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As the mystery grows around the drones flying over New Jersey, so do the calls from puzzled residents to authorities about the flying machines. Reports of drone sightings have spread from New Jersey to other states, including Pennsylvania, New York, Maryland, Connecticut and Ohio.
Federal authorities on Sunday repeated assurances that the drones are not a security threat. But they still don't know where they came from or who is responsible.
Meanwhile, some state and federal officials called for Congress to pass expanded legislation that would give federal authorities greater resources to mitigate risks from drones.
Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas told ABC News' This Week on Sunday that the federal government has deployed additional resources, including personnel and technology, to assist New Jersey State Police with addressing drone sightings and that the Biden administration remains "vigilant" in investigating the drone sightings.
"There's no question that people are seeing drones," he added, but noted that some of the recent sightings on the East Coast are likely crewed aircraft or duplicate sightings.
He called for Congress to act quickly to extend and expand the current drone-countering authorities — authorized in the Federal Aviation Administration Reauthorization Act of 2018 — which are set to expire on Dec. 20. The law enables the Homeland Security and Justice Departments to use advanced detection technologies to identify, track and mitigate drones.
"It is critical, as we all have said for a number of years, that we need from Congress additional authorities to address the drone situation," Mayorkas said in the ABC interview with George Stephanopoulos.
A joint congressional subcommittee hearing held last week centered on a bipartisan bill — called the Counter-UAS Authority Security, Safety, and Reauthorization Act — that would expand federal drone-countering measures, like bolstering the FAA's oversight powers of drones.
The federal government is also sending a drone detection system to New York, Gov. Kathy Hochul said Sunday.
"I am grateful for the support, but we need more," she said on X. Passing the Counter-UAS legislation, she said in a separate statement, "will give New York and our peers the authority and resources required to respond to circumstances like we face today."
Rep. Jim Himes, D-Conn., who sits on the House Intelligence Committee, said on Fox News Sunday, "There's a lot of us who are pretty frustrated right now."
"'We don't know' is not a good enough answer," he said, in reference to what he said is a lack of information from federal agencies.
Drone activity over the weekend forced a pause on air traffic in at least two states. The New York Stewart International Airport runways shut down for an hour on Friday night after the FAA reported drone sightings in the area, a spokesperson confirmed.
In Ohio, there was a temporary closure of the airspace above Wright Patterson Air Force Base between Friday night and Saturday morning after "small unmanned aerial systems were spotted in the vicinity of and over" the base, base spokesman Bob Purtiman told NPR member station WVXU.
During a call with reporters on Saturday, a Pentagon spokesperson acknowledged that there had also been sightings of drones over two military installations in New Jersey, at Picatinny Arsenal and Naval Weapons Station Earle, but said such sightings are typical.
"This is not a new issue for us," the Joint Staff spokesperson said, according to the Pentagon's news service. "We've had to deal with drone incursions over our bases for quite a time now. It's something that we routinely respond to in each and every case when reporting is cited."
Still unclear who is responsible for drone activity
The military maintained over the weekend that there were no signs of foreign adversary involvement.
"To date, we have no intelligence or observations that would indicate that they were aligned with a foreign actor or that they had malicious intent," the Pentagon spokesperson said. "But ... we don't know. We have not been able to locate or identify the operators or the points of origin."
The spokesperson also said the drones are frustrating the Department of Defense, adding that the military has "limited authorities" to investigate outside military installations in the U.S., and is also prohibited from conducting intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance operations that could help determine the origins of the drones.
"We don't know what the activity is," the Pentagon news service quoted the spokesperson as saying. "We don't know ... if it is criminal. But I will tell you that it is irresponsible."
Copyright 2024 NPR
|
https://www.krcu.org/2024-12-15/as-drone-sightings-spread-across-east-coast-federal-officials-still-dont-know-much
| 2024-12-16T06:54:15Z
|
The emergency call comes in just before midnight. In the driver's seat of a battered Toyota Hilux pickup truck, 29-year-old Chamunolwa Jimayi chats briefly with the caller. He hangs up the phone and shouts to his two colleagues in the back to hold on tight, then shoots off at high speed through the city center, careening around the traffic.
