Category: World

Sean “Diddy” Combs’ legal battles rage on.

The embattled music mogul has been hit with five bombshell new lawsuits filed in the Southern District of New York accusing him of raping, drugging, sodomizing and threatening to kill alleged victims.

In court documents obtained by Page Six on Monday, one unidentified female claimed Combs raped her in 2004 after the then-19-year-old was allegedly invited to a photo shoot — and then to his Marriott hotel room in Manhattan.

At the “more exclusive party,” the college student was allegedly taken to a “separate room off from the main party” where the door was locked and she claims Combs assaulted her and her friend.

The Revolt founder allegedly “threatened to have them both killed” if they did not comply.

In another filing, an unnamed male accused Combs of aggravated sexual assault in a Macy’s department store stockroom in 2008.

The man claimed he was confronted by Combs and two bodyguards who threatened to “kill” the victim as the songwriter allegedly orally raped him.

Another unidentified man accused Combs of drugging and sodomizing him in a van outside of a White Party in 2006.

He claimed the Grammy winner “dismissed” his pleas for help by repeatedly telling him he would “be alright.”

Another White Party attendee claimed Combs requested he “drop his pants and expose” himself in 1998 before allegedly touching the then-16-year-old’s genitals.

Source: https://pagesix.com/2024/10/14/celebrity-news/diddy-accused-of-drugging-raping-sodomizing-and-threatening-to-kill-victims-lawsuits/

Benjamin Netanyahu has never believed in peace and the US does not approve of the level of “collateral damage” in attacks by Israel, Nancy Pelosi has said. Meanwhile, China has added it names to a growing list condemning Israeli attacks on UN peacekeepers in Lebanon

Netanyahu: Israel will make its own decisions

Three U.S.-based academics won the 2024 Nobel economics prize on Monday for research that explored the aftermath of colonisation to understand why global inequality persists today, especially in countries dogged by corruption and dictatorship.
Simon Johnson and James Robinson, both British-American, and Turkish-American Daron Acemoglu were commended for their work on “how institutions are formed and affect prosperity”, the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences said.

“Reducing the vast differences in income between countries is one of our time’s greatest challenges,” said Jakob Svensson, Chair of the Committee for the Prize in Economic Sciences.
“They have identified the historical roots of the weak institutional environments that characterize many low-income countries today,” he told a press conference.
The award came a day after a World Bank report showed that the world’s 26 poorest countries – home to 40% of its most poverty-stricken people – are more in debt than at any time since 2006, highlighting a major reversal in the fight against poverty.

“I think that’s the biggest concern that I see in the industrialised world,” he said, adding the Nov. 5 presidential election was “a serious stress test” for U.S. democracy.
Acemoglu and Johnson work at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, while Robinson is at the University of Chicago, where he spoke at a press conference on Monday and referred to his co-laureates as his “best friends.”
“I’m not someone who thinks that economists have a kind of cure for everything, or they have some silver bullet,” he said. “Ideas are important in terms of giving people levers or giving people ways to think about the problems in their society.”

‘REVERSAL OF FORTUNE’

Canada expelled six Indian diplomats including the high commissioner on Monday, linking them to the murder of a Sikh separatist leader and alleging a broader effort to target Indian dissidents in Canada.
Earlier in the day, India retaliated by ordering the expulsion of six high-ranking Canadian diplomats including the acting high commissioner and said it had withdrawn its envoy from Canada, contradicting Canada’s statement of expulsion.

The diplomatic row represents a major deterioration of relations between the two Commonwealth countries. Ties have been frayed since Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said last year he had evidence linking Indian agents to the assassination of Sikh leader Hardeep Singh Nijjar on Canadian territory.
The government now has “clear and compelling evidence that agents of the government of India have engaged in and continue to engage in activities that pose a significant threat to public safety,” Trudeau said at a news conference.

Elon Musk’s Starship rocket on Sunday made history by successfully manoeuvring back to its launch tower. Anand Mahindra and many others reacted to this space travel milestone.

Anand Mahindra, Chairman of Mahindra Group, shared a video clip showing the lower half of Elon Musk’s Starship rocket skillfully maneuvering back next to its launch tower. In the footage, one could see the aircraft making its historic journey during its fifth test flight as it was caught in a giant pair of mechanical arms.

Hailing the tech billionaire and Space X owner, Elon Musk, for his willingness to take up great risks, Anand Mahindra asked, “Where can I buy my ticket, @elonmusk,” in a social media post on X (formerly Twitter).

Describing the awe-inspiring event in a post, Anand Mahindra wrote, “And this Sunday, I’m happy to be a couch potato, if it means that I get to watch history being made. This experiment may just be the critical moment when space travel was democratised and made routine.”

The choices on the movie marquee this weekend included Joaquin Phoenix as the Joker, a film about Donald Trump, a “Saturday Night Live” origin story and even Pharrell Williams as a Lego. In the end, all were trounced by an ax-wielding clown.

“Terrifier 3,” a gory, low-budget slasher from the small distributor Cineverse, topped the weekend box office with $18.3 million, according to estimates Sunday. The film, a sequel to 2022’s “Terrifier 2” ($15 million worldwide in ticket sales), brings back the murderous Art the Clown (David Howard Thornton) and lets him loose, under the guise of Santa, at a Christmas party.

That “Terrifier 3” could notably overperform expectations and leapfrog both major studios and awards hopefuls was only possible due to the disaster of “Joker: Folie à Deux.” After Todd Phillips’ “Joker” sequel, starring Phoenix and Lady Gaga, got off to a much-diminished start last weekend (and a “D” CinemaScore from audiences), the Warner Bros. release fell a staggering 81% in its second weekend, bringing in just $7.1 million.

For a superhero film, such a drop has little precedent. Disappointments like “The Marvels,” “The Flash” and “Shazam Fury of the Gods” all managed better second weekends. Such a mass rejection by audiences and critics is particularly unusually for a follow-up to a massive hit like 2019’s “Joker.” That film, also from Phillips and Phoenix, grossed more than $1 billion worldwide against a $60 million budget.

The sequel was pricier, costing about $200 million to make. That means “Joker: Folie à Deux” is headed for certain box-office disaster. Globally, it’s collected $165.3 million in ticket sales.

“This is an outlier of a weekend if ever there was one,” said Paul Dergarabedian, senior media analyst for Comscore. “If you had asked anyone a month ago or even a week ago: Would ‘Terrifier 3’ be the number one movie amongst all these major-studio films and awards contenders? To have a movie like this come along just shows you that the audience is the ultimate arbiter of what wins at the box office.”

The “Joker” slide allowed “The Wild Robot,” the acclaimed Universal Pictures and DreamWorks animated movie, to take second place in its third weekend with $13.4 million. Strong reviews for Chris Sanders’ adaptation of Peter Brown’s book have led the movie, with Lupita Nyong’o voicing the robot protagonist, to $83.7 million domestically and $148 million worldwide.

The young Donald Trump film “The Apprentice,” distributed by Briarcliff Entertainment in 1,740 theaters, opened in a distant 10th place, managing a paltry $1.6 million in ticket sales. While expectations weren’t much higher, audiences still showed little enthusiasm for an election-year origin story of the Republican nominee.

If headlines translated to ticket sales, Ali Abbasi’s film might have done better. “The Apprentice,” starring Sebastian Stan as Trump under the mentorship of Roy Cohn (Jeremy Strong), has been making news since its debut at the Cannes Film Festival, up to its last-minute release just weeks before the election. The Trump campaign has called the movie “election interference by Hollywood elites.”

Abbasi’s film, set in the 1970s and 1980s, tested moviegoer’s appetite for a political film in an election year. Major studios and specialty labels passed on acquiring it in part because of the question of whether a movie about Trump would turn off both liberal and conservative moviegoers, alike. “The Apprentice” will depend on continued awards conversation for Strong and Stan to make a significant mark in theaters before voters turn out at the polls.

Jason Reitman’s “Saturday Night” failed to ignite its nationwide expansion. The film, with an ensemble cast led by Gabriel LaBelle’s Lorne Michaels, collected $3.4 million from 2,288 locations. The Sony Pictures release, about the backstage drama as the NBC sketch comedy show is about to air for the first time in 1975, will likely need to make more of an impact with audiences to carry it through awards season.

“Piece by Piece,” a Pharrell Williams documentary-biopic hybrid animated in Lego form, had also been hoping to click better with moviegoers. The acclaimed Focus Features release, directed by veteran documentarian Morgan Neville (“20 Feet From Stardom,” “Won’t You Be My Neighbor?”), opened with $3.8 million from 1,865 theaters.

But the debut for “Piece By Piece,” while low for a Lego animated movie, was very high for a documentary. “Piece By Piece,” which had the weekend’s best CinemaScore, an “A” from audiences, could play well for weeks to come. The film, which was modestly budgeted at $16 million, is also likely to end up the year’s highest grossing doc — if “Piece by Piece” can be called that.

“We Live in Time,” the weepy drama starring Florence Pugh and Andrew Garfield, had one of the year’s best per-theater averages in its five-screen opening. The A24 release, which will expand nationwide next weekend, debuted with $255,911 and a $51,000 per-screen average.

Source: https://apnews.com/article/box-office-terrifier-3-joker-apprentice-trump-531515f88d678d99f2a40f2bcd8535ac

South Korea said Monday it has detected signs that North Korea is preparing to destroy the northern parts of inter-Korean roads no longer in use, as the rivals are embroiled in soaring tensions over North Korea’s claim that South Korea flew drones over its territory.

Destroying the roads would be in line with leader Kim Jong Un’s push to cut off ties with South Korea and formally cement it as his country’s principal enemy.

South Korea’s military said Monday that it was observing various activities in North Korea that appeared to be preparations for demolishing the roads, such as installing screens.

“They have installed screens on the road and are working behind those screens, preparing to blow up the roads,” Lee Sung Joon, spokesperson of South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff, told a briefing. He said the demolitions could be carried out as early as Monday.

Lee said that the South Korean military believes that the North could also attempt to launch a space rocket, which is viewed by the U.N. as a banned test of long-range missile technology. Lee said North Korea may conduct unspecified “small provocations” to ramp up pressure on Seoul.

A Hezbollah drone attack on an army base in central Israel killed four soldiers and severely wounded seven others Sunday, the military said, in the deadliest strike by the militant group since Israel launched its ground invasion of Lebanon nearly two weeks ago.

The Lebanon-based Hezbollah called the attack near Binyamina city retaliation for Israeli strikes on Beirut on Thursday that killed 22 people. It later said it targeted Israel’s elite Golani brigade, launching dozens of missiles to occupy Israeli air defense systems during the assault by “squadrons” of drones.

Israel’s national rescue service said the attack wounded 61. With Israel’s advanced air-defense systems, it’s rare for so many people to be injured by drones or missiles. Hezbollah and Israel have traded fire almost daily in the year since the war in Gaza began, and fighting has escalated.

Israel launched its ground operation in Lebanon earlier this month with the goal of weakening Hezbollah and pushing the militant group away from the border to allow thousands of displaced Israelis to return to their homes.

Inside Gaza, an Israeli airstrike killed at least 20 people including children at a school Sunday night, according to two local hospitals. The school in Nuseirat was sheltering some of the many Palestinians displaced by the war.

Meanwhile, explosions hit early Monday outside Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir al-Balah, killing three people and injuring about 50 others, the hospital said. Tents caught fire, and residents of the Central Gaza community carried the injured into the hospital.

Hezbollah’s deadly strike in Israel came the same day that the United States announced it would send a new air-defense system to Israel to help bolster protection against missiles, along with troops needed to operate it. An Israeli army spokesperson declined to provide a timeline.

Israel is now at war with Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon — both Iran-backed militant groups — and is expected to strike Iran in retaliation for a missile attack earlier this month. Iran has said it will respond to any Israeli attack.

Netanyahu calls UN peacekeepers ‘human shield’ for Hezbollah
The U.N. peacekeeping force in Lebanon known as UNIFIL said Israeli tanks forcibly entered the gates of one position early Sunday and destroyed the main gate. They later fired smoke rounds near peacekeepers, causing skin irritation. UNIFIL called the incident a “further flagrant violation of international law.”

International criticism is growing after Israeli forces have repeatedly fired on U.N. peacekeepers since the start of the ground operation in Lebanon. Five peacekeepers have been wounded in attacks that struck their positions, with most blamed on Israeli forces.

Stéphane Dujarric, spokesman for U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres, called Sunday’s incident “deeply worrying” and said attacks against peacekeepers may constitute a war crime.

Israel’s military says Hezbollah operates in the peacekeepers’ vicinity, without providing evidence.

Military officials said a tank trying to evacuate wounded soldiers backed into a U.N. post Sunday while under fire. A smoke screen was used to provide cover, they said.

Army spokesman Lt. Col. Nadav Shoshani asserted that Israel has tried to maintain constant contact with UNIFIL, and any instance of U.N. forces being harmed will be investigated at “the highest level.”

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday called for UNIFIL to heed Israel’s warnings to evacuate, accusing them of “providing a human shield” to Hezbollah.

“We regret the injury to the UNIFIL soldiers, and we are doing everything in our power to prevent this injury. But the simple and obvious way to ensure this is simply to get them out of the danger zone,” he said in a video addressed to the U.N. secretary-general, who has been banned from entering Israel.

Israel has long accused the United Nations of being biased against it, and relations have plunged further since the start of the war in Gaza.

Israeli strike in Lebanon destroys Ottoman-era market

Hezbollah began firing rockets into Israel a day after Hamas’ surprise attack on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, drawing retaliatory airstrikes. The conflict escalated in September with Israeli strikes that killed Hezbollah’s leader, Hassan Nasrallah, and most of his senior commanders.

Comet A3, also known as Tsuchinshan-ATLAS, did not disappoint astronomers as it came within approximately 44 million miles of Earth on Saturday night.

Stargazers across the globe managed to capture the “comet of the century” as it whizzed across the northern hemisphere.

Comet A3, also known as Tsuchinshan-ATLAS, did not disappoint astronomers who were anticipating how bright and visible it might be as it came within approximately 44 million miles of Earth on Saturday.

Snaps from across the UK, US and Asia showed the comet within the inner solar system.

The phenomenon roughly occurs every 80,000 years – meaning the comet would have last been visible from Earth when the Neanderthals were walking the planet.

It is believed the comet came from the Oort Cloud – a giant spherical shell that surrounds our solar system and contains billions of objects including comets – according to the Royal Astronomical Society (RAS).

The comet has been billed as the “comet of the century” in some quarters, the RAS said.

It was discovered independently in January 2023 by two observatories – China’s Tsuchinshan (Purple Mountain) Observatory and South Africa’s ATLAS (Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Last Alert System) – and was named after them.

The comet A3 was previously visible from Earth between 27 September and 2 October when it travelled across the southern hemisphere.

Kirat Assi’s catfish nightmare first came to public attention in 2021 after the Sweet Bobby podcast dissected the nine-year deception that pushed her to the edge. Now Netflix is releasing a documentary about it.

The latest true crime documentary to hit our screens is described as “a fairytale romance gone horribly wrong”. It labels itself “one crazy story” in its opening scene.

But while Sweet Bobby: My Catfish Nightmare is a true story, the near-decade of deception, manipulation and coercion it depicts isn’t a crime.

Catfishing – the name given to using fake online profiles to trick others into believing they are in a relationship – is not illegal in the UK.

Kirat Assi, the subject of Netflix’s Sweet Bobby documentary tells Sky News: “People say, ‘How can you be so stupid?’ That’s the constant question you get. But none of us [victims] are stupid. It’s just the perpetrator’s gone the extra mile.”

Thought to be the UK’s longest-known catfishing scam, it’s the story of Kirat, an events assistant and radio presenter, who was deceived into believing she was in an online relationship with a cardiologist called Dr Bobby Jandu between 2009 and 2018.

Using the identity of a real person who Kirat had once briefly met, the perpetrator spent years building up the fake friendship, with the relationship becoming romantic from late 2015. They even became engaged.

But nothing was what it seemed, and every interaction – with around 60 people in total across multiple social platforms – was all one of Kirat’s distant relatives.

Kirat admits she wasn’t keen for the first telling of the story via Tortoise Media’s podcast of the same name in 2021, let alone the documentary it’s now inspired.

So why is she allowing it to be shared with the world via the world’s largest streaming platform?

Now 44, Kirat says: “At the moment of her confession, I was screaming, ‘Why?’ But I’ve long ago let go of that… There’s just no reason to have done what she did. Now, I just need to know how she did it.”

How unlucky can one person be?

The documentary sets out how, during Kirat’s relationship with Bobby, he was shot six times in Kenya; put into witness protection in New York; suffered a stroke, brain tumour and heart attack; and fathered a secret child.

But while Kirat concedes she found it “strange”, “a bit weird”, and even asked herself “How unlucky can one person be?”, a circle of Bobby’s friends and family always validated the events in his life across numerous forms of social media.

The couple would Skype call all night and share voice notes and messages constantly.

Kirat is at pains to say it wasn’t a 10-year romance, and that initially she baulked at the idea due to their friendship being firmly in the “bro-zone”. But after years of persuasion, she says she finally gave in and they became a couple.

‘My life was hellish’

Towards the end of the relationship, Kirat says Bobby became controlling, accusing her of flirting with other men, and discouraging her from going to work or seeing friends and family.

She says that’s when things took a turn for the worse: “I started to lose weight… It was coercive control, to a point where you’re thoroughly being abused, where you don’t have any sense of yourself left anymore. And you’re just scared all the time.”

That’s when she hired a private detective, confronting the real-life Bobby on the doorstep of his family home in Brighton.

Kirat says: “I was just trying to find out the truth in that last period, but at the same time trying to keep the peace and not rock the boat because my life would be made hell. And it was hellish enough already.”

DeepState, a Ukrainian battlefield analysis site close to Ukraine’s defence ministry, alleges the prisoners of war were shot on 10 October in the Russian region of Kursk.

Ukraine says nine of its “drone operators and contractors” have been killed by Russian troops after they had surrendered.

DeepState, a Ukrainian battlefield analysis site close to Ukraine’s defence ministry, alleges the prisoners of war were shot on 10 October in the Russian region of Kursk, where Kyiv launched an incursion in August.

Ukraine’s human rights ombudsman has urged international organisations to respond.

Dmytro Lubinets said on Telegram that he sent letters to the United Nations and the International Committee of the Red Cross regarding the claim, calling it “another crime committed by the Russians”.

Earlier this month, the Prosecutor General’s Office of Ukraine said Russian troops had killed 16 captured Ukrainian soldiers in the partially occupied Donetsk region.

There was no immediate response from Russian officials.

Meanwhile, the Ukrainian air force said on Sunday that its air defences had shot down 31 of 68 drones launched at Ukraine by Russia overnight in the regions of Kyiv, Poltava, Chernihiv, Sumy and Cherkasy.

A further 36 drones were “lost” over various areas, it said, probably having been electronically jammed.

The air force added that ballistic missiles struck Odesa and Poltava while Chernihiv and Sumy came under attack by a guided air missile. Local authorities did not report any casualties or damage.

Source: https://news.sky.com/story/ukraine-claims-russia-killed-nine-drone-operators-after-they-had-surrendered-13232955

Kanye West has been accused of drugging and raping his former assistant at a party hosted by Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs in a bombshell new lawsuit

Rapper Kanye West is facing serious allegations of drugging and raping his former assistant at a party thrown by Sean “Diddy” Combs, as revealed in a shocking new lawsuit. His ex-assistant, Lauren Pisciotta, who sued West back in June for alleged stalking and sexual harassment, has now updated her lawsuit with these new accusations.

According to court documents obtained by The Mirror US, Pisciotta accused West of sending her suggestive messages during her tenure as his assistant in 2021, implying he wanted to engage in sexual activities with her. She also claimed that West would perform a sex act while on phone calls with her.

In the updated lawsuit, Pisciotta alleges that she was drugged and raped by West, claiming that he confessed to these actions. The lawsuit details how Pisciotta met West after he invited her musician client to a studio session and subsequently to a party hosted by Combs.

At the party, West allegedly insisted everyone have a drink to stay, handing Pisciotta a drink herself. After a few sips, Pisciotta claims she began to feel “disorientated.”

The revised lawsuit claims: “She felt less in control of her body and speech and that is where [her] memories of the night escape her,” reports The Mirror.

The plaintiff reportedly was “too traumatized and disturbed to speak about that night” and remained silent about the event.

Attorney Pisciotta stated that West discussed the party with her shortly before his termination of her employment in November 2022, following a remark made by his ex-wife regarding an alleged affair between Pisciotta and West.

The ex-wife’s identity is not disclosed in the legal documents. Pisciotta expressed a desire to contact the ex-wife, but alleges West forbade it due to the events at the Diddy party.

Source: https://www.the-express.com/entertainment/celebrity-news/151472/kanye-west-accused-drugging-raping-lawsuit-Lauren-Pisciotta

Giorgio Armani, the founder of the eponymous Italian fashion brand, said in an interview published on Sunday that he plans to retire within the next two or three years.
Armani is 90 years old and has so far been tight-lipped about the succession plans for the company he founded in 1975 and still firmly controls.
“I can still give myself two or three years as head of the company. Not more, it would be negative,” he told Italy’s Corriere della Sera newspaper.

Armani said he has restless nights in which he dreams of a future in which “I no longer have to be the one who says ‘Yes’ or ‘No’.”
He added he has received “slightly more insistent” approaches from potential outside investors in his company, “but for the moment I do not see any openings”.
With no children to pass it on to, there has been speculation about the long-term future of Armani’s empire and whether, in an industry dominated by luxury conglomerates such as LVMH (LVMH.PA), opens new tab and Kering (PRTP.PA), opens new tab, it will be able to maintain the independence he treasures.

In the interview with Corriere della Sera, Armani said he had “built a kind of structure, a project, a protocol” to govern his succession, without elaborating.
Last year, Reuters reported on a document held by a notary in Milan which sets out the future governing principles for those who will inherit the group, and on another that details issues including protecting jobs at the firm.
Armani’s heirs are expected to include his sister, three other family members working in the company, long-term collaborator and partner Pantaleo Dell’Orco and a charitable foundation.

Source: https://www.reuters.com/business/retail-consumer/giorgio-armani-90-says-he-plans-retire-within-two-or-three-years-2024-10-13/

China’s military launched a new round of war games near Taiwan on Monday, saying it was a warning to the “separatist acts of Taiwan independence forces”, drawing condemnation from the Taipei and U.S. governments.
Democratically governed Taiwan, which China views as its own territory, had been on alert for more war games since last week’s national day speech by President Lai Ching-te, an address Beijing condemned after Lai said China had no right to represent Taiwan even as he offered to cooperate with Beijing.

The 15th-century explorer Christopher Columbus was a Sephardic Jew from Western Europe, Spanish scientists said on Saturday, after using DNA analysis to tackle a centuries-old mystery.
Several countries have argued over the origins and the final burial place of the divisive figure who led Spanish-funded expeditions from the 1490s onward, opening the way for the European conquest of the Americas.
Many historians have questioned the traditional theory that Columbus came from Genoa, Italy. Other theories range from him being a Spanish Jew or a Greek, to Basque, Portuguese or British.

To solve the mystery researchers conducted a 22-year investigation, led by forensic expert Miguel Lorente, by testing tiny samples of remains buried in Seville Cathedral, long marked by authorities there as the last resting place of Columbus, though there had been rival claims.
They compared them with those of known relatives and descendants and their findings were announced in a documentary titled “Columbus DNA: The true origin” on Spain’s national broadcaster TVE on Saturday.

The United States said on Sunday it will send U.S. troops to Israel along with an advanced U.S. anti-missile system, in a highly unusual deployment meant to bolster the country’s air defenses following missile attacks by Iran.
U.S. President Joe Biden said the move was meant “to defend Israel,” which is weighing an expected retaliation against Iran after Tehran fired more than 180 missiles at Israel on Oct 1.

There they stood, his arm around her waist, boldly dressed as well they might be. She was 30, beautiful and talented, dressed in a leopard-print top and red slit skirt—beloved by her editors, chased by producers, and envied by much of the journalistic world in New York and D.C.

He was 48, sharply cut in a navy tux, bow tie, and a pair of glasses that would have been loud for the 1970s, let alone the weekend of the White House Correspondents’ Dinner in 2023. He had worn somber straighter ties as a younger man, before he met her. Now they were characters in their own story, a modern-day Nora Ephron and Carl Bernstein, as they liked to say.

Olivia Nuzzi and Ryan Lizza’s lives hadn’t yet been upended by that lost son of American aristocracy: Robert Kennedy Jr., 70, the failed presidential candidate, serial adulterer and perennial tormentor of his wives, of whom Cheryl Hines is only the latest. Nuzzi hadn’t yet met Kennedy for a profile, and started a perilous months-long electronic affair with him in its wake, then failed to disclose it to her employer, New York Magazine; to the public; or to Lizza, her fiancé since 2022.

“I think she was overwhelmed by what he [RFK Jr] is, not who he is,” says someone who knows her. “As a Catholic kid in New York, JFK was like a god.”

Lizza now stands accused by Nuzzi of attempting to blackmail her into staying with him when he discovered the affair this past August. Lizza “explicitly threatened to make public personal information about me to destroy my life, career, and reputation—a threat he has since carried out,” Nuzzi wrote in a filing to DC Superior Court on Sept. 30.

On Tuesday, Lizza will have to answer Nuzzi’s charges in a D.C. courtroom; he had initially escaped scrutiny when news of her relationship with Kennedy broke on Sept. 19. An error of judgment that could have remained private has spiraled into a totemic national story, with first Lizza (if Nuzzi is to be believed) and now Nuzzi inviting the press to cover their fracturing lives.

Outside the CBS News after-party for the White House Correspondents’ Association at the French embassy in April 2023, all of that was still to come. Everything the pair had worked for—all the fruits of their hustle, ambition and industry—was still intact.

The Teflon Reporter And the Teflon Don

As the pair headed inside, it was Lizza who harbored his own secret history—his family’s.

The world he had grown up in, the one no one in DC seemed to know, was imploding. A local empire made on the roads of Long Island was now embroiled in the courts of New York. Three months earlier, his elder brother Frank Jr. had been charged by federal prosecutors with defrauding a union benefit fund and making false statements, becoming the third Lizza to be investigated by authorities. He would soon become the family’s second convicted felon in the space of three years.

The Lizza wealth had been built on decades of government contracts across a web of road, asphalt, and construction businesses. Lizza’s grandfather Carlo, the son of an Italian laborer, started the family’s first eponymous company in America. It paved much of the Long Island Expressway. Carlo’s sons all went on to found construction firms of their own. Some of these firms, and some of the sons, would later be indicted on conspiracy to rig bids on federal contracts, conspiracy to bribe local officials, and in one instance, to be accused of mob ties to John Gotti, the “Teflon Don” and head of the Gambino crime family in late 1980s New York.

This was the world Ryan Lizza had escaped. He had spent 25 years rising through D.C. thanks to his energy and talent—without anyone knowing anything about it.

The Double Drop-Out Who Became the Toast of D.C.
The society from which Olivia Nuzzi rose was better known. She was proud of her path and spoke openly about it. The only daughter of a New York City sanitation worker, she grew up in Red Bank, New Jersey, a pleasant commuter town with good schools and wide lawns an hour south of the city, where membership of the local beach club marked your social standing.

She left Middletown High South early and dropped out of Fordham University in the Bronx, too. Yet by the time she was 24, New York Magazine had poached her from the Daily Beast to be its correspondent in D.C. She was soon interviewing then-President Trump in the Oval Office and being lauded on CNN. She rose and kept rising. Her progressive magazine ignored her progressive detractors. Her work was too valuable, her copy too fun, her access too good. She was their Trump whisperer, and she could write. “Olivia, write like you talk,” her first editor on the local paper, New Jersey’s triCityNews, had told her when she was still in college. “Just be real.”

