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The performer Madonna, onstage at the 65th Grammy Awards ceremony in Los Angeles in February.
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The performer Madonna, onstage at the 65th Grammy Awards ceremony in Los Angeles in February.
Frazer Harrison/Getty Images
Madonna was hospitalized with what her management calls “a serious bacterial infection.” It is unclear if the singer and actor, now 64 years old, remains in a hospital as of Wednesday afternoon. Her international “Celebration” tour, which was supposed to begin in Vancouver on July 15, has been postponed. It was meant to mark her 40th anniversary as a singer.
In a post published on Instagram Wednesday afternoon, the artist’s longtime manager, Guy Oseary, wrote: “On Saturday, June 24, Madonna developed a serious bacterial infection which lead to a several day stay in the ICU. Her health is improving, however, she is still under medical care. A full recovery is expected.”
Other details, including the type of infection and the anticipated recovery time, have not been made public. In Oseary’s statement, he noted that all her current commitments, including her upcoming tour, have been paused for now.
Gum disease (periodontitis) affects more than 47% of Americans — or nearly 65 million people — including former Major League Baseball player Alex Rodriguez, who recently announced he has the condition.
As artificial intelligence continues to expand into dental and medical uses, dentists are relying on the technology to quickly and accurately detect and prevent periodontitis, decay, bone loss and other gum health issues.
Now, VideaHealth, a medical technology company in Boston, has created a dental AI platform that is available to 90% of dental practices in the U.S., the company said.
The FDA-approved system analyzes patients’ X-ray images using an algorithm trained on hundreds of millions of data points — more than 50 times the number of X-rays most dentists see in their lifetime, according to the company — to provide treatment recommendations for patients.
“VideaAI lets dentists examine X-rays for cavities and radiographic bone level findings, comparing them against our AI algorithms,” Boston-based Florian Hillen, VideaHealth’s founder and CEO and an AI research fellow at Harvard Business School, told Fox News Digital.
With traditional dental screenings, X-ray analysis is used for diagnosis and treatment planning — but 50% of dental decay is missed and 30% results in wrongful diagnosis, he also said.
Dentists are now relying on AI to detect and prevent gum health issues.VideaHealth
His company’s system “identifies 43% more cavities and reduces the error rate of misdiagnosis by 50%, and also reduces false positives by 15%,” he said.
“Our analysis enables more accurate diagnoses and better preventative care.”
AI a ‘great equalizer’ for dentists, patients
In addition to enabling faster, more accurate findings, VideaAI also gives dentists the data and confidence to engage better with their patients, Hillen said.
“It also helps dentists achieve more streamlined workflows in their offices, resulting in reduced human error and mistakes,” he added.
The AI system ‘analyzes patients’ X-ray images’ and is FDA-approved.Getty Images/iStockphoto
For patients, the AI tool helps to improve their dental health by catching cavities, abscesses, lesions and oral diseases before these issues evolve into much larger problems.
“With the right dental care, the risk of medical complications from diabetes, heart disease and other illnesses can be significantly decreased,” Hillen said.
AI also helps increase patients’ trust by showing them “the complete picture,” Hillen said.
AI allows dentists to be more accurate and lower the error rate when diagnosing patients.VideaHealth
“Today, a lot of dental relationships are asymmetric,” he said. “Patients don’t know if they need the X-rays or the treatment plan — and sometimes they want a treatment they don’t need.”
Historically, patients don’t always accept their dentists’ recommendations, Hillen pointed out — “the majority of the time, they don’t,” he said.
As a result, the dental issues continue to worsen until there is a significant issue.
Fifty percent of dental decay is missed and 30% results in wrongful diagnosis.
“You wouldn’t walk around with an infection in your finger — you’d treat it and deal with the issue immediately,” he said.
“So why do so many adults walk around with mouth infections? And do they even know they’re increasing their risk of diabetes, high blood pressure, cardiac issues and dementia?”
Hillen said he sees AI as “the great equalizer” in that it can provide an unbiased, data-driven analysis that the dentist and patient can review and discuss together.
“With AI, findings are easier to explain to patients, who trust their dentists more — which means patients are more likely to move forward with necessary treatments rather than delay care,” he said.
VideaAI in action
42 North Dental was one of the first offices to introduce the VideoAI tool.VideaHealth
A dental service organization in Boston called 42 North Dental was one of the earliest adopters of the VideaAI tool.
“We’re big believers in technology and aiding our doctors to provide the best care possible,” the company’s chief clinical officer, Boston-based Michael A. Scialabba, DDS, told Fox News Digital.
“AI is essential for practitioners because it is unbiased, and it provides us with the opportunity to identify lesions that we might miss without it.”
When 42 North Dental started reviewing dental AI options, the dentists first examined 100+ images with the naked eye.
This technology allows dentists to remain unbiased and identify problems they may not have found on their own.VideaHealth
When they viewed those same images again with VideaAI, they found nearly 20% more cavities, Scialabba said.
The practice has also seen its treatment acceptance rates increase by 20%.
“The common misconception is that dentists overdiagnose, but this is not accurate,” Scialabba said.
The practice has also seen its treatment acceptance rates increase by 20%.
Rather, he said, dentists “are conservative, and underdiagnosis is the bigger issue. VideaAI can help us see issues before they are visible to the naked eye, so we can offer recommendations and stave off bigger issues.”
Implementing AI has helped 42 North Dental prevent mistakes, reduce missed diagnoses and improve oral health by detecting cavities and early bone loss, which is an indication of gum disease, Scialabba said.
“This will help drive better overall health and reduce instances of chronic diseases,” he said. “Increasingly, AI in dentistry can help detect and prevent issues ranging from diabetes to cardiovascular disease and early-onset dementia.”
