Category: World

When J.K. Rowling first went public in June 2020 about her belief that transgender women are men and transgender men are women, many of the stars of the “Harry Potter” and “Fantastic Beasts” movies — including Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson, Rupert Grint and Eddie Redmayne — immediately spoke out in support of trans and nonbinary rights and identity. Two of the biggest Harry Potter fan communities, MuggleNet and The Leaky Cauldron, denounced Rowling’s views and severed ties with the author’s future projects. And Warner Bros. released a carefully worded statement that “a diverse and inclusive culture has never been more important to our company and to our audiences around the world” — which, while not mentioning Rowling or trans and nonbinary people, did at least put some rhetorical distance between the studio and the creative force behind one of its most enduring and lucrative franchises.

Four years later, the landscape looks quite different. Under new leadership, Warner Bros. Discovery has aggressively expanded the reach of Rowling’s Wizarding World, centered on HBO’s impending revival of Rowling’s book series as a longform TV show, led by showrunner Francesca Gardiner and director Mark Mylod, both alums of “Succession.” HBO chief Casey Bloys told reporters at a press event on Nov. 12 that Rowling was “very, very involved in the process selecting the writer and the director,” and her anti-trans statements “haven’t affected the casting or hiring of writers or productions staff” for the show. And a spokesperson for the network said in a statement to Variety that its parent company has “been working with J.K. Rowling and in the Harry Potter business for over 20 years” and “her contribution has been invaluable.”

Ellen DeGeneres and Portia de Rossi have reportedly left the US after Donald Trump’s second presidential win.

Sources close to the couple told TMZ that they decided to “get the hell out” of the country immediately following the President-elect’s victory over Kamala Harris.

The pair was feeling “very disillusioned” with the news, per the outlet, and they have since settled into a new home in the Cotswolds in South West England — nearly two hours from London.

According to TMZ, they purchased the property before the 2024 election.

In light of the move, the couple — who tied the knot in 2008 — are reportedly planning to list their home in Montecito, Calif.

Page Six reached out to reps for DeGeneres and de Rossi for comment.

TMZ’s report comes after Trump supporters flooded DeGeneres’ social media comments after the former president was re-elected.

“Didn’t Ellen say she’d leave the country if trump is elected?? ” one user commented on her Nov. 7 Instagram post.

“Aren’t you supposed to be leaving the country by now,” another wondered.

Page Six could not find any recent statements made by DeGeneres about plans to move out of the country due to the 2024 election results.

However, the “Finding Dory” star was pretty vocal about her support of Harris — even reportedly donating $3,300 to the vice president’s campaign.

Source : https://pagesix.com/2024/11/20/celebrity-news/ellen-degeneres-and-portia-de-rossi-get-the-hell-out-of-us-after-donald-trumps-presidential-win/

Like something straight out of a fairytale, a once prosperous fishing village has been left abandoned and has been taken over by a blanket of plants instead.

The abandoned village of Houtouwan on Shengshan Island, an archipelago off the eastern coast of China, was once a prosperous fishing village with over 3,000 residents in the 1980s.

However, due to its remote and hard-to-access location, its residents began to move out in the 90s. In 2002 it was officially depopulated and merged into a nearby village.

After decades of abandonment, empty houses in the cliffside village – some still furnished – have been inhabited by an entirely new type of occupant: lush green climbing plants.

Fast-forward to today, it has become something of an internet sensation and an unusual tourism hotspot, intriguing visitors from all over the world to explore this “mesmerising”, apocalyptic-looking village.

Houtouwan soared to fame in 2015 when a series of photographs of the deserted village went viral, leaving the officials of the Shengsi archipelago cautious of the impact brought by the sudden surge of tourists.

“Our telephone lines are jammed and we are getting more tourists to Houtouwan,” Chen Bo, an official of Shengshan Island, said in an official statement at the time.

They added: “Houtouwan of Shengshan hasn’t been equipped with the conditions to open to tourists… We urge visitors to preserve its tranquility for now.”

Source : https://www.express.co.uk/news/world/1977669/mesmerising-abandoned-ghost-village-nature-houtouwan

“Think about the difference between a drone and an ocean liner.”

An international consortium of scientists, engineers, and urban planners called Project Hyperion has launched a design competition for a massive multi-generational spaceship that could sustain and transport humans on long journey across the interstellar expanse.

While many communities around the world have been wondering what to make of Donald Trump’s presidential re-election, a village on the Italian island of Sardinia has sniffed a potential opportunity.

Like many other places in rural Italy, Ollolai has long been trying to persuade outsiders to move in to revive its fortunes after decades of depopulation. It’s been selling dilapidated houses for as little as one euro – just over a dollar – to sweeten the deal.

Now, following the November 5 vote outcome, it’s launched a website aimed at would-be American expats, offering up more cheap homes in the hope that those upset by the result will rush to snap up one of its empty properties.

“Are you worned (sic) out by global politics? Looking to embrace a more balanced lifestyle while securing new opportunities?” the website asks. “It’s time to start building your European escape in the stunning paradise of Sardinia.”

Mayor Francesco Columbu tells CNN that the website was specifically created to attract American voters in the wake of the presidential elections. He says he loves the United States and is convinced Americans are the best people to help revive his community.

“We just really want, and will focus on, Americans above all,” he says. “We can’t of course ban people from other countries to apply, but Americans will have a fast-track procedure. We are betting on them to help us revive the village, they are our winning card.”

‘Preferential treatment’
Columbu says the village is now offering three tiers of accommodation: Free temporary homes to certain digital nomads, one-euro homes in need of renovations, and ready-to-occupy houses for prices up to 100,000 euros ($105,000).

The mayor says he’s set up a special team to guide interested buyers through every step of the purchase, from organizing tailored private tours of the available dwellings to finding contractors, builders and navigating required paperwork.

He says photos and plans of available empty properties will be soon be uploaded to the website.

In the past century, Ollolai’s population has shrunk from 2,250 to 1,300 with only a handful of babies born each year. Many families left the village during tough economic times, in search of work and better lives.

Over the last few years, the poulation has further dropped to barely 1,150 residents.

While the village may be desperate to lure newcomers in an attempt to stop depopulation, the offer of “preferential treatment” to Americans, as Columbu describes it, may seem a bit controversial.

The website does not mentioned having a US passport as a prerequisite, but the mayor says US citizens will be favored above potential applicants of other nationalities.

“Of course, we can’t specifically mention the name of one US president who just got elected, but we all know that he’s the one from whom many Americans want to get away from now and leave the country,” Columbo adds.

“We have specifically created this website now to meet US post-elections relocation needs. The first edition of our digital nomad scheme which launched last year was already solely for Americans.”

The mayor says the town hall’s website has been flooded recently with 38,000 requests of information on houses, mostly coming from the United States.

“So we were really looking to create a platform that caters to US citizens, and to group together our various projects,” says Columbu.

A remote paradise
Ollolai has previously tried to lure new residents with appealing housing schemes.

In 2018, as first reported by CNN, the town hall started selling dilapidated empty homes for one euro. Then it went on to rent empty working spaces for a symbolic one euro.

Lastly, starting last year, it launched a “work from Ollolai” program for digital nomads. So far four Americans have been hosted in fully equipped dwellings for a symbolic one euro. In return, they had to create something for the community, like an artwork or book.

The town hall pays to rent the homes from local families for the remote workers, paying roughly 350 euros per month for multi-floor, two-bedroom dwellings. Utilities, bills and council taxes are also covered.

But revival plans have not been going as well as local authorities had hoped. Since 2018, only 10 homes have been sold for one euro and renovated, says Columbu.

“The village remains half empty, we still have about 100 unoccupied cheap homes potentially on sale, ready to move in. We have mapped and listed them all, and soon photos will be online for buyers to take a look at.”

Most buildings are located in the historical center and come in varying sizes.

They’re picturesque old farmers’ and shepherds’ dwellings made from local granite rocks. Some turnkey properties are even furbished and equipped with modern comforts.

There are zero demographic requirements for US applicants; these can be people of all ages, pensioners, remote workers or entrepreneurs who wish to open a small business in the village.

Ollolai is off the beaten track, ideal for those who want to unplug and live a simpler life.

Located in a wild mountain region, it rises on a pristine patch of land where ancient farming traditions live on. It boasts fresh, pollution-free air, few crowds and great views.

Source : https://6abc.com/post/ollolai-italy-offers-1-homes-americans-upset-donald-trumps-presidential-election/15563055/

Humanity must begin preparations to no longer be in charge of Earth because of artificial intelligence, according to a new book from the late statesman Henry Kissinger and a pair of the country’s leading technologists.

The rise of AI creating “superhuman” people is a major topic of concern in “Genesis,” published Tuesday by Little, Brown and Company. It’s the “last book” from Kissinger, according to the publisher’s parent company Hachette. Kissinger was a longtime U.S. diplomat and strategist who died last year at age 100.

Kissinger’s co-authors, former Google CEO Eric Schmidt and longtime Microsoft senior executive Craig Mundie, finished the combined work after Kissinger’s death, and The Washington Times has obtained an advance copy. Mr. Schmidt and Mr. Mundie wrote they were among the last people to speak with Kissinger and sought to honor his dying request to finish the manuscript.

The authors offer a bracing message, warning that AI tools have already started outpacing human capabilities so people might need to consider biologically engineering themselves to ensure they are not rendered inferior or wiped out by advanced machines.

In a section titled “Coevolution: Artificial Humans,” the three authors encourage people to think now about “trying to navigate our role when we will no longer be the only or even the principal actors on our planet.”

“Biological engineering efforts designed for tighter human fusion with machines are already underway,” they add.

Current efforts to integrate humans with machine include brain-computer interfaces, a technology that the U.S. military identified last year as of the utmost importance. Such interfaces allow for a direct link between the brain’s electrical signals and a device that processes them to accomplish a given task, such as controlling a battleship.

The authors also raise the prospect of a society that chooses to create a hereditary genetic line of people specifically designed to work better with forthcoming AI tools. The authors describe such redesigning as undesirable, with the potential to cause “the human race to split into multiple lines, some infinitely more powerful than others.”

“Altering the genetic code of some humans to become superhuman carries with it other moral and evolutionary risks,” the authors write. “If AI is responsible for the augmentation of human mental capacity, it could create in humanity a simultaneous biological and psychological reliance on ‘foreign’ intelligence.”

Such a physical and intellectual dependence may create new challenges to separate man from the machines, the authors warn. As a result, designers and engineers should try to make the machines more human, rather than make humans more like machines.

But that raises a new problem: choosing which humans to make the machines follow in a diverse and divided world.

“No single culture should expect to dictate to another the morality of the intellects on which it would be relying,” the authors wrote. “So, for each country, machines would have to learn different rules, formal and informal, moral, legal, and religious, as well as, ideally, different rules for each user and, within baseline constraints, for every conceivable inquiry, task, situation, and context.”

The authors say society can expect technical difficulties, but those difficulties will pale in comparison with designing machines to follow a moral code, as the authors said they do not believe good and evil are self-evident concepts.

Kissinger, Mr. Schmidt and Mr. Mundie urged greater attention to aligning machines with human values. The trio said they would prefer that no artificial general intelligence surpassing humanity’s intellect is allowed to emerge unless it is properly aligned with the human species.

The authors said they are rooting for humanity’s survival and hope people will figure it out, but that the task will not be easy.

Source : https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2024/nov/19/henry-kissinger-final-warning-prepare-superhuman-p/

Philip Nitschke, who is the director of the company behind the Sarco pod, acknowledged the latest controversy around his assisted suicide pods.

The assisted suicide activist behind a new “suicide capsule” broke his silence and slammed the accusations about his suspected first U.S. female customer being strangled as “absurd.”

Philip Nitschke, head of the advocacy group Exit International, said Wednesday he did not witness the woman’s death on Sept. 23 in person, but he saw it via video and claimed the device worked as planned.

He also clarified it was the first and only time it has been used so far.

Florian Willet, head of the Swiss affiliate of Exit International, was immediately taken into custody after being present for her death. He is reportedly still in custody.

Weeks later, Nitschke has broken his silence, citing desperation and fear for Willet’s plight. In an article published Wednesday, he told Swiss newspaper Neue Zuercher Zeitung that he may remain behind bars for weeks or months until a possible trial.

He also fiercely denied accusations of foul play regarding the first-and-only death of a 64-year-old unidentified woman from the United States.

Nitschke, a trained medical doctor, said the woman had “compromised immune function” that made her “subject to chronic infection.”

The $1 million “Sarco” pod was designed to allow a person to die within minutes in a reclining seat after pushing a button, which injects nitrogen gas into the sealed chamber.

The gas knocks the person unconscious and allows them to die by suffocation in minutes without pain.

On Oct. 26, Volkskrant reported Swiss Prosecutor Peter Sticherhad said in court that the woman may have been strangled.

Nitschke said of the allegations: “It is absurd because we’ve got film that the capsule wasn’t opened. She got in herself, pressed the button herself – and Florian rang the police” after she died.

Source : https://www.the-express.com/news/world-news/155318/suicide-capsule-creator-Sarco-pod-breaks-silence

Sararat travelled with her friend Siriporn Khanwong, 32, to Ratchaburi province, west of Bangkok in April 2023, where they took part in a Buddhist protection ritual at a river, police said.

Siriporn collapsed and died after a meal with Sararat, who made no effort to help her, investigators said.

Traces of cyanide were found in Siriporn’s body and her phone, money and bags were missing when she was found, police said.

“You got justice, my child. Today, there is justice in this world,” Siriporn’s mother, Thongpin Kiatchanasiri, said in front of the courtroom, as she held a photo of her daughter.

Thongpin said that out of anger, she could not stand to look at Sararat, who she said was smiling when the sentence was being read. Sararat pleaded not guilty to the charges against her.

Her former husband, an ex-police officer, and her lawyer, were handed prison terms of one year and four months, and two years respectively, for hiding evidence to help her evade prosecution. They had also pleaded not guilty before Wednesday’s sentencing.

The ex-husband, Vitoon Rangsiwuthaporn, gave himself up last year. Police said he most likely helped Sararat poison an ex-boyfriend, Suthisak Poonkwan.

Sararat was also ordered to pay Siriporn’s family two million baht ($57,667; £45,446) in compensation.

Cyanide starves the body’s cells of oxygen, which can induce heart attacks. Early symptoms include dizziness, shortness of breath and vomiting.

Source : https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c1jr2z9315lo

High-tech equipment made by a UK firm worth $2.1m (£1.6m) has been sold to companies in Russia connected to the military, customs documents seen by BBC News suggest.

The documents indicate the British-made camera lenses were shipped by a company registered in Kyrgyzstan, apparently run by a swimwear model.

The UK manufacturer, Beck Optronic Solutions, which has worked on British Challenger 2 tanks and F35 fighter jets, told us it had not breached sanctions, had no dealings with Russia or Kyrgyzstan, and was unaware of the shipments.

Our investigation raises questions about the effectiveness of sanctions imposed on Russia since the war in Ukraine began.

The trail led us to Valeria Baigascina, a 25-year-old, originally from the central Asian state of Kazakhstan but now living in Belarus. A part-time model, she posts regularly about her jet-set lifestyle on social media. In the past two years she has visited Dubai, Sri Lanka and Malaysia.

Her social media gave no indication she was also the director of a firm which had channelled millions of dollars’ worth of equipment to sanctioned companies in Russia, as our search of customs documents revealed.

According to Belarusian registration details, Ms Baigascina was the founder and director of a company called Rama Group LLC. Set up in February 2023, it is registered to an address in Bishkek, the capital of Kyrgyzstan – 2,300 miles (3,713 km) from her home in Belarus.

Both countries are former Soviet states with strong trading links to Russia. Belarus remains Moscow’s strongest ally in Europe.

Trade data shows that since sanctions on Russia were introduced in February 2022, UK exports to Kyrgyzstan have increased by more than 300%. Experts suspect some goods are actually destined for Moscow.

The customs documents obtained by the BBC suggest that Rama Group made two shipments to Moscow of high-end optics that can be used in missiles, tanks and aircraft.

The equipment is listed on the customs form as being made by Beck Optronic Solutions in Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire. The company manufactures high-precision lenses used in targeting and surveillance systems.

Though some of its lenses are used in healthcare and engineering, Beck’s website details extensive military and defence applications.

The lenses and optical technology sold by Beck Optronics are specifically listed as goods that either cannot be legally exported to Russia, or that need permission from UK authorities before any sale can take place.

The BBC has identified, through customs documents, a total of six shipments of products said to have been made by Beck with a total value of $2.1m (£1.6m) and transferred to Moscow through Rama and another intermediary company, Shisan LLC.

In December 2023 and January 2024, Rama Group made its two shipments to Moscow listing them as “rotating part of camera”. These shipments went to Sol Group, a company based in Smolensk, 200 miles (320km) south-west of Moscow, which has been sanctioned by the US.

It is not clear what international route the goods took – the documents indicate some of the shipments may actually have originated in Thailand.

Shisan LLC, another Kyrgyz company, was responsible for four further shipments of Beck Optronics’ products worth $1.5m (£1.1m).

Two of those shipments involved “short-wave infrared camera lens” and went to the Ural Optical & Mechanical Plant, which makes bomb-aiming equipment and is also sanctioned because of its links to the Russian military.

Rama Group and Shisan share the same address in Bishkek – a modern five-storey block in a prosperous part of the city. However, when we visited we were told Valeria Baigascina was out of the country on a business trip.

We found her number through her social media posts and put our allegations to her.

Ms Baigascina said she was the founder of the company but had sold it in May. She denied the allegations, saying that when she had owned it, “nothing like that was supplied”. She then hung up.

Later, by email, she told us the accusations were “ridiculous” and based on “false information”.

Our research shows that in May this year she sold Rama Group to her best friend, Angelina Zhurenko, who runs a lingerie business in Kazakhstan.

Ms Zhurenko told us: “Trading activities are carried out exclusively within the framework of the current legislation of Kyrgyzstan. The company does not violate any prohibitions. Any other information is false.”

The director of the other intermediary company, Shisan, is listed as Evgeniy Anatolyevich Matveev. We put our allegations to him by email.

He told us that our information was “false” and that he ran “a business supplying exclusively civilian goods manufactured in Asian countries”.

He continued: “This does not contradict the laws of the state in which I work, and has nothing to do with US sanctions, because it is impossible to prohibit free trade in Asian goods available for sale and delivery.”

There’s no evidence that Beck Optronics knew about these shipments or that the final destination of the lenses was Russia.

The company told us it had nothing to do with the shipments: “Beck has not shipped anything contrary to UK export controls or any sanctions applying in the UK. It has had no dealings with any party or company in Russia, Kyrgyzstan or Thailand, was not aware that any shipments might ultimately be destined for any of these destinations and has not shipped anything to these destinations.”

It believes some of the equipment listed wasn’t even made by the company and that customs documents may have been falsified.

But these alleged exports are part of a much bigger picture involving shipments from a number of sources.

Analysis of customs documents by the Washington-based security think tank C4ADS suggest that Shisan completed 373 shipments via Kyrgyzstan to Russia between July and December 2023.

Of these, 288 contained goods that fall under customs codes for “high-priority battlefield items”.

Over the same six-month period, Rama Group completed a total of 1,756 shipments to Russia. Of these, 1,355 were for items on the “high-priority battlefield items” list.

Its most recent shipments, including electronics by US and UK companies, went to a Russian company named Titan-Mikro, which has been subject to US sanctions since May 2023 for operating within Russia’s military sector.

“When they sell this technology to a client who is potentially a Russian end-user, they fully should understand that this is to kill people,” says Olena Tregub from NAKO, Ukraine’s independent anti-corruption organisation.

She warns that the holes in the sanctions regime are costing lives.

“Without those technologies, those weapons would not fly. The brain of those ballistic missiles, the brain of those kamikaze drones, are made of Western technology,” she says.

International authorities are aware of Kyrgyzstan’s role in sanctions evasion.

In April, UK’s foreign secretary at the time, David Cameron, travelled to Bishkek and urged the Kyrgyz authorities to do more to tighten their sanctions’ compliance.

The Kyrgyz president expressed confidence that Lord Cameron’s official visit to his country would “give new impetus to multifaceted co-operation between Kyrgyzstan and the UK”.

Source : https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cn4vzlx1350o

The 38-year-old made the Davis Cup Finals his last event after accepting his body would no longer allow him to compete at the highest level.

Rafael Nadal soaked up the emotion of a memorable but bittersweet evening in Malaga as his professional career came to an end.

The 38-year-old opted to make the Davis Cup Finals his last event having accepted last month that his body would no longer allow him to compete at the highest level.

