A twisted tale of celebrity promotion, opaque transactions and allegations of racist tropes

Read ction lawsuit complaint in Court >>

TĐH: Excerpt from the Complaint filed in Court

Ultimately, “[t]he [BAYC NFT] series serves as a kind of fan club on steroids that encourages owners of the NFTs to move through an ever-growing and exclusive list of events and opportunities.”32 And the Company presents the Bored Ape ecosystem as a brand that is organically beloved by some of the most famous celebrities in the world. But the truth is that the Company’s entire business model relies on using insidious marketing and promotional activities from A-list celebrities that are highly compensated (without disclosing such), to increase demand of the Yuga securities by convincing potential retail investors that the price of these digital assets would appreciate and that, as members of “the club,” these investors would be given exclusive access to additional financial products and benefits.

By Elle Reeve and Samantha Guff, CNN

Updated 11:01 PM EST, Fri February 10, 2023

CNN — 

Sitting across from Jimmy Fallon on “The Tonight Show,” Paris Hilton, wearing a sparkling neon green turtleneck dress and a high ponytail, looked at a picture of a glum cartoon ape and said it “reminds me of me.” The audience laughed. It did not look like her at all.

Hilton and Fallon were chatting about their NFTs – non-fungible tokens, typically digital art bought with cryptocurrency – from the Bored Ape Yacht Club. The camera zoomed in on framed printouts of the ape cartoons. “We’re both apes,” Fallon said. Hilton, with her signature vocal fry, replied, “Love it.”

Super Bowl LVI was crypto’s coming out party. This year, the party’s over

“The Tonight Show” episode from January 2022 is a YouTube time capsule showing the temporary alliance between celebrity marketing and the crypto industry. Bored Ape Yacht Club was not the biggest crypto phenomenon, but it was one of the top beneficiaries of celebrity hype. That celebrity hype, in turn, helped draw new consumers to crypto — an industry rife with manipulation and fraud, and one that US regulators are now giving more scrutiny in the wake of the collapse of crypto exchange FTX. But for a time, when crypto’s prices seemed to have no limit, the money appeared too good for some to ask questions — questions like: Why are some of those apes wearing prison clothes?

Continue reading Lawsuit says stars were paid to fuel hype behind these NFTs →

Why is earthquake aid to Syria so slow? | Start Here

Al Jazeera English – 10 thg 2, 2023

The earthquakes in southern Turkey and northern Syria have left millions of people in desperate need of help. But getting aid to people in Syria is particularly complicated. #AJStartHere explains why.

VNE – Thứ năm, 9/2/2023, 06:00 

Tuyến cáp quang biển sắp bị thanh lý đang là sợi dây nguyên vẹn duy nhất kết nối Việt Nam với mạng lưới Internet toàn cầu.

Trong 5 cáp quang biển kết nối Việt Nam với thế giới, SMW-3 là sợi cáp già cỗi nhất, dự kiến được “nghỉ hưu” vào năm 2024. Nhưng nay, sợi cáp lại trở thành “con đường lành lặn” duy nhất giữ kết nối Internet qua biển cho hơn 70 triệu người dùng Việt Nam.

Đây là lần thứ hai trong 24 năm hoạt động, SMW-3 rơi vào tình cảnh này. Lần đầu năm 2007, khi một trong hai tuyến cáp của Việt Nam bị cắt trộm. Và lần này, khi 4 trên 5 tuyến cáp quang biển cùng lúc gặp sự cố. Điểm khác biệt là 16 năm trước, số người dùng Internet Việt Nam chỉ 17,7 triệu, còn nay đã tăng hơn 4 lần, đặt áp lực lớn lên sợi cáp già nua này.

Continue reading Internet Việt Nam mong manh thế nào? →

Danh sách bài do admin (PTH) tự sắp xếp.

