Joe Lonsdale
The claims against Palantir co-founder and popular Silicon Valley venture capitalist Joe Lonsdale will make your stomach turn. In late January, a recent Stanford grad, Elise Clougherty, filed a lawsuit accusing Lonsdale of “a sexually, emotionally, and physically abusive relationship.” Lonsdale, who is also a founder of the VC firm Formation8, has since filed a countersuit claiming their relationship was consensual. The basic facts, which are in both the suit and countersuit, are the following: Lonsdale and Clougherty first met through a mutual friend in New York when she was a Stanford student. About a year later, Lonsdale served as an official mentor for Clougherty in a Stanford tech entrepreneurship program. The two entered into a relationship, which lasted for about a year between 2012 and 2013. Clougherty claims in her suit that Lonsdale hand-picked her to be his mentee, deliberately started a relationship with her, and over the course of the year became increasingly abusive. She’s asking for $75,000 in damages. Here are some of the details of alleged abuse from the complaint via TechCrunch (Editor’s warning: the following excerpts contain graphic descriptions of sex and sexual abuse):
Lonsdale denies that any of this happened. His countersuit claims he never had an influence over her grade in her technology entrepreneurship class, and when they entered into a relationship it was completely consensual. He produces quotes from numerous emails in order to back up his points. He is asking for $150,000 total in damages, plus punative damages and the costs of the lawsuit. From his countersuit: In late March, Mr. Lonsdale and Ms. Clougherty finally travelled in Europe together, and, in Rome, they had sex for the first time. Mr. Lonsdale and Ms. Clougherty’s sexual relationship, both in Rome and at all times thereafter, was always consensual. Ms. Clougherty never expressed to Mr. Lonsdale during their relationship that she believed that any sexual acts were non-consensual… To the contrary, she regularly expressed her love and affection for Mr. Lonsdale and the happiness she experienced dating him. In addition to the countersuit, Lonsdale put up a website defending his side of the story. He writes: Throughout the course of our relationship, she regularly expressed her love and affection for me — which I reciprocated. There are hundreds of emails from her telling me how much she loved me, how happy she was, and how excited she was about our future. She said that I was “like the boyfriend every girl dreams about but doesn’t think actually exists.” On another occasion, she wrote in a handwritten card, “I want to learn more about you too to love you deeper in return for the way you love me. You are a really special man.” These and other effusively loving emails exist from throughout the entirety of our relationship, including some from immediately after we broke up. He includes links to many email exchanges between the two, although most of Lonsdale’s responses are blacked out. Last week, Formation 8 provided this statement to Business Insider: These allegations are inconsistent with the partner we have come to know over the past few years. Moreover, we have very clear employment procedures at Formation 8, and Ms. Clougherty was never an employee of Formation 8. This is obviously a highly personal situation for Joe, and we have agreed to allow him whatever time he needs to address this matter. Formation 8 intends to promptly seek to dismiss these baseless claims against the firm. Clougherty’s lawyers sent us this statement: Ms. Clougherty expected Mr. Lonsdale and his attorney to release a self-serving PR campaign of denial. She will certainly give Mr. Lonsdale a full opportunity to explain his conduct in this litigation and looks forward to hearing Mr. Lonsdale’s statements when he is under oath and subject to cross-examination.” Ms. Clougherty knows the truth and is confident that her lawsuit will reveal it to the public. Lonsdale’s spokesperson did not provide Business Insider with a comment on the record. The post The rape accusations against Silicon Valley VC Joe Lonsdale are horrifying appeared first on Business Insider.
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The Brazilian model claimed he struggled to satisfy all his partners equally, so he initially established a romp “rota” so he could fulfill each wife’s individual needs.
