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☆ Ron DeSantis lines up business leaders to raise money for 2024 presidential run
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-23 | by ( Brian Schwartz | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

They'll receive briefings from campaign staff and call around to raise money for the campaign, NBC News reported. Ron DeSantis has assembled a team of wealthy business leaders to help raise money for his presidential campaign, according to a partial list of fundraisers provided by a senior political official with the Florida Republican. Lambert served on Trump's Inaugural Committee and was a national finance chair for Trump's successful 2016 campaign for president, according to his website. Records show that Lambert has also donated to the Friends of Ron DeSantis PAC and Trump's campaign. Jay Zeidman, a managing partner at health care investment firm Altitude Ventures, is also listed as a DeSantis campaign fundraiser.

Persons: They'll, DeSantis, Donald Trump's, David Horowitz, Horowitz, Elon Musk, Ron DeSantis, Trump's, Hal Lambert, Lambert, Trump, Jay Zeidman, Zeidman, Jeb Bush's, Bush's, George P, Bush, Frank Mermoud, Orpheus, Mermoud Organizations: NBC News, GOP, Horowitz Group, CNBC, Florida Republican, White, Republican National Committee, MAGA, Ron DeSantis PAC, Ventures, Florida Gov, New York Times, Records Locations: Miami, California, Florida

☆ My grandfather hid the emotional toll of World War II from his family for decades
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-02 | by ( Chloe Melas | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +13 min

CNN —For decades after returning home from World War II, my grandfather did not talk about his wartime experiences. Frank Murphy, the grandfather of CNN's Chloe Melas, after he was captured and taken a prisoner of war by the Nazis in 1943. Everyone could see the physical toll of war on his body, but we didn’t know about his invisible wounds. After World War I, it was “shell shock”; post-World War II it was known as “combat fatigue,” and after Vietnam it was called “post-Vietnam syndrome.” In 1980, the American Psychiatric Association officially recognized it as post-traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD. “When your grandfather and my grandfather served in World War II, they didn’t talk about it,” Paul Rieckhoff, founder and CEO of Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America, told me.

☆ Inside the Wild World of Celebrity Keynote Speakers: Drugs, Alcohol
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-23 | by ( David Kushner | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +31 min

"I never saw myself as a speaker, let alone a motivational speaker," Leonard tells me while his assistant irons his jeans. 'When I ramble," Hunter told me, "hit me in the leg!" Every plane had been grounded, including the one stuck on the tarmac with an increasingly inebriated Hunter Thompson trapped inside. But by far the most all-consuming task was booking gigs for Hunter Thompson. Just before a debate with G. Gordon Liddy at Brown University, Hunter demanded that Betsy Berg, whom I now worked alongside at GTN, score him some crystal meth.

[1/2] Alec Baldwin attends the 2022 Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Ripple of Hope Award Gala in New York City, U.S., December 6, 2022. REUTERS/Andrew KellyTAOS, New Mexico, April 21 (Reuters) - New Mexico special prosecutors dropped charges against actor Alec Baldwin in the shooting death of "Rust" cinematographer Halyna Hutchins on Friday, marking what legal experts said was a logical conclusion to a flawed prosecution. The move followed new evidence about the gun Baldwin was holding when it fired the bullet that killed Hutchins during the movie's filming, a person close to state prosecutors said. "The case is dismissed without prejudice and the investigation is active and ongoing," prosecutors Kari Morrissey and Jason Lewis said in a filing. Special prosecutors said on Thursday they might refile charges against Baldwin once new evidence was examined.

☆ Opinion: The untold story about Anne Frank’s hiding place
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-20 | by ( Opinion Roy Schwartz | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +10 min

British actors Bel Powley and Joe Cole play Miep and Jan, with Liev Schreiber as Otto Frank. Only Otto Frank survived. Anne Frank's (1929-1945) world famous diary charts two years of her life from 1942 to 1944, when her family were hiding in Amsterdam from German Nazis. Anne Frank has particularly been in the zeitgeist in recent years, with the 2021 French animated film “Where Is Anne Frank,” a magical retelling of her story loosely based on the 2018 graphic novel; the 2022 Dutch Netflix movie “My Best Friend Anne Frank,” based on the book “Memories of Anne Frank: Reflections of a Childhood Friend”; the controversial, eventually pulled 2022 book “The Betrayal of Anne Frank”; and “After the Annex: Anne Frank, Auschwitz and Beyond,” coming out in May. While 89% have heard of Anne Frank, 32% don’t know she died in a concentration camp.