Networks—AMC, Showtime, MSNBC, HBO, Bloomberg—fell over themselves to work with her, while rival journalists who couldn’t stand her, or her standing, fell over themselves in rage. Nuzzi, wrote a future Washington Post reporter in Deadspin, was nothing but a “white-supremacist whisperer” who writes “alarmingly credulous profiles of right-wing ghouls” and, along with Lizza, “conveniently ignore[s] the real and human cost of political decisions.”

How Lizza Paved His Own Path to Success
Lizza’s path was, on the surface, better paved: a backwater New England boarding school (Berkshire, in western Massachusetts), then U.C. Berkeley in the Bay Area, one of the more prestigious colleges you can find 3,000 miles from Long Island. He won an internship at The New Republic, impressing editor Chuck Lane as a good guy, self-effacing and eager to learn. Six years later The Washington Post featured him atop an article on the next generation of political reporters, crediting his revelatory reporting on John Kerry’s 2004 run for president. He wrote one of the first major profiles of Barack Obama, and signed a $250,000 deal with HarperCollins to write a book ahead of the 2008 campaign.

Then David Remnick called and asked him to be The New Yorker’s man in D.C. Remnick vetoed the book; he wanted Lizza filing for him. Lizza’s publisher at HarperCollins was so depressed he refused to find another author. “A reporter of his [Lizza’s] caliber is still where I set the bar,” the publisher said, and no one else met it. Lizza was 32. A career among the D.C. elite stretched out before him.

He enjoyed it for a decade: signing another deal in “the mid six figures” to write a revised book on 2008 that also went unwritten, appearing on Charlie Rose in 2011, and, in 2017, reporting for The New Yorker a profanity-laced phone call that immortalized Anthony Scaramucci—and got him fired as Trump’s communications director 10 days after he took the job. Scaramucci thought the call was off the record. Lizza ran the story. His star was at its zenith. (Scaramucci, who later described Lizza as “f—ing dead to me,” declined to comment on Lizza’s current situation.)

Five months later, however, The New Yorker fired him. At the height of the Me Too movement, a woman with whom he had a previous relationship accused him of sexual misconduct, which he denied. Thrown from a great height, he was offered a lifeline by Jay Fielden, then editor of Esquire. He had to meet with Hearst executives first, to assuage their anxieties. He brought his new girlfriend—Olivia Nuzzi, at 25, 19 years his junior—to one meeting. She offered the air cover of a supportive politician’s wife.

“A reporter of his caliber is still where I set the bar.”
— Lizza’s publisher
Lizza had split from his first wife, a family physician with whom he had two children, a few years earlier. Nuzzi had recently lost her father. They made an odd couple in one sense: one the Trump whisperer, the other a left-leaning reporter ever eager to lean into denouncing Trump. (“I definitely try to get close to the people involved in the campaign,” Lizza told The Washington Post in 2004, “and not fall into the laziness of sitting in the office and reading blogs all day.” But the “moral clarity” of outraged tweets had its rewards in the late 2010s. Lizza went where the energy was.)

Yet their apparent differences betrayed a shared background, one more similar than it appeared. Both had grown up in sight of New York, a city out of reach. Nuzzi would walk around it with her father as a girl. “Any building in Manhattan,” she wrote in the Daily Beast after he died, “he knew the interesting folks who inhabited it.”

In D.C. she and Lizza became two of the interesting folks. His career recovered, with Politico poaching him to co-write Playbook, the town bible, in 2019. “They had a salon-style life,” says a prominent D.C. journalist. Lizza had a big home in Georgetown he’d bought for more than $2m in 2008, only ten years into his career. It was a place you could go to crack open “nice bottles of Scotch” with Ryan and Olivia, who managed to assume a position for themselves as “arbiters at the cool table. They complemented each other. He had money, and she had glamour.”

The Young Woman Who Rose Too Far, Too Fast
Lizza had attracted respect as he rose in the 2000s. He was a man following an expected path for a Washington boy wonder, who rose quickly but not too quickly. Nuzzi’s rise, which came later, was much faster, and played out online, attracting a far harsher glare. Women weren’t meant to interview the president in the Oval Office at the age of 25, and have the president’s vice president, chief of staff and secretary of state drop by when they did.

They certainly weren’t meant to look good doing it. Rival journalists who trailed Trump in 2016 had felt Nuzzi stood out too much. “She dressed really well,” one of them remembers, “and other women in the press [pack] would play ‘ID the outfit’: Chanel, Christian Louboutin, Stella McCartney.”

Source: https://www.thedailybeast.com/the-family-secrets-of-ryan-lizza-whose-fiancee-olivia-nuzzi-cheated-with-rfk-jr

The deceased lay wrapped in a cotton blanket, surrounded by white roses and hydrangea, angelic figurines and lit candles and incense. A wall-mounted screen displayed photographs of him. His 71-year-old companion, Kim Seon-ae, convulsed with tears as she bid farewell, caressing his head and face. Next door, young uniformed morticians prepared for his cremation.

The elaborate and emotional ritual was for a white poodle named Dalkong, who was nestled in a willow basket with his eyes still open.

“He was like a virus that infected me with happiness,” said Ms. Kim, who had lived with Dalkong for 13 years until he succumbed to heart disease. “We were family.”

Not long ago, South Korea often made global headlines — and raised the ire of animal rights groups — for its tradition of breeding dogs for meat. But in recent years, people here have gravitated toward pets, especially dogs. They are looking for companionship at a time when more South Koreans are choosing to stay single, childless or both. More than two-fifths of all households in the nation now consist of only one person.

The pandemic also did much to bring pets into homes, as people cooped up indoors adopted dogs and cats from shelters and the streets.

Now, one out of every four families in South Korea has a pet, up from 17.4 percent in 2010, according to government estimates. Most of them are dogs. (The Korean numbers are still low compared with the United States, where about 62 percent of homes have a pet, according to a survey last year by the Pew Research Center.)

“In this age of mistrust and loneliness, dogs show you what unconditional love is,” said Ms. Kim’s 41-year-old daughter, Kim Su-hyeon, who raised two dogs but has no plans for children. “A human child may talk back and rebel, but dogs follow you like you are the center of the universe.”

Kim Kyeong-sook, 63, whose 18-year-old dachshund, Kangyi, was cremated on the same day as Dalkong, agreed. “When I left home, he saw me off at the door until it was closed behind me,” she said. “When I returned, he was always there, going crazy as if I were coming home from war overseas.”

The boom in pet services has changed the country’s urban landscape. Hospitals and shops catering to pets have become ubiquitous, while childbirth clinics have all but disappeared, as South Korea’s birthrate has become the lowest in the world. In parks and neighborhoods, strollers are more often than not carrying dogs. Online shopping malls say they sell more baby carriages for dogs than for babies.

Politically, dogs have led to a rare case of bipartisanship in a country that is increasingly polarized. In January, lawmakers passed a law that banned the country’s centuries-old practice of breeding and butchering dogs for human consumption.

Now, dogs are family members that get splurged on.

Sim Na-jeong says she wears an old, $38 padded jacket but has bought $150 jackets for Liam, a jindo she adopted from a shelter four years ago.

“Liam is like a child to me,” said Ms. Sim, 34, who does not plan to get married or have children. “I love him the way my mom loved me. I eat old food in the refrigerator, saving the freshest chicken breast for Liam.”

Her mother, Park Young-seon, 66, said she felt sad that many young women had chosen not to have babies. But she said she had come to accept Liam as “my grandson.”

On a recent weekend, the mother and daughter joined six other families who took their dogs on a picnic to Mireuksa, a Buddhist temple in central South Korea. So-called temple stays are a way for ordinary people to meditate and enjoy the monastic quiet. Now, some temples encourage families to bring their dogs along. All participants, human and canine, wear gray Buddhist vests and rosaries.

“I feel more attached to my dogs than to my husband,” said Kang Hyeon-ji, 31, who got married last October and was there with her spouse and two snow-white Pomeranians. Her husband, Kim Sang-baek, 32, shrugged with an embarrassed smile.

Seok Jeong-gak, the head monk of the temple, patted her own dog, Hwaeom, as she preached that humans and dogs were just souls wearing different “shells” in this cycle of life, who may switch shells in their next incarnation. As the sermon went on under a large canvas shade in a temple lawn, Liam was busy licking his paw.

The visitors had booked the temple stay through Banlife, a smartphone app that helps people find pet-friendly restaurants, resorts and temples.

“When I started my business in 2019, people doubted that many would take pets on vacation,” said Lee Hyemi, who runs Banlife. “Now there are people who not just walk their dogs but do everything with them.”

Source: https://dnyuz.com/2024/10/12/one-of-the-loneliest-countries-finds-companionship-in-dogs/

A daredevil British influencer has died after falling from Spain’s highest bridge during an attempted social media stunt.

The 26-year digital creator is said to have plunged from the 630ft (192 metre) Castilla-La Mancha bridge – which stands over the Tagus River 90 minutes southwest of Madrid – in Talavera de la Reina early this morning as he climbed it to film a social media stunt at around 7.15am. The unnamed Brit is said to have been with a 24-year-old companion when he plunged to his death.

National Police as well as local town-hall employed firefighters rushed to the scene with paramedics but there was nothing they could to save the Brit. Footage from the scene of the tragedy showed police cordoning off the area near to where he fell. Talavera de la Reina Town Council confirmed the death in a statement, saying local officials have long made clear that climbing the bridge is “totally banned” and “cannot be done under any circumstances”.

The statement read: “The Councillor for Citizen Security, Macarena Munoz, has confirmed the death of a young man after he fell from the Castilla-La Mancha bridge. He was a 26-year-old Englishman who fell while climbing the aforementioned bridge, something which the councillor has made clear is totally prohibited and that we have reiterated on numerous occasions cannot be done under any circumstances.”

A spokesperson for a regional government-run emergency coordination centre confirmed: “We received the first call at 7.14am today, saying a young man had fallen while he was climbing the Castilla-La Mancha Bridge. The victim, who was aged 26, was pronounced dead at the scene.

“National Police, local police, firefighters from Talavera de la Reina and an emergency ambulance was sent to the scene but there was nothing any of the emergency responders could do to save him.” The bridge is a cable-stayed bridge featuring 152 wire ropes which was opened on October 17 2011 and cost nearly €74 million (£62 million) to build.

It was widely considered a waste of money by local and national media when it was built and as it carried little traffic was often referred to as the “bridge to nowhere.” A year ago local police reported two young bloggers who climbed it without any protection and then posted videos on their social media. In 2016 two youngsters were reported for the same stunt.

Source: https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/world-news/breaking-daredevil-brit-influencer-dies-33882674

Tens of thousands of evangelical Christians gathered on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., on Saturday to pray for America’s atonement and for Donald Trump’s return to the White House.

Organizers of the event, billed “A Million Women,” described the gathering — and next month’s presidential election — as “a last stand moment” to save the nation from forces of darkness. For hours, the gathered masses sang worship songs, waved flags symbolizing their belief that America was founded as an explicitly Christian nation and prayed aloud for Jesus to intercede on behalf of Trump in November.

“If we don’t stand now,” said Grace Lin, who traveled from Los Angeles for the rally and came wearing a red “Make America Great Again” hat, “then the enemy will take over our country. If that happens, that’s the end.”

Lou Engle, the self-described prophet who organized the event, said God told him in a dream to call on a million women to march on Washington in order to restore God’s dominion over the nation. Engle is a leader in the New Apostolic Reformation, a movement of charismatic Christians who for years have portrayed U.S. politics as a spiritual clash between good and evil and Trump as a flawed leader anointed by God to redeem the nation.

“Listen to the cries of your people,” Engle shouted Saturday as thousands of followers lifted their hands to the sky. “Save us, God!”

From a stage overlooking the Washington Monument, Engle and other speakers warned of a multitude of threats they say are facing America: crime, religious persecution, abortion and the growing acceptance of LGBTQ people.

Thousands of women came wearing pink shirts emblazoned with the words “Don’t Mess With Our Kids” — the name and slogan of an anti-LGBTQ activist group that claims library books, public school teachers and pop culture are tricking children into changing genders.

Susan Marsh, who drove from Maryland, said she attended because she fears if Democrats maintain power, her 10-month old grandson will grow up in a nation where he’s pressured to identify as a girl. As she sang and prayed, Marsh waved a large Appeal to Heaven flag — a prominent symbol of the Christian movement to end the separation of church and state in America.

“So many people are hopeless right now,” Marsh said, choking up as she spoke to a reporter. “Our children are going through surgeries that are unnecessary because their hearts are broken and they think they’re not who they’re supposed to be.”

Maryn Freitag was part of a group of about 50 people who traveled from Minnesota. She said she came “to stand with the man who God has selected as the president.” She then gestured to her hat, which spelled out “Trump 2024” in shimmering rhinestones.

Freitag refused to contemplate what would happen if Trump loses to Vice President Kamala Harris: “I don’t even want to go there,” she said.

Sandi Woskie, another member of the Minnesota contingent, overheard the comment. She leaned in and said: “Think Armageddon.”

“That’s right,” Freitag said. “If we don’t turn this nation back to the Lord, we’re on a fast slide into the abyss with no return.”

Source: https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2024-election/christians-swarm-washington-pray-america-turn-god-electing-trump-rcna175162

Vice President Harris on Saturday released a medical report — a document that her campaign is using to draw a contrast with her older rival — and dared former President Donald Trump to do the same.

This is the first time Harris, 59, has released results of a physical. Similar to reports released by previous commanders-in-chief, the two-page letter says that Harris is in excellent health and has “the physical and mental resiliency required to successfully execute the duties of the presidency.”

Harris told reporters traveling with her that every candidate for president had released medical information “except Donald Trump in this election cycle.”

“It is clear to me that he and his team do not want the American people to really see what it is that he is doing and whether or not he actually is fit to do the job of being president of the United States,” she said.

Trump released a three-paragraph letter about his health a year ago
This medical disclosure come as Harris and Trump seem locked in a tie, less than a month before Election Day — each looking for ways to shake up the race and win over the small number of undecided or persuadable voters in swing states.

Harris’ campaign has been raising questions about whether Trump, 78, is up to the job, drawing attention in particular to his rambling and disjointed speeches as a sign that he has slipped.

“He talks at his rallies about fictional characters. He constantly is in a state of grievance about himself,” Harris said on Saturday, rhyming off a list of failings. “He is quite unfit to do the job,” she said.

Trump in Nov. 2023 released a three-paragraph letter from a doctor about his health. It said Trump’s “overall health is excellent” and that his “cognitive exams were exceptional.”

On Saturday, Trump spokesperson Steven Cheung said that the former president had voluntarily released information over the years that showed “he is in perfect and excellent health to be commander in chief.”

Source: https://www.npr.org/2024/10/12/g-s1-28012/harris-releases-medical-report-drawing-another-contrast-with-trump

Han Kang, South Korea’s first winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature, was slow to secure global acclaim, getting her first big international prize nine years after her best-known novel was published, once it had finally been translated into English.
The long wait for the translation of “The Vegetarian”, which won the 2016 Man Booker International prize, seemed to prove the observation of Han’s father, himself an award-winning novelist, that it was the kind of book that “goes straight into the drawer”.

Although the novel went on to be translated into dozens of languages, “The Vegetarian” had sold fewer than a million copies back home before Thursday’s announcement by the Swedish Academy, largely because of relatively low readership of literature among South Koreans and a languishing publishing industry.
Han’s compatriots were making up for lost time on Friday, mobbing bookstores for her novels, poetry and short stories.

For some, Thursday’s surprise announcement – Han had not been on any of the major lists of likely Nobel winners – fuelled hope that literature might get an injection of life in the land of K-pop and “Squid Game”. Despite a rich history, Korean literature is far less known abroad than Japanese or Chinese works.
“I grew up with Korean literature, which I feel very close to,” Han told an Academy official after the award was announced. “I hope this news is nice for Korean literature readers and my friends, writers.”

HAN KANG’S WORKS EXPLORE RECENT KOREAN HISTORY

The new partner of Princess Diana’s brother is suing his estranged wife at London’s High Court for misuse of private information, according to court records.
Charles Spencer, uncle to the heir to the throne, Prince William and his younger brother Prince Harry, this month confirmed his relationship with Catrine Jarman, an archaeologist specialising in the Vikings with whom he hosts a history podcast.

Jarman filed a claim against Spencer’s wife Karen at the High Court on Thursday. The claim is listed as being for misuse of private information, with no further details.
Charles Spencer did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Neither Jarman nor Karen Spencer could be reached for comment.
Source: https://www.reuters.com/world/uk/new-partner-princess-dianas-brother-sues-his-estranged-wife-over-private-2024-10-11/

Hundreds of people marched through Ghana’s capital Accra on Friday in a peaceful protest against unlicensed gold mining, calling on authorities to act against the dangerous and environmentally damaging practice.
Illegal small-scale gold mining known as “galamsey” in Ghana has picked up this year following an almost 30% rise in global gold prices.
Small-scale mines produced 1.2 million ounces of gold in the first seven months of this year, more than in the whole of 2023, according to data from Ghana’s mining sector regulator.

Every day, Cuban mother Mayra Ruiz wakes up wondering if today might be the day she hears from her only son, Maiquel Gonzalez.
Gonzalez disappeared without a trace in December 2022 alongside 28 friends and family who fled for Florida aboard a homemade boat. They were frantic to escape the crisis-racked Caribbean island, amid signs the United States was about to tighten immigration rules.
For nearly two years, Ruiz has lived in limbo, yearning for any sign of her son.

He knew he could never afford the nearly $5,000 price tag to fly to Nicaragua and then journey north to the U.S. border – the preferred migration route of many Cubans. So when the opportunity to take a homemade boat across the Straits of Florida presented itself – for less than $200 – he jumped at it.

The price was right. The distance, little more than 90 miles, far shorter. But the risk was incalculable.

The Straits, which bridge the gap between Cuba and the U.S. state of Florida, are plagued by strong currents, treacherous weather and shark-infested waters – considered among the five most dangerous migrant crossings globally, the U.N. says.

Reuters spoke with more than 40 friends and family of those lost on that boat. The conversations shed light on the complex calculus made by would-be migrants before undertaking the life-or-death journey. They also highlight how some families are left permanently scarred by their disappearance.

The U.N.’s Missing Migrants Project says 626 have died along the route since 2014, but cases like this one – never investigated by regional governments nor registered by the U.N. – suggest the numbers who disappear at sea may far exceed official counts.

Some family and neighbors of those lost told Reuters that preparations were already underway for a new exodus as Kamala Harris and Donald Trump debate immigration policy ahead of the Nov. 5 election, sowing fear among prospective migrants that the U.S. may again tighten its entry requirements.

The U.N. project has already recorded a nearly 20% surge in dead or missing migrants along traditional Caribbean migratory routes through Sept. 13.

The U.N. project classifies the missing boat of 29 as an “invisible” shipwreck, in which a vessel is reported missing, those aboard disappear, and neither authorities, the media, nor relatives can say for sure what became of them.

It’s a phenomenon echoed in other refugee hotspots worldwide such as the Mediterranean and off the West African coast.

Reuters provided the names, birthdates, and the precise location and date of departure of the missing boat to migration authorities in the United States, in Cuba and in the nearby Bahamas. Neither U.S. or Bahamian authorities had any information on their whereabouts, nor had any government conducted a thorough investigation into the boat’s disappearance.

Local authorities around the small farm town of Palma Sola, where the boat disappeared, conducted a search a week after the boat’s disappearance but found nothing.

“It wasn’t just one person, it was massive,” said Ruiz, in tears during an interview at a farmhouse just a mile or so from where her son disappeared. “It’s cruel, but the governments don’t give us answers.”

BAD LUCK

U.N. experts say 2022 was an especially bad year for migrants in the Caribbean region – the most lethal on record.

Word was spreading in Cuba of a pending U.S. crackdown on illegal migration by land and sea as the Biden administration prepared to implement its parole policy in 2023.

That new policy allowed Cubans, as well as those from Nicaragua, Haiti and Venezuela – to enter the U.S. legally provided they met certain requirements. But it came together with stronger enforcement, including across the Florida Straits, which prompted a rush to leave Cuba before the crackdown began.

Trump, who has touted anti-immigration policies as a key part of his campaign platform, has said he would eliminate the Biden parole program. The initiative has allowed hundreds of thousands of migrants with U.S. sponsors to enter the country legally.

The U.N. declined to comment on the U.S. elections or immigration policy. Edwin Viales, a regional monitor for the U.N.’s Missing Migrants project, told Reuters that migrant deaths are often the result of “restrictive policies that force people to migrate irregularly.”

By the time the doomed raft was preparing to depart in late 2022, food, medicine and fuel shortages were worsening following a deep recession triggered by the global pandemic as well as more aggressive U.S. sanctions under Trump that had made life miserable for many in Cuba. Desperation had set in.

“The clock was ticking,” said Kastia Rodriguez, a 36-year old who lost both a brother and a sister on the missing boat. “If they didn’t go, they would be turned back.”

Taking off from remote and poverty-stricken Palma Sola, the home of many of those who vanished, provided the shortest route from the Cuban coast to the nearby Florida Keys, and the cheapest.

The group’s homemade boat, or “balsa,” seemed like a winner, said Carlos Raul Reyes, an experienced local fisherman whose nephew was among the crew. He said it measured nearly 30 feet (9 meters) in length, built from solid wood planks with 16 flotation tanks – repurposed gas cans – to each side and a bus engine for power.

Source: https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/cubans-missing-invisible-shipwrecks-route-us-leave-painful-void-home-2024-10-12/

Tesla’s (TSLA.O), opens new tab reveal of a robotaxi designed as a low-slung, two-seater, sporty coupe – quite the opposite of a typical taxi with room for several passengers and luggage – flummoxed investors and analysts.
CEO Elon Musk served up the cool design for the prototype of the Tesla robotaxi, dubbed Cybercab, at a much-hyped event near Los Angeles late on Thursday. These will go into production some time in 2026 and cost less than $30,000 a pop, he said.

British electronic groups Disclosure and CamelPhat pay tribute to the late DJ on social media.

Scottish DJ and producer Jackmaster has died aged 38 after suffering a head injury, his family has said.

The musician, whose real name was Jack Revill, died in Ibiza on Saturday morning following complications arising from the accidental injury, according to a statement posted on his Instagram page.

“It is with profound sorrow that we confirm the untimely passing of Jack Revill, known to many as Jackmaster,” his family said, adding they were “utterly heartbroken”.

“While deeply touched by the overwhelming support from friends, colleagues, and fans, the family kindly requests privacy as they navigate the immense grief of this devastating loss,” they said.

The Glasgow-born DJ, who was the co-founder of the record label Numbers, recently released the single Nitro, featuring Kid Enigma.

He told Electronic Groove music magazine: “It was about feeling hyped and inspired in the club.

“Sadly, those moments are rare now. Blame the phones and people who don’t dance, I think.

“I am so grateful for my fans, but I got into music because I love dancing. It’s a lost artform at the moment, I think”.

Source: https://news.sky.com/story/scottish-dj-jackmaster-dies-of-a-head-injury-in-ibiza-aged-38-13232691

A French coastguard spokesman said its helicopter found the woman and hoisted her from the water. Despite this, a medical team later pronounced her dead.

A woman has died after going overboard from a cruise ship off the Channel Islands.

The French coastguard said it received a distress message shortly after midnight on Saturday.

A French navy helicopter, an RNLI lifeboat and a Channel Islands air search plane were involved in the rescue mission.

A French coastguard spokesman said its helicopter found the woman, and hoisted them from the water but a medical team later pronounced her dead.

The Channel Islands Air Search said in a post on Facebook that the MSC Virtuosa was north of Les Casquets – northwest of Alderney – at the time.

The volunteer organisation said it was stood down after the person was lifted from the water.

The Virtuosa cruise ship is currently berthed at Southampton docks, having arrived at 8.04am from Cartagena Port in Spain.

The ship’s owner MSC Cruises said: “A guest on board MSC Virtuosa went overboard on 12 October, while the ship was sailing to Southampton.

Source: https://news.sky.com/story/person-dies-after-falling-overboard-from-cruise-ship-off-channel-islands-13232347

The event is believed to be based on a 19th century Finnish legend involving a man whose gang was known to pillage villages and carry away the women.

While its origins are not exactly politically correct – more than 30 couples competed in the North American Wife Carrying Championship in front of cheering crowds.

The event sees competitors splash through water, leap over logs and trudge through mud – all while carrying their partner like a sack of potatoes.

It is believed to be based on a 19th century Finnish legend involving a man known as “Ronkainen the Robber”, whose gang was known to pillage villages and carry away the women.

Traditionally, the Finnish event featured male competitors carrying a woman.

On Saturday, competing couples did not have to be married, nor did they have to be a man and a woman.

One contestant – the carrier – was dressed as Mr Incredible, while his “wife” was dressed entirely in pink.

They and others were cheered on by crowds on both sides of the 254-metre course at Sunday River ski resort.

Most of the participants use a technique in which the “wife” is carried like a backpack – upside down – to ensure the runners’ arms are free for the greatest agility.

Source: https://news.sky.com/story/mud-beer-and-cash-annual-wife-carrying-championship-takes-maine-by-storm-13232749

Emergency services in Peach Bottom Township were alerted after a group of 11 people – including children – became ill on Friday.

A group of children and adults have been taken to hospital in the US after ingesting “toxic mushrooms”, in what has been described as a “mass casualty incident”.

Emergency services in Peach Bottom Township, Pennsylvania, were alerted after 11 people became ill after ingesting the fungi on Friday.

They had eaten “toxic mushrooms and were all ill”, the Delta-Cardiff Volunteer Fire Company said.

It described the situation as a “mass casualty incident” and said emergency units were dispatched from multiple counties in the area.

Source: https://news.sky.com/story/mass-casualty-incident-after-children-and-adults-eat-toxic-mushrooms-in-pennsylvania-13232416

The Russian opposition leader, one of President Putin’s fiercest critics, died in a remote Arctic penal colony in February while he was serving a 19-year prison sentence on extremism charges. Now, new excerpts from his upcoming memoir show he knew he wouldn’t live to see his grandchildren.

Russia’s late opposition leader Alexei Navalny believed he would die in prison, according to excerpts from his memoir.

Mr Navalny was one of President Putin’s fiercest critics and relentlessly campaigned against corruption in the Kremlin.

He died in a remote Arctic penal colony in February while serving a 19-year prison sentence on extremism charges and always maintained the charges were politically motivated.

Excerpts from his upcoming memoir, Patriot, were released by the New Yorker magazine on Friday.

The book has been described as his “final letter to the world” by its publisher Alfred A Knopf.

In an excerpt, Mr Navalny wrote that he would “imagine, as realistically as possible, the worst thing that could happen. And then… accept it”.

For him, the worst thing that could happen was dying in prison.

“I will spend the rest of my life in prison and die here,” he wrote on 22 March 2022.

“There will not be anybody to say goodbye to… all anniversaries will be celebrated without me. I’ll never see my grandchildren.”

Although he accepted what would become his fate, he didn’t accept the problems he saw in Russian society.

“My approach to the situation is certainly not one of contemplative passivity. I am trying to do everything I can from here to put an end to authoritarianism (or, more modestly, to contribute to ending it),” he wrote.

He was sent to jail in 2021 after recuperating in Germany following a nerve agent poisoning that he blamed on the Kremlin.

Russian officials deny involvement both in the poisoning and his death.

