Category: World

Chaos broke out on a flight after maggots began raining on to plane passengers from an overhead compartment.

The “absolutely gross” situation saw the Delta flight forced to make a U-turn about an hour into the nine-hour trip from Amsterdam to Detroit.

Chaos broke out on a flight after maggots began raining on to plane passengers from an overhead compartment.

The “absolutely gross” situation saw the Delta flight forced to make a U-turn about an hour into the nine-hour trip from Amsterdam to Detroit.

“The lady right behind us told the flight attendants the maggots were falling on her head. I turned around and they were wiggling around on the seat… Absolutely gross.”

The passenger added that one of their carry-on bags was next to the “disgusting” one, and that the suspected culprit was still seated and did not exit the plane at the end of the flight.

“I assume [there] are some kind of consequences, but unclear what”, they added.

Another passenger, Kelsey, described her experience in a post on X.

She said she had complained about the “absolutely odd odour” on board, but that the “biggest disappointment” was the lack of attention from the flight attendants.

“They were all sitting around in the crew area laughing and talking when we had been on the plane for close to three hours with not even water offered,” Kelsey said.

The 28-year-old passenger was put on an alternative flight but described the process as a “disaster” after she was stuck in Atlanta waiting to get home.

Delta – described as a “leader in domestic and international travel” on its website – confirmed rotten fish and maggots were in the bag and apologised to the passengers.

“We apologise to the customers of Flight 133 AMS-DTW as their trip was interrupted due to an improperly packed carry-on bag,” the airline told Sky News.

“The aircraft returned to the gate and passengers were placed on the next available flight. The aircraft was removed from service for cleaning.”

Source: https://news.sky.com/story/maggots-raining-on-plane-passengers-force-flight-to-make-u-turn-13071584

The UN under-secretary-general for humanitarian affairs said it was worse than “awful scenes” he witnessed during the civil war in Syria a few years ago and worse than the “horrors” that were the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia in the 1970s.

A top UN official has warned the deteriorating situation in Gaza is the worst humanitarian crisis he has ever seen in his 50-year career.

Speaking to Sky News’ Yalda Hakim, Martin Griffiths said it was because “people can’t escape. They’re blocked in, they’re not able to run out of Gaza”.

“I think this is the worst [crisis] in my 50 years of experience.”

The UN under-secretary-general for humanitarian affairs said it was worse than “awful scenes” he witnessed during the civil war in Syria a few years ago and worse than the “horrors” that were the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia in the 1970s.

He compared the situation in Gaza with the current war in Sudan where “the suffering is quite likely on a similar scene” – but although eight million people have been displaced, one and a half million have left the country in northeast Africa.

“Now I’m not saying that’s a wonderful thing, but it’s a choice that they can make. This is not a choice that can be made in Gaza,” he said.

Since the war began on 7 October last year when Hamas launched its deadly attack on Israel, about 80% of Gaza’s 2.3 million people have been driven from their homes due to retaliatory Israeli strikes.

Large areas in northern Gaza have been completely destroyed, the majority of people have moved further south, and a humanitarian crisis has left a quarter of the population starving.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has claimed Hamas gunmen are hiding in Rafah, on the southern Egyptian border, and is mulling launching a ground assault on the city.

In Rafah, 1.4 million people – over half the territory’s population – are crammed into tent camps and overflowing apartments and shelters in the city.

Mr Griffiths warned that if there was such a ground operation by Israeli forces, “please don’t think that a humanitarian operation can manage to help people in the way that we would like. It won’t.”

He added: “With a compression of over a million people into that pocket, down around Rafah, without any choice of them being able to go further south… we’re extremely worried about the lack of operating conditions for any kind of humanitarian operation.”

Source: https://news.sky.com/story/gaza-is-worst-humanitarian-crisis-i-have-seen-in-50-years-top-un-official-tells-sky-news-13071666

Mumbai: A bull shark, the species which can live and breed in freshwater, nearly bit off one leg of a 30-year-old man in the Vaitarna river in Maharashtra’s Palghar district, prompting his fellow villagers to kill the fish, a forest official said on Wednesday.

The encounter with the fish with razor-sharp teeth took place when a group of residents from Manor village, out to collect wood and for fishing, entered the river.

A large fish sprang up a surprise attack and grabbed the left leg of one of them, identified as Vickey Govari. Hearing his screams, the others pulled him to the shore, he said.

In their bid to save their friend, they began hitting the fish, eventually killing it, the official said.

However, the fish, later identified by wildlife experts as a bull shark, had ripped off the calf muscle of Govari’s left leg, leaving the shin bone exposed.

Source: https://www.deccanherald.com/india/maharashtra/bull-shark-nearly-bites-off-mans-leg-in-maharashtra-river-locals-kill-fish-2894530

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has announced his engagement to his partner of four years, Jodie Haydon.

He proposed at the Lodge – the prime minister’s official Canberra residence – on Valentine’s Day, with a ring he specially designed.

Mr Albanese, 60, and Ms Haydon, 45, met at a business dinner in Melbourne in 2020.

He is the first Australian leader to get engaged while in office.

Mr Albanese shared the news on social media with a selfie, captioned: “She said yes.”

“We are thrilled and excited to share this news and look forward to spending the rest of our lives together. We are so lucky to have found each other,” the pair later said in a joint statement.

Colleagues from across the parliament, New Zealand leader Christopher Luxon and TV chef Nigella Lawson are among those who have congratulated the couple.

“Love is a beautiful thing. I’m so happy for you both!” wrote Foreign Minister Penny Wong.

Mr Albanese has a son, 23-year-old Nathan Albanese, with former New South Wales deputy premier Carmel Tebbutt, whom he separated from in 2019 after 19 years of marriage.

Source: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-australia-68302050

Russia and China on Wednesday accused the United States and Britain of illegally attacking military sites used by Yemen’s Houthi rebels to launch missiles at commercial vessels in the Red Sea, disrupting global shipping.

U.S. deputy ambassador Robert Wood and UK Ambassador Barbara Woodward countered that the Houthi attacks are illegal, and their “proportionate and legal action” against the Yemen rebels are being taken in self-defense.

Woodward said the Houthi attacks are “driving up the costs of global shipping, including the costs of food supplies and humanitarian aid in the region.”

But Russia’s deputy U.N. ambassador Dmitry Polyansky and China’s U.N. envoy Zhang Jun argued that the U.N. Security Council never authorized military action against Yemen.

The clashes came at a council meeting where U.N. special envoy for Yemen Hans Grundberg said promising efforts to restore peace to Yemen have been slowed by rising regional tensions linked to the war in Gaza and “in particular the military escalation in the Red Sea.”

Since November, the Houthi rebels have targeted ships in the Red Sea to demand a cease-fire in Israel’s offensive in Gaza. They have frequently attacked vessels with tenuous or no clear links to Israel, imperiling shipping in a key route for trade among Asia, the Mideast and Europe.

In recent weeks, the United States and the United Kingdom, backed by other allies, have launched airstrikes targeting Houthi missile arsenals and launch sites for its attacks.

Wood, the U.S. envoy, said American strikes in response to attacks on U.S. naval vessels, “aim to disrupt and degrade the Houthis’ ability to continue their reckless attacks against vessels and commercial shipping in the Red Sea, the Bab al-Mandeb Strait, and the Gulf of Aden.”

Since 2014, he said, Iran has provided the Houthis with “a growing arsenal of advanced weapons” that they have used to target commercial ships, and “Iran cannot deny its role in enabling and supporting the attacks carried out by the Houthis.”

Wood accused the Houthis of “trying to apply a chokehold on global shipping through the Red Sea” and urged all countries, especially those with direct channels to Iran, “to press Iran’s leaders to rein in the Houthis and stop these lawless attacks.”

Russia’s Polyansky stressed that Moscow “categorically condemns attacks and seizures of commercial vessels and (…) any attacks which impede freedom of navigation.” He said Russia has conveyed messages to the Houthi leaders to focus on Yemen’s domestic agenda and pursue peace.

Grundberg, the U.N. envoy, said that in late December the Houthis, who control the capital and much of the country’s north, and Yemen’s internationally recognized government “committed to a nationwide cease-fire, measures to improve living conditions, and restarting an intra-Yemeni political process.”

Source: https://apnews.com/article/un-yemen-houthis-red-sea-us-russia-1caf7db8248f86efba31884d71a7fa69

The National Archives building and galleries were evacuated Wednesday afternoon after two protesters dumped red powder on the protective case around the U.S. Constitution.

The incident occurred around 2:30 p.m., according to the National Archives. There was no damage to the Constitution itself.

A video posted on the X social media platform shows two men covered in reddish-pink powder standing in front of the equally splattered horizontal glass case that houses the Constitution.

“We are determined to foment a rebellion,” one man says. “We all deserve clean air, water, food and a livable climate.”

Police then led the pair away.

Source: https://apnews.com/article/constitution-protest-red-powder-national-archives-evacuation-5f426e8e62ab1ad56c9a8ce6fbbf996b

Nine civilians including four children were killed in a barrage of Israeli strikes on villages across southern Lebanon on Wednesday, a hospital director and three Lebanese security sources said, as Israel said it responded to Hezbollah rockets that killed a soldier.
Hezbollah and the Israeli military have been exchanging fire along the Israel-Lebanon border for more than four months, after the Lebanese armed group launched rockets across the disputed frontier in support of its Palestinian ally Hamas.

A woman and her two children were killed in an Israeli strike on the village of al-Sawana, two security sources said.
A strike on a building in Nabatieh killed two more children, three women and a man, according to the director of the town’s hospital, Hassan Wazni, and three other security sources. Seven others arrived at the hospital for treatment after the strike, Wazni told Reuters.
Four Hezbollah fighters were killed in separate strikes, according to the group and security sources.

Hezbollah did not announce any operations on Wednesday. The head of its executive council said that Israel’s attacks onto Lebanese territory on Wednesday “cannot pass without a response”.
An Israeli government spokesperson told journalists that rocket barrages from Lebanon on Wednesday morning had left one Israeli woman soldier dead and another eight hospitalized.
“As we have made clear time and time again, Israel is not interested in a war on two fronts. But if provoked, we will respond forcefully,” said spokesperson Ilana Stein.
“The current reality, where tens of thousands of Israelis are displaced and cannot return to their homes, is unbearable. They must be able to return home and live in peace and security.”
Stein and Israel’s military said the military had responded to cross-border rocket fire from Lebanon.
Israel’s military chief Herzi Halevi, who had been meeting the heads of local municipalities in northern Israel on Wednesday, said that despite what he described as achievements against Hezbollah, this was “not the time to stop.”

Source: https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/woman-two-children-killed-israeli-strikes-south-lebanon-say-security-sources-2024-02-14/

The Kansas City Chiefs’ celebratory Super Bowl 2024 parade in Kansas City, Mo., took a dark turn when shots were fired into the crowd of fans, who had gotten together to celebrate the big win.

At least 22 people were shot at Union Station on Wednesday with Kansas City police confirming in a press conference that one of the victims had died.

Among those hurt were 11 children, who were transported to Children’s Mercy Hospital. Nine of those children had suffered gunshot wounds.

Page Six has not independently confirmed those numbers.

It was later reported by the Kansas City Star that a Johnson County mother had died in the shooting, but police have not confirmed that information yet. It’s unknown if the mom is the second person to die or if she was the originally reported person.

During the press conference, Mayor Quinton Lucas added that Chiefs players and staff members are all safe and accounted for.

Police took three armed people into custody for more investigation.
AFP via Getty ImagesAt around 3 p.m. ET, Kansas City Police confirmed via X that “shots have been fired” and asked guests to “please leave the area.”

“Officers are working to clear Union Station itself. We will release everyone inside the building once that is complete,” they added in a separate tweet.

“We are still trying to determine the number of shooting victims.”

Source: https://pagesix.com/2024/02/14/entertainment/multiple-people-shot-at-chiefs-super-bowl-parade-with-travis-kelce-patrick-mahomes-present/

Tzenios, a Fellow (Academician) of seven esteemed science academies, has garnered attention for possessing an astonishing seven university doctorate degrees or being a candidate for one. His unparalleled commitment to education and relentless pursuit of knowledge have earned him the prestigious title of the “Most Titled Science Academician in the World.”

But who is Nikolaos Tzenios?

A distinguished researcher and academic, Tzenios boasts extensive expertise in public health, medical research, and education. His contributions to various fields have left an indelible mark on the scientific community and society at large. With over 50 papers and two books to his credit, Tzenios’ scholarly publications have not only advanced understanding but also inspired future generations of academics.

Tzenios’ academic journey is nothing short of extraordinary. He holds or is pursuing seven doctoral degrees from prestigious universities, covering a diverse array of disciplines ranging from public health to global security. His academic pursuits include doctoral degrees in fields such as cancer research, psychology, business administration, health sciences, criminal justice, and global security.

Source: https://www.timesnownews.com/world/nikolaos-tzenios-worlds-most-educated-person-this-man-has-7-doctoral-degrees-the-list-will-shock-you-article-107704841

Japan’s economy unexpectedly slipped into recession after shrinking for a second quarter due to anemic domestic demand, prompting some central bank watchers to push back bets on when the nation’s negative interest rate policy will end.

Gross domestic product contracted at an annualised pace of 0.4% in the final three months of last year, following a revised 3.3% retreat in the previous quarter, the Cabinet Office reported Thursday.
The report showed both households and businesses cut spending for a third straight quarter as Japan’s economy slipped to fourth-largest in the world in dollar terms last year. Germany now has the world’s third-largest economy.

Only one of 34 surveyed economists had pointed to a contraction in the quarter, with the consensus at 1.1% growth. Overnight swaps after the result showed markets pricing in around a 63% chance of the Bank of Japan hiking by April, down from 73% a day earlier.
The weaker-than-expected result will complicate the BOJ’s case to conduct the first rate hike in Japan since 2007, a step most economists surveyed last month predicted the bank would take by April.
“This is a headwind for the BOJ,” said Takeshi Minami, economist at Norinchukin Research. “I think there was a feeling that the BOJ will end the negative rate in March or April, but a north wind is now blowing.”
The BOJ’s policy board has recently ramped up discussions surrounding an exit from the subzero rate policy and sought to assure markets that a rate hike wouldn’t signal a sharp shift in policy.
Governor Kazuo Ueda told parliament last week that financial conditions in Japan will remain accommodative for the time being even after the end of the negative interest rate, echoing one of his deputies, Shinichi Uchida.
“The surprise contraction in fourth-quarter GDP puts Japan in a technical recession and casts strong doubt over whether the Bank of Japan will follow through on signals it sent in January pointing to a quick retreat from its current policy stance,” said economist Taro Kimura.
Thursday’s data underscored the case for keeping policy loose by reflecting Japan’s reliance on external demand as domestic demand softens amid persistent inflation.
Private consumption retreated by 0.2%, as households contending with rising costs of living tightened their budgets. Household spending fell 2.5% in December versus a year earlier, a 10th straight month of declines, as wage gains lagged inflation. Business spending was also sluggish last quarter, falling by 0.1%.
“Sticky inflation is cutting into consumers’ purchasing power, leading into weak consumption,” Minami said. “That’s mild stagflation.”
Atsushi Takeda, chief economist at Itochu Research Institute, said the slide in consumption was jarring. “I was shocked by these results,” Takeda said. “The impact from the rise in prices was larger than expected.”
Takeda said the possibility of a BOJ rate hike in March is now virtually eliminated, though he still expects a move in April.
The yen’s weakening back to levels not seen since November threatens to spur cost-push inflationary pressure in coming months. Japan’s currency was little changed around 150.40 to the dollar after Thursday’s data.

Source: https://www.cnbctv18.com/economy/japan-loses-its-spot-as-world-third-largest-economy-as-it-slips-into-recession-19055021.htm

Quick counts by reputable pollsters based on a sampling of ballots across polling stations in Indonesia showed Mr Prabowo garnering about 58 per cent of votes, enough to win the presidential poll in one round.

Presidential candidate and defence minister Prabowo Subianto has pledged to lead, protect and defend all Indonesians as he claimed victory hours after polling closed on Wednesday (Feb 14), with independent quick counts showing he had won nearly 60 per cent of votes.

With his vice-presidential running mate Gibran Rakabuming Raka – who is also incumbent president Joko Widodo’s son – by his side, Mr Prabowo said the country must unite once more as “the campaign is over”, and that “this victory is for all Indonesian people”.

“We will be president and vice-president for all Indonesians,” he declared, while speaking to thousands of supporters at a packed sports arena.

“I have repeatedly emphasised that we will lead, protect and defend all Indonesian people, whatever their race, ethnicity, religion, social background. All Indonesians will be our responsibility, to safeguard their interests.

“We will build a government consisting of the best people of Indonesia.”

Quick counts by reputable pollsters such as Indikator Politik Indonesia, Litbang Kompas and Indonesian Survey Circle (LSI), based on a sampling of ballots across polling stations in Indonesia, showed Mr Prabowo garnering about 58 per cent of votes.

This puts him well ahead of rivals Mr Anies Baswedan with about 25 per cent of votes, and Mr Ganjar Pranowo with about 16 per cent.

Mr Anies and Mr Ganjar, however, have not conceded defeat and cited reports of electoral fraud.

“Don’t be influenced by these surveys,” said Mr Thomas Lembong, the deputy leader of Mr Anies’ campaign team. Counting remains dynamic and is expected to continue over the next few days, he said. “The journey is still long.”

“We have to be brave and patient, and not too quick to make conclusions,” Mr Thomas added.

Mr Ganjar also urged people to wait for the final results, saying: “We’re still working. No fight (effort) is in vain … we are still energised.”

Mr Arsjad Rasid, head of Mr Ganjar’s campaign team, also urged anyone with evidence of any irregularities on the ground to report them to the team. “Friends, don’t stop. Let’s continue to safeguard this,” he said.

Source: https://www.channelnewsasia.com/asia/indonesia-elections-2024-prabowo-victory-president-jokowi-anies-ganjar-4123256

Shehbaz Sharif is set to begin a second term as Pakistan’s Prime Minister in the coming days, returning to the role he had until August when parliament was dissolved ahead of last week’s elections.

Shehbaz Sharif was chosen to lead Pakistan again, bringing an end to the political stalemate following an inconclusive election. Until Wednesday, the efforts to get the second-largest party to join the government to ensure stability were underway. Sharif was named as the coalition candidate for the next premier by his elder brother, Nawaz.

The Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) of former foreign minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari backed the choice but did not commit to joining the government, indicating it would support a minority government from the outside. Meanwhile, independent members of parliament, backed by former Prime Minister Imran Khan, formed the largest group in the legislature, and were at loggerheads with the powerful military, alleging that the vote was rigged.

PAKISTAN GOVERNMENT FORMATION: THE LATEST

• Following elections in Pakistan, marred by rigging allegations, delay in results, protests, and economic crisis, Shehbaz Sharif was chosen to lead the country again. Seventy-two-year-old Sharif has served as the country’s Prime Minister for 16 months. He was named as the coalition candidate for the next premier by his elder brother Nawaz, founder and supremo of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), the largest party in parliament.
• In a press conference, Shehbaz Sharif announced Maryam Nawaz, daughter of Nawaz Sharif, as the Chief Minister of Pakistan’s Punjab province.

In an X post, Maryam said that her father did not want to run a minority coalition government, having had clear majorities in his three previous stints as premier. Their Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) party controls only 80 seats in the 264-seat parliament but has been promised support by six other parties for a majority.

• The Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) of former foreign minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, the second largest, backed the choice but did not commit to joining the government, indicating it would support a minority government from the outside.
• Officials in both PML-N and PPP said they had formed internal committees to discuss the modalities of government formation and the agenda included getting PPP to join the administration and take cabinet positions.
• Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party has alleged that the vote was rigged and vowed to legally challenge some results. The caretaker government and election commission have rejected those accusations.
• Analysts had hoped the election would bring a solution to the crisis faced by Pakistan, but the split verdict, with a large number of independents at loggerheads with the influential military, could only mean more instability.

Source: https://www.indiatoday.in/world/story/pakistan-general-elections-latest-updates-pakistan-government-formation-shehbaz-sharif-imran-khan-supporters-2502321-2024-02-15

A congressional aide, speaking on condition of anonymity, said it was not yet clear if the Russian weapon has nuclear capability.

The head of the US House Intelligence Committee is calling on Joe Biden to declassify information about “a serious national security threat”.

Republican congressman Mike Turner gave no details about the nature of the threat, but a senior aide said that they understood the threat relates to a space-deployed Russian anti-satellite weapon that may or may not have already been deployed.

Such a weapon could pose a major danger to American satellites that transmit billions of bytes of data on an hourly basis.

The Biden administration declined to specifically address the alleged threat.

The aide, speaking on condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the matter, said it was not yet clear if the Russian weapon has nuclear capability, but said that is the fear.

However, several leading politicians, including House Speaker Mike Johnson, warned against Americans being overly alarmed.

Information is ‘significant’ but ‘not a cause for panic’

Mr Turner sent an email to members of Congress on Wednesday saying his committee had “identified an urgent matter with regard to a destabilising foreign military capability” that should be known to all congressional policymakers.

He encouraged them to come to a secure area to review the intelligence.

Mr Turner has been a voice for stronger US national security, putting him at odds with some Republican colleagues who favour a more isolationist approach.

He has called for the renewal of a key US government surveillance tool while some fellow Republicans and liberal Democrats have raised privacy objections.

And he supports continuing US military aid for Ukraine in its war against Russia at a time when the funding remains uncertain because of opposition in the Republican-led House.

Mr Johnson said he was not at liberty to disclose the classified information.

“But we just want to assure everyone steady hands are at the wheel. We’re working on it and there’s no need for alarm,” he told reporters.

Democratic congressman Jim Himes, the ranking member of the Intelligence Committee, said in a statement that the classified information is “significant” but “not a cause for panic.”

The Senate Intelligence Committee said it has been tracking the issue.

“We continue to take this matter seriously and are discussing an appropriate response with the administration,” Senator Mark Warner, the Democratic committee chairman, and Senator Marco Rubio, the Republican vice chairman, said in a statement.

“In the meantime, we must be cautious about potentially disclosing sources and methods that may be key to preserving a range of options for US action.”

National security adviser Jake Sullivan told reporters at the White House that he already had been due to brief Mr Turner and other senior congressional leaders on Thursday.

Source: https://news.sky.com/story/republican-warns-of-national-security-threat-amid-fears-of-russian-space-weapon-13071884

President Vladimir Putin said Wednesday that Russia would prefer to see U.S. President Joe Biden win a second term, describing him as more experienced than Donald Trump.

Speaking in an interview with a correspondent of Russian state television, Putin declared that he will work with any U.S. leader who is elected, but noted unequivocally that he would prefer Biden’s victory when asked who would be a better choice from the point of view of Russia.

“Biden, he’s more experienced, more predictable, he’s a politician of the old formation,” Putin said. “But we will work with any U.S. leader whom the American people trust.”

Asked about speculation on Biden’s health issues, Putin responded that “I’m not a doctor and I don’t consider it proper to comment on that.”

