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The logo of Russia’s state gas company Gazprom was emblazoned on the shirts of players at the soccer club Toennies chaired. In Germany, Toennies’ story is far from unique. At the centre of Gazprom’s influence campaign was Schalke 04, the soccer club Toennies chaired at the time and which Gazprom began sponsoring in 2006. Russian gas imports have dropped dramatically and Germany is supplying tanks and other weapons systems to Ukraine. In 2001 Toennies assumed another of his older brother’s roles – chairman of soccer club Schalke 04.

Persons: Clemens Toennies, Vladimir Putin, Toennies, Willy Brandt, ”, Putin, Sberbank, Angela Merkel, “, ” Merkel, Bernd, Clemens, Putin’s, Alexei Gromov, Gromov, Gerhard Schroeder, Schroeder Organizations: Gazprom, Toennies, Schalke, Gazprom’s, Reuters, Miele, Volkswagen, Deutsche Telekom, ” Schalke, Chelsea, Kremlin, Former Locations: WIEDENBRUECK, Germany, Russia, Russian, Moscow, Ukraine, Berlin, Russians, Crimea, Gazprom, Rheda, German, Europe, Nord Stream, Dresden

☆ And the Winners Are … ‘Succession’ Fans Who Correctly Chose the New C.E.O.
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-30 | by ( Wilson Wong | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Ultimately, none succeeded, as the company was sold to Lukas Matsson, a Swedish tech billionaire. But the perennial question of who would take the throne introduced a friendly, low-stakes competition to the viewing experience. Katie Way, a journalist in Brooklyn, did not watch the first three seasons of “Succession,” but she still put her name (and $20) into a bracket pool with nine other people. “I guess I’m a little contrarian.”By the end of the episode, Ms. Way and the other contestant had each claimed their $100. When asked what she would spend her winnings on, she said, “I probably spent more money buying wine bottles for the watch parties, so I’ll probably spend it on more food for future watch parties.”

Persons: venal Roy, Kendall, Roman, Shiv, Connor, Logan, Lukas Matsson, ”, Nelson Rose, Katie Way, “, I’ll Locations: Swedish, Brooklyn

☆ Factbox: Key facts on Kosovo, independent for 15 years from Serbia
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-30 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

Here are key facts about the small western Balkan republic:POPULATION: Around 1.8 million, according to the most recent census in 2011, which local Serbs boycotted. HISTORY & PEOPLE: Kosovo became part of the Kingdom of Serbia in the early 13th century, with a mixed population of ethnic Albanians, Serbs and Vlachs. Mutual expulsions and migrations to and from neighbouring Albania in the early 20th century changed Kosovo's ethnic makeup. He accused Kosovo Albanians of persecuting local Serbs and restricted their rights in education and local government. It backs nationalist minority Serbs in north Kosovo boycotting the state, creating a de facto partition.

☆ Beyond the Sistine Chapel, Vatican Museums says 'we are much more'
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-30 | by ( Philip Pullella | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

[1/4] Barbara Jatta, director of the Vatican Museums, speaks to a reporter during the opening of a new exhibit of ceramic jars and other utensils used in a 17th century pharmacy that was once at the Benedictine monastery, at the Vatican, May 25, 2023. Jatta wants visitors to slow down and enjoy such... Read moreVATICAN CITY, May 30 (Reuters) - Barbara Jatta, the first woman to head the Vatican Museums, wants visitors to avoid being suffocated by the crowds and take in the lesser-known - but spectacular - attractions she helps to oversee. The Vatican Museums, a UNESCO World Heritage Site that closed or limited openings during the COVID-19 pandemic, have almost returned to their pre-pandemic level of about six million visitors a year. Many, particularly day trippers on fast-paced package tours of Rome, head straight for the Sistine Chapel, bypassing the museums' other wonders. She added that the museums, which close at 6 p.m. on most days, may extend opening hours.

Persons: Barbara Jatta, Jatta, Read, Cecilia, Luca Pesante, Raphael, Pope Francis, Philip Pullella, Gerry Doyle, Barbara Lewis Organizations: Vatican, CITY, UNESCO, Heritage, Sistine, Reuters, Thomson Locations: Vatican, Rome, Rome's Trastevere

☆ A Grand Roman Apartment Updated for the 21st Century
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-30 | by ( Tim Mckeough | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Maurizio Cascella loved his rental apartment in Rome so much that he stayed there for nearly 20 years. When he and his partner, Lorena Munoz, had their first daughter, Olivia, now 3, he approached his landlord about buying the place. After a long search, he found “a compromise that satisfied me,” he said — a 19th-century apartment near the Roma Termini train station that had plenty of character, with ornate plaster molding and parquet floors. Image Maurizio Cascella, an electronic music D.J., renovated an apartment in Rome with help from Emanuela Petrucci, an architect. Credit... Gianni Franchellucci“The thing that struck me about the new place was the strong resemblance to the old house,” he noted.