NASA chief Bill Nelson tweeted: "Congrats to @SpaceX on Starship’s first integrated flight test! Looking forward to all that SpaceX learns, to the next flight test — and beyond." Musk, the founder, chief executive and chief engineer of SpaceX, said on Twitter that the next Starship test launch would be "in a few months." "Congrats @SpaceX team on an exciting test launch of Starship! Learned a lot for next test launch in a few months," he tweeted.

The pad and surrounding area were cordoned off well in advance of the test, SpaceX said. [1/7] SpaceX's next-generation Starship spacecraft, atop its powerful Super Heavy rocket, explodes after its launch from the company's Boca Chica launchpad on a brief uncrewed test flight near Brownsville, Texas, U.S., April 20, 2023. "Congrats @SpaceX team on an exciting test launch of Starship! Learned a lot for next test launch," he tweeted. Still even a textbook test flight would have by design ended with crash landings of both portions of the spacecraft at sea.

☆ Ugandan LGBTQ activist readies for the fight of his life
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-13 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

Since then, as Mugisha has emerged as the country's most prominent LGBTQ rights activist, the perils have multiplied. "The Ugandan population has been radicalised to fear and hate homosexuals," Mugisha, 38, told Reuters during an interview outside the capital, Kampala. "I guess I am going to be in trouble a lot because I am not going to stop," Mugisha said. [1/5] Ugandan LGBTQ activist Frank Mugisha poses for a photograph after a Reuters interview in Makindye, suburb, of Kampala, Uganda March 30, 2023. In 2007, Mugisha took over leadership of Sexual Minorities Uganda (SMUG), an advocacy group he had earlier joined as an activist.

The body camera footage opens with an image of the console of the police cruiser as it pulls up to the downtown building. The steering wheel veers wildly from side to side as rookie officer Nickolas Wilt drives the car and his partner, Cory Galloway, shouts directions off camera. After more gunfire, Galloway - who is himself injured - hits the gunman, 25-year-old Connor Sturgeon, from his position out on the steps. "Suspect down," Galloway shouts as he walks into the building. "What you saw on that video was absolutely amazing," Humphrey said after displaying the body camera video from both officers as well as a bystander.

A different report containing classified material will be shared with members of Congress, which comes in response to requests from congressional committees, the White House said. "President Biden's choices for how to execute a withdrawal from Afghanistan were severely constrained by conditions created by his predecessor," the report said. But the Trump administration "provided no plans for how to conduct the final withdrawal or to evacuate Americans and Afghan allies," the White House said. "No agency predicted a Taliban takeover in nine days," Kirby told reporters at the White House press briefing. Many critics of the withdrawal — including lawmakers from both parties — faulted the Biden administration for how it handled the pullout.

A youth, later identified as Martin, was asleep in the driver's seat of the parked vehicle when officers arrived, police said. One of the Park Police officers jumped into the back seat and yelled, "Police, don't move. Jade Mathis, an attorney for the Martin family, told the Washington Post that their initial reaction to the footage was tears that quickly turned to anger. The attorney said the family wants the officer who shot Martin to be identified, prosecuted and terminated. Reporting by Kanishka Singh in Washington; editing by Frank McGurty and Richard ChangOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

NEW YORK, April 4 (Reuters) - Hundreds of raucous Donald Trump supporters and anti-Trump protesters swarmed around a New York courthouse on Tuesday as the former president appeared for his historic arraignment on charges related to hush-money payments. Hours before Trump turned himself in on Tuesday afternoon, crowds of people whistled, shouted and waved placards in support of Trump, who has already announced his candidacy for president in 2024. Separated by barricades from the Trump crowd, counterprotesters appeared to outnumber the Trump supporters. [1/7] Supporters of former President Donald Trump demonstrate outside Manhattan Criminal Courthouse, on the day of Trump's planned court appearance after his indictment by a Manhattan grand jury, April 4, 2023. REUTERS/Eduardo Munoz 1 2 3 4 5"I would like to thank patriotic Trump supporters who are here today," Greene said through a megaphone, eliciting cheers and chants of "U-S-A!"