Biden’s team worked to alleviate Democratic concerns over alarms raised by a special counsel about Biden’s age and memory. They came in a report determining that Biden would not be charged with any criminal activity for possessing classified documents after he left office.

Putin noted that the talk about Biden’s health comes as “the election campaign is gaining speed in the U.S., and it’s taking an increasingly sharp course.”

He added that allegations of Biden’s health problems were also circulating at the time when they met in Switzerland in June 2021, adding that he witnessed the contrary and saw the U.S. leader in a good shape.

“They talked about him being incapacitated, but I saw nothing of the kind,” Putin said. “Yes, he was peeking at his papers, to be honest, I was peeking at mine, not a big deal.”

At the same time, Putin noted that he sees the Biden administration policy as wrong.

Russia-West ties have plunged to their lowest levels since the Cold War era after Putin sent his troops into Ukraine in February 2022.

“I believe that the position of the current administration is badly flawed and wrong, and I have told President Biden about that,” Putin said.

Putin has claimed that he has sent troops into Ukraine to protect Russian speakers there and to prevent a threat to Russia’s security posed by Ukraine’s bid to join NATO. Ukraine and its Western allies have denounced Moscow’s action as an unprovoked act of aggression.

Source: https://apnews.com/article/russia-putin-biden-trump-fb2fece0be7685624a3e3e379a8a3bd3

A growing number of Western officials have warned of a military threat from Russia to countries along the eastern flank of NATO, calling for Europe to get prepared by rearming.
The chief of the intelligence service said the assessment was based on Russian plans to double the number of forces stationed along its border with NATO members Finland and the Baltic States of Estonia, Lithuania and Latvia.

“If we are not prepared, the likelihood (of a military Russian attack) would be much higher than without any preparation,” Rosin added.
Estonia and the other Baltic States have increased their military spending to over 2% of the value of their economies after Russia annexed Crimea in 2014, and NATO allies have raised their presence in those countries.
Germany plans to have 4,800 combat-ready troops in the region by 2027, in its first permanent foreign deployment since World War Two, and Rosin said NATO and its allies were moving in the right direction to counter the Russian threat.Rosin does not expect a Russian breakthrough in Ukraine before its presidential election in March, as it would need to mobilise significantly more troops to achieve that goal.
Speaking about U.S. presidential candidate Donald Trump’s comments that he would not defend allies who don’t spend enough on defence, Rosin said: “Such statements are never helpful”.
Russia’s ability to provide ammunition to its troops is continuing to outweigh Ukraine’s, and unless Western support is sustained or increased, Ukraine is unlikely to be able to change the situation on the battlefield, he added.

Source: https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/russia-preparing-military-confrontation-with-west-says-estonia-2024-02-13/

The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday directed the special counsel prosecuting Donald Trump on criminal charges of plotting to overturn his 2020 election loss to respond by Feb. 20 to the former president’s bid to freeze a judicial decision rejecting his immunity claim.
The justices in a brief order told Special Counsel Jack Smith to file a response to Trump’s request by next Tuesday at 4 p.m. (2100 GMT). Smith could file his response sooner. He previously asked the justices to resolve Trump’s immunity claim before a lower appeals court had weighed in – a request they denied.

Trump’s lawyers on Monday asked the justices to temporarily block a decision by a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit rejecting his claim of presidential immunity from prosecution, pending his bid for the full slate of D.C. Circuit judges to reconsider the case, and, if necessary, a Supreme Court appeal.

Kanye West is being shunned by the Hollywood elite, it seems.

Page Six hears that — awkwardly enough — the Klan-hood-wearing vocal antisemite unexpectedly turned up in chicken chain Raising Cane’s Super Bowl suite to watch the game alongside many, many other famous names on Sunday.

He didn’t exactly get a warm welcome.

Interestingly, sources tell us that Leo DiCaprio — a longtime pal of the disgraced rapper-turned-designer-turned-prolific-nutter — was among the starry throng and definitely saw West, but didn’t so much as acknowledge his one-time buddy.

At one point a source had told us the pair seemed to exchange nods and nothing else, but a source later said definitively: “There’s was no interaction whatsoever.”

Things were not always so.

The pair have been spotted hanging out together here and there over the years, and West even performed at DiCaprio’s birthday party in saner times.

In 2013, 2 Chainz and West put on a surprise show for “The Wolf of Wall Street” star at his 39th birthday bash at Tao.

West just about lost his mind when the actor finally won an Oscar in 2016 for the “Revenant.”

“Finally!!! Our guy!!! We’re so so happy for Leo!!!,” the “Jesus Walks” rapper tweeted at the time.

Sources say West wasn’t invited to the suite by the booming bird brand, and wasn’t even a guest of a guest.

“He came in for a few minutes with his wife [Bianca Censori],” said an insider, “He was just like a guy dropping into suites, like, ‘Can I stick around for a minute? Can I get a free drink?’”

Source: https://pagesix.com/2024/02/13/gossip/kanye-west-gets-cold-shoulder-in-super-bowl-suite/

Kaia Gerber didn’t know mom Cindy Crawford was considered one of the greatest supermodels until last year.

During an interview with the Wall Street Journal published Tuesday, the 22-year-old admitted that her own modeling career was surely shaped due to her mother’s success — even if she didn’t realize how “iconic” Crawford was — and still is — until she watched “The Super Models.”

“I was like, ‘I didn’t realize. I knew you were iconic, but …’ I didn’t understand when I was younger,” she recalled telling her mom, 57, at the time.

“I was starstruck in front of her after.”

The Apple TV+ show highlighted Crawford’s career, as well as Naomi Campbell, Linda Evangelista and Christy Turlington’s, who were four of “The Big Six” in the 90s.

The docuseries detailed the highs and lows of the women’s careers, including the uncomfortable moment Oprah Winfrey told a then-20-year-old Crawford to stand up so the audience could look at her body.

Gerber, who bears a striking resemblance to her mother, noted that watching the show opened her eyes to all the hardships Crawford faced to provide the life she did for their family.

“What she made of her career, there wasn’t really someone’s footsteps to follow,” the young model told the outlet. “And I thought it was so cool that she always had that ambition, and she did things where people told her, ‘This will ruin your career. Don’t do this.’ And she trusted her instincts.”

Gerber praised her mom for being so “smart and focused and ambitious” from “a very young age” despite “coming from a very different background” than she did.

While Gerber grew up in Malibu, Calif. with pictures of her famous mother in Playboy on her walls, Crawford was raised by “poor” divorced parents and bullied as a teenager.

However, Gerber pointed out that she is well aware of her privilege and how her “nepo baby” status has boosted her modeling career.

“I don’t think it’s a topic that will go away, so I’ve clearly reached a point of acceptance,” she said of the controversial term.

Source: https://pagesix.com/2024/02/13/celebrity-news/kaia-gerber-says-she-didnt-realize-how-iconic-supermodel-mom-cindy-crawford-was-until-last-year/

Ahead of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s address at the World Government Summit, the iconic Burj Khalifa in Dubai shimmered with the words ‘Guest of Honor – Republic of India’, extending a hearty welcome to the Indian PM. Dubai’s Crown Prince Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum highlighted the enduring bond between the two nations, hailing it as a beacon of international cooperation, and welcomed PM Modi with this special gesture.

Upon receiving an invitation from UAE Vice President Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, PM Modi is slated to partake in the World Government Summit 2024 in Dubai as a Guest of Honour, where he will deliver a keynote address. Speaking on ‘X’, Dubai’s Crown Prince expressed, “We extend a warm welcome to the Republic of India, the guest of honour at this year’s World Governments Summit, and to His Excellency Narendra Modi, the Prime Minister of India. The strong ties between our nations serve as a model for international cooperation.”

In addition to showcasing images of the world’s tallest structure bathed in the hues of the Indian national flag, he underscored the World Government Summit’s evolution into a premier platform for sharing governance best practices, success narratives, and future-oriented initiatives. He further stated, “It is a pleasure to have India as a distinguished guest at this international event, where it will showcase its innovations, initiatives and projects across diverse sectors that are a model for accelerating development for government service delivery.”

Dubai’s Crown Prince’s Viral Post:

During his two-day official visit to the UAE, PM Modi is scheduled to meet with UAE Vice President Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum and inaugurate the BAPS Hindu Mandir in Abu Dhabi.

Source: https://www.news18.com/viral/dubais-burj-khalifa-lit-up-with-indian-tricolour-to-welcome-pm-narendra-modi-for-world-govt-summit-8778073.html

More than a foot of snow fell over northeastern parts of the US as a powerful, fast-moving storm swept across the area.

Parts of New York City and New England saw heavy snow and winds of up to 60mph as the storm – named the Nor’easter – arrived on Tuesday morning.

As of midday, the storm had left numerous spots with more than a foot of snow, including Farmington in Connecticut and Sussex in New Jersey, where snow measured more than 15 inches, according to the National Weather Service.

The severe weather led to more than 1,000 flights being delayed from airports in New York and Boston.

More than 440 car accidents have been attended by New Jersey police, Sky News US partner network, NBC, reported.

In Pennsylvania, a 20-year-old man died in a snowmobile crash after the machine collided with a downed power line.

Police said at the time, the central Pennsylvania area was experiencing a “multitude of weather-related conditions due to a winter storm which caused downed trees, downed power lines and hazardous travel conditions”.

In the state alone, 145,000 power outages were reported.

Many schools either closed or switched to remote learning, while in Massachusetts, flower deliveries in preparation for Valentine’s Day were cancelled.

“It’s the day before Valentine’s Day and I had to tell my customers we can’t do it,” florist Robin Metivier said, adding: “We’re tough New Englanders, but the flowers can’t take the cold.”

The storm marks the end of nearly a two-year-long “snow drought” in New York, which sparked concerns about global warming.

Source: https://news.sky.com/story/storm-noreaster-one-dead-as-heavy-snow-and-strong-winds-cause-hazardous-conditions-in-us-13070980

Tributes are being paid to veteran broadcaster Steve Wright following his death at the age of 69. The DJ was last on air in a pre-recorded Valentine’s special on Sunday, just weeks after being made an MBE for services to radio.

Veteran BBC radio presenter and broadcasting “legend” Steve Wright has died at the age of 69.

Wright hosted shows on BBC Radio 1 and Radio 2 for more than four decades and was last on air hosting a pre-recorded Valentine’s show on Sunday, the BBC said. He died on Monday.

Paying tribute, his family said in a statement: “It is with deep sorrow and profound regret that we announce the passing of our beloved Steve Wright.

“In addition to his son, Tom, and daughter, Lucy, Steve leaves behind his brother, Laurence and his father Richard.

“Also, much-loved close friends and colleagues, and millions of devoted radio listeners who had the good fortune and great pleasure of allowing Steve into their daily lives as one of the UK’s most enduring and popular radio personalities.”

Bosses at the BBC also paid tribute, with Lorna Clarke, director of music, describing Wright as “an extraordinary broadcaster – someone audiences loved, and many of us looked up to”.

She added: “He loved radio, and he loved the BBC, but most of all… he loved his audience.”

‘The Godfather’: BBC presenters pay tribute

Former BBC radio colleagues including Ken Bruce, Simon Mayo and Tony Blackburn joined the tributes, with Mayo describing the DJ as “one of the greats” and “a fabulous, creative whirlwind of a presenter”.

Source: https://news.sky.com/story/steve-wright-bbc-radio-presenter-has-died-13070797

• Thailand is set to do a U-turn on its lax approach to cannabis, officials say
• Top officials are now proposing heft fines and jail time for recreational use

Thailand is set to outlaw weed again just 18 months after the country decriminalized the drug.

The major U-turn follows a spike in hospital admissions and crime linked to cannabis, as well as the perception that children are getting hooked too easily.

Since June 2022, when marijuana was dropped as a controlled substance, hospitalizations for cannabis-induced psychological problems have doubled to 63,000 patients per year, while reports of drug-fueled violence and abuse have also risen.

Thailand became the first country in the Asia to legalize marijuana in 2019, when the Bhumjaithai party promised it would be a boon to crop farmers in the north.

But the decriminalization has given rise to a large un-regulated black market. Data shows more than 6,000 shops have sprouted in the country, many without licenses.

There has also been a boom in tourists visiting the country to use marijuana recreationally, helping to fund cannabis-themed cafes and hemp spas.

In response, the country’s Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin has named weed a ‘big problem’ and vowed to take action — after being elected in August 2023.

Top officials are now proposing a bill that would make using cannabis ‘for entertainment or pleasure’ a crime punishable with a $1,700 fine (60,000 baht) and possibly a jail sentence of up to one year.

Last week, the country’s health minister Chonlanan Srikaew revealed he had recommended a draft bill that would ban recreational cannabis.

Source: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-13078737/thailand-weed-legalization-rise-cannabis-crime.html

TAYLOR Swift and Travis Kelce are on course to become the richest power couple in entertainment after his win at the Super Bowl.

Experts believe they could become worth more than £4billion eclipsing the fortunes and influence of Jay-Z and Beyonce or David and Victoria Beckham.

Entrepreneur and former NFL star Evan Oglesby, 42, said there is “no cap” on their earning power given the “connection to the fans in sports and showbusiness.”

He said: “In modern times. I mean, Travis is not the first person to date a celebrity, but he is one right now that’s capturing the attention of America and the world. It’s a great storyline.

“They brand at £4 billion. I don’t even think that’s the cap on that really. That’s the minimum.

“Travis is a professional and for one, I mean he’s one of the greatest that ever played that position. It is highlighting who he is as a person.

“This will elevate him no matter what happens. Travis Kelce is favoured by so many.

“Taylor helped out with a lot of that, and I mean, everybody wants to have that big name, and I think this is what’s going to help him really set that in concrete for years to come.”

Oglesby, spoke at the Sports Illustrated Invitational golf outing, hosted by NFL Pro Bowler and Las Vegas Raiders star Maxx Crosby, golf Influencer Paige Spiranac, MMA and UFC Ringside Announcer Bruce Buffer, and the Country Club Adjacent Podcast and produced by Authentic Brands Group (Authentic), in partnership with ENTER.

The Anti-Hero singer flew 5,530 miles by private jet from Tokyo to Nevada to attend Sunday night’s Super Bowl, which saw Travis’ team, the Kansas City Chiefs, beat the San Francisco 49ers.

Taylor was seen chugging beer in the stands at the Allegiant Stadium alongside pals including rapper Ice Spice and singer Lana Del Rey.

Later on, she joined Travis to celebrate his win at XS Nightclub at the Wynn Las Vegas.

They ate chicken fingers and fries in a VIP section of the club and partied until 5.15am.

Source: https://www.the-sun.com/entertainment/10369663/taylor-swift-travis-kelce-entertainment-richest-couple/

A CAR has slammed into a hospital’s emergency room in Austin, leaving one person dead and at least five injured.

Horrific photos show a crumpled wheelchair and debris covering the lobby after the crash at St. David’s North Austin Medical Center in Texas.

The Austin Fire Department and Austin-Travis County EMS raced to the hospital at 5:38 pm on Tuesday and quickly declared a level four mass casualty with 20 to 49 patients.

A paramedic was giving one person CPR when first responders got there and medical personnel started triage as they rushed to help the wounded.

Authorities said at an 8 pm news conference that the driver was pulled from the wrecked car and died in the emergency room.

Five people who were in the lobby at the time of the crash were wounded, including two children and two adults who were rushed to other hospitals.

One child had life-threatening injuries and an adult had serious injuries.

Eight patients who were being treated at the ER before the crash were being transported to another hospital.

Shocking photos from the scene showed the car inside the hospital with debris strewn all over the lobby.

The front of the vehicle was destroyed and a wheelchair could be seen crumpled next to broken glass and rubble.

Source: https://www.the-sun.com/news/10382216/victims-rushed-hospital-car-crashes-austin-medical-center-incident/

Joe Biden didn’t score an endorsement from Taylor Swift on Super Bowl Sunday, as some had predicted. But her boyfriend Travis Kelce is using the president’s renewable energy tax credits to finance the film “My Dead Friend Zoe.”

The SXSW-bound indie, which stars Natalie Morales, Ed Harris, Morgan Freeman and Sonequa Martin-Green, marks Kelce’s first foray into movies, with the Kansas City Chiefs tight end serving as an executive producer. The investors in the low-budget dark comedy, which include Kelce, are the first to take advantage of 2022’s Inflation Reduction Act to finance a film. (“My Dead Friend Zoe” cost less than $10 million.)

The Inflation Reduction Act, which was passed in August 2022, marks “the single largest investment in climate and energy in American history, enabling America to tackle the climate crisis, advancing environmental justice, securing America’s position as a world leader in domestic clean energy manufacturing and putting the United States on a pathway to achieving the Biden-Harris Administration’s climate goals, including a net-zero economy by 2050,” according to the U.S. Department of Energy’s web site. “My Dead Friend Zoe” used money generated by green energy entrepreneur Mike Field’s sale of surplus tax credits. (Field is also a producer on the film.)

“Hollywood is risky, right? On a scale of one to 10, Hollywood, it is a 9.5. Especially in terms of independent film,” says “My Dead Friend Zoe” producer Ray Maiello, who runs California-based Radiant Media Studios with Field and is the former head of business affairs at Netflix. “These federal tax credits take the risk down to like a five.”

Kelce, Maiello and Field are using the same strategy to finance a second film, the Jean-Michel Basquiat documentary “King Pleasure.” The Boardwalk Pictures film is being helmed by Quinn Wilson, the former creative director for Lizzo, and is being made with the cooperation of the late artist’s estate. Kelce, Maiello and Field could spark a trend in Hollywood of employing the Inflation Reduction Act as a way to raise funds and bolster the flagging indie film sector. These types of deals have become common outside of Hollywood and now represent a market worth between $7 billion and $9 billion.

“[Field] and I wanted to branch out and we’ve been talking about [expanding] for years. And then Biden really incentivized it,” Maiello adds. “Biden saw that people can’t plan what their tax liabilities are going to be. People don’t want to take risks. And so he really opened it up with these federal tax credits and we’re combining that with Hollywood. That’s the idea.”

Source: https://variety.com/2024/film/news/travis-kelce-my-dead-friend-zoe-financed-energy-tax-credits-1235908057/

One person is dead, and five people are injured after a sedan crashed into an Austin, Texas, hospital’s emergency room.

According to a Facebook post from the Austin-Travis County Emergency Medical Services (ATCEMS), the incident happened on Tuesday at 5:38 p.m.

Authorities confirmed that the driver of the sedan died in the crash.

According to authorities, the vehicle barreled into St. David’s North Austin Medical Center emergency room, leaving multiple injured.

As of 9 p.m. EST, eight patients are awaiting transport to other area hospitals.

Two children were taken to Dell Children’s Hospital and two adults were taken to other hospitals, the agency said.

Another adult patient was transported in critical condition to St. David’s Round Rock Medical Center.

Source: https://www.foxnews.com/us/car-crashes-texas-hospitals-emergency-room-multiple-injured

Australia skipper Pat Cummins left everyone in splits after he gave a hilarious reply to fan on Instagram.

Australia Test and ODI skipper Pat Cummins left everyone in splits after he gave a hilarious reply to a fan on Instagram. The star pacer shared an adorable picture with his wife Becky Cummins, wishing her on the occasion of Valentine’s Day. In the picture, the couple was seen enjoying their time at a beach. “Super-mum, wife, my valentine and apparently a pro-surfer too. Happy Valentines @becky_cummins,” the caption of his post read. This lovely post shared by Cummins went viral in no time and fans flooded the comment section with their love.

Out of all the comments, one fan wrote, “I am Indian I love you your wife.” However, Cummins’ savage reply left all the fans laughing. “I’ll pass it onto her!” wrote Cummins.

The year 2023 had been a memorable one for Cummins as the star pacer guided Australia to the World Test Championship and ODI World Cup titles. On both occasions, Australia edged past Team India and clinched the coveted ICC trophies. Apart from this, he also won the ICC ICC Men’s Cricketer of the Year Award.

While receiving the award, Cummins reserved high praise for the star Indian duo of Virat Kohli and Ravindra Jadeja.

“It’s a huge honour. It has been a big year, lots of wonderful team success. To get this individual honour is huge and I am pretty amazed. In terms of individual accolades, it is right up there,” Cummins told ICC.

Source: https://sports.ndtv.com/cricket/i-love-your-wife-says-indian-fan-to-pat-cummins-australia-stars-stunning-response-5054642

An A-list celebrity rivalry that began almost 15 years ago is apparently still going strong.

On Sept. 13, 2009, Taylor Swift, then 19 years old, was accepting the MTV Video Music Award for the Best Female Video in “You Belong With Me.”

During her speech, she was infamously interrupted by Kanye West, who shocked the world with a few sentences.

“Yo, Taylor, I’m really happy for you, I [will] let you finish,” he began. “But Beyoncé had one of the best videos of all time! One of the best videos of all time!”

West was referencing Beyonce’s video for “Single Ladies,” and the audience booed as Swift was clearly flustered. West was removed from the show and “Single Ladies” wound up winning Video of the Year — yet the R&B artist brought Swift on stage so she could finish her speech.

Well, Swift apparently hasn’t forgotten about that.

Swift was at the Super Bowl this past weekend in support of her boyfriend, Travis Kelce, whose Kansas City Chiefs won, 25-22, in overtime for their second straight title.

The suites at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas were filled with A-listers, including Swift and, apparently, West was supposed to be one.

But former NFL star Brandon Marshall says Swift actually had the rapper booted from the stadium.

“Kanye West pulls up to Vegas. Kanye West buys a ticket right in front of [Taylor Swift]’s booth,” Marshall said on the “I Am Athlete” podcast. “Taylor Swift gets pissed off. She boom boom makes a call or two. Everybody’s involved. He gets kicked out the stadium. He was trying to leverage her celebrity.”

West rapped about the VMA incident in his 2016 hit song “Famous,” saying the incident made Swift famous.

“I feel like me and Taylor might still have sex. Why? I made that b—- famous,” he rapped. The song was nominated for a Grammy.

Source: https://www.foxnews.com/sports/taylor-swift-got-kanye-west-kicked-out-super-bowl-ex-nfl-star-says

The Republican frontrunner had questioned the United States’ willingness to support its NATO allies if they were attacked.

Speaking at the White House, the Democratic president on Tuesday criticised Trump’s comment over the weekend calling into question the US’s willingness to support members of the Western defence alliance if they were attacked.

Biden said the comments by Trump, the Republican frontrunner in the presidential race, made it more urgent that Congress pass his long-stalled funding request to support Ukraine in its war against Russia.

“The stakes were already high for American security before this bill was passed in the Senate,” he said. “But in recent days, those stakes have risen. And that’s because the former president has sent a dangerous, and shockingly, frankly un-American signal to the world.”

At a rally in the state of South Carolina on Saturday Trump blasted what he called “delinquent” payments by NATO members and recounted what he said was a past conversation with the head of “a big country” about a potential attack by Russia.

“No, I would not protect you. In fact I would encourage them [Russia] to do whatever the hell they want. You gotta pay,” Trump claimed he told the unnamed leader.