Source: https://news.sky.com/story/alexei-navalny-accepted-he-would-die-in-prison-new-memoir-reveals-13232510

How would you like to never have another electric bill? Advances in technology have made it possible for some consumers to disconnect from the power grid — a move that was once only available to the ultra-wealthy who could afford the associated costs, or survivalists willing to trade convenience for freedom. This is no longer the case.

A recent study I coauthored with energy researcher Seyyed Ali Sadat reveals that the balance of economics has shifted and now many families may be better off financially by cutting ties to the grid. However, this might not be a good thing for everyone.

How did we get here?
Back in the 2000s, solar was costly. The solar industry’s goal was to push the cost of solar panels below $3 per watt because that would produce solar electricity at a low enough cost to be economically competitive without subsidies. Over the year, the cost of solar plummeted.

By 2011, we showed for the first time in both the United States and Canada that the levelized cost of solar electricity had reached grid parity. This means people could have a net-metered, grid-connected solar system and pay the same for electricity as the grid costs.

Your utility meter would spin backward during the day as you amassed solar electric credits, then spin forward at night when you used grid electricity. If you sized your solar correctly, you would never pay an electric bill.

When I moved to Michigan in 2011, I installed solar, earning a return on investment of more than 10 per cent. Many other faculty members at Michigan Tech did the same, and our area was the first to hit Michigan’s arbitrarily mandated one per cent distributed generation limit.

Solar costs kept dropping, and ten years later, I collaborated with an engineer from Sweden — where nearly every house has a heat pump — to show that solar costs were so low they could effectively subsidize heat pumps into profitability in both northern Michigan and Ontario. Although the return on investment was modest — only a few per cent — it was enough to make solar-powered heating more viable than natural gas.

Concern among electric utilities
Today, more heat pumps are sold that normal furnaces in the U.S., but Canada is still warming up to them. The price of solar modules has since dropped well below $1 per watt.

This shift caused concern among some electric companies; under their traditional business models, every new solar customer reduces their profit. Forward-thinking companies embraced solar and funded it for their customers. Some even rented their customers’ roofs for solar panel use.

Many electric companies, however, took a different path by trying to weaken net metering. Some manipulated the rate structure by increasing unavoidable charges for customers while decreasing the electric rate, making net-metered solar systems less appealing for customers. As off-grid systems are now more affordable, this strategy could push customers away.

Solar costs continued to drop and are now the lowest cost power in history. The costs of electric batteries also plummeted by over 50 per cent just last year.

Grid defection is a real option
Grid-tied residential solar systems currently dominate the market, primarily due to historical net metering. As utility rate structures shift away from real net metering, increase unavoidable fees or restrict grid access, solar consumers are finding that going off-grid is becoming more economically viable.

Our recent study shows that grid defection is economically advantageous for many families because of these rate structure changes.

Consider a typical family in San Diego, for example. After an initial investment of $20,000 on the off-grid system (solar, diesel generator and batteries), they could pay 45 per cent less for electricity than if they remained connected to the grid.

Source: https://studyfinds.org/off-grid-living-wealthy-burden/?nab=0

Data shows reverse in trend towards inclusivity, with 95% of looks in 208 recent shows modelled by size-zero women

Fashion insiders have expressed concerns that previous progress made towards size inclusivity in the industry is being curtailed.

Vogue Business released its spring/summer ‘25 size inclusivity report on Tuesday and said: “We are facing a worrying return to using extremely thin models” with “a plateau in size inclusivity efforts across New York, London, Milan and Paris”.

Of the 8,763 looks presented across 208 shows in the womenswear collections earlier this month, 94.9% were shown on straight-size models who measure between a US size 0-4 (the equivalent of a UK 4-8). Only 0.8% of models were plus-size, also known as curve (UK 18+), and 4.3% were mid-size (UK 10-16). In Milan, 98% of looks were shown on straight-size models, and Vogue Business said some mid-size figures were skewed by co-ed brands that featured menswear looks modelled by muscular men.

“It feels like we’ve taken 10 steps backwards,” said Anna Shillinglaw, the founder of the model agency Milk Management.

Thin models have always dominated the catwalks, but in more recent years a wider range of body types had started to be included. Jill Kortleve made headlines at Chanel in 2000 when she became the first model above a UK 8 to be cast in a decade. In another landmark moment for inclusive casting, British Vogue featured Kortleve alongside the plus-size models Paloma Elsesser and Precious Lee on its April 2023 cover with the headline “The New Supers”.

Eighteen months later, however, the fashion industry has pivoted, with several insiders lamenting a new resistance to inclusivity.

“I now feel that some of the higher-end designers looked at curvier women more as a fad in fashion rather than something that is real life,” Shillinglaw said, noting that the average dress size in Britain is a 16.

Chanel included some mid-size and plus-size models this season, but other luxury brands did not. Instead, it was left to emerging brands, including Karoline Vitto in London and Ester Manas in Paris, to bolster body diversity.

Chloe Rosolek, a London-based casting director, said the elimination of bigger-sized bodies from the major brands was baffling: “It’s so strange to just pretend that a whole group of people don’t exist.”

There is a wider cultural mainstreaming of thinness because of drugs such as Ozempic, originally developed to treat diabetes, being co-opted for weight loss by Hollywood and beyond. Vogue Business describes it as “the glamorisation of thinness”.

As celebrities and influencers shrink, even straight-size models are feeling pressure to maintain their measurements or lose inches. “There’s been a decrease in size across the board and that includes already straight-size models,” Rosolek said. “A lot of models that used to be plus-size are now mid-size.”

Kering, the parent company of brands including Gucci and Balenciaga, and LVMH, which includes Louis Vuitton and Dior, joined forces in 2017 with a charter to protect models’ wellbeing. It resulted in a ban on size zero and under-16 models from their shows.

Source: https://www.theguardian.com/fashion/2024/oct/11/fashion-experts-raise-concern-about-return-to-using-extremely-thin-models

Logistics is undergoing a profound transformation. Supply chains are diversifying. Sustainability is high on the agenda. Digitalization is sweeping through every single process

Shipsy embodies the changing face of logistics. The Indian company has developed an AI-powered, Software-as-a-Service (Saas) logistics management platform that digitally interconnects every link in supply chains – radically optimizing cost-, carbon-, and operational-efficiencies in the process.

That a business like Shipsy, with global ambitions from the outset, chose Dubai for its first international headquarters speaks volumes about how the emirate has become an overlapping trade and technology hub – putting it at the forefront of logistics’ new era.

R. Kelly’s eldest daughter, Buku Abi, claims in a new docuseries that her disgraced father, who is a convicted sex offender, molested her when she was around 8 or 9 years old.

“I just remember waking up to him touching me,” the 26-year-old, formerly known as Joann Kelly, recalled amid tears in “Karma: A Daughter’s Journey,” according to People.

The musical artist, whom R. Kelly shares with ex-wife Drea Kelly, adds in an episode from the two-part series, “I didn’t know what to do, so I just kind of laid there, and I pretended to be asleep.”

Abi said she was in disbelief at times over what the “Ignition” singer allegedly did to her and she “didn’t even want to believe that it happened” because he was her “everything.”

“I didn’t know that, even if he was a bad person, that he would do something to me,” she explained. “I was too scared to tell anybody. I was too scared to tell my mom.”

A lawyer for R. Kelly — who was convicted of sex trafficking and racketeering in 2022 and convicted in a separate case for child pornography in 2023 — “vehemently denies” Abi’s allegations.

“His ex-wife made the same allegation years ago, and it was investigated by the Illinois Department of Children & Family Services and was unfounded,” Jennifer Bonjean claimed to People Friday.

“And the ‘filmmakers,’ whoever they are, did not reach out to Mr. Kelly or his team to even allow him to deny these hurtful claims.”

R. Kelly is serving a 30-year sentence for one count of racketeering and eight counts of violating the Mann Act, which prohibits the transport of “any woman or girl” across state lines for an “immoral purpose.”

He was also sentenced to 20 years in prison — with 19 to run concurrently to his first sentence — for three counts of producing child porn in connection with videos of himself abusing his 14-year-old goddaughter and three counts of enticement of minors for sex.

The “I Believe I Can Fly” singer will be eligible for release in 2045, when he will be almost 80 years old.

Abi, meanwhile, maintained in the doc series, streaming now on TVEI Streaming Network, that she was being truthful about her claims against her dad.

She said, however, she didn’t have the courage to tell her mother what happened until the age of 10. Sometime after that confession, the two filed a complaint with the police under “Jane Doe.”

However, R. Kelly was not able to be prosecuted because she allegedly “waited too long.”

“So at that point in my life, I felt like I said something for nothing,” Abi said.

The musician claimed in the doc that the alleged abuse she experienced at the hands of her father caused her to battle mental health issues for years.

“I really feel like that one millisecond completely just changed my whole life and changed who I was as a person and changed the sparkle I had and the light I used to carry,” Abi said.

“After I told my mom, I didn’t go over there anymore; my brother [Robert] and sister [Jaah], we didn’t go over there anymore. And even up until now, I struggle with it a lot.”

Abi said she even became suicidal at one point because she just “didn’t care” if she “lived or died.”

The “Growing Up Hip Hop: Atlanta” alum described her mom once discovering that her wrists were “all cut up” when they were in a Target bathroom together.

Source: https://pagesix.com/2024/10/11/celebrity-news/r-kellys-daughter-claims-singer-sexually-abused-her-as-a-child/

Donald Trump criticized India’s high tariffs, vowing to introduce a reciprocal tax if re-elected.

Several hundred “underperforming” 7-Eleven locations across North America are closing, the convenience store announced.

Seven & I Holdings, the chain’s Japan-based parent company, revealed in an earnings report Thursday that 444 locations of 7-Eleven are shutting down because of a variety of issues, including slowing sales, declining traffic, inflationary pressures and a decrease in cigarette purchases.

A specific list of closing locations wasn’t immediately released. The chain has more than 13,000 stores across the United States, Canada and Mexico, so the number of closures amounts to 3% of its portfolio.

In its earnings release, Seven & I said that while the North American economy is “robust overall,” it noticed a “more prudent approach to consumption” from middle- and low-income earners because of persistent inflation, high interest rates and a “deteriorating” employment environment.

A combination of those factors led to a 7.3% decline in traffic in August, capping off six straight months of declines.

The chain also pointed out that cigarettes purchases, which was once the largest sales category for convenience stores, has fallen 26% since 2019. A marked shift in sales to other nicotine products, like Zyn, hasn’t made up the difference.

7-Eleven told CNN in a statement that it “continuously reviews and optimizes its portfolio” and the closed stores are part of its growth strategy, adding that the chain continues to “open stores in areas where customers are looking for more convenience”

A Wawa store is seen on May 29, 2024 in Washington, DC. The convenience store and gas station chain, which has its origins in Pennsylvania, recently opened its first store in North Carolina with 10 more expected across the state this year. It aims to open up to 100 new stores each year, reaching 2,000 stores by 2030.

The 444 closures is a “gentle pruning of the chain to keep it efficient and profitable,” according to Neil Saunders, a retail industry analyst and managing director with GlobalData Retail.

“The locations being closed have likely suffered from a disproportionate decline in foot traffic and customers as consumers battle with rising food prices and cut back on the amount they buy,” Saunders told CNN. “In some areas, increased competition from online and value stores will also have taken their toll as consumers seek out lower prices.”

Meanwhile, 7-Eleven said it will continue to invest in food in the United States since it’s now the highest sales category and a top draw for customers. Competitors like Wawa and Sheetz are earning higher customer satisfaction scores for their overall offerings, while 7-Eleven ranked way lower, according to a recent survey.

Source: https://edition.cnn.com/2024/10/11/business/7-eleven-closures/index.html

The end of the world won’t come from a swarm of deadly asteroid strikes, a new study explains. Astronomers have found that this doomsday theory is highly unlikely because there are fewer dangerously large asteroids near Earth than previously believed.

Researchers have always been wary of the number of asteroids hidden in the Taurid swarm, a collection of space debris drifting near Earth. The Taurid swarm is believed to be leftover waste from the Encke comet. The swarm is so large it can be seen on Earth during meteor showers in October and November.

Now, however, scientists believe the world can breathe a sigh of relief. The new research presented at the annual meeting of the American Astronomical Society’s Division for Planetary Sciences revealed data from the Zwicky Transient Facility telescope confirming a lack of potentially life-ending asteroids within the Taurid swarm.

“We took advantage of a rare opportunity when this swarm of asteroids passed closer to Earth, allowing us to more efficiently search for objects that could pose a threat to our planet,” says Quanzhi Ye, an assistant research scientist at the University of Maryland’s Department of Astronomy and study coauthor, in a media release. “Our findings suggest that the risk of being hit by a large asteroid in the Taurid swarm is much lower than we believed, which is great news for planetary defense.”

Before the study, astronomers predicted that the Taurid swarm would have several large space rocks left behind by a large object spanning 62 miles wide. If just one of those objects entered the Earth’s atmosphere, scientists projected that it would cause regional damage similar to the Chelyabinsk asteroid that landed in Russia and injured over 1,600 people in 2013. Although the impact wouldn’t wipe out life as we know it, scientists couldn’t dismiss that possibility altogether. It’s already happened before with the asteroid that killed the dinosaurs over 66 million years ago.

“Fortunately, we found that it’s likely there may only be a handful of asteroids—perhaps only nine to 14 of them—that fit this large size class in the swarm,” explains Ye. “Judging from our findings, the parent object that originally created the swarm was probably closer to 10 kilometers in diameter rather than a massive 100-kilometer object. While we still need to be vigilant about asteroid impacts, we can probably sleep better knowing these results.”

Source: https://studyfinds.org/earth-doomsday-asteroid-swarms/?nab=0

North West is dragging Kim Kardashian for not cooking for their family in nearly two years.

In an intimate conversation for Interview magazine, the 11-year-old was put in the hot seat by her famous mom, answering a series of candid questions. At one point, Kardashian asked West, “OK, serious question. How is my cooking?”

The reality star’s eldest child — whom she shares with ex Kanye West — didn’t hold back, responding, “You haven’t cooked for us in a long time.”

She added, “Last time you cooked was two Halloweens ago.”

The pre-teen revealed that Kardashian, 43, made mac and cheese for the special occasion.

“And fried chicken and cornbread,” the Skims founder reminded her daughter. “I’m a one-trick pony. Is that one meal good?”

North confirmed it was “good,” but said her mom is “really good” at making her “cucumbers and salt.”

Elsewhere in the interview, North declared that if she could “only eat one thing for the rest of [her] life,” it would be cucumbers and salt –– “or onions.”

“You love grilled onions,” Kardashian said in response.

Back in June 2023, North’s younger sister, Chicago West, previously called out their mom for not cooking and using a private chef.

Kardashian –– who also shares sons Saint, 8, and Psalm, 5, with her rapper ex –– previously shared a photo from one of Chicago’s school assignments.

The Instagram pic revealed Chicago was asked to answer a few different facts about her mom.

When one of the prompts read, “The best thing she cooks is ____,” Chicago candidly wrote, “Mom doesn’t cook. She has a chef.”

Kardashian poked fun at herself by sharing a photo of herself slicing a tomato for a grilled cheese during a visit to the White House.

The Kardashians have never been ones to hide the fact that they frequently use private chefs –– especially for family holidays.

Their longtime private chef, Khristianne Uy, aka Chef K, previously chatted with Page Six about some of their dining preferences.

Source: https://pagesix.com/2024/10/11/parents/north-west-calls-out-mom-kim-kardashian-for-not-cooking-dinner-for-2-years/

Tesla CEO Elon Musk could have taken the stage at last night’s “We, Robot” event and put a lot of fears to rest.

He could have released comprehensive safety data for the company’s Full Self-Driving feature that showed real progress for the driver-assist feature, contradicting all the crowdsourced data that’s out there making FSD look truly awful.

He could have announced that the Cybercab, a sleek little two-seater with butterfly-wing doors, would be a geofenced, Level 4, fleet-owned vehicle, operating in a few select markets with impressive-looking margins.

He could have provided an ounce of detail about the Cybercab’s technology stack, including its sensors, vision system, and onboard processing power. And he could have shocked the industry and surprised many of his doubters by embracing lidar, the laser sensor that serves as a crucial redundant system for every other driverless vehicle on Earth.

But he did none of those things. Instead, he put on what arguably looked like a great show, complete with fake movie posters, a ton of delicious-looking food, and robot bartenders. And he fell back on the same old, tired promises of a fully autonomous vehicle that was “just two years away.”

We’ve been down this road before. Many times.

“Prototype hardware that works in a limited demo is cool, interesting, and fine to comment on,” Phil Koopman, an AV expert from Carnegie Mellon, wrote in his newsletter this morning. “But it is not production, and hardware is not the limit to autonomous vehicles. Software is the long pole in the tent.”

At first glance, it would seem as if the event did the trick. There were plenty of Tesla fans who were thoroughly impressed by what they saw last night and ready to declare that it was “game over” for every other player in the field. The Robovan wowed many with its Art Deco styling. And positive vibes extended to the company’s most bullish investors, some of whom participated in Musk’s theme park experience and came away forever altered.

Wedbush analyst Dan Ives, who was in attendance, dismissed any stock decline in the aftermath of the event — Tesla was trading down by nearly 9 points in early trading Friday — as a “knee-jerk reaction” that would eventually correct itself. “We strongly disagree with the notion that last night was a disappointment,” he wrote Friday, “as we would argue the opposite seeing Cybercab with our own eyes and the massive improvements in Optimus which we interacted with throughout the evening.”

It appears to be lost on some people how much things have changed since 2016, when Musk first promised that Full Self-Driving was a mere “two years away.” Many seem to be stuck in that outdated mindset that autonomous driving was an easy problem to solve and that fully driverless cars were on the cusp of taking over the world.

Since then, interest rates have skyrocketed, the buckets of ample venture capital funding have dried up, and most of the major players working on this technology have since reconfigured their timelines to account for how long it will take for self-driving cars to prove they can be safer than humans. Even Waymo, which is far and away the leader in the space, is taking things real slowly, one city at a time. It can’t promise the world; the company is still trying to figure out highways.

Musk is promising the opposite. He said that Tesla plans to launch fully autonomous driving in Texas and California next year, with the Cybercab entering production by 2026. Tesla Model 3 and Model Y vehicles with “unsupervised” Full Self-Driving would come first. But he promised that people could even buy the Cybercab for a price “less than $30,000.” Potential owners would be like shepherds, tending their flock of little driverless cabs, roaming the streetscape.

Last night, his pitch veered utopian, as images of parking lots transformed into verdant gardens displayed on the giant screens above him. (I call this “reverse Joni Mitchell-ing.”)

“We want to have a fun, exciting future,” he said, “that if you could look in a crystal ball and see that future, you’d be like, ‘Yes, I wish I could be there now.’”

It was kind of nice to hear Mr. “Dark MAGA” articulate a brighter vision for the future, but after the event, it’s even less clear how we’ll get there. We got no details about how he will overcome the enormous obstacles in his path. Here’s a quick rundown of some of the issues that went unresolved:

Source: https://www.theverge.com/2024/10/11/24267727/tesla-cybercab-unanswered-questions-fsd-safety-liability

Nihon Hidankyo, a Japanese group of atomic bomb survivors, has won the 2024 Nobel Peace Prize.

Known as hibakusha, the survivors of the 1945 bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki have been recognised by the Norwegian Nobel Committee for efforts to rid the world of nuclear weapons.

Nobel Committee Chair Joergen Watne Frydnes said the group had “contributed greatly to the establishment of the nuclear taboo”.

Mr Frydnes warned the “nuclear taboo” was now “under pressure” – and praised the group’s use of witness testimony to ensure nuclear weapons must never be used again.

Founded in 1956, the organisation sends survivors around the world to share their testimonies of the “atrocious damage” and suffering caused by the use of nuclear weapons, according to its website.

Their work began almost a decade after the devastation of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

On 6 August 1945, a US bomber dropped the uranium bomb above the city of Hiroshima, killing around 140,000 people.

Three days later a second nuclear weapon was dropped on Nagasaki. Japan’s surrender, announced by Emperor Hirohito shortly afterwards, ended World War Two.

Speaking to reporters in Japan, a tearful Toshiyuki Mimaki, the co-head of the group, said: “Never did I dream this could happen,” the AFP news agency quotes him as saying.

Mr Mimaki criticised the idea that nuclear weapons bring peace. “It has been said that because of nuclear weapons, the world maintains peace. But nuclear weapons can be used by terrorists,” Mr Mimaki said, according to reports by AFP.

In a BBC interview last year, he said despite only being three years old at the time the nuclear bomb hit Hiroshima – he could still remember dazed and burnt survivors fleeing past his home.

The prize – which consist of a diploma, a gold medal and a sum of $1m (£765,800) – will be presented at a ceremonies in Oslo in December, marking the anniversary of the death of the scientist and prize creator Alfred Nobel.

The group has been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize “many times” in the past, including in 2005 when it received a special mention by the Norwegian Nobel Committee, its website says.

The decision to recognise Nihon Hidankyo means the Nobel committee has steered away from more controversial nominees for the peace prize.

There had been widespread speculation the United Nations agency supporting Palestinians – UNRWA – was being considered for the prize.

Although the organisation is the main provider of humanitarian aid to civilians in Gaza, nine of its members were fired for alleged involvement in the Hamas attack on Israel on October 7 last year.

More than 12,000 people had signed a petition urging the committee not to award UNRWA the prize.

There were equal concerns about the nomination of the International Court of Justice.

The UN’s main judicial organ is currently considering allegations that Israel has committed genocide in Gaza and has already issued a statement urging the Israeli authorities to refrain from genocidal acts.

But while giving the prize to Nihon Hidankyo may be a non-controversial choice, it could also focus global attention on the threat of nuclear conflict which overshadows the fighting in both Ukraine and the Middle East.

Throughout Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, its leaders have repeatedly hinted that they may be ready to use tactical nuclear weapons if western allies increase their support for Ukraine in a way Russia considers unacceptable.

Source: https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cy5y23qgx0qo

Florida residents slogged through flooded streets, gathered up scattered debris and assessed damage to their homes on Friday after Hurricane Milton smashed through coastal communities and spawned a barrage of deadly tornadoes.

At least 10 people were dead, and rescuers were still saving people from swollen rivers, but many expressed relief that Milton wasn’t worse. The hurricane spared densely populated Tampa a direct hit, and the lethal storm surge that scientists feared never materialized.

Gov. Ron DeSantis warned people to not let down their guard, however, citing ongoing safety threats including downed power lines and standing water that could hide dangerous objects.

“We’re now in the period where you have fatalities that are preventable,” DeSantis said. “You have to make the proper decisions and know that there are hazards out there.”

As of Friday night, the number of customers in Florida still without power had dropped to 1.9 million, according to poweroutage.us. St. Petersburg’s 260,000 residents were told to boil water before drinking, cooking or brushing their teeth, until at least Monday.

Also Friday, the owner of a major phosphate mine disclosed that pollution spilled into Tampa Bay during the hurricane.

The Mosaic Company said in a statement that heavy rains from the storm overwhelmed a collection system at its Riverview site, pushing excess water out of a manhole and into discharges that lead to the bay. The company said the leak was fixed Thursday.

Mosaic said the spill likely exceeded a 17,500-gallon minimum reporting standard, though it did not provide a figure for what the total volume might have been.

Calls and emails to Mosaic seeking additional information about Riverview and the company’s other Florida mines received no response, as did a voicemail left with the Florida Department of Environmental Protection.

The state has 25 such stacks containing more than 1 billion tons of phosphogypsum, a solid waste byproduct of the phosphate fertilizer mining industry that contains radium, which decays to form radon gas. Both radium and radon are radioactive and can cause cancer. Phosphogypsum may also contain toxic heavy metals and other carcinogens, such as arsenic, cadmium, chromium, lead, mercury and nickel.

Florida’s vital tourism industry has started to return to normal, meanwhile, as Walt Disney World and other theme parks reopened. The state’s busiest airport, in Orlando, resumed full operations Friday.

Arriving just two weeks after the devastating Hurricane Helene, Milton flooded barrier islands, tore the roof off the Tampa Bay Rays ‘ baseball stadium and toppled a construction crane.

Crews from the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office on Friday were assisting with rescues of people, including a 92-year-old woman, who were stranded in rising waters along the Alafia River. The river is 25 miles (40 kilometers) long and runs from eastern Hillsborough County, east of Tampa, into Tampa Bay.

In Pinellas County, deputies used high-water vehicles to shuttle people back and forth to their homes in a flooded Palm Harbor neighborhood where waters continued to rise.

Ashley Cabrera left with her 18- and 11-year-old sons and their three dogs, Eeyore, Poe and Molly. It was the first time since Milton struck that they had been able to leave the neighborhood, and they were now headed to a hotel in Orlando.

“I’m extremely thankful that we could get out now and go for the weekend somewhere we can get a hot meal and some gas,” Cabrera said. “I thought we’d be able to get out as soon as the storm was over. These roads have never flooded like this in all the years that I’ve lived here.”

Animals were being saved, too. Cindy Evers helped rescue a large pig stuck in high water at a strip mall in Lithia, east of Tampa. She had already rescued a donkey and several goats after the storm.

“I’m high and dry where I’m at, and I have a barn and 9 acres,” Evers said, adding that she will soon start to work to find the animals’ owners.

In the Gulf Coast city of Venice, Milton left behind several feet of sand in some beachfront condos, with one unit nearly filled. A swimming pool was packed full of sand, with only its handrails poking out.

Source: https://apnews.com/article/hurricane-milton-florida-7f60bbe9c6295f2ebef077eca2c1b4e1

An Israeli airstrike killed two Lebanese soldiers and wounded three on Friday, Lebanon’s military said, just hours after the Israeli military fired on the headquarters of U.N. peacekeepers in southern Lebanon, injuring two of them for the second day in a row.

The incidents entangling both Lebanon’s official army — which has largely stayed on the sidelines of the conflict between Israel and Iran-backed Hezbollah — and the U.N. peacekeeping mission in Lebanon raised alarm as Israel broadens its campaign against Hezbollah with waves of heavy airstrikes across the country and a ground invasion at the border.

In central Beirut, rescue workers combed Friday through the rubble of a collapsed building, searching for survivors of an Israeli airstrike that killed at least 22 people and wounded dozens in the Lebanese capital the night before.

Hezbollah has been firing rockets into Israel over the past year in solidarity with the Palestinians in Gaza following Hamas’ devastating Oct. 7 attacks on southern Israel that killed 1,200 people and resulted in 250 taken hostage.

In return, Israel’s military has pounded Hezbollah targets in Lebanon, killing more than 2,237 Lebanese — including Hezbollah fighters, civilians and medical personnel — according to the Lebanese health ministry.

Among them, the ministry reported late Friday, were a two-year-old and 16-year-old killed by airstrikes in the southern village of Baysarieh.

Hezbollah attacks have killed 29 civilians as well as 39 Israeli soldiers, both in northern Israel since October 2023, and in southern Lebanon since Sept. 30, when Israel launched its ground invasion.

Israel strikes a Lebanese army checkpoint
On Friday, the Lebanese army said an Israeli airstrike hit a building near a military checkpoint in the southern Bint Jbeil province.

The Israeli military said it had been targeting Hezbollah positions in southern Lebanon when reports emerged that it had hit several Lebanese army soldiers. The Israeli army said it investigated the incident but remained “unaware of any Lebanese army facilities found in the area of the strike.”

Lebanon’s army is not a party to the fighting between Israel and Hezbollah — after Israel launched its ground invasion on Sept. 30, Lebanese soldiers withdrew some 5 kilometers (3 miles) from their observation posts along the border.

