Immigrant rights group sues Arizona’s immigration law

2024 Election

Show Caption Hide Caption Immigration lawyer talks AZ’s status as ground zero for immigration Delia Salvatierra discusses Donald Trump’s plans to deport undocumented migrants and Arizona’s status as ground zero for immigration on Nov. 21, 2024. Leer en español Living United for Change in Arizona (LUCHA) filed a lawsuit against the State of Arizona to dismantle…

QVC is betting on TikTok to help revive its live shopping business

Business News

QVC Group will host the first ever 24/7 live shopping streams in the U.S. on social media platform TiKTok beginning Wednesday.
The move comes as QVC, which sells products through its cable TV, streaming and online platforms, has been working to turn around its business after facing significant challenges.
CEO David Rawlinson II has been tasked with the transformation — and social media is at the forefront of QVC Group’s strategy.

FILE PHOTO: Signage is displayed at the entrance to the QVC Studio Park in West Chester, Pennsylvania, U.S., June 4, 2018. 
Brendan McDermid | Reuters

QVC Group is launching the first-ever nonstop live shopping streams on TikTok in the U.S. in a bid to revive its business and broaden its audience.
Beginning Wednesday, hosts from QVC’s TV networks will also be featured on the app in addition to TikTok creators.

QVC is best known for its live shopping TV networks QVC and HSN (formerly Home Shopping Network) that once captured a large swath of viewers and consumers. It also offers streaming and online retail options. But as the company looks to broaden its audience and turn around its business, it’s shifting its focus to social media.
While live shopping on social media, namely TikTok, has exploded in China, it’s been slow to take off in the U.S. And the partnership comes as TikTok’s future in the U.S. is uncertain.
Still, the partnership announced Wednesday builds on QVC’s earlier team up with TikTok. It also gives TikTok Shop its first constant, live stream of shoppable content. QVC products have been available through the TikTok Shop since August, nearly a year after the app introduced the live, shoppable experience to its users in the U.S.
Since launching on the TikTok Shop, the company said more than 74,000 TikTok creators have featured QVC products on their shoppable videos and livestreams. Wednesday’s announcement is sure to expand that, said David Rawlinson II, president and CEO of QVC Group Inc.
“Everybody’s been talking about this being the next big thing in retail for five or 10 years but it never quite has hit,” Rawlinson said. “I think this is the start of it really hitting. And that’s the TikTok bet. That’s our bet.”

Arrows pointing outwards

QVC on TikTok.
Courtesy: QVC Group Inc.

Business revamp

QVC Group — which is part of QVC Group Inc. and controlled by media mogul John Malone — is aiming to do more than bring its longstanding business of constant live shopping from TV to social media.
The deal comes as the company recently concluded a turnaround plan, known as Project Athens, after what Rawlinson referred to as a “perfect storm” of issues.
At the height of the pandemic, QVC’s businesses saw a surge in sales and viewership, like many retailers and media companies. But the drop-off was steep as stay-at-home orders lifted and consumers started spending on live events and travel rather than retail.
QVC’s problems were then amplified. More consumers cut the cord and fled the pay TV bundle, weighing on the company’s TV networks. The retail industry also had to contend with supply chain issues and heightened competition in online shopping from the rise of Temu and others.
Things worsened for the company in December 2021, months after Rawlinson took the helm of QVC Group Inc. A deadly fire ripped through the company’s North Carolina fulfillment center. QVC lost a half a billion dollars in inventory, Rawlinson said.
“I sort of felt like I was hired to transform the company, but because of this perfect storm of events, the first job turned out to be saving the company,” Rawlinson said.
Through a series of cost-cutting measures, QVC saw its profitability improve and its debt load ease. Still, the transformation is far from complete. Rawlinson noted during a February investor call that QVC has yet to “achieve stable revenue,” and that will be its main focus moving forward.
The drop-off in TV viewership has been pronounced. When comparing 2024 to 2018, QVC’s and HSN’s main channels reached 44% and 47% fewer homes, respectively, Rawlinson said on February’s call.
Last week, the company said it would lay off about 900 employees and consolidate its operations in its West Chester, Pennsylvania, headquarters.
The partnership with TikTok comes days after the company released its annual report to shareholders, which noted its focus on social media and efforts to shift the business.
“As traditional TV declines and a mix of video platforms takes a greater share of customer attention, we must hurry our expansion beyond TV to find growth. Our strategy is to transform QVC Group into a live social shopping company,” QVC Group Inc. wrote in a letter to shareholders in March.
In the letter, QVC said it would “intensify” its efforts in social media and streaming to notch $1.5 billion in run-rate revenue from these platforms in the next three years.
“Social is just the natural evolution of what we’ve always done,” Rawlinson said.
QVC’s audience and shoppers typically skew female and over 50. Last year, CNBC reported that the company signed a deal to add USA Pickleball to its platforms to capitalize on that audience and find new avenues to transform its business.