Persons: Maurizio Cascella, Lorena Munoz, Olivia, “, Mr, Cascella, ”, —, Emanuela Petrucci, Gianni Franchellucci Locations: Rome, Roma

☆ How ‘Succession’ Treated Every Character
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-29 | by ( Jacob Gallagher | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Roman Roy“Why isn’t it me?” Has to be dragged out next to GoJo’s Lukas Matsson for a painful photo-op with blood still wet on his forehead. But is now free from the heartache and hatred that abounds at his family’s former company. It might seem like Roman loses, but he wins.

☆ In ‘Succession,’ Tom and Greg Were Never Playing the Long Game
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-29 | by ( Alexis Soloski | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

I genuinely don’t know what he wants any more than I know what I want. Do I need to feel this bad at work?” I also don’t know if he’s going to cut my salary. Walking down the hall, every office: “You’re fired.”Why do you think Shiv sides with Tom over her brothers, Kendall and Roman? She just looks at Kendall and thinks, “I can’t.” I don’t think she made a rational decision. And then there’s this beautiful stage direction that Jesse wrote in the script of Tom and Shiv in the car.

☆ Standing (and Dancing) Strong at New York City Ballet
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-29 | by ( Gia Kourlas | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

If New York City Ballet’s spring season could be bottled into a fragrance, it would be fresh and green, with the earthy, sweet scent of a breeze after a bout of rain. The company, seemingly all of a sudden, looks so strong, and more important, so light. As a new generation of dancers at City Ballet finds its way, there’s not only more individualism, but more cohesion among individuals. “Concerto Barocco” (1941) and “La Source” (1968) are brilliant dances. City Ballet is bigger than they are, but they know that they are its current caretakers.

☆ Summer is back, and so is this nostalgic beauty staple
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-28 | by ( Aj Willingham | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +6 min

Summer is the season of Sun-In, a hair lightening spray that’s been birthing beach blondes (and beach oranges) for decades. As with all effectively marketed beauty products, Sun-In didn’t just promise lighter hair: It promised a perfect summer. “Just spray Sun-In under the sun, and see what happens,” a 1971 ad from Glamour Magazine reads. Other hair lightening sprays have come and gone, like Clairol’s Lemon Go Lightly, but Sun-In occupies a singular place in people’s hair memories. In this new lineup of summer potions, Sun-In is still the nostalgic classic.

☆ Where to go this summer: A dozen destination ideas
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-28 | by ( Marnie Hunter | Jane Levere | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +8 min

Peru"Peruvians are welcoming travelers back with open arms," says travel one travel expert. And perhaps most importantly, the city offers excellent value, in part because it will be the winter/low season there during the Northern Hemisphere’s summer. It’s home to three UNESCO World Heritage Sites, including megalithic temples that date to the 4th millennium BC. Although summer is the rainy season, Gellis says showers are often brief and intermittent. AlbaniaAlbania is a Mediterranean gem that’s likely to be less crowded this summer than Greece and Croatia, says Joao Donadel, another EMBARK Beyond travel advisor.

☆ ‘Succession’ Series Finale Recap: The Dotted Line
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-28 | by ( Noel Murray | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

At the end of the series premiere, Logan suffered a debilitating stroke, setting in motion the plot that would go on to drive four “Succession” seasons. Heading into the series finale, most of the big questions raised by that first episode remained unsettled. We will have a full review of the final “Succession” episode soon. In the meantime, here is a quick summary of how some of those questions were answered by the finale. Instead, Matsson becomes convinced that the sycophantic Tom will do whatever dirty deed the new bosses need done after the takeover.

☆ None of the Roy children deserve to succeed Logan but I'm hoping it's Shiv
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-28 | by ( Rebecca Knight | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

There are really no good choices for who should succeed Logan Roy in "Succession." She also fakes authenticity — a power move, one expert told Insider. The show revolves around the deeply dysfunctional Roy family and the jockeying to succeed Logan Roy, the recently deceased patriarch played by Brian Cox, as head of the family media empire, Waystar Royco, loosely based on Fox News and News Corp. "Shiv seems to be a person who gets relationships," Gino told Insider. The media baron and inspiration for Logan Roy, Rupert Murdoch, the head of News Corp, also has stirred speculation over which of his children might succeed him at the top of the home of Fox News.