The only direct clash between the two national armies occurred on Oct. 3, when Israeli tank fire hit a Lebanese army post also in the area of Bint Jbeil, killing a soldier and prompting Lebanese soldiers to return fire.

Both Lebanese troops and U.N. peacekeepers are deployed in southern Lebanon to enforce U.N. Security Council Resolution 1701 that ended a bloody monthlong 2006 war between Israel and Hezbollah.

But Lebanon’s army is no match for Hezbollah, and neither its soldiers nor the peacekeepers have been capable of preventing the Shiite militants from entrenching themselves in the border region. Israel accuses Hezbollah of establishing militant infrastructure along the border in violation of the U.N. resolution.

Israel hits U.N. peacekeepers again, wounding two
The Israeli military opened fire near the U.N. headquarters in Lebanon’s southern town of Naqoura on Friday, the army said, hitting the observation post and injuring two peacekeepers for the second time in as many days.

An initial review by the Israeli army found that soldiers in southern Lebanon targeted what they believed to be a threat located some 50 meters (yards) from the U.N. peacekeeping mission in Lebanon but ultimately struck the peacekeepers.

One of the injured peacekeepers was hospitalized in the nearby city of Tyre while the other received medical care on site, the United Nations force, known as UNIFIL, said. Both were identified as Sri Lankan.

The army repeated its warning that UNIFIL personnel abandon their positions in areas where Hezbollah militants launch rockets into Israel. Following Thursday’s attack, the U.N. peacekeeping chief, Jean-Pierre Lacroix, said 300 peacekeepers in front-line positions on southern Lebanon’s border were temporarily moved to larger bases.

In a statement condemning the strike as “a grave violation of international humanitarian law,” UNIFIL reported that explosions on Friday hit the same place they did the day before, when Israeli tank fire injured two Indonesian peacekeepers, damaged vehicles and a communication system, and drew sharp international criticism.

“Peacekeepers must be protected by all parties of the conflict, and what has happened is obviously condemnable,” said U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres.

The French foreign ministry accused Israel of deliberately firing at peacekeepers and summoned the Israeli ambassador Friday in an official protest.

In a call with his Israeli counterpart, U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin stressed the importance of ensuring the safety of UNIFIL forces and urged Israel to “pivot from military operations to a diplomatic pathway as soon as feasible,” the Pentagon said.

When President Joe Biden was questioned by reporters whether he was asking Israel to stop striking U.N. peacekeepers, he replied, “Absolutely, positively.”

UNIFIL, which has more than 10,000 peacekeepers from dozens of countries, was created to oversee the withdrawal of Israeli troops from southern Lebanon after Israel’s 1978 invasion. The U.N. expanded its mission following the 2006 Israel-Hezbollah war, allowing peacekeepers to patrol a buffer zone set up along the border.

Beirut residents left reeling from Israeli strikes

From the Burj Abi Haidar neighborhood of central Beirut, civil defense workers dug through concrete and twisted metal from a three-story building brought down by an Israeli airstrike the day before — the deadliest Israeli air raid to hit Beirut over the last year of war.

Thursday’s airstrikes hit two residential buildings in neighborhoods that have swelled with displaced people fleeing Israeli bombardment elsewhere in Lebanon.

“The world suddenly turned upside down,” recalled Ahmad al-Khatib, a 42-year-old Lebanese postal worker who was with his wife and toddler daughter in his in-laws’ apartment when the bombs fell on the building next-door.

Al-Khatib said he had pulled his 2 ½-year-old, Ayla, out from under the debris of a collapsed bedroom wall. The force of the explosion had flung his wife, Marwa Hamdan, against a wall and a piece of metal hit her in the head. She remains in intensive care, he said, tears running down his cheeks.

Hezbollah’s Al-Manar TV channel and Israeli media reported that the strikes aimed to kill Wafiq Safa, a top security official with the group, but he was not in either targeted building at the time of the strike. The Israeli military had no comment on the reports.

Source: https://apnews.com/article/srael-palestinians-hamas-war-lebanon-hezbollah-11-10-2024-9dd58a9fea9c2de963edbc31ba90bb1a

TikTok was aware that its design features are detrimental to its young users and that publicly touted tools aimed at limiting kids’ time on the site were largely ineffective, according to internal documents and communications exposed in lawsuit filed by the state of Kentucky.

The details are among redacted portions of Kentucky’s lawsuit that contains the internal communications and documents unearthed during a more than two year investigation into the company by various states across the country.

Kentucky’s lawsuit was filed this week, alongside separate complaints brought forth by attorneys general in a dozen states as well as the District of Columbia. TikTok is also facing another lawsuit from the Department of Justice and is itself suing the Justice Department over a federal law that could ban it in the U.S. by mid-January.

The redacted information — which was inadvertently revealed by Kentucky’s attorney general’s office and first reported by Kentucky Public Radio — touches on a range of topics, most importantly the extent to which TikTok knew how much time young users were spending on the platform and how sincere it was when rolling out tools aimed at curbing excessive use.

Beyond TikTok use among minors, the complaint alleges the short-form video sharing app has prioritized “beautiful people” on its platform and has noted internally that some of the content-moderation metrics it has publicized are “largely misleading.”

The unredacted complaint, which was seen by The Associated Press, was sealed by a Kentucky state judge on Wednesday after state officials filed an emergency motion to seal it.

When reached for comment, TikTok spokesperson Alex Haurek said: “It is highly irresponsible of the Associated Press to publish information that is under a court seal. Unfortunately, this complaint cherry-picks misleading quotes and takes outdated documents out of context to misrepresent our commitment to community safety.”

“We have robust safeguards, which include proactively removing suspected underage users, and we have voluntarily launched safety features such as default screentime limits, family pairing, and privacy by default for minors under 16,” Haurek said in a prepared statement. “We stand by these efforts.”

TikTok use among young users
The complaint alleges that TikTok has quantified how long it takes for young users to get hooked on the platform, and shared the findings internally in presentations aimed at increasing user-retention rates. The “habit moment,” as TikTok calls it, occurs when users have watched 260 videos or more during the first week of having a TikTok account. This can happen in under 35 minutes since some TikTok videos run as short as 8 seconds, the complaint says.

Kentucky’s lawsuit also cites a spring 2020 presentation from TikTok that concluded that the platform had already “hit a ceiling” among young users. At that point, the company’s estimates showed at least 95% of smartphone users under 17 used TikTok at least monthly, the complaint notes.

TikTok tracks metrics for young users, including how long young users spend watching videos and how many of them use the platform every day. The company uses the information it gleans from these reviews to feed its algorithm, which tailors content to people’s interests, and drives user engagement, the complaint says.

TikTok does its own internal studies to find out how the platform is impacting users. The lawsuit cites one group within the company, called “TikTank,” which noted in an internal report that compulsive usage was “rampant” on the platform. It also quotes an unnamed executive who said kids watch TikTok because the algorithm is “really good.”

“But I think we need to be cognizant of what it might mean for other opportunities. And when I say other opportunities, I literally mean sleep, and eating, and moving around the room, and looking at somebody in the eyes,” the unnamed executive said, according to the complaint.

Time management tools
TikTok has a 60-minute daily screen time limit for minors, a feature it rolled out in March 2023 with the stated aim of helping teens manage their time on the platform. But Kentucky’s complaint argues that the time limit — which users can easily bypass or disable — was intended more as a public relations tool than anything else.

The lawsuit says TikTok measured the success of the time limit feature not by whether it reduced the time teens spent on the platform, but by three other metrics — the first of which was “improving public trust in the TikTok platform via media coverage.”

Reducing screen time among teens was not included as a success metric, the lawsuit said. In fact, it alleged the company had planned to “revisit the design” of the feature if the time-limit feature had caused teens to reduce their TikTok usage by more than 10%.

TikTok ran an experiment and found the time-limit prompts shaved off just a minute and a half from the average time teens spent on the app — from 108.5 to 107 minutes per day, according to the complaint. But despite the lack of movement, TikTok did not try to make the feature more effective, Kentucky officials say. They allege the ineffectiveness of the feature was, in many ways, by design.

Source: https://apnews.com/article/tiktok-kids-teens-use-addiction-03a2d63a21bc5c1c62910628deff0521

It’s “one of the brightest comets in our lifetimes”, and only becomes visible every 80,000 years, so no wonder the science community is so excited about the upcoming celestial event.

Stargazers will have the chance to spot what could be the most impressive comet of the year for the next couple of weeks.

Comet A3, also known as Tsuchinshan-ATLAS, has come to be known as the “comet of the century” by excited astronomers, such is the anticipation about how bright and visible it might be.

People in the southern hemisphere have already had a glimpse of the comet, but, from Saturday as it comes to within approximately 44 million miles of Earth, it could also be seen in the northern hemisphere.

So what is Comet A3 and how likely are we to get a good view of it?

When was it discovered?

The comet was discovered independently in January 2023 by two observatories – China’s Tsuchinshan (Purple Mountain) Observatory and South Africa’s ATLAS (Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Last Alert System) – and was named after them.

Where is it from?

Russia is running out of cemeteries and crematoriums, a State Duma Deputy Chair has said, amid Pentagon estimates that Moscow has suffered more than 600,000 deaths in its war with Ukraine.

The country is struggling to keep up with demand for cemeteries and crematoriums, said Svetlana Razvorotneva, the Deputy Chair of the Parliamentary Committee on Construction and Housing and Utilities, in the State Duma, which is the lower house of Russia’s national legislature.

She said that the main issue is federal law only allowing “municipal organizations” to be involved in burials, according to Komsomolskaya Pravda, translated from Russian, which cites an interview in another newspaper, Parlamentskaya Gazeta.

“It is impossible to create any private cemeteries, crematoriums, or other ritual facilities; it is impossible to attract capital and investment to this area from outside, other than state ones,” she said, “And yet they are very much needed.”

The Parlamentskaya Gazeta interview now appears online in abbreviated form, with the word “cemeteries” removed.

Razvorotneva said the law, adopted in 1996, is outdated and no longer able to meet Russia’s needs.

“The need for crematoriums is very high today,” she said, adding that this is an especially serious issue in Moscow, St. Petersburg and Yekaterinburg, meaning people are sometimes forced to travel outside of these cities to use cremation services elsewhere.

There is only one crematorium per five million Russians today, the Parlamentskaya Gazeta reports.

Razvorotneva’s comments come as a senior U.S. Department of Defense official said it is believed Ukraine has inflicted more than 600,000 casualties on Russian forces.

“Russian losses, again, both killed and wounded in action in just the first year of the war exceeded the total of all Russian losses, or Soviet losses in any conflict since World War II combined,” the official said on Wednesday.

“It’s kind of the Russian way of war where they continue to throw mass into the into the problem, and I think we’ll continue to see high losses.”

September saw the highest number of Russian casualties reported in a single month since Russian President Vladimir Putin launched his full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, the U.K. Defense Ministry said this week.

Putin could soon be facing a manpower dilemma, as Moscow has taken to relying on personnel-heavy attacks with high casualty counts as it slowly but steadily advances in eastern Ukraine.

Russia pulls together its military from a number of sources, with the majority conscripted and typically serving around a year.

However, a significant number of personnel sign up for contracts with the Ministry of Defense.

Source: https://www.newsweek.com/russia-moscow-running-out-cemeteries-1967497

MOVE over ISS – a startup vying to become the world’s first commercial space station has revealed the stunning interior lucky visitors can expect.

Haven-1 feels more like a luxury hotel with sleek wood veneer slats, soft and padded white walls, a gym space and private rooms featuring entertainment and online communication tech to contact home.

There are four private room quarters, each with a built-in storage compartment, vanity, and a custom amenities kit.

But crucially, creators Vast have worked on improving sleep for space inhabitants which can be uncomfortable for astronauts due to weightlessness.

Experts have developed a signature sleep system that is roughly the size of a queen-size bed with a customised amount of equal pressure throughout the night – and it adjusts whether you’re a side or back sleeper.

“This is not just any old duvet,” Hillary Coe, Vast’s chief design and marketing officer told Wired.

“It’s a duvet that inflates, creating this equal pressure up against you which allows for a beautiful, comfortable night’s rest.”

A common area is at the station’s core with a deployable table and domed window viewing spot.

The images are final designs of how Haven-1 will eventually look – though they’re just mock-ups for now.

Visitors could be staying onboard as soon as 2026.

The firm is hoping to launch the station with SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket “no earlier than August 2025.”

Andrew Feustel, a veteran Nasa astronaut who has spent more than 225 days in space on the ISS, helped advise Vast on developing the interior.

“I’ve flown three missions to space, and we are learning from those experiences and innovating to improve the way we can live and work on a space station,” he said.

“From communication and connectivity, to private space and interacting with others aboard, to advancing human progress on Earth and beyond, every detail has been designed with the astronaut experience at the core of our work.”

Source: https://www.the-sun.com/tech/12653285/first-private-space-station-haven-1-vast/

“I don’t think [Elon Musk] said much about anything.”

For ten years now, Tesla CEO Elon Musk has promised a fully self-driving car.

But despite his many reassurances that an autonomous car would be a reality “next year,” the company still doesn’t have a lot to show.

On Thursday, the EV maker held its long-awaited “robotaxi” event, showing off a prototype of its “Cybercab,” which will allegedly go into production in 2026 and cost under $30,000. Musk also showed off a separate “robovan” that can carry up to 20 passengers.

A prototype Cybercab, a flashy two-seater with no steering wheel or pedals, was seen navigating some mocked-up streets at the event that ironically took place inside a Hollywood movie studio.

But the flashy presentation left plenty of glaring questions unanswered. For one, the company didn’t show off the long-awaited “Model 2,” a rumored $25,000 passenger vehicle that shareholders have said could help the company boost sales.

Investors in particular were left wanting more, with Tesla shares dropping six percent in premarket trading on Friday.

As many analysts predicted, the company didn’t get into the details.

There was no discussion, for instance, about when said robotaxi could go on sale or how long it would take for Tesla to establish a service that can compete with the likes of the autonomous taxi company Waymo, which maintains a significant lead over the Musk-led carmaker.

Musk took the opportunity to ham it up at the event, appearing in a leather jacket while addressing the crowd in front of a flashy, neon-lit stage.

“The autonomous future is here,” he proclaimed. “With autonomy, you get your time back.”

The billionaire has previously described a Tesla-based robotaxi service as “some combination of Airbnb and Uber,” allowing owners to have their vehicles make money on their behalf.

But such a service is likely still many years out — if it ever becomes a reality — despite a decade of development.

“I’m a shareholder and pretty disappointed,” Triple D Trading equity trader Dennis Dick told Reuters. “I think the market wanted more definitive time lines.”

“I don’t think he said much about anything,” he added.

Instead of relying on industry-standard tech like lidar, Tesla’s robotaxis are designed to only make use of cameras and AI-powered hardware, a controversial approach that has prompted plenty of skepticism.

At the event, Musk promised that the EV maker would kick off trials of “unsupervised FSD,” referring to the company’s controversial “Full Self-Driving” driver assistance software — which still requires drivers to pay attention at all times — sometime next year in Texas and California with its Model 3 and Model Y vehicles.

Whether the company will be able to actually improve on its software, which still leads to plenty of close calls on public streets, remains to be seen.

“For all the hype that Elon Musk puts behind Tesla Full Self-Driving, it does not work,” noted Tesla critic Dan O’Dowd wrote in a statement following the event. “The latest version of Full Self-Driving travels 71 miles between critical disengagements, in contrast to Waymo’s 17,311 miles. Elon Musk is trying to compete in the Tour de France on a tricycle.”

O’Dowd, the founder of safety advocacy group The Dawn Project, also noted that Musk’s promises were nothing new.

“Tonight Elon Musk said that Tesla drivers would soon be able to sleep at the wheel of unsupervised Full Self-Driving,” O’Dowd said. “This is the exact same promise he made in 2019 when he said FSD owners would be able to fall asleep and wake up at their destination by the end of 2020.”

And following Tesla’s disastrous “nightmare” of a fiscal year so far, investors are getting ready for further drops in the company’s share price.

Source: https://futurism.com/tesla-robotaxi-event-disappointment

Malala’s first feature The Last Of The Sea Women tells the story of a group of “badass” grandmothers in South Korea who dive to the bottom of the sea unaided, earning the reputation of real-life mermaids.

It’s almost 12 years to the day that a Taliban gunman shot schoolgirl Malala Yousafzai in the head as she travelled home from an exam on a school bus packed with fellow pupils.

Now one of Pakistan’s best-known public figures, the activist, Oxford graduate and youngest Nobel laureate in history is releasing her first feature.

The 27-year-old tells Sky News: “I’m pretty new to Hollywood, but it’s been an incredible journey for me so far.”

An outspoken critic of Muslim under-representation in Hollywood films, Yousafzai founded her production company Extracurricular in 2021 in partnership with Apple TV + in a bid to “shake things up”.

She says: “There are so many passionate women and artists from different diverse backgrounds, including Muslim communities and people of colour and they have incredible stories.

“I hope to work with more incredible artists and directors out there in the many years ahead to help us bring more perspectives and more voices and reflections from people who don’t often get a chance.”

A 2022 study showed that Muslims are 25% of the population, but only 1% of characters in popular TV series.

As for whether it’s getting better, Yousafzai says: “There are incredible Muslim artists who are really changing the narrative, and I do hope that more of them will get a chance to tell their story and just bring more diversity to how stories are told.”

She says the documentary she’s just released – The Last Of The Sea Women, about a group of female divers in their 60s, 70s and 80s – is “an amazing beginning” to her new adventure as a Hollywood executive.

Extracurricular has previously said it would consider producing a fictionalised account of her attempted assassination but signalled they first need to find a “surprising way in” to the story.

And Yousafzai is full of surprises.

Malala Made Me Do It

Earlier this year, she made her acting debut in the second season of Channel 4’s reverential and hugely popular comedy We Are Lady Parts.

Her episode even featured a spoof song inspired by her activism – Malala Made Me Do It.

Yousafzai’s passionate advocacy for access to education for women and girls in countries where it is restricted is now stepping into a new realm – entertainment.

Her deal with Apple will cover dramas, comedies, documentaries, animation and children’s series.

Future productions include a movie adaptation of Elaine Hsieh Chou’s book Disorientation, and a scripted series based on Asha Lemmie’s coming-of-age novel Fifty Words For Rain, about a woman’s search for acceptance in post-World War Two Japan.

The Last Of The Sea Women tells the story of the Haenyeo, a “badass girl gang” of grandmothers living on South Korea’s Jeju Island who dive to the ocean floor without oxygen to gather food for their community.

Earning a reputation as real-life mermaids, despite diving for centuries, their traditions are now under threat.

In a bid to save their way of life, they are now teaching younger women, who being from Generation Z, are sharing their stories on TikTok.

Source: https://news.sky.com/story/malala-yousafzai-on-her-hollywood-reinvention-its-been-an-incredible-journey-13230313

Against the backdrop of increased Russian nuclear weapons threats over Ukraine, NATO is due to begin its yearly Steadfast Noon nuclear exercise next week.

NATO allies “should not and do not” listen to sabre rattling by Vladimir Putin because the alliance is strong and can respond to any threats, its new chief has told Sky News.

Mark Rutte said an annual nuclear exercise by NATO member states, which starts next week, sends a clear message to adversaries “that we stand ready to… respond to any threat”.

The former Dutch prime minister also spoke about Russia’s war in Ukraine.

He said he doubted Ukraine is weaker because it has yet to be given permission by the UK and other allies to use long-range weapons to strike targets inside Russia, signalling that – provided the West continues to support Kyiv – “one weapons system will not change the outcome of the war”.

Mr Rutte, who took over as secretary general of NATO at the start of the month from Jens Stoltenberg, held a meeting in Downing Street with Sir Keir Starmer on Thursday.

He also took part in a three-way discussion with Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who was similarly paying the British prime minister a visit.

The Ukrainian leader is on a quick tour of European capitals armed with what Ukraine is calling a “victory plan” to end Russia’s invasion.

Mr Rutte, who sat down for an interview after the meetings, declined to divulge details about the Ukrainian plan but said he hopes victory comes “as soon as possible”.

He also said it is vital to keep supporting Kyiv with weapons, training and funding so that Mr Zelenskyy is in the strongest possible position for any future talks.

Asked if Ukraine is weaker because allies such as the UK and the US have yet to grant permission for Kyiv to use their long-range weapons, such as British Storm Shadow cruise missiles, against targets inside Russia, the NATO chief said: “I’m not sure it is.”

He continued: “There is this risk that we completely focus on one weapon system and then that is the thing of the day… to be absolutely clear, the main issue here is making sure that military aid continues to flow into Ukraine, that we ramp up also the industry production within Ukraine, help them with that massive logistics, and then one weapon system will not change the outcome of the war.”

Russian President Vladimir Putin has warned that he would regard the use by Ukraine of western long-range missiles inside Russia as NATO states directly participating in the war.

“It would substantially change the very essence, the nature of the conflict,” he said last month.

Mr Rutte was blunt when quizzed whether NATO allies should heed Russian sabre rattling.

“No, they shouldn’t, and they don’t,” he said.

He continued: “NATO is strong. We can face any adversary. We have everything in place to make sure that NATO is safe and secure, and that we can fight off any threat. And we will never be intimidated by anyone outside NATO trying to threaten us. So that is of no use he could better stop that.”

Against the backdrop of increased Russian nuclear weapons threats over Ukraine, NATO is due to begin its yearly Steadfast Noon nuclear exercise next week.

It will be led by Belgium and the Netherlands, use eight military bases and involve 2,000 personnel and 60 aircraft from 13 nations.

Source: https://news.sky.com/story/new-nato-chief-mark-rutte-tells-allies-to-ignore-russian-leader-putins-sabre-rattling-13231474

Human rights activist Ethel Kennedy, who was the widow of assassinated senator Robert Kennedy, has died.

The 96-year-old died from “complications related to a stroke” suffered last week, according to her family.

In a statement, they said: “It is with our hearts full of love that we announce the passing of our amazing grandmother, Ethel Kennedy.

“Along with a lifetime’s work in social justice and human rights, our mother leaves behind nine children, 34 grandchildren, and 24 great-grandchildren, along with numerous nieces and nephews, all of whom love her dearly.”

The Kennedy matriarch’s most known child is perhaps former US presidential candidate turned Donald Trump supporter Robert Kennedy Jr.

The statement announcing her death was shared by her grandson Joe Kennedy III on social media, who said she had enjoyed a “great summer and transition into fall” surrounded by family, before suffering a stroke in her sleep on 3 October.

Ms Kennedy founded the Robert F. Kennedy Center for Justice and Human Rights soon after her husband’s death in 1968 and advocated causes including gun control and human rights.

‘One wonders how much this family must be expected to absorb’

The daughter of a millionaire, she married the future senator and attorney general Robert F. Kenndy in 1950.

Ms Kennedy had been by her husband’s side when he was shot in the kitchen of the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles on 5 June 1968, after he won the Democratic presidential primary in California.

Her brother-in-law, President John F. Kennedy, had been assassinated in Dallas less than five years earlier.

Her parents died in a plane crash in 1955 and her brother in a crash in 1966.

Gulf states are lobbying Washington to stop Israel from attacking Iran’s oil sites because they are concerned their own oil facilities could come under fire from Tehran’s proxies if the conflict escalates, three Gulf sources told Reuters.
As part of their attempts to avoid being caught in the crossfire, Gulf states including Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar are also refusing to let Israel fly over their airspace for any attack on Iran and have conveyed this to Washington, the three sources close to government circles said.

Israel has promised Iran will pay for its missile attack last week while Tehran has said any retaliation would be met with vast destruction, raising fears of a wider war in the region that could suck in the United States.
The moves by the Gulf states come after a diplomatic push by non-Arab Shi’ite Iran to persuade its Sunni Gulf neighbours to use their influence with Washington amid rising concerns Israel could target Iran’s oil production facilities.

During meetings this week, Iran warned Saudi Arabia it could not guarantee the safety of the Gulf kingdom’s oil facilities if Israel were given any assistance in carrying out an attack, a senior Iranian official and an Iranian diplomat told Reuters.
Ali Shihabi, a Saudi analyst close to the Saudi royal court, said: “The Iranians have stated: ‘If the Gulf states open up their airspace to Israel, that would be an act of war’.”

The diplomat said Tehran had sent a clear message to Riyadh that its allies in countries such as Iraq or Yemen might respond if there was any regional support for Israel against Iran.
A potential Israeli strike was the focus of talks on Wednesday between Saudi de facto ruler, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, and Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi, who was on a Gulf tour to rally support, Gulf and Iranian sources said.

OIL AT RISK?

‘MIDDLE OF A MISSILE WAR’

Sean “Diddy” Combs made his first court appearance Thursday since his arrest for racketeering conspiracy, sex trafficking and transportation to engage in prostitution.

The rapper-turned-music mogul, 54, was joined by his 84-year-old mother, Janice Combs, and six of his seven children: son Quincy Brown, 33, son Justin Combs, 30, son Christian “King” Combs, 26, daughter Chance Combs, 18, and twin daughters Jessie and D’Lila Combs, 17.

Janice — who recently condemned his “public lynching” — was heckled as she made her way into Manhattan federal court. the crowd urged Jessie and D’Lila — who entered the courthouse holding hands — to “stick together,” according to the Daily Mail.

Per The Post, Diddy — clad in tan jail clothes — entered the courtroom through a side door.

He flashed a smile and waved to King, who was sitting in the second row of the gallery, before hugging each of his attorneys.

Judge Arun Subramanian set his trial date for May 5.

Last week, Janice, Jessie and D’Lila visited the Bad Boy Records founder at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn, where he is being held without bail.

Earlier this week, Diddy’s defense team filed a third appeal for pretrial release, citing alleged insufficient evidence for detention and alleged legal errors in the court’s decision.

Prosecutors expressed concern that the hip-hop star would intimidate witnesses and obstruct the case if he were to be let out of jail; they also suggested he is a flight risk given his wealth and access to private planes.

Diddy was arrested last month and pleaded not guilty.

According to the indictment, federal agents discovered more than 1,000 bottles of lubricant, various narcotics and three AR-15s when they raided his Los Angeles and Miami mansions in March.

Prosecutors claimed Diddy “abused, threatened and coerced women and others around him to fulfill his sexual desires, protect his reputation and conceal his conduct” for decades, “creating a criminal enterprise whose members and associates engaged in … sex trafficking, forced labor, kidnapping, arson, bribery and obstruction of justice.”

Source: https://pagesix.com/2024/10/10/celebrity-news/sean-diddy-combs-makes-first-court-appearance-trial-date-set/

“Now I think about it, I definitely chose the wrong industry.”

Xiao Chen*, who works in a private equity firm in China’s financial hub, Shanghai, says he is having a rough year.

For his first year in the job, he says he was paid almost 750,000 yuan ($106,200; £81,200). He was sure he would soon hit the million-yuan mark.

Three years on, he is earning half of what he made back then. His pay was frozen last year, and an annual bonus, which had been a big part of his income, vanished.

The “glow” of the industry has worn off, he says. It had once made him “feel fancy”. Now, he is just a “finance rat”, as he and his peers are mockingly called online.

China’s once-thriving economy, which encouraged aspiration, is now sluggish. The country’s leader, Xi Jinping, has become wary of personal wealth and the challenges of widening inequality.

Crackdowns on billionaires and businesses, from real estate to technology to finance, have been accompanied by socialist-style messaging on enduring hardship and striving for China’s prosperity. Even celebrities have been told to show off less online.

Loyalty to the Communist Party and country, people are told, now trumps the personal ambition that had transformed Chinese society in the last few decades.

Mr Chen’s swanky lifestyle has certainly felt the pinch from this U-turn. He traded a holiday in Europe for a cheaper option: South East Asia. And he says he “wouldn’t even think about” buying again from luxury brands like “Burberry or Louis Vuitton”.