Source: https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/2/14/biden-slams-trump-criticism-of-nato-as-shameful-and-un-american

Defense Minister Prabowo Subianto took an early lead as Indonesia began counting votes in its presidential election Wednesday, with a 60% share among the nearly 40% of ballots counted so far in an unofficial tally.

The front-runner in pre-election polls, Subianto was the only candidate with ties to the Suharto dictatorship, which he served as a special forces commander, and has close ties to the immensely popular sitting President Joko Widodo.

To avoid a runoff, he’ll need more than 50% of all votes cast and at least 20% in each of the country’s provinces.

Voting ended Wednesday afternoon with no major problems reported across the archipelago.

Two former provincial governors, Anies Baswedan and Ganjar Pranowo, were also vying to succeed Widodo, who is serving the final of his two terms in office. Widodo’s rise from a riverside slum to the presidency has shown the vibrancy of Indonesia’s democracy in a region rife with authoritarian regimes.

But with Widodo’s son on the ballot as Subianto’s running mate, some observers fear that he’s building a dynasty.

Widodo’s successor will inherit an economy with impressive growth and ambitious infrastructure projects, including the ongoing transfer of the nation’s capital from congested Jakarta to the frontier island of Borneo at a staggering cost exceeding $30 billion.

The election also has high stakes for the United States and China, since Indonesia has a huge domestic market, natural resources like nickel and palm oil, and diplomatic influence with its Southeast Asian neighbors.

The official count may not be finished up to a month, but quick counts have provided an accurate picture of the results of all four presidential elections held in Indonesia since it began direct voting in 2004.

The unofficial result of the presidential election was reported by the largest of 81 survey organizations certified by the General Election Commission under Indonesia’s election law.

The quick count is based on the actual vote count from a sample of polling stations across Indonesia.

The logistics of the vote across the tropical nation’s 17,000 islands inhabited by 270 million people were daunting: Ballot boxes and ballots were transported by boats, motorcycles, horses and on foot in some of the more far-flung locations.

A fierce thunderstorm flooded several streets of Jakarta at dawn Wednesday. Last week, damage from heavy rains in Central Java’s Demak regency prompted the postponement of the election in 10 villages.

Aside from the presidency, some 20,000 national, provincial and district parliamentary posts were contested by tens of thousands of candidates in one of the world’s largest elections, which authorities said concluded with no major problems. About 10,000 aspirants from 18 political parties eyed the national parliament’s 580 seats alone.

Voters interviewed by The Associated Press expressed hope their next leader would help them achieve greater prosperity in a country where nearly a tenth of the population still lives in poverty.

“I hope Indonesia can progress better and that I did not vote for the wrong person,” said Indra Nurohim, a 17-year-old high school student and first-time voter. “I hope we will have a better government.”

The official vote tally is a laborious process that could take about a month, but early esults based on sampling from registered private polling and survey groups are considered a reliable indicator of the final results. The presidential race will go to a runoff on June 26 if no candidate gets more than 50% of the votes.

Source: https://apnews.com/article/indonesia-presidential-election-voting-dd732adb2d0f3b674fc92aee4f547c6a

Ukrainian officials presented fresh claims that Russian forces are using satellite internet terminals made by Elon Musk’s SpaceX, a day after the billionaire expressed skepticism that Ukraine could prevail in the war with Russia.

Russian forces have purchased satellite internet terminals made by SpaceX in Arab countries and used them at the front line, according to Ukrainian officials, potentially undercutting a major battlefield advantage for Kyiv’s army.

Meanwhile, in a forum on his social-media platform X, Musk said Monday that “there is no way in hell” that Russian President Vladimir Putin could lose the war on Ukraine.

On Tuesday, Ukraine’s military-intelligence agency, known as HUR, posted an audio recording online that it said was intercepted from Russian radio communications. In the recording, two men can be heard speaking in Russian about how to get Starlink, SpaceX’s satellite internet system.

“Arabs bring everything to us: wires, Wi-Fi, router…,” says one of the men, who HUR says are Russian troops. The men say the devices each cost 200,000 Russian rubles, or about $2,200.

Starlink, which is more secure than cell or radio signals, is considered so vital to Ukrainian operations that the Pentagon struck a deal with SpaceX last year to fund access for Kyiv’s forces. Up to now, Russian forces have had no similarly secure communications system.

SpaceX didn’t respond to a request for comment on Tuesday. Musk has denied previous reports that Moscow is purchasing Starlink systems.

“A number of false news reports claim that SpaceX is selling Starlink terminals to Russia. This is categorically false,” Musk wrote in a post on X on Sunday. “To the best of our knowledge, no Starlinks have been sold directly or indirectly to Russia.”

In addition, responding to reports in Ukrainian media that Russia was obtaining Starlink terminals in Dubai, Starlink posted on X last week that the devices can’t be obtained there.

Neither Musk nor Starlink has responded directly to questions about whether the devices could be obtained in other countries and used in Russian-occupied parts of Ukraine.

The Russian Defense Ministry didn’t respond to a request for comment.

Access to Starlink has been a politically charged issue since early in the war, when Musk decided to make the service available in Ukraine. Last year, when SpaceX said it could no longer fund access for Kyiv, the Pentagon agreed to pay to keep the service running. Private donors, governments and other organizations also pay for terminals.

Musk said in September that earlier in the war, he declined a request to activate Starlink service around Sevastopol in Crimea to avoid directly involving his space company with what he described as a plan to sink Russian ships there.

Musk said that if he had agreed to it, SpaceX would have been “complicit in a major act of war and conflict escalation.” He didn’t address how this was different from Ukraine’s use of Starlink in many other operations.

Like other space communications systems, Starlink relies on satellites in orbit, infrastructure called ground stations and terminals to allow people to tap in to its high-speed internet connections.

For users, Starlink is designed to be simple and easy: The main part of the kit customers buy is a flat antenna array that needs an unobstructed view of the sky to connect with satellites.

SpaceX wields significant control over where it offers service and where it doesn’t. That is important for the company because it doesn’t want to provide connections to users in countries where regulators haven’t permitted its use.

However, geographically targeting the service isn’t completely perfect, meaning users could potentially pick up signals outside of authorized locations, people familiar with satellite technology say. For example, some regulators in African countries have warned citizens against acquiring Starlink equipment, saying they haven’t licensed the service.

It isn’t clear exactly how SpaceX makes determinations about where in Ukraine to provide Starlink service and where potentially to cut it off. The company has a contract with the Pentagon to provide connections in the country, but defense officials haven’t disclosed whether military planners instruct SpaceX about where it should target service—avoiding Russian-held areas in the country, for example.

SpaceX is able to track Starlink users within specific geographic areas, but distinguishing Ukrainian customers from unauthorized Russian troops poses a challenge.

“It’s incredibly difficult when you don’t know who’s using what,” a U.S. government official familiar with the matter said. “Maybe you could catch some of them, but you couldn’t catch them all and you might accidentally turn off some Ukrainian terminal.”

Russian forces would need to acquire Starlink equipment to tap in to the service and go through a company-controlled process to initiate service.

Source: https://www.wsj.com/world/russia-buying-musks-starlink-systems-in-arab-countries-ukraine-says-a0185f55?st=btpqzelwd3omlsi

The Senate passed a $95.3 billion package backed by President Biden that contains a fresh round of aid for Ukraine and funds for Israel and Taiwan, overcoming Republican objections but facing an uncertain future in the GOP-run House.

The Senate’s 70-29 vote marked a victory for proponents of a muscular role for the U.S. in foreign affairs, for the moment elbowing aside isolationist forces in Congress. The bill’s passage puts the spotlight on House Speaker Mike Johnson (R., La.), who has indicated the measure will need changes, potentially including provisions tightening America’s southern border, to stand a chance of becoming law.

The passage in the Democratic-controlled chamber comes at a critical moment for Ukraine, which has been running short of supplies and manpower after a failed counteroffensive against Russia last year. Twenty-two Republicans joined almost all Democrats in supporting the bill. Three members of the Democratic caucus who have expressed concerns about Israel’s military operations in Gaza voted no.

“With this bill, the Senate declares that American leadership will not waver, will not falter, will not fail,” said Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D., N.Y.), shortly after final passage Tuesday morning, following a marathon night of floor speeches by GOP opponents.

Source: https://www.wsj.com/politics/policy/senate-on-verge-of-passing-95-3-billion-ukraine-israel-aid-package-55d07d5a

Former Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif will be the nominee for Pakistan’s next premier to lead a new coalition alliance formed between different parties, a spokeswoman said on Tuesday after national elections last week returned a hung parliament.
The Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) on Tuesday said it would support Sharif’s party to form a minority government, ending a stalemate after inconclusive elections in the nuclear-armed nation lead to days of political uncertainty.

A spokesman for Sharif’s party, Marriyam Aurangzeb, said in a post on social media site X, formerly Twitter, that Nawaz Sharif, the elder brother of Shehbaz, had nominated him for the post.
Shehbaz Sharif belongs to his brother’s Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), the largest recognised party with 80 seats and PPP is second with 54. Together, the two parties have enough for a simple majority in the 264-seat legislature.

The Republican-controlled U.S. House of Representatives on Tuesday narrowly voted to impeach Democratic President Joe Biden’s top border official, as immigration shapes up to be a major issue in this year’s elections.
By a vote of 214-213, the House approved two articles of impeachment accusing Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas of not enforcing U.S. immigration laws, which Republicans argue led to record flows of migrants across the U.S.-Mexico border, and making false statements to Congress.

The vote marked just the second time in U.S. history, and the first time in almost 150 years, that the House has impeached a member of a president’s Cabinet. Democratic Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer’s office said that senators would be sworn in as jurors shortly after they return from a break on Feb. 26.
The Democratic-led chamber is highly unlikely, however, to vote to remove Mayorkas from office.

A record number of migrants have illegally crossed the border from Mexico since Biden took office in 2021, and former President Donald Trump has made it a major focus of his campaign against Biden.
Tuesday’s vote reversed an embarrassing legislative defeat that Speaker Mike Johnson suffered last week when a similar effort fell short. Republican Representative Steve Scalise, who missed last week’s vote while he received treatment for cancer, provided the deciding vote on Tuesday.

Republicans hold a slim 219-212 majority in the House.
“Secretary Mayorkas has willfully and consistently refused to comply with federal immigration laws, fueling the worst border catastrophe in American history,” Johnson said following the vote.
A Reuters/Ipsos poll last month showed that immigration was voters’ No. 2 concern, following the economy.

REPUBLICAN DISSENT

No Democrats backed Tuesday’s impeachment, while three Republicans — Representatives Ken Buck, Tom McClintock and Mike Gallagher — defied their leadership in voting no. They also voted against impeachment last week. A fourth Republican, Blake Moore, had also voted “no” last week in a procedural maneuver in order to allow the bill to be brought back for another vote at another date.
Mayorkas has said he does not bear responsibility for the border situation, blaming it instead on a broken U.S. immigration system that Congress has not been able to fix.
“Without a shred of evidence or legitimate constitutional grounds … House Republicans have falsely smeared a dedicated public servant who has spent more than 20 years enforcing our laws and serving our country,” Department of Homeland Security spokesperson Mia Ehrenberg said in a statement.
Constitutional experts and even some Republicans have said the House investigation of Mayorkas failed to provide evidence of the “high crimes and misdemeanors” that the U.S. Constitution cites as reasons for impeachment. Instead, they cast the fight as merely “policy disputes.”
“History will not look kindly on House Republicans for their blatant act of unconstitutional partisanship that has targeted an honorable public servant in order to play petty political games,” Biden said in a statement.
The number of migrants arrested crossing the southern border illegally dropped by 50% in January, opens new tab from high levels in December, U.S. Customs and Border Protection said on Tuesday, citing seasonal trends and increased enforcement by the United States and partner countries.
Tuesday’s House impeachment vote comes a week after hardline Republicans in the Senate, egged on by Trump, defeated a bipartisan deal to address border security that would have been the most sweeping border security policy change in decades, according to its supporters, including Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell.

Source: https://www.reuters.com/world/us/republicans-aim-take-second-swing-mayorkas-impeachment-2024-02-13/

Elon Musk during a discussion on social media site X’s Spaces told US Republican senators “there is no way in hell” that Russian President Vladimir Putin could lose the war in Ukraine. He said that if Putin backs out of the war in Ukraine or loses the war he could be assassinated as he is under pressure to continue the war.

Musk also said that those who think that they can force a regime change in Russia are wrong and warned that the next person at the helm is likely to be more ‘hardcore’ than Putin.

“For those who want regime change in Russia, they should think about who is the person that could take out Putin, and is that person likely to be a peacenik? Probably not. (Such a person would likely be) even more hardcore than Putin,” Musk said. He further added that he is interested in stopping deaths of people on both sides of the war.

Musk was joined by Ron Johnson of Wisconsin, JD Vance of Ohio and Mike Lee of Utah, as well as Vivek Ramaswamy, a former Republican presidential candidate, and David Sacks, a co-founder of Craft Ventures LLC.

They discussed the contentious US Senate bill which would assist Ukraine to continue fighting the war which was triggered after Russia launched a full-scale invasion two years ago.

Elon Musk was also involved in the war in Ukraine as his own Starlink satellite services were used by Ukrainian forces. During the conversation, Musk also slammed critics for calling him a Russia apologist. He said that his company did more than others to back Ukraine.

“If he were to back off, he would be assassinated,” Musk said, explaining that there are other forces pushing Putin to continue the war in Ukraine. “(It is) absurd. (My companies) have probably done more to undermine Russia than anything,” Musk said.

Source: https://www.news18.com/world/no-way-in-hell-elon-musk-says-putin-wont-back-out-of-ukraine-war-would-be-assassinated-if-he-does-8778096.html

In a conversation with Wired, Sundar Pichai said that he begins his day by reading Techmeme, a website that collates the latest global tech news from around the world.

Google CEO Sundar Pichai begins his day by reading. This may not come as a surprise given his leadership role and successful career. But now, Mr Pichai has shared that he is not reading a newspaper or a book first thing in the morning. Instead, he swears by a nice tech website that also features on the favourites list of other big names like Meta founder-CEO Mark Zuckerberg, and Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella.
In a conversation with Wired, Mr Pichai said that he begins his day by reading Techmeme, a website that collates the latest global tech news from around the world.

Founded in 2005 by Gabe Rivera, Techmeme offers a curated collection of headlines accompanied by concise summaries and links to the original articles.

This format enables users to swiftly peruse a wide array of tech news sourced from various outlets. It also provides readers with a comprehensive snapshot of daily industry developments, making it a preferred website for those interested in tech.

Sharing what makes Techmeme a go-to site for tech luminaries, Mr Rivera told Business Insider, “Techmeme is the first read for execs in tech everywhere because we’re dead set on providing the ‘executive summary’ experience they demand. For instance, importance-ranked, highly detailed headlines, alongside a density of links providing context and a sense of reach. No trivialities or “clickbait”. And of course, no popups, videos, or intrusive ads.”

Source: https://www.ndtv.com/india-news/google-ceo-sundar-pichai-reveals-how-he-begins-his-day-5042135

United States Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin cancelled a trip to Brussels for NATO defence talks after being admitted to a military hospital for a second time this year, the Pentagon said on Monday (Feb 12).

Austin, 70, was taken to Walter Reed Military Medical Center on Sunday for “symptoms suggesting an emergent bladder issue”.

On Monday, he underwent nonsurgical procedures under general anesthesia to address his bladder issue, the hospital said.

“Secretary Austin will no longer travel to Brussels this week as originally scheduled,” Air Force Major General Patrick Ryder, a Pentagon spokesperson, told a news briefing.

Austin had failed to disclose a prostate cancer surgery in December and a subsequent hospitalisation in January to deal with its complications, triggering a political uproar and multiple investigations.

The Pentagon has not said whether Austin’s bladder issue was another complication from that prostate surgery, but the hospital appeared to be upbeat about his cancer prognosis.

Austin was set to depart for the meeting of NATO defense ministers in Brussels taking place on Thursday, and a separate meeting with allies on Wednesday on how to continue supporting Ukraine in countering Russia’s invasion.

The explosion happened in a ride of the Oceana Waterworld attraction at Liseberg. A video of the ride exploding in a fireball surfaced online on Monday. The cause of the blast remains unclear.

A blast rocked an amusement park in Sweden after a ride exploded in a fireball on Monday, February 12. Following the incident, which took place at Liseberg amusement park in Gothenburg, all people were evacuated. The explosion happened in a ride of the Oceana Waterworld attraction at Liseberg. A video of the ride exploding in a fireball also surfaced online. The cause of the blast remains unclear.

In the video, a ride at the Oceana Waterworld was seen exploding as flames tear through the structure. A huge plume of thick and toxic black smoke was also seen trailing into the sky behind snow-covered houses following the blast. A fire started which led to explosion at the waterpark. However, the cause of the fire is yet to be ascertained. At least four people were injured in the incident.

“We know that there are fires in water slides, among other things, but we don’t know how it started,” firefighter Bjorn van der Kaay was quoted as saying. Reports said the firefighters are struggling to contain the blaze. The fire department, according to local media, warned the flames could spread to nearby residences.

Source: https://www.freepressjournal.in/world/sweden-blast-rocks-liseberg-amusement-park-as-water-ride-explodes-after-fire-terrifying-video-surfaces

Joe Biden says he’s had calls with Israel, Egypt and Qatar about a six-week ceasefire – as he warned Benjamin Netanyahu against conducting a ground operation in Rafah without a “credible plan” to ensure the safety of civilians. Listen to a Daily podcast special on this as you scroll.

‘There will be a plan’: Israel adamant Rafah offensive will minimise civilian casualties
A clear plan to evacuate civilians in Rafah will be drawn up and implemented before Israel Defence Forces send troops in on the ground, an Israeli spokeswoman has said.

“There will be a plan,” Orly Goldschmidt, a spokeswoman for Israeli embassy in the UK, told Sky News.

When pressed on where the 1.4 million people estimated to be in the city should go to flee the fighting, she said it was still being looked at.

“It’s something that’s being decided, that’s being thought of clearly and our prime minister has said that they (the IDF) will not go into Rafah before there is a clear plan for them (civilians) to evacuate, for them to find a safer place,” she said.

“Maybe [they could be sent] back up north where places are safer,” she added.

The United Nations and humanitarian NGOs have insisted there are no safe places remaining in Gaza and the international community has urged Israel not to proceed with a ground assault of Rafah.

When asked how long she thought the fighting would go on for, she estimated “around a month”.

Source: https://news.sky.com/story/middle-east-latest-two-hostages-rescued-from-gaza-says-israel-violent-strikes-launched-on-rafah-reports-12978800

When we think about the most dangerous cities in America, big names like New York or Los Angeles might jump to mind. However, when it comes to crime rates and safety concerns, it’s often the smaller cities at the top of the list. These cities, which might not dominate the headlines as much, face significant challenges contributing to their high crime rates. Many of the cities are top tourist destinations – places you likely have visited or plan to go to for work or pleasure.

Adding to the complexity of urban safety, research from Drexel University highlights an intriguing aspect: the impact of weather on crime rates. Their decade-long study in Philadelphia found that violent crime and disorderly conduct rates rose with the temperature. Specifically, when the heat index hit 98 degrees Fahrenheit, violent crime rates were nine percent higher than on days when it was 57 degrees. This suggests that environmental factors like extreme heat can exacerbate tensions, contributing to a spike in crime.

What else contributes to an area’s crime rates? Another study conducted in Baltimore, which did not make it on this list despite being quite dangerous, reveals that liquor stores have a higher association with violent crime than places like bars where people are drinking on-site. The statistics showed that every 10 percent increase in alcohol purveyors of any kind was associated with a 4.2 percent increase in violent crime in the surrounding area.

How are the most dangerous cities on our list ranked? Most lists crunch the numbers using data based on crime rates, conflict levels, socioeconomic fac

tors, health risks, law enforcement effectiveness, and international safety reports. Each list tends to weigh the factors differently, so our list features the cities most often named the most dangerous among the seven websites we sourced. Do you agree with our list? Did we miss a city you think should be in the top five? Let us know in the comments below.

The List: Most Dangerous Cities in America, According to Experts
1. Bessemer, Alabama

Here are some disturbing numbers. According to Traveling Lifestyle, “The odds of becoming a crime victim in Bessemer are 1 in 9.” This places the city of 27,000 at the top of our list of the most dangerous cities in the U.S.

Bessemer is located just 16 miles south of Birmingham, another city that made our list. The New York Post says Bessemer has seen a spike in physical violence, property crime, and motor vehicle theft.

Once called “The Marvel City,” due to its rapid growth in its early years, Kim Komando says Bessemer is now known as the community with the highest crime rate in the nation, clocking 33.18 violent crimes per 1,000 residents.

2. Memphis, Tennessee

Memphis is a much different place than it was when Elvis Presley walked the halls of Graceland. Now, it has a crime rate that is 237 percent higher than the national average. According to Property Club, “The most dangerous neighborhoods in Memphis are Downtown, Parkway Village-Oakhaven, and Berclair-Highland Heights.“

If you visit Memphis, Traveling Lifestyle reminds you to “keep your wits about you,” especially at night, so you don’t become a crime victim.

The Memphis police department has spent decades trying to reduce the city’s crime rate. According to U.S. News and World Report, the city uses reporting data to “identify and target crime hot spots around the city.” The data is posted weekly to the police department’s website.

3. St. Louis, Missouri

While the St. Louis Arch may be welcoming, you may not get such a homey feeling if you come into harm’s way while visiting St. Louis. According to Property Club, you have a one in 50 chance of being targeted by a criminal in the Gateway to the West. The neighborhoods with the highest crime? Peabody-Darst-Webbe, Hamilton Heights, Walnut Park West, and College Hill.

It’s been difficult for St. Louis to find its way off this list, due to high poverty rates and unemployment. Norada Real Estate Investments writes, “The concentration of poverty in certain neighborhoods amplifies the strain on social systems and increases the risk of criminal involvement.” The prevalence of firearms also plays a role in the number of violent crimes.

According to The Hill, St. Louis has the third highest crime cost per capita, at $11,055.

Source: https://studyfinds.org/most-dangerous-cities-in-america/

A MAN-made private island modelled after Monaco is set to have a racing track, helipad, pools and a mini-submarine.

The Streets of Monaco is a grandiose concept design which aims to recreate the famed city of luxury and Formula-1 racing.

F1 fans can experience a true thrill on a famous grand prix circuit which can accommodate three karts side by side.

The racing track stretches around the whole boat and passes the famous Monaco sights.

But that’s not the only resemblance to the lavish French city.

The floating island will also include a casino and a replica of the Hotel de Paris – the well-known city landmark.

A 56-year-old Indian-origin man was allegedly murdered by his son at their home in the Canadian province of Ontario.

The Hamilton Police in a statement said 22-year-old Sukhaj Singh Cheema was wanted for the first-degree murder of his father on Saturday night, PTI reported.

The police said officers were called to a home at around 7:40 p.m. on Saturday and found Kuldip Singh with severe injuries.

Singh was rushed to hospital but later died from his injuries, CTV News quoted the police as saying.

Witnesses told officers that Cheema fled the residence after an altercation with the victim.