Jimayi's job is not your regular 9-to-5. He's a member of a three-man Elephant Response Team fighting to keep the peace amid a worsening and at times deadly conflict between humans and the world's largest land animal. His hometown of Livingstone, Zambia, lies on the edge of the Mosi-oa-Tunya National Park and has long witnessed incidents of human-wildlife conflict. But the combination of recent urban expansion and successive poor rainy seasons has led to a dramatic escalation.
"Sometimes we get more than 30 calls in a day," says Jimayi, who receives only a stipend of around $140 a month. "The game park is almost completely dry. So the elephants are just coming into the community to feed. We've been receiving a huge number."
As he drives, signs of elephant incursions are visible all around: cinderblock walls with gaping holes, splintered mango, acacia and mopane trees, freshly deposited piles of dung. Strings of old beer cans and potato chip packets, designed to scare away elephants, adorn the walls of roadside homes.
With his favorite reggae playlist straining the vehicle's dust-choked sound system, Jimayi heads for the suburb of Linda, where he's learned that a pair of elephants are wreaking havoc in a residential area. Tensions there are high after a string of deaths caused by elephants. If the community responds with aggression, the situation could become volatile, putting both people and elephants in danger.
"They're friendly animals. They don't come to harm anyone," says Jimayi, who has a deep appreciation and respect for elephants. "But not everyone understands what I see in them. The community is really scared of these animals. And some are angry. People have lost their loved ones. Our goal is to keep the community and the elephants safe."
By the time Jimayi and his colleagues arrive at the scene, one of the elephants has disappeared back into the bush. He finds the other walking along a residential street and maneuvers the truck to try and cut it off.
A brief standoff ensues as Jimayi and the elephant size each other up, neither willing to back down. "Easy boy, back you go," he shouts through the open window. A few moments later, the elephant starts to run. Revving his engine, Jimayi pursues it through the streets of Linda, turning this way and that to channel it away from the settlement until eventually it ducks beneath a footbridge and disappears into the darkness in the direction of the national park.
The Elephant Response Team gets going
This has been Jimayi's life since 2019 when the Elephant Response Team was launched by a small Livingstone-based nonprofit, the Conservation and Tourism Society, in response to what was already, long before the drought began, a growing problem of human-wildlife conflict. With a total budget of barely $40,000 per year, CATS also helps search the national park for snares set by bushmeat poachers and carries out an extensive conservation education program designed primarily to teach people how to stay safe around elephants. The advice includes tips such as: always stay at least 300 feet from an elephant, never confront them and don't expect to outrun them: elephants can hit 28 mph.
They also teach residents about the different forms of elephant deterrents available to protect their homes and gardens, like reflector fences and "chili bricks" — a potent mix of elephant dung, used engine oil and fresh chili peppers that produces a noxious smoke when burned.
The Elephant Response Team is based in Dambwa South, a neighborhood of single-story brick homes set in a maze of dusty streets on the edge of the National Park and one of the areas worst affected by human-wildlife conflict. Every evening through the long months of the dry season – typically between May and October -- children gather along the park perimeter to watch the daily exodus of wildlife crossing into town in search of food.
Crocodiles hunt for prey in sewage ponds, hippos lumber past industrial buildings, and zebras and buffalo graze contentedly by the roadside, seemingly oblivious to their human audience. From about 7 p.m. onward, elephants take over the streets.
The park was once ringed by a fence but maintaining it has proved a challenge. Either it succumbs to elephant damage or is looted by residents looking to make a few dollars from the scrap metal. What remains are lines of empty fence poles and, here and there, a section of mangled wire flattened by the passage of animals. Park authorities say they are currently building a new one, with additional electric fencing in some areas, but Dominic Chiinda, director of the Department of National Parks and Wildlife, admits that a fence is unlikely to prove a lasting solution.
Since 1990, Zambia's population has nearly tripled from 7.68 million to over 21 million. In that time, Dambwa South has sprawled outward to the point where, today, the outermost houses lie no more than 16 feet from the boundary of the national park.