He added, “This isn’t aspirational — this is the truth.”
The practice’s patients have also enjoyed having a clearer, more visual window into their own dental health, Scialabba said.
“Patients now have an unbiased and data-backed understanding of their X-rays and diagnosis,” he said. “AI takes out the emotion and bias for both the dentist and the patient, and provides a straightforward way to talk about treatment plans using just the facts.”
He added, “This approach puts more control into the hands of patients, so they can make the smartest and most meaningful decision for their oral care.”
More than a year after implementing VideaAI, 42 North Dental is now in the process of rolling out the tech to all of its locations.
Not a replacement for ‘human experience’
While dental AI has been shown to improve outcomes for patients and efficiency for practices, it’s not meant to replace trained professionals, experts say.
“Dentists and hygienists will always remain a critical part of the equation in disease diagnostics, as they have the context of years of experience, patient histories and in-person examinations,” Scialabba told Fox News Digital.
“AI in dentistry can help detect and prevent issues ranging from diabetes to cardiovascular disease and early-onset dementia.”
“At the end of the day, it’s a combination of AI and using human experience — a tool for the dentists to use,” he added.
Beyond just analyzing X-rays, Scialabba said that clinicians serve as their patients’ collaborators, advisers, educators and partners — and AI helps them deliver the best care possible.
“The clinical experience and insights dental professionals bring to the table cannot be underestimated, but the AI offers objective, consistent observations to consider when making their decisions and recommendations,” he added.
Russian President Vladimir Putin addresses the nation on Saturday after Yevgeny Prigozhin, the owner of the Wagner Group military company, called for armed rebellion and reached the southern city of Rostov-on-Don.
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Russian President Vladimir Putin addresses the nation on Saturday after Yevgeny Prigozhin, the owner of the Wagner Group military company, called for armed rebellion and reached the southern city of Rostov-on-Don.
Gavriil Grigorov/Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP
A mutiny by Russia’s Wagner Group of mercenaries appears to have ended with the leader recalling his troops, but the uprising may have done irreparable damage to the image of President Vladimir Putin at home and abroad, analysts say.
Yevgeny Prigozhin, the head of the shadowy private army that has played an outsized role in the fighting in Ukraine, claimed on Saturday to be in control of Russia’s military headquarters in the city of Rostov-on-Don, a key installation the Kremlin has used as a base for its offensive operations in Ukraine. Wagner forces then began making their way toward Moscow in what looked to the outside world like an attempted coup d’etat.
Within hours, however, Prigozhin — a former close confidant of Putin who had accused Russia’s military leadership of attacking and killing his soldiers — said he had commanded his forces to return to their bases.
Alexander Gabuev, director of the Carnegie Russia Eurasia Center, says despite the apparent end of the mutiny, the Russian leader will undoubtedly be weakened by the strong challenge to his authority.
“He will try to compensate by making the regime even more hands-on,” Gabuev told NPR. “The regime will become increasingly more repressive at home.”
Yevgeny Prigozhin, head of the the Wagner Group, is pictured during a funeral ceremony in Moscow on April 8. Prigozhin’s uprising may have done irreparable damage to the image of President Vladimir Putin at home and abroad.
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Yevgeny Prigozhin, head of the the Wagner Group, is pictured during a funeral ceremony in Moscow on April 8. Prigozhin’s uprising may have done irreparable damage to the image of President Vladimir Putin at home and abroad.
AP
Former U.S. Ambassador to Russia Michael McFaul says there’s “no doubt” that Prigozhin’s mutiny weakens Putin and “raises doubts about his ability to continue to govern Russia in an effective way.”
For months, Prigozhin has been an unusually vocal critic of the Russian military, and in particular of Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu, whom he has accused of incompetence and whose resignation Prigozhin demanded.
Late Saturday, Prigozhin announced on social media that his forces were ending their “march for justice” to Moscow that saw the mercenaries make their way from the southern city of Rostov-on-Don to the outskirts of the Russian capital. He ordered the forces to “turn our columns around and go in the opposite direction back to a field camp as planned.”
In what appeared to be part of a deal, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the criminal case against Prigozhin and his fellow mutineers would be dropped and that the Wagner boss himself will “go to Belarus.” Wagner troops who did not participate in the uprising will sign contracts with Russia’s Ministry of Defense.
Samuel Charap, a senior political scientist at the Rand Corp, cautions that at the moment, little is known, but “one thing we know for certain is that Putin’s authority is irreparably damaged.”
“It’s sort of like a Wizard of Oz moment, where it turns out that the people who have the guns are not willing to use them to prop up your authority,” he says.
An armored personnel carrier is parked in a street in the city of Rostov-on-Don early Saturday.
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An armored personnel carrier is parked in a street in the city of Rostov-on-Don early Saturday.
Vasily Deryugin/Kommersant Photo/AFP via Getty Images
Oleg Ignatov, senior Russia analyst at the Crisis Group, says it’s possible that Prigozhin will be arrested or killed and that Wagner would be “disbanded or assimilated into the conventional armed forces.”
“Then, the war in Ukraine will surely go on, alongside likely even more crackdowns in Russia,” he says.
After Prigozhin announced he was standing down, Julia Ioffe, a Russia expert and Washington correspondent for Puck News, tweeted: “Okay, so what happens now? I can’t imagine Putin says ‘it’s all water under the bridge’ and everything goes back to normal?”
Meanwhile, the messy uprising, which played out in plain view of the world, is good news for Ukraine, where President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said of the mutiny that “Russia’s weakness is obvious.”
Andrew Weiss, who oversees research on Russia and Eurasia at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, thinks that Putin is bruised, but can’t be counted out.