But at least ordinary workers like him are less likely to find themselves in trouble with the law. Dozens of finance officials and banking bosses have been detained, including the former chairman of the Bank of China.

On Thursday, the former vice-governor of the People’s Bank of China, Fan Yifei, was sentenced to death with a two-year reprieve, according to state media.

Fan was found guilty of accepting bribes worth more than 386 million yuan ($54.6m; £41.8m).

The industry is under pressure. While few companies have publicly admitted it, pay cuts in banking and investment firms are a hot topic on Chinese social media.

Posts about falling salaries have generated millions of views in recent months. And hashtags like “changing career from finance” and “quitting finance” have gained more than two million views on the popular social media platform Xiaohongshu.

Some finance workers have been seeing their income shrink since the start of the pandemic but many see one viral social media post as a turning point.

In July 2022, a Xiaohongshu user sparked outrage after boasting about her 29-year-old husband’s 82,500-yuan monthly pay at top financial services company, China International Capital Corporation.

People were stunned by the huge gap between what a finance worker was getting paid and their own wages. The average monthly salary in the country’s richest city, Shanghai, was just over 12,000 yuan.

It reignited a debate about incomes in the industry that had been started by another salary-flaunting online user earlier that year.

Those posts came just months after Xi called for “common prosperity” – a policy to narrow the growing wealth gap.

In August 2022, China’s finance ministry published new rules requiring firms to “optimise the internal income distribution and scientifically design the salary system”.

The following year, the country’s top corruption watchdog criticised the ideas of “finance elites” and the “only money matters” approach, making finance a clearer target for the country’s ongoing anti-corruption campaign.

Source: https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/crl8xee75wgo

The orbiting star is now repeatedly crashing through the debris disk, about once every 48 hours.

India’s AstroSat and NASA’s space observatories have captured dramatic eruptions from stellar wreckage around a massive black hole, the ISRO said on Thursday.

A massive black hole has torn apart one star and is now using that stellar wreckage to pummel another star or smaller black hole that used to be in the clear — this discovery was made using NASA’s space observatories — Chandra, HST, NICER, Swift — and ISRO’s AstroSat, the Indian space agency said.

“It provides astronomers with valuable insights, linking two mysteries where there had previously only been hints of a connection”, Bengaluru-headquartered ISRO (Indian Space Research Organisation) said in a statement.

In 2019, it was noted, astronomers witnessed the signal of a star that got too close to a black hole and was destroyed by the black hole’s gravitational forces. Once shredded, the star’s remains began circling the black hole in a disk in a type of stellar graveyard.

Over a few years, however, this disk has expanded outward and is now directly in the path of a star, or possibly a stellar-mass black hole, orbiting the massive black hole at a previously safe distance, according to ISRO.

The orbiting star is now repeatedly crashing through the debris disk, about once every 48 hours, as it circles. When it does, the collision causes bursts of X-rays that astronomers captured with Chandra, it stated.

“Imagine a diver repeatedly going into a pool and creating a splash every time she enters the water,” Matt Nicholl of Queen’s University Belfast, the United Kingdom, the lead author of the study that appears in the current issue of ‘Nature’ was quoted as saying in the ISRO statement.

“The star in this comparison is like the diver and the disk is the pool, and each time the star strikes the surface it creates a huge ‘splash’ of gas and X-rays. As the star orbits around the black hole, it does this over and over again,” he said.

According to ISRO, scientists have documented many cases where an object gets too close to a black hole and gets torn apart in a single burst of light. Astronomers call these “tidal disruption events” (TDEs).

In recent years, astronomers have also discovered a new class of bright flashes from the centers of galaxies, which are detected only in X-rays and repeat many times. These events are also connected to supermassive black holes, but astronomers could not explain what caused the semi-regular bursts of X-rays. They dubbed these “quasi-periodic eruptions,” or QPEs, it was stated..

“There had been feverish speculation that these phenomena were connected, and now we’ve discovered the proof that they are,” said co-author Dheeraj Pasham of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. “It’s like getting a cosmic two-for-one in terms of solving mysteries.” This tidal disruption event, now known as AT2019qiz, was first discovered by a wide-field optical telescope at the Palomar Observatory, called the Zwicky Transient Facility, in 2019. In 2023, astronomers used both Chandra and NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope to study the debris left behind after the tidal disruption had ended.

The Chandra data were obtained during three different observations, each separated by about four to five hours. The total exposure of about 14 hours of Chandra time revealed only a weak signal in the first and last chunk, but a very strong signal in the middle observation, it stated.

“From there Nicholl and collaborators used NASA’s Neutron Star Interior Composition Explorer (NICER) to look frequently at AT2019qiz for repeated X-ray bursts. The NICER data showed that AT2019qiz erupts roughly every 48 hours. Observations from NASA’s Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory and India’s AstroSat telescope cemented the finding,” ISRO stated.

Source: https://indianexpress.com/article/technology/science/isro-astrosat-nasa-dramatic-eruptions-black-hole-9614929/

President William Lai has pledged to uphold Taiwan’s self-governing status in his most high-profile public address since taking office earlier this year.

In a thinly-veiled reference to China’s claim over the island, Lai said he would “uphold the commitment to resist annexation or encroachment upon our sovereignty.”

At the same time, Lai promised to maintain “the status quo of peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait” and pledged to cooperate with Beijing on issues such as climate change, combating infectious diseases and maintaining regional security.

Responding to Lai’s speech, a spokeswoman for China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said it “exposed his intransigent position” on Taiwan independence.

Lai was speaking to a crowd in Taipei to commemorate Taiwan’s National Day, only nine days after Communist China celebrated its 75th anniversary.

“The Republic of China and the People’s Republic of China are not subordinates to each other,” he said, in a reference to the governments of Taipei and Beijing respectively.

“On this land, democracy and freedom are thriving. The People’s Republic of China has no right to represent Taiwan,” he added.

Lai previously told visitors there would be “no surprises” in his national day address, in a bid to reassure them that he would not do anything further to agitate Beijing.

The disclaimer followed several speeches by President Lai over the past few months that some viewed as being provocative.

“The speech was much softer and less snarky than his recent speeches,” Lev Nachman, a political scientist at the National Taiwan University, told the BBC in reference to Thursday’s address. “It gives China far less ammunition to use against him.”

“Nevertheless,” he added, “Beijing will still find many reasons to hate this speech.”

Mr Nachman said he expected a strong reaction from Beijing in the form of more military exercises in the next few days.

Calling him “intransigent” on independence, a spokeswoman for China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs criticised Lai’s speech and his “sinister intention to escalate tensions in the Taiwan Strait in order to seek political gains.”

“No matter what the Lai Ching-te Administration says or does, it will not be able to change the objective fact that the two sides of the Taiwan Strait belong to the same China, nor will it be able to stop the historical trend that China is bound to be reunified, and will be reunified eventually,” Mao Ning told reporters on Thursday, using Lai’s Chinese name.

Last week, Lai said it was “absolutely impossible” for China to be the “motherland” of Taiwan because the island’s government was founded in 1911, decades before the current Communist regime of mainland China was founded in 1949.

“On the contrary, the Republic of China may actually be the motherland of citizens of the People’s Republic of China who are over 75 years old,” Lai said at a concert to mark Taiwan’s National Day on Saturday.

Taiwan maintains the constitution of the Republic of China, which was founded on the Chinese mainland. When it lost a long civil war with the Communists in 1949, the Republic of China government fled to Taiwan and has been based there ever since.

Last month, Lai also questioned China’s assertion that its claim over the self-ruled island was based on territorial integrity. If that were the case, he suggested, Beijing would also be pushing to reclaim other so-called historic lands that once belonged to the Chinese empire.

“If China wants to annex Taiwan… it’s not for the sake of territorial integrity,” Lai said, in an interview to mark his first 100 days in office.

“If it is really for the sake of territorial integrity, why doesn’t China take back Russia?”

Lai referenced the 1858 Treaty of Aigun, which saw China concede large swathes of Manchuria to Russia. The concession occurred during what China refers to as the “century of humiliation,” when Western powers and Japan exploited the weakened Qing Dynasty.

Source: https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cp95mdjk95ko

Dubai, a city synonymous with luxury and opulence, boasts an impressive array of world-class hotels that cater to even the most discerning travelers. From iconic architectural marvels to intimate boutique retreats, the emirate’s hospitality scene offers an unparalleled blend of Arabian hospitality and modern extravagance. Whether you seek a beachfront paradise, a desert oasis, or a sophisticated urban sanctuary, the best hotels in Dubai promise unforgettable experiences with their lavish accommodations, exceptional dining options, and state-of-the-art amenities. In this guide, we’ll explore some of the finest hotels that epitomize Dubai’s commitment to luxury and help you choose the perfect haven for your next visit to this dazzling destination. Let us know your opinion of these magnificent hotels in the comments below!

Top 5 Hotels in Dubai to Stay in
1. Burj Al Arab Jumeirah
From an architectural standpoint, Burja Al Arab Jumeirah is one of the most striking buildings in Dubai. Travel Awaits writes: “Without a doubt, the Burj Al Arab is Dubai’s most iconic hotel. Sitting on its own small island, the sleek sail-shaped hotel is known for its decadent luxury. Be it that everything that looks like gold, is indeed gold and that the glittering ceiling of the in-house restaurant is the largest Swarovski-crystal-studded ceiling in the world, or that the lobby boasts a 590-foot, or 18-story, tall atrium complete with fountains and aquaria, everything about this hotel is mind-blowing.”

In a city where hotels compete for the title of the world’s greatest, The Burj Al Arab is considered one of the best. Travel & Leisure notes: “Considered by many to be Dubai’s most iconic hotel (and an unmistakable piece of the city’s skyline), Burj Al Arab weds spectacular views with unparalleled Arabian elegance in the heart of the city… Sitting on a man-made island off the shores of Dubai, the Burj Al Arab Jumeirah is an iconic hotel renowned for its exquisite views of the Arabian Gulf from floor-to-ceiling windows. Visitors can soak up the sun with access to the temperature-controlled infinity pool on The Terrace, or at the Summersalt Beach Club at sister hotel Jumeirah Al Naseem.”

This hotel is possibly the world’s greatest hotel. The Telegraph explains, “Dubbed the world’s only seven-star hotel because of its incomparable luxury, this luminous white landmark has a fleet of matching Rolls-Royce Phantoms and duplex suites throughout. Bathrooms are stocked with Hermès toiletries, and poolside cabanas come with wide-screen televisions and air-conditioning.”

2. Bulgari Resort and Residences Dubai
Taking advantage of a prime location on the water, Bulgari Resort sets a high bar for luxury. Forbes Travel Guide gives some insight on this exotic locale: “Driving across the 980-foot bridge to the seahorse-shaped Jumeirah Bay feels like you’ve left behind the busy commercial hub of Dubai for a charming island retreat, quietly tucked away along its coastline. Here, Bulgari Resort and Residences Dubai stands like a gem with Arabescato marble walls that glisten from under the shadows of a coral-patterned brise-soleil, welcoming you to live out your beachfront Italian getaway fantasies even as you enjoy spectacular views of the Arabian Gulf.”

Offering an island resort experience in the desert is no small feat. Forbes says, “Situated on a seahorse-shaped island off the coast of Jumeirah, Bulgari Resort Dubai blends European glamor with Middle Eastern tradition. The coral-like awnings are inspired by the region’s intricately carved mashrabiya or screens, but the luxury Italian brands’ flair for opulence is on full display. Sleek Bulgari marble is a featured throughout the communal areas and sumptuous guest rooms, offset by black granite and expansive glass walls have windows framing the turquoise sea. The jewel box spa has multiple pools including a vitality pool inspired by the ancient Caracalla Roman baths.”

It is considered a luxurious oasis that allows guests to step away from the busy Dubai metro for a more relaxing setting. According to Condé Nast Traveler, “What makes the newly opened Bulgari stand out is its location on its own seahorse-shaped man made island, and its low-slung layout, a pleasing retort to the city’s ubiquitous canyons of skyscrapers. This is down to the group’s Milan-based architects, who anchored the hotel so it separates two bays: one an oh-so-quiet stretch of beach lined with villas; the other a super-smart marina with a sweep of restaurants and the Bulgari Yacht Club—a first for the brand.”

3. Al Maha, A Luxury Collection Desert Resort & Spa
Al Maha takes guests to a place that seems to exist outside of time. Featuring ultra-luxury steeped in authentic Bedouin culture. According to The Luxury Travel Expert, “Al Maha, a Luxury Collection Desert Resort & Spa, is nestled among the lush palm groves, emerald canopies and iconic sand dunes of the Dubai Desert Conservation Reserve where desert wildlife abounds. Offering secluded tranquility and iconic vistas of the sweeping plains and Hajar Mountain massif, the property showcases the heritage and architecture of the Bedouins and also offers a sense of desert adventure. Offering unsurpassed luxury, the suites – reminiscent of Bedouin tents – are faced far apart and blend gently into the desert.”

A desert adventure with fantastic accommodations is exactly what you can expect at Al Maha. World Travel Magazine writes: “Al Maha offers a unique experience with impressionable views of the sweeping sand plains and Hajar Mountain. The resort aims to showcase the heritage and architecture of the nomadic Bedouins, which is why the suites are designed like the traditional Bedouin tents that naturally blend in with the desert setting. To complete this glamping experience, each suite has its own private infinity plunge pool.”

Jetsetter stresses that although the resort has authentic camps in a desert oasis, the camps are decked out with extremely lavish décor and comfort. “If you’ve ever dreamed of spending the night among the dunes at a Bedouin camp, you can’t do any better than Al Maha. Think of it as the Burj al Arab of the desert: 42 tent-like (and air-conditioned) suites are kitted out with Arabian furniture and antiques, mini-bars, and sun decks ringing private plunge pools, and look out over the red dunes of the Dubai Conservation Reserve—a sanctuary for resident oryx, camels, and gazelles.”

Source: https://studyfinds.org/best-hotels-in-dubai/?nab=0

It’s spooky season! Halloween is around the corner. That means all the creepy-crawly, hair-raising events that come with it are, too! As we slowly creep through the month of October, you may be wondering how to dress to impress at Halloween parties this year. That’s why StudyFinds has conjured up the ultimate guide to Halloween 2024.

We’ve rounded up everything from costumes to candy to frightening flicks that are musts this season. Our lists highlight the best of the best that are pulled from what experts love most! This year, our ultimate guide to Halloween brings readers frights and delights that ensure All Hallow’s Eve does not go unnoticed. Whether you are trick-or-treating, indulging in your favorite classic scary movies, or dressing up for a party, we’ve got you covered. Happy Halloween!

Source: https://studyfinds.org/ultimate-guide-to-halloween/?nab=0

Israel faces growing condemnation over its attacks on peacekeepers in Lebanon – with the UN saying its staff are “increasingly in jeopardy”. It comes amid rescue efforts after least 22 people were killed in an Israeli attack on Beirut. Listen below to The World podcast while you scroll.

Rescue efforts under way after Israeli airstrikes on residential buildings in Beirut kill at least 22
As we have been reporting, airstrikes on central Beirut yesterday left two neighbourhoods smouldering, killed 22 people and wounded dozens, Lebanon’s health ministry said.

The strikes also further escalated Israel’s bloody conflict with Iran-backed Hezbollah militants in Lebanon.

The air raid on central Beirut – the deadliest in more than a year of war – apparently targeted two residential buildings in separate neighbourhoods simultaneously, according to an AP photographer at the scene.

It brought down one apartment building and wiped out the lower floors of the other.

The Israeli military said it was looking into the reported strikes.

Israeli airstrikes have been far more common in Beirut’s tightly packed southern suburbs, where Hezbollah bases many of its operations.

After the strikes, Hezbollah’s Al Manar TV reported that an attempt to kill Wafiq Safa, a top security official with the group, had failed.

It said Mr Safa had not been inside either of the targeted buildings.

Pictures showed rescue efforts taking place this morning in an effort to save those buried under the rubble of the strikes.

Source: https://news.sky.com/story/israel-hezbollah-lebanon-beirut-un-tank-iran-gaza-hamas-latest-sky-news-live-12978800

The ride to the bottom takes about two minutes and visitors can see veins of gold in the rock and ride an underground tram, according to the mine’s website.

One person has been killed and a dozen rescued after a lift malfunctioned at a gold mine tourist attraction in Colorado.

It happened around noon at Mollie Kathleen Gold Mine in Cripple Creek.

Twelve people were trapped about 300m (1,000ft) down for six hours, but Colorado’s governor said on Thursday night they had been rescued.

The trapped group were already underground when the lift malfunctioned as it descended with another 11 visitors.

The incident killed one person on board, but it’s not yet been revealed how they died. Four others suffered minor injuries.

That group was able to return to the surface while the others were stuck below ground while the lift was checked.

Radio communication was established with the group of 12, which included a guide, and Teller County Sheriff Jason Mikesell said they had water, blankets and chairs.

They weren’t told someone had died, only that there was an issue with the lift, in order to keep them calm.

Firefighters were put on standby in case the problem couldn’t be fixed.

The sheriff said on Thursday night they still didn’t know what caused the problem but that engineers had checked the lift before sending it down to retrieve the group.

He declined to identify the person who died.

Source: https://news.sky.com/story/one-killed-and-12-trapped-underground-at-mine-tourist-attraction-in-colorado-13231713

South Korean grandmother Choi Soon-hwa dreamed of becoming a fashion model when she was in her 20s, but faced with life’s pressures it would take another five decades to achieve her goal.
The silver-haired Choi, 81, recently made history by becoming the oldest contestant at a Miss Universe Korea competition, after the pageant dropped age restrictions that had only allowed women aged 18-28 to participate.

“After hearing that the age restrictions were removed I thought – wow that’s great. I cannot miss this opportunity,” Choi said.
While she did not win, Choi made it to the finals and was given the ‘Best Dressed Award’ among her younger rivals.
Her dreams of becoming a fashion model or a movie star when younger had to be put aside so she could take on regular jobs in order to care for her children and meet financial commitments.

It was only while working as a hospital caregiver that her dream became a reality after one of her patients suggested she apply to be a senior model when she was 72.
Choi, who signed up for a modelling academy, recounts how when it was quiet at night in the hospital she practiced being on a catwalk and posing in front of a mirror.
Since then, Choi’s new career has taken off and she has appeared at multiple fashion shows and her image has been splashed in magazines and her story covered by television shows.

“I won in the second half of my life. In the first half, I was just running around without scoring any goals, but I finally scored in the second half,” she told Reuters.

Source: https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/age-no-barrier-octogenarian-south-korean-model-defying-stereotypes-2024-10-11/

South Korean author Han Kang won the 2024 Nobel Prize in Literature for “her intense poetic prose that confronts historical traumas and exposes the fragility of human life”, the award-giving body said on Thursday.
The prize is awarded by the Swedish Academy and is worth 11 million Swedish crowns ($1.1 million).
“She has a unique awareness of the connections between body and soul, the living and the dead, and in her poetic and experimental style has become an innovator in contemporary prose,” Anders Olsson, chairman of the Academy’s Nobel Committee, said in a statement.

Han Kang, opens new tab, the first South Korean and the 18th woman to win the literature prize, began her career in 1993 with the publication of a number of poems in the magazine Literature and Society, while her prose debut came in 1995 with the short story collection “Love of Yeosu”.
In a telephone interview with the Academy after the prize was announced, she said her celebrations would be low-key. “After this phone call I’d like to have tea with – I don’t drink so – I’m going to have tea with my son and I’ll celebrate it quietly tonight.”

Simon Prosser, Publishing Director at Hamish Hamilton (UK), the UK publisher of Han Kang’s novel “Greek Lessons” said in a statement via the Korean Cultural Centre UK:
“In writing of exceptional beauty and clarity, she faces unflinchingly the painful question of what it means to be human – to be of a species which is simultaneously capable of acts of cruelty and acts of love.”
‘THE VEGETARIAN’
Throughout her writing, Han Kang has explored the themes of grief, violence, sexuality and mental health.
In “The Vegetarian”, after struggling with gruesome recurring nightmares, Yeong-hye, a dutiful wife, rebels against societal norms, forsaking meat and stirring concern among her family that she is mentally ill.
“She is exploited erotically and aesthetically by her brother-in-law, a video artist who becomes obsessed with her passive body (and) … sinks ever deeper into a psychosis-like condition expressed through the ‘flaming trees’, a symbol for a plant kingdom that is as enticing as it is dangerous,” according to the Academy’s description.

HISTORICAL TRAUMA

Former President Barack Obama made a passionate case against Donald Trump on Thursday during a campaign rally in Pennsylvania in which he appealed directly to men to reject Trump’s bravado and back Vice President Kamala Harris.
Obama has been a vocal supporter of Harris since she ascended to the top of the Democratic ticket after President Joe Biden stepped aside in July following a poor debate performance against Trump, the Republican former president.

Obama, whose White House term ended in 2017, is still popular with his party’s base. The rally he headlined at the University of Pittsburgh, held while Harris spent the day campaigning in Nevada and Arizona, is the first of several events he plans to do in coming weeks in battleground states which are likely to decide the election.
In remarks that lambasted Trump both for his character and his policy proposals, Obama zeroed in on male voters, a constituency Harris has struggled to win over.

“I’m sorry, gentlemen. I’ve noticed this especially with some men who seem to think Trump’s behavior, the bullying, and the putting people down is a sign of strength. I am here to tell you that is not what real strength is,” he said.
“Real strength is about helping people who need it and standing up for those who can’t always stand up for themselves. That is what we should want for our daughters and for our sons.”

Bill Clinton, like Obama a two-term Democratic president, as well as a former Arkansas governor, will make stops in Georgia on Sunday and Monday before traveling to North Carolina for a bus tour later in the week in an effort to reach rural voters.
Obama’s event on a college campus was also aimed in part at attracting younger voters.
Youth are a critical part of the coalition that the Harris campaign hopes will propel her to victory. But voter registration among young people in 34 states is down compared with four years ago, according to data updated in September from the Center for Information & Research on Civic Learning and Engagement at Tufts University.
The number of people between the ages of 18 and 29 registered to vote in Pennsylvania in September was 15% lower than it was on election day in 2020, the center’s data showed.
“I understand why certain younger people feel discouraged and maybe not as passionate about politics or an interest in voting,” said rally attendee AJ Herzog, 27, citing the wars in Gaza and Ukraine.
“I think people feel, like, hopeless in certain cases where no matter who they vote for, it’s a lot of the same. But I do think there is more opportunity for change with Kamala Harris as president than there is going back to Donald Trump.”
Obama’s engagement could help get young people motivated in the campaign’s final stretch. The former president has sought to serve as a closer for Democratic candidates before, with events for Hillary Clinton in 2016 and for Biden in 2020, especially at the end of the election cycle when early voting had begun, as it has now.
The Trump campaign dismissed Obama’s remarks and influence.
“If anyone cared about what Obama says, Hillary Clinton would’ve been president,” said Trump campaign spokesperson Karoline Leavitt.

Source: https://www.reuters.com/world/us/obama-targets-young-people-rally-harris-pittsburgh-pennsylvania-2024-10-10/

Hurricane Milton plowed into the Atlantic Ocean on Thursday after cutting a destructive path across Florida that spawned tornados, killed at least 10 people and left millions without power, but the storm did not trigger the catastrophic surge of seawater that was feared.
Governor Ron DeSantis said the state had avoided the “worst-case scenario,” though he cautioned the damage was still significant and flooding remained a concern.

The Tampa Bay area appeared to sidestep the storm surge that had prompted the most dire warnings, though the barrier islands along the shore south of the city endured extensive flooding.
U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said at a White House briefing that there were reports of 10 deaths thus far, adding it appeared they were caused by tornados. At least 27 twisters touched down in Florida, he said.

In St. Lucie County on Florida’s east coast, a spate of tornados killed five people, including at least two in the senior-living Spanish Lakes communities, county spokesperson Erick Gill said.
On Thursday, snapped concrete electric poles and overturned trucks in ditches offered evidence of the twisters’ power.
Crystal Coleman, 37, and her 17-year-old daughter hid in the bathroom during the storm as a tornado began peeling the roof off her Lakewood Park house.

“It felt like I was in a movie,” she said. “I felt like I was about to die.”
More than 3.2 million homes and businesses in Florida were without power on Thursday afternoon, according to PowerOutage.us. At least some had already been waiting days for power to be restored after Hurricane Helene hit the area two weeks ago.
Milton shredded the fabric roof of Tropicana Field, the stadium of the Tampa Bay Rays baseball team in St. Petersburg, but there were no reported injuries. The ballpark was a staging area for responders, with thousands of cots set up on the field.
In downtown St. Petersburg, dozens of onlookers came out in the bright sunshine to look at a fallen crane that sliced off a corner of the Johnson Pope building on First Avenue South, home also to the Tampa Bay Times. The crumpled boom stretched from one end of the street to the other.
“That, to me, is shocking and crazy to see,” said Alberta Momenthy, 27, who lives nearby. “It looks like it kind of keeled over, and the building caught it and got a little destroyed.”
Steven Cole Smith, 71, an automotive writer and editor who lives in Tampa about seven miles (11 km) from the Gulf Coast, rode out the storm with his wife. He said the wind shook the windows so hard he thought they would shatter.
“We really didn’t have anywhere else to go,” Smith said of their decision not to follow evacuation orders. He has a house in central Florida, but said the forecast for that area looked as bad as where he was staying.
“I spent yesterday scavenging for supplies, fuel for the generator, everything we’d need,” he said. “I have a chainsaw too.”

‘INSTANTANEOUS’

From a French painter to a diehard Trump supporter, the family of the deceased Al-Qaeda leader have attempted to rebuild their lives

Omar bin Laden is the son of one of the most notorious monsters of the modern age, but until recently he was making a peaceful living in the Orne region of Normandy painting landscapes – a far cry from the atrocities perpetrated by his father on Sept 11 2001.

However, the 43-year-old has now been banned from returning to France by the nation’s new Interior Minister, Bruno Retailleau, who accused him of writing social media posts “glorifying terrorism”.

Omar was forced to leave the country in 2023 when his residency permit was revoked, after the social media account @omarbinladin1 on X (formerly Twitter) reportedly posted a message on the 12th anniversary of Osama’s death, paying tribute to him; the account has since been suspended. Omar claimed the accusations were based on “false information”.

He had gained his residency permit through his union with Jane Felix-Browne, a grandmother 24 years his senior and a parish councillor from Moulton in Cheshire, who changed her name to Zaina Mohammed Al-Sabah following their marriage in 2007. He had previously tried to settle in the UK, but was stopped by British authorities; instead they settled in France in 2016, but seem to have outstayed their welcome.

This latest dispute gets to the heart of the complex relationship that Omar, and several other members of the bin Laden family, have with the mastermind of 9/11 as they rebuild their lives. The bin Ladens are known as “the Kennedys of Jeddah” in Saudi Arabia for their combination of extreme wealth and scandalous tragedies.

Peter Bergen, author of several books on bin Laden, including The Rise and Fall of Osama Bin Laden, told the Telegraph: “The bin Laden family have been a part of the Saudi establishment for three generations. They’re not part of the royal family, but they are part of this business elite.

“Osama is one of 55, he has all these half-sisters and half-brothers, many of whom studied in the United States, and they’re part of the Saudi elite. It’s well understood that bin Laden was the black sheep of the family, the family cut him off in 1994… It obviously wasn’t good for their public image but they continue to run a very large construction firm, not just in terms of Saudi Arabia but in the Middle East in general.