"When we were growing up, there were no houses here," says Jimayi, as he warms his hands over a campfire at the team's base in Dambwa South. "This whole place was just full of trees. The elephants know this used to be their land."
Tough life for the locals
For the residents of the homes nearest the park perimeter, life has become a daily struggle.
"This was the only house we could find," says Janet Sikabonga, 36, who recently moved to the area with her husband and four children. "We didn't know there would be elephants here. We thought they would be inside the national park."
The previous night, Sikabonga had watched through her window as four elephants entered her front yard, destroying her water tap and her clothes line. Over the past few weeks, elephants had also destroyed her guava tree and her vegetable patch, prompting the family to abandon efforts to grow their own food. They no longer venture outside after dark.
"I don't know what to do," says Sikabonga, whose family relies on the money her husband earns doing odd-jobs for a Livingstone hotel, and who lacks the means to move again. "They destroy everything. Last night I was so scared I didn't even sleep".
Most incidents of human-wildlife conflict don't result in physical injury, but deaths still occur on a regular basis. So far this year, the DNPW has reported 10 people killed by elephants in the town. One evening in August, 91-year-old tobacco trader Luka Chiyesu was on his way back from the market, following the same route he'd taken every day for years, when he encountered a herd of elephants.
"I found my father's body just lying there in the bush," recalls his son, also called Luka, as he sits on a plastic chair in the yard of his home in the Nakatindi neighborhood. "He died on the spot."
Luka Jr, who grew up around elephants, always held them in great esteem, seeing them as "the mother of all animals." Now, he feels conflicted.
"We used to live peacefully. Nobody was ever attacked by elephants," he says. "Things have changed a lot. When they see us, they see an enemy. When we see them, we see an enemy. That day, if I had a gun, I'd have shot two or three."
The death of Luka Chiyesu triggered anger in the community not only toward elephants but also toward the Department of National Parks and Wildlife over their perceived failure to protect communities living near the national park. After the old man's death, it took hours for a DNPW vehicle to arrive on the scene. When one eventually turned up, an angry mob stoned it. None of those spoken to by NPR said they were aware of the Department carrying out elephant patrols in the area.
"They don't care about the people anymore -- they only care about the animals," said Luka Jr, echoing a widely held perception in the town. "They say this is a corridor of elephants. They say it's a wildlife area."
Dominic Chiinda said the department does have a vehicle assigned to elephant patrols in Livingstone but that more are needed to effectively cover such a large area. He also said many of the "unfortunate incidents" of deaths and injuries caused by elephants were "self-inflicted," alleging that some of the victims may have been drunk, and that villagers were planting their crops too close to elephant corridors. Chiinda said the department was trying to teach people about elephant safety, as well as distributing fireworks to affected communities to help them scare off elephants. They're also providing supplementary food for wildlife in the National park.
Livingstone sits within the Kavango Zambezi Conservation Area (KAZA), the world's largest terrestrial conservation area, which is home to more than half of Africa's savannah elephants and more than 2 million people. Spanning five countries, it contains a kaleidoscope of protected areas connected by so-called wildlife corridors that allow animals to move between one national park or reserve and another along traditional migration routes.
The pachyderm puzzle
The approach has helped to sustain elephant numbers in the KAZA at a time when, elsewhere on the continent, they are in decline. Yet for people living in the corridors, the regular passage of elephants poses numerous challenges.
"This is a village, not a national park," complained David Mweetwa, a 35-year-old schoolteacher in the village of Simoonga, a few miles from Livingstone, whose sister was killed by an elephant in April. "The authorities should put up a wire to prevent animals coming in. If they did that, it would save lives."
Another fraught issue is that of compensation. There's currently no government policy in place to provide assistance for the victims of elephant attacks or damage, yet such events can be ruinous for those involved. Many rely heavily on their vegetable patches or fruit trees. And in the case of a death, funeral costs are a heavy burden.