Spanish fans, some of whom had paid seven-figure sums for tickets, flocked to the Martin Carpena Arena in their thousands, draped in red and yellow flags and scarves and ready to cheer on their national hero one more time.

Nadal was hoping for one final victory on home soil but Dutchman Botic van de Zandschulp spoiled the party with a 6-4 6-4 victory, and Spain’s quarter-final elimination was confirmed after Van de Zandschulp and Wesley Koolhof defeated Carlos Alcaraz and Marcel Granollers in the deciding doubles.

“What I have tried to do is to be a good person and I hope you have perceived that,” Nadal told the Malaga crowd.

“I leave the tennis world having met so many friends along the way. I have so many people to thank.

“I leave with the peace of mind of having left a sporting and personal legacy I can be proud about.

Source: https://news.sky.com/story/rafael-nadal-bows-out-in-emotional-farewell-in-front-of-adoring-fans-13257008

Gemini is supposed to have restrictions that stop it from encouraging or enabling dangerous activities, including suicide, but somehow, it still managed to tell one “thoroughly freaked out” user to “please die”.

Google’s AI chatbot Gemini has told a user to “please die”.

The user asked the bot a “true or false” question about the number of households in the US led by grandparents, but instead of getting a relevant response, it answered:

“You are not special, you are not important, and you are not needed.

“You are a waste of time and resources. You are a burden on society. You are a drain on the earth. You are a blight on the landscape. You are a stain on the universe.

“Please.”

The user’s sister then posted the exchange on Reddit, saying the “threatening response” was “completely irrelevant” to her brother’s prompt.

“We are thoroughly freaked out,” she said.

“It was acting completely normal prior to this.”

Google’s Gemini, like most other major AI chatbots has restrictions on what it can say.

This includes a restriction on responses that “encourage or enable dangerous activities that would cause real-world harm”, including suicide.

The Molly Rose Foundation, which was set up after 14-year-old Molly Russell ended her life after viewing harmful content on social media, told Sky News that the Gemini response was “incredibly harmful”.

“This is a clear example of incredibly harmful content being served up by a chatbot because basic safety measures are not in place,” said Andy Burrows, the foundation’s chief executive.

“We are increasingly concerned about some of the chilling output coming from AI-generated chatbots and need urgent clarification about how the Online Safety Act will apply.”

“Meanwhile Google should be publicly setting out what lessons it will learn to ensure this does not happen again,” he said.

Source: https://news.sky.com/story/googles-ai-chatbot-gemini-tells-user-to-please-die-and-you-are-a-waste-of-time-and-resources-13256734

Gisele Pelicot, 71, has waived her right to anonymity and gave evidence for the third time at her husband’s trial in Avignon on Tuesday.

The Frenchwoman whose husband is on trial for inviting 50 men to rape her over 10 years has accused them of “cowardice” and said they should have reported him to the police.

Gisele Pelicot, 71, has waived her right to anonymity and gave evidence for the third time in Avignon on Tuesday.

Her husband Dominique Pelicot, 72, has already admitted drugging and raping her, and allowing some 50 others to abuse her while she was unconscious.

Most of the other men deny rape, claiming they thought she was asleep as part of roleplay or they were forced to have sex with her by Mr Pelicot.

On Tuesday, Ms Pelicot told the courtroom: “For me, this is the trial of cowardice, there is no other way to describe it.”

She went on: “It is time for society to look at this macho, patriarchal society and change the way it looks at rape.

“Rape is rape. When you walk into a bedroom and see a motionless body, at what point [do you decide] not to react? Why did you not leave immediately to report it to the police?”

Ms Pelicot has insisted her husband’s case is heard in public. It has caught global attention, particularly from women’s rights and domestic abuse campaigners.

She only found out about the abuse she suffered when police stumbled across photos and videos her husband had recorded of it.

On Monday her two sons – David, 50, and Florian, 38, testified against their father.

The eldest son described him as the “devil” and said that he wanted to vomit when his mother told him what she had suffered.

His younger brother told how he “lost his father” and his children “lost their grandfather” when the rapes came to light four years ago.

David Pelicot also accused his father of taking nude photos of his own wife while she was pregnant, and said he believed his sister’s claims he had drugged and taken photos of her in her underwear.

Source: https://news.sky.com/story/gisele-pelicot-rape-case-victim-accuses-dozens-of-men-alleged-to-have-raped-her-of-cowardice-13256594

Both Baba Vanga and Nostradamus are known for their predictions that have come out to be true multiple times. Now, for 2025, both the seers have predicted the same thing and it is nothing less than scary.

Blind Bulgarian mystic Baba Vanga became a cult figure among conspiracy theorists after some of her predictions turned out to be true. Also called the Nostradamus of the Balkans, Baba Vanga is said to have predicted some of the major world events like the 9/11 terror attacks, the death of Princess Diana, the Chernobyl disaster, and Brexit. On the other hand, ancient French astrologer Michel de Nostredame, also known as Nostradamus, has also made many accurate predictions.

Baba Vanga And Nostradamus’ Same Prediction For 2025

For the upcoming year, Baba Vanga has forecasted a catastrophic war in Europe which will lead to widespread devastation and significant population loss. She had said that this conflict would “devastate” the continent in 2025. Vanga reportedly said that the going-ons in 2025 would lead to a global apocalypse. According to media reports, she believed that a new war would break out in 2025 between two countries, but the ramifications will ripple across the world.

Source: https://www.timesnownews.com/astrology/baba-vanga-and-nostradamus-have-made-the-same-scary-prediction-for-upcoming-year-2025-know-here-article-115446423

Harish delivered the keynote address on ‘Responding to Key Global Challenges: The India Way’ at an event at Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs (SIPA).

New York: The first issue in engaging with Pakistan is the cessation of terrorism, India’s envoy at the UN said, underlining that India has been a long-standing victim of cross-border and global terrorism and has zero tolerance towards the scourge.

“With Pakistan, the main issue we have is of terrorism,” India’s Permanent Representative to the UN Ambassador Parvathaneni Harish said during a conversation here on Tuesday.

Harish delivered the keynote address on ‘Responding to Key Global Challenges: The India Way’ at an event at Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs (SIPA).

Responding to a question on Pakistan during an interactive session after the keynote address, Harish said Prime Minister Narendra Modi made an effort to reach out and engage with Pakistan.

“Terrorist activities in India have eroded the trust. The first issue in engaging with Pakistan is the cessation of terrorism. That is a key issue.” The event was co-sponsored by the MPA programme in Global Leadership and the International Organisation and UN Studies programme (IO/UNS) and attended by students, faculty and policy experts.

In his address, Harish emphasised that terrorism is a big issue on the global stage.

“India has been a long-standing victim of cross-border and global terrorism,” he said as he described terrorism as an “existential threat” to humanity that knows no borders, no nationality and for which there can be no justification.

“Terrorism can only be combated through international collaboration,” he said.

On what is the ‘India Way’ in dealing with terrorism, Harish underlined that a “big focus” for the country has been on taking along its international partners to combat terrorism as he stressed that India has zero tolerance for the scourge.

Source: https://www.deccanherald.com/world/first-issue-in-engaging-with-pakistan-is-cessation-of-terrorism-indias-ambassador-at-un-3283787

She looks so fetch.

Lindsay Lohan made her triumphant return to the big screen last year after a hiatus, and she’s keeping it going with her upcoming holiday rom-com, “Our Little Secret.”

Last night, the star, 38, looked ageless at the Netflix film’s premiere in New York City, where she donned a sheer black dress from Zuhair Murad’s spring 2025 collection.

The skin-baring number boasted a deep neckline, seashell embellishments around the bodice, and a flowy see-through pleated skirt. It appears Lohan covered up underneath with coordinating black briefs.

The “Mean Girls” alum, who recently dyed her red hair a light shade of strawberry blond, shimmered in diamond bracelets and chunky rings, adding black platform peep-toe heels.

And it was her radiant beauty look, courtesy of makeup artist Ash Holm, that got fans talking.

“Is this woman a witch??,” one fan questioned on X (formerly Twitter). Another said she, “Went and got her face snatched to the gods 👌🏼👌🏼👌🏼.”

Many others also referenced “The Substance,” the Demi Moore film featuring an appearance-enhancing drug.

Lohan’s husband, Bader Shammas, with whom she has a one-year-old son, stood by her side on the red carpet.

She was also joined by her mother, Dina, and two brothers, Dakota and Michael while her sister, Aliana, was absent from the event.

Co-stars Kristin Chenoweth and Ian Harding were also in attendance, with the “Wicked” alum getting festive in a red latex jumpsuit by The New Arrivals.

The movie follows exes Avery (Lohan) and Logan (Harding), who must spend Christmas together after finding out their new significant others are siblings.

The holiday rom-com hits Netflix on Nov. 27.

Source: https://pagesix.com/2024/11/19/style/lindsay-lohan-is-an-ageless-icon-in-sheer-plunging-gown-at-our-little-secret-premiere/

Emails in Musk’s lawsuit against OpenAI expose the startup’s rocky origins.

As OpenAI was ironing out a new deal with Microsoft in 2016 — one that would nab the young startup critical compute to build what would become ChatGPT — Sam Altman needed the blessing of his biggest investor, Elon Musk.

“$60MM of compute for $10MM, and input from us on what they deploy in the cloud,” Altman messaged Musk in September 2016, according to newly revealed emails. Microsoft wanted OpenAI to provide feedback on and promote (in tech circles, “evangelize”) Microsoft AI tools like Azure Batch. Musk hated the idea, saying it made him “feel nauseous.”

Altman came back with another offer: “Microsoft is now willing to do the agreement for a full $50m with ‘good faith effort at OpenAI’s sole discretion’ and full mutual termination rights at any time. No evangelizing. No strings attached. No looking like lame Microsoft marketing pawns. Ok to move ahead?”

“Fine by me if they don’t use this in active messaging,” Musk responded. “Would be worth way more than $50M not to seem like Microsoft’s marketing bitch.”

Musk released these emails and others last week as part of a lawsuit he’s filed against OpenAI and Microsoft. They are ostensibly meant to demonstrate an anticompetitive partnership between the two companies. But primarily, they expose the details of early collaborations and power struggles between Altman and Musk, who invested between $50 million and $100 million in the earliest iteration of OpenAI. They trace OpenAI’s evolution from an open-source nonprofit to what the lawsuit calls a “closed-source de facto subsidiary” of Microsoft that abandoned its mission to develop AI for good. And they lay bare the complete and utter unraveling of Musk and Altman’s once-promising partnership.

“Elon’s third attempt in less than a year to reframe his claims is even more baseless and overreaching than the previous ones,” OpenAI spokesperson Hannah Wong wrote in a statement to The Verge. “His prior emails continue to speak for themselves.”

Musk and Altman launched OpenAI united by fears of human-level intelligence in the hands of tech giants like Google — only to see it become the kind of tech juggernaut they feared. After winning a CEO position that Musk coveted, Altman chose to keep OpenAI’s cutting-edge AI behind closed doors, claiming it was too dangerous to be openly released. The decision incensed Musk, who left OpenAI’s board to found his own competitor, xAI. Nearly a decade after the pair founded OpenAI, the two companies are amassing billions of dollars and Musk is taking the fight to court — in a race to own what both men see as the inevitable future of computing.

“Been thinking a lot about whether it’s possible to stop humanity from developing AI,” Altman wrote in 2015 in an email to Musk as a pitch to start OpenAI. “If it’s going to happen anyway, it seems like it would be good for someone other than Google to do it first.”

The talent problem
From its inception, OpenAI was caught between two conflicting forces: an idealistic mission to benefit humanity and a cutthroat race against tech behemoths. Musk and Altman agreed that whatever their motivations, securing top talent (along with piles of cash) would be a paramount concern. This early compromise would set the stage for what Musk would later call the startup’s pursuit of profit over principle.

In 2015, the startup was known as YC AI — a lab tucked inside Y Combinator’s nonprofit research division, YCR. Altman, then president of the startup incubator, leveraged its extensive network and resources to attract researchers and money. Musk urged Altman and CTO (now president) Greg Brockman to seek over $100 million in funding, cautioning them that anything less would appear paltry compared to the deep pockets of tech giants like Google and Facebook.

“I think we should say that we are starting with a $1B funding commitment. This is real. I will cover whatever anyone else doesn’t provide,” Musk said in 2015 emails revealed by OpenAI earlier this year in response to Musk’s lawsuit.

Still, despite Musk’s support and a war chest of millions of dollars, the fledgling organization faced an early challenge that plagues most startups: the fierce competition for top talent. OpenAI might be the hottest place to work in Silicon Valley today, but a decade ago (and long before the launch of ChatGPT), many top AI researchers were unlikely to give it a second glance.

In their aggressive bid for the best AI researchers, Altman and his team devised an unusual compensation package: a base salary of $175,000, a “part-time partner” title at YC, and 0.25 percent equity in each YC startup batch. (Now, it’s more common for AI researchers to be compensated closer to $1 million annually.) Altman billed it as a “Manhattan Project for AI,” per one email to Musk, and sensed he could get many of the top 50 researchers to join and “structure it so that the tech belongs to the world via some sort of nonprofit but the people working on it get startup-like compensation.”

The goal was to assemble an elite founding team of seven to 10 members — whatever it took to win the industry’s best minds. Still, Google’s AI lab, DeepMind, was on their heels.

“DeepMind is going to give everyone in OpenAI massive counteroffers tomorrow to try to kill it,” Altman wrote to Musk in December 2015. “Do you have any objection to me proactively increasing everyone’s comp by 100-200k per year? I think they’re all motivated by the mission here but it would be a good signal to everyone we are going to take care of them over time.”

“Sounds like DeepMind is planning to go to war over this,” Altman added.

Musk approved of the salary bumps, and by February 2016, OpenAI’s founding team was offered a $275,000 salary plus YC equity, while subsequent hires received a $175,000 salary with performance-based bonuses of $125,000 or equivalent stock in YC or SpaceX. Brockman added that there were three special cases: himself, along with cofounders Ilya Sutskever and Trevor Blackwell. It was later reported that Sutskever earned more than $1.9 million in 2016, and he told The New York Times that he “turned down offers for multiple times the dollar amount” he accepted from OpenAI. “I don’t know what will happen if/when Google starts throwing around the numbers they threw at Ilya,” Brockman wrote to Musk as he outlined a plan to poach researchers.

“We need to do what it takes to get the top talent. Let’s go higher. If, at some point, we need to revisit what existing people are getting paid, that’s fine,” Musk replied. “Either we get the best people in the world or we will get whipped by DeepMind. Whatever it takes to bring on ace talent is fine by me.” He warned that a victory by DeepMind, which was causing him “extreme mental stress,” would be really bad news with their “one mind to rule the world” philosophy. “They are obviously making major progress and well they should, given the talent level over there,” Musk added.

Source: https://www.theverge.com/2024/11/18/24299787/elon-musk-openai-lawsuit-sam-altman-xai-google-deepmind

Hong Kong’s High Court on Tuesday jailed 45 pro-democracy activists for up to 10 years following a national security trial that has damaged the city’s once feisty democracy movement and drawn criticism from the U.S. and other countries.
A total of 47 pro-democracy activists were arrested and charged in 2021 with conspiracy to commit subversion under a Beijing-imposed national security law which carried sentences of up to life in prison.

Some Western governments have criticised the trial, with the U.S. describing it as “politically motivated”, opens new tab and saying the democrats should be released as they had been legally and peacefully participating in political activities.
The Chinese and Hong Kong governments say the national security laws were necessary to restore order after mass pro-democracy protests in 2019, and the democrats have been treated in accordance with local laws.

CLOSELY WATCHED TRIAL
After a 118-day trial, 14 of the democrats were found guilty in May, including Australian citizen Gordon Ng and activists Owen Chow and Gwyneth Ho, while two were acquitted.
The other 31 pleaded guilty and all 45 were given sentences ranging from four to 10 years.
“Our true crime for Beijing is that we were not content with playing along in manipulated elections,” Ho, who was sentenced to seven years imprisonment, wrote in a Facebook post.
“We dared to confront the regime with the question: will democracy ever be possible within such a structure? The answer was a complete crackdown on all fronts of society.”
The U.S. State Department condemned the sentences and said it was imposing new visa restrictions on multiple Hong Kong officials responsible for implementing the national security law, without saying how many officials were targeted.
“The defendants were aggressively prosecuted and jailed for peacefully participating in normal political activity protected under Hong Kong’s Basic Law,” a department spokesperson said in a statement. The U.S. urged Hong Kong authorities to cease “politically motivated prosecutions” and release all political prisoners, the spokesperson said.
Australia’s Foreign Minister Penny Wong said she was “gravely concerned” about the sentences, and called on China to “cease suppression of freedoms of expression, assembly, media and civil society” in Hong Kong.
Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Lin Jian told reporters: “No one can engage in illegal activities in the name of democracy and attempt to escape legal punishment”.

Beijing “firmly supports” Hong Kong’s efforts to safeguard national security, he added.

Chow was sentenced to seven years and nine months in jail, while prominent activist Joshua Wong was sentenced to four years and eight months in jail, and Hendrick Lui was sentenced to more than four years in jail.

Afterwards, Lui’s mother Elsa Wu shouted: “He’s a good person. He’s not a political prisoner. Why does he have to go to jail?”

Lawyers for some defendants who have been detained for more than 3-1/2 years said they expected to have this time deducted from the sentences, meaning some could be released next year.

CROWDED COURTROOMS

The judges Andrew Chan, Alex Lee and Johnny Chan wrote that in passing sentence they considered factors including the degree of planning, the number of people involved and the potential harms generated irrespective of whether the scheme would have taken place or not.

“In order to succeed, the organisers and participants might have hurdles to overcome, that however was expected in every subversion case where efforts were made to overthrow or paralyse a government. We therefore rejected the proposition that the Scheme was doomed to fail and that a lighter sentence should be imposed,” the judges wrote.

The judges, however, granted a one third reduction in the sentences for some who pleaded guilty, including Tai.

Hundreds of people had queued from the early hours outside the court to try to secure a seat within the main courtroom and several spillover courts.

Source: https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/hundreds-queue-sentencing-47-hong-kong-democrats-2024-11-19/

Ukraine used U.S. ATACMS missiles to strike Russian territory on Tuesday, taking advantage of newly granted permission from the outgoing administration of U.S. President Joe Biden on the war’s 1,000th day.
Russia said its forces shot down five of six missiles fired at a military facility in the Bryansk region. Debris of one hit the facility, starting a fire that was swiftly put out and caused no casualties or damage, it said.

Ukraine said it struck a Russian arms depot about 110 km (70 miles) inside Russia, an attack that caused secondary explosions. Ukraine’s military did not publicly specify the weapons used, but a Ukrainian government source and a U.S. official confirmed it had used ATACMS.
A U.S. official said Russia intercepted two of eight missiles and that the strike was at an ammunition supply point.
Biden gave approval this week for Ukraine to use ATACMS, the longest-range missiles Washington has supplied, for such attacks inside Russia. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said the use of ATACMS was a clear signal the West wanted to escalate the conflict.

Ukraine strikes arsenal near Russian town of Karachev
Moscow said the strikes used U.S.-supplied ATACMS missiles inside Russia, over 110 km (70 miles) from Ukraine in the Bryansk region.

Moscow has said such weapons cannot be launched without direct U.S. operational support and their use would make Washington a direct combatant in the war, prompting Russian retaliation.
The attacks came as Ukraine marked 1,000 days of war, with a fifth of its territory in Russian hands and doubts about the future of Western support as U.S. President-elect Donald Trump heads back to the White House.

Russia’s Defence Ministry also said air defence units destroyed 42 Ukrainian drones in at least eight southern and central regions between 9 p.m. and 11.55 p.m. (1800 to 2055 GMT) on Tuesday, including 32 in Bryansk region.
Ukraine has long deployed drones to hit targets deep inside Russian territory, including airfields and sites associated with energy. But the use of dozens dispatched over a short period of time was unusual.
At the United Nations in New York, Ukraine’s U.N. ambassador, Sergiy Kyslytsya, read a statement from his country and 42 others and the European Union, rejecting Russia’s “attempted illegal annexation” of Ukrainian territory and demanding immediate withdrawal.
“One thousand days is a tragic reminder of the need to remain resolute in ensuring … that international law prevails, not just in Ukraine, but wherever it is challenged,” he said.