“There’s no mistaking the overall decay and degradation of the Russian regime led by Vladimir Putin as a result of the war in Ukraine,” Weiss says. “The problem for him is he’s stuck and there isn’t a way out of the mess that he’s created both for himself as well as for Russia as a whole.”
“But this is a leader who has survived for 20 plus years because he’s very tactical and very street smart and knows when to throw a punch,” he says. “That’s the guy we’re dealing with … not someone who’s going to shrink off into the corner and feel embarrassed or humiliated.”
OceanGate Expeditions is the owner and operator behind the Titan submersible, which had five people on board when it experienced what the Coast Guard called a “catastrophic implosion” amid its journey to the Titanic shipwreck.
The privately-owned US company was founded in Everett, Wash., in 2009 by Guillermo Söhnlein and Stockton Rush to build out a fleet of three five-person submersibles that would be used to take tourists down to the famed wreck.
Söhnlein left OceanGate 10 years ago, though Rush continued on as the company’s CEO, developing three submersibles named Antipodes, Cyclops 1 and Titan.
OceanGate’s Titanic expedition is billed on its website as an eight-day trip that provides a “chance to step outside of everyday life and discover something truly extraordinary.”
Up to four of those days could be spent underwater. OceanGate assured on its site that the 22-foot vessel was equipped with up to 96 hours of oxygen.
Tickets run for $250,000, and travelers must be at least 17 years old, the site adds.
The trip departs from St. John’s Newfoundland, Canada, before sailing 380 miles offshore and diving 12,500 feet below the surface to the Titanic.
The Titan’s latest expedition, which began its descent to the sea floor on June 18, was the only OceanGate Titanic tour slated to take place in 2023, which passenger Hamish Harding cited was due to weather in an Instagram post ahead of his departure.
OceanGate Expeditions is the owner and operator behind the Titan submersible, which experienced what the Coast Guard called a “catastrophic implosion” amid its journey to the Titanic shipwreck.Boston Globe via Getty Images
Titan weighed 21,000 pounds and could travel at the speed of 3 knots, or 3.5 miles per hour. It had a single porthole for up to two people to look out of at any time.
Here’s everything else you need to know about the vessel.
What’s next for OceanGate?
Legal experts are divided as to whether OceanGate faces legal liability over the Titan disaster given that the passengers all signed waivers that spelled out the risk to their safety.
One lawyer thinks that the next of kin will have an uphill legal battle in court if they decide to sue OceanGate despite past allegations of negligence and the most recent tragedy.
“The chance of family members of the passengers having a successful lawsuit against the company is close to zero,” attorney Sherif Edmond El Dabe, a partner with El Dabe Ritter Trial Lawyers, told Insider.
“The passengers knowingly participated in an extremely hazardous activity and they knowingly assumed great risk,” he added.
Miguel Custodio, an attorney at the law firm Custodio and Dubey LLP, agreed, telling the outlet: “Everyone on board knew this wasn’t a vacation or a sightseeing trip, and the disclaimer appears to have made the risk of death very clear multiple times.”
Titan’s passengers, pictured L-R: Pakistani billionaire Shanzada Dawood and his 19-year-old son, Sulaiman, Titanic specialist Paul-Henri Nargeolet, OceanGate boss Stockton Rush and UK billionaire explorer Hamish Harding AP
It’s all thanks to an ironclad, three-page document that spells out the risks for Titan passengers that includes an eye-popping admission that the craft “has not been approved or certified by any regulatory body and may be constructed of materials that have not been widely used on human occupied submersible.”
The document, which was provided to a passenger last summer, also states that the signer would “assume full responsibility for the risk of bodily injury, disability, death and property damage due to the negligence of [OceanGate] while involved in the operation,” according to TMZ, which was first to publish it.
The company also provided a litany of worst-case scenarios in covering itself from liability, including possible exposure to high-pressure gases, high-voltage electrical systems and “other dangers” that could lead to disability, injury or death.
Other experts, however, said that the waivers do not shield the company from legal action.
If OceanGate expeditions is found to have engaged in “gross negligence,” which is defined as wanton or reckless conduct affecting the life of another, it could make the company vulnerable to lawsuits.
Michael Sturley, a professor of maritime law at the University of Texas, told Bloomberg News that the families of those who perished could still sue.
Sturley cited a letter from William Kohnen, chairman of the Marine Technology Society’s manned submersibles committee, addressed to Stockton Rush, the OceanGate CEO, warning him that he was misleading the public with false claims that the Titan met industry safety standards.
Rush made several comments about safety regulations in the years leading up to the Titan disaster. He criticized industry safety standards as “illogical” and lamented that they were stifling innovation. Last year, he told CBS reporter David Pogue that “at some point, safety is just pure waste.”
These comments and Sturley’s letter could be used as evidence in a lawsuit brought by the families of the deceased, according to Sturley.
“It shows that the company was on notice that the unanimous view of other people in the industry was that they should be doing things that they apparently weren’t doing,” Sturley said.
The famed Titanic wreck lies 12,500 feet below water.Arthur Loibl/Instagram
Will OceanGate go out of business?
It’s unclear if OceanGate will cease operations after Titan’s tragic implosion.
Söhnlein, OceanGate’s co-founder who’s now a minority shareholder, said on Friday that the company’s executives “will be considering the company’s survival,” according to Forbes.
He said the board of directors will weigh in on OceanGate’s fate for the next several weeks, the outlet reported.
Certain landing pages of OceanGate’s website went offline after it announced the loss of Titan.
Ret. Adm. Paul Zukunft, who commanded the Coast Guard from 2014 to 2018, told The Washington Post that “it’s no different than if a private citizen goes out and his boat sinks.”
“We go out and recover him. We don’t stick them with the bill after the fact.”
Deep-sea robots will continue searching the sea floor for clues about what happened deep in the North Atlantic.