Namukolo Kabuki was a successful market trader until her son was killed by an elephant in Linda last year. To pay for the funeral, she had to sell her entire stock of plastic kitchenware, charcoal and goats. A year later, she still hasn't been able to raise the capital to restart her business.
Dominic Chiinda of the DNPW said the department is currently reviewing legislation to introduce a system of compensation by the start of the next dry season, yet he acknowledged that implementing it will be complicated.
"Every night, families are losing their fruit trees, their gardens, their fences," said Brighton Manongo, a farmer and community leader in Dambwa South, who once lost 1,000 heads of cabbage to elephants in a single incident. "Who would you even compensate? There'd be a claim every day. And you can't buy back a life."
In human-wildlife conflict hotspots across Southern Africa, several organizations have put in place measures to try to protect people from elephant raids. These include building "beehive fences", planting fields of chilli as a "buffer crop" and the practice of "cluster fencing" -- when groups of farmers with adjacent fields cooperate to build a fence around their properties.
"There's a lot of optimism that humans and elephants will be able to co-exist in close proximity," said Chris Thouless, director of the Kenya-based conservation organisation, the Elephant Crisis Fund. "But there hasn't been enough discussion about precisely what we mean when we talk about coexistence. The mitigation measures are good up to a certain point, but none of them is a silver bullet if the underlying issues are still there."
Burning chili bricks
With the human population increasing across the region, Thouless believes we must adopt a "triaged approach" to addressing human-elephant conflict: accepting that in some areas, where the population density of people and elephants has reached a certain threshold, efforts toward mitigation may be unsustainable. In these instances, he says, separation may be the only solution.
Thouless believes we should focus instead on areas where some form of long-term coexistence may be achievable.
In Livingstone, Manongo does his best to mitigate the danger. After the loss of his cabbage harvest, he abandoned growing vegetables in favor of keeping fish and goats. And every night he burns chilli bricks in the four corners of his yard. Yet the bricks only last a few hours; new ones must be lit throughout the night. Three days earlier, Manongo had failed to get out of bed to light the next round of chilli bricks. In the morning he woke to find a section of his fence destroyed.
"If you make a mistake, you're going to suffer damage," he said. "We're on the frontline here".
Part of the hostility toward elephants stems from the fact that few people in communities like Dambwa South see any tangible benefit from the wildlife tourism they bring. To address this, Manongo runs a series of urban elephant safari tours to bring in tourist dollars – the fee is $50 per person -- and to demonstrate the advantages of living with elephants.
The tour guides preach "co-existence," but it's an uneasy balance. As soon as the tourists have wrapped up their elephant viewing, the Elephant Response Team is sent in to herd the animals back to the park before they can cause any damage.
"Here, coexistence would mean keeping the elephants on one side of a fence and the humans on the other," Manongo acknowledges.
As the night wears on, the members of the Elephant Response Team continue with a mix of patrols and callouts. From time to time they come across people walking alone in the darkness and stop to give them a ride. They spot one man, who appears to be inebriated, staggering along a road directly toward a herd of buffalo grazing near a conference center. Elephants are also nearby.
"Life is precious," admonishes Jimayi, as the team drop the man safely at his destination. "If you want to get drunk, do it at home."
At one point, the team are confronted with a breeding herd of over 40 elephants. They attempt to corral them back toward the park. Jimayi skillfully maneuvers the vehicle back and forth through dense bush, clattering over shrubs and tree stumps, issuing a stream of orders and pleas to the herd through the open window. They say they think the strategy works.
But no sooner do some of the elephants start to head back toward the park than others break off in the opposite direction. At the same time, other groups of elephants are being reported elsewhere in the town.
"As soon as we try to park the car we get a call --Come to Linda, then come to Nakatindi, then come somewhere else," says Gift Ngandu, at 21, the youngest member of the team. "It goes on like that all night."
The work is exhausting, and by the end of the dry season, when food in the park is scarcest and human-wildlife conflict peaks, the volunteers are getting by on barely two or three hours of sleep a night. CATS has repeatedly attempted to hire a second driver to give Jimayi a break, but none of the candidates have returned after their trial shift.
