. “How can you be in charge of male and female officers with the record that you have?”Marchese didn’t respond to requests for comment. Of the 87 NYPD officers accused in court papers of abusing female officers, 27 have since moved up in rank, according to an NBC News review.

☆ 737 MAX crash victim families press U.S. on Boeing settlement
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-19 | by ( David Shepardson | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

[1/2] Family members hold photographs of Boeing 737 MAX crash victims lost in two deadly 737 MAX crashes that killed 346 people as they wait for Boeing CEO Dennis Muilenburg to testify before a Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee hearing on “aviation safety” and the grounded 737 MAX on Capitol Hill in Washington, U.S., October 29, 2019. REUTERS/Sarah Silbiger/File PhotoWASHINGTON, Nov 18 (Reuters) - Relatives of passengers killed in two Boeing 737 MAX crashes pressed U.S. Justice Department lawyers on Friday to unwind a 2021 deal that allowed the U.S. planemaker to escape criminal prosecution. U.S. District Judge Reed O'Connor in Texas ruled last month that people killed in two Boeing 737 MAX crashes are legally considered "crime victims" and said he would decide what remedy should be imposed. Both Boeing and the Justice Department oppose reopening the deferred prosecution agreement that included $500 million in victim compensation, a $243.6 million fine and $1.7 billion in compensation to airlines. The Justice Department said on Friday after the meeting it takes its obligations to victims seriously.

☆ Black and Hispanic adults less likely than Whites to receive ‘potentially lifesaving’ bystander CPR during cardiac arrest, study finds
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-27 | by ( Jacqueline Howard | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +7 min

The data also showed that 38.5% of Blacks and Hispanics received bystander CPR when the cardiac arrest happened at home, compared with 47.4% of Whites. He added that not receiving bystander CPR during a cardiac arrest can have “significant clinical outcomes” for the person whose heart stopped pumping. “Bystander CPR ensures some level of blood circulation, oxygenation of the brain and other vital organs,” Benjamin said. “Certainly time to intervention is critical, and bystander CPR and defibrillator access and use is a part of that,” she said, adding that disparities in how much CPR training is conducted in communities also plays a role in the likelihood of someone receiving bystander CPR. “We need to use what we learn about disparities to help improve the likelihood of bystander CPR for everyone.

☆ Walmart, Disney among top 12 employers that laid off thousands during the pandemic, House inquiry finds
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-25 | by ( Chelsey Cox | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +6 min

Black hourly workers at Walmart were also reportedly fired twice as often as white hourly workers in 2020, at 19.7% vs. 10.4%. Members of this group were also fired three times as frequently, 19.7%, as Black salaried employees at 6.3% and almost five times as frequently, 19.7%, as white salaried employees at 4%. In comparison, 10.2% of male hourly workers and 12.4% of female hourly workers with access to sick leave quit that year. Chevron's hourly workers did better than salaried workers more than half the time and while Exxon's hourly workers fared better than salaried workers 40% of the time, according to the report. For instance, Walmart generally did not allow hourly workers to use paid time off benefits until after 90 days of employment.

☆ Meta refuses to give up on campaign to disqualify FTC chair
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-20 | by ( Alison Frankel | Thomson Reuters | Alison Frankel Has Covered High-Stakes Commercial Litigation As A Columnist For Reuters Since A Dartmouth College Graduate | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +7 min

Her previous expressions of her policy views about alleged big tech monopolists, Boasberg said, did not require Khan’s recusal under the standard for federal prosecutors. (The petition and stay motion are not in the FTC docket but are exhibits in the preliminary injunction case.) We know this from an Oct. 6 letter from the FTC to Weil Gotshal in the administrative proceeding. Remember, Meta is not asking Davila to order Khan off either the preliminary injunction case or the administrative proceeding. We’ll know more about whether the stratagem accomplished anything when the preliminary injunction case goes to a hearing in December.