German adventurer Arthur Loibl was on Titan’s first-ever journey to the Titanic shipwreck. Although he survived, he called the trip a “suicide mission” from which he was lucky to escape.Facebook
How many successful missions has Titan done?
OceanGate Expeditions started offering trips to the wreckage site of the Titanic in 2021. Since that time, the Titan submersible made just two successful voyages to the Atlantic Ocean seabed where the Titanic lay.
The ill-fated mission that ended in tragedy this week was just the third such trip.
Arthur Loibl, 60, a German adventurer, took the maiden voyage in the Titan submersible in August 2021. He told the German news outlet Bild that the trip was a “suicide mission” from which he was lucky to escape alive.
Loibl paid nearly $110,000 to dive down more than 12,000 feet to the wreckage site. He said that the mission ended up being launched five hours late due to electrical issues.
Loibl also said that a 1,600-meter dive by the submersible had to be “abandoned.” When the bracket of the stabilization tube ripped, it had to be “reattached with zip ties,” he said.
When asked to describe the voyage, Loibl said: “You need strong nerves, you mustn’t be claustrophobic and you have to be able to sit cross-legged for ten hours.”
Loibl was joined by French Titanic expert Paul-Henry Nargeolet, 73, and Stockton Rush, the 61-year-old CEO of OceanGate Expeditions.
Nargeolet, Rush, British businessman Hamish Harding, and Pakistani magnate Shahzada Dawood and his son, Suleman, died in what authorities called a “catastrophic implosion” which destroyed the Titan this week.
Guillermo Söhnlein (right) and Stockton Rush (left) founded OceanGate Expeditions in Everett, Wash., in 2009. Rush was one of the five passengers aboard the Titan when it imploded.OceanGate/Facebook
The vehicle, which is designed to take tourists deep underwater, differs from a submarine, which is autonomous and self-powered.
The Titan, on the other hand, is a submersible, meaning that it is launched underwater from a platform that can be carried out to sea aboard a mother ship that can recover it.
The submersible is then submerged a few dozen feet below the surface of the ocean.
A submersible has limited power reserves. Its electric thrusters enable it to travel at a speed of 3 knots, or 3.5 miles per hour.
OceanGate said it was equipped with LED lights, a sonar navigation system, and high-end camera equipment as well as a life-support system that can keep five people alive for up to 96 hours.
OceanGate workers on the surface ship track the location of Titan and send text messages to the pilot with navigation instructions.
The Titan and its support ship left the port of St. John’s in Newfoundland, Canada last Friday.
The Canadian support ship which monitored the Titan lost contact with the submersible about an hour and 45 minutes later after arriving at the wreckage site of the Titanic on Sunday.
The submersible’s last known position was near the Titanic, whose remains lie some 370 miles southeast of the Newfoundland coast.
OceanGate had a fleet of three five-person submersibles. It’s first one was named Antipodes (pictured), and could reach a depth up to 1,000 feet.OceanGate/Facebook
OceanGate’s submersibles
OceanGate’s crown jewel was Antipodes, which it acquired in 2009.
According to a brochure on the company’s site, Antipodes could travel up to 1,000 feet underwater, had capacity for five people and could carry up to 72 hours of life support.
OceanGate purchased a second five-person submersible in 2012, which was reconstructed into Cyclops 1 — a 20,000-pound vessel that could carry up to 80 hours of life support.
While it served as a working prototype for Titan, Cyclops 1 would only travel to depths of 1,640 feet, while Titan was designed to explore beyond depths of 13,000 feet, where the Titanic wreck lies.
Titan is OceanGate’s newest submersible. The vessel was constructed out of carbon fiber and titanium, and was equipped with 96 hours of oxygen.
Russian state media reports that the FSB, Russia’s security services, have opened a criminal case against Prigozhin, accusing him of “calling for an armed rebellion”. The Kremlin has also said “necessary measures are being taken”, according to Russian news agency Interfax.
TikTok Chief Operating Officer V. Pappas is stepping down after five years with the short-video company owned by China’s ByteDance, according to an email seen by Reuters on Thursday.
In an email to staff, Pappas said they would be taking on an advisory role for the company during the transition.
“Given all the successes reached at TikTok, I finally feel the time is right to move on and refocus on my entrepreneurial passions,” said Pappas, who uses the pronoun they.
ByteDance Chief Executive Shou Chew also announced Thursday in a memo to employees shared with Reuters that Zenia Mucha, previously a 20-year veteran at Walt Disney, will join TikTok as chief brand and communications officer.
Adam Presser, TikTok’s chief of staff, will become head of operations and oversee content, user operations and distribution, Chew said.
“Given all the successes reached at TikTok, I finally feel the time is right to move on and refocus on my entrepreneurial passions,” said V Pappas, who uses the pronoun they.MICHAEL REYNOLDS/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock In an email to staff, Pappas said they would be taking on an advisory role for the company during the transition.
US lawmakers last week introduced new legislation to protect Americans’ user data from being used by US adversaries.
Rep. George Santos (R-NY3) speaking to reporters outside a federal courthouse on Long Island in May after he was charged with 13 federal crimes.
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Rep. George Santos (R-NY3) speaking to reporters outside a federal courthouse on Long Island in May after he was charged with 13 federal crimes.
Brian Mann/NPR
One of the many mysteries swirling around New York’s embattled Republican Rep. George Santos has finally been resolved.
A federal court on Long Island today released of the names of two individuals who backed a $500,000 bond for Santos.
Turns out one was his father, Gercino dos Santos Jr. The other was his aunt Elma Santos Preven.
Their support allowed Santos to walk free after he was charged on May 10th with 13 crimes including fraud, money-laundering and theft. He pleaded not guilty.