"They feel the job is risky," says Jimayi. "And that you could be killed by an animal at any time. But if I thought like that I don't think I'd be able to work. The key is to understand the elephants."
A Toyota serves as sheepdog
Elephants are not inherently aggressive animals, says Chris Thouless, who first began studying human-elephant conflict in the early 1990s. Yet certain factors can make them more so. The team members know to look out for secretions on the sides of the faces of bull elephants, a sign that they may be in musth -- a testosterone-fueled state that can make them more likely to act aggressively. They are wary of getting between a mother and her calf -- and keep a close eye on any elephants that appear to be sick or wounded.
"Elephants are like people," said Thouless. "They can be aggressive when threatened, but they're peaceful when they feel comfortable."
"You need to be able to see what mood they're in and be able to tell a real charge from a mock charge," says Gift Ngandu. "You need to understand their behavior. If you talk to them politely they're very friendly. You need to show them that you're not here to harm them."
When the team members approach an elephant, they start gently, doing their best to coax and nudge the animal out of harm's way. They talk to the elephants, gently revving their engine and using their spotlight to convey the message that it's time to leave.
Some of the elephants now recognize the team and depart of their own accord, knowing that if they don't, they're likely to be chased away with more forceful measures, Ngandu says.
When the elephants stand their ground, the team up the ante, bringing their vehicle in close, often within feet of the herd, shouting instructions and revving hard on the engine. Turning this way and that to round up stragglers and keep the animals moving in the right direction, they deploy their ageing Toyota as a farmer might a sheepdog.
Shortly before dawn, the team conduct their last routine patrol of the night, rounding up the few elephants left in the town and ushering them back toward the national park, while the residents of Dambwa South emerge to assess the night's damage. Once a safe distance from the nearest houses, Jimayi switches off the engine. For a while, the team sits together in the truck, watching in companionable silence as the lumbering giants disappear, one by one, into the trees.
"I feel so privileged to be able to do this job," says Jimayi. "When I see an elephant, I see an animal that's gentle, peaceful and intelligent. I hope that one day we can learn to live together."
Tommy Trenchard is an independent photojournalist based in Cape Town, South Africa. He has previously contributed photos and stories to NPR on the Mozambique cyclone of 2019, Indonesian death rituals and illegal miners in abandoned South African diamond mines.
Copyright 2024 NPR
|
https://www.kyuk.org/2024-12-08/photos-when-hungry-elephants-and-people-clash-in-a-village
| 2024-12-16T06:54:16Z
|
After seven years of medical school in Myanmar, May finally achieved her goal of becoming a doctor. But a month after she graduated and found a job, her dreams started unraveling.
In February 2021, Myanmar's military seized power in a coup, and the country's economy, already hammered by the pandemic, started to buckle. Prices soared, and May's paycheck, the equivalent of $415 a month, evaporated even faster. With her father suffering from kidney disease, she grew more and more desperate.
Then she met "date girls," who were making twice as much as her. The money was enticing -- even if it involved sex with men.
"It's difficult to accept that, despite all my years of study to become a doctor, I'm now doing this kind of work just to make ends meet," said May, 26, who has been working as a prostitute for over a year in Mandalay, Myanmar's second-largest city. She, like others who spoke for this article, asked not be identified by her full name because her family does not know how she earns money and because prostitution is illegal in Myanmar.
The coup and ensuing civil war have ravaged Myanmar's economy. Inflation soared to 26% this year as power shortages crippled factories, unseasonal rain flooded farms, and fighting in areas near China and Thailand decimated cross-border trade. The currency, the kyat, has lost two-fifths of its value against the dollar this year. Nearly half of Myanmar's people now live in poverty, according to the World Bank.
This calamity has forced a new cadre of women in Myanmar into sex work: doctors, teachers, nurses and other educated professionals.
It is hard to track how many women are involved in the trade, but women plying the streets have become much more apparent. In interviews, a half-dozen women -- four white-collar workers who have turned to prostitution and two rights activists -- said that more educated women are now having sex with men to make a living.
