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Some Silicon Valley venture capitalists have begun to turn against President Joe Biden while openly touting their support for former President Donald Trump — a sea change for an industry that has overwhelmingly supported Democrats in years past.

Prominent moguls such as David Sacks, Chamath Palihapitiya, Marc Andreessen and Shaun Maguire have grown disillusioned with signature Biden policy proposals such as his call for a 25% “billionaire tax” as well as antitrust crackdowns waged by the Federal Trade Commission.

Its impossible to support Biden, Keith Rabois, an early executive at PayPal who also played a role in the growth of LinkedIn, Square and Slide, told The New York Times.

While Rabois said he was not a fan of Trump, he would be “focused on electing a GOP Congress and Senate.”

Tech executives are also unhappy with the stringent regulations imposed on the cryptocurrency sector by Gary Gensler, Biden’s pick to head the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Lina Khan, Biden’s chair of the FTC, has sought to move aggressively against large tech companies that critics say have amassed too much power in the marketplace.

Khan unsuccessfully challenged Microsoft’s $70 billion acquisition of video game maker Activision Blizzard as well as Meta’s attempt to buy virtual reality startup Within.

Last year, the FTC sued Amazon, accusing the e-commerce giant of being a monopoly.

Andreessen, founder of powerhouse VC firm Andreessen Horowitz, recently said there are “real issues” with the Biden administration.

A second Trump administration would be staffed by “very different kinds of people” particularly at the SEC and FTC, Andreessen said in a recent podcast interview.

Ben Horowitz, co-founder of Andreessen Horowitz, wrote in a blog post last year that his company would support any politician who backed “an optimistic technology-enabled future.”

Sacks, the entrepreneur and investor who made his fortune as chief operating officer at PayPal during its early days, plans to host a fundraiser for Trump as well as interview the former president on his “All In” podcast.

After the Jan. 6, 2021 riots at the US Capitol, Sacks said that the incident disqualified Trump from elected office.

But four years of a Biden presidency have changed Sacks’ mind, according to The New York Times.

“I have bigger disagreements with Biden than with Trump,” Sacks was quoted as telling a tech conference last week.

Sacks cited Biden’s tax proposal, which would penalize startup founders who are wont to offer stock options to employees.

Its a good reason for Silicon Valley to think really hard about who it wants to vote for, Sacks told tech investors at the conference.

Last month, Sacks was one of a handful of prominent tech moguls who attended an “anti-Biden” dinner alongside Elon Musk and Peter Thiel.

Palihapitiya, the venture capitalist who was Mark Zuckerberg’s vice president of user growth shortly after the founding of Facebook, has also flipped from backing Democrats in the past to endorsing Trump.

Palihapitiya, the founder of the venture capital firm Social Capital, plans to co-host the fundraiser for Trump alongside Sacks, according to the Times.

Such open expressions of support for Trump was virtually unheard of in Silicon Valley in recent election cycles.

Four years ago you had to issue an apology if you voted for him, Delian Asparouhov, an investor at the Thiel-backed Founders Fund, wrote on his X account.

Shaun Maguire, an investor at Sequoia Capital, has criticized Biden on social media, though he has refrained from directly supporting Trump.

Biden has been getting away with double standards his entire career

3 strike laws for thee but not for me (Hunter)

Keeping classified documents without punishment

And now withholding aid to an ally

Well see what happens this time https://t.co/cUh8qCRbMY

After Biden indicated that the US would withhold certain weapons to Israel in the midst of the war in Gaza, Maguire accused him of “getting away with double standards his entire career” — a reference to the Democrats’ drive to impeach Trump for threatening to withhold aid from Ukraine during his presidency.

“We’ll see what happens this time,” Maguire wrote on his X account on May 9.

The Post has sought comment from the White House.

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Zelenskyy is racing to beat Donald Trump’s peace plan deadline – but what will Russia do?

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Zelenskyy is racing to beat Donald Trump's peace plan deadline – but what will Russia do?

Washington woke up this morning to a flurry of developments on Ukraine.

It was the middle of the night in DC when a tweet dropped from Ukraine’s national security advisor, Rustem Umerov.

He said that the US and Ukraine had reached a “common understanding on the core terms of the agreement discussed in Geneva.”

He added that Volodymyr Zelenskyy would travel to America “at the earliest suitable date in November to complete final steps and make a deal with President Trump”.

Ukraine latest: ‘Delicate’ deal details must be sorted, White House says

By sunrise in Washington, a US official was using similar but not identical language to frame progress.

The official, speaking anonymously to US media, said that Ukraine had “agreed” to Trump’s peace proposal “with some minor details to be worked out”.

More on Donald Trump

In parallel, it’s emerged that talks have been taking place in Abu Dhabi. The Americans claim to have met both Russian and Ukrainian officials there, though the Russians have not confirmed attendance.

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Peace deal ‘agreement’: What we know

“I have nothing to say. We are following the media reports,” Dmitry Peskov, Vladimir Putin’s spokesperson, told Russian state media.

Trump is due to travel to his Florida resort Mar-a-Lago tonight, where he will remain until Sunday.