Source: https://www.outlookindia.com/international/indian-origin-man-allegedly-murders-father-in-canada-police-launches-manhunt

An argument between two groups of teenagers riding the New York City subway exploded into deadly violence Monday when shooting started after the train’s doors opened at a station, killing a man and wounding five others.

The gunfire broke out on an elevated train platform in the Bronx at around 4:30 p.m., a time when stations throughout the city are filled with kids coming home from school and many workers are beginning their evening commute.

A 34-year-old man was killed, police said. The wounded included a 14-year-old girl, 15-year-old boy and three adults, ages 28, 29 and 71. Some of the victims were believed to have been involved in the dispute and others were bystanders waiting for the train, police said, describing four of the injuries as serious.

“We don’t believe this was a random shooting. We do not believe that this was an individual indiscriminately firing into a train or a train station,” NYPD’s chief of transit, Michael Kemper, said at a news conference.

A hunt was on for at least one shooter, who fled the scene. Police didn’t rule out the possibility that more than one person fired shots.

The gunfire sent passengers rushing off the train while people on the platform scrambled for safety.

“The train was coming and there were two kids yelling,” witness Efrain Feliciano, 61, told the Daily News. “There were at least six shots.”

“I saw sparkles as the bullets hit the wall,” he added “A woman was holding a child screaming.”

Source: https://apnews.com/article/subway-shooting-bronx-new-york-city-673342dd57496dcf5c566ea0d48f0d2b

Researchers described their findings as a “breakthrough”. The number of people in the UK with the disease is expected to rise to more than a million by 2030.

A blood test that looks for changes in certain proteins could help predict dementia in a patient up to 15 years before a formal diagnosis, research suggests.

Scientists have identified 11 proteins that they say are more than 90% accurate at predicting whether a person will be affected by the disease in future.

The proteins, found in the blood’s plasma, are markers for the biological changes that happen in people who have dementia or Alzheimer’s disease.

One protein – known as GFAP – has previously been identified as a potential biomarker in smaller studies.

The researchers, from the University of Warwick and Fudan University in China, described their findings, published in the journal Nature Aging, as a “breakthrough”.

Professor Jianfeng Feng, from the University of Warwick’s department of computer science, said the test “could be seamlessly integrated into the NHS and used as a screening tool by GPs”.

There are more than 944,000 people in the UK who have dementia, which is expected to rise to more than a million by 2030.

‘Immense significance’

The researchers said an early diagnosis is critical for those with the condition – as there are new drugs that can slow progression of the disease if detected early enough.Jia You, of Fudan University, said early screening “holds immense significance in pinpointing dementia risks”.

He said: “A notable advantage of plasma protein analysis is that it merely necessitates routine blood tests, similar to those conducted during regular hospital visits or health checks.

“This simplicity offers a considerable edge over more invasive procedures like lumbar punctures, especially where the targeting population are healthy individuals.”

The researchers looked at data from more than 50,000 healthy people from UK Biobank, which holds medical and lifestyle records of more than half a million Britons.

Source:https://news.sky.com/story/proteins-in-blood-can-predict-dementia-risk-15-years-before-diagnosis-13070321

Declaring that “every innocent life lost in Gaza is a tragedy,” President Joe Biden welcomed Jordan’s King Abdullah II to the White House Monday for talks on how to end the months-long war and plan for what comes afterward.

The meeting with Abdullah comes as Biden and his aides are working to broker another pause in Israel’s war against Hamas in order to send humanitarian aid and supplies into the region and get hostages out. The White House faces growing criticism from Arab Americans over the administration’s continued support for Israel in the face of rising casualties in Gaza since Hamas launched its Oct 7 attack on Israel.

“The key elements of the deal are on the table,” Biden said alongside the king, though “there are gaps that remain.” He said the U.S. would do “everything possible” to make an agreement happen: a pause to fighting for at least six weeks and the release of the remaining hostages held by Hamas.

A senior U.S. administration official said Sunday that after weeks of shuttle diplomacy and phone conversations, a framework was essentially in place for a deal. The official said Israeli military pressure on Hamas in Khan Younis over the last several week s has helped bring the militant group closer to accepting an agreement.

Abdullah said Biden’s leadership was “key to addressing this conflict,” as he raised the plight of the tens of thousands of civilians killed and wounded in the fighting.

“We need a lasting cease-fire now,” the king said. “This war must end.”

Jordan and other Arab states have been highly critical of Israel’s actions and have eschewed public support for long-term planning over what happens next, arguing that the fighting must end before such discussions can begin. They have been demanding a cease-fire since mid-October as civilian casualties began to skyrocket.

Biden’s stance marks a subtle but notable break for the president, who has continued to oppose a permanent cease-fire. His administration has insisted that Hamas not retain political or military control over Gaza after the war — a key objective of the Israeli operation to prevent a repeat of the Oct. 7 attack that killed more than 1,200 Israelis and saw about 250 taken hostage.

Israel’s offensive has killed more than 28,000 Palestinians in the territory, displaced over 80% of the population and set off a massive humanitarian crisis. Gaza’s Health Ministry, which does not distinguish between combatants and civilians, has said the majority of those killed are women and children. Israel claims to have killed about 10,000 Hamas fighters but has not provided evidence.

Biden repeated his warning that Israel must not launch a full-scale attack on Rafah, the last major holdout of Hamas where more than 1.3 million people are sheltering unless it devises plans to safeguard the civilians there from harm’s way. Earlier Monday, National Security Council spokesman John Kirby acknowledged there were “legitimate military targets” for Israel in Rafah, but said the Israelis must ensure their operations are designed to protect the lives of innocent civilians. Officials have said the U.S. is not sure there is a feasible plan to relocate civilians out of Rafah to allow military operations to take place.

Biden, who has held out hope for a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, added that he and the king discussed the need for the Palestinian Authority, which has some control over parts of the West Bank, to “urgently reform” to be ready to assume some authorities in Gaza if Hamas is removed from power. “They must prepare to build a state that accepts peace, does not harbor terrorist groups like Hamas and Islamic Jihad,” Biden said.

Source: https://apnews.com/article/biden-gaza-israel-jordan-hamas-993c8109fca1c77383e7c27a8136927f

PML-N, PPP discuss new power-sharing formula to form next government; PTI decides to sit on the opposition benches

The top leaders of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz and the Pakistan Peoples Party have discussed a new power-sharing formula for dividing the five-year tenure between them, as efforts to form a coalition government gathered pace on February 12 following a split verdict in the elections.

Despite independent candidates backed by jailed former Prime Minister Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf (PTI) party winning the most seats in Parliament, questions loom over what the next government of Pakistan will look like.

None of the three major parties, the PML-N, the PPP, or the PTI have won the necessary seats in the February 8 general elections to secure a majority in the National Assembly and, therefore, will be unable to form government on their own, leaving it unclear who will be picked as the cash-strapped country’s next prime minister.

To form a government, a party must win 133 seats out of 265 contested seats in the 266-member National Assembly.

Coalition talks
The leaders of PML-N and the PPP discussed the idea of appointing a Prime Minister for half the term during their first meeting held on Sunday following the elections as part of their efforts to form a coalition government in the Centre and provinces, according to a source privy to the development. “It has been proposed that a PML-N candidate will serve as Prime Minister for three years and PPP’s leader for two years,” the source said, adding that it was not yet decided who will get the first term.

The meeting was attended by PPP-Parliamentarian President Asif Ali Zardari, PPP Chairman Bilawal-Bhutto Zardari, and former Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif from the PML-N.

The same power-sharing formula was chalked out by PML-N and National Party (NP) in Balochistan in 2013 when two Chief Ministers from the two parties held office for half of the five-year term.

PML-N supremo Nawaz Sharif is still in the race for the prime ministerial slot despite his party not securing a simple majority in the February 8 general elections in Pakistan, some PML-N leaders said on February 12. “We are having discussion with the PPP over power-sharing formula in the upcoming coalition government in the Centre and Nawaz Sharif cannot be ruled out as the prime ministerial candidate,” PML-N Senator Irfan Saddique told a private news channel.

He said Mr. Nawaz Sharif, 74, is the candidate for the Prime Minister slot from the PML-N.

The PML-N is also considering proposing Mr. Shehbaz Sharif as a candidate for the post of Prime Minister instead of Mr. Nawaz Sharif who was poised to become the premier for the record fourth time but had to change his mind because he was not interested in leading a coalition government.

Who will lead the government?
In the Sunday meeting at the Bilawal House in Lahore, the two sides agreed in principle to cooperate for the country’s political stability following the general election, the sources said. They confirmed that so far several open and behind-the-doors meetings have been held between the leaders of PML-N and PPP and other parties since the powerful Pakistan Army has also indicated that they will back a unity government to pull the country out of the challenges it faced.

“The main hurdle is who will lead the government as both parties are pushing forward their candidates but after a lot of discussion, some sort of middle ground may emerge,” according to a leader of the PML-N.

A PPP leader said the party was not withdrawing from its demand that Mr. Bilawal Bhutto Zardari should be the Prime Minister because he was endorsed for the post by the PPP’s Central Executive Committee (CEC) even before the elections.

The Election Commission of Pakistan has announced that independent candidates, a majority of them supported by the PTI secured 101 seats, followed by Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) with 75 seats, Pakistan Peoples Party getting 54 seats, and Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P) bagging 17 seats.

Other parties got 17 seats while the result of one constituency was withheld.

Source: https://www.thehindu.com/news/international/pakistan-election-results-pml-n-ppp-discuss-new-power-sharing-formula-to-form-next-government/article67839403.ece

The Democratic-led U.S. Senate moved towards the final passage of a $95.34 billion aid package for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan on Monday, amid growing doubts about the legislation’s fate in the Republican-controlled House of Representatives.
The lawmakers voted 66-33 to exceed a 60-vote margin and sweep aside the last procedural hurdle before final consideration of the bill. Senate leaders had expected a vote on passage sometime on Wednesday.

But on Monday night, hardline Republicans opposed to further U.S. aid for Ukraine took to the Senate floor for a marathon of speeches that aides said would likely exhaust their debate time early Tuesday morning and allow Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer to move to passage later in the day.
Both houses of Congress must approve the legislation before Democratic President Joe Biden can sign it into law.

But the bill could face long odds in the House, where Speaker Mike Johnson said his Republican majority wanted conservative provisions to address a record-level flow of migrants across the U.S.-Mexico border.
“In the absence of having received any single border policy change from the Senate, the House will have to continue to work its own will on these important matters,” Johnson said in a statement issued just before the Senate began voting on Monday.

Source: https://www.reuters.com/world/us/us-senate-forges-ahead-ukraine-israel-aid-putin-is-watching-2024-02-12/

Donald Trump on Monday asked the U.S. Supreme Court to put on hold a judicial decision rejecting his claim that he is immune from being prosecuted for trying to overturn his 2020 election loss, arguing that without such a shield “the presidency as we know it will cease to exist.”
Trump, seeking to regain the presidency in the Nov. 5 U.S. election, asked the justices to pause a Feb. 6 ruling by a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit rejecting his claim of immunity from prosecution.

Trump’s lawyers in a brief to the Supreme Court warned that “conducting a months-long criminal trial of President Trump at the height of election season will radically disrupt President Trump’s ability to campaign” against President Joe Biden ahead of the election.
They asked the justices to halt the trial proceedings pending their bid for the full slate of judges on the D.C. Circuit to reconsider the case, and, if necessary, an appeal to the Supreme Court. A March 4 trial date for Trump in federal court in Washington on four criminal counts pursued by Special Counsel Jack Smith already was postponed, with no new date set.

Trump, the first former president to be criminally prosecuted, is the frontrunner for the Republican nomination to challenge Biden, a Democrat who defeated him in 2020.
Slowing the case could benefit Trump. If he wins the November election and returns to the White House, he could use his presidential powers to force an end to the prosecution or potentially pardon himself for any federal crimes.
Trump’s lawyers painted a dark picture – rejected by the D.C. Circuit – of what would befall future presidents if his criminal prosecution is allowed to proceed, warning of partisan prosecutions, extortion, blackmail and more.

Source: https://www.reuters.com/legal/trump-asks-us-supreme-court-intervene-he-presses-immunity-bid-2024-02-12/

President Joe Biden has been venting his frustration in recent private conversations, some of them with campaign donors, over his inability to persuade Israel to change its military tactics in the Gaza Strip, and he has named Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as the primary obstacle, according to five people directly familiar with his comments.

Biden has said he is trying to get Israel to agree to a cease-fire, but Netanyahu is “giving him hell” and is impossible to deal with, said the people familiar with Biden’s comments, who all asked not to be named.

“He just feels like this is enough,” one of the people said of the views expressed by Biden. “It has to stop.”

Biden has in recent weeks spoken privately about Netanyahu, a leader he has known for decades, with a candor that has surprised some of those on the receiving end of his comments, people familiar with them said. His descriptions of his dealings with Netanyahu are peppered with contemptuous references to Netanyahu as “this guy,” these people said. And in at least three recent instances, Biden has called Netanyahu an “asshole,” according to three of the people directly familiar with his comments.

Asked about Biden’s private comments about Netanyahu, a spokesperson for the National Security Council said in a statement that the two leaders have a respectful relationship. “The president has been clear where he disagrees with Prime Minister Netanyahu, but this is a decades-long relationship that is respectful in public and in private,” the spokesperson said.

Since he embraced Netanyahu in a bear hug during a visit to Israel after a Hamas terrorist attack killed 1,200 people on Oct. 7, Biden has grown steadily more frustrated with the rising Palestinian civilian death toll in Gaza — now a reported 28,000 — and Netanyahu’s reluctance to pursue a long-term peace agreement.

The bluntness of Biden’s private, unfiltered reflections on Netanyahu, as well as Israeli premier’s failure to shift tactics in Gaza, suggest that the dynamic between the two leaders could be nearing an inflection point.

Israel is planning a ground assault on Rafah, a city in southern Gaza where more than a million Palestinians displaced from northern Gaza are sheltering. Netanyahu has vowed to press ahead with the operation even though U.S. officials have repeatedly expressed their public opposition to it, unless Israel provides safe passage to Palestinian civilians.

On Sunday, Biden told Netanyahu in a phone call that he believes “a military operation in Rafah should not proceed without a credible and executable plan” for protecting and supporting the Palestinians sheltering there, the White House said in a statement.

The bulk of their 45-minute conversation focused on a long-discussed but repeatedly delayed agreement between Israel and Hamas to free hostages being held in Gaza in exchange for a pause in military operations and the release of Palestinian prisoners, according to the White House.

Biden took a notably sharper tone Thursday and described Israel’s military assault in Gaza as “over the top.” Secretary of State Antony Blinken was also decidedly blunt last week after a meeting with Netanyahu in Israel. Blinken said he told Netanyahu that the number of Palestinian civilians who are dying every day because of Israel’s military operations “remains too high.”

Yet, people familiar with Biden’s private comments said he has told them he believes it would be counterproductive for him to be too harsh on Netanyahu publicly.

Biden’s frustrations with Netanyahu have also not led to a major policy shift, but his administration has begun to consider such options. Two weeks ago, officials told NBC News that the administration was discussing delaying or slowing U.S. weapons sales to Israel as leverage to get Netanyahu to dial down Israeli military operations in Gaza and do more to protect civilians.

Source: https://www.nbcnews.com/news/investigations/biden-disparages-netanyahu-private-hasnt-changed-us-policy-israel-rcna138282

The political landscape in Pakistan took a shocking turn on Sunday after jailed ex-Prime Minister Imran Khan-backed independent candidates secured the most seats in parliament.

According to the Election Commission of Pakistan, independent candidates won 102 seats while Nawaz Sharif’s Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz Party (PMLN) came in second with 73 seats, and the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) won 54 seats.

However, according to the latest development, PMLN is in contact with the leadership of PPP for government formation.

The political landscape in Pakistan took a shocking turn on Sunday after jailed ex-Prime Minister Imran Khan-backed independent candidates secured the most seats in parliament.

According to the Election Commission of Pakistan, independent candidates won 102 seats while Nawaz Sharif’s Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz Party (PMLN) came in second with 73 seats, and the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) won 54 seats.

However, according to the latest development, PMLN is in contact with the leadership of PPP for government formation.

The election results were announced more than three days after the polls were closed in Thursday’s highly contentious election which was marred by violence and subject to allegations of poll rigging.

Several countries, including the United States, the UK and the European Union, condemned the electoral process and called for authorities to investigate reported irregularities in Pakistan’s general elections.

As Pakistan Elections Concludes amid World Intervention, Here’s What Happened so far:

• PPP president Asif Ali Zardari, chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari and PMLN chief Shehbaz Sharif discussed government formation at Bhutto’s residence, the official X handle of PPP noted in a post.
• Independent candidates affiliated with former Prime Minister Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party secured the most seats in parliament, as per election results announced on Sunday.
• The Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz Party (PMLN), headed by former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, secured 73 seats.
• The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on Sunday ordered the recounting of votes in Balochistan’s provincial constituency, PB-21.
• Section 144 has been imposed in Pakistan’s Islamabad, allowing police to take legal action against any illegal assemblies and activities.
• Imran’s close aide and media advisor, Zulfi Bukhari, told Reuters that the party will soon announce the party banner that independents will be asked to join.
• Earlier, PML-N and PPP agreed to form a coalition government as both parties failed to reach the majority remark.
• Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid (PML-Q) is “ready” to join the government process and a formal discussion about the matter will be held with PML-Nawaz (PML-N) supremo Nawaz Sharif, sources told Geo Tv.

Source: https://www.news18.com/world/imran-khan-backed-independents-secure-most-seats-in-pak-polls-what-happened-so-far-top-points-8775060.html

NATO made the intervention after Mr Trump said he would let Russia “do whatever the hell they want” to members of the alliance that don’t pay enough for defence at a rally in South Carolina on Saturday.

NATO has criticised comments made by Donald Trump at a campaign event – claiming they “put American and European soldiers at increased risk”.

The former US president had said he would let Russia “do whatever the hell they want” to members of the alliance that don’t pay enough for defence.

Joe Biden also denounced his Republican opponent’s comments as “appalling and dangerous”.

The 81-year-old president – who has himself been in the spotlight over a report that questioned his memory – said Trump was admitting to giving Putin “a green light for more war and violence” in Ukraine and to expanding “his aggression” to Poland and the Baltic States.

Mr Biden added: “Sadly, they are also predictable coming from a man who is promising to rule as a dictator like the ones he praises on day one if he returns to the Oval Office.”

He underlined that supporting US allies was “critical to keeping American people safe here at home”.

At a rally in South Carolina on Saturday, Mr Trump recalled an exchange with an unnamed “big country” who asked if they would be protected if Russia attacked them.

“I said: ‘You didn’t pay? You’re delinquent?’ No, I would not protect you. In fact, I would encourage them to do whatever the hell they want. You got to pay. You got to pay your bills,” he told the crowd.

In response, NATO said: “NATO remains ready and able to defend all allies. Any attack on NATO will be met with a united and forceful response.

“Any suggestion that allies will not defend each other undermines all of our security, including that of the US, and puts American and European soldiers at increased risk.

“I expect that regardless of who wins the presidential election the US will remain a strong and committed NATO ally.”

Source: https://news.sky.com/story/nato-criticises-trump-for-comments-that-put-american-and-european-soldiers-at-risk-13069315

About 68,000 children and their families who survived Nepal’s deadliest quake in eight years need further humanitarian aid to rebuild their lives, UNICEF said on Sunday (Feb 11), 100 days after the tremors that devastated parts of west Nepal.

A 6.4 magnitude earthquake struck two districts of Jajarkot and Rukum West in the remote western region of the Himalayan country on Nov 3, killing at least 154 people, more than half of them children.

The tremors, the deadliest in Nepal since two quakes killed about 9,000 people in 2015, flattened more than 26,000 houses and partially damaged another 35,000 buildings, rendering them unfit to live, according to official estimates.

UNICEF said about 200,000 people, including 68,000 children, many of whom spent a cold winter in temporary shelters, still need humanitarian assistance to recover from the disaster.

The UN agency said it is appealing for US$14.7 million funding to support these children.

“Thousands of children affected by the destructive earthquake … are still dealing with the trauma of losing loved ones. Their development is at risk as they lost their belongings, homes and schools, among others,” Alice Akunga, UNICEF representative to Nepal, said in a statement.

“Even as temperatures rise, the needs are still high as children require nutritious food, clean water, education and shelter. One of the best ways to rebuild children’s lives and restore a sense of normalcy is to get them back to school and learning, so that they can play with their friends, learn and heal,” Akunga said.

Anil Pokhrel, chief of Nepal’s National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Authority, said a proposal to provide financial support to affected families to rebuild their homes was ready for cabinet approval.

Source: https://www.channelnewsasia.com/asia/unicef-says-children-traumatised-nepal-quake-need-aid-rebuild-lives-4116661

Travis Kelce brought home the hardware he promised to girlfriend Taylor Swift.

The Kansas City tight end finished with nine receptions for 93 yards, including a crucial catch in overtime, to help the Chiefs win their second straight Super Bowl with a 25-22 victory over the San Francisco 49ers on Sunday night.

One play after Kelce’s reception put the Chiefs on the 3-yard line, Patrick Mahomes found Mecole Hardman alone in the end zone for the winning TD, in the process helping Kelce keep his promise while sending Swift and everyone in her suite into a celebratory frenzy.

“Never a doubt in my mind,” Kelce said. “We’ve got the best quarterback in the league, we’ve got the best offensive line in the league, and we’ve got the most determination out of any team in the NFL and you saw all that tonight.

“I guess at this point I take it for granted, but I know we’re in every single game I’ve ever played in, no matter what the score is or no matter how much time is left, that guy’s got magic in his right arm.”

One night after Swift earned her fourth career Grammy for album of the year last week, Kelce said he told her he’d “have to hold up my end of the bargain and bring home some hardware, too.”

Swift flew halfway around the world to watch her boyfriend, who also said during the Super Bowl week’s opening night on Monday, “I want this one more than I’ve ever wanted a Super Bowl before in my life.”

After the game, Kelce said it’s on to the next feat.

“I’m going to go ahead and enjoy this and everything that just happened,” he said. “This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity that I’ve been able to go through three times now. It gets sweeter and sweeter every time.

“You know the goal has always been to get three. But we couldn’t get here without getting that two, and having that target on our back all year.”

Kelce’s vibe at the end of the game was an emphatic change after he bumped Andy Reid on the sideline during the second quarter, knocking the 65-year-old Kansas City coach a few steps back after teammate Isiah Pacheco fumbled inside the red zone.

Kelce ran over to Reid and screamed at him after the fumble.

“You guys saw that?” Kelce said. “I’m going to keep it between us unless my mic’d up tells the world. I was just telling him how much I loved him.”

Source: https://apnews.com/article/super-bowl-travis-kelce-andy-reid-0906fba1661065186f7d9c51ae77e94b

A woman in a trenchcoat opened fire with a long gun Sunday inside celebrity pastor Joel Osteen’s megachurch in Texas, sending worshippers rushing to find safety while two off-duty officers confronted and killed the shooter. Two other people were shot and injured, including a 5-year-old boy who was in critical condition.