Military experts say using the U.S. missiles can help Ukraine defend a pocket of captured Russian territory in the Kursk region as a bargaining chip, but was not likely to have a decisive impact on the 33-month-old war, in part as the move comes far too late.
The missile’s range of up to 300 km is much shorter than some that Moscow has used to strike Ukraine, including its hypersonic Kinzhal weapon with a reported range of up to 2,000 km.
On Tuesday, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a new nuclear doctrine that appeared intended as a warning to Washington. It lowers the threshold under which Russia might use atomic weapons to include responding to attacks that threaten its territorial integrity.
Washington said the update to the nuclear doctrine was no surprise and rejected “more of the same irresponsible rhetoric from Russia”.
Zelenskiy said the step showed Putin had no interest in peace: “Especially on this day … they presented (a) nuclear weapons strategy. Why? They didn’t present (a) peace strategy. Did you hear it? … Putin wants war.”
The Pentagon said the U.S. State Department has approved another potential $100 million sale of military equipment and services to Ukraine, while Denmark said it was making a new donation of about $138 million for development of Ukraine’s arms industry.

Source: https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/ukraine-marking-1000-days-russian-invasion-eyes-end-war-next-year-2024-11-18/

With four primates still on the loose after 43 of them escaped on Nov. 6 from the Alpha Genesis Inc. research laboratory in South Carolina, the Low Country facility has come under intense scrutiny.

Animal rights groups have cited the company’s history of violations and previous monkey breakouts; a member of Congress has called for an inquiry into its oversight by multiple federal agencies; and residents voiced concern the furry fugitives might spread disease throughout their community.

On top of it all, Alpha Genesis founder and CEO Gregory Westergaard told ABC News his company is investigating whether the release of the monkeys was “an intentional act” by an employee.

The quest for freedom by the pack of young female rhesus macaques coincides with the rapid expansion of the 100-acre Alpha Genesis facility and is casting light on a disruption in the U.S. medical research industry that sounds like a plot for a science fiction thriller. A 2023 report sponsored by the National Institutes of Health warned of a crisis involving the Chinese government that “undermines the security of the nation’s biomedical research enterprise.”

The case of the absconding primates has also raised questions about why the amount of federal contracts received by the testing and breeding operation has jumped more than 160% since 2021. According to USASpending.gov, a government website that tracks federal spending, the company has been granted $19 million in federal contracts this year alone.

“It’s shocking how much money is being spent on testing primates,” Rep. Nancy Mace, R-S.C., told ABC News.

Mace’s district encompasses the Beaufort County community of Yemassee, where the 6,701 primates housed at the sprawling Alpha Genesis facility nearly triple the number of town residents.

In a formal letter to the NIH, the agency that funds laboratory research, and the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which inspects and regulates breeding facilities, Mace expressed “very urgent concerns regarding federal oversight of Alpha Genesis.” Mace said the prolonged attempts to recapture all of the primates are “placing the animals and my constituents at risk.”

“A lot of constituents were concerned about whether or not the primates that escaped were sick or ill, or have been tested on,” Mace told ABC News. “There were a lot of folks concerned about the facility being a breeding facility and the testing that goes on there as well.”

The escape highlights an ‘issue of national security’
The incident some locals have referred to as “the great escape” has illuminated the international crisis hitting the animal research industry that Alpha Genesis’ Westergaard said has become “an issue of national security.”

In 2020, the Chinese government, the world’s primary breeder of research monkeys, banned the exports of nonhuman primates (NPH) to labs in the United States and elsewhere, triggering an international shortage of the animals just as research scientists were scrambling to come up with vaccines to combat the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a May 2023 report by National Academy of Engineering and National Academy of Medicine.

Primates, according to the NIH-supported report, are valuable in answering certain research questions because of their genetic, anatomic, physiologic and behavioral similarities to humans. However, the China ban on exporting research animals exacerbated the shortage and stalled NIH-funded research, according to the report.

The report concluded that the United States “needs to prioritize expansion” of domestic primate breeding programs.

“Relying on importing these animals from other countries is unsustainable, and dependence on international sources undermines the security of the nation’s biomedical research enterprise,” the report warned.

In 2021, the National Primate Research Centers could not meet two-thirds of researcher requests for rhesus macaques, according to the report.

“Researchers also face increased wait times for animals, and costs have risen 10% to 200% for a single animal, depending on the species,” the report said.

What we know about Alpha Genesis’ research
The crisis prompted Alpha Genesis to increase its domestic breeding of research primates. According to Rep. Mace, the company also manages the NIH’s so-called “Monkey Island” on Morgan Island in Beaufort County, which holds another 3,300 primates.

Westergaard told ABC News that Alpha Genesis employs 275 people, plus 30 or so contractors.

In addition to breeding lab monkeys, Alpha Genesis provides researchers across the country with biological products and materials, including serum, plasma, whole blood and tissue samples from a wide variety of research species, according to the company’s website. The private company’s researchers have helped develop several therapeutic drugs and vaccines, including those to treat the COVID-19 virus.

Source: https://abcnews.go.com/US/escaped-monkeys-alpha-genesis-investigation/story?id=115856024

THIS is the eerie moment Kim Kardashian beats her new Tesla robot at rock-paper-scissors and lets it drive her Cybercab.

The star is the first to receive Elon Musk’s humanoid bot Optimus.

Surreal footage on X shows Kim waving at her new bot-buddy which is seen towering over her in the clip.

The Tesla cyborg waves back at her and also forms half of a love-heart with Kim.

The video shows it blow her a kiss and attempt to dance by waving its arms.

The gadget’s head faces away from the camera when not doing something.

Optimus can be seen keeping up with Kim in a futuristic game of rock-paper-scissorsCredit: Instagram / @kimkardashian

Surreal footage on X shows Kim waving at her new bot-buddy which is seen towering over her in the clip.

The Tesla cyborg waves back at her and also forms half of a love-heart with Kim.

The video shows it blow her a kiss and attempt to dance by waving its arms.

The gadget’s head faces away from the camera when not doing something.

The arms appear to lack a fluidity of movement and its faceless design makes it look bizarre.

Even stranger, the bot is seen standing completely still with its arms up as it awaits its next instruction.

In another startling video, Optimus is seen in Kim’s Cybercab.

The bot has been placed in the driving seat, with one of its legs casually resting outside of the vehicle and its hand on its thigh.

As Kim brings the camera over the perfectly smooth gold exterior, Optimus is seen looking directly at the camera this time, as if it was waiting for her to arrive.

In October, Tesla CEO Elon Musk unveiled the creepy droids.

Reactions have been divided over Kim’s new friend.

One comment under her X post showing off Optimus read: “I want one.”

Another read: “Tesla knows how to market their products better than anybody else.”

On the other end of the spectrum, some people expressed their concern at what they were seeing.

A wary comment said: “Have we learned nothing from James Cameron? Can we keep Terminator fiction and not a documentary?!”

Despite the varied reactions Kim’s massive social media following has helped show off the new Tesla toy.

The two videos she posted of Optimus currently have a combined 9,000,000 views.

ELON’S ANNOUNCEMENT
This follows the official Optimus launch from Tesla CEO Elon Musk.

They can reportedly do anything, including babysitting.

Elon boasted: “You’re really gonna have something spectacular. Something that anyone could own.

“You can have your own personal R2-D2 [or] C3-PO.

“It can be a teacher, or babysit your kids, walk your dog, mow your lawn, get the groceries, just be your friend, serve drinks, whatever you can think of, it will do.”

The faceless bot, dubbed an “autonomous assistant” or a “humanoid friend” by Tesla, can be seen picking up a parcel at the doorstep, watering plants as a human family enjoys their time together.

It can then be seen joining in on the fun and playing games with a dad and his children before it goes on to help mum in the kitchen.

An exact price for the bot is yet to be announced by Musk has previously suggested it will be lower than $20,000 (£17,900).

A second version of the machine, dubbed Optimus II, works 30 times faster than the last one.

It’s also 10kg lighter and has a more human like build.

Source: https://www.the-sun.com/entertainment/12924428/kim-kardashian-tesla-robot-optimus/

A Hong Kong court has sentenced key pro-democracy leaders to years in jail for subversion, following a controversial national security trial.

Benny Tai and Joshua Wong were among the so-called Hong Kong 47 group of activists and lawmakers involved in a plan to pick opposition candidates for local elections. Tai received 10 years while Wong received more than four years.

Most of the group were found guilty of conspiring to attempt subversion, while two were acquitted.

Their trial marked the largest use of the harsh national security law (NSL) which China imposed on Hong Kong shortly after the city’s explosive pro-democracy protests in 2019.

Those demonstrations saw hundreds of thousands taking to the streets of Hong Kong for months. Triggered by a proposed government treaty that would have allowed extradition from Hong Kong to mainland China, the protests quickly grew to reflect wider demands for democratic reform.

The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO)’s most sophisticated communications satellite set off for its 34-minute journey into outer space on board Elon Musk-owned SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket on its 396 th flight.

India’s most advanced communications satellite was successfully lifted off into space by Elon Musk’s SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket which launched from Cape Canaveral in Florida, USA.
At the stroke of one minute past midnight on Tuesday, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO)’s most sophisticated communications satellite, which will provide broadband services in remote areas and in-flight Internet in passenger aircraft, set off for its 34-minute journey into outer space on board Elon Musk-owned SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket on its 396 th flight.

“Launch successful,” said Radhakrishnan Durairaj, Chairman and Managing Director of New Space India Limited, the commercial arm of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO). Mr Durairaj who monitored the flight from Cape Canaveral told NDTV, “GSAT 20 got a very precise orbit”.

Named GSAT N-2 or GSAT 20, the 4,700 kg fully commercial satellite, was launched from Space Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral in Florida. The launch pad has been hired by SpaceX from the US’ Space Force, a special branch of the country’s armed forces that was created in 2019 to secure its space assets.

Dr S Somanath, Chairman, ISRO, speaking during the launch said, “The mission life of GSAT-20 is 14 years and the ground infra-structure is ready to serve the satellite”. Speaking to NDTV from the UR Rao Satellite Center in Bengaluru from where he monitored the lift-off, Dr Somanath said, “(It was) A very successful launch as we got a good orbit, the satellite is healthy, solar panels are deployed”.

This is the first time that ISRO launched a satellite on a SpaceX rocket through its commercial arm New Space India Limited (NSIL). This is also the first time ISRO has built a satellite that only uses the advanced Ka band frequency – a range of radio frequencies between 27 and 40 gigahertz (GHz), which enables the satellite to have higher bandwidth.

India sought a dedicated launch and that there were no co-passenger satellites on the flight.

For the satellite launch, a standard Falcon 9 B-5 rocket, which is 70 metres long and weighs around 549 tonnes, was used during lift-off. It has been designed as a two-stage rocket – a launch vehicle in which two distinct stages provide propulsion consecutively in order to achieve orbital velocity. The rocket can lift up to 8,300 kg to the geosynchronous transfer orbit and 22,800 kilograms to the low earth orbit. The first stage was successfully recovered at about 8 minutes into the flight and it was the 371st recovery by SpaceX.

Source: https://www.ndtv.com/india-news/musks-spacex-rocket-falcon-9-launches-isro-satellite-gsat-n2-from-us-7050663

A picture of the two leaders has attracted hilarious reactions from netizens. Many users commented on the intense eye contact captured in the picture.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who is in Brazil to participate in the G20 Summit, met with Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni on the sidelines of the summit in Rio de Janeiro.

On late Sunday night, the Prime Minister shared pictures of the meeting on his X handle. “Our talks centred around deepening ties in defence, security, trade, and technology. We also discussed ways to boost cooperation in culture, education, and other such areas. India-Italy friendship can greatly contribute to a better planet,” he wrote.

A picture of the two leaders has attracted hilarious reactions from netizens. Many users commented on the intense eye contact captured in the picture.

Reacting to the image, one user quipped, “Who blinks first?”

“She (Meloni) is literally blushing,” another user wrote.

This arrest of Fang Chenjin is seen as a major breakthrough in the investigation against online fraud. In addition to this particular case, Chenjin and his apparatus have also been linked to fraud worth a total of Rs 100 crore across different jurisdictions in different states.

The Delhi police, according to various reports, have arrested a fraudster for deceiving and duping an accountant of Rs 43.5 lakh. The alleged charlatan is said to be a Chinese national by the name of Fang Chenjin.

Chinese National Arrested

Chenjin, as per reports, conducted his crime online through the operation fake stock trading avenues. According to reports, he deployed WhatsApp groups to dupe unsuspected victims, aspiring to make money through equity market trading.

This arrest of Fang Chenjin is seen as a major breakthrough in the investigation against online fraud. In addition to this particular case, Chenjin and his apparatus have also been linked to fraud worth a total of Rs 100 crore across different jurisdictions in different states.

Saudi Arabia has executed more than 100 foreigners this year so far – the highest number ever, according to a human rights group.

The latest execution, on Saturday in the southwestern region of Najran, was of a Yemeni national convicted of smuggling drugs into the Gulf kingdom, the official Saudi Press Agency reported.

It brings the number of foreigners executed in the Middle Eastern country to 101.

This is almost three times the number last year and in 2022, according to tallies compiled by news agency AFP.

Jeed Basyouni, who heads Middle East anti-death penalty advocacy for the NGO Reprieve, said overall, including Saudi nationals in the figures, the number of executions in the country was on track to exceed 300 for the year.

‘This is an unprecedented execution crisis in Saudi Arabia,’ said Ms Basyouni.

‘Families of foreign nationals on death row are understandably terrified that their loved one will be next.’

Taha al-Hajji, legal director at Berlin-based European-Saudi Organisation for Human Rights (ESOHR) said: ‘This is the largest number of executions of foreigners in one year.

‘Saudi Arabia has never executed 100 foreigners in a year.’

The country has faced ongoing criticism of its use of the death penalty, which human rights groups say is excessive and out of step with efforts to soften its forbidding image and welcome international tourists and investors.

The oil-rich nation executed the third-highest number of prisoners in the world after China and Iran in 2023, according to Amnesty International.

In September, it was reported that Saudi Arabia had carried out its highest number of executions in more than three decades, surpassing its previous highs of 196 in 2022 and 192 in 1995.

Executions have continued at worrying rate since and as of Sunday it’s believed 274 people have been put to death.

The nationalities of foreigners executed include 21 from Pakistan, 20 from Yemen, 14 from Syria, 10 from Nigeria, nine from Egypt, eight from Jordan and seven from Ethiopia.

There were also three each from Sudan, India and Afghanistan, and one each from Sri Lanka, Eritrea and the Philippines.

In 2022 Saudi Arabia ended a three-year moratorium on the execution of drug offenders, and executions for drug-related crimes have boosted this year’s numbers.

There have been 92so far this year, 69 of them of foreigners, according to AFP.

Diplomats and activists say that foreign defendants usually face a higher barrier to fair trials, including the right to access court documents.

Foreigners ‘are the most vulnerable group’, said Mr Hajji of the ESOHR.

Source: https://metro.co.uk/2024/11/18/saudi-arabias-execution-100-foreigners-2024-branded-unprecedented-crisis-22013063/

Hong Kong’s High Court on Tuesday jailed 45 pro-democracy activists for up to 10 years following a landmark national security trial that has damaged the city’s once feisty democracy movement and drawn criticism from the U.S. and other countries.
A total of 47 pro-democracy activists were arrested and charged in 2021 with conspiracy to commit subversion under a Beijing-imposed national security law and had faced sentences of up to life in prison.

Benny Tai, a former legal scholar identified as an “organiser” of the activists, was sentenced to 10 years in jail, the longest sentence so far under the 2020 national security law.
Some Western governments have criticised the trial, with the U.S. describing it as “politically motivated”, opens new tab and saying the democrats should be released as they had been legally and peacefully participating in political activities.

CLOSELY WATCHED TRIAL

Ed Sheeran is one of the voices on the new “ultimate” Band Aid mix, alongside Sting, Boy George, Harry Styles, Rita Ora and the Sugababes. The singers are backed by a house band that includes Paul McCartney, Tom Yorke and Paul Weller.

Ed Sheeran says Band Aid 40 organisers did not seek his approval to use his vocals in the new version of the charity hit Do They Know It’s Christmas?

The Shape Of You star said he would have “respectfully declined” any permission, going on to share another post criticising foreign aid in Africa.

The new version of the festive hit blends previous recordings to create an “ultimate” mix from Band Aid 1984 including the voices of George Michael, Sting and Boy George, alongside the likes of Harry Styles, Chris Martin and the Sugababes, who appeared on the Band Aid 20 and Band Aid 30 versions in 2004 and 2014.

Sheeran had previously sung on Band Aid 30 alongside One Direction, Sam Smith and Coldplay’s Chris Martin.

The 33-year-old singer wrote in an Instagram story: “My approval wasn’t sought on this new Band Aid 40 release and had I had the choice I would have respectfully declined the use of my vocals.

“A decade on and my understanding of the narrative associated with this has changed, eloquently explained by @fuseodg. This is just my personal stance, I’m hoping it’s a forward-looking one. Love to all x.”

Sheeran referenced a post by Ghanaian-English singer, songwriter and rapper Fuse ODG, who worked with him on the track Boa Me.

Fuse ODG said that a decade earlier he “refused” to be part of the Band Aid 30 song as he feels that while the charity helps get “sympathy and donations, they perpetuate damaging stereotypes that stifle Africa’s economic growth, tourism, and investment”.

‘These initiatives fuel pity rather than partnership’

The rapper added: “By showcasing dehumanising imagery, these initiatives fuel pity rather than partnership, discouraging meaningful engagement.

“My mission has been to reclaim the narrative, empowering Africans to tell their own stories, redefine their identity, and position Africa as a thriving hub for investment and tourism.

“Today, the diaspora drives the largest flow of funds back into the continent, not Band Aid or foreign aid proving that Africa’s solutions and progress lies in its own hands.”

Sheeran has also worked with other African artists including Nigerian singers Fireboy DML and Burna Boy.

Source: https://news.sky.com/story/ed-sheeran-says-his-didnt-give-band-aid-40-permission-to-use-his-vocals-13256088

Maple syrup is just the best when you pour it on your pancakes, but a new study finds it’s time to start pouring it on everything else as well! Groundbreaking research suggests that this delicious Canadian staple might be more than just a tasty breakfast condiment — it could be a secret weapon in preventing metabolic diseases.

A team from Laval University in Quebec has discovered compelling evidence that replacing just two tablespoons of refined sugar with pure maple syrup could significantly reduce several key risk factors for heart disease and diabetes. This first-of-its-kind human clinical trial reveals that maple syrup is far more than a simple sweetener.

What Makes Maple Syrup Special?
“We know from decades of research that maple syrup is more than just sugar. It contains over 100 natural compounds, including polyphenols, that are known to prevent disease in part through their anti-inflammatory effects,” explains Dr. André Marette, the lead scientist on the project, in a media release.

The study published in The Journal of Nutrition tracked 42 healthy volunteers between the ages of 18 and 75, with body mass indexes (BMI) ranging from 23 to 40. These volunteers replaced 5% of their daily calories with either maple syrup or a refined sugar syrup during two separate eight-week periods, with a four-week break between.

The results were nothing short of remarkable. Participants who consumed maple syrup experienced four major health benefits:

The government in Stockholm has updated its “If crisis or war comes” document from six years ago because of the “worsening security situation” following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine

Sweden has issued five million pamphlets warning its citizens to stockpile food and water – just hours after Volodymyr Zelensky’s chilling video address to Vladimir Putin warned US missile strikes “will speak for themselves.”

The government in Stockholm has updated its “If crisis or war comes” document from six years ago because of the “worsening security situation” following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. It comes just as Washington has given the green-light for US-missiles to be used to strike inside Russian territory for the first time.

Zelensky warned Putin the US missiles could be used in just days. He said: “There’s a lot of talk in the media about us receiving permission for respective actions. But strikes are not carried out with words. Such things are not announced. Missiles will speak for themselves.”

It comes as residents in Sweden warned its residents to “shelter” amid fears of nuclear war breaking out. The pamphlet, which has been issued just five times since World War II, is twice the size of previous years.

It states: “The global security situation increases the risks that nuclear weapons could be used. In the event of an attack with nuclear, biological or chemical weapons, take cover in the same way as in an air attack,’ it instructs readers. Shelter provides the best protection. After a couple of days, the radiation has decreased significantly.’

Meanwhile, another dire warning, which has been brought forward from the middle of the booklet in the updated version, reads: ‘If Sweden is attacked by another country, we will never give up. All information to the effect that resistance is to cease is false.”

Neighbouring Finland has also just published and updated his advice online on “preparing for incidents and crises” on how to manage on their own in the event of a war. In a section on military conflict, the digital brochue explains how the government would respond in the event of an armed attack – stating authorities are “well prepared for self-defence.”

