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The Republican Party has lost one of its most significant backers, as tech billionaire Peter Thiel says he will no longer be donating to any political effort, including Donald Trump's 2024 presidential campaign.

Sources close to Thiel told Reuters that the famed investor declared "on multiple recent occasions that he had withdrawn from U.S. politics."

Born in Germany, Thiel cut his teeth in the finance and tech industries, making his fortune by co-founding PayPal PYPL and being an early investor in Facebook META , among many other enterprises.

His current net worth stands at $8.2 billion, according to Bloomberg.

Thiel had backed Trumps successful 2016 presidential campaign with $1.25 million. While he didn't support the former presidents 2020 campaign, he donated $35 million in the 2022 midterm elections, supporting 16 Republican candidates for federal congressional seats.

According to non-partisan research site OpenSecrets, Thiel Capital Thiel's VC firm was the fifth-largest donor to the Republican Party in 2022, and the11th largest overall donor when including all parties.

Privately-held logistics company Uline, owned by Richard and Elizabeth Uihlein, was listed as the largest donor of the 2022 cycle, having contributed $89.8 million to the Republican Party.

Citadel, a hedge fund led by investor Kenneth C. Griffin came in second with $72.7 million and trading firm Susquehanna International Group was third with $56.4 million.

Also Read: Ron DeSantis Says Xi Jinping Wants To Take Taiwan At Some Point: US Will Counter Chinas Hostile Action

A business associate of Thiel's said that the Republican Party's recent focus on "culture war" issues drew him away from the party, citing the partys position on abortion and transgender people's rights as examples.

The GOP should be more focused on how the U.S. can innovate and compete with China on the global market, said the source.

Earlier this month, The NY Times reported that Thiel is currently involved in one of many so-called "secret coalitions" of wealthy conservatives looking to "disrupt but advance the Republican agenda."

Grown dissatisfied with the political action of elected Republican politicians, these coalitions have allegedly invested hundreds of millions of dollars into side projects. The report indicates that Thiel is part of a coalition called the Rockbridge Network, which has invested $30 million on "conservative media, legal, policy and voter registration projects, among other initiatives."

Earlier this week, Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, Elizabeth Warren and other Democratic leaders expressed support for President Joe Biden's bid for the 2024 presidential candidacy.

Late last year, a report found that the Koch brothers, historically some of the wealthiest and most important contributors to the Republican Party, had been diverting funds to back Liz Cheney, as she considers a 2024 presidential campaign.

Still, a recent poll shows that Trump continues to be the favorite to win the Republican nomination, beating second-in-line Ron DeSantis in preliminary surveys.

Now Read: Joe Biden Endorsed By Bernie Sanders For Presidential Run: Last Thing This Country Needs Is A Donald Trump

Picture from Wikimedia Commons by Gage Skidmore.

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Panthers-Hurricanes Game 5 preview: Can Carolina force another game?

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Panthers-Hurricanes Game 5 preview: Can Carolina force another game?

All signs pointed to the Florida Panthers finishing off the Carolina Hurricanes in Game 4, but the Canes kept the series rolling with a 3-0 win on Monday.

Will the Panthers finish the story in Game 5? Or will the Hurricanes send the festivities back to South Florida again?

Here are matchup notes heading into Wednesday’s Game 5 from ESPN Research, as well as betting intel from ESPN BET:

More on Game 4: Recap | Grades

Matchup notes

Florida Panthers at Carolina Hurricanes
Game 5 | 8 p.m. ET | TNT

The Panthers’ odds to win the series are now -1600, adjusted from -5000 heading into Game 4. The Hurricanes’ odds have shifted to +750 (adjusted from +1500) after their win. The Panthers’ odds to win the Cup are now +105 (previously -110), while the Canes’ are now +1800. Sergei Bobrovsky is the leading Conn Smythe candidate in this series at +200, followed by Aleksander Barkov (+800).

Game 4 was the Canes’ first win in the round since Game 7 of the 2006 Eastern Conference finals against the Buffalo Sabres, snapping a 15-game conference finals losing streak. It was the longest losing streak in NHL playoff history for a team in the round preceding the Stanley Cup Final. The Hurricanes are now 4-4 all-time in Game 4s when trailing 3-0 in a best-of-seven series.

Frederik Andersen made 20 saves for his fifth career playoff shutout, his second with the Hurricanes. He joins Cam Ward (four), Kevin Weekes (two) and Petr Mrazek (two) as goaltenders with multiple playoff shutouts in Whalers/Hurricanes Stanley Cup playoffs history.

Carolina’s Logan Stankoven scored playoff goal No. 5 in the second period. He joins Erik Cole (six in 2002) and Warren Foegele (five in 2019) as the only rookies in Whalers/Hurricanes history to score at least five goals in a single Stanley Cup playoffs year.