The violence erupted shortly before the Houston church’s 2 p.m. Spanish service was set to begin, just as the rest of the country was preparing for the Super Bowl. The woman entered the enormous Lakewood Church – a building with a 16,000-person capacity that was previously an arena for the NBA’s Houston Rockets — with the boy who was later hurt in the shootout with police. A 57-year-old man was also wounded.

Details of the confrontation remain unclear in the hours after the tragedy, and police have not released the woman’s identity or a possible motive. It’s also unknown what relationship, if any, the woman had to the boy, and who actually shot him and the man.

“I will say this,” Houston Police Chief Troy Finner told reporters during a news conference outside the church. “That female, that suspect, put that baby in danger. I’m going to put that blame on her.”

The boy was in critical condition at a children’s hospital, while the man was stable at a different hospital with a hip wound.

The shooting happened between services at the megachurch that is regularly attended by 45,000 people every week, making it the third-largest megachurch in the U.S., according to the Hartford Institute for Religion Research. Osteen said the violence could have been much worse if it had happened during the earlier, larger 11 a.m. service.

Witnesses told reporters that they heard multiple gunshots. Christina Rodriguez, who was inside the church, told Houston television station KTRK that she “started screaming, ‘There’s a shooter, there’s a shooter,’ ”and then she and others ran to the backside of a library inside the building, then stood in a stairway before they were told it was safe to leave.

Longtime church member Alan Guity, whose family is from Honduras, said he was resting inside the church’s sanctuary before the Spanish service as his mother was working as an usher when he heard gunshots.

“Boom, boom, boom, boom and I yelled, ‘Mom,’ ” he told The Associated Press.

The 35-year-old ran to his mother and they both laid flat on the floor and prayed as the gunfire continued. They remained there for about five minutes until someone told them it was safe to evacuate. Outside, Guity said, he and his mother tried to calm people down by worshiping and singing in Spanish, “Move in me, move in me. Touch my mind and my heart. Move within me Holy Spirit.”

Despite the chaos, Finner said the tragedy “could have been a lot worse” if the two officers had not “engaged” the woman when she opened fire. They had been working security at the church on Sunday, and Finner praised them for their quick actions.

The officers work for the Houston Police Department and the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission, respectively. Both have been placed on protocol-mandated administrative duty.

After she was shot, the woman told police that she had a bomb, but authorities said no explosives were found when her vehicle and backpack were searched. First responders continued to search the megachurch for hours afterwards.

Source: https://apnews.com/article/church-shooting-texas-joel-osteen-lakewood-3415e1bac4582fb4e4d4ff5ea1c216bc

The singer jetted straight from her final Eras tour show in Japa

n on Saturday to make it to Las Vegas in time for the Big Game

Taylor Swift is at the Super Bowl. The singer was spotted supporting her boyfriend, Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce, before his team took on the San Francisco 49ers at the Super Bowl on Sunday in Las Vegas. Swift flew straight from Japan to Sin City on Saturday after wrapping her last show in Tokyo as part of her worldwide Eras Tour. She touched down just in time to cheer on Kelce.

The pop star arrived with friends Blake Lively, Ice Spice, and Ashley Avignone in tow as video shared on social media showed.

While some fans were nervous about the quick turnaround it would take for Swift to make it to the game in time, the singer has made supporting Kelce a priority in recent months. In fact, when Swift took the field to embrace Kelce after the Chiefs defeated the Baltimore Ravens, winning the AFC Conference Championship and certifying their spot in the Super Bowl, it marked the 13th game she had attended.

Source: https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/taylor-swift-supports-travis-kelce-super-bowl-2024-1234966133/

The Met said the 46-year-old was arrested at about 8pm on Christmas Day after arriving in the UK on a flight from New York and was charged with obtaining services by deception, being unlawfully airside and boarding an aircraft without permission.

A man has been charged after allegedly flying from London to New York without a ticket or passport.

Craig Sturt passed through a series of security checkpoints and passport control without showing any documents at Heathrow Airport before boarding the British Airways flight before Christmas, according to The Sun.

But the 46-year-old was stopped on arrival at JFK airport and sent back to the UK, where he was arrested and charged with fraud and offences under the Aviation Security Act.

Sturt gained airside access at Heathrow’s Terminal 5 and boarded the Boeing 787-10 Dreamliner “without having paid for a ticket” according to the charges.

Court records show he admitted the offences at Uxbridge Magistrates’ Court, where he was due to be sentenced in January – but a warrant was issued for his arrest after he failed to appear.

Sturt was reported missing to Thames Valley Police on 25 January and the Met took over the case on 31 January and is now leading the investigation.

“On 24 December 2023, police were made aware of an alleged breach of security at Heathrow Airport and a male was subsequently arrested and later charged with fraud and Aviation Security Act offences,” the force said in a statement.

Source: https://news.sky.com/story/man-charged-after-flying-from-london-to-new-york-without-a-ticket-or-passport-13069184

More than 60 people are also still missing following the disaster, which came after weeks of torrential rains. The search for survivors was continuing on Sunday.

More than 50 people are now confirmed to have died in a major landslide that swamped a village in the southern Philippines.

A further 63 people are still missing following the disaster on Tuesday, which came after weeks of torrential rains in the region.

Authorities initially said seven people had been killed, but on Sunday said 54 bodies had now been recovered.

The landslide, which happened close to a gold mine in Masara, Davao de Oro province, smashed into multiple buildings and vehicles.

Miners who were waiting in two buses to be driven home are among the missing.

At least 32 residents were injured but survived.

Relatives of the missing had been gathering near the scene in the hope of finding their loved ones alive.

Jenny Cano, the wife of a missing van driver, fought back tears as she told reporters: “[Ever since] when it happened, we have not been able to call his mobile phone.”

More than 1,100 families living in the surrounding area have been moved to evacuation centres.

Ongoing poor weather and the threat of further landslides have been hampering the search operation.

Local official Edward Macapili said over 300 people were involved in the rescue attempt, which was continuing on Sunday.

Asked if there were still survivors, Mr Macapili admitted it was “unlikely”.

Source: https://news.sky.com/story/dozens-dead-in-philippines-landslide-13069534

The move has drawn criticism from international human rights groups, but has also encouraged support from activists in Madagascar who say the law is an appropriate deterrent to curb a “rape culture” in the country.

Madagascar is set to castrate child rapists after its parliament passed a controversial law last week.

The Indian Ocean island’s senate approved the law which will allow for chemical, and in certain cases, surgical castration of those found guilty of raping a minor.

It must now be ratified and then signed into law by President Andry Rajoelina, who first raised the issue in December leading to the proposal of the new law.

The move has drawn criticism from international human rights groups, but has also encouraged support from activists in Madagascar who say the law is an appropriate deterrent to curb a “rape culture”.

Justice minister Landy Randriamanantenasoa said it was a necessary move because of an increase in cases of rape against children.

In 2023, 600 cases of the rape of a minor were recorded, she said, and 133 in January this year alone.

Surgical castration – the permanent procedure of removing one’s genitals to stop the production of sex hormones – “will always be pronounced” for those guilty of raping a child under the age of 10, according to the law’s wording.

Cases of rape against children between the ages of 10 and 13 will be punished by surgical or chemical castration (not a form of sterilisation as drugs are used to inhibit hormone production).

The rape of children aged between 14 and 17 will be punished by chemical castration.

Offenders also now face harsher sentences of up to life in prison, as well as castration.

Ms Randriamanantenasoa said: “We wanted to protect children much more. The younger the child, the greater the punishment.”

‘Inhuman and degrading’

However, human rights group Amnesty International denounced the law as “inhuman and degrading” and said it was not in line with the island’s constitutional laws.

One adviser for the group warned of the “lack of confidence” in the country’s justice system due to “opacity and corruption”.

They said since complaints and trials are not carried out anonymously retaliation against rape victims was “frequent”.

The Amnesty adviser added that surgical castration was problematic if anyone who undergoes it is later cleared of a crime on appeal.

They also raised doubts over the capabilities of medical authorities to carry out the procedures.

Source: https://news.sky.com/story/madagascar-set-to-castrate-child-rapists-after-parliament-passes-law-13069323

Pop superstar Taylor Swift took her seat at the Super Bowl on Sunday to watch boyfriend Travis Kelce and his Kansas City Chiefs take on the San Francisco 49ers, providing a jolt of megawatt excitement to the Vegas blockbuster and ending a week-long will-she-won’t-she saga that has dominated the lead-up to the football event of the year.
Swift’s arrival some two hours before kick-off sent an almost palpable frisson around the Allegiant Stadium and social media rapidly filled with pictures and video footage of the singer dressed in a black top, black jeans and with a red jacket slung over her shoulder walking through the bowels of the stadium with friends Blake Lively and Ice Spice.

A punishing travel schedule in which she has flown from Japan to the U.S. and will then jet to Australia for tour commitments meant her presence was far from a foregone conclusion, and when giant television screens showed Swift for the first time, a ripple of cheers went around the still-mostly empty stadium.
But while Chiefs fans, neutrals, TV viewers and legions of “Swifties” the world over were delighted by her presence, the overwhelmingly 49ers crowd in the stadium were less enthusiastic.

Late in the first half the cameras flashed Swift up on to the big screens, prompting 49ers jeers to ring round the stadium. Swift responded by quickly grabbing her drink, and chugging it before slamming the glass down, as those around her smiled.
Swift has attended 12 Chiefs games since she began dating Kelce last year, boosting already sky-high NFL ratings. There had been fears she could miss the biggest game of all, though, due to scheduling conflicts with her “Eras Tour” which had her performing in Tokyo on Feb. 10, the night before the Super Bowl.

Source: https://www.reuters.com/sports/nfl/ripple-excitement-super-bowl-tv-screens-show-taylor-swift-2024-02-11/

U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin was hospitalized in Washington on Sunday for treatment of “symptoms suggesting an emergent bladder issue”, a Pentagon spokesperson said.
Austin, 70, later transferred the duties of his office to Deputy Secretary of Defense Kathleen Hicks, Pentagon Press Secretary Major General Pat Ryder said in a statement.
Both Republican and Democratic lawmakers criticized Austin last month for failing to disclose a cancer diagnosis and subsequent hospitalizations in December and January, including to President Joe Biden. Some prominent Republicans, including former President Donald Trump, called for Austin to be removed from his job.

The incident was an embarrassment for Biden, and Austin apologized during a televised news briefing. He is scheduled to testify before Congress on Feb. 29 about the situation.
Biden, a Democrat, has said he has confidence in Austin despite what the president agreed was a lapse in judgment.
With its announcement of the secretary’s trip to the hospital and the quick decision to transfer his duties to a deputy, the Pentagon appeared determined to avoid a repeat of last month’s political uproar.

Source: https://www.reuters.com/world/us/us-defense-secretary-austin-taken-hospital-symptoms-suggesting-emergent-bladder-2024-02-11/

A crowd vandalized and set fire to a Waymo self-driving car using a firework in San Francisco on Saturday, the Alphabet-owned (GOOGL.O), opens new tab company and authorities said, marking the most destructive attack so far on driverless vehicles in the U.S.
On Saturday night, a crowd surrounded a white sport utility vehicle that was moving along a street in the city’s Chinatown district, a company spokesperson said.

Michael Vandi, a witness who posted videos of the incident, told Reuters that people were celebrating China’s Lunar New Year by setting off fireworks. A person jumped onto the hood of the Waymo vehicle and broke its windshield. Another person also jumped on the hood 30 seconds later as some in the crowd clapped in approval, he told Reuters in an X direct message.
“That was when it went WILD,” he wrote, describing people with skateboards breaking the glass and others graffitiing the car. “There were 2 groups of people. Folks who encourage it – and others who were just shocked & started filming. No one stood up – i mean there wasn’t anything you could do to stand up to dozens of people.”

His video showed the vehicle engulfed in flames with a huge plume of black smoke.
Waymo said someone threw a firework inside, which set the vehicle on fire. The fire department posted pictures on social media of the charred remains of the car, opens new tab and said a firework started the blaze.
“The vehicle was not transporting any riders and no injuries have been reported. We are working closely with local safety officials to respond to the situation,” the company said. It did not say what caused the attack.

The San Francisco Police Department said it was investigating the cause of the fire and did not say whether arrests have been made. The electric car, a Jaguar I-PACE, is equipped with 29 cameras and other sensors.

The latest incident came a day before the Super Bowl NFL championship involving the San Francisco 49ers and the Kansas City Chiefs.
“This was a one-off event,” the Waymo spokesperson told Reuters, adding it will “continue serving riders during today’s festivities.”
The incident was not the first time people have harassed self-driving cars, but its severity may illustrate growing public hostility following a pedestrian-dragging accident last year involving a vehicle operated by General Motors’ (GM.N), opens new tab Cruise unit.
On previous occasions in San Francisco and Phoenix, Arizona, groups have disrupted the operations of self-driving vehicles, blocking their path, trying to enter the vehicles and jumping on their hoods. Videos that went viral showed people putting orange traffic cones on top of the vehicles to obstruct their sensors and force them to stop abruptly.
Last week, a driverless Waymo car collided with a cyclist in San Francisco, causing minor injuries. The incident is being reviewed by the state’s auto regulator.

Source: https://www.reuters.com/world/us/crowd-sets-waymo-self-driving-car-ablaze-san-francisco-2024-02-11/

FORMER Dutch prime minister Dries van Agt has died “hand in hand” with his wife in a double euthanasia – as they “couldn’t live without each other”.

Van Agt and his wife Eugenie, both 93, have been buried together after they chose to die on Monday.

The couple were said to have been very ill, with van Agt never fully recovering from a brain haemorrhage in 2019.

The Rights Forum, a charity founded by van Agt, announced the rare “duo euthanasia”.

A spokesperson said: “He died hand in hand with his beloved wife Eugenie van Agt-Krekelberg.

“She was the support and anchor with whom he was together for more than 70 years.

“He always continued to refer to her as ‘my girl’.”

Eugenie and van Agt were married for 65 years after meeting as students.

He served as Dutch prime minister between 1977 and 1982, leading the centre-right Christian Democrats.

Van Agt was popular for his sense of humour and for riding along with Tour de France cyclists.

He left the Christian Democrats in 2010 following the party’s election pact with far-right politician Geert Wilders.

Van Agt wrote several books about the Israel-Palestine conflict, launching the Rights Forum to campaign for justice in the region.

His biographer Peter Bootsma said: “The way his life ended is something that characterises the man.

“Stubborn and autonomous, until the end.

“I sometimes thought: they have been married for 65 years, what if one of the two is no longer there?”

Dutch PM Mark Rutte paid tribute to his “political great-great-grandfather”.

Rutte said: “With his flowery and unique language, his clear convictions and his striking presentation, Dries van Agt gave colour and substance to Dutch politics in a time of polarization and party renewal.”

Source: https://www.the-sun.com/news/10358722/dries-van-agt-double-euthanasia/

A series of Israeli strikes early Monday hit Rafah, the city on the southern edge of the Gaza Strip where 1.4 million Palestinians have fled to escape fighting elsewhere in the four-month Israel-Hamas war.

Israel has been signaling its ground offensive in Gaza may soon target the densely populated city on the Egyptian border. On Sunday, the White House said President Joe Biden had warned Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that Israel should not conduct a military operation against Hamas in Rafah without a “credible and executable” plan to protect civilians.

The strikes hit around Kuwait Hospital early Monday morning, an Associated Press journalist in Rafah said. Some of those wounded in the strikes had been brought to the hospital.

The Israeli military said it struck “terror targets in the area of Shaboura” — which is a district in Rafah. The military statement said the series of strikes had concluded, without elaborating on the targets or assessing the potential damage or casualties.

Palestinian health officials did not immediately offer any casualty information.

Biden’s remarks were his most forceful language yet on the possible operation. Biden, who last week called Israel’s military response in Gaza “over the top,” also sought “urgent and specific” steps to strengthen humanitarian aid. Israel’s Channel 13 television said the conversation lasted 45 minutes.

Discussion of the potential for a cease-fire agreement took up much of the call, a senior U.S. administration official said, and after weeks of diplomacy, a “framework” is now “pretty much” in place for a deal that could see the release of remaining hostages held by Hamas in exchange for a halt to fighting.

The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss negotiations, acknowledged that “gaps remain,” but declined to give details. The official said military pressure on Hamas in the southern city of Khan Younis in recent weeks helped bring the group closer to accepting a deal.

Netanyahu’s office declined to comment on the call. Hamas’ Al-Aqsa television station earlier quoted an unnamed Hamas official as saying any invasion of Rafah would “blow up” the talks mediated by the United States, Egypt and Qatar.

Biden and Netanyahu spoke after two Egyptian officials and a Western diplomat said Egypt threatened to suspend its peace treaty with Israel if troops are sent into Rafah, where Egypt fears fighting could push Palestinians into the Sinai Peninsula and force the closure of Gaza’s main aid supply route.

The threat to suspend the Camp David Accords, a cornerstone of regional stability for nearly a half-century, came after Netanyahu said sending troops into Rafah was necessary to win the four-month war against Hamas. He asserted that Hamas has four battalions there.

Over half of Gaza’s population of 2.3 million have fled to Rafah to escape fighting in other areas, and they are packed into tent camps and U.N.-run shelters. Egypt fears a mass influx of Palestinian refugees who may never be allowed to return.

Netanyahu told “Fox News Sunday” that there’s “plenty of room north of Rafah for them to go to” after Israel’s offensive elsewhere in Gaza, and said Israel would direct evacuees with “flyers, with cellphones and with safe corridors and other things.” But the offensive has caused widespread destruction, with little capacity to take in people.

The standoff between Israel and Egypt, two close U.S. allies, took shape as aid groups warned that an offensive in Rafah would worsen the catastrophic humanitarian situation in Gaza. Around 80% of residents have fled their homes, and the U.N. says a quarter of the population faces starvation.

A ground operation in Rafah could cut off one of the only avenues for delivering food and medical supplies. Forty-four trucks of aid entered Gaza on Sunday, said Wael Abu Omar, a spokesman for the Palestinian Crossings Authority. About 500 entered daily before the war.

WHERE WOULD CIVILIANS GO?
Officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to brief reporters on the sensitive negotiations. Qatar, Saudi Arabia and other countries have also warned of severe repercussions if Israel goes into Rafah.

“An Israeli offensive on Rafah would lead to an unspeakable humanitarian catastrophe and grave tensions with Egypt,” European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell wrote on X. Human Rights Watch said forced displacement is a war crime.

Israel and Egypt fought five wars before signing the Camp David Accords, brokered by the U.S., in the late 1970s. The agreement includes provisions governing the deployment of forces on both sides of the heavily fortified border.

Egyptian officials fear that if the border is breached, the military would be unable to stop a tide of people fleeing into the Sinai Peninsula.

Source: https://apnews.com/article/israel-hamas-war-news-02-11-2014-785309c668e15728c6aac9905f290b4d

Student, 17, with a higher IQ than Albert Einstein and Stephen Hawking who is taking 28 A-Levels calls for more support for gifted pupils as she admits teachers struggle to keep up with her

A girl with an IQ of 161 who is taking 28 A-Levels is calling for more support for gifted pupils as she admitted that teachers struggled to keep up with her.

Mahnoor Cheema, 17, from Slough, said that when she arrived in Britain aged nine from Pakistan, her school refused to let her move up a year.

Despite quickly getting through her class work set by teachers at Colnbrook Church of England Primary School in Berkshire, the teenager said she was given extra maths instead of being allowed to progress to the next stage of her education.

Ms Cheema said the institution also put her in a group set up to encourage children to make friends, where they would make pancakes, she told The Times.

The school girl has an IQ as high as Albert Einstein’s and is taking 28 A-Levels after passing 33 GCSEs.

When she moved to Langley Grammar School, she claimed teaching staff would actually try to discourage her from sitting her GCSE exams.

They claimed that Ms Cheema was overburdened and had ‘dark circles’ under her eyes.

Source: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-13070159/Student-gifted-pupils-admits-teachers-struggle.html

THREE NATO countries will build bunkers along the border with Russia as World War 3 fears continue to grow.

Europe has also been warned to ramp up weapons stocks to “war-time levels” in preparation for an impending battle against Vladimir Putin.

As a result of the carnage caused from the Russian President’s two-year invasion of Ukraine, the defence ministers of Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia have agreed to take action to avoid a similar fate.

The trio of Baltic nations will construct an “extensive network of fortifications” along the borders with Russia to deter Putin invading their countries.

It’s thought the total cost of the project will amount to €60million (£51.2million).

The construction will begin in Estonia, with its government planning some 600 bunkers grouped around the border crossing points of Narva in the north and Voru in the south, Newsweek report.

Susan Lilleväli at the Estonian Defence Ministry said the overall intention is to ensure readiness “to fight the enemy from the first metre and first hour.”

“The war in Ukraine has shown that taking back already conquered territories is extremely difficult and comes at great cost of human lives, time and material resources,” she said.

Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania have long been considered the most likely Russian targets for Putin should he look to attack NATO countries.

While Ukraine has managed to withstand the Moscow onslaught for years, it’s likely the three small Baltic states would be overrun within a matter of days.

“These installations serve, first, the purpose of avoiding military conflict in our region, as they could potentially change the enemy’s calculus,” Lilleväli added.

“Counter-mobility and fortification measures have played a significant role in wars in our region in history, for example in Finland, and as the war in Ukraine has demonstrated they are perfectly valid also in this century.”

Should Putin attack the three NATO countries, the defence treaty’s allies would be forced into military action with the Soviet state – including the UK and US.

The secretary-general of NATO has since warned Europe to ramp up levels of weapons production in order to counter the threat from Russia.

Jens Stoltenberg said: “We need to reconstitute and expand our industrial base” to increase deliveries to Ukraine and refill weapons stocks.

The NATO chief claims the 31 member treaty does not seek a war with Russia but pointed to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine as proof that “peace in Europe cannot be taken for granted”.

“If Putin wins in Ukraine, there is no guarantee that Russian aggression will not spread further,” he told Germany’s Welt am Sonntag.

“Supporting Ukraine now and investing in NATO’s own capabilities is our best defence.”

But fears of World War Three were ramped up even more following mindblowing threats from former US President Donald Trump towards fellow NATO members.

The American politician said he would let Russia “do whatever the hell they want” to members of the alliance that don’t pay enough for defence at a rally in South Carolina on Saturday.

NATO immediately intervened and criticised Trump for “putting American and European soldiers at risk”.

“NATO remains ready and able to defend all allies,” they fumed. “Any attack on NATO will be met with a united and forceful response.

“Any suggestion that allies will not defend each other undermines all of our security, including that of the US, and puts American and European soldiers at increased risk.”

Trump’s comments will likely increase anxiety in Europe about the US withdrawing military support from Ukraine should he be re-elected later this year.

The former president has also long criticised NATO, threatening to pull the US from the alliance, with one of his campaign commitments to “fundamentally” re-evaluate “NATO’s purpose and mission”.

But NATO expects the US to remain a strong and committed NATO ally “regardless of who wins the presidential election”.