Ticking clock

TikTok has officially launched its e-commerce service TikTok Shop in the US. 
Costfoto | Nurphoto | Getty Images

TikTok has seen explosive growth in the U.S., and the company said it has 170 million users. But its fate in the country remains unclear.
The Chinese-owned social media app is once again staring down at a deadline that could see it effectively banned on April 5, stemming from a national security law originally signed by former President Joe Biden that requires parent company ByteDance to divest its American operations.
The original deadline was Jan. 19, but President Donald Trump signed an executive order that granted ByteDance 75 more days to divest the U.S. portion of its business.
Although the future remains uncertain, creators appear to be cautiously optimistic this time around that TikTok will remain in the U.S., CNBC reported Tuesday. Trump has since said he may reduce tariffs on China in order to help move forward a deal in which ByteDance exits U.S. operations.
Even with the possibility of a ban in the U.S., Rawlinson said moving forward with the partnership on TikTok Shop was the best bet for QVC’s business.
“TikTok has a very widely penetrated user base in the U.S. We know a lot of our customers, and our future customers, are there, and we know that shopping is developing and growing very quickly in really interesting ways there,” Rawlinson said.
“So we felt like that’s the right way to try to change how shopping is done in the U.S. That’s the full calculus for us. We didn’t try to guess the future of TikTok,” he added.
— CNBC’s Jonathan Vanian contributed to this article.

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Eric Trump says he moved to crypto after family business became ‘most canceled company’

Business News

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Eric Trump told CNBC that his family was “the most canceled company, probably on Earth.”
That pushed them into crypto, he said.
Among his latest endeavors is American Bitcoin, a bitcoin mining venture with Hut 8.

Eric Trump says his family was “the most canceled company, probably on Earth.”
That was then.

With his dad, President Donald Trump, back in the White House, he sees a new money-making opportunity.
“It actually is what drove us toward cryptocurrency,” the president’s middle son told CNBC, referring to the Trump family’s latest business endeavors. “You realize that cryptocurrency was a lot faster, it was a lot more pragmatic, it was a lot more transparent, it was exponentially cheaper.”
In 2022, about two years after the end of President Trump’s first term, two subsidiaries of the Trump Organization were convicted by a jury in New York of multiple crimes, including tax fraud, falsifying business records and conspiracy. The guilty verdicts on all 17 charged counts came three weeks after Trump declared his 2024 candidacy.
Last month, the Trump Organization sued Capital One in Florida over allegedly “unjustifiably” closing more than 300 of the company’s bank accounts following the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol. The lawsuit claimed Capitol One was acting on “unsubstantiated, ‘woke’ beliefs that it needed to distance itself from President Trump and his conservative political views.”
Prior to Trump’s return to the White House, the Trump Organization unveiled a new ethics plan that said it would limit the president’s involvement in management decisions and other aspects of the business while he’s in office.

President Donald Trump (2R), flanked by US Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick (L), US Secretary of Treasury Scott Bessent (2L) and White House AI and Crypto Czar David Sacks (R), attends a the White House Crypto Summit in Washington, DC, March 7, 2025. 
Jim Watson | Afp | Getty Images

