newsnation

Mimi Billing / Sifted : Stockholm-based Planhat, which provides customer relationship management software to companies, raises a $50M Series A after seven years of bootstrapping   —  Previously bootstrapped Planhat raises one of the Nordics' largest Series A rounds of 2022  —  Planhat ends bootstrapped journey with $50m Series A

Nearly 11% of all Twitter accounts participating in disgrace surrounding Johnny Depp's defamation trial against Amber Heard are inauthentic, new research shows.

First lady Jill Biden expressed frustration that Kamala Harris was the top choice for the vice presidential slot, according to an upcoming book from two New York Times reporters.

A four-day estate sale is taking place at Alex Trebek's former Studio City, California, home. Items include autographed memorabilia, a writing desk and various paintings and sculptures.

The “King Richard” actor was recently spotted in Mumbai, India, smiling and taking photos with adoring fans.

Congressman Markwayne Mullin of Oklahoma, a candidate for U.S. Senate, met with former President Donald Trump as Mullin campaigns for an increasingly crowded and competitive seat.

Bill Curry / Globe and Mail : Documents show wide-ranging opposition from Twitter and others to Canada's online harms proposals, which the government recently said it will delay implementing   —  Newly released documents reveal Twitter Canada told government officials that a federal plan to create a new internet regulator …

Several GOP members of Congress spoke out in support of McCarthy after the New York Times published the leaked recording from Jan. 10, 2021, in which McCarthy reportedly told House Republican leadership that he had "had it" with Trump and that he was going to recommend the Trump "resign."

Claire Woodcock / VICE : Ebook vendors like Hoopla are including titles with COVID-19 disinfo, Holocaust denial, and more; librarians want more transparency and accountability   —  Librarians say Holocaust deniers, antivaxxers, and other conspiracy theorists are being featured in the catalogs of a popular ebook lending service.

Jason Oppenheim admitted he's "still healing" from his breakup with co-star Chrishell Stause as Season 5 of the show premieres. The two dated for months during 2021.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed a measure into law on Friday evening that dissolves Walt Disney World’s special governing status.

Rebecca Torrence / Fierce Healthcare : Mendel, which parses unstructured data from medical records and clinical literature to produce data for research, raises a $40M Series B led by Oak HC/FT   —  Artificial intelligence startup Mendel has landed $40 million in a series B funding round led by Oak HC/FT for its real-world data platform.

Naomi Nix / Washington Post : Twitter bans ads that promote climate change denial and contradict “scientific consensus”   —  Twitter says ads can't contradict “scientific consensus” on the environmental crisis  —  Twitter is banning advertisements that promote climate change denial in an effort to curb …

Nicolas Cage is going to be a girl dad. Cage revealed the name he and wife Riko Shibata picked out for the baby girl she is expecting.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., told Ukraine's prime minister Thursday that more U.S. aid is on the way to help fight off the "horrible" Russian invasion.

Catarina Moura / The Block : Crusoe Energy Systems, which uses excess natural gas from oil extraction to mine crypto in 86 data centers, raises a $505M Series C led by G2 Venture Partners   —  Bitcoin miner Crusoe Energy Systems raised $505 million in a Series C round to accelerate the growth of its mining operations powered …

Ellen Pompeo backed Katherine Heigl's claims regarding the long work hours on the "Grey's Anatomy" set. Pompeo, who still stars on the show, said Heigl was "100% right."

A New York arbitrator awarded more than $1.3 million to former Trump White House adviser Omarosa Manigault Newman, ordering former President Donald Trump's campaign to pay for her costs and legal fees from a lawsuit Trump had brought against her.

Canalys : India's smartphone market grew just 2% YoY in Q1 2022 with 38M shipments; top vendor Xiaomi fell 24%, Samsung fell 2%, while Realme grew 40%   —  Shanghai (China), Bengaluru (India), Singapore, Reading (UK) and Portland (US) - Thursday, 21 April 2022  —  Vendors shipped 38. million smartphones …

Kim Kardashian revealed the joke that got cut from her "SNL" skits. The reality TV star was supposed to make another joke about her divorce from Kanye West, but ultimately decided against it.