The White House described Trump’s comments as “appalling and unhinged”.

Source: https://www.the-sun.com/news/10358247/nato-countries-build-bunkers-russian-border/

Michelle Obama, former First Lady of the United States could very well be replacing President Joe Biden on the party ticket, if former Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy is to be believed. Ramaswamy reiterated his theory that such a move by the Democrats would follow the release of a report by Special Counsel Robert Hur that has brought Biden’s cognitive abilities to the spotlight. Read on to find out more.

Former Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy reiterated his widely-discussed theory that Michelle Obama, former First Lady of the United States could very well be replacing President Joe Biden on the party ticket.

Such a move by the Democrats would follow the release of a report by Special Counsel Robert Hur.

Robert Hur was appointed in January 2023 to launch an investigation into US President Joe Biden’s handling of classified information, after classified documents were found in a damaged cardboard box in President Joe Biden’s cluttered Delaware garage.

Hur said that he would not be bringing any charges against the President, partly because he thinks a jury would find him to be a “sympathetic, well-meaning elderly man with a poor memory,” despite acknowledging the fact that the classified documents in question were “willfully” obtained by Biden during his times as both vice president and as a senator.

Ramaswamy told Fox News Digital that he sees the special counsel’s report paving the way for Democrats to select the popular Michelle Obama as their nominee, doubting the 81-year-old president’s candidacy.

“The main obstacle stopping the Democratic Party is they have a Kamala Harris problem, which is to say that if they do sideline Biden, the natural person normally that would be the nominee, could be the vice president of that same sitting president. But that vice president is unable, I think, to effectively carry forward that job,” Ramaswamy said. “She didn’t make it to the Iowa caucus in the year that she ran, right, even and within her own party, let alone an issue with broader popularity in the country.”

Source : https://www.timesnownews.com/world/michelle-obama-to-replace-joe-biden-vivek-ramaswamy-makes-shocking-claim-about-democrat-ticket-after-robert-hur-report-article-107588790

The Thai government could raise significant tax revenue from allowing a legal gambling industry to grow but must consider the social impacts and better control existing illegal activities, experts say.

As Thai decision-makers mull a move to legalise gambling in the country by opening its own casinos at Singapore-style integrated resorts and allowing online betting sites too, experts have warned of the need to install carefully considered guardrails on any future gaming industry.

These measures may include adopting something similar to Singapore’s model where restrictions are placed on local players via measures such as entry levies and exclusionary orders to bar their visits to casinos at integrated resorts, and keeping online gambling outlawed for now.

But there are deeper concerns that without tackling illegal gambling that continues to thrive in Thailand’s border towns and on the internet, legal casinos would simply provide additional opportunities for people to bet.

An ad-hoc 60-member committee to study legalising gambling and casinos at what it describes as entertainment complexes was established by the Thai parliament late last year.

The committee has support from members of parliament both in government and opposition. The chair is Mr Julapun Amornvivat, Thailand’s Deputy Minister of Finance.

The legalisation of the industry could place Thailand in direct competition with some of its regional neighbours for gambling-related tourism revenue. In Southeast Asia, apart from Thailand, the only countries that ban gambling are Indonesia and Brunei.

Big overseas industry players are expected to be lining up to win licences to operate casinos in Thailand. Las Vegas Sands, which owns Singapore’s Marina Bay Sands, as well as MGM Resorts are companies that have expressed potential interest in doing so.

Legalising gambling would follow other recent measures the Thai government has launched to draw visitors and raise revenue, including allowing later opening hours for nightclubs and bars in tourist areas, relaxing visa requirements for key international markets, dropping sales tax levies on alcohol and permitting the cannabis industry to proliferate.

Government revenue raising has been framed as a leading reason to allow casinos to operate. A report by a previous committee on the issue in the last parliament found that billions of dollars could be raised in taxes annually, under a proposal to open entertainment complexes in each of the country’s five main regions: north, south, east, northeast and central.

Several other types of gambling could also be permitted, including online, sports, stock exchange index and foreign exchange rate betting.

Source : https://www.channelnewsasia.com/asia/thailand-singapore-casino-gambling-genting-4112626

Hungary’s conservative president resigned Saturday amid public outcry over a pardon she granted to a man convicted as an accomplice in a child sexual abuse case, a decision that unleashed an unprecedented political scandal for the long-serving nationalist government.

Katalin Novák, 46, announced in a televised message that she would step down from the presidency, an office she has held since 2022. Her decision came after more than a week of public outrage after it was revealed that she issued a presidential pardon in April 2023 to a man convicted of hiding a string of child sexual abuses in a state-run children’s home.

“I issued a pardon that caused bewilderment and unrest for many people,” Novák said on Saturday. “I made a mistake.”

Novák’s resignation came as a rare episode of political turmoil for Hungary’s nationalist governing party Fidesz, which has ruled with a constitutional majority since 2010. Under the leadership of populist Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, Fidesz has been accused of dismantling democratic institutions and rigging the electoral system and media in its favor.

Novák, a key Orbán ally and a former vice president of Fidesz, served as the minister for families until her appointment to the presidency. She has been outspoken in advocating for traditional family values and the protection of children.

She was the first female president in Hungary’s history, and the youngest person to ever hold the office.

But her term came to an end after she pardoned a man sentenced in 2018 to more than three years in prison. He was found guilty of pressuring victims to retract their claims of sexual abuse by the institution’s director, who was sentenced to eight years for abusing at least 10 children between 2004 and 2016.

“I decided in favor of clemency in April of last year in the belief that the convict did not abuse the vulnerability of the children entrusted to him. I made a mistake,” Novák said Saturday. “I apologize to those I have hurt and to any victims who may have felt I am not standing up for them.

Source : https://apnews.com/article/hungary-president-katalin-novak-resigns-child-abuse-fde3223061df720b6af8b4b6fae8025a

Liz Golyar spent years texting and harassing Dave Kroupa after killing a woman he briefly dated, then impersonating her during a terror campaign

A Nebraska mechanic thought he had found a great match when a “gorgeous” woman walked into his shop — he would never see her in person again after they dated for two weeks, but for years he associated her name with vandalism, arson and tens of thousands of threatening calls and texts.

When Dave Kroupa brought single mother Cari Farver back to his apartment after getting drinks in 2012, the pair passed Kroupa’s then ex-girlfriend Liz Golyar, who was collecting some of her things. Golyar met Kroupa on a dating site and they saw each other for six months.

This chance meeting would change the course of their lives — unbeknownst to Kroupa, Golyar would be charged with Farver’s murder four years later, after her bizarre campaign to impersonate the dead woman to harass Kroupa was exposed.

At the time, Farver told him the awkward run-in “wasn’t a big deal,” and that she wasn’t looking for anything serious, according to the new Netflix documentary “Lover, Stalker, Killer.”

It came as a shock to Kroupa when, hours after saying goodbye to Farver after spending a night together, he received a text from her number asking if they could “move in together now.”

Kroupa, now 47, told filmmakers he was busy at work and sent a dismissive reply.

In response, he received a deluge of text messages that were “pinging, pinging, pinging” throughout the morning.

“I hate you,” read text messages he assumed were from Farver. “You ruined my life… I never want to see you again.”4

Source : https://www.foxnews.com/us/lover-stalker-killer-exposes-womans-elaborate-plot-eliminate-romantic-rival

Trump is facing numerous criminal and civil cases as he campaigns to challenge Joe Biden in this November’s US presidential election. Judges overseeing other cases involving the former president have been sent death threats.

A woman has been sentenced to three years in prison after making death threats against the judge presiding over Donald Trump’s classified documents case.

Tiffani Shea Gish from Houston, Texas, pleaded guilty to one count of using interstate communications with a threat to kidnap or injure in November, Sky News’s US parter network NBC News reports.

Gish’s plea came more than a year after she was arrested in connection with threatening voicemails left for US district judge Aileen Cannon.

The messages – which Gish admitted to leaving, according to court documents – said Judge Cannon was “marked for assassination” and would be shot in front of her family.

Gish has now been sentenced to 37 months in federal prison followed by three years of supervised release, the US justice department said.

US attorney Alamdar S. Hamdani said that holding Gish accountable “sends a strong message that we have no tolerance for those […] seeking to undermine our democratic institutions by threatening the safety of the people who help those same institutions thrive”.

Separately, judges overseeing other cases involving former US president Trump have been sent threats.

In January, the judge presiding over Trump’s civil fraud case was subject to a bomb threat hours before the closing arguments.

And last year, a woman was charged in connection with threats sent to US district judge Tanya Chutkan, who is overseeing Trump’s federal election interference case.

Source : https://news.sky.com/story/woman-jailed-for-sending-death-threats-to-judge-in-donald-trump-case-13068483

Queen Camilla gave an update on King Charles’ health

KING Charles will “never abdicate” the throne and step aside for Prince William, according to royal author Robert Jobson.

On Monday, His Majesty, 75, made the shock announcement that he has been diagnosed with cancer after the disease was spotted during his prostate operation.

Charles has started treatment and was advised by doctors to cancel front line duties.

Robert, who penned Our King: The Man and the Monarch Revealed, told The Sun’s Royal Correspondent Matt Wilkinson: “We don’t know how the treatment is gonna go.

“One thing I would say, absolutely, I don’t think there will ever be an abdication.

“I know I’ve heard people talking about that, and pundits just, it’s a no, no, there’s no need to, we have a statute for a regency, so we don’t need anybody to abdicate.”

According to the Regency Acts 1937, a reigning monarch can hand over power if they feel they are unable to fully perform their duties.

The Act could allow King Charles to keep his royal title, but Prince William, 41, would step up to perform the majority of his duties.

However, the palace has revealed the King is set to return to face-to-face meetings in two-weeks time.

Rob added: “What we will not see him doing is the public face-to-face duties and where that’s the case we might see William step in, save for doing receiving the credentials of a new ambassador or something like that.

Source : https://www.the-sun.com/royals/10347431/king-charles-never-abdicate-historical-reason

Israeli airstrikes killed 44 Palestinians in Rafah on Saturday, out of which over a dozen were children.

Israeli airstrikes killed at least 44 Palestinians — including more than a dozen children — in the southern Gaza city of Rafah on Saturday, hours after Israel’s prime minister said he had asked the military to plan for the evacuation of hundreds of thousands of people there ahead of a ground invasion.

Benjamin Netanyahu did not provide details or a timeline, but the announcement set off panic and warnings from diplomats. More than half of Gaza’s 2.3 million people are packed into Rafah, many after following Israeli evacuation orders that now cover two-thirds of the territory. It’s not clear where they could run next.

Israel says that Rafah, which borders Egypt, is the last remaining stronghold for the Hamas militant group in Gaza after more than four months of war sparked by the Oct. 7 Hamas attack.

Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry said any Israeli ground offensive on Rafah would have “disastrous consequences,” and asserted that Israel aims to eventually force the Palestinians out of their land.

Another mediator, Qatar, warned of disaster if Israel carries out a Rafah offensive, and Saudi Arabia warned of “very serious repercussions.” There is even increasing friction between Netanyahu and the United States, whose officials have said a Rafah invasion with no plan for the civilian population would lead to disaster.

Israel has carried out airstrikes in Rafah almost daily, even after telling civilians in recent weeks to seek shelter there from the current ground combat in Khan Younis just to the north.

Overnight into Saturday, three airstrikes on homes in the Rafah area killed 28 people, according to a health official and Associated Press journalists who saw the bodies arriving at hospitals. Each strike killed multiple members of three families, including a total of 10 children, the youngest 3 months old.

Fadel al-Ghannam said one strike tore the bodies of his loved ones to shreds. He lost his son, daughter-in-law and four grandchildren.

Source : https://www.hindustantimes.com/world-news/israeli-strikes-kill-44-palestinians-in-rafah-netanyahu-warns-of-ground-invasion-101707589431226.html

Former President Donald Trump on Saturday questioned why Nikki Haley’s husband wasn’t on the campaign trail, drawing sharp responses from both the former U.N. ambassador and her husband, who is currently abroad on a National Guard mission.

“What happened to her husband?” Trump told a crowd in Conway, South Carolina, as he and Haley held events across the state ahead of its Feb. 24 Republican primary. “Where is he? He’s gone. He knew. He knew.”

Responded Haley in a post on X: “Michael is deployed serving our country, something you know nothing about.”

It’s the latest example of Trump disparaging his opponents based on their U.S. military service, going back to his questioning of whether the late Sen. John McCain, a prisoner of war in Vietnam, was a hero because Trump liked “people who weren’t captured.” Throughout his political career, Trump has been accused of disregarding longstanding norms on avoiding attacking current or past servicemembers or people in a politician’s family.

Michael Haley began a yearlong stint in June with the South Carolina Army National Guard. Haley is being deployed as a staff officer with the 218th Maneuver Enhancement Brigade, which the National Guard says is providing support in the Horn of Africa.

Shortly after Trump’s comments, Michael Haley posted a meme on his own X account with a picture of a wolf and the text: “The difference between humans and animals? Animals would never allow the dumbest ones to lead the pack.” Nikki Haley’s campaign confirmed the account belonged to her husband.

Trump has said he avoided service in the Vietnam War through student and medical deferments. And Trump’s wife, former first lady Melania Trump, has been absent from the campaign trail and has not appeared with him at a public campaign event since his announcement speech.

Source : https://apnews.com/article/nikki-haley-donald-trump-michael-haley-d76d4f858a92c0fedfc0723655195319

Katalin Novak, 46, issued the presidential pardon in April 2023. She is a key ally of Hungarian prime minister Viktor Orban and has been a vocal advocate of “traditional family values”.

Hungary’s president has been forced to resign after she pardoned a man convicted of concealing child sex abuse at a state-run children’s home.

Katalin Novak, 46, issued the presidential pardon in April 2023, but it has only come to light in recent days.

After protests across the country, Ms Novak said on Saturday: “I issued a pardon that caused bewilderment and unrest for many people. I made a mistake.”

Ms Novak is a key ally of Hungary’s right-wing prime minister Viktor Orban.

She was the first woman to become president when she assumed the role in 2022 – and the youngest person in the country’s history.

The convict in the case was sentenced to more than three years in prison in 2018 after he pressured victims of the director of the children’s home into silence.

The head of the organisation was jailed for eight years for abusing at least 10 children between 2004 and 2016.

The scandal also implicated the former justice minister Judit Varga, who endorsed the president’s decision at the time.

In a Facebok post on Saturday, Ms Varga said she would also step down – and “retire from public life, resigning my seat as a member of parliament and also as leader of the EP list”.

Ms Novak’s Fidesz party, which has been in power since 2010, is facing turmoil as leader Mr Orban fends off allegations of electoral rigging and media censorship.

Source : https://news.sky.com/story/hungarian-president-katalin-novak-resigns-after-pardoning-man-in-child-sex-abuse-case-13068713

Tucker Carlson interviewed a doppelgänger, claims Valery Solovei, who has attracted a huge following by speculating that the Kremlin leader’s real body is in a freezer

Over the past few months, a Russian political scientist named Valery Solovei has stoked a global frenzy with a sensational claim: that Vladmir Putin died last year and today is represented in public by a body double. The Kremlin’s elite, Solovei tells his half-million online followers, controls the double and has stuffed Putin’s body in a freezer.

Then on Thursday, journalist Tucker Carlson aired a two-hour interview with Putin. Solovei shrugged it off as a sham. Carlson, he said, interviewed Putin’s doppelgänger, who will now be passed off as real to millions of viewers in the West. “Putin is dead, irreversibly dead, he will not rise again, he will stay in the freezer,” Solovei said in a broadcast earlier this week.

Carlson declined to comment. The Kremlin, which often denies Solovei’s reports, didn’t respond to emailed questions.

Solovei’s message is part of a broader online rumor mill about Putin’s health that has gone into overdrive as Russia’s relations with the West soured. Google searches such as “Putin Parkinson’s” surged to what the company called peak popularity in 2020, while “Putin cancer” hit a peak in 2022. A peak in “Putin body double” followed last year, and searches for the term remained strong during the fall, when Solovei declared that Putin was dead.

Common videos on TikTok and X, formerly known as Twitter, have examined Putin’s habit of fidgeting with his foot during meetings with top officials, while others trace with Zapruder-like attention public appearances by men said to be the Russian leader whose facial features or mannerisms seem off.

Solovei’s purported revelations about Putin’s failing health have fed Western tabloids and flummoxed high officials. The rumors became so widespread that CIA Director William Burns felt moved to dispel them in 2022, in a rare public assertion on a foreign leader’s health. Putin, he told an Aspen security conference, “is entirely too healthy.”

Some see Solovei as a simple crackpot, but others spy a deeper meaning to his purported scoops. Instead of being brushed off as a gadfly or dissident, he is tolerated as a useful tool for the Kremlin, goes one theory. Speculation about Putin’s imminent demise can take the pressure off anyone in Russia or the West contemplating how to oppose him or his invasion of Ukraine, said Thomas Graham, a distinguished fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations. “What’s the point of worrying if he’s going to die anyway?” Graham said.

Source : https://www.wsj.com/world/russia/putin-death-rumor-carlson-interview-5c58a974?st=ovb6kjnqysasli4

On Monday, Buckingham Palace announced the King had been diagnosed with a form of cancer while undergoing a procedure for an enlarged prostate, but did not specify what cancer it was.

The King has made his first statement since being diagnosed with cancer, using it to give his “heartfelt thanks” to the public for their “comfort and encouragement”.

In a message, written from Sandringham in Norfolk, King Charles said: “I would like to express my most heartfelt thanks for the many messages of support and good wishes I have received in recent days.

“As all those who have been affected by cancer will know, such kind thoughts are the greatest comfort and encouragement.”

As well as thanking the public for their well wishes, the 75-year-old monarch also reflected on his decision to publicly reveal his illness, saying: “It is equally heartening to hear how sharing my own diagnosis has helped promote public understanding and shine a light on the work of all those organisations which support cancer patients and their families across the UK and wider world.”

Stressing his gratitude to the medical professionals and cancer charities, he added: “My lifelong admiration for their tireless care and dedication is all the greater as a result of my own personal experience.”

On Monday, Buckingham Palace announced the King had been diagnosed with a form of cancer while undergoing a procedure for an enlarged prostate.

In line with the initial announcement, the King in his new statement has not revealed any further details about what kind of cancer it is, the type of treatment he is having or what stage the cancer is at.

He started his treatment in London on Monday, and on Tuesday flew to Sandringham with the Queen.

It’s unclear when he may return to London, or if he’ll need to come back to the capital for his treatment.

Source : https://news.sky.com/story/king-charles-issues-first-message-since-cancer-diagnosis-13068697

Candidates backed by the party of jailed Pakistani opposition leader Imran Khan plan to form a government, a senior aide to the former prime minister said on Saturday, urging supporters to peacefully protest if final election results are not released.

The nation of 241 million people voted on Thursday in a general election, as the country struggles to recover from an economic crisis and battles militant violence in a deeply polarised political environment.

Both Khan and his main rival, three-time former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, declared victory on Friday, increasing uncertainty over who will form the next government at a time when swift policy action is needed to address multiple challenges.

Gohar Khan, the chairman of Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-Insaf (PTI) party who also acts as the former prime minister’s lawyer, called on “all institutions” in Pakistan to respect his party’s mandate.

At a press conference, he said if complete results of the polls were not released by Saturday night, the party would hold peaceful protests on Sunday outside government offices returning election results around the country.

Source : https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/army-chief-congratulates-pakistan-successful-conduct-elections-2024-02-10

The mental ability and age of the United States’ presidential candidates took center stage on the campaign trail on Saturday, following a report that suggested President Joe Biden was suffering memory lapses.

Former President Donald Trump accused both Biden, the Democrat he will likely face in November’s general election, and Nikki Haley, Trump’s last remaining rival for the Republican presidential nomination, of lacking the mental capacity to be president.

Haley – like Trump, campaigning in South Carolina where the two will meet in a primary election on Feb. 24 – went after both men, calling Trump mentally deficient and saying Biden is too old to be president.

Meanwhile, the Biden White House, responding to the report on Thursday from a Department of Justice special counsel that said Biden had a poor memory, continued its full-scale attack on Trump’s age and mental acuity after Trump recently mixed up names and made other verbal gaffes.

“Every single time Donald Trump opens his mouth, he’s confused, deranged, lying, or worse,” T.J. Ducklo, a Biden spokesman, said in a statement released by Biden’s reelection campaign.

The issue of mental competency has become a major topic in this year’s presidential campaign. Biden, 81, and Trump, 77, are the two oldest men respectively to have been elected president. In recent days, Biden has mixed up the names of some world leaders.

The issue is a vexing one for Biden’s reelection campaign. In a Reuters/Ipsos poll conducted in September, 77% of respondents said they agreed with a statement that Biden was too old to work in government, while 56% said the same of Trump.
Haley, 52, has called for mental competency tests for presidential candidates over 75 years old.

The issue was thrust front and center again after Special Counsel Robert Hur, a former U.S. attorney in Maryland during Trump’s administration, said in his report that he chose not to bring criminal charges against Biden following a 15-month investigation into his handling of classified documents because the president cooperated.

Hur said the Democratic incumbent would be difficult to convict and described him as a “well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory” who was not able to recall to investigators when his son, Beau Biden, died.

Source : https://www.reuters.com/world/us/age-mental-capacity-dominates-presidential-campaign-trail-after-report-questions-2024-02-10

Subterranean complex had air-conditioned room with computer servers, office space

GAZA CITY—Hidden deep below the headquarters of the United Nations’ aid agency for Palestinians here is a Hamas complex with rows of computer servers that Israel’s armed forces say served as an important communications center and intelligence hub for the Islamist militant group.

Part of a warren of tunnels and subterranean chambers carved from the Gaza Strip’s sandy soil, the compound below the United Nations Relief and Works Agency buildings in Gaza City appears to have run on electricity drawn from the U.N.’s power supply, Israeli officials said.

A Wall Street Journal reporter and journalists from other news organizations visited the site this past week in a trip organized by Israel’s military. A tunnel also appeared to pass beneath a U.N.-run school near the headquarters.

The location of a Hamas military installation under important U.N. facilities is evidence, Israeli officials say, of Hamas’s widespread use of sensitive civilian infrastructure as shields to protect its militant activities. Tunnel complexes have also been found near or under some of Gaza’s largest hospitals.

Israel’s discovery of the Hamas operations below Unrwa offices is likely to put further pressure on the agency, which is facing international scrutiny after Israeli allegations that at least 12 of its employees had links to Hamas’s Oct. 7 attack on Israel, which authorities say killed 1,200 people.

Source : https://www.wsj.com/world/middle-east/hamas-military-compound-found-beneath-u-n-agency-headquarters-in-gaza-7e29c758?st=7ovz5in3pswq4re

The wolves are exposed to cancer-causing radiation as they roam the wastelands of the abandoned city – with researchers finding part of their genetic information seems resilient to increased risk of the disease.

Mutant wolves roaming the deserted streets of Chernobyl appear to have developed resistance to cancer – raising hopes the findings can help scientists fight the disease in humans.

A nuclear reactor exploded at the Chernobyl power plant in Ukraine in 1986 – with more than 100,000 people evacuated from the city as the blast released cancer-causing radiation.