• Ngủ gật, vật vờ cả đêm dưới mưa chờ mua ấn đền Trần
• Vẫn phải “mua ấn” đền Trần?
• “Giải thiêng” lá ấn đền Trần
• “Giải thiêng” lá ấn đền Trần: “Lãnh đạo đừng dự lễ khai ấn nữa!”
• “Giải thiêng” lá ấn đền Trần: “Chỉ là chiếc ấn của nhà đền”

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VNE – Thứ hai, 30/1/2023, 12:24 (GMT+7)

Chen nhau dâng lễ, rót dầu vía Ngọc hoàng

TP HCM – Nhiều người chen vào chánh điện chùa Ngọc Hoàng, quận 1 để dâng lễ và rót dầu nhằm mong làm ăn suôn sẻ, bình an…, sáng mùng 9 Tết.

Mùng 9 tháng Giêng (30/1), nhiều người đổ về chùa Phước Hải hay còn gọi là chùa Ngọc Hoàng (đường Mai Thị Lựu, quận 1) để vía Ngọc hoàng. Theo quan niệm dân gian: “Mùng 8 cúng sao, mùng 9 cúng chư thiên, mùng 10 cúng đất”. Do đó vào ngày này nhiều người đổ về chùa cúng vái cầu mong may mắn, bình an cho bản thân và gia đình.

Continue reading Chen nhau dâng lễ, rót dầu vía Ngọc hoàng – Du khách thi nhau chà tiền “đánh bóng” chùa Đồng trên đỉnh Yên Tử →

[TĐH: This is a very good economic lesson on monopoly. In this case, the monopoly in selling tickets of entertainment shows, and how the monopoly was formed.]

By Ashley Wu, The Morning – The New York Times

Good morning. One company controls a wide swath of the concert industry, and lawmakers say music fans are paying the price.

Protesters outside the Senate this past week.Kenny Holston/The New York Times

Ticketmaster has come under intense scrutiny since it botched the rollout of tickets to Taylor Swift’s tour late last year. Though the company has long been accused of anti-consumer practices, the backlash to the Swift debacle brought a new level of public attention. This week, the Senate held a hearing that explored whether Ticketmaster and its parent company, Live Nation Entertainment, have an unfair monopoly over the live music industry.

I spoke with Ben Sisario, who covers the music industry for The Times, about how Ticketmaster become so dominant.

Continue reading Industry gatekeepers →

VNE – Thứ năm, 19/1/2023, 06:00 (GMT+7)

BÀ RỊA – VŨNG TÀU – Tiết trời không thuận lợi nhưng 1.000 cây mai 12 tuổi trồng trên dải phân cách ở huyện Châu Đức nở hoa đón Tết Quý Mão.

Đây là năm thứ 5, những cây mai trồng trên dải phân cách quốc lộ 56 và một số trục đường chính ở thị trấn Ngãi Giao nở hoa đúng dịp Tết Nguyên đán. Những cây mai này hơn 12 tuổi, được chính quyền mua lại từ các vườn nhà dân trên địa bàn với giá một triệu đồng mỗi gốc.

Continue reading 1.000 cây mai trên dải phân cách bung nở ngày Tết →

Analysis by Philip J. Heijmans | Bloomberg

The Vietnamese flag flies atop the Hanoi Stock Exchange (HNX) in Hanoi, Vietnam, on Monday, Sept. 10, 2018. Vietnam has averaged economic growth of 6.3 percent between 2005 and 2017, multiplying its per capita income six-fold to $2,385 last year from $396 in 2000, according to data from General Statistics Office in Hanoi. Photographer: Maika Elan/Bloomberg (Bloomberg)

washingtonpost – January 11, 2023 at 5:42 p.m. EST

Vietnam’s Communist Party chief Nguyen Phu Trong has likened his anti-graft campaign to a “blazing furnace,” one that’s caught hundreds of senior officials, business executives and others in its blast over the years. While the country’s position has improved by more than 30 spots over the past decade on a global corruption perception index, it was still at 87th place out of 180 ranked in 2021. Now as Southeast Asia’s fastest-growing economy seeks to bolster its appeal as a destination for foreign investment in the midst of mounting trade tensions between the US and China, the fight seems to be flaring again.