☆ 4 things 'Succession' gets wrong about business
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-28 | by ( Sindhu Sundar | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

HBO's hit show "Succession" airs its series finale Sunday night, with Waystar Royco's future in the balance. It captures the spirit of boardroom drama, but takes some liberties with corporate law, experts said. On HBO's hit show "Succession," the beats of a proxy fight are sometimes just as intense as a scheming betrayal from a once loyal lackey. Over four seasons, the show has laid out a thesis about the all-encompassing gravitational force of Logan Roy, the media mogul behind the fictional news and entertainment conglomerate Waystar Royco. "But the failure of the board to engage in any succession planning at all, is a first thing to note," she said.

☆ Opinion: The ultimate ‘Succession’ lesson
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-28 | by ( Richard Galant | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +13 min

We’re looking back at the strongest, smartest opinion takes of the week from CNN and other outlets. Walt Handlesman/Tribune Content AgencyIn a much more ominous vein, the theme of survival dominates the HBO show “Succession,” which is coming to an end Sunday. She’s so caught up in beating her brothers at the succession game that she can’t see this baby as anything but an obstacle.”“Ultimately, this storyline is a perfect encapsulation of the larger tragedy that is ‘Succession,’” Bodenheimer added. The contest for the 2024 GOP presidential nomination heated up last week with the official entry of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, former President Donald Trump’s strongest challenger in the polls.

☆ 2,500-year-old toilets reveal that the people of ancient Jerusalem were afflicted by painful stomach cramps and diarrhea
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-27 | by ( Isobel Van Hagen | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Archeologists excavated the cesspits below two toilets from Iron Age Jerusalem. At the time, Jerusalem was the capital of Judah — a vassal state under the control of the Assyrian Empire. "Toilets with cesspits from this time are relatively rare and were usually made only for the elite," Mitchell said. The study suggests the "long-term presence" of the disease across the Near East. Indeed, medical texts from the first and second millennium BC describe diarrhea afflicting the Near and Middle East populations.

☆ 3 reasons why 'Succession' tech bro Lukas Matsson is Elon Musk crossed with Daniel Ek
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-27 | by ( Beatrice Nolan | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

Viewers say the character seems to resemble aspects of both Elon Musk and Spotify CEO Daniel Ek. Alexander Skarsgard plays Matsson, the billionaire CEO of tech streaming media giant GoJo – a socially awkward, vaguely sinister tech bro. But viewers have been pointing out the character's similarities to two bosses in particular — Elon Musk, and Spotify CEO Daniel Ek. "I definitely didn't try to play an Elon Musk character," Skarsgard said. In one recent episode of "Succession," Matsson tweets a "very nasty joke" after Kendall Roy's presentation about the Living+ initiative because he's less than pleased about the move.

☆ In ‘Succession,’ the Very Rich Are Very, Very Different
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-26 | by ( James Poniewozik | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

Meanwhile, the smaller TV audiences of the cable and streaming age have allowed “Succession” to thrive as a more specific and more niche entertainment. “Succession” can afford to be a rarefied, decadent pleasure, like an ortolan, the deep-fried songbird, eaten whole, that was featured in a memorable Season 1 meal. “Dallas,” like its followers from “Dynasty” through “Empire,” was in the populist soap-opera tradition of letting the audience delight in the woes of rich people. “Succession” has its crowd-pleasing and universal elements too. At root, the series’s family themes are talk-show simple: Hurt people hurt people.

☆ Ancient toilets unearthed in Jerusalem reveal a debilitating and sometimes fatal disease
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-25 | by ( Katie Hunt | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +4 min

CNN —The Iron Age users of two ancient toilets in Jerusalem were not a healthy bunch, according to an analysis of poop samples from the 2,500-year-old latrines. Ancient poop contains a trove of fascinating informationA stone toilet seat was excavated in 2019 south of Jerusalem in the neighborhood of Armon ha-Natziv. Archaeologists excavating the latrines took samples from sediment in the cesspit beneath each toilet seat. They found one seat south of Jerusalem in the neighborhood of Armon ha-Natziv at a mansion excavated in 2019. Cities such as Jerusalem likely would have been hot spots for disease outbreaks, and illnesses would have spread easily by traders and during military expeditions, according to the study.

CNN —A Russian politician died of – as of yet – unknown causes after falling ill on a plane on Saturday, the latest in a string of mysterious deaths among Russian elites. Russia’s Deputy Minister of Science and Higher Education, Pyotr Kucherenko, 46, died while returning from a trip to Cuba on Saturday, according to the ministry. “Kucherenko was feeling ill while on a plane with a Russian delegation that was returning from a business trip to Cuba. Russia's Deputy Minister of Science and Higher Education Pyotr Kucherenko died while returning from Cuba. Mysterious deaths pile upKucherenko’s demise is not the first unexplained Russian death to spark interest.