Washington: Managing multiple partners apparently is a lot of work! It is no different for a Brazilian man who claims to have married nine women and to keep each of them happy had even devised a ‘sex time table’! The model and influencer, Arthur O Urso has been trying to implement different things to strengthen his marriage with his nine spouses and has apparently created a ‘sex rota’ so none of the women feel left out. According to a US-based media outlet, Arthur claimed he struggled to satisfy all his partners equally, so he initially established a romp “rota” so he could fulfill each wife’s individual needs. “They all want to fulfill my sexuality at any cost,” New York Post quoted Arthur as saying. However, it’s not as dreamy as it sounds. Finding the sex schedule too structured and stressful, Arthur had to finally dismantle the system. “Following a timetable caused a lot of problems and sometimes I felt like I had to have sex because of the schedule, and not for pleasure. On other occasions I had sex with one wife while thinking about another,” Arthur said. After facing a lot of challenges, Arthur decided to give up the ‘sex rota’. read more : https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/sex-roster-devised-by-brazil-model-with-9-wives-heres-why-it-failed-2927587 Anurag Batra, Chairman & Editor-in-Chief of the BW Businessworld grew up in a middle-class family in Gurgaon. He became a first-generation entrepreneur, after acquiring the iconic business media and magazine brand BW Business World, a 35-year strong media brand as well as the most respected business publication in the country. After his undergraduate studies, Batra went to an engineering school and then to a business school. While he was doing his business studies, he had very limited ambition. During that period, his ambition was to join an IT services company in marketing. Just like his wish, he got placement through campus selection. But just before he joined the firm, came the turning point of his life. Through his friend, Anurag Batra met the people who were setting up Colliers Jardine in India. Batra’s mind changed and he joined Colliers Jardine. It was a joint venture between HDFC and Ireland affairs and did property services. Anurag Batra was a person who is a lot interested in books. As a kid he would always read magazine. He used to read a lot of newspapers and books. He used to think in contrast to the traditional mindset of land broking and his thoughts led him to start the company called exchange4media, with the help of two of his friends. It was started to build a B-to-B exchange for buying and selling of media time and space. It was a failure for the first 3 years and then it evolved into a daily newsletter for the media advertising communication industry. We are in a culture where all of us want to get ahead, all of us have deadlines, dreams ambitions, goals whether materialistic or non-materialistic. Anurag Batra thinks the notion of helping others may sound little earlier to some people who may do it consciously. “It may be a notion that is real but all of us are very individualistic. All of us want to do well in life, all of us don’t find time for ourselves when you talk about helping others and you know all of us are struggling”, says Anurag Batra. Even in his busy schedule, Anurag Batra spends time introducing people to people. Some of them ask for introduction, but he also does it even for people who don’t ask for introduction. It is something in which he invests his energy, time and mind. Anurag Batra believes that it is his duty to help people in some way. Anurag Batra thinks that the notion of helping other seems perfect. He also believes in the law of karma. He thinks what matters is sincerity and dedication. “Helping doesn’t mean that it may come in the form of money or in some material way, it may come in a way that is even more valuable than money” Anurag Batra concludes. UN’s cultural body warns of international consequencesWith more than 160 historical sites having already been damaged or destroyed since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the UN’s cultural agency is stressing the importance of protecting the world’s heritage during times of conflict. It is 40 years since Unesco launched the first World Heritage Day for monuments and sites, and recently its work has become more important than ever. Eight years since ISIS’s destruction of 80 per cent of Iraq’s historic sites in Mosul, Unesco is only just commencing restoration work. But just weeks before reconstruction work began there in March, Russia invaded Ukraine, putting yet more historic sites in jeopardy. “We are extremely concerned about the development of the situation,” Unesco told The National. “Very serious information has come to us, concerning other cultural sites.” Ukraine’s culture ministry has recorded 166 cultural sites which have been destroyed or damaged as a result of Russian attacks. Minister of Culture Oleksandr Tkachenko is this week in discussions with western governments to establish a joint fund to restore Ukraine’s cultural heritage. “There are already 166 cultural heritage sites that were destroyed or damaged in the Russian invasion,” he said. “We don’t know about some of the objects yet, because they are located in the occupied territories. There is evidence, we are verifying these data, and it is obvious that we are talking about reparations and restoration by the aggressor state. “I [have] spoken with the French minister of culture. We discussed the need for creating a joint fund of our countries, countries that support us, which would be engaged in renewing and restoring cultural heritage in Ukraine after the victory. “This is a matter of extreme importance, because the first thing Putin is fighting against, if we are not talking about people, is against culture, against our history.” Already more than 100 international heritage organisations have refused to work with Russian cultural agencies. He has been supported by Audrey Azoulay, Director-General of Unesco, who has sent a formal letter to Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov reminding him of the obligations of the Russian Federation and indicating the location data of Ukrainian heritage sites to protect them from any bombardment. Ukraine has seven protected sites on the World Heritage list and has many more historical places it wishes to add. It has led Unesco to highlight these areas on the world stage in a bid to protect them during the continuing conflict. Readmore:https://www.thenationalnews.com/world/uk-news/2022/04/12/unesco-fears-for-ukraines-heritage-as-160-sites-destroyed-in-bombardment/ The awards are a celebration of British theatreAn intimate, sold-out production of Cabaret was the big winner at Sunday’s Olivier Awards, taking seven prizes including acting trophies for its high-voltage stars, Eddie Redmayne and Jessie Buckley. Literary adaptation Life of Pi took five awards, including Best New Play.