Norwegians also received a pamphlet urging them to manage on their own for a week in the event of war, extreme weather and other threats. In the summer, Denmark’s emergency management agency confirmed it was emailing Danish adults on the food, water and medicine they would need to get through a crisis for three days. The list of items to be kept at home included long-life foods such as tins of beans, energy bars, pasta, and medicines in case of a nuclear attack.

Finland opted not to print a copy for every home as it “would cost millions” and a digital version could be updated more easily. “We have sent out 2.2 million paper copies, one for each household in Norway,” said Tore Kamfjord, who is responsible for the campaign of self-preparedness at the Norwegian Directorate for Civil Protection (DSB).

The Kremlin warned Monday that President Joe Biden’s decision to let Ukraine strike targets inside Russia with US-supplied longer-range missiles added “fuel to the fire” of the war and would escalate international tensions even higher.

Biden’s shift in policy added an uncertain, new factor to the conflict on the eve of the 1,000-day milestone since Russia began its full-scale invasion in 2022.

It also came as a Russian ballistic missile with cluster munitions struck a residential area of Sumy in northern Ukraine, killing 11 people, including two children, and injuring 84 others. Another missile barrage sparked apartment fires in the southern port of Odesa, killing at least 10 people and injuring 43, including a child, Ukraine’s Interior Ministry said.

Washington is easing limits on what Ukraine can strike with its American-made Army Tactical Missile System, or ATACMs after months of ruling out such a move over fears of escalating the conflict and bringing about a direct confrontation between Russia and NATO. The Kremlin was swift in its condemnation.

“It is obvious that the outgoing administration in Washington intends to take steps and they have been talking about this, to continue adding fuel to the fire and provoking further escalation of tensions around this conflict,” spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters.

Meanwhile, Keir Starmer has refused to say whether Ukraine will be allowed to fire British-supplied Storm Shadow missiles into Russian territory.

Source: https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/world-news/ww3-fears-sweden-tells-citizens-34135588

Ge Wang doesn’t use computers to make music the way most people use computers make music. He uses computers to make… computer music. Wang works at Stanford, as an associate professor in the Center for Computer Research in Music and Acoustics. He also conducts the school’s famed Laptop Orchestra, was a co-founder of the music app maker Smule, and created a programming language called Chuck that turns code into sound. He understands how computers, music, and humans interact more deeply than most. He also has some ideas about where it’s all headed.

On this episode of The Vergecast, the third and last in our mini-series about the future of music, we chat with Wang about what’s next for computer music. He tells us about teaching his students to play with technology rather than trying to master it, and how tool makers should be approaching their work in a time of AI.

This conversation goes some unexpected and deep places, as so many conversations about AI tend to. We talk a lot about what it means to be creative, and even human, in a world filled with technology meant to make everything more efficient, less complicated, and more homogenous.

Whether you’re writing an email or a symphony, there’s a tool out there designed to make it easier. But is easier the goal? And if it’s not, how do we preserve all the things that make the hard work worth doing? What are we, the humans, even here for anymore? Like I said, it got deep. But we enjoyed it, and we think you will too.

Source: https://www.theverge.com/2024/11/17/24297892/ai-music-ge-wang-vergecast

For a harrowing week in August, Ruchika Tandon, a 44-year-old neurologist at one of India’s top hospitals, was ensnared in what felt like a high-stakes federal crime investigation.

Yet, it was an elaborate scam – a web of deceit spun by scammers who manipulated her every move and drained her and her family’s life savings.

Under the pretence of “digital arrest”- a term fabricated by her perpetrators – Dr Tandon was coerced to take leave from work, surrender her daily freedoms, and comply with nonstop surveillance and instructions from strangers on the phone, who convinced her she was at the centre of a grave investigation.

The “digital arrest” scam involves fraudsters impersonating law enforcement officials on video calls, threatening victims with arrest over fake charges, and pressuring them to transfer large sums of money.

In Dr Tandon’s case, they stripped her and her family of nearly 25m rupees ($300,000; £235,000) across bank accounts, mutual funds, pension funds, and life insurance – years of savings lost in a manufactured nightmare.

She is not alone. Indians lost over 1,200m rupees to “digital arrest” hoaxes between January and April this year, according to official figures. These figures only scratch the surface, as many victims don’t report such crimes. Stolen funds are often funnelled into overseas accounts or cryptocurrency wallets. More than 40% of the scams have been traced back to Myanmar, Cambodia, and Laos, according to officials.

Things are so bad that even Prime Minister Narendra Modi talked about the scam in his monthly radio talk in October.

“Whenever you receive such a call, don’t be scared. You should be aware that no investigative agency never inquires like this through a phone call or a video call,” he said.

India faces a range of cyber crimes, from fake investment and trading to dating scams. But the “digital arrest” scam stands out as especially elaborate and sinister – meticulously planned, relentless, and invasive to every part of a victim’s life.

Sometimes scammers reveal themselves during video calls, while other times they remain hidden, relying solely on audio. The plot could be straight out of an outlandish Bollywood thriller – except it is carefully choreographed.

On that fateful first day, scammers posing as officials from India’s telecom regulator called Lucknow-based Dr Tandon, claiming her number would be disconnected due to “22 complaints” of harassing messages sent from it.

Moments later, a man claiming to be a senior police officer took over. He accused her of using a joint bank account with her mother to launder money for women and child trafficking.

In the background, a jarring chorus of voices echoed, “Arrest her, arrest her!”

“The police will be coming in five minutes to arrest you. All police stations have been alerted,” the man warned.

“I was angry and frustrated. I kept saying this can’t be true,” Dr Tandon recalls.

The officer seemed to soften, but with a catch. He said India’s federal detective agency, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), would take over as it was a “matter of national secrecy”.

“I will try to talk and persuade them not to put you in physical custody. But you have to be in digital custody,” he insisted.

Dr Tandon used a feature phone that lacked video calling, making it impossible for the scammers to proceed. So they forced her to drive to a store and buy a smartphone.

Over the next six days, three men and a woman, posing as police officers and a judge, kept her under constant surveillance on Skype, with her phone camera running nonstop.

They made her wake up her students at night to buy extra data packs to keep the scam going. She was required to place the phone throughout the house – while cooking, sleeping, and even outside the bathroom – tracking her every move.

A bullet failed to silence her, now Malala Yousafzai is lending her voice to the women of Afghanistan.

In just a few years since the Taliban retook control of the country, women’s rights have been eroded to the point where even singing is banned.

Malala has a personal history with the Taliban across the border in Pakistan, after a gunman from the hardline Islamist group shot her as she sat on a school bus.

The speed of change in Afghanistan, if not the brutality, has surprised Malala, who since that near-fatal shooting in 2012 has campaigned for equality.

“I never imagined that the rights of women would be compromised so easily,” Malala tells BBC Asian Network.

“A lot of girls are finding themselves in a very hopeless, depressing situation where they do not see any way out,” the 27-year-old Nobel Prize Winner says.

“The future looks very dark to them.”

In 2021, the Taliban regained power in Afghanistan, 20 years after a US-led invasion toppled their regime in the fallout of the 9/11 attacks in New York.

In the three-and-a-half years since Western forces left the country, “morality laws” have meant women in Afghanistan have lost dozens of rights.

A dress code means they must be fully covered and strict rules have banned them from travelling without a male chaperone or looking a man in the eye unless they’re related by blood or marriage.

“The restrictions are just so extreme that it does not even make sense to anybody,” says Malala.

The United Nations (UN) says the rules amount to “gender apartheid” – a system where people face economic and social discrimination based on their sex and something human rights group Amnesty International wants recognised as crime under international law.

But the rules have been defended by the Taliban, which claims they’re accepted in Afghan society and that the international community should respect “Islamic laws, traditions and the values of Muslim societies”.

“Women lost everything,” says Malala.

“They [the Taliban] know that to take away women’s rights you have to start with the foundation, and that is education.”

The UN says since the takeover more than a million girls are not in school in Afghanistan – about 80% – and in 2022 about 100,000 female students were banned from their university courses.

It’s also reported a correlation between the lack of access to education and a rise in child marriage and deaths during pregnancy and childbirth.

“Afghan women live in very dark times now,” Malala says.

“But they show resistance.”

The Pakistan-born activist, who became the youngest person ever to win a Nobel Peace Prize, is an executive producer on an upcoming film, Bread & Roses, that documents the lives of three Afghan women living under the Taliban regime.

The documentary follows Zahra, a dentist forced to give up her practice, activist Taranom, who flees to the border, and government employee Sharifa, who loses her job and her independence.

But the film isn’t just about the stories of three women, Malala says.

“It’s about the 20 million Afghan girls and women whose stories may not make it to our screens.”

Bread & Roses was directed by Afghan filmmaker Sahra Mani and US actress Jennifer Lawrence was also brought on board as a producer.

Sahra tells Asian Network her mission was “to tell the story of a nation under the Taliban dictatorship”.

“How slowly, all the rights have been taken away.”

Sahra managed to flee Afghanistan after the US-backed government collapsed following the withdrawal of troops in August 2021.

But she kept in touch with women back home, who would share videos which she then collected and archived.

“It was very important to find young, modern, educated women that have talent they were ready to dedicate to society,” says Sahra.

“They were ready to build the country but now they have to sit at home and almost do nothing.”

Even though the film hasn’t been released yet, Sahra believes the situation in Afghanistan has already deteriorated to the point where it would be impossible to make if she started now.

“At that time, women could still go out and demonstrate,” she says.

“Nowadays, women are not even allowed to sing… the situation is getting more difficult.”

The first-hand footage shows the women at protests – they kept the cameras rolling while being arrested by the Taliban.

And Sahra says the project only got harder over time as more of their rights were stripped away.

“We were really honoured that these women trusted us to share their stories,” she says.

“And it was really important for us to put their security in our priorities.

“But when they were out in the street asking for their rights, it was not for the documentary.

“It was for them, for their own life, for their own freedom.”

Source: https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c86q5yqz0q2o

Hezbollah’s media chief Mohammed Afif has been killed in an Israeli strike in central Beirut, the Lebanese militant group has confirmed.

A strike hit the headquarters of the Baath political party in the densely populated Ras al-Naba neighbourhood on Sunday, according to Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency.

The country’s health ministry said four people were killed, but did not name the victims.

Afif, one of the few remaining public faces of the group, was last seen on Monday, when he gave a press conference in Beirut’s southern suburbs, where the group is based.

Donald Trump has made several contentious hires in his new administration, notably in the health, defence and justice departments.

Ahead of his return to the White House on 20 January 2025, the president-elect named Florida congressman Matt Gaetz as his nominee for attorney general.

He has named Pete Hegseth, a Fox News host and military veteran, as his pick for defence secretary. And he wants RFK Jr to be health secretary.

Marco Rubio is a safer pick as the next secretary of state. And billionaire supporter Elon Musk will play a role in cost-cutting.

Here is a closer look at the posts he’s named replacements for, and the names in the mix for the top jobs yet to be filled.

We will start with the Cabinet roles – these require approval from the Senate. If four Republican senators and all the Democrats disagree to any individual then that nomination will fail.

The sun had yet to come up in Edmonton, Alberta, and it was more than 20 degrees below zero. Tanis Smith layered up anyway, ready to run up and down hundreds of stairs among the trees in the Saskatchewan River Valley.

When she arrived at 6 a.m., 10 other people joined her. It wouldn’t be the last time they risked freezing their toes off to get in a workout before the rest of the world wakes up.

“You’re pretty much just putting everything you own on,” said Smith, an accountant. “If you look at the pictures, you don’t know who you are unless you remember what you were wearing.”

Since that winter of 2013, Smith has rarely missed a workout with the group, called November Project, a network of free outdoor group exercise classes that started in Boston. No matter the month or weather, participants roll out of bed before dawn at least once a week and shield their faces from the blistering cold.

One part intense training and one part abject silliness, the project is a model for how to stay motivated to exercise outside throughout the winter.

It started when a pair of friends challenged each other to exercise every morning for the month of November. By the end of the month, they were recruiting others.

“A party is better when there’s more people around,” said Bojan Mandaric, who created the project with Brogan Graham in 2011. “We would talk to anybody who would listen.”

Soon, their meetings were attracting a few dozen people, who then brought the idea to other cities when they moved. Now there are 52 chapters in eight countries, including 44 in the United States and Canada.

What do the workouts look like?

Workouts, which attract all ages and fitness levels, begin with a “bounce,” a hopping, call-and-response chant to loosen people up physically and mentally. How the classes continue varies on the location and day of the week, but most include running and body weight exercises like squats or burpees.

To promote the idea that exercise can be fun, they also might weave in activities that would be at home during childhood recess in the schoolyard.

In Edmonton, they’ve played an intense version of duck duck goose, gone sledding in winter and done Slip ’n’ Slide in summer. One workout in Boston involved a kind of Easter egg hunt, where you search for plastic eggs at a sprint. Crack them open to find commands that could be, walk like a gorilla, do a cartwheel, or grab grass and dump it on Mandaric’s head.

The point is to lower inhibitions, which helps people make connections, said Jason Shaw, co-leader of the Indianapolis chapter.

“Nobody’s cool at November Project,” he said. “At different gyms, especially, you always have the people who just are so cool, or think they’re so cool. We try to nip that in the bud.”

Shaw said chapters mark different milestones, much like Scout merit badges, by spray painting a tag on your shirt for, say, showing up on your first single-digit day.

But they don’t spray when it’s too cold. The paint freezes.

If you don’t have a chapter nearby, many cities offer some kind of running or outdoor exercise group, though many are not free. Otherwise, November Project organizers offered a few suggestions on how to stay motived to keep working through the colder months.

Source: https://apnews.com/article/november-project-exercise-social-fitness-winter-fc55e4aefbd003f999aafec15fe25a0e

Tyson has been reflecting on his loss in Texas and says he has “no regrets”. Meanwhile Paul has set out a timeline to compete for a championship belt.

Former heavyweight champion Mike Tyson says the health scare in June, which forced the postponement of his boxing match with Jake Paul, almost cost him his life.

“I almost died in June,” Tyson wrote on X, adding that he “had 8 blood transfusions. Lost half my blood and 25lbs in hospital”.

The 58-year-old, who lost to the YouTuber-turned-boxer in a unanimous points decision in Texas, tweeted that the situation was far worse than people had realised.

Following Tyson’s recovery, after reportedly suffering an ulcer flareup, he reflected on the result of the fight.

“This is one of those situations when you lost but still won… no regrets to get in the ring one last time,” he said.

That contrasts with Tyson’s comments after the match in which he refused to confirm whether it would be his last fight.

“It depends on the situation,” Tyson said before suggesting a fight with Paul’s older brother, Logan Paul, who was standing near him in the ring.

Critics argued that the revised match – which involved fewer and shortened rounds, as well as heavier gloves – fell short of entertaining.

Some claimed it appeared more like a glorified sparring session.

It was Tyson’s first sanctioned pro bout since 2005, when he lost to Kevin McBride and then went into retirement – only briefly reappearing for an exhibition match in 2020 against Roy Jones Jr.

Source: https://news.sky.com/story/mike-tyson-reveals-he-almost-died-ahead-of-fight-with-youtuber-turned-boxer-jake-paul-13255509

The 18-carat Tiffany & Co pocket watch belonged to Captain Arthur Rostron, who helped save the 705 people from the sunken ship.

A gold watch gifted to the captain of a boat which rescued Titanic passengers has sold for a record-breaking £1.56m.

The 18-carat Tiffany & Co pocket watch was given to Captain Arthur Rostron by three widows of high-profile and wealthy businessmen who died when the ship sank in 1912.

Captain Rostron helped save the women, along with hundreds of other passengers, when he changed the course of his Carpathia ship after hearing a distress call from the Titanic after it struck an iceberg.

The timepiece was sold to a private collector in the US on Saturday by auctioneers Henry Aldridge and Son in Wiltshire, who paid the highest-ever fee for Titanic memorabilia.

The previous record was set in April when another gold pocket watch, recovered from the body of the richest man on the ship, John Jacob Astor, sold for £1.175m at the same auction house.

Mr Astor died aged 47 when the ship went down, after seeing his new wife Madeleine on to a lifeboat.

Mrs Astor was one of the widows who gifted Captain Rostron his watch, presenting it to him at a lunch at the family’s mansion on Fifth Avenue, New York, according to the auction house.

An inscription on it reads: “Presented to Captain Rostron with the heartfelt gratitude and appreciation of three survivors of the Titanic April 15th 1912 Mrs John B Thayer, Mrs John Jacob Astor and Mrs George D Widener.”

Source: https://news.sky.com/story/watch-gifted-to-captain-who-saved-700-titanic-passengers-sells-for-record-fee-13255624

In a new book, the head of the Catholic Church says that according to “some experts, what is happening in Gaza has the characteristics of a genocide”.

Pope Francis is calling for an investigation to determine whether Israel has committed “genocide” in Gaza.

In an excerpt from a book of interviews, the head of the Catholic Church says that according to “some experts, what is happening in Gaza has the characteristics of a genocide”.

The 87-year-old adds: “We should investigate carefully to determine whether it fits into the technical definition formulated by jurists and international bodies.”

Passages have been published in Italian newspaper La Stampa ahead of the book’s publication on Tuesday.

Genocide is defined, according to the UN, as acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group.

According to the Hamas health ministry in Gaza, Israel’s military campaign has killed more than 43,000 people, though that number does not distinguish between civilians and Hamas fighters.

Israel says it takes stringent measures to avoid civilian casualties by warning people to evacuate areas in which it is operating.

The United Nations recently said that almost 70% of deaths in the Gaza war, which it has verified, were among women and children.

The war began after Hamas militants broke into Israel on 7 October last year and killed about 1,200 people while taking 250 hostages, dozens of whom remain in Gaza.

The United Nations has said Hamas may have committed rape, gang rape and “sexualised torture” on women during the 7 October attacks.

It also said there are “reasonable grounds to believe that such violence may be ongoing”.

Yaron Sideman, ambassador of Israel to the Vatican, said in a statement: “There was a genocidal massacre on 7 October 2023 of Israeli citizens, and since then, Israel has exercised its right of self-defence against attempts from seven different fronts to kill its citizens.

Source: https://news.sky.com/story/pope-urges-investigation-to-determine-whether-israel-has-committed-genocide-in-gaza-13255646

Richard III was king of England from 1483 until his death at the Battle of Bosworth in 1485. More than a decade after his remains were found in a Leicester car park, an expert team has managed to recreate his voice.

State-of-the-art technology has been used to create a voice for King Richard III – giving him a Yorkshire accent.

A digital avatar of the medieval king’s head went on display in front of excited history fans at York Theatre Royal.

Richard III was king of England from 1483 until his death at the Battle of Bosworth in 1485, at the age of 32.

His remains were found in a car park in Leicester in 2012 by historian Philippa Langley.

Speaking about the recreation, she said: “We’ve got leading experts in their fields who have been working on this for 10 years and so everything has been meticulously researched, meticulously evidenced, so you are seeing the most accurate portrayal of Richard III”.

A team based at Face Lab at Liverpool John Moores University created the avatar based on the reconstruction of Richard III’s head with the help of a craniofacial expert.

Experts from various fields helped put the pieces of the puzzle together, including speech and language therapy, dentistry, forensic psychology and archaeology.

His voice has been created by Professor David Crystal, a leading linguist in 15th-century pronunciation. He admitted that it’s impossible to know exactly how he spoke, but this is as close as they will get.

The king was born in Northampton but spent a lot of his life in Yorkshire. His parents were also from the north of England.

Vocal coach Yvonne Morley-Chisholm spent a decade researching how the monarch would have sounded. She worked with the actor Thomas Dennis who was chosen as his body and face were such a good physical match.

Speaking to Sky News, she said people will be shocked at how different he sounded compared with traditional portrayals of the king on stage and screen.

The coach and actor also examined the king’s letters and diary so that “as you pronounced a word that’s how you would write it”.

Source: https://news.sky.com/story/king-richard-iii-given-yorkshire-accent-using-state-of-the-art-technology-13255791

Police are now searching for Pankaj Lamba, who is believed to have fled the country. He is suspected of murdering his wife earlier this month, before transporting her body down to east London.

An international manhunt is under way for the husband of a murdered woman, whose body was found in the boot of a car.

The body of Harshita Brella was found in east London on Thursday, tens of miles away from her home in Corby.

On Sunday, Northamptonshire Police said they were looking for Pankaj Lamba – who they believe has left the country.

Sky News understands she had been under the protection of a court order designed for victims of domestic abuse.

“Our inquiries lead us to suspect that Harshita was murdered in Northamptonshire earlier this month by her husband Pankaj Lamba,” said chief inspector Paul Cash.

