Alejandro Toledo is the latest Latin American leader to be implicated in the Odebrecht corruption scandal.Peruvian ex-President Alejandro Toledo has been sentenced to more than 20 years in prison, the latest Latin American leader to be jailed in connection with the Odebrecht construction firm corruption scandal. Toledo was convicted of taking $35m in bribes from the Brazilian construction firm in exchange for a freeway construction contract, and was sentenced to 20 years and six months in prison on Monday. “I want to go to a private clinic. I ask you please to let me get better or die at home,”…
Author: Team_NationalNewsBrief
Oklahoma has become directionless under head coach Brent Venables. Following an ugly 35-9 home loss to South Carolina in Week 8, the low point of Venables’ three-year tenure, the Sooners are going back to quarterback Jackson Arnold. The starting quarterback at the beginning of the season, Arnold was benched in the second quarter against No. 7 Tennessee (6-1, 3-1 in SEC) in Week 4 for freshman Michael Hawkins Jr., who started the past three games for Oklahoma.He had a disastrous outing against the Gamecocks, going 3-for-5 for 18 yards and three turnovers (two interceptions, one fumble) before being pulled for…
OpenAI recently secured $6.6 billion in funding at a valuation of $157 billion, but it’s far from the only AI company with high fundraising potential. Investors poured $2.9 billion from July to September (Q3) of 2024 into the latest U.S.-based AI startups, per PitchBook data.The three startups in the U.S. that received some of the most funding were software development AI startup Magic, enterprise ChatGPT startup Glean, and AI document search startup Hebbia, per TechCrunch. The three raised $320 million, $260 million, and $130 million respectively in the third quarter.Magic is creating AI that can write code and Glean is…
The oriental hornet (Vespa orientalis) could drink you under the tableVladimir_Kazachkov/Shutterstock A species of hornet that often munches on foods containing alcohol can hold its liquor, without any side effects, at levels that no other known animal can tolerate. “This is crazy,” says study author Sofia Bouchebti at the Ben-Gurion University of the Negev in Israel. The diet of the oriental hornet (Vespa orientalis) consists of nectar and ripe fruits, including grapes. This fruit contains sugar that, when it naturally ferments over time, turns into ethanol. While ethanol can be nutritious for animals, it is also highly intoxicating. Even animals…
An American Civil Liberties Union lawyer will make history in December as the first openly transgender attorney to argue before the U.S. Supreme Court, opposing Tennessee’s Republican-backed law banning gender-affirming medical care for transgender minors.The ACLU’s Chase Strangio, 41, represents a group of transgender people who pursued a lawsuit challenging the measure that prohibits medical treatments including hormones and surgeries for minors experiencing gender dysphoria.In one of the most consequential cases of the court’s current nine-month term, the nine justices will hear arguments on Dec. 4 in an appeal by President Joe Biden’s administration of a lower court’s decision upholding Tennessee’s ban.The Supreme Court on…
Pavel Durov, the founder of the chat app Telegram, was arrested in late August in France on charges that the company hasn’t done enough to prevent malicious and illegal activity on the app. One might be tempted to think that Telegram’s high level of data protection would prevent it from effectively addressing malicious activity on the platform: If Telegram can’t read their users’ messages, they can’t spot lawbreakers. Founded in 2013, Telegram has positioned itself as a privacy-focused, secure messaging platform that prioritizes user freedom and data protection. Durov has emphasized his strong commitment to privacy and free speech. In…
ASIA: The major Asian stock markets had a mixed day today: • NIKKEI 225 decreased 27.15 points or -0.07% to 38,954.60 • Shanghai increased 6.55 points or 0.20% to 3,268.11 • Hang Seng decreased 325.65 points or -1.57% to 20,478.46 • ASX 200 increased 61.20 points or 0.74% to 8,344.40 • SENSEX decreased 73.48 points or -0.09% to 81,151.27 • Nifty50 decreased 72.95 points or -0.29% to 24,781.10 The major Asian currency markets had a mixed day today: • AUDUSD decreased 0.00486 or -0.72% to 0.66575 • NZDUSD decreased 0.00402 or -0.66% to 0.60310 • USDJPY increased 1.007 or 0.67%…
Credit: NCDOTcommunications, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons Republican members of the U.S. House Committee on Homeland Security have launched an investigation into the alleged misuse of Federal Emergency Management Agency funds by Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas. DHS, which has oversight of FEMA, has directed that billions of dollars of FEMA funds be used to pay for food, housing, transportation and other services for illegal border crossers. FEMA in recent years also has prioritized diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiatives, The Center Square reported. RELATED: Stealth Edit: FBI Quietly – and Upwardly – Revises Violent Crime Stats The…
Rapper 50 Cent recently addressed the allegations against his longtime rival, Sean “Diddy” Combs, claiming he has consistently spoken out against the music mogul for the past 10 years.50 Cent is known to regularly mock and poke fun at the disgraced rapper on social media, even recently sharing a photo of a fake baby oil bottle, branding it as “Diddy Oil.”Sean “Diddy” Combs currently faces federal charges for sex trafficking, racketeering, and transportation to engage in prostitution and is awaiting his trial in jail.Article continues below advertisement50 Cent Says He Has Been Calling Out Diddy For The Past 10 YearsMEGADuring…
THE NATO PROBLEM Ukraine applied for NATO membership in September 2022. Mr Zelenskyy believes that an official invitation to NATO is “the only way” for Ukraine to survive the Russian invasion. But this key demand by Ukraine remains well beyond what members of the alliance can deliver. The new NATO Secretary General, Mark Rutte, repeatedly side-stepped questions in this regard at his concluding press conference on Oct 18, noting that Ukraine’s membership “is something we are ongoingly debating, of course, also amongst ourselves.” In the same way that the EU is procrastinating on finalising further assistance measures for Ukraine under…