☆ Bill Gates says he and his ex-wife, Melinda French Gates, plan to run foundation together for 25 more years
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-24 | by ( Sarah Jackson | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Bill Gates and ex-wife Melinda French Gates hope to keep their foundation running for 25 more years, at which point he'll be 91 and French Gates will be 83. Email address By clicking ‘Sign up’, you agree to receive marketing emails from Insider as well as other partner offers and accept our Terms of Service and Privacy PolicyThe Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation has been around for 25 years, and Bill Gates says that's just its halfway mark. Gates and Melinda French Gates established the philanthropic organization in 2000. In 25 years, Gates will be 91 years old, and French Gates will be 83. Alongside Warren Buffett, Gates and French Gates in 2010 created the Giving Pledge, which asks billionaires to publicly commit to give most of their wealth away to philanthropic efforts either during their lifetimes or in their wills.

☆ Suns owner Sarver announces plans to sell team
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-21 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Feb 16, 2022; Phoenix, Arizona, USA; Phoenix Suns owner Robert Sarver takes images during a game against the Houston Rockets at Footprint Center. An independent investigation found that Sarver, who bought the Suns and the WNBA's Phoenix Mercury in 2004, engaged in inequitable conduct toward female employees, including "sex-related comments" and inappropriate remarks on female employees' appearances. "For those reasons, I am beginning the process of seeking buyers for the Suns and Mercury." Sarver purchased the Suns in 2004 for $401 million. The team was valued at $1.8 billion at the beginning of last season, according to Forbes.

☆ Quiet quitting isn't a new phenomenon, especially for those from marginalized backgrounds. 3 women share why they had to quiet-quit to reclaim their identities.
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-18 | by ( Marguerite Ward | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +10 min

Many of us felt a kinship as we discussed quiet quitting. But quiet quitting isn't a new phenomenon, particularly for workers from marginalized backgrounds. In fact, diversity advocates say the idea of quiet quitting is gaining momentum in part because white workers are making noise about it. Navigating the boundaries of quiet quitting and what could be deemed as not doing their jobs can be trickier for them. Sacha ThompsonSacha Thompson: '5 o'clock came and I shut down'For Sacha Thompson, quiet quitting was a means of dealing with toxic cultures and colleagues who disrespected her.

☆ What to know about the booming psychedelics industry, where companies are racing to turn magic mushrooms and MDMA into approved medicines
▼ + stars: | 2022-06-30 | by ( Yeji Jesse Lee | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +17 min

In the early days of the industry, nonprofits and scrappy startups made up the psychedelics space. Research on compounds like psilocybin, the active compound found in magic mushrooms, and MDMA is resurfacing after years of neglect amid the war on drugs. Soon, VC firms focused on psychedelics companies began to emerge. Some psychedelics VCs, however, are still wary about entering the newest psychedelics space: Oregon's soon-to-be-legal magic mushroom market. Insider published a list of the psychedelics startups that raised the most cash in 2020.

☆ The Winter Olympics don’t really represent the world: Costs, climate and quotas keep the majority off the podium
▼ + stars: | 2022-02-21 | by ( Amy Woodyatt Cnn Graphics Carlotta Dotto Marco Chacon | Amy Woodyatt | Marco Chacon | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +25 min

That’s five times more than the number of teams represented in the first Winter Games in Chamonix, France in 1924. “They want to keep the girls pretty, in a special way,” Bonaly told CNN Sport as she reflected on her career. India has never won a medal at the Winter Games and does not have a prominent winter sports federation, Keshavan told CNN Sport. Shiva Keshavan of India reacts following run 3 during the Luge Men's Singles on day two of the PyeongChang 2018 Winter Olympic Games. Hopefully, it just encourages more and more Black athletes to come out to winter sports and not just Black athletes, winter sports for everybody.

When the enslaved population was first freed, the Freedman's Bank was established to provide a savings and wealth-building tool. Black bank customers lost millions in deposits. When Freedman's Bank closedA short nine years after opening, the Freedman's Bank closed in 1874. The Freedman's Bank collapse destroyed Black people's trust in financial systemsMy grandmother had a bank account. In short, in the African American community, the Freedman's Bank collapse is to finance what the Tuskegee experiments are to healthcare.

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