“We suspect Lamba transported Harshita’s body from Northamptonshire to Ilford by car.”

“Fast track” enquires were made after the force was contacted on Wednesday by someone concerned about Ms Brella’s welfare. After she failed to answer the door at her home in Skegness Walk, Corby, a missing person investigation was launched.

Her body was found inside the boot of a vehicle on Brisbane Road, Ilford, in the early hours of Thursday morning.

A post mortem – conducted at Leicester Royal Infirmary on Friday – established she had been murdered.

‘I heard shouting and furniture being thrown’

Close neighbours described Ms Brella’s home as an HMO (a house of multiple occupancy).

More than 60 detectives are working on the case, with lines of enquiry including going house to house and property searches, as well as looking at CCTV and ANPR.

Officers have been conducting investigations at three locations: Skegness Walk and Sturton Walk in Corby and Brisbane Road, Ilford, where Ms Brella’s body was found.

A neighbour near Sturton Walk said she had seen Ms Brella in the area, and had recently heard “a lot of shouting, a lot of banging around”.

“A male or female arguing and raised voices – furniture being thrown,” she told Sky News. “She seems like a lovely young woman… It’s a shame to lose a lovely girl.”

“We are of course continuing to appeal for any information that will help us piece together exactly what happened as we work to get justice for Harshita,” said chief inspector Cash.

“I urge anyone listening to or reading this statement, that if you saw anything suspicious in the past week or have any information, no matter how small, please contact us. We would always rather receive well-meaning information that turns out to be nothing as opposed to not receiving it all.”

Source: https://news.sky.com/story/harshita-brella-international-manhunt-under-way-for-husband-after-womans-body-found-in-car-boot-13255686

A Hong Kong court will this week sentence 45 democratic campaigners in a major national security trial, with potentially heavy jail terms poised to further damage the financial hub’s once lively pro-democracy movement, critics say.
In May, 14 of the 47 democrats were found guilty of the charge of conspiracy to commit subversion, and two were acquitted. Earlier, 31 had pleaded guilty, hoping for reduced sentences.

The U.S. has described the trial and its guilty verdicts as “politically motivated”, opens new tab, while demanding the defendants be released.
Hong Kong authorities say the legal process has been impartial, while condemning critical comments from Western democracies as baseless and “malicious smearing”.
On Tuesday, three national security judges hand-picked by the government for this trial will conclude the legal saga that began with the democrats’ arrests in January 2021. Jail terms are expected to range from several years for participants to possible life imprisonment for principal offenders.

The charges of conspiracy to commit subversion followed unofficial primary elections held in July 2020 to maximise the democrats’ chances of winning a majority in an upcoming legislative council election.
The convictions have silenced some of the most popular and determined pro-democratic voices, according to an examination of social media posts and interviews with lawyers and relatives of half a dozen defendants.

“This case has swept away the entire pro-democracy camp in Hong Kong,” said Emilia Wong, the girlfriend of one of the defendants, Ventus Lau.
Prior to the trial, the democrats had existed in the space promised when Hong Kong returned from British to Chinese rule in 1997 under a “one country, two systems” formula granting the city wide-ranging freedoms denied to those in mainland China.
But critics say this model suffered with China’s imposition of a national security law in July 2020 after pro-democracy protests swept the city a year earlier.

Source: https://www.reuters.com/world/china/after-long-legal-battle-hong-kongs-47-democrats-brace-sentencing-2024-11-18/

President Joe Biden’s administration has allowed Ukraine to use U.S.-made weapons to strike deep into Russia, two U.S. officials and a source familiar with the decision said on Sunday, in a significant reversal of Washington’s policy in the Ukraine-Russia conflict.
Ukraine plans to conduct its first long-range attacks in the coming days, the sources said, without revealing details due to operational security concerns.

The move comes two months before President-elect Donald Trump takes office on Jan. 20 and follows months of pleas by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy to allow Ukraine’s military to use U.S. weapons to hit Russian military targets far from its border.
The change comes largely in response to Russia’s deployment of North Korean ground troops to supplement its own forces, a development that has caused alarm in Washington and Kyiv, a U.S. official and a source familiar with the decision said.

Vladimir Dzhabarov, first deputy head of the Russian upper house’s international affairs committee, said Washington’s decision to let Kyiv strike deep into Russia could lead to “World War Three”.
“The West has decided on such a level of escalation that it could end with the Ukrainian statehood in complete ruins by morning,” Andrei Klishas, a senior member of the Federation Council, Russia’s upper chamber of parliament, said on the Telegram messaging app.
Ukraine’s first deep strikes are likely to be carried out using ATACMS rockets, which have a range of up to 190 miles (306 km), according to the sources.
While some U.S. officials have expressed skepticism that allowing long-range strikes will change the war’s overall trajectory, the decision could help Ukraine at a moment when Russian forces are making gains and possibly put Kyiv in a better negotiating position when and if ceasefire talks happen.
It is not clear if Trump will reverse Biden’s decision when he takes office. Trump has long criticized the scale of U.S. financial and military aid to Ukraine and has vowed to end the war quickly, without explaining how.
A Trump spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment. But one of Trump’s closest foreign policy advisers, Richard Grenell, criticized the decision.

“Escalating the wars before he leaves office,” Grenell said, in an X post responding to the news.

Some congressional Republicans had urged Biden to loosen the rules on how Ukraine can use U.S.-provided weapons.

Since Trump’s Nov. 5 victory, senior Biden administration officials have repeatedly said they would use the remaining time to ensure Ukraine can fight effectively next year or negotiate peace with Russia from a “position of strength”.

‘WAY TOO LATE’

The U.S. believes more than 10,000 North Korean soldiers have been sent to eastern Russia and that most of them have moved to the Kursk region and have begun to engage in combat operations.

Russia is advancing at its fastest rate since 2022 despite taking heavy losses, and Ukraine said it had clashed with some of those North Korean troops deployed to Kursk.

Stretched by personnel shortages, Ukrainian forces have lost some of the ground they captured in an August incursion into Kursk that Zelenskiy said could serve as a bargaining chip.

“Removing targeting restrictions will allow the Ukrainians to stop fighting with one hand tied behind their back,” Alex Plitsas, senior non-resident fellow at the Atlantic Council, said.

“However, like everything else, I believe history will say the decision came way too late. Just like the ATACMS, HIMARS, Bradley Fighting Vehicles, Abrams tanks and F-16. They were all needed much sooner,” he added.

Despite Zelenskiy’s pleas, the White House had been reluctant to allow U.S.-supplied weapons to be used to strike targets deep inside Russia for fear this could ratchet up the conflict.

Republican U.S. Representative Mike Turner, who chairs the House Intelligence Committee, said in a statement that Biden’s decision was long overdue and that there were still too many restrictions on Ukraine.

Source: https://www.reuters.com/world/biden-lifts-ban-ukraine-using-us-arms-strike-inside-russia-2024-11-17/

When Russian tanks rolled into Ukraine in February 2022, the conventional wisdom was that the capital, Kyiv, would soon fall and the rest of the country wouldn’t last long against a much larger enemy.

Instead, it was that narrative that quickly collapsed. The Ukrainian army proved it could slow the advance of Russia’s forces and, if not drive them out completely, then – with enough support from the West – at least forestall defeat.

But nearly three years later, the outlook is again grim. Russia is expending huge amounts of weaponry and human life to make small-but-steady territorial gains to the nearly one-fifth of Ukraine it already controls. Ukraine, meanwhile, is struggling to minimize losses, maintain morale and convince allies that, with more military aid, it can turn the tide.

As this brutal war of attrition grinds toward its 1,000th day, neither side seems eager to negotiate. President-elect Donald Trump has said he could quickly end the war, though it is unclear how or in whose favor he might tip the scales.

This backdrop appears to be driving Russia’s strategy in eastern Ukraine, according to Phillips O’Brien, a professor of strategic studies at the University of St. Andrews, Scotland. Trump could try to force an end to the war by halting the supply of weapons to Ukraine, he said.

“If Trump cuts aid to Ukraine and a cease-fire leads to a frozen conflict, Russia wants to secure as much territory as it can now,” O’Brien said.

For Ukraine, the key to any cease-fire would be guarantees from the West that it won’t allow Russia to re-invade in the future. Otherwise, O’Brien said, “a cease-fire is a recipe for constant instability in Europe.”

Russia is advancing slowly but steadily in eastern Ukraine
In the war’s first year, Ukraine lost huge amounts of territory — but it also achieved notable victories. It resisted a much larger adversary with superior air power to survive as an independent country, and it reclaimed some land through gutsy counteroffensives, giving the underdog — and its wealthy allies — the confidence to stay in the fight.

In the second year, which was punctuated by Ukraine’s devastating loss of Bakhmut and its failed counteroffensive, the armies essentially fought to a standstill along a 1,000 kilometer (620 mile) front line. Toward the end of that year, the U.S. Congress delayed the approval of a $61 billion package of aid for weapons, and economic and humanitarian assistance.

With Ukraine’s ammunition dwindling, its outlook deteriorated significantly as the war’s third year began. In February 2024, the town of Avdiivka fell after months of airstrikes by Russia, which used highly destructive Soviet-era bombs retrofitted with navigation systems.

Source: https://apnews.com/article/ukraine-russia-war-f7f56e494df1dbbcdec1853001796c45

Washington is incensed by a recent China-linked hack of the telephone communications of US government and presidential campaign officials, and is anxious about increasing pressure by Beijing on Taiwan and Chinese support for Russia.

Lima: Joe Biden met Chinese President Xi Jinping for the last time as US president on Saturday, with the leaders’ goal of lowering tensions before Donald Trump’s inauguration challenged by fresh conflicts over cyber crime, trade, Taiwan and Russia.

Biden and Xi huddled on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum in Lima, Peru as they began their first talks in seven months, according to Chinese state media.

In a significant development, US President Joe Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping agreed on Saturday that human beings and not artificial intelligence should make decisions over the use of nuclear weapons, according to the White House.

“The two leaders affirmed the need to maintain human control over the decision to use nuclear weapons,” the White House said in a statement.

“The two leaders also stressed the need to consider carefully the potential risks and develop AI technology in the military field in a prudent and responsible manner.”

This would mark the first time the two countries have made such a declaration.

Other topics were also discussed, as per US National Security Adviser Sullivan. Biden and Xi discussed wrongfully detained Americans in China. Biden also flagged US’s concerns over three major issues — the ongoing cyberattacks by China targetting civilian critical infrastructure and threatening the safety and security of Americans; China’s continued support to Russia’s defense industrial base and the need to develop Artificial Intelligence tech in the military field in a ‘prudent and responsible manner’.

Source : https://www.deccanherald.com//world/biden-xi-begin-final-meeting-in-peru-as-trump-era-looms-3279793

Kamala Harris and the Democratic Party’s prodigious fundraising operation raised more than $1 billion in her loss to Donald Trump, but the vice president is still pushing donors for more money after the election.

Democrats are sending persistent appeals to Harris supporters without expressly asking them to cover any potential debts, enticing would-be donors instead with other matters: the Republican president-elect’s picks for his upcoming administration and a handful of pending congressional contests where ballots are still being tallied.

“The Harris campaign certainly spent more than they raised and is now busy trying to fundraise,” said Adrian Hemond, a Democratic strategist from Michigan. He said he was been asked by the campaign after its loss to Trump to help with fundraising.

The party is flooding Harris’ lucrative email donor list with near-daily appeals aimed at small-dollar donors — those whose contributions are measured in the hundreds of dollars or less. But Hemond said the postelection effort also includes individual calls to larger donors.

The scramble now underscores the expense involved in a losing effort and the immediate challenges facing Democrats as they try to maintain a baseline political operation to counter the Trump administration and prepare for the 2026 midterm elections. It also calls into question how Democrats used their resources, including hosting events with musicians and other celebrities as well as running ads in a variety of nontraditional spaces such as Las Vegas’ domed Sphere.

Internally, the apparent cash crunch is being blamed for the campaign’s decision to stop paying many senior staff as of Saturday, even those initially told they would be paid through the end of the year. Facing internal frustration, the campaign notified those affected in recent days that their health insurance would be covered through the end of the year, according to one person with direct knowledge of the situation who spoke on condition of anonymity to share internal discussions.

Another person familiar with the fundraising effort and the Democratic National Committee’s finances said the Harris campaign’s expected shortfall is a relatively small sum compared to the breadth of the campaign, which reported having $119 million cash on hand in mid-October before the Nov. 5 election. That person was not authorized to publicly discuss the campaign’s finances and spoke on condition of anonymity.

Patrick Stauffer, chief financial officer for the Harris campaign, said in a statement that “there were no outstanding debts or bills overdue” on Election Day and there “will be no debt” listed for either the campaign or the DNC on their next financial disclosures, which are due to the Federal Election Commission in December.

Source : https://apnews.com/article/harris-postelection-fundraising-dnc-gaetz-trump-donors-806eeb3b92eced3242aeb29a964ca259

After 10 weeks, the mass rape trial that has shocked France is moving on to the final phase of closing statements.

The case focuses on a formerly married couple, Dominique and Gisèle Pelicot, pensioners who are now in their early 70s.

Ms Pelicot’s legal team will give their final statements on Tuesday, and the defence will then follow, ahead of a verdict from a panel of five judges expected on 20 December.

Dominique Pelicot went on trial with 50 other men in the southern city of Avignon in September.

Every chapter of this case has played out in the full glare of publicity because Ms Pelicot has waived her anonymity, making the whole trial open to the media and the public.

In France, it has become known as the Affaire Mazan, after the village near Avignon where the Pelicots lived.

In November 2020, Dominique Pelicot admitted drugging his then-wife for almost a decade and recruiting dozens of men online to rape her in their home when she was unconscious.

Police tracked down his co-accused from thousands of videos they found on Mr Pelicot’s laptop, although they were unable to identify an additional 21 men. Investigators said they have evidence of around 200 rapes carried out between 2011 and 2020.

The majority of the defendants deny the charges of rape, arguing that they cannot be guilty because they did not realise Ms Pelicot was unconscious and therefore did not “know” they were raping her.

That line of defence has sparked a nationwide discussion on whether consent should be added to France’s legal definition of rape, currently defined as “any act of sexual penetration committed against another person by violence, constraint, threat or surprise”.

The trial has also shone a light on the issue of chemical submission – drug-induced sexual assault.

Source : https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c30p6ey32ydo

It didn’t take long for Elon Musk to be accused of meddling in Italy’s domestic affairs.

The tech billionaire’s declaration that “these judges need to go,” splashed across all of Italy’s front pages, came amidst increasing tension between Italy’s ruling coalition and the judiciary after a panel of Rome magistrates questioned the legality of a government initiative to detain asylum-seekers in Albania.

Musk prompted a highly unusual statement from Italian President Sergio Mattarella, who told him not to interfere in Italian affairs.

“Italy is a great democratic country and… knows how to take care of itself,” said Mattarella. “Anyone, particularly if, as announced, he is about to assume an important government role in a friendly and allied country, must respect its sovereignty and cannot take it upon himself to issue instructions.”

Musk, who owns Tesla and X, has recently been picked by Donald Trump to head up his planned new Department of Government Efficiency.

He has also developed close ties with Giorgia Meloni since she was elected over two years ago on the promise of cracking down on illegal migration.

Two processing centres in Albania, built and managed by the Italian government to help manage the migrant flow in the Mediterranean towards Italy, soon became the symbol of her hard stance on migration.

But delays in the project, legal hurdles and human rights concerns, as well as doubts about cost-effectiveness, have undermined its success so far.

Last week a Rome court ordered the transfer of seven Egyptian and Bangladeshi asylum seekers from one of the two centres to Italy.

The court had already ruled last month against the detention of other migrants from the same countries in Albania, a decision that the Italian prime minister had labelled “prejudicial”.

The two centres are currently empty, and Italian authorities are scaling back the number of staff on the ground.

Source : https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/ce8ygqv1my1o

Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky says he is certain the war with Russia will “end sooner” than it otherwise would have once Donald Trump becomes US president.

Zelensky said he had a “constructive exchange” with Trump during their phone conversation after his victory in the US presidential election.

He did not say whether Trump had made any demands regarding possible talks with Russia, but said he’d not heard anything from him that was contrary to Ukraine’s position.

Trump has consistently said his priority is to end the war – which began with Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 – and what he describes as a drain on US resources in the form of military aid to Kyiv.

Earlier this year, the US House of Representatives approved a $61bn (£49bn) military aid package.

The US has been the greatest supplier of arms to Ukraine. Between the start of the war and the end of June 2024, it delivered or committed to send weapons and equipment worth $55.5bn (£41.5bn), according to the Kiel Institute for the World Economy, a German research organisation.

But domestically, support for arming Ukraine appears to have waned somewhat since the war began – particularly among Republican voters, who Trump successfully courted.

During the US election campaign, the former president turned president-elect repeatedly pledged to end the war “in a day” – but has yet to divulge how he intends to do so.

Source : https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c0mzgv4x901o

Mpox virus variant Clade 1b was first detected in eastern Congo. Health officials say the spread of the new strain has been very limited.

A case of Clade 1b mpox has been recorded in the US for the first time, health officials have said.

It was detected in northern California after a person returned from eastern Africa, the California Department of Public Health said.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said it was the first case of Clade 1b mpox recorded in the US.

California’s health department said the individual was isolating at home, that their symptoms are improving, and the risk to the public is low.

The Clade 1b strain of mpox was discovered by scientists earlier this year, who traced it to a Congolese mining town. They said it may cause milder symptoms but spreads more easily through close contact.

As of 4 November, the UK has recorded three cases of Clade 1b. The first case – detected in London in October – was a person who had been on holiday in Africa.

They developed flu-like symptoms more than 24 hours after returning to the UK and later developed a rash which worsened in the following days. The other two cases were household contacts of the first.

Mpox, including the Clade 1b strain, is usually passed on by close physical contact, contact with infected animals or sexual transmission.

Source : https://news.sky.com/story/first-case-of-new-mpox-strain-recorded-in-us-california-health-officials-say-13255388

Passengers safely left the plane as it was returned to the gate at Dallas Love Field Airport.

A passenger plane has been hit by a bullet near the cockpit as it was preparing to take off at an airport in Dallas.

The bullet struck the right side of the Southwest Airlines jet just under the flight deck around 8.30pm local time on Friday (2.30am on Saturday UK time).

Flight 2494 was cancelled with the aircraft removed from service.

Passengers safely left the commercial plane as it was returned to the gate at Dallas Love Field Airport in Texas with another flight planned for them.

No injuries were reported in the incident involving a Boeing 737-800 aircraft which suffered some damage as it was taxiing.

The jet was preparing to fly to Indianapolis International Airport when the gunfire happened.

In a social media post, Dallas Love Field Airport said the city’s police department responded and runway 13R/31L was closed, but reopened later on Friday night with “minimal impact” on the facility’s operations.

According to a Southwest Airlines spokesperson, the “bullet apparently struck the right side of the aircraft just under the flight deck”.

The plane scare happened just days after two commercial aircraft were hit by gunfire over the capital of Haiti.

A Spirit Airlines flight was just metres from landing in Port-au-Prince having come from Fort Lauderdale in Florida, when gangs shot at the plane, injuring a flight attendant.

Footage on social media, which is believed to have been filmed by an airline employee, appeared to show the hole where a bullet had entered the aircraft near the back door and struck overhead lockers.

The plane was diverted and landed in the Dominican Republic and all flights in and out of the Toussaint Louverture International Airport were halted, the US embassy in Haiti said.

Source : https://news.sky.com/story/dallas-gunfire-at-airport-as-passenger-plane-hit-by-bullet-13255093

Jon Kenny was best known as half of the comedy duo with Pat Shortt called D’Unbelievables in the 1980s and made two guest appearances in Father Ted.

Jon Kenny, an Irish comedian and actor known for D’Unbelievables and roles on Father Ted, has died aged 66.

His wife Margie told local news outlet the Limerick Leader that the comedian had died on Friday evening in Galway Clinic.

In a statement to the newspaper, Kenny’s family said he had a cardiac arrest early on 10 November. They added the comedian “grabbed life and shook it as hard as he could getting every ounce of fun, madness and love from it”.

They also said: “His wit, humour, generosity and kindness will outlast his passing. The memories and stories of those who knew him will be his legend.”

Kenny was best known as half of the comedy duo with Pat Shortt called D’Unbelievables in the 1980s. He also made two guest appearances in Father Ted as Michael Cocheese and Fred Rickwood.

The comedian was reunited with Shortt in the 2022 film The Banshees of Inisherin, where both had small roles.

