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Jailed for graft in 2018 - the year right-wing former President Jair Bolsonaro was elected - Lula's convictions were overturned in 2019, allowing him to oust Bolsonaro in October's election. The more ideological Lula who emerged from jail in 2019 should not be a cause for concern, friends and allies said. Lula's spokesman Jose Chrispiniano said the president supported fiscal responsibility and believes that strengthening the economy is the best way to combat poverty. "Good morning, President Lula," his devotees would chant as the day began, followed by "Good night, President Lula," as he went to bed. From his 15-square-meter cell on the third floor of the Federal Police headquarters in Curitiba, Lula set about reorganizing the PT and managing his legal defense.

☆ Nonstop partying, lavish spending, and sexual-harassment accusations: Inside the self-destruction of Pollen, the music startup once worth $800 million
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-20 | by ( Melkorka Licea | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +41 min

About 400 Pollen employees were camped out in Mendocino County, California, for five straight days of partying. Two former Pollen employees told Insider that they recalled the assistant telling them about Callum's inappropriate comments at the time. (The Pollen representative said Callum and Bedi didn't date at Pollen or at any other company connected to Pollen. Out of 360 events Pollen announced over the past 12 months, 39 were canceled, the Pollen representative said. (The Pollen representative said that "out of hundreds of thousands of customers, fewer than 100 people were moderated" online.)

☆ 6 key Disney executives working with Bob Iger to remake former CEO Bob Chapek's business structure
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-18 | by ( Lucia Moses | Alison Brower | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +8 min

Disney CEO Bob Iger has returned to a company facing significant pressures on its linear and streaming businesses. He'll also need to unwind the business structure implemented in 2020 by his short-lived predecessor, Bob Chapek — which separated budgeting and distribution decisions from creative content development. Alan Bergman, chairman, Disney Studios ContentAlan Bergman. Disney Interactive/Reuters/Jonathan AlcornPitaro is close to Iger, has a long tenure at Disney, and has a foot in both creative and business sides. Dana Walden, chairman, Disney General Entertainment ContentDana Walden.

Since the early days of the invasion, Mr. Putin has conceded, privately, that the war has not gone as planned. “I think he is sincerely willing” to compromise with Russia, Mr. Putin said of Mr. Zelensky in 2019. To join in Mr. Putin’s war, he has recruited prisoners, trashed the Russian military and competed with it for weapons. To join in Mr. Putin’s war, he has recruited prisoners, trashed the Russian military and competed with it for weapons. “I think this war is Putin’s grave.” Yevgeny Nuzhin, 55, a Russian prisoner of war held by Ukraine, in October.

☆ Ron DeSantis outflanks Trump on the right with his call for Covid vaccine probe
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-13 | by ( Marc Caputo | Marc Caputo Is A Senior National Political Reporter For Nbc News. | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +6 min

Ron DeSantis was positioning himself to get to the right of the former president over the issue of Covid vaccines. DeSantis, who is mulling whether to challenge Trump in the 2024 Republican primary for president, deepened those suspicions Tuesday. That’s his record,” said Roger Stone, a longtime adviser to Trump and an outspoken critic of DeSantis. The poll also showed DeSantis ahead of President Joe Biden in a theoretical general election matchup by 47%-43%, but Biden topped Trump 47%-40%. “So the only option for DeSantis to pose a challenge to Trump is to attack him on the vaccine.

☆ China's stunning reversal on lockdowns showed that mass protests can influence policy change in the country — but experts say it still doesn't threaten Xi's regime
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-11 | by ( Matthew Loh | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

But experts on China say it's unlikely the protests will embolden future political movements. The changes come after protests against COVID measures erupted all across China — rare for a country where dissent is snuffed out quickly. Baogang He, the chair of international relations at Deakin University in Australia, agreed that the protests show how mass anger can influence government policy, but not regime change. "No one is strong enough to exploit or dare to use these protests to mount a challenge to Xi Jinping," Xi, the professor, told Insider. Chong said that although Xi holds extensive power in China, the protests and subsequent rollback both underscore how he can make major mistakes, too.