After the coup, women were at the forefront of protests. They marched on the streets and hung up their sarongs as a hex against soldiers. There was a flicker of hope over dismantling Myanmar's deep-rooted patriarchy. But the rise in prostitution is another blow to the status of women, who have been sexually abused by the military for decades.
There is no end in sight to this misery -- the junta has lost a lot of ground to the rebels but still controls Myanmar's cities, where prostitution has increased in brothels, karaoke bars, nightclubs and hotels.
Zar was a nurse at a private hospital in Mandalay, which was shut down by the military government because its doctors had joined the protest movement.
Then a friend pitched her a way to make money. Just be a date girl, her friend said.
Before her first day on the job, Zar, 25, said she watched some pornography to try to figure out what to do. She said her first client was a Chinese man who looked about 40 years old and spoke little Burmese and no English. At one point, he tried to have sex without a condom, but she insisted that he had to use one.
"It lasted about 20 minutes, but to me, it felt like an eternity," she said. "It was pure hell."
On a recent Tuesday, her phone buzzed with a terse message on the Telegram app with details of her next encounter. A name, contact number, venue and time.
She put on a pink dress and checked that her purse had condoms. That night, she earned $80, the equivalent of what she made in a month previously.
"I feel a bit ashamed doing this job," she said. "It's not that I enjoy this work -- it's just a necessity."
This desperation is forcing women to break the law by selling sex. Those detained by police often have to pay bribes to secure their release, adding another layer of jeopardy.
Myanmar, with a population of about 55 million, has a long history of military rule. But when civilian rule took hold in 2011, a middle class started to thrive. Now, that group has shrunk by 50%, according to the United Nations Development Program.
In Mandalay, Su, who was a doctor, said she used to be part of that community. She tells of vacations to Singapore, India and Nepal, and dining in malls with her friends.
But after the coup, prices of goods such as eggs and toothpaste tripled. She had to deplete her savings and skip meals.
Her daily trials are well known in Myanmar, where the cost of a typical meal has surged 160%, according to the International Food Policy Research Institute.
In 2023, Su, 28, said she decided to send naked pictures of herself to a madam who connected her with clients. When she has an appointment with a client, her parents think she is heading to a night shift at a hospital.
"I wanted to be a pediatrician and help children, but the coup and my family's financial situation left me with no other options," she said. "It's far from the life I dreamed of."
Women have borne the brunt of the economic crisis. They already earn less compared with their male counterparts -- a study from April to June showed female daily-wage workers make an average of about $5, while men can earn as much as 40% more doing the same job. And the unemployment rate for women remains far higher than that for men.
Garment factories were once a lifeline for women from Myanmar's villages and were projected to employ 1.6 million workers by 2026. Many of these are now shut, and their companies have pulled out of Myanmar after the coup.
Mya, 25, a single mother, said she tried to find a job in a garment factory after her husband was shot and killed by soldiers during a protest in 2021. But no one was hiring. She said she sold everything of value and finally turned to prostitution to provide for her 3-year-old daughter.
"People might judge me, but they don't understand what it's like to be hungry, to watch your child go hungry and to have nothing," she said. "Every day, I pray for a way out."
In February 2021, Myanmar's military seized power in a coup, and the country's economy, already hammered by the pandemic, started to buckle. Prices soared, and May's paycheck, the equivalent of $415 a month, evaporated even faster. With her father suffering from kidney disease, she grew more and more desperate.
Then she met "date girls," who were making twice as much as her. The money was enticing -- even if it involved sex with men.
"It's difficult to accept that, despite all my years of study to become a doctor, I'm now doing this kind of work just to make ends meet," said May, 26, who has been working as a prostitute for over a year in Mandalay, Myanmar's second-largest city. She, like others who spoke for this article, asked not be identified by her full name because her family does not know how she earns money and because prostitution is illegal in Myanmar.
The coup and ensuing civil war have ravaged Myanmar's economy. Inflation soared to 26% this year as power shortages crippled factories, unseasonal rain flooded farms, and fighting in areas near China and Thailand decimated cross-border trade. The currency, the kyat, has lost two-fifths of its value against the dollar this year. Nearly half of Myanmar's people now live in poverty, according to the World Bank.