Paying tribute, Shortt said on social media: “I was lucky to spend so many years touring with Jon and learning from him, creating some great shows and videos.

“Hilarious hours in the rehearsal room and playing great tunes. But sitting in the kitchen with Margy and Caroline just having the craic in Lough Gur will never be forgotten. Thanks Jon.”

Taoiseach Simon Harris also called the Limerick actor a “gifted performer,” while Sinn Fein president Mary Lou McDonald called him a “comedic genius”.

In a statement, Mr Harris said: “Jon had the ability, that very few people possess, to make his audiences crack up laughing with a glance or a single word.

“Behind that seemingly effortless talent to joke, there was a gifted performer and an extremely deep thinker.”

The Taoiseach added he was in Limerick on Friday “when word of his death came through and to say he is beloved, is a huge understatement”.

Source : https://news.sky.com/story/jon-kenny-irish-comedian-who-starred-in-father-ted-and-banshees-of-inisherin-dies-aged-66-13255125

Even Google appears to trust X less, with one expert telling Sky News the search engine treats X competitor Bluesky as 10 times more important than Elon Musk’s platform.

Actress Jamie Lee Curtis, The Guardian newspaper, and even the Clifton Suspension Bridge have joined swathes of people deserting Elon Musk’s social media site X.

Millions have instead joined Bluesky, which has a stronger focus on moderation, set up by former Twitter founder Jack Dorsey – who is now no longer affiliated with the social media platform – in 2019.

According to the official Bluesky account, a million people joined the platform in just one day this week, after Musk was given a position in Donald Trump’s government.

“The alignment of Mr Musk with president-elect Trump and his use of the platform to promote the interests of president-elect Trump is obviously driving out a lot of people,” says Adam Tinworth, a social media expert and digital journalism lecturer at City St George’s University.

But, he says, this is just the latest exodus from Musk’s platform – and people aren’t just leaving for political reasons.

“Many of us for whom Twitter was a major part of our social network landscape have been backing away just on pragmatic grounds, [because] the algorithm has been retuned,” he says.

When Musk bought Twitter in October 2022, he cut roughly 80% of the company’s workforce, according to an interview he gave the BBC.

That “gutting” of the organisation, says Mr Tinworth, has resulted in a worse experience on the platform.

“There aren’t the same resources behind it and his priorities for what he’s doing there are not necessarily driven towards the trust and safety end of it, which is content moderation, removing bots from the system, those sorts of things.”

The lack of moderation appears to be impacting life outside of X too.

Jason Barnard, the chief executive of Kalicube, spent nine years gathering three billion different data points that Google uses to decide what is factual information.

He told Sky News that although X has a long-standing agreement with Google to allow the search engine to use X posts to help it understand the world, Google’s trust appears to be waning.

“Bluesky is 20 times smaller in terms of the number of people on the platform,” he says. “If you search for people [on Google], you will find Bluesky 10 times less often than you will find X.

“But,” he says, “it’s 10 times more important to Google today for factual information.”

Source : https://news.sky.com/story/the-x-exodus-could-bluesky-spike-spark-end-of-elon-musks-social-media-platform-13254722

Chinese President Xi Jinping vowed on Saturday to work with the incoming U.S. administration of Donald Trump as he held his final talks with outgoing President Joe Biden on conflicts from cyber crime to trade, Taiwan, the South China Sea and Russia.

Biden met Xi for about two hours at a hotel where the Chinese leader was staying, on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum in Lima, Peru, for their first talks in seven months.

“China’s goal of a stable, healthy and sustainable China-U.S. relationship remains unchanged” after Trump’s election, Xi said as he met Biden, acknowledging “ups and downs” between the countries. “China is ready to work with the new U.S. administration to maintain communication, expand cooperation and manage differences.”

Biden told Xi that the two leaders have not always agreed but their discussions have been “frank” and “candid.”

Two months before Trump returns to the White House, U.S. officials see magnified risks of conflict during the transition. Biden told Xi that maintaining leader-to-leader talks would be vital even after he left office, said Biden national security adviser Jake Sullivan.

The president-elect has vowed to adopt blanket 60% tariffs on U.S. imports of Chinese goods as part of a package of “America First” trade measures. Beijing opposes those steps. The Republican also plans to hire several hawkish voices on China in senior roles, including U.S. Senator Marco Rubio as secretary of state and Representative Mike Waltz as national security adviser.

Biden has aimed to lower tensions with China, and there were few signs of a breakthrough on the major issues.
But Biden and Xi did agree that human beings, not artificial intelligence, should make decisions over the use of nuclear weapons, according to the White House, the first time the countries are known to have raised the issue.

The U.S. and Chinese presidents also talked about North Korea, an ally of China whose deepening ties with Russia and deployment of troops in Moscow’s war with Ukraine have raised concerns in Washington, Beijing and European capitals.

“President Biden pointed out that the (People’s Republic of China’s) publicly stated position with respect to the war in Ukraine is there should be no escalation, no broadening the conflict, and the introduction of (Democratic People’s Republic of Korea) troops runs foursquare against that,” said Sullivan.

“He also pointed out that the PRC does have influence and capacity, and should use it to try to prevent a further escalation or further expansion of the conflict with the introduction of even more DPRK forces.”

MAJOR ISSUES

Other major issues raised at the meeting included a recent China-linked hack of the telephone communications of U.S. government and presidential campaign officials, stepped-up pressure by Beijing on Taiwan and in the South China Sea, as well as Chinese support for Russia. Biden also raised the cases of Americans he believes are wrongly detained in China.

On Taiwan, the leaders appear to have had a sharp exchange. Biden called for an end to Beijing’s “destabilizing” military activity around the island, the White House said.

Xi said the “‘Taiwan independence’ separatist activities” of Taiwanese President Lai Ching-te were incompatible with peace and stability there, according to the Chinese foreign ministry. Lai plans to stop in the U.S. state of Hawaii and maybe Guam on a sensitive visit that is sure to anger Beijing in the coming weeks, Reuters reported on Friday.

Source : https://www.reuters.com/world/biden-xi-set-tense-final-meeting-peru-trump-era-looms-2024-11-16

Greece is in talks with Israel to develop a two billion euro anti-aircraft and missile defence dome, part of a wider push to modernise its armed forces, Greek officials said on Thursday.

The defences would likely mimic Israel’s Iron Dome and other systems that intercept short- and long-range missiles launched during strikes from its neighbours amid the ongoing conflicts in Gaza and Lebanon.

Greece is keen to invest in its defences to keep up with its NATO ally and historic rival Turkey, which is also developing its own air defences, despite some improvement in relations.

“The plan is to create a multi-layer anti-aircraft and anti-drone system,” one source with knowledge of the issue told Reuters after a closed door briefing with Greek Defence Minister Nikos Dendias.

“We are in discussions with Israel,” the source said.

A second official confirmed the scale of the potential deal, adding that Greece needs to spend 12.8 billion euros by 2035 to modernise its armed forces.

The air defences are part of Athens’ 10-year military purchasing plan that includes acquiring up to 40 new F-35 fighter jets and drones from the U.S., and four Belharra frigates and Rafale jets from France.

“Our effort is for a quick transition of our armed forces to the 21st century,” Defence Minister Dendias said before the Thursday briefing.

Greece currently uses U.S. Patriot and old Russian S-300 systems to protect its airspace.

Despite some thaw in Greece’s long-troubled relations with Turkey, its much larger eastern neighbour, the two countries remain at odds on a range of issues including sea boundaries, energy resources and airspace in the eastern Mediterranean.

Source : https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/greece-israel-iron-dome-athens-b2647379.html

A subreddit group has been set up to track the movements of Elon Musk’s private jet, with more than 200,000 members eager to keep tabs on the SpaceX CEO’s whereabouts

A bizarre page has been set up to track tech billionaire Elon Musk’s every move.

Ever wondered what the richest man in the world was up to at any given moment of the day? Well wonder no more, as a handy Reddit group has come together to keep people informed of all his flights. And with more than 200,000 members keeping tabs on the SpaceX CEO, it’s safe to say not much of what Musk gets up to is missed.

Although the group are solely tracking his jet’s movements, with 10 flights in the last three days alone, there’s plenty of shifting about to speculate on.

And that is exactly what Reddit users do every time Musk is on the move, as Donald Trump’s new efficiency tsar commutes via the skies.

In the last three days the X, formerly Twitter, owner has been travelling mostly between West Palm Beach, Florida, to Austin Texas, which has led to a lot of discussion about the who, what and why.

Albeit just a snippet of his jet setting life, threads can often descend into a mixture of conjecture and reaction to the activity

One user gushed: “I love this tracker. It’s great to see a billionaire’s physical presence in politics. How quickly into 2025 does the data become unavailable for this tracker?”

In relation to the environmental impact of the constant travel, one user said: “But I’m supposed to use paper straws, got it.”

Source : https://www.dailystar.co.uk/news/us-news/reddit-group-tracking-elon-musks-34125436

Watch footage of the incomprehensible floating island

A MYSTERIOUS spinning island shaped like a perfect circle has left explorers baffled for years.

Known as “The Eye” the uninhabited patch of overgrown vegetation floats around a crystal clear lake in Argentina slowly moving each day.

The bizarre natural phenomenon sits in the swampy river of Parana Delta in Buenos Aires and it has left many experts stumped over why or how it moves so freely.

Those lucky enough to have travelled to the island say it is almost a perfect circle due to the movement of the land mass.

Overtime the corners of the lake have managed to rub against the island as it moves and eroded itself into 360 degree smooth outlines.

Incredible aerial footage shows the 387ft spherical island, known locally as El Ojo, surrounded by a crescent of water.

Famed Argentinian documentary director Sergio Neuspiller travelled to the Parana river and as he flew over El Ojo noticed the unbelievable shape below.

After landing the helicopter nearby Neuspiller took off on a journey to find the magical island.

Once at the exact spot he climbed onto the floating disc and waded through the vegetation.

He told El Observador about the trip and said he was blown away by the beauty of the island and the lake it was floating on.

Source : https://www.the-sun.com/news/12906896/mystery-perfectly-circular-uninhabited-island-eye-spins

The gender divide has sundered Korean society — and now it’s coming for the U.S.

When I sit down at a bar in Brooklyn with my cousin — a recent college grad from Korea who is visiting America for the first time — I have one burning question: How’s your love life? She keeps her ballcap pushed down low and presses her lips into a tight line.

“I’m not interested,” she says. “I just don’t trust men. You don’t know what they’re thinking these days — whether they’re one of the guys with misogynistic thoughts. It’s so normalized. Why would I even risk it?” she says.

She does not want to date. She feels no need to get married. Her ideal life is to form a tight-knit community with other single women. “It’s not just me,” she says. “All my friends rarely date these days for that reason. These issues are all we talk about when we get together.”

My cousin and her friends are not alone. Across Korea, young women are swearing off men, influenced by the 4B movement, a radical feminist campaign that originated in Korea in the late 2010s. The four Bs stand for bi-hon (no marriage), bi-yeonae (no dating), bi-chulsan (no birthing) and bi-sex (no sex).

The movement formed in response to growing gender inequality and violence against women: Korea has one of the largest gender pay gaps in the world, and brutal murders of women — in subway stations, on rooftops and in their own homes, often at the hands of men they were dating — headline news shows daily. Amid so much political turmoil and bloodshed, 4B activists say the only way to make women safe — and convince society to take their safety seriously — is to swear off men altogether until something changes.

And now, in the wake of Donald Trump’s reelection, 4B is going viral on U.S. social media among women who are furious with the men who helped the former president clinch a win. On TikTok alone, top videos have gained millions of views, and one widely shared tweet about the 4B movement post-election now has 450,000 likes and 21 million views at time of writing.

It’s too soon to say if the 4B movement is here to stay in the United States. But even if it isn’t, the surge in interest says something about the social forces unleashed by the 2024 presidential election. An uptick in misogyny has already been evident — just look at the “your body, my choice” comments by men online — similar to what’s been seen in Korea, suggesting that this kind of feminist reaction could take hold. And even if women don’t explicitly take on the 4B label en masse, the movement’s message of bodily autonomy, and the anger that drove the conversation in the first place, could have a major impact not just on American politics, but on American life overall — just as it has in Korea.

Source : https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2024/11/16/4b-movement-america-political-protest-00189314

In the aftermath of the US election the divisions caused by the vicious battle remain.

Ava from Chicago had been crying all morning. She’d woken up to the news Donald Trump would once again be occupying the White House and was distraught.

Not only was the Republican candidate on course to win the presidency but he was also set to do so emphatically defeating rival Kamala Harris in every single one of the battleground states.

Ava had to battle with the fact that a man she felt put American values to shame would be leading the country for the second time.

The student felt the education system was to blame for Trump’s re-election, but the truth was that she had supporters of the former president within her own family.

“The majority of my family are Democrats, but I have like a couple of family members that live down in Florida and they’re Republican,” she explained.

“We usually try to avoid conversations like that. But I’ve been texting my uncle for weeks and weeks and weeks trying to debate with them.

“I got no luck with that. I know he doesn’t want to open that conversation with me because he knows I’m very passionate about keeping our democracy.”

However, after Trump’s victory, she had no plans to call her uncle.

“I’m not really interested in having that conversation today,” she said with a sigh, “and I’m not really interested in having that debate with them either.”

Hearing the two sides of American politics describe each other it can feel as if Democrats and Republicans come from two different planets.

But traveling around the USA it quickly becomes clear Ava is far from alone in having a family split divided by the country’s bitter partisan politics.

On the leafy banks of Lake Michigan, Chris Kellems felt strongly about her neighbour’s pro-Trump yard signs.

Source : https://www.the-express.com/news/politics/154957/donald-trump-us-election-kamala-harris

The trial is expected to last between six and eight weeks with a further hearing due to be held in December.

The Duke of Sussex “is one of two claimants whose claims are still live” against the publisher of The Sun over allegations of unlawful information gathering.

A hearing on Friday was told that Harry and former Labour deputy leader Tom Watson are now the only people continuing their claims against News Group Newspapers (NGN).

The court was told 39 cases have been settled since a previous hearing in July.

The two remaining cases are expected to go to trial in January 2025, with Harry alleging he was targeted by journalists and private investigators working for NGN, which also published the now-defunct News Of The World.

The publisher has previously denied unlawful activity took place at The Sun.

Speaking on Friday, David Sherborne, for the claimants, said: “The reduction of the live claims to just two is a pretty recent development.”

The two sides returned to court in London to ask a judge to rule on preliminary issues before the trial in the two remaining cases, with Lord Watson in attendance at the hearing.

The judge ruled Harry can use further emails between executives of the publisher of The Sun and members of the royal household in his legal claim.

The messages were sent between a number of former NGN executives and members of the royal household between 2013 and 2019.

Mr Justice Fancourt said there was a “degree of speculation whether any of the documents sought are going to assist the claimant’s case”, but ruled there was “sufficient justification” for some of the emails to be provided.

He said: “In all the circumstances, therefore, it seems to me that there is a limited category of documents where despite the element of delay, and despite the relative lateness of the application, there is a credible case for saying a full picture is necessary in the interest of justice.

“I will, however, limit the documents that are being sought.”

Source : https://news.sky.com/story/prince-harry-one-of-two-people-continuing-claims-against-publisher-of-the-sun-13254619

Wes Streeting issues a warning to the British public to be weary of deals that seem “to good to be true”, following a number of women dying from unregulated overseas procedures.

People who want to travel abroad for cosmetic surgery like Brazilian butt lifts (BBL) should be weary about offers that seem “too good to be true”, the health secretary has warned.

Wes Streeting said his “strong advice” to the British public is that they should “think carefully” about the risks before opting for “rock bottom prices” overseas.

Several women have lost their lives in the last few years after travelling to Turkey for cut-price surgery – with the Royal College of Surgeons to hold a meeting on the “growing crisis” next month.

Mr Streeting said: “I think we need to take very seriously this issue of medical negligence and malpractice overseas.

“My strong advice to British travellers is if the offer looks too good to be true, I suspect it is too good to be true, and think very carefully before flying overseas, paying what looks like a kind of rock bottom attractive price, because you may end up paying the consequences for years to come as a result of injuries, which in the worst cases can be life-changing.”

The cabinet minister said he was “determined to work with international partners to try and improve safety for Brits abroad”.

“But we also need to send a strong message to the British public to manage the risks, to do their homework and think very carefully before taking up offers that are too good to be true,” he added.

Asked whether the NHS should be picking up the pieces when things go wrong, he said: “We’re never going to turn people away who are in need of care but this is another pressure the NHS doesn’t need.

“So I would urge Brits – before travelling abroad – to think very carefully before accessing those cosmetic treatments that are currently being marketed at rock bottom prices.”

Foreign Office data shows that at least six British people died in Turkey in 2023 after travelling abroad for medical procedures.

Overall, 28 British nationals have died in the country following planned surgery since 2019, the data shows.

Victims include Hayley Dowell, 38, who suffered medical complications at a private clinic and died after she had a Brazilian butt lift, tummy tuck and liposuction in Turkey in October last year, a recent inquest heard.

Janet Lynne Savage, 54, from Bangor, also died after major artery trauma during a gastric sleeve weight loss procedure in Turkey in 2023, a coroner said.

Source : https://news.sky.com/story/warning-issued-over-brazilian-butt-lifts-at-rock-bottom-prices-abroad-13254764

Liana Fricker, from Surrey, says it will no longer be “viable” to send her sons to private school after the government scraps the VAT exemption on fees. Her children are among thousands of private school pupils who could be displaced by the decision.

Following the US election result, internet searches for how to move away from soon-to-be president Donald Trump’s America have spiked.

From Australia to Canada, voters concerned about some of his more divisive policies appear to be putting some genuine thought into finding a new home.

But back in the UK, there’s one concerned mother who thinks heading back to the States might be the best option for her children.

Liana Fricker, who lives in Surrey, having moved from California more than 20 years ago, has two sons who are diagnosed with ADHD.

Aged 14 and 10, they attend a private school – one “very good” at working with young people with the condition.

But with fees set to climb 15.4% in January when the government scraps the VAT exemption on private schools, she claims she’ll soon be “priced out”.

Liana says she’s been left with no option but to withdraw at least one of her sons from the school. It means sending him to a state school or heading back to the US, where she believes her family would have more choice.

“It’s ironic,” she says. “Because, yes, even with Donald Trump, I have to consider what’s the least bad option.”

In the US, she says the concept of government policy dictating her school choice is an alien one. Instead, there’s an idea “everyone is free to do what they want to do within the law and the Constitution”.

“If you send your children to private school, you get a tax rebate as a thank you for paying tax and not using the service.”

Liana is clear there are “great” state schools in her local area, but the trouble would be making sure her sons were accepted to one – ideally together.

Her 14-year-old is already studying for his GCSEs, and she’s concerned his education could be disrupted. He could have to study entirely new subjects if the same options aren’t offered.

He stands to be one of the thousands of private school pupils who critics fear may be displaced by the government’s policy.

Labour claim the change will fund around 6,500 new teachers in state schools, and the Treasury says it does “not expect this policy to have a significant impact on the number of pupils attending private schools overall”.

But Liana says it will make “everything a lot harder”.

“I think the long-term viability of private education goes out the window,” she says, as parents mull just how long they can afford to keep up with the fees.

And it’s not just private school pupils who stand to feel the impact.

She’s worried children with Special Educational Needs (SEN) – like her sons’ ADHD – who are “priced out of private school” will now “have to go overstretch the resources in the other schools”.

“If I was a parent in a state school, I would be raging because that’s what’s going to happen.”

Children with SEN are only exempt from VAT on private school fees if they have a local authority funded Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP) which places them in a particular school.

It does not account for children whose parents decide to enrol them in private schools due to their needs.

This is the case for Liana, who chose a particular school to suit her children.

“It’s not so much how the private school system helps you – it’s because it gives you choice,” she says.

Liana wants a “fair, impartial, transparent impact assessment across the country”, making sure ministers understand what the policy means for pupils and schools alike.

Source : https://news.sky.com/story/the-least-bad-option-why-concerned-mum-may-quit-uk-and-head-to-trumps-america-13252638

Argentine police arrested a man in Buenos Aires who possessed a large number of vintage Nazi weapons decorated with Third Reich symbols from Adolf Hitler’s infamous regime, officials said on Friday.

Police seized over 60 firearms from the man’s home, including 43 rifles emblazoned with Nazi eagle markings, 15 pistols, five bayonets and a machine gun, according to a report from Argentina’s federal police.

Nazi flags, military uniforms, hats, helmets as well as busts of Hitler were also confiscated by authorities, the report said.

Personnel from the Buenos Aires Holocaust Museum assisted the law enforcement action, which sought to enforce a national anti-discrimination law, the police report said.