But crypto is another matter. President Trump and First Lady Melania Trump launched meme coins just before the new term, adding billions of dollars of paper wealth to the family’s net worth.
Eric Trump and older brother Donald Trump Jr. are going even bigger. They recently announced plans to launch a U.S. dollar–backed stablecoin through their new venture, World Liberty Financial, and a new bitcoin mining company called American Bitcoin, co-founded with Hut 8 CEO Asher Genoot.
Eric Trump described his entry into crypto not as a financial bet, but as a form of resistance, and said the move began during what he calls the “war on the industry.” Banks were closing accounts, the SEC was cracking down on exchanges, and crypto users were being “debanked” for simply holding coins, he said.
“They were going after people,” he said. “They were suing everybody. Banks were closing down people that just wanted to own bitcoin.”
That’s when Eric Trump said he started associating with like-minded people in and around crypto.
“At this point, I know almost everybody in the industry in some way, shape or form,” he said. “I fell in love with the industry, you know, a few years ago, and really dove head in.”
At World Liberty Financial, the Trump brothers are backing a stablecoin play aimed at competing with players like Tether. Eric Trump didn’t have a specific answer when asked how the project would stand out in a crowded field, saying only, “We’re gonna do it better, cheaper, faster, and we’re gonna do it with a lot of passion.”

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Meawhile, he’s working with Genoot to stand up American Bitcoin, a new mining venture that aims to scale quickly, and possibly go public.
Genoot told CNBC he connected with the Trump kids through mutual friends and began trading stories about their paths into crypto, leading to a business alliance.
Genoot said the company is being separated from Hut 8’s broader energy and artificial intelligence infrastructure platform.
“We’re actually carving out the majority of our assets,” Genoot said. “We’re putting them into American Bitcoin.”
Eric Trump, who is co-founder and chief strategy officer of American Bitcoin, said “every single sophisticated country is using their excess power to mine bitcoin.”
Though his family is closely linked to the current administration’s pro-crypto stance, Eric Trump said he has no role in policy and no contact with the White House. His dad’s presidency was heavily funded by the crypto industry and, since returning to the White House, President Trump has rewarded his backers, signing an executive order to create a strategic bitcoin reserve, and pardoning Silk Road creator Ross Ulbricht as well as the three co-founders of the BitMEX crypto exchange.
“I don’t have anything to do with government, and frankly, I don’t want anything to do with government,” Eric Trump said.
But he made clear that the U.S. needs a regulatory framework that allows crypto to thrive.
“You better believe that China is running very hard at this. The entire Middle East is running very hard,” he said. “We won the space race. We better win the crypto race.”
WATCH: Eric Trump, Hut 8 CEO outline partnership to launch new bitcoin mining company

Myanmar Junta Soldiers Shoot at Chinese Earthquake Aid Convoy

US & Canada

The military junta that rules Myanmar admitted on Wednesday that its forces fired “warning shots” at a Chinese convoy that was attempting to deliver humanitarian aid to victims of Friday’s devastating earthquake. The junta has been heavily criticized for interfering with relief efforts, blocking telecommunications, and continuing its devastating airstrikes against rebel positions. A nine-vehicle…

Viet Book Fest celebrates 50 years of diasporic literature following fall of Saigon