“If the question is whether they’re being discriminated against because they’re members of the bin Laden family, the answer is basically no – certainly as it pertains to the family in Saudi Arabia, which is the place they care most about. They’re part of the establishment there and that’s going to carry on.”

Some in the family remained loyal to Osama’s mission; others have worked tirelessly to separate themselves from him. Three of his sons were killed by US authorities, three wives who were with him when he was assassinated wound up in a Pakistani prison for a year, and one wife, Khaeriah Sahaba, was detained in Iran, though released in 2010 in a prisoner swap.

Osama’s brother-in-law, Mohammed Jamal Khalifa, denounced him after the World Trade Centre attack but seems to have shared some of his views. He was accused of using charitable organisations to funnel money to extremists in the Philippines, and in 2007 he was killed while visiting his gemstone mine in Madagascar. At the time of his death, he was being monitored by the U.S Secret Service. Some of his family believe his death was a “political killing”.

However, many of Osama’s relations are thriving, and in surprising ways, whether supporting Donald Trump’s MAGA movement, donating £1 million to the Royal family, or entering the world of British horse racing.

Osama bin Laden himself was born into an aristocratic family in Saudi Arabia in 1957. His grandfather, Mohammed bin Awad bin Laden, made billions as a construction magnate, and he maintained a close relationship with the Saudi royal family. Osama attended an elite school, and studied at King Abdulaziz University (where he was radicalised).

But his own family – at least five wives and between 20 and 26 children – were not to enjoy that same life of untroubled wealth, status and luxury. Omar was among those groomed for jihadist terrorism. He was taken to an Al-Qaeda training camp in Afghanistan by his father when he was 14, although he eventually left after telling Osama he did not want to be associated with killing civilians. Theirs was clearly a violent relationship: Omar recalls being beaten for smiling too widely. Omar also alleges that Osama’s children lost their pet puppies to brutal poison gas experiments by Al-Qaeda fighters.

“As a teenager, Omar had a very rocky relationship with his dad, which is recounted in the book he wrote,” says Bergen. “He was a rebellious kid who Osama seemed to despise at a certain point.”

However, he has defended Osama in interviews, saying “my father is a very kind man”. In May 2011, he published a complaint alleging that his father’s burial at sea deprived his family of a proper burial. Omar took up painting during lockdown, learning by “watching guys on YouTube”. Yet he hasn’t entirely escaped his past: locations from his childhood are frequent subjects in his work, such as the mountains of Afghanistan. “Sometimes people judge you by your father,” Omar commented in 2022. “But here I feel very free. No one judges me – I am respected and left in peace. In France, I have become an artist!”

A relatively successful one too apparently. Dealer Pascal Martin reported that they had “sold a lot [of paintings], all over the world”, adding, rather bizarrely, “The name bin Laden sells.” He shared that the price range was around €750 for the smaller paintings up to €2,500 for the largest.

Meanwhile, Osama’s mother, Alia Ghanem, is holed up in a Jeddah mansion – and still has photographs of her son proudly displayed around her lavish home, which was funded by her family’s construction billions. In a 2018 interview with The Guardian, she recalled Osama as a bright, loving boy who was “brainwashed”. She seems most disappointed that he turned his back on their successful family, and a life of fast cars and big houses: “Why would he throw it all away like that?”

But this part of the family at least has returned to something like their pre-9/11 life. It was because of their good relationship with Saudi Arabia’s then-Crown Prince Mohammed bin Nayef that Osama’s wives and children are allowed to live in Jeddah – although they are prevented from leaving the kingdom. Ghanem is essentially residing in a gilded cage.

Other bin Laden relatives have turned authors, making their case for some kind of redemption, or at least sympathy, in print. Najwa Ghanem is Osama’s first cousin and became his first wife, aged 15, in 1974. She co-authored the 2009 book Growing Up bin Laden with their son Omar, writing that she was pressured to give birth to 11 children to provide more warriors for Islam.

Several children had medical difficulties (likely because their parents were cousins), yet Osama refused to allow Western treatment. A number suffered from asthma, but instead of an inhaler, Osama instructed them to breathe through a piece of honeycomb. Her contributions to the book are a fascinating study in equivocation: she avoids outright condemnation of her husband while emphasising her travails as a mother.

Source: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/10/10/what-became-of-osama-bin-ladens-family/

Russia’s top envoy to the United States has ended his term, leaving behind an ominous forecast about the risk of deteriorating bilateral ties escalating into a nuclear-armed clash over the ongoing war in Ukraine in an exclusive interview with Newsweek.

The Kremlin announced on Thursday that Russian Ambassador Anatoly Antonov had been officially relieved of his duty after seven years of service. In the lead-up to his departure, Antonov spoke with Newsweek about the troubled state of relations between Moscow and Washington, which show no signs of improving as the war in Ukraine continues and NATO doubles down on military support for Kyiv amid recent advances by the Russian military.

‘”Project Ukraine’ is dragging American politicians only further into an abyss, from which it is increasingly difficult to get out,” Antonov told Newsweek. “As we see, the administration can only respond to the victories of Russian troops in Donbas and the failure of the provocation by the Ukrainian armed forces in the Kursk region by using the same hackneyed theses about ‘support as long as we can.'”

“There are zero signals to clients about the need to think over their position and sit down at the negotiating table,” he added. “Neither are there any hints about stopping the senseless flow of weapons at the expense of the local taxpayer.”

Instead, he argued that “Washington is continuing a dangerous discussion about the possibility of giving Ukrainians a permission to strike deep into Russian territory with Western long-range missiles.”

Such talk threatened to defy the latest ultimatum issued by Russian President Vladimir Putin, who has repeatedly warned against external intervention since first ordering a “special military operation” into Ukraine in February 2022.

“They refuse to take into account the clear warnings of the President of the Russian Federation that a ‘green light’ for such attacks would mean NATO’s direct involvement in the conflict,” Antonov said, “with all the following conclusions on our part.”

Divisions at Home and Abroad
Antonov served as deputy minister of foreign affairs and defense before being appointed as Moscow’s most senior diplomat in Washington in August 2017. He became a vocal advocate for the Kremlin’s position throughout the terms of U.S. Presidents Donald Trump and Joe Biden, who is also set to vacate his office soon as Vice President Kamala Harris gears up for a tight race against Trump next month.

Antonov said he had “no desire” to discuss the inner workings of U.S. politics today but observed that “local party strategists seem to be trying to come up with official statements for Ukraine to meet the demands of the U.S. current electoral cycle.”

“These people are not interested in the fate of Europeans and Kiev,” Antonov said. “They are only interested in the digits in public opinion polls, which supposedly can be adjusted in their favor if they demonstrate ‘determination’ and ‘leadership.’ This is pure recklessness.”

He also identified a “divided” public discourse in the U.S.

“On one hand,” Antonov said, “we see a lot of attempts by reasonable political scientists to understand the situation, find workable—at least in the eyes of the United States— options to end the conflict and develop an inter-party consensus based on a common understanding of the danger of collapsing into World War III.”

“However, any voices of reason in Washington today are silenced or written off as ‘Kremlin propaganda,” he added. “The recent unjustified sanctions against Russian journalists are in this vein, as well as provocative attacks by local intelligence services against Dmitry Simes, Scott Ritter and compatriots living in America.”

Antonov railed against what he called a “brutal ‘cleansing’ of the information space in America” via the prosecution and censorship of individuals accused of spreading Russian propaganda, sanctions and raids against state-backed Russian media outlets and other measures.

Such actions, he argued, target those “who call for a sober assessment of the risks of being dragged into a morass of the Eastern Europe conflict and the prospect of a head-on collision with a nuclear power, those who warn that sitting out overseas while others are dying, without any costs, is an illusion and self-deception.”

Newsweek reached out to the U.S. State Department and the Ukrainian Embassy to the U.S. for comment.

Washington and Kyiv have long accused Moscow of spreading disinformation via state-sponsored campaigns intended to serve the Kremlin’s interests.

Meanwhile, the Biden administration has declared an unwavering position to continue military assistance to Ukraine, and many NATO allies have offered similar pledges. However, the issue has proved increasingly polarizing in Western capitals, with some, including a number of Republicans in the U.S., expressing growing skepticism about the utility of the current strategy.

The division also runs through the upcoming U.S. election. Harris vows to continue with Biden’s approach of supporting Ukraine until victory, while Trump has promised to quickly reach a deal that would put an end to what has become Europe’s deadliest conflict since World War II.

But as these debates play out at a turbulent time for U.S. politics, Antonov accused U.S. think tanks of responding to “reasonable” publications with “poisonous commentaries about the harm of any conversation with ‘the Russians'” and said that U.S. politicians prefer “to listen to ‘hawks.'”

Rather than seeking peace, they discuss “creating hostilities between the Slavs, encouraging the killing of people, and intensifying military escalation,” he argued.

“All this only confirms that the political elites have set themselves the task not just to defeat Russia but to preserve the old world order, based on the rules favorable to NATO countries,” Antonov said. “We want to change this obviously outdated state of affairs. We want our security interests to be taken into account.”

A Flashpoint in Flames
While Russia’s large-scale war against Ukraine began in February 2022, the roots of the conflict could be traced back to seismic shifts in the global order that began decades earlier.

Since first assuming power on the eve of the 21st century, less than 10 years after the fall of the USSR, Putin has consistently argued against the growing presence of the U.S.-led NATO military alliance in the former Soviet sphere of influence. He has accused Western rivals of seeking to encircle Russia; Washington and its allies have argued that entry into NATO was voluntary and was often pursued due to the perceived threats of Russian aggression.

The geopolitical storm landed in Ukraine a decade ago, when a mass uprising supported by the U.S. in 2014 ousted the government in favor of leadership seeking closer ties with the West. Moscow condemned what it called a “coup” and sent forces to seize the Crimean Peninsula as Russia-aligned separatists rose in the eastern Donbas region.

Thus began the largest militarization on the continent since the Cold War, with NATO increasingly shoring up its position in Eastern Europe and Russia dedicating more troops and equipment to its western frontier.

As Russian troops began to amass in unprecedented numbers along Ukraine’s borders in 2021, Moscow issued two proposals for demilitarizing that would effectively see NATO reduce its presence in regions near Russia’s borders, to which Antonov said the response was “silence and smirks.”

Talks quickly unraveled, and Putin ultimately resorted to force. Both sides continue to blame one another for setting the stage for conflict.

“In America, there is an unwillingness to recognize that over the past few decades, the West, led by Washington, has been rejecting Moscow’s outstretched hand of cooperation again and again,” Antonov said. “Year after year, it has been militarily ‘exploiting’ European territory, conducting waves of NATO expansion to the East.”

“It has organized color revolutions and anti-constitutional coups,” he said, “increasingly encircling Russia in a hostile ‘ring,’ and as the ‘decisive battering ram’ it chose Ukraine.”

Antonov said that the Pentagon has gone so far as “to study the outcomes of using nuclear weapons on the agricultural sector of Eastern Europe, including Russia,” including “modeling a global nuclear war scenario that will lead to the destruction, as Americans think for some reason, of only agricultural farms.”

“Such simulations were actively conducted during the Cold War years,” Antonov said. “It is noteworthy that even the American military started to contemplate a nuclear conflict.”

“At the same time, they mistakenly believe that this catastrophe will only affect Europe and Russia,” he added. “This is extremely short-sighted. America will not be able to sit it out across the ocean. A global nuclear catastrophe would affect everyone.”

Now, Antonov said, “The objective maximum task at this stage is to prevent the ties between two great powers and permanent members of the Security Council from finally plunging into an uncontrolled nosedive.”

“Russia, as a responsible state, is not interested in such an extremely dangerous development of the situation,” he said. “We convey this idea to our interlocutors and the general public in America on a regular basis. We try to put it explicitly that an insatiable desire to achieve strategic victory on the battlefield over Russia is simply impossible.”

Rival Proposals
Several notable attempts have been made to achieve a diplomatic solution since the beginning of the conflict, including direct talks held in Belarus and Turkey in the early weeks. The discussions appeared to make the most progress in Istanbul in April 2022 but have since remained largely frozen.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has called for a resolution that would see Russian forces unconditionally withdraw from his country’s territory, including four provinces annexed by Moscow in an internationally disputed referendum held in September 2022, as well as from Crimea, which was annexed in a similar vote after being captured by Russia in 2014. He’s also stated that Russian officials, including Putin, must face accountability for alleged war crimes.

These core demands, which Russia outright rejected, were reportedly featured in the new “victory plan” presented by the Ukrainian leader to the White House last month. The plan was set to be unveiled this weekend at a summit in Germany, but the meeting was canceled after Biden pulled out to deal with the aftermath of Hurricane Milton.

Putin presented a new proposal of his own in June. This entailed Ukraine ceding the unilaterally Russian-annexed territories, Kyiv abandoning its desire to become a full NATO member, and other measures dismissed by Zelensky and his foreign backers.

Harris referred to the conditions of the Russian plan as “proposals for surrender, which is dangerous and unacceptable,” during a meeting last month with Zelensky.

Trump has not responded directly to the Russian proposal but has said he had his own plan that would end the war “in 24 hours.” While he has declined to offer details, his running mate, Senator J.D. Vance, has revealed the plan would likely include a “demilitarized zone” along the current line of demarcation between Russian and Ukrainian forces.

On the ground, the war has only intensified. Russian forces have advanced on several key axes, while Ukrainian forces have conducted strikes further into Russia itself, including a ground incursion into Kursk province.

Source: https://www.newsweek.com/russia-ambassador-warns-nuclear-catastrophe-anatoly-antonov-1967309

Engineers said to be supporting missile launches and reports of North Koreans killed near Donetsk

North Korean military engineers have been deployed to help Russia target Ukraine with ballistic missiles, and fighters operating in occupied areas of the country have already been killed, senior officials in Kyiv and Seoul said.

There are dozens of North Koreans behind Russian lines, in teams that “support launcher systems for KN-23 missiles”, a source in Ukraine told the Guardian.

Kim Jong-un, the North Korean leader, last year travelled to Russia for a summit with Vladimir Putin where the two men bolstered their deepening ties with a secret arms deal.

Pyongyang’s ammunition shipments were vital in allowing Russian forces to advance in a grinding war of attrition in eastern Ukraine this summer. But it appears increasingly clear that the agreement went beyond supplying materiel.

North Koreans were among the dead after a Ukrainian missile strike on Russian-occupied territory near Donetsk last week, South Korean and Ukrainian officials said. It was not clear if they were military engineers or other forces.

Foreigners have fought as mercenaries for Russia, but if North Koreans are on the ground it would mark the first time a foreign government has sent troops in uniform to support Moscow’s war.

South Korea’s defence minister, Kim Yong-hyun, told MPs in Seoul this week that it was “highly likely” that North Korean officers had been deployed to fight alongside Russians, and several had died in the attack, although he did not give further details.

Andriy Kovalenko, the head of Ukraine’s Centre for Countering Disinformation, said in a post on Telegram that some North Koreans had been killed in Russia. His organisation is part of the national security and defence council.

On Wednesday the Ukrainian military said they had destroyed North Korean ammunition in a strike on a depot in the Bryansk region, 75 miles (120 km) from the Ukrainian border.

Joining the war on Ukraine gives North Korea a chance to test weapons, gain combat experience for its troops and bolster its standing with a powerful international ally.

“For North Korea, which has supplied Russia with many shells and missiles, it’s crucial to learn how to handle different weapons and gain real-world combat experience,” Lim Eul-chul, a professor at the Institute for Far Eastern Studies in Seoul, told the AFP news agency. “This might even be a driving factor behind sending North Korean soldiers – to provide them with diverse experiences and wartime training.”

North Korean missiles and shells are of poor quality and unreliable but have been key to keeping Russian guns firing relentlessly on Ukraine’s better-trained and motivated army.

Pyongyang is estimated to have provided around half the larger-calibre ammunition used on the battlefield this year, more than 2m rounds, a Ukrainian source said. It also provided KN-23 missiles, which were used in dozens of strikes across Ukraine last winter, Ukrainian media reported. After a pause of several months, they were deployed again from July.

The KN-23 is a short-range ballistic missile that was first tested in 2019 and has been compared to Russia’s Iskander-M missiles. It is thought to have a range of about 280 miles when carrying a 500kg warhead.

Moscow and Pyongyang have denied weapons sales even as they have publicly celebrated deepening ties in recent months. The Kremlin on Thursday dismissed North Korean troop deployments in Ukraine as “another bit of fake news”.

Source: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/oct/10/north-korea-engineers-deployed-russia-ukraine

Former President Bill Clinton will hit the trail this weekend to begin what is expected to be a very targeted push across battleground states through Election Day, three sources familiar with his plans told CNN.

The former president will seek to appeal to rural voters, among whom polls have shown Vice President Kamala Harris is performing worse than some of the last few Democratic nominees, particularly among younger Black men. Former President Barack Obama is also hitting the trail, beginning Thursday night in Pittsburgh.

Clinton will start with stops in Georgia on Sunday and Monday, with a bus tour next week in North Carolina expected to follow, pending recovery from the hurricanes.

The emphasis is on counties won by former President Donald Trump. But it’s also on Clinton voters, hoping there are enough left from when he was the last Democratic presidential nominee before Biden to win Georgia in 1992 and that he can reconnect them to a coalition they’ve been steadily dropping out of over the last decade.

Clinton won’t appear at rallies. Going back to a kind of campaigning that he hasn’t done since before he became the “Comeback Kid” in the 1992 New Hampshire primary, Clinton’s schedule is for local fairs and porch rallies, talking to at most a few hundred people at a time.

He will talk about the economy, convinced that this is the issue that the election will come down to for the voters on the fence. He will pick up themes from his Democratic National Convention speech this summer about how Trump is only out for Trump, and how he himself has been out of office for more than 20 years and is still younger than the Republican nominee. He will eat fried foods (maybe even briefly breaking the vegan diet he’s famously kept to since heart surgery).

“He’s the perfect messenger to make the case that Kamala Harris would fix inflation and finish getting the economy back on track,” one person who’s spoken with the former president about his plans told CNN on Thursday. “So he’s saddling up, returning to his roots and meeting people where they are to ask for their help electing her.”

Clinton is aware, people who have spoken to him say, that he may be dogged by Trump supporters along the way who bring up his wife, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, and his past scandals. He’s prepared for that and ready to argue that voters need to focus on the stakes in these final weeks.

Clinton was one of the first five calls Harris made in July after President Joe Biden dropped out of the race, a person with knowledge of the conversation told CNN. She asked for his support and he immediately offered it, and their aides have been working out campaigning details ever since.

“He’s an authority on economics and bread and butter issues and the longest peacetime economic expansion in American history,” said Calvin Smyre, a former Georgia state representative who talked to CNN about his warm memories of watching Clinton campaign in the state in 1992. “He has a knack of reaching people.”

The drop off in rural voters has been a huge running concern for Democrats, even as urban populations have grown and tilted increasingly blue, with the Harris campaign tracking a step decline in Democratic support in rural counties between Clinton’s last time on the ballot in 1996 and Biden’s win four years ago.

In one moment that has haunted some Hillary Clinton aides, the former president once asked in an internal strategy meeting what they were doing to appeal to rural voters but was quickly shot down, with an adviser saying that those voters were gone for Democrats.

The Harris campaign’s rural strategy is more than Bill Clinton, though. The vice president and her running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, have both appeared in rural areas in Georgia and Pennsylvania, with more rural visits in battlegrounds planned for both in the final weeks, paired with work being done out of offices the campaign has opened in rural counties.

Last week, the campaign launched a series of ads targeted at rural voters airing specifically on RFD-TV, Fox News Channel, INSP, History, The Cowboy Channel, The CowGirl Channel and Destination America.

James Carville, the former Clinton consultant who has long been pushing for his old boss’ return, said he was glad to see it finally happen.

“He’s the best explainer of things there is,” Carville told CNN, stressing that if the election is litigated along his famous “it’s the economy, stupid” lines, Clinton has the credibility to make the case.

Asked if he would have liked to see Clinton out sooner, Carville joked, “The best time to plant an oak tree was 25 years ago. The second best time is now.”

At a campaign stop outside of Pittsburgh on Thursday morning, Pennsylvania Rep. Chris Deluzio said he’d be eager to see Clinton campaign in his state. “We have a record of presidents having grown jobs, having grown the economy, and kicked the crap out of the economic record for when Republicans were in the White House.”

Asked if voters remember Clinton, Deluzio — who noted he recently turned 40 — said, “Some folks do,” adding that “a lot of voters younger than me don’t remember the 90s or weren’t even alive.”

Jason Carter, a former Georgia state senator, said he believes Clinton will be a huge help in southern Georgia and beyond.

“People think of Bill Clinton’s time as the president as a time when this country was doing well, where people were making money, where people weren’t left behind,” Carter said.

But the importance, Carter said, isn’t just about nostalgia.

Source: https://edition.cnn.com/2024/10/10/politics/bill-clinton-campaigning-kamala-harris/index.html

Rescue teams plucked Florida residents from the flotsam of Hurricane Milton on Thursday after the storm smashed through coastal communities where it tore homes into pieces, filled streets with mud and spawned a barrage of deadly tornadoes. At least eight people were dead.

Arriving just two weeks after the misery wrought by Hurricane Helene, the system also knocked out power to more than 3 million customers, flooded barrier islands, tore the roof off a baseball stadium and toppled a construction crane.

Among the most dramatic rescues, Hillsborough County officers found a 14-year-old boy floating on a piece of fence and pulled him onto a boat. A Coast Guard helicopter crew rescued a man who was left clinging to an ice chest in the Gulf of Mexico after his fishing boat was stranded in waters roiled by Hurricane Milton. The agency estimated the man had survived winds of 75 to 90 mph (121 to 145 kph) and waves up to 25 feet (7.6 meters) high during his night on the water.

“This man survived in a nightmare scenario for even the most experienced mariner,” Coast Guard Lt. Cmdr. Dana Grady said.

Despite the destruction, many people expressed relief that Milton wasn’t worse. The hurricane spared Tampa a direct hit, and the lethal storm surge that scientists feared never materialized.

The storm tracked to the south in the final hours and made landfall late Wednesday as a Category 3 hurricane in Siesta Key, about 70 miles (112 kilometers) south of Tampa. Damage was widespread, and water levels may continue to rise for days, but Gov. Ron DeSantis said it was not “the worst-case scenario.”

“You face two hurricanes in a couple of weeks — not easy to go through — but I’ve seen a lot of resilience throughout this state,” the governor told a briefing in Sarasota. He said he was “very confident that this area is going to bounce back very, very quickly.”

Five people were killed in tornadoes in the Spanish Lakes Country Club near Fort Pierce, on Florida’s Atlantic Coast, where homes were destroyed, authorities said. Police also found a woman dead under a fallen tree branch in Tampa.

In Volusia County, authorities said two people, a 79-year-old woman in Ormond Beach and a 54-year-old woman in Port Orange, were also killed when trees fell on homes.

Speaking at a White House briefing, Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said there were reports of as many as 10 fatalities from tornadoes, but he cautioned that the number was tentative.

At least 340 people and 49 pets have been rescued in ongoing efforts, DeSantis said Thursday afternoon.

South of Tampa, Natasha Shannon and her husband, Terry, felt lucky to be alive after the hurricane peeled the tin roof off their cinder block home in Palmetto. They spent the night in a shelter with their three children and two grandchildren after she pushed them to leave.

“I said, ‘Baby, we got to go. Because we’re not going to survive this,’” she said.

They returned to find the roof torn into sheets across the street, shredded insulation hanging from exposed ceiling beams and their belongings soaked.

“It ain’t much but it was ours,” she said. “What little bit we did have is gone.”

The worst storm surge appeared to be in Sarasota County, where it was 8 to 10 feet (2.5 to 3 meters) — lower than in the worst place during Helene. The storm also dumped up to 18 inches (45 centimeters) of rain in some areas.

Officials in the hard-hit Florida counties of Hillsborough, Pinellas, Sarasota and Lee urged people to stay home, warning of downed power lines, trees in roads, blocked bridges and flooding.

Among the dozens of tornadoes was a twister that hit the tiny barrier island of Matlacha, just off Fort Myers. The fishing-and-tourism village also endured a surge, with many of the colorful buildings sustaining serious damage. Tom Reynolds, 90, spent the morning sweeping out 4 feet (1.2 meters) of mud and water and collecting chunks of aluminum siding torn off by a twister that also picked up a car and threw it across the road.

Elsewhere on the island, a house was blown into a street, temporarily blocking it. Some structures caught fire. Reynolds said he planned to repair the home he built three decades ago.

“What else am I going to do?” he said.

In contrast, city workers on Anna Maria Island were grateful not to be wading through floodwaters as they picked up debris Thursday morning, two weeks after Helene battered buildings and blew in piles of sand up to 6 feet (1.8 m) high. Those piles may have helped shield homes from further damage, said Jeremi Roberts of the State Emergency Response Team.

“I’m shocked it’s not more,” city worker Kati Sands said as she cleared the streets of siding and broken lights. “We lost so much with Helene, there wasn’t much left.”

Helene flooded streets and homes in western Florida and left at least 230 people dead across the South. In many places along the coast, municipalities raced to collect and dispose of debris before Milton’s winds and storm surge could toss it around and compound any damage.

Power was knocked out across much of the state. More than 3.4 million homes and businesses were without electricity, according to poweroutage.us, which tracks utility reports.

The fabric that serves as the roof of Tropicana Field — home of the Tampa Bay Rays baseball team in St. Petersburg — was ripped to shreds by fierce winds. Debris littered the field.

About 80,000 people spent the night in shelters, and thousands of others fled after authorities issued mandatory evacuation orders across 15 Florida counties with a total population of about 7.2 million people.

In Punta Gorda, a 10-foot (3-meter) surge from the Peace River swept into the historic district, damaging homes and depositing six boats along one riverside street. It was the third surge to hit the neighborhood in three months.

Josh Baldwin said he was leaning toward scrapping his 38-foot (11.6-meter) boat rather than pay $100,000 to fix it. He couldn’t get insurance because it was moored in Punta Gorda.

“They don’t like to pay out, and this place always gets ruined in hurricanes,” he said.

A half-block away, information technology workers Kent and Cathy Taylor and their son were using an SUV attached to a chain to pull waterlogged drywall out of the bottom floor of their three-story home, which they bought in July. The lower level is gutted, but the upper floors are still structurally sound.

“It will be beautiful again — it’s just a nick,” Cathy Taylor said.

By Thursday afternoon, Milton was headed into the Atlantic Ocean as a post-tropical cyclone with winds of 75 mph (120 kph) — just barely hurricane force.

Source: https://apnews.com/article/hurricane-milton-tampa-florida-5f6a112986eb6e21720f0f17c504afe8

The King paid tribute to Ms Ebert’s “extraordinary resilience and courage”. She was recognised with an MBE for her services to Holocaust education in January 2023.

One of the last remaining survivors of the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp has died aged 100.

Lily Ebert died peacefully at her home surrounded by her family, her great-grandson Dov Forman said on X.

Ms Ebert was 20 years old when she was deported from her hometown in Hungary to the concentration camp.

She suffered “unimaginable loss” when her mother, younger sister and brother were killed by the Nazis in gas chambers, Mr Forman said, but she vowed to tell her story.

Mr Forman wrote a bestselling book with his great-grandmother, Lily’s Promise, which featured a foreword by the King and detailed the life she lived after the war.

After she was freed from Auschwitz she lived in Switzerland and Israel before moving to the UK in 1967 with her husband Samuel and settling in London.

She was recognised with an MBE for her services to Holocaust education in January 2023.

Earlier this year Ms Ebert told Sky News she believes the Holocaust could happen again.

Family celebrates survivor’s ‘extraordinary life’

Mr Forman said the family’s “beloved matriarch”, known as Safta, would be hugely missed.