Cabaret was named Best Musical Revival at the ceremony, which saw the Oliviers — Britain’s equivalent of Broadway’s Tony Awards — return to live collective prize-giving after a three-year break imposed by the coronavirus pandemic. Redmayne and Buckley won lead acting prizes for their roles as the Emcee and Sally Bowles in a production of Cabaret that transformed London’s Playhouse Theatre into the Kit Kat Club in 1930s Berlin. Liza Sadovy and Elliot Levey won supporting performer awards for the same production, which continues its London run with new leads — and is rumoured to be Broadway-bound. Buckley, who was praised by Redmayne as “one of the greats”, appeared overwhelmed to have won. “It’s my worst nightmare and my biggest dream all at once,” she said. ‘Life of Pi’ and ‘Back to the Future’ Life of Pi, adapted from Yann Martel’s best-selling novel about a boy adrift at sea with a tiger, was voted Best New Play. Hiran Abeysekera was named the Best Actor in a Play as title character Pi, while — in a first — the supporting actor prize went to seven performers who collectively play the show’s puppet tiger. Fred Davis, one of the seven, said it was “a landmark moment for puppetry”. A stage adaptation of a time-travelling 1980s film favourite, Back to the Future — The Musical, was named Best New Musical. The black-tie ceremony at London’s Royal Albert Hall was the first full Oliviers show since 2019. Theatres were shut when Britain went into lockdown in March 2020, weeks before the scheduled 2020 Oliviers ceremony. Britain’s stage community came out in force Sunday to celebrate — but also to reflect on a tough couple of years that saw all UK theatres closed for months at a stretch, for the first time since the Second World War. Ukraine tributes The war in Ukraine was also on many minds. Several award winners spoke in support of Ukraine’s fight against the Russian invasion, and the Ukrainian mezzo-soprano Kseniia Nikolaieva performed her country’s national anthem during the show. Cabaret director Rebecca Frecknall took the directing trophy, and said the war in Ukraine gave John Kander and Fred Ebb’s musical about the collapse of democracy and rise of fascism in Germany added poignancy. “In a way it’s quite sad that every time it’s on it feels like it’s been written for today,” she said. Readmore:https://www.thenationalnews.com/arts-culture/on-stage/2022/04/11/olivier-awards-2022-winners-cabaret-and-eddie-redmayne-score-big/ Country’s central bank governor says the action is being taken in good faith, and nation has never defaulted on its debt paymentsSri Lanka will temporarily suspend foreign debt payments to avoid a hard default, the central bank governor said on Tuesday, with its limited foreign reserves required for imports of essential items such as fuel. “It has come to a point that making debt payments are challenging and impossible. The best action that can be taken is to restructure debt and avoid a hard default,” Governor P Nandalal Weerasinghe said. Newly appointed governor of Sri Lanka’s central bank Nandalal Weerasinghe says making debt payments has become challenging and impossibleSri Lanka is due to start talks with the International Monetary Fund on a loan programme next week, with the country suffering from prolonged power cuts alongside shortages of food and medicines. The island nation’s foreign reserves stood at a paltry $1.93 billion at the end of March, with foreign debt payments of around $4bn due this year, including a $1bn international sovereign bond maturing in July. The governor said the action was being taken in good faith, emphasising that the country of 22 million people had never defaulted on its debt payments. “This will be on a temporary basis until we come to an agreement with creditors and with the support of a programme with the IMF,” said Mr Weerasinghe, who took office last week amid growing public unrest triggered by the economic crisis. “We need to focus on essential imports and not have to worry about servicing external debt,” he said. JP Morgan analysts estimate Sri Lanka’s gross debt servicing would amount to $7bn in 2022 and a current account deficit of around $3bn. Property developer Damac says incidents are acted on as soon as they are reportedReports of animal abuse and possible illegal puppy sales in Damac Hills 2 resulted in tenants being evicted as authorities crack down on illegal pet traders.