Meanwhile, the House Ethics Committee released a statement Thursday saying its investigation of Santos is running parrallel to the Justice Department’s prosecution.
“The Committee is aware of the risks associated with dual investigations and is in communication with the Department of Justice to mitigate the potential risks,” the panel’s leaders said in a statement.
They noted that roughly 40 subpoenas have been issued and said their probe is is expanding to include allegations Santos “fraudulently obtained unemployment insurance benefits.”
Santos family members bailed him out
For weeks, the identity of Santos’s bond backers remained unknown, sparking widespread speculation. On May 25, a group of news organizations including NPR asked the court to make their names public.
Santos and his attorney argued that releasing the names would expose the congressman’s backers to a public backlash and could put them at risk of “attacks and harassment.”
“There is great concern for the health, safety, and well-being” of the individuals, wrote Joseph Murray, Santos’s attorney, in a court filing.
Attorneys representing media outlets argued in a legal filing that transparency serves the public interest.
“That the identities … have been shielded from public scrutiny, particularly in light of the specific charges against Rep. Santos, only breeds suspicion that [they] could be lobbyists, donors, or even fellow-congressmen or public officials seeking to exert influence,” wrote Jeremy Chase and Alexandra Settelmayer with the firm Davis Wright Tremaine.
Two federal judges sided with news organizations, leading to Thursday’s release of names.
Investigations continue
Santos won election last November in New York’s 3rd Congressional District. Shortly after, news accounts revealed that he fabricated much of his personal and professional resume, lying about his family’s heritage, his education and his professional accomplishments.
Those actions sparked numerous local, state and federal investigations.
In its statement today the House Ethics Committee outlined the scope of its probe, to include possible “unlawful activity” during Santos’s 2022 congressional campaign, violation of federal conflict of interest laws, and sexual misconduct allegations in olving “an individual seeking employment in his congressional office.”
Indeed, financial backing of Santos’ bond was only one unanswered question about the sources of his money. Critics say it’s also unclear how he funded his congressional campaign and how he spent that money.
Santos has acknowledged some of his deceptions but repeatedly denied any criminal wrongdoing.
The Bernie Sanders (I-VT) chaired Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee is set to mark up a significant set of labor law reforms that are aimed at addressing the needs of the working class in America. The committee, led by Sen. Bernie Sanders, will vote on three bills that are aimed at closing the gender pay gap, providing paid sick days to workers, and making it easier for workers to join unions.
The Paycheck Fairness Act is a significant step towards ending the gender pay gap in America. This legislation will make it easier for women to come together and file lawsuits against employers who commit wage discrimination. This is a crucial step towards ensuring equal pay for equal work.
The Healthy Families Act is another important piece of legislation that will ensure that every worker in America receives up to seven paid sick days from their employers. This is a significant step towards ending the international embarrassment of the United States being the only major country on earth not to guarantee paid sick days to workers.
Finally, the PRO Act is aimed at making it easier for workers to join unions and secure their first union contract. This is a crucial step towards ensuring that large corporate interests do not continue to break the law and deny their employees the constitutional right to organize.
The bills won’t get out of the full Senate and would not pass the Republican-controlled House, but they represent a significant stake in the political ground for what Democratic priorities are likely to be if they win back full control of the federal government.
If these bills are ever sent to the Oval Office, President Biden would sign them before they could hit his desk.
Sen. Sanders has led the charge for decades on the issues of labor organization and income inequality.
A China Central Television news broadcast shows footage of U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken meeting with China’s President Xi Jinping on Monday.
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A China Central Television news broadcast shows footage of U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken meeting with China’s President Xi Jinping on Monday.
Greg Baker/AFP via Getty Images
The secretary of state has just wrapped his visit to China, having put time and effort into a country of enormous importance to the U.S. Towards the end of his trip, Antony Blinken met with China’s leader, Xi Jinping, with whom he spoke for more than half an hour.
Shortly afterwards, Blinken spoke to NPR. He called the Beijing talks “candid, substantive, and constructive.”
Who is he? Blinken has been by Joe Biden’s side since the president was in the Senate.
He has a long history in foreign affairs and has spent much of his time as secretary of state meeting with partners and allies, telling them that the U.S. is back after the Donald Trump era.
He once joked that he might have to find an apartment near NATO headquarters, because he’s spending so much time there.
Blinken joins Xi at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on Monday.
Leah Millis/POOL/AFP via Getty Images
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What’s the big deal about this trip to China? This is America’s most consequential relationship, both when it comes to trade and geopolitics.
Much of the Biden administration’s approach to the world focuses on the U.S. competition with China. Blinken has just become the highest level administration official to travel to Beijing.
He’s also been a key figure as the U.S. rebuilds alliances across the globe to counter China and uphold international norms.
Blinken called the Beijing talks constructive, but he also said China has not agreed to resume military-to-military cooperation with the United States, though he raised that issue repeatedly during meetings with Chinese officials.
On Taiwan, the thorniest issue between the U.S. and China, Blinken stressed the importance of cooperatively managing the “challenge” of Taiwan, as the two have done “for nearly five decades,” especially given Taiwan’s important role in global trade.
Want to know more? Listen to NPR’s interview with Blinken by tapping the play button at the top of this article.
What are people saying?
This trip was closely watched not just by Chinese and American commentators, but also by those from Asian countries such as Singapore. Here’s what Singapore Foreign Minister Vivian Balakrishnan said on Friday when meeting with Blinken:
“There are many global, planetary issues – climate, pandemics, even cyber security – which require the United States and China to work off the same page and be key pillars for a global system which will help increase resilience to threats to welfare, health and prosperity for people all over the world.”