During his short campaign, Trump has dominated headlines by dining with the rapper Ye, who has gone on antisemitic tirades in recent weeks, and the white nationalist Nick Fuentes. And on Tuesday night, Herschel Walker’s loss in a Georgia Senate runoff added an exclamation point to the argument that Trump hurt the GOP by picking a bad crop of candidates in swing states. They just think he’s the future, but Trump is the present.”Still, Trump hasn’t offered much in the way of a new vision for the country. Then in early 2023, I expect the Trump campaign to start rolling out an effort to lock down the early primary states,” the adviser said. “If Trump can put together early primary support, if he can raise a bunch of money, he’ll be hard to beat.

Three people close to FTX and Bankman-Fried told CNBC that the former CEO lobbied aggressively for a partnership with 11-time Grammy Award winner Taylor Swift. Bankman-Fried's commitment to getting the Swift deal done despite the deteriorating business environment fit a pattern of ignoring his lieutenants and going it alone, a half-dozen former company insiders and business partners said. The Financial Times reported earlier that FTX held talks with Swift about a potential sponsorship. Part of the Swift deal would have included the production by the singer of a collection of non-fungible tokens (NFTs), or digital items that can rise and fall in value. Beyond that, there was a lack of clarity over what Swift would be doing for the company, sources said.

☆ Elon Musk keeps bringing in new people to Twitter, like 'enthusiastic' interns, cousins, and even Bari Weiss
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-07 | by ( Kali Hays | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

CEO Elon Musk has made some dramatic changes to Twitter since taking over five weeks ago. Roughly 150 people are still working at Twitter at Musk's behest from his other companies and ventures, according to two people familiar with the company. Musk's hires at TwitterTwo of Musk's cousins, James and Andrew Musk, appear to now be acting as full-time Twitter employees, both of the people familiar said. Weiss was in the San Francisco office that evening, speaking and "laughing with" Musk, two employees said. Now, Weiss has been given access to Twitter's employee systems, added to its Slack, and given a company laptop, two people familiar with her presence said.

☆ Elon Musk keeps bringing in new people to Twitter, like enthusiastic interns, cousins, and even Bari Weiss
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-07 | by ( Kali Hays | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

CEO Elon Musk has made some dramatic changes to Twitter since taking over five weeks ago. Roughly 150 people are still working at Twitter at Musk's behest from his other companies and ventures, according to two people familiar with the company. Musk's hires at TwitterTwo of Musk's cousins, James and Andrew Musk, appear to now be acting as full-time Twitter employees, both of the people familiar said. Both men work daily at Twitter offices, with Andrew Musk working on software-engineering projects and James Musk seen more as "a fixer type," one of the people said, helping Musk out with various needs and tasks. Weiss was in the San Francisco office that evening, speaking and "laughing with" Musk, two employees said.

☆ Elon Musk's business confidants are sleeping in new bedrooms at Twitter HQ that have been converted from unused offices. Musk is having one made for him.
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-06 | by ( Kali Hays | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Twitter HQ in San Francisco now has dozens of bedrooms that have been converted from unused offices. The change is an effort by Elon Musk to save costs when people come to work from out of town. Bedrooms complete with private showers and TV have arrived at Twitter HQ as Elon Musk continues to look for ways to reduce expenses. Dozens of unused offices in the San Francisco building have been turned into bedrooms over the last several days, two people familiar with the changes said. The billionaire has mentioned in emails and in all-hands meetings with Twitter employees that the company is in a "challenging" financial position.

As the U.S. Senate runoff between Sen. Raphael Warnock and football legend Herschel Walker reaches its final hours, an ex-girlfriend of Walker is sharing details of what she says is his abusive behavior toward her. Cheryl Parsa, 61, told NBC News on Sunday that she was in a five-year relationship with Walker in the 2000s. She said she confronted Walker, also 61, in 2005, after she found him with another woman at a Dallas residence. "He had his hand on my throat, my chest, and then he leaned back to throw a punch," Parsa said. "Who would have ever thought he would be running for Senate ... and I would feel this compelled to come forward?"

☆ 6 Disney executives Bob Iger will trust to drive his new strategy as he radically remakes the business structure implemented by former CEO Bob Chapek
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-30 | by ( Lucia Moses | Alison Brower | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +8 min

The returning CEO will have to unwind the business structure implemented by Bob Chapek while finding a successor. Disney CEO Bob Iger returns to a company facing significant pressures on its linear and streaming businesses. He'll also need to unwind the business structure implemented in 2020 by his short-lived predecessor, Bob Chapek — which separated budgeting and distribution decisions from creative content development. Alan Bergman, chairman, Disney Studios ContentAlan Bergman. Dana Walden, chairman, Disney General Entertainment ContentDana Walden.