This calamity has forced a new cadre of women in Myanmar into sex work: doctors, teachers, nurses and other educated professionals.
It is hard to track how many women are involved in the trade, but women plying the streets have become much more apparent. In interviews, a half-dozen women -- four white-collar workers who have turned to prostitution and two rights activists -- said that more educated women are now having sex with men to make a living.
After the coup, women were at the forefront of protests. They marched on the streets and hung up their sarongs as a hex against soldiers. There was a flicker of hope over dismantling Myanmar's deep-rooted patriarchy. But the rise in prostitution is another blow to the status of women, who have been sexually abused by the military for decades.
There is no end in sight to this misery -- the junta has lost a lot of ground to the rebels but still controls Myanmar's cities, where prostitution has increased in brothels, karaoke bars, nightclubs and hotels.
Zar was a nurse at a private hospital in Mandalay, which was shut down by the military government because its doctors had joined the protest movement.
Then a friend pitched her a way to make money. Just be a date girl, her friend said.
Before her first day on the job, Zar, 25, said she watched some pornography to try to figure out what to do. She said her first client was a Chinese man who looked about 40 years old and spoke little Burmese and no English. At one point, he tried to have sex without a condom, but she insisted that he had to use one.
"It lasted about 20 minutes, but to me, it felt like an eternity," she said. "It was pure hell."
On a recent Tuesday, her phone buzzed with a terse message on the Telegram app with details of her next encounter. A name, contact number, venue and time.
She put on a pink dress and checked that her purse had condoms. That night, she earned $80, the equivalent of what she made in a month previously.
"I feel a bit ashamed doing this job," she said. "It's not that I enjoy this work -- it's just a necessity."
This desperation is forcing women to break the law by selling sex. Those detained by police often have to pay bribes to secure their release, adding another layer of jeopardy.
Myanmar, with a population of about 55 million, has a long history of military rule. But when civilian rule took hold in 2011, a middle class started to thrive. Now, that group has shrunk by 50%, according to the United Nations Development Program.
In Mandalay, Su, who was a doctor, said she used to be part of that community. She tells of vacations to Singapore, India and Nepal, and dining in malls with her friends.
But after the coup, prices of goods such as eggs and toothpaste tripled. She had to deplete her savings and skip meals.
Her daily trials are well known in Myanmar, where the cost of a typical meal has surged 160%, according to the International Food Policy Research Institute.
In 2023, Su, 28, said she decided to send naked pictures of herself to a madam who connected her with clients. When she has an appointment with a client, her parents think she is heading to a night shift at a hospital.
"I wanted to be a pediatrician and help children, but the coup and my family's financial situation left me with no other options," she said. "It's far from the life I dreamed of."
Women have borne the brunt of the economic crisis. They already earn less compared with their male counterparts -- a study from April to June showed female daily-wage workers make an average of about $5, while men can earn as much as 40% more doing the same job. And the unemployment rate for women remains far higher than that for men.
Garment factories were once a lifeline for women from Myanmar's villages and were projected to employ 1.6 million workers by 2026. Many of these are now shut, and their companies have pulled out of Myanmar after the coup.
Mya, 25, a single mother, said she tried to find a job in a garment factory after her husband was shot and killed by soldiers during a protest in 2021. But no one was hiring. She said she sold everything of value and finally turned to prostitution to provide for her 3-year-old daughter.
"People might judge me, but they don't understand what it's like to be hungry, to watch your child go hungry and to have nothing," she said. "Every day, I pray for a way out."
(Catch all the Business News, Breaking News, Budget 2024 Events and Latest News Updates on The Economic Times.)
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(Catch all the Business News, Breaking News, Budget 2024 Events and Latest News Updates on The Economic Times.)