In China, anti-American sentiment is riding high. Beijing blames Washington for causing problems in the bilateral relations. Professor Zhu Feng, a prominent international relations scholar at Nanjing University in China, told NPR he’s “pessimistic” about the trajectory of the relations. He says because the U.S. is “determined to treat China as its biggest competitor,” it’s unlikely to see any fundamental change following such a visit.
China’s state-backed newspaper, The Global Times, had this to say about the meeting between Xi and Blinken:
“[It] signaled that the talks between Chinese and U.S. senior diplomats from Sunday to Monday reached some consensus, showing that the Chinese government highly values the stable development of China-U.S. relations, underscoring its sincerity and goodwill and paving the way for the next phase of China-U.S. high-level interactions in coming months.”
The meeting between Xi and #Blinken itself signaled that the talks between Chinese and US senior diplomats from Sunday to Monday reached some consensus, showing that the Chinese government highly values the stable development of China-US relations, underscoring its sincerity and… pic.twitter.com/IduLpI7LLs
Talks between the world’s two largest economies are set to continue. Over the weekend, Blinken invited China’s foreign minister, Qin Gang, to visit Washington to continue the conversation.
Whether the two countries will resume their military-military cooperation remains to be seen — and remains to be the area of concern to many China watchers.
Leaders from the U.S. and China are likely to meet in person in the coming months: G20 this fall in India, and APEC in November in San Francisco.
But domestic politics in the U.S. still matter, especially as the 2024 U.S. presidential election approaches. On the Hill, the head of the high-profile House China committee, Mike Gallagher, for example, called the administration’s interaction with Beijing “zombie engagement” (although not everyone on this committee agrees with Gallagher. For example, Rep. Andy Kim.)
This year was supposed to have been more difficult. Inflation was expected to tank customer spending. A recession was imminent. You wouldn’t have been crazy to think supply chain issues might get between you and your toilet paper again.
With the job market and economy looking a bit better than predicted, some economic observers are beginning to embrace a “soft landing” narrative. The prospect that inflation might slowly be brought under control without sending the economy into recession means that business leaders don’t need to operate in total crisis mode.
But that doesn’t mean everything is smooth sailing, either. Here are some of the major challenges business leaders face today and how to begin tackling them.
1. Coexisting With Economic Uncertainty
While the economy isn’t as bad off as many had forecast, unpredictability has brought unexpected challenges. Consumer behavior isn’t consistent with economists’ projections. People just keep spending, even when the best forecasting tools say they shouldn’t be. When they do spend, they choose low prices over brand loyalty, making demand forecasting even more problematic.
Accordingly, leaders don’t know when to slash prices or raise them. Meanwhile, layoffs are rampant at companies like Spotify and Amazon, even as the healthcare, hospitality and retail sectors continue to suffer a labor shortage. In short, no one really knows what’s going on, and consumers may be losing trust in their favorite companies.
Businesses that thrive in the latter half of 2023 will be the ones that act cautiously yet flexibly. They’ll take cost-cutting seriously and adjust prices accordingly but not drastically. They’ll streamline their organizational structure, ideally while avoiding massive layoffs.
Perhaps most importantly, successful leadership teams will communicate clearly and transparently to employees and customers. The uphill battle for consumer trust will continue in the years to come. Justifying decision-making that may seem erratic will form a big part of every company’s survival strategy.
2. Managing Remote Work and Retaining Top Talent
Working from home is no longer the mess it was in 2020. But WFH and hybrid office arrangements continue to pose workplace challenges.
According to Forrester, 40% of companies will try to put an end to work-from-anywhere policies in 2023. The consulting giant believes the push toward AI surveillance of remote worker productivity will push over half of WFH employees to seek new employment this year.
These new company policies regarding remote and hybrid work will erode workers’ trust in their employers over time. And with ongoing turnover and issues with morale, employees’ perception of their companies’ matters more than ever.
Business leaders will need to find ways to keep employees happy or risk them leaving, as voluntary turnover continues unabated. Talent retention starts with, where possible, better pay and benefits. Improved company culture can also make a difference.
Leadership teams should survey employees to gauge employee engagement—or better yet, schedule one-on-one interviews to gather intel. They should look for more ways to keep employees motivated, particularly in the form of growth and learning opportunities.
3. Warding Off Security Threats
In 2022, the U.S. saw 1,802 data breaches, affecting 422 million individuals. Data breaches will continue to be a significant business concern, especially as remote work is likely to further complicate cybersecurity. Employees will work over less-secure connections or take equipment out of the office, exposing it to outside threats. Many will access sensitive work data from their phones, which are more vulnerable to hacking attempts.
AI will also pose increasing threats to cybersecurity, as hackers use generative AI to create sophisticated scams. But the disease could also be the medicine: AI and machine learning can alert businesses to irregularities like breach attempts.
Companies will need to upgrade their security protocols to avert cyberattacks. This includes everything from installing robust cybersecurity software to training employees on how to avoid phishing scams. They’ll need to invest in the right tools for the job and in educating workers with access to personally identifiable information.
Smart leaders will take cybersecurity extremely seriously and implement response plans before a crisis happens. They’ll observe stringent authentication protocols and carefully restrict employee access to sensitive data. They’ll know what steps to follow in the event of a breach and how to communicate about it to the public.
Reestablishing Reliability
The unpredictability of the last three years has changed the behavior of employers, employees and customers alike. That’s why providing a greater sense of dependability and transparency is imperative for modern businesses.
Customers need to know that companies will provide consistent quality and value. Workers need to believe that their employers will nurture their growth. And everyone—customers, employees and employers—needs to trust that their data is safe from attack.
Businesses that flourish in the months and years to come will be those that offer a feeling of safety and stability. They’ll act in ways that let their employees and customers know they can be counted on, no matter what. And they’ll make a name for themselves by giving people in this uncertain time something to hold onto.