☆ Belarus Pardons Opposition Activist Who Was Hauled Off a Ryanair Flight, State Media Says
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-22 | by ( Matthew Mpoke Bigg | Ivan Nechepurenko | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Belarus has pardoned an opposition activist who was arrested in 2021 after the Belarusian government forced the landing of a commercial flight he had been on that was transiting its airspace, state media reported on Monday. The activist, Roman Protasevich, 28, was the editor of Nexta, a channel on the Telegram messaging app that was instrumental in organizing mass protests against President Aleksandr G. Lukashenko after his disputed election victory in 2020. The details of Mr. Protasevich’s arrest drew international attention. A Belarusian court in May sentenced Mr. Protasevich to eight years in prison for crimes including acts of terrorism and insulting the president. But on Monday, Belta, the Belarusian state news agency, reported that Mr. Protasevich had told journalists he had been pardoned, calling it “great news.”Such leniency for someone who had been an active member of the opposition is unusual in Belarus, where, during nearly three decades in power, Mr. Lukashenko has a longstanding pattern of silencing dissent and violently suppressing opponents.

☆ Strongmen are riskier the more they stay in power
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-22 | by ( Hugo Dixon | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +7 min

The longer authoritarian leaders stay in power, the greater the risk they will make decisions that damage their economies. For example, the Turkish stock market rose nine-fold in dollar terms during Erdogan’s first decade in charge. Similarly, the Russian stock market rose five-fold in dollar terms during Putin's first 14 years in the Kremlin. Xi’s zero-Covid policy meant the Chinese economy had a bad year in 2022 when the rest of the world was rebounding. In the last nine years, the stock market has lost nearly 20% of its value in dollar terms.

☆ The mourning dress codes of ‘Succession’
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-22 | by ( Jacquelyn Palumbo | Jacqui Palumbo | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +7 min

“Succession” has treated us to both a wedding and a funeral as fate of the Roy siblings spin out towards its finale (which is produced by Warner Bros. Discovery, parent company of CNN), and its penultimate episode gave us mourning dress codes in a grand Catholic setting. “I can do anything — my dad just died,” Shiv responds when asked for a favor at the mass. By episode nine, with the company in a shaky post-Logan transition, the optics of how the Roy siblings perform at the funeral hold a lot of weight. Emotions must be stamped down, they maintain a fragile façade, and getting too close to the truth of Logan Roy is met with a wall of cognitive dissonance.

The European Business Aviation Convention & Exhibition (EBACE), hosted in Geneva, kicks off on Tuesday and brings together everyone from brokers, planemakers to engine producers. CO2 emissions from private jets in Europe grew by 31% between 2005 and 2019, according to environmental group Transport and Environment. Protesters are expected to gather on Tuesday outside the conference location in Geneva to highlight the rising number of private jet flights amidst a worsening global climate crisis. "The big innovations are usually deployed first in our industry," Kok said. Business jet flights have dropped in Europe by around 6% compared with the same time in 2022, WINGX data showed.

☆ Belarusian blogger arrested on Ryanair flight pardoned - state media
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-22 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

MOSCOW, May 22 (Reuters) - Roman Protasevich, the Belarusian opposition blogger arrested in 2021 after his Ryanair overflight was forced to land in Minsk, was pardoned on Monday, the Belarusian state news agency BelTA reported. "I have literally just signed all the relevant documents stating that I have been pardoned," BelTA quoted Protasevich as telling reporters. Protasevich had been sentenced to eight years in prison this month for offences including inciting terrorism, organising mass disturbances and slandering Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko. A clampdown around the time of the election resulted in all significant opposition figures being jailed or driven into exile. After his arrest, Protasevich was shown on state television tearfully confessing to involvement in anti-government protests and plotting to topple Lukashenko.

☆ ‘Succession’ Style, Episode 9: The Funeral
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-21 | by ( The Styles Desk | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

This article contains spoilers for Episode 9 of the final season of “Succession.”We knew it was coming: the funeral service for Logan Roy. After several episodes of planning and maneuvering, the Roy children finally have the chance to ceremonially mourn their father. The funeral guests wore black, and the Roy children stuck to the dress code. Because his immediate observation upon seeing Marcia at Logan’s funeral — “Marcia’s looking chic” — is something one of us would definitely say, if we didn’t already say it during her one (one!) Although we wouldn’t be so, uh, crude about it.

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