The area has remained eerily abandoned ever since, with the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone (CEZ) put in place to prevent people from entering a 1,000-square-mile area where the radiation still poses a cancer risk.

Humans may not have returned, but wildlife such as wolves and horses roam the wastelands of the evacuated city more than 35 years after the disaster.

Cara Love, an evolutionary biologist and ecotoxicologist at Princeton University in the US, has been studying how the Chernobyl wolves survive despite generations of exposure to radioactive particles.

Ms Love and a team of researchers visited the CEZ in 2014 and put radio collars on the wolves so that their movements could be monitored.

She said the collars give the team “real-time measurements of where [the wolves] are and how much [radiation] they are exposed to”.

They also took blood samples to understand how the wolves’ bodies respond to cancer-causing radiation.

Source: https://news.sky.com/story/chernobyls-mutant-wolves-appear-to-have-developed-resistance-to-cancer-study-finds-13067292

Sky News visited a private jet conference in London to speak to those who use the highly polluting form of transport.

On London’s Park Lane there is a private jet showroom.

You can relax in a section of the cabin taken from an executive airliner, complete with cocoa-cream leather sofas and the plushest of swivel armchairs.

Steve Varsano, founder of The Jet Business, runs me through my brand options if I have an appetite for luxury and at least £10m to spare: the Citation, Gulfstream or Embraer. But he disputes my description.

“I’m allergic to the word luxury because I think corporate aircraft are a business tool. It’s a time machine. 70% of all the passengers that occupy corporate jets are middle management. So it’s really a utility. It’s transportation.”

This week, in the hotel right next door, hundreds of people are gathering to get more money into this exclusive world and more people flying on private jets.

The two-day event is called Corporate Jet Investor 2024 and they invited the Sky News Climate Show to join them.

It is unusual and fascinating to be among hundreds of people who want more of us to step aboard a highly polluting form of transport.

For every passenger mile, on average, taking a private jet results in 10-14 times the greenhouse gas emissions than a scheduled commercial flight.

“Apart from being an astronaut going up in a rocket, there is no way for one person’s action to create so much carbon so quickly,” says Todd Smith, former pilot and founder of Safe Landing which campaigns for greener flying, a just transition for aviation workers and a ban on private jets.

“Private jet use represents the pinnacle of injustice, given that flying is the fastest way to fry the planet.”

It’s this combination of emissions and exclusivity which makes private jet passengers a very popular target. Anyone who steps aboard – Rishi Sunak, King Charles, Bill Gates, Taylor Swift – stands accused of climate crimes and, if they’ve ever uttered a syllable of concern about global warming, hypocrisy too.

But how big is the sector? There are an estimated 22,000 private jets in the world, with 70% of those being in America. In Europe, the UK is the biggest player. The total number of jets has more than doubled since the year 2000.

Every man and woman I spoke to at the conference said they cared about climate change and they have got a plan to reach net zero by 2050.

Their justification rests on three main pillars. Private jets are an essential tool for cash-rich but time-poor business leaders.

Their sector emits just 2% of aviation’s total greenhouse gases (itself 2% of total man-made carbon emissions) so it is being disproportionately vilified.

They are leading the way in using more climate-friendly technologies like Sustainable Aviation Fuels derived from plants, waste materials or even hydrogen.

The problem with sustainable aircraft fuel is that it only exists in tiny amounts compared to the demand from aeroplanes, and all attempts to scale it up are problematic.

Source: https://news.sky.com/story/the-climate-crisis-is-putting-private-jet-users-on-the-defensive-13067899

VLADIMIR Putin emerged “dominant” and “at ease” in the face of a “fawning and gullible” Tucker Carlson during their much-hyped interview, a body language expert said.

Professor Patrick Stewart told The Sun that “unprepared” schoolboy-like TV host Carlson failed to put up any fight as the Russian tyrant waged a “mental battle of attrition”.

The Russian leader’s painful and rambling two-hour interview with Carlson was released last night and has already been watched over 74million times.

The controversial TV pundit sold it as a means for the American public to see the “truth” of the Ukraine war after two years of what he blasted as “one-sided” narratives fed by Western media.

But in reality, Putin sat down to weave yet another baseless web of lies, launching a lengthy tirade about Russian history, before laying into Nato and threatening to propel the world towards global catastrophe.

Stewart, an expert in dissecting behaviour and body language from the University of Arkansas, said it was laced with plenty of tell-tale signs of a tyrant at ease – one that didn’t fear any kind of challenge from US commentator Carlson.

He argued: “It was not an interview. Tucker Carlson was an audience of one that was gullible, if not fawning, in his approach to Vladimir Putin.”

He noted that Putin was easily able to “define the terms of the agreement, dominate attention and wear down Carlson”.

Dissecting his body language, Stewart said that Putin showed off his “relaxed” state by immediately taking off his watch and setting it on the table between himself and Carlson.

It sent a powerful message that “time was not an issue”.

From there, he added: “Putin did not face much of a challenge, dominating the conversation with ease.

“Carlson reminded me of a student who had not done their homework and could only ask questions that built-on or supported the speaker. ”

Even when Carlson pursued tougher topics, Stewart analysed how Putin navigated them with purposeful dodge tactics – using humour and laughter to avoid answering.

When asked about whether he felt a threat from the West, including a nuclear threat, Stewart saw how Putin’s hands twitched and went to his face, suggesting some level of discomfort.

“Putin exhibited a displacement behaviour with his fist near his forehead before extending his fingers, and pushing it away,” he said.

However, the Kremlin boss quickly recovered by shooting back: “Are we going to have a serious talk or a show?”

This, Stewart said, caused “Carlson to laugh, whereupon Putin went back to answering the question he wanted to”.

This tactic was repeated when Carlson asked whether Russia was behind the bombing of the Nord Stream gas pipeline in September, 2022.

“Putin laughed then joked about Carlson personally being responsible,” Stewart noted, saying that it was an easy way to move the conversation away from dangerous waters.

In short, Stewart saw that Carlson was no match for the “at ease” Russian ruler.

He said: “Putin engaged in a mental battle of attrition that Carlson was quite obviously not prepared for.”

Source: https://www.the-sun.com/news/10337277/body-language-experts-dominant-putin-carlson/

A record 67.8 million American adults are expected to bet $23.1 billion on Super Bowl LVIII, according to a new American Gaming Association survey. The estimated number of bettors has increased 35% from the previous Super Bowl, while the total amount being bet is estimated to have shot up from $16 billion in 2023.

Both figures would represent records – fitting for a Super Bowl held in Las Vegas, the gambling capital of the U.S.

For the NFL, partnering with sportsbooks has been a boon for business. The relationship appears to be a natural one: Though sports betting was illegal in most of the country until 2018, it’s always been a part of sports fandom.

But as a sports media scholar, I find the league’s embrace of gambling so striking because for most of its history, the NFL had pushed the government for stricter regulations, not more lenient ones.

Particularly in its early days, the NFL wanted to avoid the stain of bookies, bets, fixed games and the gambling crises that had befallen other professional sports leagues.

Staunch opposition
In 1963, just as the NFL was starting to become profitable thanks to broadcasting deals, a gambling scandal threatened the league’s growing popularity.

Commissioner Pete Rozelle suspended two of the league’s stars, the Green Bay Packers’ Paul Hornung and Alex Karras of the Detroit Lions, for a full season after both players admitted to placing bets on NFL games.

“This sport has grown so quickly and gained so much of the approval of the American public,” Rozelle told Sports Illustrated at the time, “that the only way it can be hurt is through gambling.”

But football and gambling eventually resumed their delicate dance. In 1976, CBS hired bookmaker and newspaper columnist James “Jimmy the Greek” Snyder to join the cast of its flagship pregame program, “The NFL Today.” CBS Sports president Bob Wussler knew that millions of viewers wanted to know the betting lines for upcoming games. It was Snyder’s job to communicate them.

The NFL’s leadership, however, remained adamantly opposed to its broadcasting partners explicitly encouraging gambling. So Snyder communicated the lines by predicting the final score, thereby allowing careful listeners to learn a point spread. The routine lasted until 1988, when Snyder suggested that slavery had made Black players better athletes. He was fired the next day.

In 1992, the NFL and other major sports leagues lobbied for the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act, which would severely restrict sports gambling, allowing it only in Nevada, Oregon, Delaware and Montana. Rozelle’s successor, Paul Tagliabue, testified in favor of the bill, telling Congress: “We do not want our games to be used as bait to sell gambling. We have to make it clear to the athletes, the fans and the public, gambling is not a part of sport, period.” The measure passed.

In 2017, current NFL commissioner Roger Goodell reiterated the league’s stance. Speaking in the wake of the owners’ decision to allow the Oakland Raiders to relocate to Las Vegas, he insisted: “We still strongly oppose … legalized sports gambling. The integrity of our game is No. 1. We will not compromise on that.”

More money, more problems?
Everything changed a year later, when the Supreme Court declared the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act unconstitutional, which left the decision to allow sports gambling to the states. Since then, more than 30 states have legalized sports gambling.

Despite its historical opposition to sports gambling, the NFL moved quickly to take advantage of the new legal landscape.

In 2021, the league announced seven companies, including BetMGM, Draft Kings and Caesars, as the league’s official gambling partners. Two years later, ESPN, one of the league’s major partners – and one in which the league may soon buy a stake – announced the formation of ESPN BET, a sportsbook partnership with Penn Entertainment. ESPN immediately began promoting its new venture on its television and web platforms.

By embracing sports gambling, the NFL has unleashed new profit streams. Even casual fans can’t miss the surge in gambling advertisements that now air during the games, all of which buttress the value of media rights. Meanwhile, the NFL’s official sportsbook partners will fork over more than $1 billion to the league over the course of the five-year contract.

Source: https://studyfinds.org/super-bowl-bets-shatter-records/

Medical professionals have stepped up calls for President Biden to take a mental competency test after Thursday’s blistering report from special counsel Robert Hur revealed the 81-year-old can’t remember basic facts about his own life and career.

The Hur report, released Thursday, assessed Biden as too senile to be prosecuted over his wrongful retention of classified documents and noted the commander-in-chief “did not remember when he was vice president” and “did not remember, even within several years, when his son Beau died” over two days of interviews in October.

“Something isn’t right, and even if it’s minor, it must be explained to the public,” Dr. Stuart Fischer, a primary care physician at a nursing home in the Bronx, told The Post.

“The horse is out of the barn. Not only does [Biden] have an infirmity of some degree, but he has delayed producing objective evidence,” the internal medicine expert added, arguing that “no one is buying” the president’s defenses about his memory.

Despite being the oldest president in US history, Biden has refused to take mental acuity tests despite repeated calls to do so from his critics — as well as consistent polling showing a majority of Americans share those concerns.

The results of Biden’s most recent physical exam, released by the White House in February of last year, described the chief executive as “fit to successfully execute the duties of the Presidency,” but made no mention of a cognitive test or an assessment of his mental fitness.

On Friday, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre claimed to reporters that she had talked to White House physician Kevin O’Connor around that time and he had told her that “because of the president’s actions every day, what he deals with — with world leaders, the domestic issues that he has to deal with — that shows that the president is very much active and understands what’s going on and [O’Connor] didn’t believe a test like that was warranted because of, just who he is as president of the United States and everything he has to deal with.

“But again, I’m not a medical doctor,” the press secretary added.

However, according to Fischer, Biden has “signs of symptoms” that could indicate he suffers from “infectious disease or fatigue,” though the physician stressed that he is not Biden’s doctor and his statements did not constitute a diagnosis.

“I don’t know how this man can have anything more than a mild schedule,” added the doc, “because the more he pushes himself, the more difficult it is for an 81-year-old body to respond.”

Rep. Ronny Jackson (R-Texas), a physician to both former Presidents Barack Obama and Donald Trump and a member of the White House Medical Unit under President George W. Bush, told The Post that if Biden clinches the Democratic presidential nomination, he should “100%” have to submit to a mental competency test before the general election.

“He doesn’t need a [cognitive] screening test,” Jackson said. “He needs an actual cognitive battery of tests, objectively done, put on paper, and briefed to the American people by his physician.”

Source: https://nypost.com/2024/02/09/news/doctors-call-for-biden-to-take-mental-competency-test-after-scathing-classified-docs-report-something-isnt-right/

Meta on Friday confirmed it is assessing when the word “Zionist” should be deemed hate speech as online anti-Semitism escalates amid the Israel-Hamas war.

Meta on Friday confirmed it is assessing when the word “Zionist” should be deemed hate speech as online anti-Semitism escalates amid the Israel-Hamas war.

The tech titan behind Facebook and Instagram confirmed a Washington Post report that it is thinking of expanding its hate speech ban to include more uses of the term, particularly when it appears to be an ill-spirited substitute for “Jews” or “Israelis.”

“Given the increase in polarized public discourse due to events in the Middle East, we believe it’s important to assess our guidance for reviewing posts that use the term Zionist,” a Meta spokesperson said in response to an AFP query.

“While the term Zionist often refers to a person’s ideology, which is not a protected characteristic, it can also be used to refer to Jewish or Israeli people.”

Source: https://www.timesnownews.com/world/meta-considers-removing-posts-with-word-zionist-on-social-media-article-107571270

At least two people are dead after a small plane crashed on a Florida highway and burst into flames on Friday, officials said.

The Bombardier Challenger 600 jet smashed onto Interstate 75 near Naples around 3:15 p.m., the Federal Aviation Administration said.

Two fatalities have been confirmed, according to the Collier County Sheriff’s Office.

Five people were on board the plane, the FAA said.

At least two vehicles were also involved, the Florida Highway Patrol confirmed.

The plane was traveling from Ohio to Naples and went down after reporting an engine failure, Naples Airport told WBBH.

Video posted on social media shows the aircraft completely engulfed in flames in the middle of the southbound lane, spewing black smoke as halted drivers look on.

The plane departed from Columbus just after 1 p.m. and was scheduled to arrive at Naples airport at 3:21 p.m., flight data shows.

All southbound lanes have been shut down near mile marker 105, police said.

Source:https://nypost.com/2024/02/09/news/at-least-2-dead-after-fiery-plane-crash-on-florida-highway/

An abrupt shutdown of Atlantic Ocean currents that could put large parts of Europe in a deep freeze is looking a bit more likely and closer than before as a new complex computer simulation finds a “cliff-like” tipping point looming in the future.

A long-worried nightmare scenario, triggered by Greenland’s ice sheet melting from global warming, still is at least decades away if not longer, but maybe not the centuries that it once seemed, a new study in Friday’s Science Advances finds. The study, the first to use complex simulations and include multiple factors, uses a key measurement to track the strength of vital overall ocean circulation, which is slowing.

A collapse of the current — called the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation or AMOC — would change weather worldwide because it means a shutdown of one of key the climate and ocean forces of the planet. It would plunge northwestern European temperatures by 9 to 27 degrees (5 to 15 degrees Celsius) over the decades, extend Arctic ice much farther south, turn up the heat even more in the Southern Hemisphere, change global rainfall patterns and disrupt the Amazon, the study said. Other scientists said it would be a catastrophe that could cause worldwide food and water shortages.

“We are moving closer (to the collapse), but we we’re not sure how much closer,” said study lead author Rene van Westen, a climate scientist and oceanographer at Utrecht University in the Netherlands. “We are heading towards a tipping point.”

When this global weather calamity — grossly fictionalized in the movie “The Day After Tomorrow” — may happen is “the million-dollar question, which we unfortunately can’t answer at the moment,” van Westen said. He said it’s likely a century away but still could happen in his lifetime. He just turned 30.

“It also depends on the rate of climate change we are inducing as humanity,” van Westen said.

Studies have shown the AMOC to be slowing, but the issue is about a complete collapse or shutdown. The United Nations’ Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, which is a group of hundreds of scientists that gives regular authoritative updates on warming, said it has medium confidence that there will not be a collapse before 2100 and generally downplayed disaster scenarios. But van Westen, several outside scientists and a study last year say that may not be right.

Stefan Rahmstorf, head of Earth Systems Analysis at the Potsdam Institute for Climate Research in Germany, was not part of the research, but called it “a major advance in AMOC stability science.”

“The new study adds significantly to the rising concern about an AMOC collapse in the not too distant future,” Rahmstorf said in an email. “We will ignore this at our peril.”

University of Exeter climate scientist Tim Lenton, also not part of the research, said the new study makes him more concerned about a collapse.

An AMOC collapse would cause so many ripples throughout the world’s climate that are “so abrupt and severe that they would be near impossible to adapt to in some locations,” Lenton said.

There are signs showing that the AMOC has collapsed in the past, but when and how it will change in the future is still uncertain, said U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration oceanographer Wei Cheng, who wasn’t part of the research.

The AMOC is part of an intricate global conveyor belt of ocean currents that move different levels of salt and warm water around the globe at different depths in patterns that helps regulate Earth’s temperature, absorbs carbon dioxide and fuels the water cycle, according to NASA.

Source: https://apnews.com/article/atlantic-collapse-climate-change-abrupt-tipping-point-954f5b030b8510551ab7cd34b99e23d5

Three years into Joe Biden’s presidency, reporters who cover the administration know what to expect when first lady Jill Biden appears: nothing.

The president, 81, has held the fewest press conferences or formal interviews of any modern commander-in-chief — leaving Biden’s jaunts across the White House South Lawn to and from his Marine One helicopter as the best chance for the press corps to get some face time.

When Biden is alone, he is far easier to bait with shouted questions, sometimes shuffling over around midnight for a give-and-take — despite the unflattering overhead TV lights forcing him to hold up his hand to shield his eyes from the glare.

However, the presence of Jill, 72, on such trips is a dead giveaway that there will be no questions, with the first lady making sure to hold her husband’s hand the entire way across the lawn.

Jill Biden’s role in shielding her husband from members of the media has come under new scrutiny after special counsel Robert Hur described the president in a report released Thursday as an “elderly man with a poor memory.”

Biden has only held three solo White House press conferences since taking office in January 2021. At the most recent, in November 2022, Jill arrived at the last minute and was seated at the very front of the State Dining Room by a beefy aide — who positioned her so that journalists could not see whether the first lady was urging her husband at any point to make a hasty retreat.

Such precautions may have been needed after Biden’s second White House presser in January 2022, a marathon affair in which the president droned on for nearly two hours and made several factual errors and noteworthy gaffes.

At that presser, Biden suggested a “minor incursion” by Russia into Ukraine would prompt a minimal US response, leaving officials in Kyiv aghast and suggesting the president had given Vladimir Putin a “green light” to invade — which he did weeks later.

“Why didn’t anyone stop that?” Jill Biden fumed to aides, demanding an explanation for her husband being left to wilt before the world, according to excerpts from a forthcoming book by New York Times correspondent Katie Rogers, reported Friday by Axios.

“Everyone stayed silent, looking at one another, and then at her, and back to one another,” Rogers writes. “That included the most powerful man in the world.

“Her husband essentially played along, not offering an answer, even though aides had slipped him a card suggesting he end the press conference,” the book adds.

The first lady has also taken on the role of stage manager for her husband, leading Joe offstage by the hand at an event last month to commemorate the anniversary of the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot after repeated instances of the president hesitating or wandering in the wrong direction after making remarks.

Jill isn’t alone: White House staff have also gone to extensive lengths to prevent the president from potentially embarrassing interactions.

At that same January 2022 press conference that caused the first lady so much anguish, then-press secretary Jen Psaki — clad in a distinctive pink blazer — stood up after roughly an hour in an apparent attempt to bring the proceedings to a close.

Psaki sat back down as Biden continued to take questions, only to stand up again about 20 minutes later and walk to a door about 50 feet away from the press seating area in another apparent attempt to end the questioning, which continued for approximately 40 more minutes.

But the most notorious staff intervention took place at the White House Easter Egg Roll in April 2022, when then-director of message planning Meghan Hays, dressed in an Easter bunny costume, barged in to block Biden from answering an Afghan journalist’s question and guided him away from the rope line.

The White House press office has also played its part, introducing a Byzantine prescreening process to select which reporters are allowed to attend large indoor events that were open to all under past administrations — leading to muttering that those most aligned with the administration were most likely to be extended invitations.

Source: https://nypost.com/2024/02/09/news/how-jill-biden-and-staff-protect-joe-from-white-house-press/

In a statement read by his barrister outside court, Prince Harry said: “Everything we said was happening at Mirror Group was in fact happening, and indeed far worse as the court ruled in its extremely damning judgment.”

Prince Harry and the publisher of the Daily Mirror newspaper have settled the remainder of his hacking claim against the company.

Mirror Group Newspapers (MGN) has agreed to pay “a substantial additional sum” in damages to the prince, as well as his legal costs – on top of the £140,600 already awarded in December, it was revealed at a hearing about costs on Friday.

Barrister David Sherborne said the publisher would make an interim payment of £400,000. The Duke of Sussex was not in court.

It follows the ruling in the High Court case late last year that phone hacking was carried out by MGN journalists from 1996 to 2011, and was “widespread and habitual” from 1998.

Judge Timothy Fancourt also said that phone hacking continued “to some extent” during the Leveson Inquiry into media standards in 2011 and 2012, and concluded that Harry’s phone was hacked “to a modest extent” by MGN reporters.

In a statement read on behalf of Prince Harry, Mr Sherborne said outside court on Friday: “Everything we said was happening at Mirror Group was in fact happening, and indeed far worse as the court ruled in its extremely damning judgment.

“As the court said this morning we have uncovered and proved the shockingly dishonest way in which the Mirror acted for so many years and then sought to conceal the truth.

“In light of all this, we call again for the authorities to uphold the rule of law and to prove that no one is above it.”

Piers Morgan singled out

Mr Sherborne singled out former Mirror editor Piers Morgan, adding: “That includes Mr Morgan, who as editor, knew perfectly well what was going on, as the judge held.

“Even his own employer realised it simply could not call him as a witness of truth. His contempt for the court’s ruling and his continued attacks ever since demonstrate why it was so important to obtain a clear and detailed judgment.”

Mr Morgan said in response on X: “I totally agree with Prince Harry that ruthless intrusion into the private lives of the Royal Family for financial gain is utterly reprehensible… and I hope he stops doing it.”

The December ruling said there was “convincing” evidence that Mr Morgan, who was editor of the Daily Mirror between 1995 and 2004, knew about phone hacking when he was in charge of the paper.

Mr Morgan responded with a heated statement to reporters outside his home, which said he had “never hacked a phone” and Harry and his wife Meghan are set on “destroying the monarchy”.

Concluding his statement, the duke said his “mission continues”. “I believe in the positive change it will bring for all of us. It is the very reason why I started this, and why I will continue to see it through to the end,” it added.

An MGN spokesperson said in a statement: “We are pleased to have reached this agreement, which gives our business further clarity to move forward from events that took place many years ago and for which we have apologised.”

Harry, who made a surprise appearance at the NFL Honours in Las Vegas on Thursday night after flying to the UK earlier in the week to see the King following his cancer diagnosis, first brought the case against MGN in 2019.