Arts & Culture, Books

Đặng Thơ Thơ, in her thirties and in a new country, was able to turn what was just a hobby in Vietnam into her occupation in the United States.In 1992, she immigrated from Saigon to California and by 2002, the Vietnamese American Arts and Letters Association was hosting the signing of her first short story collection, “The Winter Exhibition.”Two decades later, the novelist, short-story writer and editor will be a panelist for VAALA’s fourth Viet Book Fest — an all-day literary event on April 6 celebrating Vietnamese literature.The event, to be held at the Bowers Museum in Santa Ana, brings together acclaimed Vietnamese authors who will speak on their writing and this year’s theme: “A Celebration of Vietnamese Diasporic Literature and Storytelling in light of the 50th anniversary of the Vietnam War’s end.”For Thơ Thơ, the milestone is an opportunity to “promote Vietnamese literature, strengthen our community ties and provide a platform for discussion between generations.”Thơ Thơ co-founded the Vietnamese literary e-zine damau.org in 2006, serving now as its editor-in-chief and overseeing its creative direction. The inspiration behind Da Màu, Thơ Thơ said, is to “to promote awareness and acceptance through literary art and expression.”Da Màu, translating to “skin color,” curates special issues published entirely in Vietnamese. The magazine delves into a wide range of topics, spanning language, race, gender, sexuality and other literary genres. Currently, Da Màu features a special issue commemorating 50 years of diasporic literature, parallel with the theme of Viet Book Fest. For the book festival, Thơ Thơ said she will speak on publishing in the diaspora.“I started writing when I was in Vietnam, but because of censorship and our family background, I did not dream of having my stories published,” Thơ Thơ said, speaking on her own literary journey. “Isn’t that a privilege? That I can make a living with the Vietnamese language.”Legal scholar and author Lan Cao will also be featured in this year’s Book Fest, but to speak on the evolution of Vietnamese American voices in literature.Cao is the author of “The Lotus and the Storm,” “Family in Six Tones” and “Monkey Bridge,” a semi-autobiographical story of a girl and her mother as they flee from Vietnam to the United States at the end of the Vietnam War. Cao herself was flown out of Vietnam in 1975 and came to the States as a 13-year-old refugee.But for Cao, the 50th anniversary is a “quantitative categorization of something that can not be quantified.”“A marker of having left a country, starting over in a new country, rebuilding your life, that, to me, is an ongoing process,” Cao said. “Even though I have spent 50 years in this country and fewer in Vietnam, there’s always the sense that there’s a dislocation.”Growing up, Cao found solace in books, she said. Her favorites include Salman Rushdie’s “Midnight’s Children,” Toni Morrison’s “The Bluest Eye” and James Joyce’s works.Cao’s passion for literature, she said, is inseparable from the circumstances that persuaded it.“I want a place to explore that chaos of having a fragment in one place and a fragment in another place,” she said. “Writing is a place that the unruly part of me can explore.”For the upcoming Book Fest, Cao’s co-panelists include author and journalist Andrew Lam, whose newest book is “Stories from the Edge of the Sea,” and Viet Thanh Nguyen, author of several novels, including the Pulitzer Prize-winning “The Sympathizer,” recently adapted into an HBO TV series.Find out more about the Viet Book Fest, including the schedule and panelists, at vaala.org.Originally Published: April 2, 2025 at 1:25 PM PDT

Scientists Reconstruct Face of Early Human Who Lived 16,000 Years Ago

Science and Health

Reconstructed face of a prehistoric human. Credit: Guangxi Institute of Cultural Relics Protection and ArchaeologyScientists have reconstructed the face of a prehistoric human who lived about 16,000 years ago, using a well-preserved skull found in a cave in southern China. The project gives a rare glimpse into what people in the region may have looked like in the past.
The discovery was made at Yahuai Cave, located on a hill in Bolang Village, Longan County, in the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region.
Key to understanding early human life
Archaeologists excavated the site between 2015 and 2018 and uncovered what experts say is the only complete human skull from that time ever found in the region.

“The study of the skull fossil from the Yahuai Cave site is helpful in developing our understanding of the physical characteristics of early humans in south China, and is of great importance to questions such as how the prehistoric humans there migrated and spread,” said Xie Guangmao, a researcher with the Guangxi Institute of Cultural Relics Protection and Archaeology.

Xie said the fossil holds significant value. It allows researchers to study burial customs and track how people moved and interacted across the region during the late Stone Age.
China-UK team uses 3D technology
A research team from China and the United Kingdom collaborated to reconstruct the face in 2023. The team included experts from Guangxi Normal University, Beijing Normal University, the Chinese Academy of Sciences, and Alder Hey Children’s Hospital in the U.K.
The group used 3D modeling software to rebuild the face and examine the skull’s shape. According to their study, the ancient skull was larger than modern female skulls but smaller than male skulls.

Its features included a high forehead, soft facial lines, narrow eyes, a flat nose, and full lips. Researchers say the shape closely matches a modern female skull, though with some differences.
The findings were published in the Journal of Archaeological Science. Experts believe this research could help future studies about how early humans looked and how facial features gradually changed in East Asia.
A crossroads of human movement
Guangxi, located between East and Southeast Asia, has long been a key region for human movement. Scientists say the skull from Yahuai Cave could help answer questions about early migration and cultural exchange in the area.
This is not the first digital facial reconstruction in China. In a similar project last year, researchers in northeast China recreated the face of a man from the Hongshan culture, dating back more than 5,000 years.
Images released by the Guangxi Institute of Cultural Relics Protection and Archaeology show the final reconstructed face and the step-by-step process used to rebuild it.

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