Twitter plans to focus on video, creator and commerce partnerships to revitalize the social media company’s business beyond digital advertising, according to an investor presentation by owner Elon Musk and new Chief Executive Linda Yaccarino that was reviewed by Reuters.
Yaccarino, who started as CEO on June 5, told Twitter investors on Thursday that the company is in early conversations with political and entertainment figures, payments services and news and media publishers, said a source familiar with the matter, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss a private investor call.
The presentation was Yaccarino’s first time addressing the company’s investors, the source said.
After Musk acquired Twitter in October, the social media firm faced months of chaos, including layoffs of thousands of employees, criticism over lax content moderation, and an exodus of many advertisers who did not want their ads appearing next to inappropriate content.
Musk’s hiring of Yaccarino, a longtime advertising executive who modernized ad sales at Comcast-owned entertainment and news conglomerate NBCUniversal, was a signal that digital ads remained a priority for Twitter.
Yaccarino reportedly told Twitter investors that the company is in early conversations with political and entertainment figures, payments services and news and media publishers.Getty Images for The Female Quotient
Some ad-buying firms had recommended their clients pause ad spending on Twitter after Musk’s takeover. Those recommendations have been reversed and none of the major advertising holding companies are currently recommending a pause, according to a slide shown during the presentation.
Well-known brands including Warner Bros, Mondelez, McDonald’s and Walmart have resumed advertising on Twitter after initial pauses, the slide said.
Yaccarino told investors that ad spending in several advertiser categories is now up at least 40% year-over-year, including health, consumer packaged goods and financial services, the source said.
A Twitter executive declined to comment.
After Elon Musk acquired Twitter in October, many advertisers fled the platform.REUTERS
Video and commerce
Under Musk, Twitter changed its business name to X Corp., reflecting the billionaire’s vision to create a “super app,” like China’s WeChat, that he has said would include digital payments and other services.
Twitter is applying for “money transmitter licenses” in all 50 states, according to a slide from the presentation.
The company has also focused on growing video content on the platform. Vertical video now accounts for more than 10% of time spent on Twitter, another slide said.
Former Fox News host Tucker Carlson launched a new show earlier this month on the platform called “Tucker on Twitter.”
Twitter envisions that it could sell ads and sponsorships alongside videos from Carlson and other content creators, the source said.
Yaccarino has also told colleagues in recent days that Musk has expressed strong support for her ideas and the working relationship was off to a positive start, the source added.
Colette and Mike Reynolds awoke Sunday morning to find a nightmare scene of thousands of creepy crickets infesting their home in Elko, Nevada — and the city itself.
Known as Mormon crickets, Colette has lived in the city her whole life, and told The Post they’re used to a few of them migrating into their house each year, but never have they seen it this bad before.
“They are foul, vile, stinky, disgusting carnivorous, cannibalistic crickets — huge ones,” she said.
Colette revealed that she first noticed just two crickets on her porch the day prior, on Saturday, thinking they must be coming soon, but not expecting anything of magnitude.
“The next morning is when we woke up to our entire wall covered with crickets,” she said.
The Reynolds purchased their dream family home in 2015.
Made up of four bedrooms and three baths, the home is situated on nearly 3 acres and spans over 2,600 square feet.
“It’s been bad and they devour everything. We have 3 acres. We have 200 trees, we have bushes and rose bushes and they love that stuff. They’ve got an acre of lawn that they can devour.”
Colette, who is one of the top realtors in town, says she has no plans of moving, but adds these bugs have definitely taken a toll on her and her husband’s mental wellbeing.
The Reynolds called an exterminator, but upon their arrival they said there was nothing much they could do except “wait it out.” If one dies, these crickets have no problem eating it.
Their home sits on about 3 acres of land.MLS The Mormon crickets landed on their home last Sunday.Colette Reynolds
“I’m like, wait, no, this is apocalyptic. There isn’t just a stream of them going through my yard. This is taking over my entire home,” Colette said.
So despite their advice, her husband began hosing them down, killing them — that is until they witnessed the crickets who were alive eating the ones that were dead.
“It’s disgusting. We’d killed maybe like 5,000 of them. And the next day it was 10 times worse.”
“This has hit me on another level,” Colette said. “I never expected what this would do to me emotionally or mentally. And my husband, who is the most cool, calm collected guy in the world, even he’s like, ‘this is hitting me hard. I feel weird.’”
The infestation of the home has taken an emotional toll on the family.Colette Reynolds The Mormon crickets are carnivorous and will eat each other when dead.Colette Reynolds
Colette revealed that about 35 crickets have even found a way to enter their home, despite their attempts to keep them out.
The crickets aren’t only targeting their home but all of Elko, with their local hospital Northeastern Nevada Regional being inundated with these creepy crawlers.
“I get anxiety, depression; the first two nights I didn’t sleep at all,” Colette said. “I haven’t really been able to eat — I lost 3 pounds in five days.”
And because of a surgery and slew of health complications, she is unable to leave the house. One bad move could make her quadriplegic, Colette adds.
“I’m a prisoner in my own my home.”
A photo of Colette Reynolds with her husband Mike Reynolds and their two sons, Michael and Logan.Colette Reynolds Colette Reynolds.Colette Reynolds
“Our poor dogs. Our dogs are having nightmares,” she added. “Oh my God, in the night they are crying. Last year they would chase them around. But now they just look out the window and whine and cry.”
Their new puppy, who is house trained, has even urinated in the house several times out of fear for going outside.
Colette revealed that other houses in the neighborhood have been swarmed with crickets but nothing like what their house is currently facing.
“Everybody’s like, ‘this is apocalyptic. It feels Biblical.’ Yeah. And I have to agree,” she said.