☆ Kanye West owes millions all over town for unpaid contract work and music samples, lawsuits allege
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-30 | by ( Jacob Shamsian | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +9 min

He tried that earlier with his music and has been hit with copyright lawsuits related to sampling. And what followed was a thicket of lawsuits from people who alleged West failed to properly credit their songs when using samples for the album. Worse still, according to the lawsuit, West and his pals used "Life of the Party" to market the Stem Player. The company squandered months on the work, even relocating its headquarters to better closely work with West. In the end, the lawsuit alleged, West used a rip-off of MyChannel's e-commerce technology to sell his clothing at a concert.

☆ The inside story of Trump’s explosive dinner with Ye and Nick Fuentes
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-29 | by ( Marc Caputo | Marc Caputo Is A Senior National Political Reporter For Nbc News. | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +15 min

“We saw everybody in the dining room get up and start applauding, and then the president entered,” Fuentes told NBC News. “He greeted us, and he invited Ye into dinner and Ye said that he wanted to bring us with him to the table. “Trump is really impressed with Nick Fuentes,” Ye said in the video. Giorno said she had been caught in the blast radius of the dinner with Ye and Fuentes but was an unwitting participant. About halfway to Mar-a-Lago, Giorno said in an interview, she realized that Ye, Fuentes and the other man weren’t properly attired.

WASHINGTON — Former Trump adviser Kellyanne Conway appeared Monday before investigators of the House select committee probing the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the Capitol. Conway spoke to the committee on the record, two sources familiar with her appearance said. Conway was seen entering a conference room in the O’Neill House Office Building with attorney Emmet Flood, who was a lawyer in former President Donald Trump's White House. When she left the meeting room for a break, Conway told reporters “I’m here voluntarily.” Asked when she last spoke with Trump by a reporter, Conway said he called her last week. Conway worked as a senior counselor to Trump from the beginning of his term through Aug. 2020.

☆ GOP starts boosting Walker in runoff amid calls to keep Trump away from Georgia
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-10 | by ( Marc Caputo | Marc Caputo Is A Senior National Political Reporter For Nbc News. | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +7 min

Warnock won his race against Republican Sen. Kelly Loeffler, and Sen. Jon Ossoff defeated GOP incumbent David Perdue, swinging control of the narrowly divided chamber. I know that Trump wants to be helpful to make Herschel win. Should Laxalt prevail, the Georgia Senate race would once again determine control of the Senate. “President Trump is 220-18 in races that have been called, and with the support of President Trump, Herschel Walker, after forcing a run-off, is well-positioned to win,” Budowich said in a written statement. “We just can’t take our eye off the ball and make sure we prepare to win Georgia,” he said.

☆ Crypto exchange Binance, Musk's co-investor, to help Twitter with blockchain
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-28 | by ( Krystal Hu | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

REUTERS/Darrin Zammit LupiOct 28 (Reuters) - Binance, the world's largest crypto exchange that has invested $500 million into Elon Musk's buyout of Twitter Inc, is creating a team to work on how blockchain and crypto could be helpful to Twitter, the company's spokesperson said on Friday. As one of Elon Musk's equity co-investors to fund his $44 billion deal, Binance said it will brainstorm plans and strategies that could help Elon Musk run the platform. In November 2021, Twitter launched an internal crypto team to build features that involve such technologies. In text messages with confidants that were released as part of the litigation with Twitter, Musk discussed the possibility of placing Twitter on the blockchain, though he later appeared to decide such a move would not work. Binance's Chief Executive Changpeng Zhao, known as CZ, is an active Twitter user with over 7 million followers on the platform.