Separated by barricades from the Trump crowd, counter-protesters celebrated the former president's indictment with signs that said "Lock him up!," a reference to a chant often heard directed at Trump's opponent Hillary Clinton during his successful presidential campaign in 2016. "I would like to thank patriotic Trump supporters who are here today," Greene said through a megaphone in the thick crowd, eliciting a burst of cheers and chants of "U-S-A!" Trump, 76, is set to become the first current or former U.S. president to be charged with a crime. Though the specific charges have yet to be disclosed publicly, Trump has said he is innocent and intends to plead not guilty. Nearby, a handful of Trump supporters stood outnumbered and cheered as a red-hatted Trump impersonator drove past in a limousine, flanked by a pickup truck flying several pro-Trump and anti-Biden flags.

EY global leader Carmine Di Sibio says the accounting firm is continuing to work toward a transaction. The unexpected revolt that has upended the planned breakup of accounting firm Ernst & Young is being driven by two longtime U.S. auditors who believe their part of the firm could end up weakened by a deal. John King and Frank Mahoney, senior U.S. EY executives, have emerged as key opponents to the firm’s plan for a worldwide split of its auditing and consulting arms, according to people familiar with the matter.

☆ It's becoming increasingly clear that fintech has a fraud problem
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-29 | by ( Bianca Chan | Paige Hagy | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +8 min

"With fast growth comes fast fraud," Frank McKenna, a longtime fraud expert who works with banks, lenders, and fintechs, told Insider. Cash App only requires a zip code, debit-card number, and either an email or phone number to create an account. Cash App's alleged fraud problem could also be the result of its large, active customer base, which numbers some 44 million, according to the company's 2022 annual report. The fact that Cash App offers peer-to-peer payments exacerbates the fraud issue, according to McKenna, the chief fraud strategist at Point Predictive, an anti-fraud software company. Digital-only bank Chime has had its own issues with fraud, Jason Mikula, a fintech analyst and consultant, told Insider.

☆ Conviction of 'Serial' podcast subject Adnan Syed reinstated by Maryland court
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-28 | by ( Kanishka Singh | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

March 28 (Reuters) - A Maryland appeals court on Tuesday reinstated the murder conviction of Adnan Syed, who was found guilty of the 1999 killing of his former girlfriend in a case that drew attention after the podcast "Serial" raised doubts about his guilt. After an investigation identified problems with the case, a circuit court judge last year vacated Syed's conviction in the murder of Hae Min Lee and ordered his release. The podcast "Serial," produced by Chicago public radio station WBEZ, drew national attention to the case in 2014. Prosecutors filed a motion last September to vacate the conviction after conducting a yearlong investigation alongside a public defender representing Syed. Baltimore Circuit Court Judge Melissa Phinn subsequently ordered Syed to be released from prison, where he was serving a life sentence.

☆ SVB failure is a ‘textbook case of mismanagement,’ top Fed regulator tells Congress
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-27 | by ( Matt Egan | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +3 min

“SVB’s failure is a textbook case of mismanagement,” Barr says in testimony to be delivered before the Senate Banking Committee. “Our banking system is sound and resilient, with strong capital and liquidity,” Barr said. In his testimony, Barr discloses that near the end of 2021, bank supervisors found “deficiencies” in the bank’s liquidity risk management. That resulted in six supervisory findings linked to SVB’s liquidity stress testing, contingency funding and liquidity risk management. Barr said the Fed will weigh whether the applying those tougher rules to SVB would have helped the bank manage the risks that led to its failure.

☆ Uganda passes a law making it a crime to identify as LGBTQ
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-21 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

KAMPALA, March 21 (Reuters) - Uganda's parliament passed a law on Tuesday making it a crime to identify as LGBTQ, handing authorities broad powers to target gay Ugandans who already face legal discrimination and mob violence. The new law appears to be the first to outlaw merely identifying as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer (LGBTQ), according to rights group Human Rights Watch. In addition to same-sex intercourse, the law bans promoting and abetting homosexuality as well as conspiracy to engage in homosexuality. Violations under the law draw severe penalties, including death for so-called aggravated homosexuality and life in prison for gay sex. In recent weeks, Uganda authorities have cracked down on LGBTQ people after religious leaders and politicians alleged students were being recruited into homosexuality in schools.

☆ Finland is the No. 1 happiest country in the world for the sixth year in a row
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-21 | by ( Celia Fernandez | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

The World Happiness Report released its annual ranking of the happiest countries in the world and for the sixth year in a row Finland has landed in the top spot. "This gap is small in countries where almost everyone is very unhappy, and in the top countries where almost no one is unhappy," the report states. This year's ranking is similar to those in the past, with the same Nordic countries taking the top three spots. Finland is willing to share its wisdom: It's offering a free "masterclass of happiness" to help travelers find their "inner Finn." The United States didn't rank in the top 10 on the list, but it did land at No.