“Over the years, Safta’s story touched hundreds of millions worldwide, reminding us of the resilience of the human spirit and the dangers of unchecked hatred. She taught us the power of tolerance and faith, the importance of speaking out, and the need to stand against prejudice,” he said.

“She rebuilt her life with faith and love, never asking, ‘why me?’. Instead, she focused on what could be rebuilt from the ashes, and her positivity continues to guide us through these difficult times.

“As we mourn our beloved Mummy, Safta, we also celebrate her extraordinary life. A light that shone so brightly has gone dark. She was our hero, and her absence leaves an unimaginable void in our lives.”

The King leads tributes to Holocaust educator

The King paid tribute to Ms Ebert’s “extraordinary resilience and courage”, saying she “became an integral part of the fabric of our nation”.

“As a survivor of the unmentionable horrors of the Holocaust, I am so proud that she later found a home in Britain where she continued to tell the world of the horrendous atrocities she had witnessed, as a permanent reminder for our generation – and, indeed, for future generations – of the depths of depravity and evil to which humankind can fall, when reason, compassion and truth are abandoned,” he said.

Sir Keir Starmer said Ms Ebert “represented everything that was best about humanity”.

Source: https://news.sky.com/story/lily-ebert-auschwitz-survivor-dies-aged-100-13230883

The Airbus A350’s crew tried to revive the 59-year-old after he lost consciousness, but he was confirmed dead before the plane landed. A spokesperson said he had no known prior health problems.

A plane was forced to make an emergency landing after its pilot died on board.

The Turkish Airlines flight from Seattle to Istanbul was diverted to New York after the man lost consciousness shortly after take-off.

The crew gave the 59-year-old emergency treatment on board and tried to revive him, but he died before the aircraft landed.

It is believed the co-pilot safely landed the plane.

Flight tracking data showed the Airbus A350 took off from Seattle on Tuesday night before flying north over Canada.

However, it then abruptly diverted south and landed at John F Kennedy International Airport just before 6am local time on Wednesday.

The airline named the captain as Ilcehin Pehlivan.

Spokesperson Yahya Ustun said he had worked at the airline since 2007 and had no known health problems.

He also passed a medical earlier this year.

Source: https://news.sky.com/story/plane-makes-emergency-landing-after-pilot-dies-on-turkish-airlines-flight-13230854

Experts warned the storm could become one of Florida’s “most destructive hurricanes” with nearly six million people said to be in the potential path of the extreme conditions.

Florida is bracing for winds of up to 160mph as people continue to evacuate ahead of the arrival of Hurricane Milton.

The storm has the “potential to be one of the most destructive hurricanes” the area has seen when it makes landfall in the coming hours, according to the US National Hurricane Center.

Some residents have insisted they will stay after millions were ordered to evacuate, while President Joe Biden has described Hurricane Milton as “literally a matter of life and death.”

Mr Biden postponed an upcoming trip to Germany and Angola in order to oversee preparations for the storm – in addition to the ongoing response to the earlier Hurricane Helene.

Hurricane Milton had been a Category 5 hurricane during much of its approach and despite a recent downgrading to Category 3 it remains “major and strong”, Florida governor Ron DeSantis said.

Late changes of direction put areas around Sarasota in the storm’s path. It had originally been forecast to hit Tampa, slightly to the north.

As of 10.30pm UK time, Hurricane Milton was around 170 miles (275km) southwest of Orlando, Florida, with maximum sustained winds of 120mph.

Heavy rain is already lashing many communities, with conditions expected to rapidly deteriorate in the coming hours as Hurricane Milton makes landfall.

A tornado crossed the Interstate 75 – a major highway which runs through Florida – according to the National Weather Service.

Experts warned more tornadoes were likely across parts of central and southern Florida, along with the risk of catastrophic and life-threatening flash flooding.

Forecasters warned the storm could bring eight to 12ft (2.44-3.66m) storm surges, leading to further possible evacuation orders being issued along the Gulf Coast.

Eleven counties in Florida have issued mandatory evacuation orders with up to nearly six million people said to be in the potential path of the storm.

‘We haven’t seen a storm like this’

Pasco County is located on Florida’s west coast and its director of emergency management Andrew Fossa echoed the warnings from other officials.

“I hate to say it like this – Pasco County’s going to get a black eye from this one,” he said.

“We haven’t seen a storm like this in a lifetime.”

Tampa mayor Jane Castor said up to 15ft (4.6m) of storm surge being forecast for her city would be deep enough to swallow an entire house.

“So if you’re in it, basically that’s the coffin that you’re in,” she warned.

A lengthy line of vehicles has been heading north as residents moved to safer areas, while hundreds of flights have been cancelled, with many more expected to be grounded.

The famous Sunshine Skyway Bridge, spanning the mouth of Tampa Bay, has been shut in the face of Hurricane Milton’s approach.

‘We’ll just hang… tough it out’

In Riverview, south of Tampa, several drivers waiting in a long line for fuel said they had no plans to evacuate.

“I think we’ll just hang, you know – tough it out,” said Martin Oakes, of nearby Apollo Beach.

“We got shutters up. The house is all ready. So this is sort of the last piece of the puzzle.”

Parts of Mexico and Cuba also felt the impact of Hurricane Milton on its approach, with the state of Georgia possibly facing wind and storm surge damage over the coming hours.

The storm is expected to retain hurricane strength as it crosses central Florida on Thursday on a path east toward the Atlantic Ocean.

‘Onslaught of lies’

Misinformation and disinformation were both issues ahead of the landfall and President Biden hit out at Donald Trump, accusing him of leading an “onslaught of lies”.

Both Biden and vice president Kamala Harris denounced misinformation and disinformation surrounding the government’s response to last month’s Hurricane Helene, including the false assertion that there is a cap on assistance funding families can receive.

They also denounced the false claim that funding was being diverted away from Republican-heavy areas and to migrants and that federal authorities offering aid could eventually steal property from its owners.

Republican representative Chuck Edwards, whose North Carolina district was hit hard by Hurricane Helene, called out “outrageous rumours” spread by “untrustworthy sources trying to spark chaos.”

Source: https://news.sky.com/story/hurricane-milton-florida-braces-for-160mph-winds-as-approaching-storm-forces-mass-evacuation-13230868

Jennifer Lopez is still standing strong after her and Ben Affleck’s breakup — but admits it almost took her “out for good.”

Two months after filing for divorce from the actor, Lopez clarified in an Interview magazine profile published Wednesday that she does “not regret” her choice “for one second.”

The singer, 55, explained to Nikki Glaser that the split was “exactly what [she] needed.”

Lopez added, “I think to myself … ‘Thank you, god. I’m sorry it took me so long. I’m sorry that you had to do this to me so many times. I should have learned it two or three times ago. I get it.”

The Grammy nominee, who was previously married to Ojani Noa, Cris Judd, and Marc Anthony, likened this most recent experience to getting “hit … really hard over the head with a f–king sledgehammer” or having a house “dropped” on her.

Lopez joked about her past “romantic” mindset, saying she used to “love being in relationships and want to grow old with somebody” in order to “be whole and happy.”

The performer called the “old Jennifer” who still wants those things a “dumb bitch” and a “motherf–ker” while telling her “no.”

Although she “finally” learned her lesson — “It only took me 30 years,” she joked — Lopez doesn’t believe she she has “everything figured out.”

The dancer admitted that her single status makes her feel “lonely,” “sad” and “desperate.”

However, she said, “When you sit in those feelings and go, ‘These things are not going to kill me,’ it’s like, ‘Actually, I am capable of joy and happiness all by myself.’”

The “Hustlers” star, who did not refer to Affleck, 52, by name in the interview, is “excited” to be alone.

“Everything that I’ve done over the past 25, 30 years, being in these different challenging situations, what can I f–king do when it’s just me flying on my own?” she asked. “What if I’m just free?”

Source: https://pagesix.com/2024/10/09/celebrity-news/jennifer-lopez-ben-affleck-divorce-almost-took-me-out-for-good/

Two civilians have been killed and several others wounded after the Lebanese armed group Hezbollah fired at least 150 rockets into northern Israel.

Paramedics said a man and a woman in their 40s were fatally wounded by shrapnel in the border town of Kiryat Shmona. They were a couple who had been out walking their dog along a wooded street.

Hezbollah said it had targeted Israeli forces in Kiryat Shmona, which most residents have evacuated after a year of cross-border fighting.

These were the first Israeli civilians killed by Hezbollah since the conflict escalated two weeks ago, when Israel launched an intense air campaign targeting the Iran-backed group before invading southern Lebanon.

The rocket or fragments that hit Kiryat Shmona on Wednesday also sparked several fires.

We could smell the fires burning before we saw them. In one street, neighbours watched as three teams of firefighters tackled plumes of smoke from a house where a rocket had landed.

Katy Krelshtein watched in disbelief from the other side of the road – the house next door belonged to her father.

“I saw red,” she replied, when I asked for her reaction. “It’s gone beyond fear now – it’s just anger.”

Rockets have been a daily reality for a year now in Kiryat Shmona, and many people there said they wanted their military to do whatever it takes to make them stop.

As we arrived and began filming, there were several more rocket alerts and interceptions. This close to the border, residents have just seconds to reach a shelter.

We watched as one large barrage of more than 20 rockets, followed by what looked like a missile, were all intercepted in the sky overhead – part of what the Israeli military said were 90 projectiles launched from Lebanon in a single eight-minute window.

Earlier on Wednesday, we were in another town to the west, where the border cuts straight down the hill overlooking it. Burned patches of forest mark where artillery and rockets have landed.

In the deserted streets below, the sound of gunfire from across the hill echoed around empty houses.

Shelley Barkan, one of very few who have stayed there, said there were sometimes eight or nine rocket alerts each day now.

“I’ve got pieces of rockets in my garden,” she said. “Their aim is to murder us, to kill us, to send Israel to the sea, and our aim is to defend ourselves.”

She showed us the catering hall where she helps prepare food for the local soldiers.

While we were there, we heard a barrage of rockets fired from Lebanon over our heads towards Israeli towns further south.

Minutes later, rockets landed in the coastal city of Haifa, wounding another five people, including a teenage boy.

Source: https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c98yklj023xo

False claims suggesting that Hurricane Milton was “engineered” and that the weather in Florida is being “manipulated” have been spreading on social media.

There is no technology that allows humans to create and control hurricanes.

But on platforms like X and TikTok, posts alleging – without evidence – that the US government is secretly controlling the weather have been viewed millions of times.

Many were published by accounts known for spreading conspiracy theories, as well as misinformation about Covid-19 or vaccines.

These users shared the belief that Hurricane Milton, one of the strongest storms in recent US history, was purposefully created by shadowy forces at the heart of US politics.

But they proposed several different explanations for how that was supposedly done.

Some users claimed weather manipulation techniques like cloud seeding are to blame.

Cloud seeding involves manipulating existing clouds to try to produce more rain, for example in countries with a dry climate.

But the south-east of the US had already been hit by huge amounts of rainfall from Hurricane Helene, which triggered deadly flooding in several states just two weeks ago.

“When we cloud seed, it is because we do not have enough aerosols or water vapor within the atmosphere to see condensation occur, so we try and force it through cloud seeding,” says Jill Trepanier, an expert in extreme weather phenomena from Louisiana State University.

“Over the western Gulf of Mexico and the Bay of Campeche, that is not a problem. The Earth will make a hurricane all on its own.”

Other users blamed “geoengineering” instead – a wide array of methods to manipulate the environment with a view to reducing the effects of climate change.

But there are no tools that would allow humans to create or control storms like this one.

“There is no possibility using current knowledge and technology to use geoengineering to modify hurricanes,” says Suzana Camargo from the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory at Columbia University.

Hurricanes are natural weather systems.

Typically they begin as what is known as a tropical wave – a low pressure area where thunderstorms and clouds develop.

As strong winds push this system away from Africa and towards the Americas, warm, moist air rises from the tropical Atlantic Ocean, and the system of clouds and winds begins to spin.

With sufficient energy from the warm ocean waters, combined with favourable circulation patterns in the atmosphere, it may be able to strengthen into a full hurricane.

Social media posts seen by BBC Verify wrongly suggest hurricanes like this one are being created for sinister reasons, including to attempt to sway next month’s presidential election.

Those assertions are false, but there is a link to human activity because of the way climate change is making these storms generally more intense.

Climate change – caused by emissions of planet-warming gases such as carbon dioxide from human activities – is not thought to be increasing the number of tropical storms worldwide.

But rising temperatures do make the strongest hurricanes more likely.

Warmer seas mean that these storms can pick up more energy, potentially leading to higher wind speeds.

Hurricane Milton strengthened particularly quickly as it moved over the Gulf of Mexico, where sea surface temperatures were around 1-2C warmer than average.

Peak sustained wind speeds increased from 90mph (150km/h) to 175mph (280km/h) in just 12 hours on 7 October, according to National Hurricane Center data.

For some social media users, this sudden change was perceived as “evidence” to back their suggestions this was not a “natural” storm, but instead one manufactured by humans.

Source: https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cx2lyzw7xwxo

Israel’s defense minister warned on Wednesday that his country’s retaliation for a recent Iranian missile attack will be “lethal” and “surprising,” while the Israeli military pushed ahead with a large-scale operation in northern Gaza and a ground offensive in Lebanon against Hezbollah militants.

On the diplomatic front, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and President Joe Biden held their first call in seven weeks, with a White House press secretary saying the call included discussions on Israel’s deliberations over how it will respond to Iran’s attack.

The continuing cycle of destruction and death in Gaza, unleashed by Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attack on southern Israel, comes as Israel expands a weeklong ground offensive against Hezbollah in Lebanon and considers a major retaliatory strike on Iran following Iran’s Oct. 1 missile barrage.

“Our strike will be lethal, precise and above all, surprising. They won’t understand what happened and how. They will see the results,” Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said during a speech to troops. “Whoever strikes us will be harmed and pay a price.”

Iran fired dozens of missiles at Israel on Oct. 1 which the United States helped fend off. Biden has said he would not support a retaliatory strike on sites related to Tehran’s nuclear program.

On Wednesday, Hezbollah claimed a rocket attack that killed two people in the northern Israeli town of Kiryat Shmona. The town’s acting mayor, Ofir Yehezkeli, said the two killed were a couple walking their dogs.

Dozens killed in Gaza and survivors fear displacement

In northern Gaza, there was heavy fighting in Jabaliya, an urban refugee camp dating back to the 1948 war surrounding Israel’s creation, where Israeli forces have carried out several major operations over the course of the war and then returned as militants regroup. The entire north, including Gaza City, has suffered heavy destruction and has been largely isolated by Israeli forces since late last year.

In Gaza, Jabaliya residents said thousands of people have been trapped in their homes since the operation began Sunday, as Israeli jets and drones buzz overhead and troops battle militants in the streets.

“It’s like hell. We can’t get out,” said Mohamed Awda, who lives with his parents and six siblings. He said there were three bodies in the street outside his home that could not be retrieved because of the fighting.

“The quadcopters are everywhere, and they fire at anyone. You can’t even open the window,” he told The Associated Press by phone, speaking over the sound of explosions.

Gaza’s Health Ministry said it recovered 40 bodies from Jabaliya from Sunday until Tuesday, and another 14 from communities farther north. There are likely more bodies under rubble and in areas that can’t be accessed, it said.

Jabaliya residents fear Israel aims to depopulate the north and turn it into a closed military zone or a Jewish settlement. Israel has blocked all roads except for the main highway leading south from Jabaliya, according to residents.

“People here say clearly that they will die here in northern Gaza and won’t go to southern Gaza,” Ahmed Qamar, who lives in Jabaliya with his wife, children and parents, said in a text message.

Hospitals are under threat
Fadel Naeem, the director of Al-Ahly Hospital in Gaza City, said it had received dozens of wounded people and bodies from the north. “We declared a state of emergency, suspended scheduled surgeries, and discharged patients whose conditions are stable,” he told AP in a text message.

Israel’s offensive has gutted Gaza’s health sector, forcing most hospitals to shut down and leaving the rest only partially functioning.

Naeem said three hospitals farther north — Kamal Adwan, Awda and the Indonesian Hospital – have become almost inaccessible because of the fighting. The Gaza Health Ministry says the Israeli army has ordered all three to evacuate staff and patients. Meanwhile, no humanitarian aid has entered the north since Oct. 1, according to U.N. data.

Israel’s authority coordinating humanitarian affairs in Palestinian territories said Israel “has not halted the entry or coordination of humanitarian aid entering from its territory into the northern Gaza Strip.”

Israel says it only targets militants and blames civilian deaths on Hamas because it fights in residential areas.

Israel ordered the wholesale evacuation of northern Gaza, including Gaza City, in the opening weeks of the war, but hundreds of thousands of people are believed to have remained there. Israel reiterated those instructions over the weekend, telling people to flee south to a humanitarian zone where hundreds of thousands are already crammed into squalid tent camps.

The war began just over a year ago, when Hamas-led militants stormed into southern Israel, killing some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducting around 250. They still hold around 100 hostages, a third of whom are believed to be dead.

Israel’s offensive has killed over 42,000 Palestinians, according to the Gaza Health Ministry, which does not say how many were fighters. It has said women and children make up over half of the dead. The offensive has also caused staggering destruction across the territory and displaced around 90% of the population of 2.3 million people, often multiple times.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed to keep fighting until “total victory” over Hamas and the return of all hostages.

Israel warns Lebanon it could end up like Gaza
On Tuesday, Netanyahu said Lebanon would meet the same fate as Gaza if its people did not rise up against Hezbollah.

In recent weeks Israel has waged a heavy air campaign across large parts of Lebanon, targeting what it says are Hezbollah rocket launchers and other militant sites. A series of strikes had killed Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah and most of his top commanders.

An Israeli airstrike on Wednesday hit a Lebanese Civil Defense center in the town of Dardghaya in southern Lebanon, killing five members who were stationed there, civil defense spokesperson Elie Khairallah told The Associated Press. Among the victims was Abdullah Al-Moussawi, head of the Tyre Regional Center in the Lebanese Civil Defense, Khairallah said.

Just last week, Al-Moussawi spoke with the Associated Press, saying the Israeli airstrikes had made his team increasingly nervous, but that they were hopeful that the international protection guaranteed to medics will extend to them as well.

There was no immediate statement from the Israeli military. As of last Thursday, the Lebanese Health Ministry reported that over 100 paramedics had been killed by Israeli airstrikes.

Another strike on Wednesday killed four people and wounded another 10 at a hotel sheltering displaced people in the southern Lebanese town of Wardaniyeh, Lebanon’s Health Ministry said.

An Associated Press reporter in a nearby town heard two sonic booms from Israeli jets before the strike. Plumes of smoke rose from the building after the explosion.

The Israeli military said Wednesday that Hezbollah has fired more than 12,000 rockets, missiles and drones at Israel in the past year.

Video verified by The Associated Press also shows what appears to be a group of Israeli soldiers raising an Israeli flag in a village in southern Lebanon.

In the video, which appears to have been filmed in Maroun A-Ras, three soldiers are seen hoisting up a flag atop a pile of debris. A soldier off camera speaks in Hebrew and refers to the nearby Israeli village of Avivim. The date it was filmed wasn’t immediately known.

The video follows other similar acts that took place throughout Israel’s ground offensive in Gaza. The Israeli military had no immediate comment.

Source: https://apnews.com/article/israel-palestinians-hamas-lezbollah-war-news-10-09-2024-31a2dff9a2bb49bc3b76f32b1ddee128

Twin brothers who were born conjoined recently celebrated their first birthday after undergoing successful separation surgery.

Amari and Javar Ruffin, whose family lives in Philadelphia, were born via cesarean section on Sept. 29, 2023. The brothers — who shared part of their sternum, diaphragm, abdominal wall and liver — weighed a combined 6 pounds.

On Aug. 21, a surgical team at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia with more than two dozen specialists, including surgeons, anesthesiologists, radiologists, nurses, and many others, operated for eight hours to separate the boys. Their abdomens were closed and rebuilt using layers of mesh and plastic surgery techniques.

The boys went home on Oct. 8 to be with their parents, Tim and Shaneka, and their siblings, Kaylum and Anora.

“Seeing them each in their own beds was an indescribable feeling,” Shaneka Ruffin said. “It feels like we are beginning a new journey as a family of six. We are so grateful to CHOP for helping make this day possible and letting us start this next chapter.”

The Ruffins learned the twins were conjoined through a routine ultrasound 12 weeks into the pregnancy. Shaneka Ruffin said it was recommended to her that she terminate her pregnancy. They got a second opinion, and the hospital told them that though the boys had a rare condition, they could be separated successfully.

Conjoined twins occur roughly once in every 35,000-80,000 births. The hospital is one of only a few in the U.S. with expertise in separating them.

Source: https://apnews.com/article/conjoined-twins-separated-philadelphia-a95a93eea3482d6254a58e02fe605392

Hurricane Milton is just a matter of hours away from making landfall, as officials in the US warn “this is your last chance” to get out as deaths are likely unavoidable.

A popular TikTok user known as “Lieutenant Dan” has refused to evacuate his boat in Tampa Bay as Hurricane Milton is set to make landfall.

Joe Malinowski, nicknamed “Lieutenant Dan”, went viral on social media in recent days as he went against advice from experts and officials, and decided to stay in his boat, in the path of Hurricane Milton.

Both local and national officials in the US have spent recent days pleading with residents to follow evacuation orders and Sky News’ US partner NBC News reported that police tried to persuade Mr Malinowski to leave his boat.

Authorities warned the power and destruction Hurricane Milton could bring could be catastrophic for many communities that are particularly exposed to its impacts.

Hurricane Milton shocked experts by intensifying from a tropical storm with 40mph winds to a Category five storm with gusts said to be over 200mph, in less than two days.

However, one TikTok user has vowed to ignore all official and expert advice and stay in place, insisting to Sky News US correspondent James Matthews: “I’m gonna be fine.”

In his boat, in Sea Shell, Tampa Bay, Mr Malinowski continued: “Plan is to sit down and hunker down.

“I’m gonna be fine. This is a boat. It’s meant to be on water.

“The water’s going to surge, it’s not a tsunami.”

He claimed to have slept through Hurricane Helene, and that he would be able to do so again.

“I have no concerns, God’s got me. I’m gonna hunker down and do my TikTok.”

Mr Malinowski has been posting TikToks from his boat as the storm closes in, attracting hundreds of thousands of views.

Once-in-a-century storm

Officials described Hurricane Helene as having “spared” the Tampa Bay region, having landed 100 miles (161km) north.

Even then storm surge caused catastrophic damage and 12 deaths in the region.

The region of 3.3 million people hasn’t suffered a direct hit from a hurricane in more than 100 years.

Tampa Bay, like the rest of Florida’s Gulf coastline, is particularly vulnerable to storm surge as its shallow, gently sloping ocean floor retains water pushed in by the wind.

Barrier islands near Clearwater and St Petersburg are at particular risk, with officials urging residents to get to the mainland to avoid drowning.

Source: https://news.sky.com/story/hurricane-milton-popular-tiktok-user-lieutenant-dan-ignores-official-and-expert-advice-to-evacuate-13231054

EU envoys agreed on Wednesday to give Ukraine up to 35 billion euros as part of the bloc’s share in a larger planned loan from the Group of Seven nations (G7) backed by frozen Russian central bank assets, a statement from the Council of the EU said.
The G7 and European Union announced in June they would provide a $50 billion loan to help Ukraine, serviced by profits generated by Russian assets immobilised in the West. These assets were frozen shortly after Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

U.S. President Joe Biden and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had a call on Wednesday amid tensions with Iran, while Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant promised an Israeli strike against Iran will be “lethal, precise and surprising.”
The 30-minute call was the first known chat for Biden and Netanyahu since August and coincides with a sharp escalation of Israel’s conflict with Iran and the Iran-backed Lebanese Hezbollah, but with no sign of an imminent ceasefire to end the conflict with Iran-backed Hamas in Gaza.

The call was “direct and very productive,” White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters, while acknowledging the two leaders have disagreements and are open about them.
The Middle East has been on edge awaiting Israel’s response to a missile attack last week that Tehran carried out in retaliation for Israel’s military escalation in Lebanon. The Iranian attack ultimately killed no one in Israel.

After describing Iran’s Oct. 1 missile attack as a failure, Gallant said in a video issued by his office after the Biden-Netanyahu call had ended: “Whoever attacks us will be hurt and will pay a price. Our attack will be deadly, precise and above all surprising, they will not understand what happened and how it happened, they will see the results.”
Netanyahu has promised that arch-foe Iran will pay for its missile attack, while Tehran has said any retaliation would be met with vast destruction, raising fears of a wider war in the oil-producing region which could draw in the United States.

The United States has said it supports Israel going after Iran-backed targets like Hezbollah and Hamas but has tried, unsuccessfully, to stem rising conflict, to broker a ceasefire in Gaza and to persuade Israel to curb rocket attacks on residential areas that have killed thousands of people.
Relations between Biden and Netanyahu have been tense, strained over the Israeli leader’s handling of the war in Gaza and the conflict with Hezbollah. Israel has said it will pursue its military operations until Israelis are safe.
In “War,” a book out next week, journalist Bob Woodward reports that Biden regularly accused Netanyahu of having no strategy, and shouted “Bibi, what the fuck?” at him in July, after Israeli strikes near Beirut and in Iran.
Asked about the book, one U.S. official familiar with the two leaders’ past interactions said Biden has used sharp, direct, unfiltered and colorful language both with and about Netanyahu while in office.
Wednesday’s call was “a positive call, and we appreciate the support of the U.S.,” Israel’s U.N. Ambassador Danny Danon told reporters.

“And as we stated earlier, Israel will retaliate for the attack … We will choose the locations. It will be painful for the Iranian regime,” Danon said.
Gallant canceled a Wednesday visit to the Pentagon, the Pentagon said. Gallant said in a statement he had postponed the visit at Netanyahu’s request until after the prime minister spoke with Biden.
Tensions have increased in recent weeks as U.S. officials were repeatedly blindsided by Israeli actions, according to a person familiar with the matter. These included Israel’s killing of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah and the detonation of pagers and walkie-talkies used by Hezbollah members in Lebanon that Israel has neither confirmed nor denied carrying out.
Israel has also been slow to share details of its planning for retaliation against Iran’s ballistic missile attack, the person said.
Biden said last Friday he would think about alternatives to striking Iranian oil fields if he were in Israel’s shoes, adding he thought Israel had not concluded how to respond to Iran. Last week, he also said he would not support Israel striking Iranian nuclear sites.

Source: https://www.reuters.com/world/biden-netanyahu-speak-with-focus-israeli-plans-retaliation-against-iran-2024-10-09/

From his “Taj MaPaul” mansion in Puerto Rico, the Trump-loving heavyweight champ of viral trolldom talks about bouncing back from punchline to powerhouse as he prepares to meet Mike Tyson in the biggest boxing match of all time.

What does it feel like to take a punch to the face from a legit boxer?

Since turning his attention full time to the sport in 2020, Jake Paul, 27, has absorbed his share of them — first from fellow YouTubers, then pro athletes, then MMA fighters and now from actual boxers.

“Eighty-five percent of the hits you don’t really feel — but then there’s that other 15 percent,” Jake says, munching on an omelet and a bowl of berries on the poolside terrace of his compound in Puerto Rico.

The island has been home to Jake and his older brother, 29-year-old YouTuber turned WWE wrestler Logan Paul, since late 2020. Many assume it’s to avoid paying federal taxes on passive income, which the territory’s Act 60 allows as a means of promoting local investment. To that, Jake responds, “This is the most beautiful place in the world, and it’s my home and I wouldn’t live somewhere that I don’t absolutely love.” It also happens to be a spot that, like Jake, is obsessed with boxing.