The plus side, these insects don’t bite and are not poisonous — but they are disgusting.
Usually these crickets will leave in about five days, but this time they seem to be staying put.
The insects usually migrate to the town once a year, but this time they came by the hundreds of thousands.Colette Reynolds The family has attempted to get rid of the crickets by spraying vinegar and hosing them down.Colette Reynolds
“They will lay eggs … into the ground that sit dormant for a year, and they shoot out thousands of eggs, and then they will hatch the next year. So I’m really freaking out.”
Colette said the bugs have really taken a toll on her life, saying that even she had to cancel her son’s birthday.
Luckily, her two boys are all grown up and staying away from the house at the moment.
What’s worse, the crickets have attracted a load of birds who see endless dinner.
Mormon crickets will not bite humans and are not poisonous — but they sure are gross when an infestation goes wild.Colette Reynolds Colette Renolds said they will be more prepared next year if they decide to flood their home again.Colette Reynolds
“We’ve had hundreds of big crows and hawks and it’s pretty eerie feeling. It is an invading, disheartening feeling. You just feel hopeless. You feel violated. You feel isolated. I am so tired of seeing these things. You can’t eat because everything you look at just looks like crickets,” she said.
“I haven’t stopped crying since it started.”
She’s hoping if they do come back next year, they can be prepared and leave on vacation.
Colette, who has amassed 2 million followers on TikTok and is known as the “cool TikTok auntie” told The Post she is still looking at the bright side of all of this.
“The crickets have gotten me ready for bikini season — I’ve lost a few pounds.”
Where will we find tomorrow’s pioneering deeptech entrepreneurs? Well many of them will emerge from the world’s best universities, armed not just with PhD degrees but also technologies and business ideas developed during their studies and research projects. For VCs, there is an opportunity to invest early in the work of post-graduate students. If, of course, they can identify founders whose ideas have commercial potential. The Creator Fund thinks it may have found an effective way to do just that.
Earlier this week, the British early-stage VC fund announced plans to expand its student-focused investment operations across Europe, from the Estonian university city of Tartu in the east to Madrid in the west. Nothing unusual about that. You might think. But in a European context, The Creator Fund is doing something a bit different. In a bid to sniff out PhD-level entrepreneurial talent, it is training other post-graduates to think and act like VCs in terms of sourcing prospects and analysing deals.
So what does that mean in practice? Well, Jamie MacFarlane had the idea for The Creator Fund when he was studying for an MBA at Stanford. “While I was there, I saw a category of U.S. VC funds investing in university research. I thought that was a game-changing model,” he says.
He returned to Britain. where he founded The Creator Fund in 2019 with the intention of adopting the Silicon Valley model of investing in students for the U.K. ecosystem. “We spent three years developing this model in the U.K.,” he says. In effect, that meant creating teams who could work within universities to source deals. The aim was to look beyond the usual-suspect universities such as Cambridge and to widen the net to encompass a wide range of institutions.
Team Building
Building a team of PhD-level “student VCs” was crucial to the plan. These were the people who would be in at ground level, mixing with other post-graduates in refectories, labs and bars. Once chosen, they were schooled in the VC way of thinking. “We put everyone through a ten-point program,” MacFarlane says.
And as he sees it, those selected have already acquired all the really difficult knowledge. They are after all educated to a high level in their chosen fields. Learning about the arcana of the investment world – business assessment, cap tables, etc – is relatively easy. In addition, the PhDs are supported centrally by the Creator Fund Team.
To date, the fund has made 27 investments in sectors such as AI, Life sciences and deeptech. These include two in Europe, namely Turing Biosystems based in Lyon and Enlightra from Lausanne. Turing uses AI to identify cancers, while Enlightra has developed laser technology for ultra-fast data transmission.
Now officially launched in Europe, Creator Fund is active in 32 university campuses and aims to provide funding – in its own words – for a new generation of deeptech unicorns. Typically the fund invests between £100,000 and £700,000.
Motivated Teams
But what exactly is The Creator Fund looking for? Well, it’s not just the technology but also committed founders. “The biggest mistake that European investors tend to make is to focus on the technology and then bring in an external management team,” says MacFarlane. “What we’re looking for is massively motivated founder teams.”
Is that a bit too much to ask? A PhD student may be a scientific genius – or at least pretty smart when it comes to his or her subject – but that doesn’t necessarily mean that business acumen will be part of the skillsets package.
MacFarlane says the idea that researchers are not commercially minded is something of a myth. Many, he says, have business ambition in their DNA. “Some return to university after a few years in industry because they see a PhD as a means to start a business,” he says.
Spin-Outs And Student Startups
MacFarlane is keen to make a distinction between Spin-outs and student startups. Spin-outs tend to involve investment by the university, the involvement of a professor and the licensing of the IP by the institution. In the case of a student startup, the founders will be students and the university won’t have the same claim on the IP. Indeed, there may be no IP to negotiate. “We have 27 companies, and 55% have no university IP,” McFarlane says.
But what about timeframes? One of the risks associated with deeptech is the length of time it can take to commercialize research. MacFarlane says that is not always the case. He cites Turing Biosystems, which already has significant revenues working with the pharmaceutical industry.
The truth is that some research can be commercialized quickly, while some will be a long-term bet. In that regard, The Creator Fund is aiming to create a mixed portfolio with different horizons.
So what is the outlook for university-level investment? Well, it has to be acknowledged that commercialization of research is crucial to the development of deeptech and The Creator Fund is not alone in the field. For instance, the Plug and Play Tech Center, invests in university startups, not just in the U.S. where it is based, but also in Europe.
For his part, MacFarlane sees universities in the U.K. and Europe providing a rich source of new and ground-breaking businesses.