He set a deadline of Thursday – Thanksgiving – for some sort of agreement on his plan.

We know the plan has been changed from its original form, but it’s clear that Zelenskyy wants to be seen to agree to something quickly – that would go down well with President Trump.

Read more:
US hails ‘tremendous progress’ on Ukraine peace plan

In full: Europe’s 28-point counter proposal

My sense is that Zelenskyy will try to get to Mar-a-Lago as soon as he can. Before Thursday would be a push but would meet Trump’s deadline.

It will then be left for the Russians to state their position on the revised document.

All indications are that they will reject it. But maybe the secret Abu Dhabi talks will yield something.

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Four more arrests made over Louvre heist as £76m haul remains missing

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Four more arrests made over Louvre heist as £76m haul remains missing

Four more arrests have been made by French police investigating the Louvre museum heist.

Two men and two women from the Paris region were detained on Tuesday, prosecutor Laure Beccuau said.

Ms Beccuau’s statement did not say what role the quartet are suspected of having played in the robbery. The two men are aged 38 and 39, and the two women are aged 31 and 40.

They are being interrogated by police, who can hold them for questioning for 96 hours.

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Louvre: How ‘heist of the century’ unfolded

The latest arrests come after investigating magistrates filed preliminary charges against three men and one woman who were arrested last month.

Some of the French Crown Jewels, worth an estimated £76m, were stolen in the audacious October raid.

The haul – which included a diamond and emerald necklace Napoleon gave to Empress Marie-Louise, jewels linked to 19th-century Queens Marie-Amelie and Hortense, and Empress Eugenie’s pearl and diamond tiara – has not been recovered.

The heist was pulled off in mere minutes last month – and took place while the Louvre was open to visitors, raising doubts over the credibility of the world’s most-visited museum as a guardian for its priceless works.

On Sunday 19 October, two men used a stolen furniture lift to access the second floor Galerie d’Apollon.

They then cracked open display cases with angle grinders before escaping with their loot and fleeing on the back of two scooters driven by accomplices.

Read more:
Louvre director offers to resign
Gallery closed as structure in ‘dire state’

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Moment thieves escape Louvre in jewel heist

The Paris prosecutor previously said the robbery appeared to be the work of small-time criminals rather than professional gangsters.

Speaking shortly after the heist, art detective Arthur Brand told Sky News that detectives faced a “race against time” to recover the stolen treasure.

“These crown jewels are so famous, you just cannot sell them,” Mr Brand said. “The only thing they can do is melt the silver and gold down, dismantle the diamonds, try to cut them. That’s the way they will probably disappear forever.

“They [the police] have a week. If they catch the thieves, the stuff might still be there. If it takes longer, the loot is probably gone and dismantled. It’s a race against time.”

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‘Dead’ Thai woman sent to crematorium wakes up in coffin

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'Dead' Thai woman sent to crematorium wakes up in coffin

A woman brought in for cremation at a Thai temple was found alive in her coffin.

The 65-year-old had been taken to Wat Rat Prakhong Tham, a Buddhist temple on the outskirts of Bangkok, after she appeared to stop breathing two days earlier.

Her family had travelled hundreds of miles with her body in the coffin and were preparing for her to be cremated.

However, moments before the service began a shocked temple manager, Pairat Soodthoop, said he heard a faint knock coming from inside the coffin.

Ambulance workers lift the woman in her coffin. Pic: AP
Image:
Ambulance workers lift the woman in her coffin. Pic: AP

“I was a bit surprised, so I asked them to open the coffin, and everyone was startled,” he said.

“I saw her opening her eyes slightly and knocking on the side of the coffin. She must have been knocking for quite some time.”

The cremation was due to be live-streamed by the temple.

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Thairath, the nation’s best-selling newspaper, named the woman in question as Chonthirat Sakulkoo, and said she was brought in by her brother, Mongkol Sakulkoo.

The brother said she had been bedridden for about two years before her health deteriorated further and she became unresponsive, appearing to have stopped breathing, according to Mr Soodthoop

The woman in her coffin. Pic: AP
Image:
The woman in her coffin. Pic: AP

So, the brother placed her in a coffin and drove her 300 miles (500km) from their home in Phitsanulok province, in the north of the country, to the capital, Bangkok.

The Bangkok Post reported that the woman’s brother had been told by local officials that his sister had died.

The woman had wished to donate her organs to a hospital in the Thai capital, but her brother was turned away as he did not have the relevant paperwork.

Read more:
‘I attended my own send-off’: Inside a living funeral
Funeral director on why she speaks to dead people

Instead, he went to the temple, which offers a free cremation service.

After the woman was discovered alive she was assessed and sent to Bang Yai Hospital, Thairath reported, where she was treated for hypoglycemia, before being released back to her brother.

The woman in her coffin. Pic: AP
Image:
The woman in her coffin. Pic: AP

Asked how he felt to learn that his sister is still alive, Mr Sakulkoo said he was indifferent, according to the newspaper.

Mr Soodthoop, said the temple would cover her medical expenses.

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