The Florida Senate approved a congressional map proposal put forward by Gov. Ron DeSantis, helping pave the way for what would be large GOP gains in the state

Lauren Kaori Gurley / VICE : Source: 70% of workers at an Atlanta Apple Store have agreed to hold a union election, becoming the first Apple Store to file for a union election with the CWA   —  Apple retail workers in Atlanta could become the first in the nation to vote to unionize.  —  Lauren Kaori Gurley

On Wednesday, New Mexico’s Occupational Health and Safety Bureau announced that Rust Movie Productions must pay $139,793, the highest level of citation and maximum fine allowable by state law.

The Florida Senate approved a bill Wednesday that dissolves special self-governing status given to Disney over 50 years ago after the company publicly feuds with Republicans over a controversial parental rights bill.

A Russian newspaper aligned with Putin's government is taking aim at President Biden, claiming he suffers from dementia as pressure mounts in Ukraine.

Jordan Novet / CNBC : IBM beats in Q1 with revenue of $14.2B, up 7.7% YoY, vs. $13.85B est., and its software segment bringing in $5.77B in revenue, up 12% YoY, vs. $5.63B est.   —  - IBM beat consensus on the top and bottom lines.  — The technology services company offloaded Watson health-care assets to a private-equity firm in the quarter.

Emily McCormick / Yahoo Finance : Netflix reports losing 200K subscribers in Q1, vs. 2.5M net additions est., and revenue of $7.87B, vs. $7.95B est.; the stock is down 24%+ after hours   —  Netflix (NFLX) reported an unexpected decline in first-quarter net subscribers as the company navigated an exit from Russia and an increasingly saturated North American market.

President Biden is set to give the commencement speech next month at his alma mater, the University of Delaware.

Samantha Cole / VICE : Google's new automated “inclusive warning” on Docs is very broken and annoying, like suggesting “landlord” might not be inclusive   —  A feature rolling out this month uses algorithms to suggest edits in Google Docs, but falls into the same bias traps it's trying to prevent.

President Biden held a call Tuesday with top U.S. allies to discuss ongoing support for Ukraine as Russia ratchets up its offensive in the east.

Matt Levine / Bloomberg : A look at corporate raider tactics requiring 51% of a company's stock that tend to treat remaining minority shareholders poorly, amid Twitter's “poison pill”   —  Poison pills  —  Here are some things you could do 1 :  — Buy 51% of the stock of a public company in the open market over time …

Hip hop pioneer DJ Kay Slay's death at age 55 on Sunday was confirmed by his family in a statement released through New York radio station HOT 97, where he hosted "The Drama Hour" for more than two decades.

Sen. Elizabeth Warren sounded the alarm for her party, saying that Democrats were heading for 'big losses' in this year's elections

A federal judge on Monday voided the Biden administration's mask mandate for travelers using public transportation such as trains and airplanes.

Zack Whittaker / TechCrunch : Scraping content that is publicly accessible on the internet is legal, a US appeals court reaffirms, ending a landmark case LinkedIn brought against a rival   —  Good news for archivists, academics, researchers and journalists: scraping publicly accessible data is legal, according to a U.S. appeals court ruling.

A California-born rapper running as a Democratic candidate in Brooklyn, New York, has spent years criticizing police in profanity-fueled tweets, most recently lambasting NYPD following the Brooklyn subway shooting rampage.

Rep. Cori Bush spends another $70,000 on private security, pushing her security costs above $300,000 as she continues calls to defund the police.

Manish Singh / TechCrunch : India-based UrbanPiper, which helps restaurants manage multiple food delivery services, raises a $24M Series B from Swiggy, Zomato, and others   —  UrbanPiper, a restaurant management platform that processes 18% of all online food orders in India, has raised $24 million in a new financing round …

Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., expressed outrage over a video of Christians singing on a plane, leading many Republicans to attack her for what they suggested was anti-Chrsitian bigotry.

Alyssa Meyers / Morning Brew : Spotify's recent Podsights and Chartable acquisitions are raising concerns over the availability of third-party podcast metrics for advertisers and publishers   —  Some say it significantly reduces the number of third-party measurement options available.  —  When Spotify announced its acquisition …

Kate Kaye / Protocol : Virtual classroom startup Class is testing Intel's “emotion AI” tech that claims to detect bored, distracted, or confused students, raising privacy questions   —  When college instructor Angela Dancey wants to decipher whether her first-year English students comprehend what she's trying …

Mark Gurman / Bloomberg : iPad needs a “pro” mode when it is connected to a keyboard and trackpad, with Mac-like multitasking, a proper desktop, and more to serve its advanced users   —  Ahead of Apple's developers conference, here's how I suggest fixing its iPad software conundrum: a “pro mode” …