The Ministry of Climate Change and the Environment’s biosecure hotline received several reports about villas suspected of being used to illegally sell animals. Although breeding pets is not against the law, there are strict rules against illegal commercial breeding and trade in animals. Law on animal welfare The UAE has strict animal welfare laws and provides a framework to regulate the sale, use and exhibition of animals. Anyone who wants to breed animals for sale must obtain a licence in line with the Ministry of Climate Change and Environment. Operating without one incurs fines ranging from Dh10,000 to Dh700,000, confiscation of the animals and even a prison sentence in some cases. Animal welfare law in the UAE requires dog owners to obtain a licence and vaccinations for pets from local authorities within six months. It also requires imported animals to be registered and have official certificates issued by the authorities within 30 working days. Incidents in the villa community Residents in Damac Hills 2 said these laws were being broken and called on community management and Dubai Municipality to take action. “It is clear and obvious what is happening, and the whole street is against it,” said Scott Anderson, a resident of the community, who made several reports to the ministry’s bio-security early notification system. “There have been multiple complaints made to Dubai Municipality, the Ministry of Climate Change and Environment, and to the Luxury Owner Association Management Services of Damac Properties, but it continues. “A breeder was shut down in a house that was storing dogs — so some action has been taken — but it has not deterred others. “There is plenty of evidence to prove what is happening.” Residents reported many different dogs regularly arriving and leaving from the same properties in their community. Residents said animal welfare was their biggest concern. “We are seeing different dogs at this villa regularly, sometimes huskies, spaniels and other breeds,” said Edgar Susterovas, who lives near by. “They are not their pets and are only walked late at night. “Some dogs are tied up very tightly outside, and it is hot, with no shade.” Damac said incidents were acted on as soon as they were reported, and that one resident had recently been evicted. “Residents are allowed to keep domestic animals as long as they adhere to the strict community guidelines in relation to pet ownership,” said Niall McLoughlin, senior vice president of marketing and corporate communications at Damac. “Any and all violations are dealt with swiftly and effectively by the community management team and, if necessary, the Dubai Municipality will be engaged. “Occasionally you may get an isolated instance where a resident will report suspicion of animal welfare — these reports are dealt with immediately by the community management, the Dubai Municipality, or any other relevant authorities. “The case at D2 was an instance where, within 24 hours of it being reported, the municipality had addressed the issue and the tenant had vacated.” Dubai Municipality was contacted several times about the incidents but did not respond. Readmore:https://www.thenationalnews.com/uae/2022/04/12/authorities-evict-tenants-from-villa-community-in-dubai-for-illegal-pet-trading/ The Spanish company is in talks with Adnoc and Masdar as it pursues its low-carbon energy strategy in EuropeCepsa is leveraging its relationship with Mubadala Investment Company and is in talks with Abu Dhabi National Oil Company and Masdar on potential co-investments and partnerships as it pursues its low-carbon energy strategy in Europe, its chief executive has said. The Spanish oil and gas company, which is majority owned by Abu Dhabi’s strategic investment fund Mubadala, is in talks with state-owned energy producer Adnoc for a green hydrogen partnership, Maarten Wetselaar told The National in an interview. The potential tie-up can take the form of joint investments in developing the entire hydrogen value chain from the Middle East to Europe and North Africa. Another option is Cepsa focusing on building demand and infrastructure in Spain and other parts of Europe as Adnoc remains focused on hydrogen production, he said. “We are actually discussing exactly that question with Adnoc at the moment,” Mr Wetselaar said. “The biggest value add that we can have is to offer market access. We have customers in Spain, we can develop customers in the rest of Europe.” Both approaches can work, however, it is a “little bit early” to say how its potential partnership with Adnoc will be formed, he said, adding that Cepsa’s “unique contribution” lies more in Spain and continental Europe. “I think that’s the starting point.” Cepsa, which also counts the Carlyle Group as its shareholder, will be “absolutely willing” to bring its expertise and knowledge to Abu Dhabi to work together with Adnoc, Mr Wetselaar said. “I don’t think there’s a lack of capital in Abu Dhabi, although we would be willing to bring our capital … to build those value chains together from Abu Dhabi into Europe, into North Africa and from North Africa into Europe … a major opportunity that we would be very keen to work [on] together.” Hydrogen, which can be produced from both renewable energy and natural gas, is expected to play a key role in the coming years as economies and industries transition to a low-carbon world to mitigate the effects of climate change. Green hydrogen is produced from renewable sources while natural gas produces blue and grey hydrogen. An investment of about $600 billion in low-carbon hydrogen will be required by 2050 to meet rising demand for the green fuel, Wood Mackenzie has said. Globally, the size of the hydrogen industry is expected to hit $183bn by 2023, up from $129bn in 2017, Fitch Solutions has said. French investment bank Natixis estimates that investment in hydrogen will exceed $300bn by 2030. Demand