With his wiry blond goatee and a towel wrapped across his torso like a toga, he suggests Zeus sitting atop Mount Olympus. It’s hot out here — a sultry heat that feels much warmer than the temperature, currently 91 degrees.

Jake purchased the home in Dorado — what a local tells me is the “Beverly Hills of Puerto Rico” — in 2023. Old habits being hard to break, the boy who made it big posting outrageous, aspirational content promptly showed it off to his 21 million YouTube followers in a video titled “My New $16,000,000 House.”

It’s a modernist manse, all white walls and marble flooring covered in mats that say “Taj MaPaul.” Massive sculptures of moon men and gorillas line the pool, which features a jacuzzi-sized ice bath. It’s the kind of house Rocky Balboa wouldn’t have been able to afford until Rocky III.

“See, those hard punches cause you to lose your senses a bit,” Jake continues, his personal nutritionist — a former cook to UFC superstar Conor McGregor — hovering nearby. “Then you get blurry vision. It makes you tired in a weird way. I think your body sends oxygen to your brain and it makes you sleepy. It definitely hurts — but that’s the fourth thing you think about. You’re kind of like, ‘Oh, shit. That’s not good. If he lands another one of those, I might start wobbling.’ ”

But what if the punch comes from boxing god Mike Tyson, proprietor of the stealthiest, deadliest uppercut in the sport’s history? The Mike Tyson who famously said, “Everyone has a plan till they get punched in the face”?

That Mike Tyson.

Jake will find out soon enough, when he steps into the ring with the 58-year-old legend on Nov. 15 at AT&T Stadium, home of the Dallas Cowboys.

This is their second attempt at battle. The first was scheduled for July 20 but was postponed after Tyson suffered an ulcer flare-up — the kind of hiccup you might expect for a man pushing 60.

This time around, all parties assure the fight will go on, rain or shine, ulcer or not. More than 70,000 fans will be there to watch it in person. That’s an astounding number for a sport that has been steadily bleeding audience share since its 1980s peak — back when Tyson ruled the planet as the undisputed T. rex of the sport — to faster-paced and flashier MMA fighting.

But that’s just inside the stadium. Outside, an additional 270 million Netflix subscribers will be able to watch the fight from the comfort of their own homes — no PPV fees required — for the mega-streamer’s biggest foray yet into the world of live sports.

How big? If the appeal is to watch Jake — who since his teens, along with Logan, has been a ubiquitous (some might say annoying) online presence with too much money and not enough adult supervision — get pummeled to a pulp by one of the most fearsome fighters to ever climb into a ring, it appears to be working.

While Netflix won’t speak to global viewership expectations, the Super Bowl comes up in off-the-record conversations as an only slightly outlandish aspirational benchmark — and 124 million tuned in for Super Bowl LVIII. (Jake has predicted 25 million, which would make it the most-watched boxing match of all time.)

Netflix and Most Valuable Promotions — the company Jake founded with his manager, former UFC chief financial officer Nakisa Bidarian, 46, in 2021 — won’t say what the purse is. But in true Jake Paul fashion, he let it slip at a press conference that he’s making $40 million for the bout.

Tyson, meanwhile, who oddsmakers have as the underdog — he is 30 years older, after all, and his last two fights resulted in a loss and a draw — is rumored to be making half of that.

Jimmy Kimmel floated the $20 million figure during Tyson’s recent visit to his show, which Tyson did not dispute. In the same interview, Tyson, a big proponent of magic mushrooms and marijuana, also teased, perhaps jokingly, that he could be on some kind of mind-altering substance during the fight. Both are banned substances in sanctioned fights — which this fight is, meaning the outcome will affect their professional records — and the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation, which sanctioned the fight, has been put on, uh, high alert.

Despite what the oddsmakers say, however, Bidarian sees the fight as “pretty evenly matched at this stage of their careers — and Jake may not like me saying that.”

Jake has been fighting for only four years, during which he’s had 10 fights and one loss — against Tommy Fury. Then again, Fury has to date been his most serious competition, an imposing professional boxer from a British fighting dynasty (plus a Love Island reality star, matching Jake’s showmanship). Despite Jake having successfully knocked Fury down at one point in the fight, Fury won the match, held with great fanfare in Saudi Arabia in February 2023, by controversial split decision.

Tyson, meanwhile, has not had a sanctioned fight since 2005, when he lost to Irish heavyweight Kevin McBride. He did not fight again until the November 2020 “Lockdown Knockdown.” Held at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, Tyson and former heavyweight champ Roy Jones Jr. — then already in his 50s — sparred in an exhibition match inside an empty Staples Center in Los Angeles. Unlike Paul vs. Tyson, the smell of blood was not particularly in the air. Despite selling 1.6 million PPV buys and generating $80 million, the fight, which resulted in a draw, was generally considered a snooze.

The one highlight was the undercard, when a then joke of a prospect named Jake Paul took on muscular former NBA player Nate Robinson. Though Robinson, diminutive for a baller at 5-foot-9 (Jake is 6-foot-1), was suffering from kidney disease, he was far and away the favorite — until Paul gave him a one-way ticket to the mat, face-first and unconscious, in the second round. That viral knockout instantly transformed Jake from a boxing joke into somewhat less of a boxing joke with a mean right hook.

Could Jake sustain the momentum? To everyone’s amazement, he did, beating (after mercilessly taunting) UFC fighters Ben Askren, Tyron Woodley and even the mighty MMA champ Anderson Silva. It was all going so well — until Tommy Fury. Naturally, when the opportunity for a Netflix fight arose — discussions came directly out of the success of Untold: Jake Paul the Problem Child, a 2023 Netflix doc about Jake’s unlikely rise in the sport — a Fury rematch was the logical choice. But then Tyson threw his name in the ring.

“I think once you hear Mike Tyson’s name as a potential opponent, it’s hard to unhear it,” says Gabe Spitzer, vp at Netflix Sports. “He’s obviously a massive global superstar, and for us being a global company, we’re looking for those big, global events that can add net value to our members anywhere. We started speaking to Mike’s team along with MVP and closed the deal this year right before we announced it.”

With the rumored $60 million between them already in the bank before a single punch is thrown, it could be argued that it doesn’t really matter who knocks whom out — both fighters are coming out winners. But, according to Bidarian, it matters a great deal.

“For Mike Tyson, this is his opportunity for redemption,” he says, laying out the stakes. (Tyson, deep into training, was not available to comment for this story, but he has been openly supportive of Jake in the past, saying in the Netflix doc, “I’m a fan of people that know how to put asses in the seats. … I like to see him talking shit. He’s an antihero. He’s not a villain. He does hero shit, but he just don’t go by heroes’ laws.”) Bidarian, who fully embraces his fighter’s villainous public persona, adds: “People remember his last fight with Jones, sitting on a stool and not getting back up. Imagine, for all those people who want to see Jake Paul get knocked out, if Mike Tyson at 58 comes back and knocks out Jake Paul, he’ll be revered for the rest of his days. He put an end to this YouTuber’s reign.”

And what if the “Problem Child” — Jake’s fighting moniker, which also capitalizes on his bad-boy reputation — comes out on top?

“Now, if Jake does knock out Mike Tyson, sure, there will be a lot of people who are mad,” Bidarian continues. “But there’s also going to be a lot more opportunities for him in the world of boxing.”

Jake is counting on it — and is already looking well past this fight to global boxing domination. His goal is to become a world champion, meaning he’d knock out one of the four top-ranked belt holders in his weight class, cruiserweight. He plans on having that coincide with his girlfriend, Dutch speed skater Jutta Leerdam, 25, winning gold at the 2026 Winter Olympics in Milan.

“So in two years, Jutta gets a gold medal and I win the world championship,” Jake tells me, matter-of-factly. “We’d be world champion at the same time.” Beyond that, he wants to own an NFL team — just not his hometown team. “The Browns have a curse — so then I end up drifting to the Chiefs. Travis Kelce, he’s from Cleveland, so I’m a fan,” he says.

World champion. NFL owner. None of this “YouTuber” stuff. Then, finally, no one will call Jake Paul a joke ever again.

Or at least that’s the plan.

To understand how someone like Jake Paul has managed to find himself within striking distance of Mike Tyson’s fists — at least not within the confines of a prank video — you need to go back in time, to childhood, when Jake and Logan, two years his senior, were just rambunctious kids horsing around their home in Westlake, Ohio, a suburb of Cleveland.

As teens, the two flaxen-haired boys were naturals at making funny and engaging Vines, the six-second video app that was a precursor to TikTok. In the beginning, they appeared side-by-side in the clips, a sibling comedy duo with a supporting cast of pals. By 2017, when Twitter deactivated Vine, Jake had amassed 5.3 million “Jake Paulers” and 2 billion views. Logan’s following, the “Logang,” ran neck-and-neck with Jake’s. Wherever they took their content — YouTube, Facebook, Instagram — the fans followed.

But the Pauls’ upbeat, slapstick content hid a darkness at home. Their parents, Pam, a nurse, and Greg, a real estate agent — both of whom appear in their videos — divorced when the boys were 7 and 9. It was by all accounts an ugly split. “It was rocky in the beginning — really, really rocky,” says Pam, who has been remarried for 20 years.

“There was mental manipulation and my mom trying to get me on her side, my dad trying to get me on his side,” Jake recalls. “All these games and madness and just psychological craziness.”

It wasn’t until later in life, around his mid-20s, that Jake uncovered through therapy that he had a deep well of unresolved trauma relating to his father. He says his dad physically abused him and his brother from childhood until they left for Los Angeles in their late teens.

“He was punching us, slapping us, throwing us down the stairs, throwing things at us, mental abuse, manipulation,” Jake says.

Source: https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/business/digital/jake-paul-interview-boxing-mike-tyson-youtube-1236026910/

A woman living in Kitsap County, near Seattle, Washington, called 911 after a gang of 100 raccoons arrived at her house and began scratching at her doors and windows.

A woman’s home became the target of a 100-raccoon siege, as the ‘aggressive’ creatures swarmed her property, demanding food and trapping her inside.

The usually nocturnal trash-diggers in Kitsap County, near Seattle, Washington, opted for a more direct approach, violently scratching at the windows of the long-time raccoon feeder.

The unnamed woman, who has been feeding raccoon scraps for nearly four decades and holds a fondness for them, was overwhelmed by the sheer number and hostility of the latest mob, leading to an emergency 911 call.

On the day she sought help, she reported to authorities that she had never witnessed such a massive assembly of raccoons, noting their behavior had grown alarmingly bold as they clawed at her home’s entry points.

Kevin McCarty, a spokesperson for the Sheriff’s office, relayed to the Kitsap Sun that the homeowner found the usual raccoons agreeable but was frightened by the newcomers: “She said the normal raccoons are nice, but the new ones scare her.”

This information came from a deputy’s report after visiting the residence on Thursday and conversing with the homeowner, who expressed her inability to exit her home due to the animal blockade.

By the time law enforcement arrived, the situation had de-escalated, allowing the woman to safely leave in her vehicle.

Kitsap County dispatchers notified the state Department of Fish and Wildlife about the situation, leading to a referral for the woman to its “wildlife control operators” program.

Source: https://www.the-express.com/news/us-news/151146/raccoons-feeding-them-seattle-washington-Kitsap-County

Researchers from the orbital mapping firm LeoLabs are raising alarm bells about the dangerous amount of space junk littering our planet’s orbit that will inevitably create a catastrophe.

In an interview with Forbes, LeoLabs senior technical fellow Darren McKnight described the issue as a “ticking time bomb” waiting in the wings.

With our planet veritably surrounded by almost 30,000 objects bigger than a softball hurtling through space at extremely fast speeds, McKnight and his colleagues are looking for solutions to head off tragedy — but they might not be able to make it in time.

“This grim reality,” LeoLabs COO Dan Ceperly told Forbes, “means that collisions are not a question of if but when.”

Small But Fast

While LeoLabs is able to track objects as small as roughly four inches in diameter, anything smaller is off its radar.

And the risks to human life are considerable, regardless of the size of the piece of space debris.

“Any size fragment above a few millimeters is likely lethal to astronauts,” Ceperley told Forbes.

While no human lives have been lost to errant pieces of space debris so far, we’ve already seen some close calls. Case in point, the damage done to the Canadarm2 robotic arm outside the ISS which had a hole ripped through it by a tiny piece of shrapnel in 2021.

Past Prescient

McKnight noted that the highest parts of low-Earth orbit are also full of unknowns thanks to both the United States and the former Soviet Union thrusting their spent rocket upper stages off into space and never reaching an agreement about cleaning it up.

The figure includes money raised into the campaign proper since July 21, as well as an affiliated fundraising vehicle that powers national and state Democratic Party groups.

Vice President Kamala Harris’ presidential campaign operation crossed the $1 billion fundraising threshold in September, two months after she took over as the Democratic Party’s standard-bearer, according to two people familiar with the numbers.

The figure includes money raised by the campaign committee itself and by a campaign-affiliated joint fundraising committee that also collects cash for the Democratic National Committee and state parties.

The staggering pace suggests Harris has been able to sustain enthusiasm among donors, large and small, as the campaign enters the stretch run before the Nov. 5 election. But it comes amid a historic onslaught of outside spending from super PACs and other groups that has the Harris campaign concerned — particularly about direct mail, in which Republicans have opened a steep advantage in recent months, and on the ground, with groups like Elon Musk’s super PAC and others working to turn out voters for former President Donald Trump.

Meanwhile, public polling shows a finely balanced contest, with little separating Harris and Trump in the key swing states that will ultimately decide the election — and a sliver of swing voters still waiting to decide based on something they see in the last four weeks.

Presidential campaigns tend to take in more money as an election nears, but a clip of roughly half a billion dollars a month is unheard of. Biden’s campaign raised a little more than $1 billion for the entire 2020 election cycle, which included a competitive primary campaign, and affiliated outside groups chipped in another $580 million, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.

Source: https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2024-election/harris-political-operation-crosses-1-billion-raised-2024-election-rcna174696

Thirteen US states and Washington DC are suing TikTok over claims it is harming children’s mental health and not doing enough to protect them.

The lawsuits allege the video-sharing app is designed to be addictive and keep teenagers glued to the screen.

TikTok said the claims were “inaccurate and misleading” and pointed to features such as default screen time and privacy settings for under-16s.

The legal action is another blow for the app, owned by Chinese firm Bytedance, which already faces a potential US ban over fears it could give data to the Beijing government – something it insists will not happen.

“Young people are struggling with their mental health because of addictive social media platforms like TikTok,” said New York attorney general Letitia James.

She also alleged young people had died and been injured copying stunts they had watched.

Her counterpart in Washington DC, Brian Schwalb, called it “an intentionally addictive product”.

His lawsuit accuses TikTok of causing “profound psychological and physiological harms” – including depression, anxiety and body dysmorphia.

Other claims in the mass legal action include that a “virtual strip club with no age restrictions” is effectively able to operate via TikTok’s live streaming and virtual currency functions.

TikTok spokesperson Alex Haurek said he was dismayed the states had not chosen to work with the service on their concerns.

“We strongly disagree with these claims, many of which we believe to be inaccurate and misleading,” he said.

“We’re proud of and remain deeply committed to the work we’ve done to protect teens and we will continue to update and improve our product.

“We’ve endeavoured to work with the attorneys general for over two years, and it is incredibly disappointing they have taken this step rather than work with us on constructive solutions to industry-wide challenges.”

TikTok provides safety features including default screen time limits and privacy defaults for users under the age of 16, the company said.

TikTok also doesn’t allow under-13s to use its main service and restricts some content for under-18s.

The cases filed on Tuesday stem from an investigation launched by a bipartisan coalition of prosecutors in March 2022.

Those suing under the new action are: California, Illinois, Kentucky, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Mississippi, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, South Carolina, Vermont, Washington state, as well as Washington DC.

Source: https://news.sky.com/story/tiktok-sued-by-13-us-states-for-harming-young-peoples-mental-health-13230453

Justin Timberlake temporarily said bye, bye, bye to the stage.

The “SexyBack” singer announced he was postponing Tuesday night’s concert at Prudential Center in Newark, NJ, due to an undisclosed “injury.”

“I’m so sorry to postpone tonight’s show,” Timberlake shared via Instagram. “I have an injury that is preventing me from performing. I’m so disappointed to not see you all — but I’m working to reschedule ASAP.”

The “Mirrors” hitmaker, 43, is currently on his Forget Tomorrow World Tour.

“I promise to make it up to you and give you the show ya’ll deserve,” Timberlake added with a wounded heart emoji.

“Thank you guys for understanding. Appreciate your support always.”

Shortly after the news, several fans took to the comments wished the *NSYNC alum a speedy recovery.

“Feel better soon Justin, don’t apologise [sic] for being human ❤️,” one person wrote, while another added, “Feel better soon, JT!”

“I’m sure this was not an easy decision to make. Heal up soon 🙏🏼 ❤️‍🩹,” a third fan wrote.

However, other disgruntled fans criticized the Grammy winner for the last-minute announcement, which came about an hour before the show’s 7 p.m. ET start time.

“R U KIDDING. 30 minutes before doors!?” one person commented, per The Post.

“but I’m dressed already,” another vented, while another added, “Cry me a river.”

Source: https://pagesix.com/2024/10/08/entertainment/justin-timberlake-postpones-concert-due-to-mystery-injury/

Melania Trump detailed her first meeting with now-husband Donald Trump in her new eponymous memoir, admitting the politician was on a date with another woman when he began flirting with her.

In the book, Melania explained that she was at a Fashion Week party in 1998 with a friend when the former president approached them — despite being accompanied by an “attractive blonde woman.”

“‘Hi. I’m Donald Trump,’ the man said when he reached my table. ‘Nice to meet you,’” Melania recalled, per an excerpt obtained by Variety.

Although the 54-year-old “recognized the name,” she knew nothing about the “Celebrity Apprentice” star, who “put his hand out to shake mine.”

“His eyes filled with curiosity and interest, and, seizing the opportunity, he took the seat next to mine and started a conversation,” she wrote. “He asked me about my time in New York, my Slovenian home, and my world travels.”

While it was just a “brief encounter,” Melania said the pair shared “a moment of connection” that made “a lasting impression.”

“From the moment our conversation began, I was captivated by his charm and easygoing nature,” she wrote. “There was so much bustling activity around us, but his intent focus on our interaction made me feel like the center of his world.”

“It was a refreshing departure from the usual superficial small talk, and I found myself drawn to his magnetic energy.”

However, she “initially dismissed [their] conversation as mere pleasantries” since Donald, 78, “was accompanied by a beautiful date” — until he wasn’t.

“When his companion left for a moment, he asked me for my phone number,” she wrote.

However, Melania “politely declined his request,” which left the politician “a little surprised.”

Instead, the model asked Donald to give her his number, which he happily obliged under one condition.

“’I’ll give you my number,’ he said, ‘if you promise to call me,’” she recalled.

The mother of one continued, “With a hand gesture, Donald called over his bodyguard. His big shoulders leaned in as he listened to him, before discreetly writing a note on a sleek business card. Donald took the card and handed it to me.”

While it’s unclear how long it took for Melania to fulfill her promise, the pair dated on and off, wed in 2005 and welcomed their son, Barron Trump, one year later.

Elsewhere in the book, the former first lady shared some insight into their relationship, admitting that she does not “align with all of Donald’s decisions” and opinions.

Specifically, the model made it clear that she fully supports women’s reproductive rights and disagrees with her husband’s stance on abortion.

“It is imperative to guarantee that women have autonomy in deciding their preference of having children, based on their own convictions, free from any intervention or pressure from the government,” she wrote in “Melania.”

“Why should anyone other than the woman herself have the power to determine what she does with her own body?” she added. “A woman’s fundamental right of individual liberty, to her own life, grants her the authority to terminate her pregnancy if she wishes.”

Source: https://pagesix.com/2024/10/08/celebrity-news/melania-trump-recalls-donald-first-flirting-with-her-while-on-a-date-with-another-woman/

Sixty of the wealthiest people in the UK collectively contributed more than £3bn a year in income tax, the BBC has learned.

The amount of income tax they paid is roughly equivalent to around two-thirds of Labour’s entire additional spending commitments in their manifesto earlier this year.

Each of the 60 individuals had an income of at least £50m a year in 2021/22, but many will have earned far more and probably pay large amounts in other taxes too.

There is concern tax rises in this month’s Budget could prompt an exit of the super-rich, hurting UK finances. Labour ruled out income tax changes, but Chancellor Rachel Reeves left the door open for other tax hikes.

A Treasury spokesperson said the government was committed to “addressing unfairness in the tax system”.

Swiss banking giant UBS predicted in July the UK would lose half a million of its millionaires by 2028, partly as a result of some switching to low-tax countries.

The Institute for Fiscal Studies said the Treasury needed to be aware that a small number of this super-rich group leaving the country would create a “relatively big hole in its finances”.

But the Green Party argued claims taxing the wealthy more would lead to them leaving the UK were not credible.

The BBC reported last month about concerns within the Treasury that one of the main fundraisers for those pledges, the scrapping of the non-dom scheme, would raise far less money than first hoped.

Scrapping that scheme, which allows a UK resident to be registered abroad for tax purposes, was initially thought to be worth £1bn.

Government ministers have also said the previous Conservative government left a £22bn “black hole” in the public finances.

This has led to discussions within government about potential tax increases in the forthcoming Budget and in August the chancellor refused to rule out an increase in capital gains tax.

Stuart Adam, a senior economist at the IFS, said reports of wealthy individuals leaving the UK were currently just anecdotal.

But he warned that it would not take a mass exodus to cause issues for the public coffers, as “tax payments are very concentrated on a small number of people”.

“There’s clearly a risk there that Rachel Reeves has to think about,” Mr Adam said.

“Some of the tax changes that have been speculated are very concentrated on those at the top of the income distribution.”

There could “be more at stake from these people than just the income tax they’re paying” as the individuals in question would likely be paying large amounts in other forms of taxation such as capital gains, Mr Adam added.

Green Party co-leader Carla Denyer warned against taking threats by the super rich to leave the country seriously.

“This didn’t happen when changes were made to non-dom status in 2017,” she said.

“There are lots of reasons that the wealthy choose to live in the UK, including work, family and culture, and many are happy to pay a bit more if it means a happier and healthier society.”

The figures, which were compiled by HMRC, have been obtained through Freedom of Information laws and relate to 2021/22, the latest year for which data is available.

That year, the UK had a total income tax receipt of £225bn, with contributions from some 33m taxpayers.

The 60 people with incomes of more than £50m made up just 0.0002% of UK taxpayers and together paid 1.4% of the income tax receipt.

HMRC initially blocked the release of the information on the grounds that disclosing the figures would identify the individuals in question.

Source: https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cqlvggr9qz5o

The Brazilian Supreme Court’s Justice Alexandre de Moraes on Tuesday authorized the restoration of social media platform X´s service in Brazil, over a month after its nationwide shutdown, according to a court document that was made public.

Elon Musk’s X was blocked on Aug. 30 in the highly online country of 213 million people — and one of X’s biggest markets, with estimates of its user base ranging from 20 to 40 million. De Moraes ordered the shutdown after a monthslong dispute with Musk over free speech, far-right accounts and misinformation. Musk had disparaged de Moraes, calling him an authoritarian and a censor, even though his rulings, including X’s suspension, were repeatedly upheld by his peers.

Despite Musk’s public bravado, X ultimately complied with all of de Moraes’ demands. They included blocking certain accounts from the platform, paying outstanding fines and naming a legal representative in the country. Failure to do the latter had triggered the suspension.

“The resumption of (X)’s activities on national territory was conditioned, solely, on full compliance with Brazilian laws and absolute observance of the Judiciary’s decisions, out of respect for national sovereignty,” de Moraes said in the court document.

“X is proud to return to Brazil,” the company said in a statement posted on its Global Government Affairs account. “Giving tens of millions of Brazilians access to our indispensable platform was paramount throughout this entire process. We will continue to defend freedom of speech, within the boundaries of the law, everywhere we operate.”

Just two days before the ban, on Aug. 28, X said it was removing all its remaining staff in Brazil “effective immediately,” saying de Moraes had threatened with arrest its legal representative in the country, Rachel de Oliveira Villa Nova Conceição, if X did not comply with orders to block accounts.

Brazilian law requires foreign companies to have a local legal representative to receive notifications of court decisions and swiftly take any requisite action — particularly, in X’s case, the takedown of accounts. Conceição was first named X’s legal representative in April and resigned four months later. The company named her to the same job on Sept. 20, according to the public filing with the Sao Paulo commercial registry.

In an apparent effort to shield Conceição from potential violations by X — and risking arrest — a clause has been written into Conceição’s new representation agreement that she must follow Brazilian law and court decisions, and that any legal responsibility she assumes on X’s behalf requires prior instruction from the company in writing, according to the company’s filing.

Conceição works for BR4Business, a business services firm. Its two-page website provides no insight into its operations or staff. “Something great is on its way,” the top of the site’s main page reads in English. Its other page is an extensive privacy policy.

At three of its listed Sao Paulo offices, receptionists told the AP that the company’s offices are empty and employees work remotely. Neither Conceição nor BR4Business returned multiple phone calls and emails from the AP.

There is nothing illegal or suspect about using a company like BR4Business for legal representation, but it shows that X is doing the bare minimum to operate in the country, said Fabio de Sa e Silva, a lawyer and associate professor of International and Brazilian Studies at the University of Oklahoma.

“It doesn’t demonstrate an intention to truly engage with the country. Take Meta, for example, and Google. They have an office, a government relations department, precisely to interact with public authorities and discuss Brazil’s regulatory policies concerning their businesses,” Silva added.

Indeed, it is rare for an established, influential company such as X to have only a legal representative, said Carlos Affonso Souza, a lawyer and director of the Institute for Technology and Society, a Rio-based think tank. And that could be problematic going forward.

“The concern now is what comes next and how X, once back in operation, will manage to meet the demands of the market and local authorities without creating new tensions,” he said.

Some of Brazilian X’s users have migrated to other platforms, such as Meta’s Threads and, primarily, Bluesky. It’s unclear how many of them will return to X. In a statement to the AP, Bluesky reported that it now has 10.6 million users and continues to see strong growth in Brazil. Bluesky has appointed a legal representative in the South American country.

Brazil was not the first country to ban X — far from it — but such a drastic step has generally been limited to authoritarian regimes. The platform and its former incarnation, Twitter, have been banned in Russia, China, Iran, Myanmar, North Korea, Venezuela and Turkmenistan. Other countries, such as Pakistan, Turkey and Egypt, have also temporarily suspended X before, usually to quell dissent and unrest.

Source: https://apnews.com/article/brazil-x-elon-musk-supreme-court-de-moraes-e32c4b4171e78cbe8994f53713a922f7

Pursuing a 100th career title, Novak Djokovic had an easier time in his second match at the Shanghai Masters in ousting Flavio Cobolli 6-1, 6-2 on Tuesday.

Djokovic clinched the match with his 19th winner, placing a forehand behind the Italian who was racing back across the baseline after being pushed wide by the service.

The fourth-seeded Serb did not allow a break point in the third round, after previously being stretched to two tiebreakers and saving set points against Alex Michelsen of the United States.

“Cobolli was evidently exhausted after last night’s match,” Djokovic said of his opponent, who had advanced by beating three-time Grand Slam champion Stan Wawrinka. “I think that has taken a toll, physically, on him today.”

Djokovic, who has won four of his 99 titles in Shanghai, next faces 61st-ranked Roman Safiullin who upset Frances Tiafoe 5-7, 7-5, 7-6 (5).