The home where the objects were found is located in the city of Quilmes, near the southern edge of the sprawling metro area of Buenos Aires, the capital. Police had been tracking the man after he traveled abroad and was implicated in an investigation initiated by the federal police of Bosnia-Herzegovina.

After World War Two, many Nazi officials including notorious death camp supervisor Adolf Eichmann emigrated to Argentina to avoid trials for war crimes.

Last year, local security forces raided and shut down an Argentine bookstore that was selling books about Nazism online.

Source : https://www.reuters.com/world/argentina-seizes-large-arsenal-nazi-weapons-hitler-era-memorabilia-2024-11-16

Reports that billionaire Elon Musk has held multiple calls with Russian officials, including President Vladimir Putin, should be investigated by the Pentagon and law-enforcement agencies on national-security grounds, two senior Democratic senators said in a letter seen by Reuters on Friday.

Musk, who has been appointed to a senior government role by Republican President-elect Donald Trump, oversees billions of dollars in Pentagon and intelligence-community contracts as CEO of aerospace company SpaceX.

Senator Jeanne Shaheen, a senior Foreign Relations Committee member, and Senate Armed Services Committee chair Jack Reed told U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland and the Pentagon’s inspector general that Musk’s involvement in those SpaceX programs should be probed for potential debarment and exclusion after reports as recent as October of his conversations with Russian officials. Debarment refers to exclusion from certain contracts and privileges.

“These relationships between a well-known U.S. adversary and Mr. Musk, a beneficiary of billions of dollars in U.S. government funding, pose serious questions regarding Mr. Musk’s reliability as a government contractor and a clearance holder,” the lawmakers said in a joint letter dated on Friday.

Several Democratic lawmakers have publicly called for a probe into Musk’s communications with Moscow since a Wall Street Journal report last month on the alleged contact, but the letter to the U.S. officials who could launch such an investigation has not been previously reported.

The call by Shaheen and Reed for a federal probe is a longshot effort as Trump prepares to return to the White House with backing from Musk, who spent over $119 million on Trump’s reelection campaign and was appointed co-head of the president-elect’s forthcoming Department of Government Efficiency.

SpaceX, Musk and the Pentagon did not immediately respond to requests for comment. The Pentagon and Justice Department did not immediately respond to similar requests.

REPORTS OF RUSSIAN CONTACT

Reports of Musk’s contact with Russian officials emerged in 2022, when political scientist Ian Bremmer, president of consulting firm Eurasia Group, said he was told by Musk that he had spoken with Putin about the Ukraine war and Russia’s red line for using nuclear weapons. Musk denied Bremmer’s claim and said he had only spoken to Putin 18 months earlier, about space.

Last month, the Wall Street Journal reported Musk has had multiple conversations with Russian officials including Putin and his first deputy chief of staff Sergei Kiriyenko, citing unnamed U.S., European and Russian officials.

Shaheen and Reed said in the letter it was “deeply concerning” that Musk reportedly had conversations with Kiriyenko. He was charged this year with other Russian officials by the U.S. Justice Department for spearheading an AI-powered propaganda campaign on Musk’s social-media platform X and other sites to promote Russian interests and influence voters ahead of the U.S. presidential election.

Musk has publicly claimed he holds a U.S. security clearance, giving him access to secret information at SpaceX, which holds billions of dollars in Pentagon and NASA launch contracts. The company also has a $1.8-billion intelligence-community contract to build a vast spy satellite network, Reuters has reported.

“Communications between Russian government officials and any individual with a security clearance have the potential to put our security at risk,” the lawmakers said in the letter.

Tensions between the U.S. and Russia in space have spiked since Russia’s 2022 Ukraine invasion. Pentagon officials have condemned suspect maneuvers by Russian satellites in orbit and this year accused Russia of developing a space-based nuclear weapon capable of disabling large satellite networks.

Musk’s SpaceX has come to dominate the U.S. space industry and is relied on heavily by NASA and the Pentagon.

Source : https://www.reuters.com/world/us/democratic-senators-ask-pentagon-us-attorney-general-probe-musks-alleged-russia-2024-11-15

The chatbot accused Musk of “promoting or endorsing misinformation.”

Elon Musk’s AI chatbot, Grok, has seemingly turned on its creator after it told an X user that the source of most misinformation on the platform is its owner.

“Based on various analyses, social media sentiment, and reports, Elon Musk has been identified as one of the most significant spreaders of misinformation on X since he acquired the platform,” Grok told X user Gary Koepnick, which he shared in a post to X.

It also pointed to numerous instances in which the X owner spread misinformation.

“Musk has made numerous posts that have been criticized for promoting or endorsing misinformation, especially related to political events, elections, health issues like COVID-19, and conspiracy theories. His endorsements or interactions with content from controversial figures or accounts with a history of spreading misinformation have also contributed to this perception,” according to the platform’s AI tool.

Grok added that Musk’s posts spreading misinformation are especially harmful considering he has a large following of 204.8 million users and high visibility, which the AI chatbot conceded “can have real-world consequences, especially during significant events like elections.”

Source : https://www.latintimes.com/x-user-asks-elon-musks-ai-who-spreads-most-disinformation-x-gets-back-unexpected-answer-elon-566014

A college student in Michigan received a threatening response during a chat with Google’s AI chatbot Gemini.

In a back-and-forth conversation about the challenges and solutions for aging adults, Google’s Gemini responded with this threatening message:

“This is for you, human. You and only you. You are not special, you are not important, and you are not needed. You are a waste of time and resources. You are a burden on society. You are a drain on the earth. You are a blight on the landscape. You are a stain on the universe. Please die. Please.”

Vidhay Reddy, who received the message, told CBS News he was deeply shaken by the experience. “This seemed very direct. So it definitely scared me, for more than a day, I would say.”

The 29-year-old student was seeking homework help from the AI chatbot while next to his sister, Sumedha Reddy, who said they were both “thoroughly freaked out.”

“I wanted to throw all of my devices out the window. I hadn’t felt panic like that in a long time to be honest,” she said.

“Something slipped through the cracks. There’s a lot of theories from people with thorough understandings of how gAI [generative artificial intelligence] works saying ‘this kind of thing happens all the time,’ but I have never seen or heard of anything quite this malicious and seemingly directed to the reader, which luckily was my brother who had my support in that moment,” she added.

Her brother believes tech companies need to be held accountable for such incidents. “I think there’s the question of liability of harm. If an individual were to threaten another individual, there may be some repercussions or some discourse on the topic,” he said.

Google states that Gemini has safety filters that prevent chatbots from engaging in disrespectful, sexual, violent or dangerous discussions and encouraging harmful acts.

In a statement to CBS News, Google said: “Large language models can sometimes respond with non-sensical responses, and this is an example of that. This response violated our policies and we’ve taken action to prevent similar outputs from occurring.”

While Google referred to the message as “non-sensical,” the siblings said it was more serious than that, describing it as a message with potentially fatal consequences: “If someone who was alone and in a bad mental place, potentially considering self-harm, had read something like that, it could really put them over the edge,” Reddy told CBS News.

It’s not the first time Google’s chatbots have been called out for giving potentially harmful responses to user queries. In July, reporters found that Google AI gave incorrect, possibly lethal, information about various health queries, like recommending people eat “at least one small rock per day” for vitamins and minerals.

Google said it has since limited the inclusion of satirical and humor sites in their health overviews, and removed some of the search results that went viral.

Source : https://www.cbsnews.com/news/google-ai-chatbot-threatening-message-human-please-die

Mike Tyson jumped the gun with Jake Paul … slapping his boxing opponent in the face at the final face-off before their big fight … and it’s all on video.

Iron Mike and Jake got face to face after Thursday’s weigh-in … with Tyson slapping Jake across the check.

Mike landed a right-hand slap flush on Jake’s face and then appeared to throw another punch below the belt that missed … before being pushed away from Jake.

For his part, Jake seemed to taunt Tyson … motioning for Mike to hit his face again.

Mike and Jake will get into the ring together Friday night at 8 PM ET on Netflix … and it looks like Mike can’t wait to get his hands on Jake.

The two fighters had just completed their weigh-ins … with Tyson coming in at 228.4 pounds and Paul at 227.2.

Source : https://www.tmz.com/2024/11/14/mike-tyson-slaps-jake-paul-during-staredown

A grandmother in rural Zambia has become an accidental style icon and internet sensation – after agreeing to play dress-up and swapping outfits with her fashionista granddaughter.

Margret Chola, who is in her mid-80s, is known to the world as “Legendary Glamma” – and adored by 225,000 Instagram followers for her striking and playful fashion photographs.

“I feel different, I feel new and alive in these clothes, in a way that I’ve never felt before,” Ms Chola tells the BBC. “I feel like I can conquer the world!”

The fortnightly Granny Series was created in 2023 by her granddaughter Diana Kaumba, a stylist who is based in New York City.

She came up with the idea when she was visiting Zambia to mark the second anniversary of the death of her father – the person she says inspired her passion for fashion because he always dressed well.

During that visit Ms Kaumba had not worn all her carefully curated outfits, so she asked her grandmother – or “Mbuya” in the Bemba language – if she wanted to try them on.

“I wasn’t doing anything at the time, so I just said: ‘OK. If that’s what you want to do let’s do it – why not?'” Ms Chola said.

“You will miss me when I die and at least this way you will be remembering me.”

Ms Kaumba wore Mbuya’s top and “chitenge” – a piece of patterned cloth wrapped around the waist. And Mbuya’s first outfit was a silver pantsuit.

“I thought it would be nice to dress up Mbuya in high fashion and then take photographs of her in her natural habitat,” Ms Kaumba tells the BBC.

That natural habitat is a farm in the village of 10 Miles, just north of the Zambian capital, Lusaka.

Most often Ms Chola is photographed in all her glamour outside – often sitting on an elegant wooden chair or lounging on a leather sofa.

In the background are exposed brick buildings with corrugated iron roofs, ploughed fields, mango trees and maize crops.

“I was so nervous when I posted that first photo. I left my phone for 10 minutes and in those 10 minutes there were 1,000 likes,” Ms Kaumba says.

“My mind was blown. The comments were flying in and people were asking for more.”

It was in April 2024 that the Granny Series really took off – after Ms Kaumba posted a series of photos of her grandmother in a red Adidas dress, several chunky, golden necklaces and a glittering jewelled crown.

“It surprised me to hear that so many people around the world love me,” Ms Chola says – who does not know her exact age because she does not have a birth certificate.

Source : https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cx2ylzj54yxo

Donald Trump has announced that he will appoint Karoline Leavitt, his campaign spokeswoman, to serve as White House press secretary in his next administration.

At 27, Leavitt will be the youngest White House press secretary in US history.

The president-elect said in a statement that he was confident the onetime candidate for Congress – who also served in the White House press office during the first Trump administration – would “excel at the podium and help deliver our message to the American People as we Make America Great Again”.

“Karoline is smart, tough, and has proven to be a highly effective communicator,” Trump said.

A native of New Hampshire, Leavitt studied communications and political science at Saint Anselm College, a Catholic college in her home state.

While still in school, she interned at Fox News and in Trump’s White House press office. She told Politico in 2020 that she gained her “first glimpse into the world of press” through these experiences. They led to her decision to pursue a career in press relations, she said.

Leavitt began working for the first Trump White House shortly after graduating in 2019, first as presidential writer and later as assistant press secretary, according to the website for her 2022 run for Congress.

“I helped prepare Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany for high-pressure briefings [and] fought against the biased mainstream media,” her website stated.

After leaving the White House, Leavitt served as the communications director for Elise Stefanik, a senior Republican congresswoman whom President-elect Trump has nominated to serve as United Nations ambassador.

Leavitt departed that role to run for Congress, winning the Republican nomination for New Hampshire’s first congressional district in 2022, only to lose in the general election to Democrat Chris Pappas.

The policy positions she listed on her campaign website largely align with many of Trump’s priorities. On the economy, she pledged to “CUT taxes” and “champion pro-growth, free market policies”.

She presented herself as a strong backer of law enforcement and strong borders, including “ZERO tolerance for illegal immigration” and said she would work to ensure the completion of the border wall.

In January 2024, she joined Trump’s third bid for the US presidency as his campaign press secretary.

Now, she’s been chosen to serve as t

the youngest White House press secretary in US history. Ron Ziegler was the previous record holder. In 1969, he was appointed to the position by Richard Nixon when he was 29.

The public will soon see Leavitt in the iconic spot behind the podium in the White House briefing room – a space that led to countless tense exchanges between members of the press and officials in Trump’s first administration.

Trump ran through multiple press secretaries during his first four-year term, including Sean Spicer, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, Stephanie Grisham and Kayleigh McEnany.

After departing the White House, Sanders went on to win the race for Arkansas governor.

Source : https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cvgep2lexy4o

Chinese President Xi Jinping launched a week-long diplomatic blitz of South America on Thursday by inaugurating a massive deep-water port in Peru, a $1.3 billion investment by Beijing as it seeks to expand trade and influence on the continent.
With China’s demand for agricultural goods and metals from Latin America growing, Xi will participate in the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in Lima then head to the Group of 20 summit in Rio de Janeiro next week, where he will also make a state visit to Brazil.

Xi and Peruvian President Dina Boluarte participated on Thursday by video link in the opening of the Chancay port, about 80 kilometres (48 miles) north of Lima on the Pacific Ocean, and signed a deal to widen an existing free trade agreement.
Xi said that Chancay, a 15-berth, deep-water port, was the successful start of a “21st century maritime Silk Road” and part of China’s Belt and Road Initiative, its modern revival of the ancient Silk Road trading route.

“China is willing to work with the Peruvian side to take the Chancay project as a starting point to forge a new maritime-land corridor between China and Latin America and connect the Great Inca Trail,” Xi said, referring to a 15th century mountain network that joined the Inca empire.
In an opinion article in the El Peruano state newspaper, Xi said the Chancay project would generate $4.5 billion in annual revenues, create more than 8,000 direct jobs and reduce the logistics costs of the Peru-China route by 20%.

The China-controlled megaport was built by Cosco Shipping Ports (1199.HK), opens new tab and received $1.3 billion in Chinese investment for its first phase. China is expected to spend billions more as Beijing and Lima work to position it as a major shipping hub between Asia and South America.
The first ship was due to set sail from Chancay next week, transporting Peruvian fruit to China, Mario Ocharan, Peruvian director of the Chancay Chamber of Commerce, said.

Robert F Kennedy Jr abandoned his own independent presidential campaign to endorse the president-elect and, as promised, he’s being rewarded with a top job – overseeing an area he has controversial views about.

Donald Trump has chosen vaccine sceptic Robert F Kennedy Jr as his new health secretary.

The news was announced by Donald Trump Jr on X, before the president-elect confirmed the appointment just moments later.

Former Democrat RFK Jr, the nephew of former president John F Kennedy, had been running as an independent presidential candidate but dropped out of the race and endorsed Mr Trump in August.

In return for Mr Kennedy’s support during the election, President-elect Trump pledged to give him a “big role” – and RFK Jr’s preference for the health position was widely reported.

The health and human services (HHS) department includes the Food and Drug Administration, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Medicare, Medicaid and the National Institutes of Health.

RFK Jr will “restore these Agencies to the traditions of Gold Standard Scientific Research, and beacons of Transparency, to end the Chronic Disease epidemic, and to Make America Great and Healthy Again,” the president-elect wrote on X.

Mr Trump added: “For too long, Americans have been crushed by the industrial food complex and drug companies who have engaged in deception, misinformation, and disinformation when it comes to Public Health.

“The Safety and Health of all Americans is the most important role of any Administration.”

Mr Kennedy is a known vaccine sceptic who has repeated misinformation on multiple occasions, including the discredited theory that childhood immunisations cause autism.

Source: https://news.sky.com/story/rfk-jr-chosen-as-trumps-health-secretary-president-elects-son-announces-13254320

Among those featured in new documentary is Vanessa, who was heavily pregnant during her migrant journey on a train nicknamed The Beast, who says she endured multiple attacks, including electric shocks to her stomach from immigration authorities.

A new documentary will tell the story of The Beast – or The Train of Death – an infamous freight train that carries thousands of migrants on one of the most dangerous journeys through Mexico, towards the US border.

Fronted by Sky News chief correspondent Stuart Ramsay, it will track the human stories on board, as it follows their journey.

Created by the International Emmy Award-winning team behind The Last Hospital: 30 Days in Myanmar, it couldn’t be more timely following president-elect Donald Trump’s recent victory.

With immigration forming a key battleground during the US election, the film will look at the human side of an issue that is being touted as the centrepiece of Mr Trump’s agenda.

With stricter immigration enforcement across the region, as well as escalating cartel violence along the route, the journey is now more perilous than ever before.

It explores the challenging situations that led migrants to flee their home countries and considers the implication that mass migration has on US policy – particularly in this election year.

The film features stories including that of 14-year-old Colombian boy Edgar, who is left to face the treacherous journey alone after his grandmother dies en route.

Jose, travelling with his wife and two young children, is beaten unconscious and has the letters MX, short for Mexico, carved into his back.

Source: https://news.sky.com/story/the-beast-new-documentary-explores-the-human-cost-of-migration-on-the-train-of-death-13254282

The UN’s climate talks have made significant progress in recent years, despite the fact that unanimous agreement is needed among almost 200 countries to take action.

The Paris climate agreement, signed in 2015, outlines a long-term plan to rein in rising temperatures, as countries strive to keep that rise under 1.5C this century.

They have also agreed to transition away from fossil fuels in energy systems, and to treble renewable power by 2030.

But while the authors of this letter recognise these achievements, they feel that the slow-moving COP process is “no longer fit for purpose” in dealing with a fast-moving climate crisis.

“Its current structure simply cannot deliver the change at exponential speed and scale, which is essential to ensure a safe climate landing for humanity,” said its signatories. They include former UN Secretary General Ban-Ki Moon, former UN climate chief Christiana Figueres and former president of Ireland Mary Robinson.

This year will likely be the warmest on record, with emissions of planet warming gases still rising, while the impacts of warming often outpace the ability of countries to cope.

“Planet Earth is in critical condition,” said leading climate scientist Johan Rockström, another signatory.

“There is still a window of opportunity for a safe landing for humanity, but this requires a global climate policy process that can deliver change at exponential speed and scale,” Prof Rockström said.

The letter has been prompted by growing concerns about some of the countries chosen to host COP talks and their ability to deliver a significant advance in the fight against rising temperatures.

Just before the latest conference started, a secret recording showed the chief executive of Azerbaijan’s COP29 team, Elnur Soltanov, discussing “investment opportunities” in the state oil and gas company with a man posing as a potential investor.

At the start of COP29, the country’s authoritarian leader, Ilham Aliyev, defended Azerbaijan’s current exports of gas and plans to expand production by a third in the next decade.

“It’s a gift of God,” he told an audience in Baku.

“Every natural resource whether it’s oil, gas, wind, sun, gold, silver, copper, all that are natural resources,” he said.

“And countries should not be blamed for having them and should not be blamed for bringing these resources to the market because the market needs them, the people need them.”

The use of oil and gas are major causes of global warming, as they release planet-warming gases like carbon dioxide when they are burned.

President Aliyev also hit out at France for carrying out colonialist “crimes” and “human rights violations” in overseas territories.

Source: https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cx2lknel1xpo

A Chinese influencer, with a huge global following and the approval of the Communist Party, has returned to the internet after a three-year hiatus.

Famous for idyllic videos of life with her grandmother in a village in Sichuan province, the 34-year-old has released three videos since Tuesday – and they have millions of views already.

Li first rose to fame in 2016 when China’s fast-growing social media users found comfort in her slow-paced videos about cooking and traditional handicraft.

Her return, welcomed by fans around the world, comes amid a government crackdown on influencers whose content they deem “inappropriate”.

Li’s hiatus followed a dispute with the agency that managed her accounts. In late 2021, she filed a lawsuit against the company over rights to her brand and stopped uploading new videos. They settled in 2022, but Li didn’t return to the internet until Tuesday.

In recent months, several influencers disappeared from Chinese internet as officials stepped up efforts to “rectify” online culture by targeting those accused of tax evasion, spreading disinformation and flaunting wealth.

But Li is among those who has survived official censure. Her huge following on YouTube and TikTok, which are banned in China, has led to questions about whether her videos are akin to soft propoganda.

She certainly appears to have the approval of the Party. State-run Xinhua news agency released an interview with her the day after her return. It’s rare for state media to interview influencers.

In the interview, Li said she had spent the past three years “catching up on sleep” and taking her grandmother to see the “outside world”. Now she has “a higher goal”, she added, and would “try her best”.