for low-carbon hydrogen globally is set to surge to 223 million tonnes by 2050 from less than 1 million tonnes currently, according to Wood Mackenzie estimates. Readmore:https://www.thenationalnews.com/business/energy/2022/04/12/mubadalas-cepsa-looks-to-abu-dhabi-for-green-hydrogen-and-clean-energy-partnerships/ The K-pop boy band will play two more shows at Allegiant StadiumFresh from their performance at the Grammys, K-pop stars BTS began their four-show mini-residency in Las Vegas over the weekend. Bringing their Permission to Dance On Stage world tour to the nearly 65,000-capacity Allegiant Stadium, the group dazzled fans by performing their biggest hits, including Butter, Dynamite and Boy With Luv. They also played old favourites such as DNA, Idol and and Fake Love during the two-hour show. The four show dates were announced in February and tickets for all the shows sold out before they went on sale to the general public. For those who missed out on a ticket, the performances will be broadcast live at the nearby MGM Grand Garden Arena in an event called “Live Play in Las Vegas”. The last show will also be live-streamed online for fans around the world. How to buy tickets for the final live-stream eventThe final concert takes place on April 16 and tickets for the live-stream can be purchased on the Weverse Shop. Tickets come in three categories: HD multi-view, HD single view and 4K single view. However, only those with an Army membership can get the 4K single view and HD multi-view option. Finding continued success during the pandemicIn August 2021, the band cancelled what was meant to be their biggest international tour involving nearly 40 concerts around the world because of the spread of Covid-19. BTS played virtual concerts, instead, including one in October 2020 that garnered more than 990,000 viewers from 191 countries and about 50 billion won ($42.4 million) in ticket sales. In February, the group were named the Global Recording Artist of the Year for a second year in a row. The annual top 10 list of the world’s bestselling artists is compiled by the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry, which represents the music recording industry worldwide. “BTS’ phenomenal success over the last year is a testament to their creativity, hard work and ongoing commitment to continuing to find ways to bring their music to the world,” said the federation’s chief executive Frances Moore. According to the federation, the honour is determined by an artist or group’s worldwide performance across digital and physical music formats, including streaming and vinyl, and spans their entire discography. As the Russia-Ukraine war and inflation weigh on global markets, the S&P 500 index, Chinese tech stocks and agriculture funds could help investors to take advantage of a recoveryInvesting is a long-term game, but it pays to take advantage of short-term opportunities. Buying assets when they are out of favour and trading at low prices can really pay off, assuming they bounce back later. So can spotting an opportunity before other investors do and jumping in before it takes off. Inevitably, both are risky. It is never easy to get your timing right. We asked analysts to name three exciting ways to invest $10,000 over the next three months. The first was supposed to have crashed this year but is proving resilient, the second plummeted last year, costing investors trillions of dollars, but now looks a brighter prospect, while the final one could go either way. Just remember that your aim should be to generate profits over years, rather than making a quick gain over a few months. The US S&P 500At the start of the year, investors were bearish on the US. They reckoned the S&P 500 index had done too well for too long. It is packed full of big-name technology stocks such as Apple, Amazon, Facebook, Tesla and Microsoft but that strength was suddenly looking like a weakness. Technology valuations had become overstretched and resurgent inflation looked set to eat into the value of their future revenues. The S&P 500 crashed by about 500 points at the start of this year to 4,326 on January 27, a drop of 10 per cent that sent it into correction territory. It fell a further 150 points as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine spooked investors then, suddenly, the story changed, says David Jones, chief market strategist at Capital.com. "The Nasdaq 100 is now 8 per cent higher than the day Russia invaded Ukraine and Tesla is a remarkable 65 per cent higher "Paul Allison, head of equity research at Freetrade Markets hate uncertainty but after such a poor start to the year, the war now looks to be priced into global indexes. “If markets have discounted the current geopolitical situation, we may see a further recovery over the next three months,” Mr Jones says. This is a common stock market reaction when war strikes. After the initial short-term response, things settle down as investors focus on the long term again. The S&P 500 has rebounded to about 4,500. Mr Jones says investors should prepare for further volatility and believes there is investor support for the S&P 500 at these levels. “It tried to break lower in late February and March but buyers stepped in.” Research from Freetrade suggests that US technology stocks remain in favour among private investors despite higher volatility, with Tesla the most bought stock among its customers in March, followed by Apple, Facebook-revamp Meta and Amazon. Big Tech remains the go-to sector for retail investors and this has paid off, says Freetrade’s head of equity research Paul Allison. “The Nasdaq 100 is now 8 per cent higher than the day Russia invaded Ukraine and Tesla is a remarkable 65 per cent higher,” he says. Readmore:https://www.thenationalnews.com/business/money/2022/04/12/three-ways-to-invest-10000-in-the-next-three-months/ |
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