☆ S.Korea opposition boycotts Yoon budget speech in battle of wills
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-25 | by ( Hyonhee Shin | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol leaves after speaking on the government budget at the National Assembly in Seoul, South Korea, 25 October 2022. JEON HEON-KYUN/Pool via REUTERSSEOUL, Oct 25 (Reuters) - South Korea's opposition lawmakers boycotted President Yoon Suk-yeol's first budget speech to parliament on Tuesday to protest against a criminal probe surrounding the opposition leader, in an escalating battle of wills that could complicate deliberations. They demanded an apology, while threatening to boycott the budget speech. Yoon refused, saying on Monday that attaching any conditions to attendance at his speech would be "unprecedented in our constitutional history". Yoon's Tuesday speech called for swift passage of the budget with bipartisan support, to ease households' economic hardship and improve people's livelihoods.

BEIJING, Oct 23 (Reuters) - Li Qiang, who oversaw Shanghai's grinding two-month COVID-19 lockdown this year as party boss of China's commercial hub, is on track to become China's next premier after President Xi Jinping unveiled a new governing body packed with loyalists. Current Premier Li Keqiang, a more reform-minded voice, will step down in March after the maximum two terms. "We have not seen Li Qiang introduce any market-oriented reforms," said Lam. In 2015, Li accompanied Xi on a visit to the United States to meet then-President Barack Obama. In Seattle with Xi, Li gave a speech calling for more cooperation between Zhejiang and U.S. firms.

As the top official in China's commercial hub and its most populous city, Li's position as Shanghai party chief has traditionally been a stepping stone towards a top-two role in China's power structure - including for Xi Jinping himself. "It's near impossible for Li, who owes his political career largely to Xi, to even consider doing anything to undermine Xi. KEY CONFIDANTA native of Zhejiang province, Li, 63, was Xi's chief of staff - a role for the most trusted confidants - from 2004 to 2007 when Xi was party chief of Zhejiang. In Seattle with Xi, Li gave a speech calling for more cooperation between Zhejiang and U.S. firms. Making his rounds, he reiterated the COVID party line: "We must resolutely implement the spirit of the important instructions by Party Secretary Xi Jinping and steadfastly persist in the dynamic-zero approach".

☆ Unicorn salaries revealed: How much 17 of the hottest startups like Revolut, Celonis, and Sorare pay, with base salaries as high as $472,000.
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-11 | by ( Sawdah Bhaimiya | Riddhi Kanetkar | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

But analysis of foreign labor hires to the US indicates how much fast-growing firms pay talent. We found European firms willing to fork out generous 6-figure base salaries for roles such as head of crypto at Revolut. The US is taking more steps towards pay transparency. Any company that hires foreign talent on specialist visas to the US must disclose compensation data. The salaries are also likely higher than what European firms might pay domestic talent.

☆ Dozens of Trump’s phony electors, many under investigation, still hold powerful GOP jobs in key states
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-21 | by ( Natasha Korecki | Kaitlyn Francis | Natasha Korecki Is A Senior National Political Reporter For Nbc News. | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +13 min

Law enforcement activity has not pushed these false electors from their political perches. Al Drago / Bloomberg via Getty ImagesAll told, 23 of those false electors hold positions of power within their Republican parties. Then there are additional actors that didn’t serve in the slate of false electors themselves but were instrumental in the scheme. Others hold positions of power within the state GOP, including Shafer, who is chair; Joseph Brannan, state GOP treasurer; Vikki Consiglio, the state party’s assistant treasurer; and Ken Carroll, the assistant secretary. On June 21, federal agents scattered across key states to deliver subpoenas to those who acted as Trump electors.

☆ Michael Saylor's MicroStrategy buys the dip with fresh $6 million bitcoin purchase, adding to its crypto stockpile
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-20 | by ( Phil Rosen | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

MicroStrategy said it bought roughly $6 million in bitcoin between August 2 and September 19. Michael Saylor's firm bought the 301 bitcoin tokens for an average price of about $19,851. That's good for about 301 bitcoin, bought at about an average price of $19,851 per token using excess company cash. Leading up to September 22, MicroStrategy held about 130,000 bitcoin, bought at an average price of $30,639. Meanwhile, the enterprise software maker had taken a quarterly impairment charge of more than $900 million, connected to the dip in bitcoin's price.

☆ Unicorn salaries revealed: How much 13 of the hottest startups like Revolut, Celonis, and Sorare pay, with base salaries as high as $472,000.
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-19 | by ( Sawdah Bhaimiya | Riddhi Kanetkar | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

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