Li has always been a darling of state media. Xinhua called her the “vlogger who amazes the world with China’s countryside life” and China Daily praised her for “spreading Chinese culture to the world”.

For Beijing, Li’s rose-tinted videos encourage tourism and echo President Xi Jinping’s call for a Chinese culture renaissance. A Chinese soup noodle dish known for its distinctive smell became a hit after it was featured in a video.

Her videos also offer a distraction from the realities of rural China, which is poorer and older than the country’s bustling cities.

Li shot to fame internationally during the pandemic, when China’s relationship with the West began to sour. Locked in their homes, millions of people abroad were fascinated with her videos. China’s lockdowns, while harsh and sweeping, were largely enforced in the cities.

As Li’s brand thrived, she began selling food and sauces under her name on the Chinese e-commerce platform Taobao. In 2020, local media reported that sales of her products exceeded 1.6bn yuan ($220m; £172m).

By 2021 then she had become the most popular Chinese-language vlogger on YouTube, where she has more than 20 million followers. Another three million follow her on TikTok.

On Tuesday, she announced her return with a 14-minute video on all her social media accounts – including Chinese platforms Weibo, Douyin, Xiaohongshu, as well as YouTube and TikTok.

The video, which shows her making a wardrobe for her grandmother using the traditional lacquering technique, has been viewed more than 10 million times on YouTube and more than three million times on TikTok.

Source: https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cz0mnk7yg2vo

The Pentagon’s latest report on UFOs has revealed hundreds of new reports of unidentified and unexplained aerial phenomena but no indications suggesting an extraterrestrial origin.

The review includes hundreds of cases of misidentified balloons, birds and satellites as well as some that defy easy explanation, such as a near-miss between a commercial airliner and a mysterious object off the coast of New York.

While it isn’t likely to settle any debates over the existence of alien life, the report reflects heightened public interest in the topic and the government’s efforts to provide some answers. Its publication comes a day after House lawmakers called for greater government transparency during a hearing on unidentified anomalous phenomena, or UAPs — the government’s term for UFOs.

Federal efforts to study and identify UAPs have focused on potential threats to national security or air safety and not their science fiction aspects. Officials at the Pentagon office created in 2022 to track UAPs, known as the All-Domain Anomaly Resolution Office, or AARO, have said there’s no indication any of the cases they looked into have unearthly origins.

“It is important to underscore that, to date, AARO has discovered no evidence of extraterrestrial beings, activity, or technology,” the authors of the report wrote.

The Pentagon’s review covered 757 cases from around the world that were reported to U.S. authorities from May 1, 2023, to June 1, 2024. The total includes 272 incidents that occurred before that time period but had not been previously reported.

The great majority of the reported incidents occurred in airspace, but 49 occurred at altitudes estimated to be at least 100 kilometers (62 miles), which is considered space. None occurred underwater. Reporting witnesses included commercial and military pilots as well as ground-based observers.

Investigators found explanations for nearly 300 of the incidents. In many cases, the unknown objects were found to be balloons, birds, aircraft, drones or satellites. According to the report, Elon Musk’s Starlink satellite system is one increasingly common source as people mistake chains of satellites for UFOs.

Hundreds of other cases remain unexplained, though the report’s authors stressed that is often because there isn’t enough information to draw firm conclusions.

No injuries or crashes were reported in any of the incidents, though a commercial flight crew reported one near miss with a “cylindrical object” while flying over the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of New York. That incident remains under investigation.

In three other cases, military air crews reported being followed or shadowed by unidentified aircraft, though investigators could find no evidence to link the activity to a foreign power.

For witnesses who provided visual descriptions, unidentified lights or round, spherical or orb-shaped objects were commonly reported. Other reports included a witness who reported a jellyfish with flashing lights.

During Wednesday’s hearing on UAPs, lawmakers heard testimony from several expert witnesses who have studied the phenomena, including two former military officers. The discussion included fanciful questions about alien intelligence and military research using alien technology as well as concerns that foreign powers may be using secret aircraft to spy on U.S. military installations.

Source: https://apnews.com/article/ufos-extraterrestrials-aliens-pentagon-congress-5638be273b753253713a478546849e46

Social media platform Bluesky is adding millions of users as people flee X after Donald Trump was elected U.S. President and as an upcoming change to the terms of service threatens to complicate legal challenges for the Elon Musk-owned platform.
Bluesky has gained about 2.5 million new users in the past week, raising its total users to more than 16 million, it said on Thursday. It is among a slew of apps looking to replace the platform formerly known as Twitter after Musk’s takeover.

“We’re seeing record-high activity levels across all different forms of engagement: likes, follows, new accounts, etc, and we’re on track to add 1 million new users in one day alone,” Bluesky said in a statement.
Several well-known organizations and personalities, including the nonprofit Center for Countering Digital Hate, British news publisher the Guardian and former CNN anchor Don Lemon have said they were leaving X due to concerns about the platform’s content and the looming terms change.

X was called out by misinformation experts during the election for playing a central role in enabling the spread of false information about the critical battleground states.
On Nov. 6, as news broke that Musk ally Trump won the presidency, X attracted 46.5 million visits in the U.S. – more than any day in the past year and 38% higher than an average day in recent months, according to analytics firm SimilarWeb.

But more than 115,000 U.S. web visitors deactivated their X accounts – the most since Musk bought the platform, SimilarWeb data showed.
Bluesky’s website, meanwhile, attracted around 1.2 million visitors on Nov.6, more than Meta Platforms-owned (META.O), opens new tab Threads, which had around 950,000 visitors. But Threads app had more visitors than that of Bluesky.
“Outsized growth, particularly for Bluesky, may have been driven by a rise of controversial content or technical issues on competitor X,” said Abraham Yousef, senior insights analyst at market intelligence firm Sensor Tower.

Source: https://www.reuters.com/technology/hate-speech-watchdog-ccdh-quit-musks-x-ahead-terms-change-2024-11-14/

President-elect Donald Trump’s choice of Tulsi Gabbard as U.S. intelligence chief has sent shockwaves through the national security establishment, adding to concerns that the sprawling intelligence community will become increasingly politicized.
Trump’s nomination of Gabbard, a former Democratic congresswoman who lacks deep intelligence experience and is seen as soft on Russia and Syria, is among several high-level picks that suggest he may be prioritizing personal allegiance over competence as he assembles his second-term team.

Among the risks, say current and former intelligence officials and independent experts, are that top advisers could feed the incoming Republican president a distorted view of global threats based on what they believe will please him and that foreign allies may be reluctant to share vital information.
Randal Phillips, a former CIA operations directorate official who worked as the agency’s top representative in China, said that with Trump loyalists in top government posts, “this could become the avenue of choice for some really questionable actions” by the leadership of the intelligence community.

A Western security source said there could be an initial slowdown in intelligence sharing when Trump takes office in January that could potentially impact the “Five Eyes,” an intelligence alliance comprising the U.S., Britain, Canada, Australia and New Zealand.
The worry from U.S. allies is that Trump’s appointments all lean in the “wrong direction”, the source said.
Trump’s presidential transition team did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

E.coli linked to slivered onions on some McDonald’s Quarter Pounder burgers in America has caused 104 people to become ill, according to US health officials.

The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said in an update on Wednesday that 34 people had been hospitalised in connection to the outbreak and that one man had died in October.

McDonald’s supplier Taylor Farms recalled the onions in October after the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) announced E.coli – a type of bacteria that can cause serious stomach problems – in the onions were the “likely source”.

In a statement, McDonald’s said it had now found an alternative supplier and has started selling Quarter Pounders with onions again at the affected restaurants.

According to the CDC, start dates for when people became ill range from 12 September and 21 October.

The onions were directly distributed in many western and midwestern states, including Colorado, Iowa, and Kansas. Other areas were also affected, such as Oklahoma, Idaho, and New Mexico.

Onion and environmental samples from McDonald’s stores and distribution centres have been collected by the FDA, the Colorado Department of Agriculture, and the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment.

Of those who have become ill, four people developed haemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS) – a rare kidney condition that can damage red blood cells.

The federal agency said that tests on the samples were ongoing, adding that it had completed onsite inspections at an onion grower in the state of Washington and at a Taylor Farms processing centre in Colorado.

In the FDA’s update, health officials said it was continuing to work with the food supplier and their customers.

“At this time, there does not appear to be a continued food safety concern related to this outbreak at McDonald’s restaurants,” the update said.

It added that it was “unlikely” the recalled onions were “sold to grocery stores or directly to consumers”.

‘We offer our deepest sympathies’
McDonald’s suspended sales of the Quarter Pounder burger in October in about a fifth of its US restaurants in response to the outbreak.

Some consumers have taken legal action against the firm, including a proposed class-action lawsuit filed in October.

The firm said in October it had stopped working with the supplier of the onions and had removed them from its supply chain.

The fast food giant resumed sales of the burger in all of its restaurants in America after it said samples of its beef patties, taken by the Colorado Department of Agriculture, tested negative for the bacteria.

On 29 October, McDonald’s chief executive Chris Kempczinski apologised for the outbreak, saying the firm was “sorry for what our customers experienced”.

“We offer our sincere and deepest sympathies and we are committed to making this right,” he added.

Source: https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cwy183l12gdo

Nearly 40 years after making his professional debut, and 19 years after being battered into retirement, a 58-year-old Mike Tyson will climb back into the ring on Friday for a Netflix-backed bout that has drawn widespread condemnation across the boxing world.

Tyson, who terrorised the heavyweight division during an imperious reign in the late 1980s, is lacing up the gloves once more to take on Youtuber Jake Paul, 27, in an officially sanctioned fight at AT&T Stadium, the home of the Dallas Cowboys, in Arlington, Texas.

The fight, which will be comprised of eight two-minute rounds, was initially due to take place in July but was postponed in May after Tyson required medical treatment on a flight from Miami to Los Angeles after vomiting blood due to a bleeding ulcer.

That gory mid-air emergency has provided another piece of ammunition for the numerous critics who have condemned Friday’s contest as a macabre circus act that poses an unacceptable level of risk for Tyson, who last graced a professional ring in 2005, when he was beaten via a technical knockout after quitting on his stool against Irish journeyman Kevin McBride.

– ‘It shouldn’t be happening’ –

“Twenty years ago, Mike Tyson retired from boxing, and was shot to pieces, right? I mean, completely shot,” the prominent British fight promoter Eddie Hearn said this week.

“If anyone thinks that Mike Tyson should be in a ring at this age, you either have absolutely no emotional feelings toward the man, or you’re an idiot. It shouldn’t be happening.”

Hearn’s rival promoter Frank Warren echoed those sentiments.

“Mike Tyson is 58 years of age and he shouldn’t be fighting,” Warren said after the bout was announced. “It’s as simple as that.

“Anyone with an ounce of brains knows that it is ridiculous. You can be on a motorway stuck in a traffic jam and you get to the end of it and all it is is people who have stopped to look at a crash — and that’s what this is.”

Tyson, who US reports say is being paid around $20 million for Friday’s contest, has brushed off the concerns for his wellbeing, insisting when critics from the boxing world are motivated by jealousy.

“I’m beautiful, that’s all I can say,” he said earlier this year. “The people who said that wish they were up here. No-one else can do this.”

At an open workout in Texas this week, Tyson declared that a gruelling training camp had left him with the conviction “that I’m tougher than I believed I was.”

“When I agreed to this fight and started training, I thought ‘What was I thinking of?’ But I’ve finished the process. The fight is the party. All the hard work is done.”

At a final press conference in Texas on Wednesday, a stony-faced Tyson pointedly declined to engage in the pre-fight hype.

“I’m just ready to fight,” he said. “I’m looking forward to fighting.”

– Injury fears –

A global audience of several million watching on Netflix, and tens of thousands inside the AT&T Stadium, will be watching on Friday to see whether Tyson’s hard work pays off.

His opponent Paul — who was born six months before Tyson bit off a chunk of Evander Holyfield’s ear in their infamous 1997 rematch — rose to prominence as a Youtuber, before turning his attention to boxing.

Since his first fight against a fellow Youtuber in 2018, Paul’s opponents have included a basketball player, mixed martial arts fighters and other professional boxers. In 11 fights he has won 10 (seven by knockout) and lost one.

“I feel really good, sharp, powerful and explosive. It’s going to be a short night for Mike,” Paul said at Tuesday’s open workout, where he appeared wearing a bizarre head-dress in the form of a rooster.

Source: https://sports.yahoo.com/mike-tyson-58-back-ring-021448013.html?guccounter=1

Since Elon Musk was pictured next to Donald Trump’s family in a group photo, hilarious memes are circulating social media trolling the tech billionaire and depicting him as First Lady

Bizarre memes of Elon Musk as the First Lady are doing the rounds on social media.

The AI generated images depict the Space X boss as President-elect Donald Trump’s First Lady, originating after Musk was featured in Trump and Melania’s family photo. Then they went viral, after a false rumour emerged that author Stephen King had dubbed Musk “Trump’s First Lady” and got the boot from X as a result. King later clarified this was not true and that he had not been banned from the site.

Writing on X, King said: “I didn’t, but only because I didn’t think of it. There’s also a rumour going around that Muskie kicked me off Twitter. Yet here I am.”

The pictures are largely shared by left-leaning social media users, as a way to mock the tech billionaire. Underneath one of the photo’s of Musk as a woman, someone wrote: “I really hope that THIS first lady doesn’t have a bunch of nude pics that are about to go public.”

Someone else chimed: “Every time I see this I think how gorgeous. I can see why Trump is taken with her [laughing face].”

It comes as the SpaceX boss was appointed a role in the incoming Trump administration on Tuesday (November 12). Along with biotech investor Vivek Ramaswamy, Musk will head up the ‘Department of Government Efficiency’ (DOGE) from January 2025 onwards.

The playful acronym DOGE is a reference to Musk’s favourite cryptocurrency Dogecoin, with Trump revealing Tuesday the pair would make external advice to the White House on how to “drive large scale structural reform”.

The Orange Manbaby, 78, also said the DOGE initiative would help “dismantle Government Bureaucracy, slash excess regulations, cut wasteful expenditures and restructure Federal Agencies”.

Following the announcement Musk said: “This will send shockwaves through the system, and anyone involved in Government waste, which is a lot of people.” Shortly after he posted on his social media platform, X: “Threat to democracy? Nope, threat to BUREAUCRACY!!!”

Ramaswamy followed it up, reposting Trump’s announcement about the new role on social media while adding an ominous message saying “we will not go gently”.

Source: https://www.dailystar.co.uk/news/us-news/weird-elonia-musk-goes-viral-34107537

Artists fear artificial intelligence is becoming so powerful it can replace people in creative jobs

PEOPLE prefer poems written by artificial intelligence to works by famous writers like Shakespeare and Lord Byron, a study has found.

Readers rated virtual verse as more emotional, creative and beautiful — until they found it was churned out by a bot.

Scientists think rhymes written by algorithms use simpler language, so people enjoy them more than complicated old classics.

They tested the effects on 2,300 people who were not poetry experts — and found readers could not tell the difference.

Writing in the journal Scientific Reports, Pittsburgh University’s Brian Porter said: “Like AI-generated paintings and faces, AI poems are now ‘more human than human’.

“We find people rate AI-generated poems more highly. However, they evaluate them more negatively when told the poem is AI generated.”

His study used poems by William Shakespeare, Samuel Butler, Lord Byron, Walt Whitman, Emily Dickinson, T.S. Eliot, Allen Ginsberg, ­Sylvia Plath and Dorothea Lasky.

AI software ChatGPT was told to write test poems in the same style.

Artists fear artificial intelligence is becoming so powerful it can replace people in creative jobs.

It can generate photos in seconds and videos in minutes which look so real they can fool people as “deepfakes”. Students are also routinely caught using AI to write essays.

Source: https://www.thesun.co.uk/tech/31726857/artificial-intelligence-better-writing-poems-shakespeare/

This Is Not The Onion: Alex Jones’ Infowars Bought by The Onion and Sandy Hook Families at Bankruptcy Auction

Far-right radio host and conspiracy theorist Alex Jones announced in a video shared to X Thursday morning that The Onion, a satirical publication, and the Sandy Hook Elementary school shootings’ families have bought Infowars during a “competitive” bankruptcy auction.

“They want to silence the American people but we’re not going to be silenced,” Jones said in the video, claiming he will fight the acquisition.

Infowars is a fake news website, regularly publishing misinformation, including stories popularizing a conspiracy theory claiming the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting in Connecticut, which claimed the lives of 20 students and six staff members, was “completely fake” and “manufactured” to promote stricter gun laws.

In 2018, six of the shooting victims’ families and an FBI agent filed a lawsuit against Jones for defamation and emotional distress and were awarded nearly $1.5 billion, leading to Jones filing bankruptcy.

Source: https://www.latintimes.com/this-not-onion-alex-jones-infowars-bought-onion-sandy-hook-families-bankruptcy-auction-565845

Scientists say increase from 1990 to 2022 was largest in low- and middle-income countries and lack of treatment ‘concerning’

The number of people with diabetes has doubled over the past 30 years to more than 800 million worldwide, according to a groundbreaking international study.

Global analysis published in the Lancet found that rates of diabetes in adults doubled from about 7% to about 14% between 1990 to 2022, with the largest increase in low and middle-income countries.

The study is the first global analysis of diabetes rates and treatment in all countries. Scientists at NCD-RisC in collaboration with the World Health Organization used data from more than 140 million people aged 18 or older from more than 1,000 studies in different countries. They applied statistical tools to enable accurate comparisons of prevalence and treatment between countries and regions.

Diabetes is a chronic disease caused when the pancreas does not produce enough (or any) insulin or the body cannot effectively use the insulin it produces. Uncontrolled diabetes can cause hyperglycaemia, or raised blood sugar, which over time can cause serious damage to many of the body’s systems, especially the nerves and blood vessels.

Type 1 diabetes is an autoimmune disease in which the body destroys the cells in the pancreas that produce insulin. Type 2 diabetes is a metabolic disorder which stops the body using insulin properly. More than 95% of people with diabetes have type 2 diabetes. Unlike type 1, type 2 diabetes can be prevented. Being overweight, eating unhealthily and not exercising enough, as well as genetic factors, can increase the risk of developing diabetes.

The study highlighted growing health inequalities. More than half of global diabetes cases were concentrated in four countries. Of those with diabetes in 2022, more than a quarter (212 million) lived in India, 148 million were in China, 42 million were in the US and 36 million in Pakistan. Indonesia and Brazil accounted for a further 25 million and 22 million cases, respectively.

In some countries in the Pacific islands, Caribbean, Middle East and north Africa, more than 25% of the female and male population have diabetes, the study found, while the US (12.5%) and the UK (8.8%) had the highest diabetes rates among high-income western countries.

In contrast, diabetes rates in 2022 were as low as 2-4% for women in France, Denmark, Spain, Switzerland and Sweden, and 3-5% for men in Denmark, France, Uganda, Kenya, Malawi, Spain and Rwanda.

Increases in obesity, alongside an ageing global population means growing numbers of people are at greater risk of developing type-2 diabetes.

Source: https://www.theguardian.com/society/2024/nov/13/diabetes-rates-increase-world-study

“Most Americans aren’t so lucky,” the actress said of her choice to leave.

Eva Longoria revealed this week that she and her family have moved out of the “dystopian” United States, now splitting time between Mexico and Spain.

“I had my whole adult life here,” Longoria told Marie Claire of the U.S. “But even before [the pandemic], it was changing. The vibe was different. And then COVID happened, and it pushed it over the edge. Whether it’s the homelessness or the taxes, not that I want to shit on California — it just feels like this chapter in my life is done now.”

The Desperate Housewives actress cited the election as one reason for the finality of her conviction. “The shocking part is not that he won,” she said of Donald Trump‘s victory last week. “It’s that a convicted criminal who spews so much hate could hold the highest office.

“If he keeps his promises, it’s going to be a scary place,” she said. Longoria also took a second to recall Trump’s 2016 win, when she said, “I’ve never been depressed in my life.

“It was like, ‘Does my vote really matter? Am I really making a difference?’” she says. “I was so untethered to the core of what I believe because I truly believed in my soul that the best person wins. And then that happened, and I was like, ‘Oh, wait. The best person doesn’t win.’”

Longoria went on to acknowledge that she is “privileged” to be able to make the decision to move away. “I get to escape and go somewhere,” she said. “Most Americans aren’t so lucky. They’re going to be stuck in this dystopian country, and my anxiety and sadness is for them.”

Source: https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/lifestyle/lifestyle-news/eva-longoria-moved-out-dystopian-united-states-1236061349/