Sebastian Aho scored an empty-net goal in the third period, his 32nd career playoff tally. That extends his own franchise record for career goals in the Stanley Cup playoffs.

The Panthers were shut out for the second time this postseason; both games were at home — the other instance was Game 6 of the second-round series against the Toronto Maple Leafs.

Florida went 0-4 on the power play in Game 4, and the team is now 0-8 with the man advantage in the last two games of this series after going 4-for-5 in Games 1 and 2.

Though he hasn’t scored a goal in the past two games, Sam Bennett has a team-leading nine this postseason. That is two shy of the franchise record in a single playoff year, currently held by Matthew Tkachuk (2023) and Carter Verhaeghe (2024).


Scoring leaders

GP: 16 | G: 6 | A: 9

GP: 14 | G: 5 | A: 9

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Liverpool fan says his baby was flung 15ft in his pram and his partner run over during trophy parade

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Liverpool fan says his baby was flung 15ft in his pram and his partner run over during trophy parade

A father has told Sky News how his partner was driven over, and his baby son was flung 15ft in his pram, after they were hit by a vehicle during the Liverpool parade collision.

Daniel Everson, 36, had been with Sheree Aldridge and their five-month-old baby, Teddy, at Liverpool FC’s victory parade on Monday.

“The best day of my life turned into worst”, said Daniel, a lifelong fan of ‘The Reds’.

Daniel described the moment the car came towards him and his family.

“I tried to hold on to the front of the car and try and stop it, push it, do whatever I could [to stop it] from hitting my partner and my baby.

'The best day of my life turned into worst', Daniel Everson told Sky News.
Image:
Daniel Everson was in the crowd for the Liverpool trophy parade when the incident took place

“Me and my partner were flat on the roof, on the bonnet… we were just both trying to hold on for dear life with Ted next to us.

“And my partner went under the wheels of the car, of the front of the car, and it rolled over her leg, and I just bounced off to the side, but my boy and his pram got bounced totally in the opposite direction – about 15ft down the road.

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“As soon as that happened, I just started screaming for my partner, and I found her and I asked where Teddy was, and she didn’t know… and I found him and he was okay, thank God.

“He was in the road, in his pram, on his back, and I grabbed him. I chucked the pushchair to the side and I ran up to some paramedics with him.”

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The suspect is being held on suspicion of attempted murder, dangerous driving and drug driving.

Daniel, from Telford, said he felt like he was in “hell” as he rushed back to find Sheree.

“I had to carry her up the road with four police officers holding her while she was screaming and crying. At that point, I didn’t know what was wrong with her, but I could see the injuries to her leg,” he explained.

Sheree, 36, is recovering at Aintree University Hospital after suffering muscle tissue damage. Daniel has been allowed to return home with Teddy after he was assessed at Alder Hey Children’s Hospital.

“I feel a lot of emotions right now. Upset, angry, traumatised. A lot of unanswered questions that need to be answered.

To me, it just wasn’t handled properly – the situation with the car getting that far into the crowd, in my opinion, he should not have got anywhere near us.”

Merseyside Police have now been given more time to question a 53-year-old arrested after a car struck a crowd at Liverpool FC’s victory parade on Monday.

The suspect, who police have described as a white British man from the local area, is being held on suspicion of attempted murder, dangerous driving, and drug driving.

Police have said the extra time they have been given to question the suspect runs into Thursday.

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Pakistan announces Bitcoin strategic reserve

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Pakistan announces Bitcoin strategic reserve

Pakistan announces Bitcoin strategic reserve

Bilal Bin Saqib, head of Pakistan’s crypto council, announced on May 28 that the country is moving to establish a strategic Bitcoin reserve.

Speaking at the Bitcoin 2025 conference in Las Vegas, Nevada, Saqib said the government of Pakistan followed the United States’ lead in establishing a Bitcoin strategic reserve and is embracing pro-crypto regulatory policies. The government official told the audience:

“Today is a very historic day. Today, I announce the Pakistani government is setting up its own government-led Bitcoin Strategic Reserve, and we want to thank the United States of America again because we were inspired by them.”

The announcement represents a significant departure from the government of Pakistan’s previous stance on cryptocurrencies, holding that crypto would never be legal in the country.

Pakistan’s shift reflects the broader trend of nation-states adopting pro-crypto policies following the regulatory shift in Washington, DC under the President Donald Trump administration.

Government, Bitcoin Reserve, Bitcoin2025
Bilal Bin Saqib at the Bitcoin 2025 conference announcing a Bitcoin strategic reserve. Source: Cointelegraph

Related: Pakistan appoints special assistant to PM on blockchain and crypto

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