His claims against the publisher were “proved in part” during a privacy trial last year, with 15 of the 33 articles presented in court found to be the product of phone hacking or other unlawful information gathering.

However, a further 115 articles in his claim could have led to a further trial had a settlement not been reached.

Concern about soap stars’ legal behaviour

Harry’s case was heard alongside similar claims brought by actor Michael Turner, who is known professionally as Michael Le Vell and is most famous for playing Kevin Webster in Coronation Street, Hollyoaks and former Coronation Street actress Nikki Sanderson, and Fiona Wightman, the ex-wife of comedian Paul Whitehouse.

Claims brought by Ms Sanderson and Ms Wightman were dismissed by the judge because they were made too late, despite the judge finding that some of their complaints were valid.

Mr Justice Fancourt said on Friday he was “concerned” about the way “claims of claimants like Ms Sanderson and Mr Turner are being conducted”.

He said they “often appear to say what is needed to advance the claim” rather than what they actually remember.

Mr Fancourt said it is not justified for someone to “sit tight, not cooperate or negotiate at all and hope that something will eventually turn up to support the more outlandish claims made”.

Mirror forced to pay ‘generic’ court costs

As well as the “representative” claims brought by the duke and the three other ‘test’ claimants’, the trial last year also heard “generic” evidence about wider alleged wrongdoing at MGN.

During Friday’s hearing, Mr Justice Fancourt said MGN should pay so-called “generic” legal costs to those currently involved in legal action against them.

“On the generic issues, there can be little doubt that the claimants were successful,” he said. “In this unusual case, justice is only done by awarding the claimants their costs of the generic issues.”

Source: https://news.sky.com/story/prince-harry-and-mirror-publisher-settle-remaining-parts-of-hacking-claim-13067258

Trapped in and around Rafah, more than 1 million Palestinians braced for Israel to complete a plan to evacuate them and launch a ground assault against Hamas fighters in the southern Gaza city.
Aid agencies warned that large numbers of civilians could die in the Israeli offensive and the U.N. Palestinian refugee agency said it did not know how long it could work “in such a high risk operation.”
“There is a sense of growing anxiety, growing panic in Rafah,” said Philippe Lazzarini, the head of the UNRWA agency. “People have no idea where to go.”

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office on Friday announced that the military was ordered to develop a plan “for evacuating the population and destroying” four Hamas battalions that it said were deployed in Rafah.
Israel cannot achieve its goal of eliminating the Islamist militants who rule Gaza while those units remain, it said.
The statement, issued two days after Netanyahu rejected a Hamas ceasefire proposal, opens new tab that included the release of hostages held by the Palestinian militants, gave no further details.

Washington, Israel’s main supporter, said it would not back an assault that did not protect civilians, and had briefed Israel on a new U.S. national security memorandum reminding countries receiving U.S. arms to adhere to international law.
“There are no new standards in this memo. We are not imposing new standards for military aid,” White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters. “They (the Israelis) reiterated their willingness to provide these types of assurances.”

More than a million people driven southwards by more than four months of Israeli bombing of Gaza are packed into Rafah and surrounding areas on the coastal enclave’s border with Egypt, which has reinforced the frontier, fearing an exodus.
Doctors and aid workers are struggling to supply even basic aid to Palestinians sheltering around Rafah. Many are trapped against a border fence with Egypt and living in makeshift tents.
Israeli forces have been moving southwards towards the city after first storming northern Gaza in response to the Oct. 7 rampage into southern Israel by Hamas gunmen.
The United Nations said Palestinian civilians in Rafah, opens new tab require protection, but there should be no forced mass displacement, which is barred by international law.
“No war can be allowed in a gigantic refugee camp,” said Jan Egeland, secretary-general of the Norwegian Refugee Council, warning of a “bloodbath” if Israeli troops move into Rafah.
The Palestinian Presidency said Netanyahu’s plans aimed to displace the Palestinian people from their land.
“Taking this step threatens security and peace in the region and the world. It crosses all red lines,” said the office of Mahmoud Abbas, head of the Palestinian Authority that exerts partial self-rule in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.
An Israeli official who declined to be named said that Israel would try to organise for people in Rafah, most of whom fled there from the north, to be moved back northwards ahead of any assault.
Gaza’s health ministry said at least 27,947 Palestinians had been confirmed killed in the conflict and 67,459 injured. More could be buried under rubble.
Hamas gunmen killed some 1,200 people and took 253 hostages in the Oct. 7 rampage into southern Israel, according to Israeli tallies.
Almost one in 10 Gazans under the age of five are now acutely malnourished, according to initial U.N. data from arm measurements showing physical wasting.
The charity ActionAid said some Gazans were eating grass.
“Every single person in Gaza is now hungry, and people have just 1.5 to 2 litres of unsafe water per day to meet all their needs,” it said.

Source: https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/palestinians-brace-rafah-evacuation-israeli-assault-plan-2024-02-10/

The EU, UK and US have all cast doubt over the integrity of the vote. Foreign Secretary Lord Cameron said there were “serious concerns” about the “fairness and lack of inclusivity” of the poll.

Jailed former prime minister of Pakistan Imran Khan has claimed victory for his supporters in the country’s general election – via a video generated using artificial intelligence (AI).

The clip of the former cricket star was uploaded on social media on Friday just hours after his rival Nawaz Sharif also claimed to have won despite vote counting continuing.

Many candidates from Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) were forced to stand as independents in the election after an alleged crackdown which saw senior party figures jailed and their campaigning activities restricted.

In the video, Khan is heard telling independent candidates to celebrate their win, while he also rejects Sharif’s declaration of victory.

“You have laid the foundation for your genuine freedom by voting yesterday,” he is heard saying. Sharif is also referred to as a “dishonourable man” for claiming victory.

With nearly 90% of the results in on Friday night, independent candidates backed by Khan’s PTI party had won 95 seats, while Sharif’s Pakistan Muslim League (PML) had secured 66 seats.

A total of 169 seats are required for a majority in the 336-seat assembly. Some 265 seats were up for grabs in Thursday’s poll.

It came as the EU, UK and US all cast doubt over the integrity of the vote.

Foreign Secretary Lord Cameron said there were “serious concerns” about the “fairness and lack of inclusivity of the elections” amid accusations of military interference and vote-rigging.

In a statement on Friday night, he added: “We regret that not all parties were formally permitted to contest the elections and that legal processes were used to prevent some political leaders from participation”.

During the election campaign, police blocked the PTI from holding rallies and opening offices, while the party was also banned from using its symbol – a cricket bat – to help illiterate voters find it on ballot papers.

Khan and other senior PTI figures were also jailed on what they claim were politically-motivated charges.

‘We don’t have enough of a majority’

After declaring victory on Friday, Sharif told reporters his younger brother, fellow former leader Shehbaz Sharif, would hold talks with other party leaders to discuss a way forward – just a day after he rejected the idea of joining forces with any of his rivals.

He admitted: “We don’t have enough of a majority to form a government without the support of others and we invite allies to join the coalition so we can make joint efforts to pull Pakistan out of its problems.”

The former prime minister also urged victorious independent candidates to enter his potential coalition.

“I don’t want to fight with those who are in the mood for fighting,” he said. “We will have to sit together to settle all matters.”

He said the meetings would include talks with Asif Ali Zardari, the husband of assassinated ex-Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto and father of Bilawal Bhutto Zardari of the Pakistan People’s Party – which is in third place so far with 51 seats.

‘Interference in electoral process’

Sharif, who has been prime minister of Pakistan three times previously, returned to the country in October after four years of self-imposed exile, including time in London, to avoid serving several prison sentences.

But within weeks of his return, his convictions were overturned, leaving him free to seek a fourth term.

The election was held amid tight security, with thousands of troops deployed on the streets and at polling stations across the country.

Pakistan’s borders with Iran and Afghanistan were also temporarily closed as security was stepped up.

Source: https://news.sky.com/story/jailed-imran-khan-uses-ai-video-to-claim-victory-in-pakistan-election-after-rival-nawaz-sharif-also-says-hes-won-13067569

Officials race to contain the fallout after special counsel faults 81-year-old president’s memory

President Biden’s age has long been a private worry for many Democrats and a drag on his polling numbers. This week those anxieties came spilling out into the public.

The trigger was special counsel Robert Hur’s 345-page report on Biden’s retention of classified documents, which contained a series of damaging passages about the president’s recollections and “faulty memory” during interviews with investigators last fall. The fear for the White House and Biden’s re-election campaign is that the document will reinforce doubts among large groups of voters about the 81-year-old president’s abilities as he seeks a second term against likely GOP nominee former President Donald Trump.

Democrats reacted with a mix of frustration and anger to Hur’s report, which said Biden portrayed himself as an “elderly man with a poor memory.” Behind the scenes, Biden himself has been furious. At a House Democratic retreat on Thursday, the president unloaded to a small group of lawmakers, questioning the accuracy of the report by asking, “You think I would f—ing forget the day my son died?” according to people familiar with his private comments.

Not all the fire was directed outward: One former Biden aide blamed members of the president’s team for allowing the president to be interviewed by the special counsel in the aftermath of the Oct. 7 attacks in Israel, an episode that led Biden to spend hours in meetings with national security advisers in the Situation Room. “How can they staff him so poorly and put him in that situation—on that day?” asked the former adviser.

Source: https://www.wsj.com/politics/democrats-anxiety-over-bidens-age-grows-after-special-counsel-report-faf6578c

People climbing Mount Everest will now have to clear up their own poo and bring it back to base camp to be disposed of, authorities have said.

“Our mountains have begun to stink,” Mingma Sherpa, chairman of Pasang Lhamu rural municipality, told the BBC.

The municipality, which covers most of the Everest region, has introduced the new rule as part of wider measures being implemented.

Due to extreme temperatures, excrement left on Everest does not fully degrade.

“We are getting complaints that human stools are visible on rocks and some climbers are falling sick. This is not acceptable and erodes our image,” Mr Mingma adds.

Climbers attempting Mount Everest, the world’s highest peak, and nearby Mount Lhotse will be ordered to buy so-called poo bags at base camp, which will be “checked upon their return”.

Where do you poo up a mountain?
During climbing season mountaineers spend most of their time at base camp acclimatising to the altitude, where separate tents are erected as toilets, with barrels underneath collecting the excrement.

But once they begin their treacherous journey things get more difficult.

Most climbers and support staff tend to dig a hole but the higher you go up the mountain, some locations have less snow, so you have to go to the toilet out in the open.

Very few people bring their excrement back in biodegradable bags when climbing Mount Everest’s summit, which can take weeks.

Rubbish remains a huge issue on Everest and other mountains in the region, although there has been an increasing number of clean-up campaigns, including an annual one led by the Nepali Army.

‘Open toilet’
“Waste remains a major issue, especially in higher up camps where you can’t reach,” says Chhiring Sherpa, Chief Executive Officer of the non-government organisation Sagarmatha Pollution Control Committee (SPCC).

Although no official figure exists, his organisation estimates that there are around three tonnes of human excrement between camp one at the bottom of Everest and camp four, towards the summit.

“Half of that is believed to be in South Col, also known as camp four,” Mr Chhiring says.

Stephan Keck, an international mountain guide who also organises expeditions to Everest, said South Col has gained a reputation as an “open toilet”.

At 7,906 metres (25,938 feet) high, South Col serves as the base before climbers attempt to reach the Everest and Lhotse summits. Here, the terrain is very windswept.

“There is hardly any ice and snow, so you will see human stools all around,” Mr Keck says.

Authorised by the Pasang Lhamu rural municipality, the SPCC is now procuring about 8,000 poo bags from the US, for an estimated 400 foreign climbers and 800 support staff for the upcoming climbing season that begins in March.

These poo bags contain chemicals and powders that solidify human excrement and make it largely odourless.

On average, a climber is thought to produce 250 grams of excrement per day. They usually spend about two weeks on the higher camps for the summit attempt.

“With that as the basis, we plan to give them two bags, each of which they can use five to six times,” Mr Chhiring explains.

“It certainly is a positive thing, and we will be happy to play our part to make this successful,” says Dambar Parajuli, president of the Expedition Operators Association of Nepal.

He said his organisation had suggested that this should first be brought in as a pilot project on Everest and then replicated on other mountains too.

Mingma Sherpa, the first Nepali to have climbed all 14 mountains above 8,000 metres, said use of such bags to manage human waste has been tried and tested on other mountains.

“Mountaineers have been using such bags on Mount Denali (the highest peak in North America) and in the Antarctic as well, that is why we have been advocating for it,” says Mr Mingma, who is also an advisor to the Nepal Mountaineering Association.

Mr Keck, the international mountain guide, echoed the same message, saying the idea will help to clean up the mountain.

Source: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-68237123

The model maker says Guinness World Records rejected his efforts without even looking at his 7.19m (23.6ft) model, stating two reasons for its decision.

A man has been awarded the Guinness World Record for the world’s tallest structure using matchsticks – after first having his effort rejected.

The Frenchman, Richard Plaud, had built a model of the Eiffel Tower using over 700,000 matchsticks, but said that they rejected him because the structure must be built from matches that are available to the public for purchase and don’t have flammable red tips – and they must “not be cut, disassembled or deformed to the point where they are no longer recognised” as matches.

Mr Plaud told French media outlet TFI he started off the tower with matches bought commercially, but became tired of having to cut off their red tips one by one, so ended up contacting the main French manufacturer to have the wooden rods delivered in 15kg boxes.

He says he did not know this would disqualify him from breaking the record.

Mr Plaud, 47, said he spent eight years and 4,200 hours assembling 706,900 matches to build the world’s tallest structure made of matches, measured at 7.19m (23.6ft).

After completing his piece on 27 December, Mr Plaud said he submitted an application to Guinness World Records only for it to be rejected without even being looked at.

Source: https://news.sky.com/story/man-builds-eiffel-tower-model-with-700000-matchsticks-over-eight-years-only-to-have-world-record-rejected-13065876

Queen Camilla has described the King as doing “extremely well under the circumstances” following his cancer diagnosis.

The Queen has said the King is “doing extremely well”, as the 75-year-old monarch continues his cancer treatment.

At a musical evening at Salisbury Cathedral, Queen Camilla also said the King is “touched” by the messages from the public.

The Queen had left the King at Sandringham to fulfil her royal engagement and among the first people she met were medical staff from Wiltshire Air Ambulance.

Ben Abbott, a critical care paramedic, said: “I do hope His Majesty is doing well Ma’am, we’re all really sad to hear the news.”

In her first public words since the diagnosis was announced on Monday, she replied: “He is doing extremely well under the circumstances.

“He is very touched by all of the letters and messages the public have been sending from everywhere. That’s very cheering.”

The King’s cancer treatment as an outpatient started earlier this week, and he returned, with the Queen, to his Sandringham home in Norfolk on Tuesday after seeing Prince Harry in London.

The Duke of Sussex returned to his family in California after he is said to have spent about 45 minutes with his father at Clarence House.

King Charles was diagnosed with a “form of cancer” after he had hospital treatment for an enlarged prostate.

Buckingham Palace has not confirmed what type of cancer he has. But it has said he does not have prostate cancer.

Meanwhile, Prince William returned to royal duties for the first time following his wife’s abdominal operation and the King’s diagnosis.

Arriving at a gala for the London Air Ambulance Service in central London on Wednesday night, the Prince of Wales waved to people gathered outside and said: “We really appreciate everyone’s kind messages, thank you.”

Source: https://news.sky.com/story/king-doing-extremely-well-says-queen-as-monarch-undergoes-cancer-treatment-13065497

From the poisoning of former KGB agent Alexander Litvinenko to Yevgeny Prigozhin’s fiery plane crash, a number of high profile critics of Vladimir Putin have died, while others are in prison or exile. The Kremlin routinely denies involvement.

Jailed, shot dead in the street, fallen from windows or poisoned with tea spiked with polonium-210. Vladimir Putin’s opponents often find themselves suffering unfortunate fates.

The KGB spy-turned-president has been atop the Kremlin for two decades and has encountered a number of opponents and controversies.

Who are the people who have dared speak out against Mr Putin or defy the Kremlin, and where are they now?

Alexei Navalny

Born to factory owners in a village west of Moscow, Alexei Navalny grew to become perhaps the highest profile critic of Mr Putin’s time in power.

His political activisim, including extensive investigations into high-level corruption and running to be mayor of Moscow gained him fame and many believed he posed a threat to Mr Putin.

It was in August 2020 when his fight against the Russian president hit the global headlines.

He fell gravely ill on a flight from Siberia to Moscow and Navalny was flown, still in a coma, to Berlin.

His team accused the Kremlin of poisoning him, a charge the Kremlin denied.

German medics confirmed that he had been poisoned with novichok – a Soviet-era nerve agent – and his recovery took months.

Despite the danger, Mr Navalny elected to return to Russia where he was later arrested, convicted on charges he says are politically motivated, and remains in a Russian penal colony.

Boris Nadezhdin speaks during a meeting of the Russia's Central Election Commission in Moscow, Russia.

Boris Nadezhdin

Opposition politician Boris Nadezhdin declared that he would run against Putin in the 2024 presidential election.

Despite doubts that the 60-year-old could present a serious challenge to the incumbent leader, Mr Nadezhdin said he had gathered more than 200,000 signatures from across Russia.

He had surprised some analysts with his strong criticism of what the Kremlin calls its “special military operation” in Ukraine, calling the war a “fatal mistake” and vowing to try to end it through negotiations.

On 8 February, he said he had been barred from running in the election and the Central Election Commission said it had found flaws in signatures his campaign had collected.

He vowed to appeal to Russia’s supreme court, adding: “Taking part in the presidential election in 2024 is the most important political decision of my life. I am not giving up on my intentions.”

Speaking to Sky News last year, Mr Nadezhdin said he was not afraid of speaking out “because I have a long life” and he had faced death several times.

Source: https://news.sky.com/story/poisoned-jailed-and-mysterious-fall-from-window-whats-happened-to-vladimir-putins-most-vocal-critics-13066825

Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s Facebook and Instagram accounts have been banned for “repeatedly violating” Meta’s “dangerous organisations and individuals policy”, a spokesperson of the technology conglomerate told news agency AFP.

Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, said on Thursday (February 8) that it had banned the accounts of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei for violating the social media organisation’s “content policy”.

“We have removed these accounts for repeatedly violating our Dangerous Organisations & Individuals policy,” a Meta spokesperson told news agency AFP.

The Facebook and Instagram accounts of Khamenei, according to Meta, were reportedly part of a network that engaged in “inauthentic activity” and “misleading people” about “who they are and what they are doing”, news website Al Bawaba reported.

On opening Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s Instagram account, a “this page isn’t available” message is popping up on the screen.

Meta reportedly removed as many as 200 Facebook and 125 Instagram accounts, nine groups and 29 pages linked to the said Iranian network, the Al Bawaba report further stated.

Though Meta did not mention the Israel-Hamas war, the technology conglomerate has been under pressure lately to ban Iran’s Supreme Leader ever since the October 7 attack by the Palestinian group, which is supported by Iran.

Meta’s policy, on which the decision was based, says that organisations or individuals that ” proclaim a violent mission or are engaged in violence to have a presence on our platforms” are not permitted on the firm’s social media portals, in an “effort to prevent and disrupt real-world harm”.

Source: https://www.indiatoday.in/world/story/iran-supreme-leader-ayatollah-ali-khamenei-facebook-instagram-accounts-banned-meta-violating-content-policy-2499542-2024-02-09

Nearly 160 people suffered from vomiting and diarrhea aboard a luxury cruise ship that has since departed from San Francisco, health officials confirmed, and it’s still unclear what caused the mysterious gastrointestinal outbreak.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 129 passengers and 25 crew members got sick from Jan. 22 to Feb. 6 on the Queen Victoria, a vessel of the upscale Cunard Line. The Queen Victoria departed from San Francisco on Wednesday, Feb. 7, and is now headed toward Hawaii, Jackie Chase, a Cunard press representative, told SFGATE.

Since the outbreak, cruise employees have isolated sick passengers and crew and increased its sanitization protocols, the CDC’s website said. Chase told SFGATE via email that these measures have been effective.

Cunard, which has operated such notable ocean liners as the Queen Mary and Lusitania in its 184-year history, offers amenities like “luxury 3D cinema,” its website reads, along with talks from famous guest speakers and black tie events that “feel like a scene from a Hollywood movie.” The company is now owned by Florida-based Carnival Corporation.

According to the CDC, cruise ships create the perfect storm for gastrointestinal illness.

Millions of Americans travel on cruises each year, exposing themselves to new environments and other travelers packed in close quarters, the CDC says. Naturally, these conditions pave the way for viruses to spread, especially through person-to-person contact.

As a result, in early 2024, nearly 100 passengers fell ill with norovirus — also known as the “winter vomiting bug” — on a Celebrity cruise. Fourteen other ships had norovirus, E. coli and salmonella outbreaks the year before, the CDC website shows. Sick passengers are advised to consult the ship’s medical staff, wash their hands often, and notify crew members of other ill passengers.

Source: https://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/luxury-cruise-sf-illness-outbreak-18656461.php

Taylor Swift sent a cease and desist letter to a man who tracks her private jet location on social media, but he’s claiming the pop star is providing ‘contradicting information.’

Jack Sweeney’s account @taylorswiftjets was suspended by Meta platforms Instagram, Threads, and Facebook. The Forbes 30 Under 30 entrepreneur uses bots to monitor the location of celebrities’ jets and reports the information to the public with the goal of “transparency and public information,” especially in tracking carbon emissions.

Taylor is not the only star that he tracks, but her team did serve him a cease and desist letter, citing concerns about the pop princess’ safety. He told The Mirror: “It’s worth noting, as reported by WAPO, that this letter surfaced days after headlines criticised her jet use and its carbon emissions.

“A year prior, her team informed the media that her jet is seldom used by her and is often loaned out. These statements contradict each other, much like her team’s response to owning a single jet, which has only been true for the past two weeks.”

Jack claims that, up until recently, Taylor’s family owned one jet. “The claim of owning just one jet seems to be an attempt to downplay the family’s jet use,” he added. Jack also flagged concerns about Taylor’s response to headlines pointing fingers at her carbon emissions and environmental impact for using her jets frequently, both while on tour and in her private life. According to Jack, Taylor and her publicist, Tree Paine, only provide “a single short statement about an ongoing investigation.”

A legal letter sent to Jack says: “We are aware of your public disputes with other high-profile individuals and your tactics in those interactions, including offering to stop your harmful behavior only in exchange for items of value. While this may be a game to you, or an avenue that you hope will earn you wealth or fame, it is a life-or-death matter for our Client. Ms. Swift has dealt with stalkers and other individuals who wish her harm.”

“Why is her team not responding to my correspondence or anything regarding the points on the emissions?” Jack asked. It’s worth noting that Taylor, according to MyClimateTracker, is not even in the Top 30 of celebrities who used private jets the most in 2023. Number one weighed in with Travis Scott with Kim Kardashian trailing close behind. Taylor purchased more than double the carbon credits needed to offset all of her travel, which includes the tour.

Source: https://www.mirror.co.uk/3am/us-celebrity-news/man-tracking-taylor-swifts-private-32072173