Continue reading How Vietnam’s anti-corruption fight keeps expanding →

Top of the Agenda Putin Replaces Russia’s Top General in Ukraine After Battlefield Setbacks Russia’s highest-ranking military officer, General Valery Gerasimov, was promoted to lead the country’s forces (FT) in Ukraine, replacing General Sergey Surovikin. Since Surovikin was appointed three months ago (CBS), Russia has lost control of the southern town of Kherson and struggled to provide basic equipment to the hundreds of thousands of troops it started conscripting in September. Surovikin has also faced criticism for housing hundreds of troops in a building that was bombed by Ukraine. He will now serve as one of Gerasimov’s deputies. Meanwhile, tensions have reportedly flared between Russia’s military and its Wagner Group of mercenaries over which forces deserve credit for alleged territorial gains in the town of Soledar. An unnamed source told the Financial Times that Surovikin’s demotion could be linked to the Wagner Group’s apparent successes.

Continue reading CFR – Daily news brief Jan. 12, 2023 →

CNN
“My behavior encroached on the physical and mental health of minors,” read a court-ordered apology issued by a tattoo artist in China’s Shaanxi province in September. “I am deeply aware of my mistakes,” he added. 

The man, who had admitted giving tattoos to 43 minors, became one of the first people charged under a new age restriction law, which came into effect in June. But while many countries enforce similar rules banning young people from getting inked, Chinese state media coverage suggested that protecting minors was as much about ideology as medical welfare. 

At the time, tabloid newspaper Global Times argued that tattoos are “driving minors away from establishing socialist core values,” as they can convey “harmful ideas” such as “feudal superstition,” “gang culture” and “overseas culture.”

An op-ed in Beijing Youth Daily meanwhile said that tattoo subculture “clashes” with the mainstream. The legislation, which bans people from even encouraging those aged under 18 to get tattoos, is just the latest move in an expanding crackdown on body art in China. 
Continue reading Inside China’s crackdown on tattoo culture →

Oakland’s Next Mayor Highlights Political Rise of Hmong Americans

new york times – Sheng Thao, the daughter of refugees, will become the most prominent Hmong American politician when she leads the California city of 440,000 residents.

Sheng Thao at Joaquin Miller Park in Oakland last month. Carolyn Fong for The New York Times

By Amy Qin – Dec. 28, 2022

Over platters of fried rice, egg rolls and crab rangoon, Sheng Thao took the microphone and asked for support in June from several dozen people gathered at a Hmong restaurant in Wisconsin.

Ms. Thao, 37, was running to become the mayor of Oakland, Calif., but she took a detour to the Upper Midwest because it has some of the nation’s largest communities of Hmong Americans.

When Ms. Thao spoke, Zongcheng Moua, 60, found himself nodding along, never mind that he lived 2,000 miles away from California. Like Ms. Thao’s parents, Mr. Moua landed in a refugee camp in Thailand after fleeing the war in Laos nearly 50 years ago. His siblings, like Ms. Thao’s parents, struggled to adapt to life in the United States after arriving with no money, formal education or language skills.

Continue reading Hmong-American Sheng Thao, mayor-elect of Oakland, California →

world bank – APRIL 28, 202

Watch the clip here

The poverty and equity agenda is no longer only about raising minimum living standards and tackling chronic poverty; it is also about creating new and sustainable economic pathways for a more aspirational population.

Report download

FULL REPORT (ENG) | OVERVIEW (ENG) | OVERVIEW (VN)

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Launch event materials

EVENT POSTER [JPG]  | PRESENTATION (ENG) | PRESENTATION (VN)

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Main messages

There was significant progress in poverty reduction from 2010-2020, but Last Mile challenges in tackling poverty remain.

Continue reading 2022 Vietnam poverty and equity assessment – From the last mile to the next mile →

By Staff reporters       DEC. 31, 2022

As the clock struck midnight, crowds across the country burst out in cheers, applauses and exchanged hugs as the fireworks exploded to welcome the new year.

Bangkok, Hanoi, Jakarta (GMT+7)

OldestLatest

• 00h10Fireworks explode in Saigon
  Fireworks explode over the Saigon River. Photo by Quynh TranPeople capture photos of exploding fireworks in HCMC. Photo by Thanh TungA girl sits on her parent’s neck to watch the fireworks. Photo by Thanh Tung
Continue reading Vietnam rings in 2023 →