☆ U.S. drone may not be recovered from Black Sea after Russian interception -White House
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-15 | by ( Doina Chiacu | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

In the first such incident since the Ukraine war began, Russian Su-27 jets struck the propeller of the unmanned drone and made it inoperable, the Pentagon said. Russia's defense ministry blamed "sharp maneuvering" of the drone for the crash and said that its jets did not make contact. The State Department on Tuesday summoned Russia's ambassador to the United States, Anatoly Antonov, to express U.S. concerns over the encounter. Antonov after the meeting said that the drone "deliberately and provocatively was moving toward Russian territory with transponders turned off." American officials have stressed that the United States would continue to fly over international waters in the area.

WASHINGTON, March 15 (Reuters) - A U.S. surveillance drone brought down over the Black Sea after a Russian military intercept probably broke apart and would be difficult to recover given the depth of the water in the area, the top U.S. general said on Wednesday. Russia's defense ministry blamed "sharp maneuvering" by the drone for the crash and said its jet did not make contact. Milley said the United States had already taken measures to guard against a loss of sensitive intelligence if the drone were to be recovered by Russia. The State Department on Tuesday summoned Russia's ambassador to the United States, Anatoly Antonov, to express U.S. concerns over the encounter. Antonov after the meeting said the drone "deliberately and provocatively was moving toward Russian territory with transponders turned off."

☆ U.S. defense secretary aims to reassure Mideast allies, deliver tough message
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-06 | by ( Idrees Ali | Thomson Reuters | National Security Correspondent Focusing On The Pentagon In Washington D.C. Reports On U.S. Military Activity | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

The United States has about 30,000 troops in the region and is seen as pivotal in helping counter Iranian influence. Austin is poised to send a clear message on the need for Egypt's President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi to respect human rights, underscoring Washington's concern on the issue. "I fully expect him to bring up human rights, respect for fundamental freedoms," the U.S. defense official said. The United States has withheld small amounts of military aid to Cairo, citing a failure to meet human rights conditions. The United States has committed more than $32 billion in weapons to Ukraine including sophisticated air defense systems and tanks.

☆ Oil companies hit with backlash after bringing in $200 billion in profits last year
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-03 | by ( Robert Ferris | In | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

Oil companies pulled in record profits in 2022, as oil prices skyrocketed. Revenues for the biggest integrated European and American oil companies nearly doubled during 2021. "Oil companies' record profits today are not because they're doing something new or innovative," President Joe Biden said Oct. 31. The industry has said the depiction of oil companies as greedy war profiteers is false. And while oil companies raked in cash in 2022, their fates are closely tied to the price of oil — when it falls, they lose.

☆ Hollywood actress Raquel Welch dead at age 82
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-15 | by ( Steve Gorman | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

LOS ANGELES, Feb 15 (Reuters) - Actress Raquel Welch, who helped redefine the traditional image of the Hollywood sex symbol with her portrayals of strong women in dozens of movies in the 1960s and '70s, died on Wednesday at age 82. Her death following a brief illness was confirmed in a statement released by Jane McKnight, her Los Angeles-based manager. She won a Golden Globe Award for best actress in a musical or comedy for her performance in the 1973 swashbuckling romp "The Three Musketeers." [1/3] Actress Raquel Welch poses at the 2014 Carousel of Hope Ball at the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Beverly Hills, California October 11, 2014. REUTERS/Mario Anzuoni/File Photo 1 2 3Her portrayal of strong, willful women was credited with reshaping stereotypes.

Early on Friday, the core of the cold air mass, driven from Arctic Canada into the United States by high-altitude air currents, was centered over the U.S. Plains, said weather service forecaster Bob Oravec. International Falls, Minnesota, was the coldest spot as of 7 a.m., with temperatures hovering around -36 F (-38 C). "It's moving into the Northeast" and temperatures will drop throughout the day on Friday, he said. By comparison, air temperatures in Eureka, Canada's northernmost Arctic weather station, were hovering at -41 F (-41 C) on Friday morning. Boston was about 22 above zero F (-6 C) on Friday morning, with temperatures expected to plummet throughout the day and hit -3 F (-19 C) by midnight.

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