Subscribe to The Economic Times Prime and read the ET ePaper online.
|
https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/international/global-trends/myanmars-war-has-forced-doctors-and-nurses-into-prostitution/articleshow/116354938.cms
| 2024-12-16T06:54:16Z
|
A senior official said Sunday that the death toll from cyclone Chido's passage across Mayotte would be in the hundreds, perhaps even thousands, as France rushed in rescue workers and supplies.
Their efforts will be hindered by the damage to airports and electricity distribution in the French Indian Ocean territory.
Even before the cyclone's passage, clean drinking water was already subject to chronic shortages.
"I think there will definitely be several hundred, perhaps we will come close to a thousand or even several thousand" deaths, prefect Francois-Xavier Bieuville told broadcaster Mayotte la Premiere.
It would be "very difficult to reach a final count" given that most residents are Muslim, traditionally burying their dead within 24 hours, Bieuville added.
EU chief Ursula von der Leyen on Sunday pledged help from the bloc.
"Our hearts go out to France following the devastating passage of cyclone Chido through Mayotte," she posted on X. "We are ready to provide support in the days to come."
WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus also offered support, writing on X that his organisation "stands ready to support communities in need of essential health care".
PIROI, the Red Cross organisation in the region, said on X that it was ready to intervene.
Earlier Sunday, the mayor of Mayotte's capital Mamoudzou, Ambdilwahedou Soumaila, told AFP nine were in a critical condition in hospital, with another 246 more seriously injured.
"The hospital is hit, the schools are hit. Houses are totally devastated," he said. The storm had "spared nothing", he added.
Establishing an accurate will be doubly difficult given that France's interior ministry estimates around 100,000 people live clandestinely on Mayotte.
Some of them did not dare to venture out and seek assistance, "fearing it would be a trap" designed to remove them from Mayotte," said Ousseni Balahachi, a former nurse.
Many had stayed put "until the last minute" when it proved to late to escape the cyclone, she added.
The cyclone wiped out makeshift housing in the archipelago's shantytown, France's Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau said late Saturday.
Mayotte's 320,000 residents were ordered into lockdown Saturday as cyclone Chido bore down on the islands around 500 kilometres (310 miles) east of Mozambique, with gusts of at least 226 kilometres per hour.
Electricity poles were hurled to the ground, trees uprooted and sheet-metal roofs and walls torn off the shantytown housing inhabited by at least one-third of the population.
One local resident, Ibrahim, told AFP of "apocalyptic scenes" as he made his way through the main island, having to clear blocked roads for himself.
Retailleau will travel to Mayotte on Monday, his office said, with 160 soldiers and firefighters to reinforce the 110 already deployed to the islands.
Pope Francis, visiting French Mediterranean island Corsica on Sunday, urged people to pray for Mayotte's residents. French President Macron promised they would act to help the people there.
The prefecture in La Reunion, another French Indian Ocean territory some 1,400 kilometres away on the other side of Madagascar, said a first aid plane had landed in Mayotte.
It carried three tonnes of medical supplies, blood for transfusions and 17 medical staff, authorities in La Reunion said, with two military aircraft expected to follow.
A navy patrol ship was also to depart La Reunion with personnel and equipment including for electricity supplier EDF.
Just northwest of Mayotte, the Comoros islands, some of which had been on red alert since Friday, were also hit, but suffered only minor damage.
Cyclone Chido made in Mozambique landfall early Sunday around 40 kilometres (25 miles) south of the northern city of Pemba, weather services said. The death toll there so far stands at three, said local officials.
UNICEF said it was on the ground in Mozambique to help the people hit by the storm.
"Many homes, schools and health facilities have been partially or completely destroyed and we are working closely with the government to ensure continuity of essential basic services," it said in a statement.
Cyclone Chido is the latest in a string of storms worldwide fuelled by climate change, according to experts.
The "exceptional" cyclone was super-charged by particularly warm Indian Ocean waters, meteorologist Francois Gourand of the Meteo France weather service told AFP.
The UN's Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs warned that some 1.7 million people were in danger, and said the remnants of the cyclone could also dump "significant rainfall" on neighbouring Malawi through Monday, potentially triggering flash floods.
Zimbabwe and Zambia could also expect heavy rains, it added.
Their efforts will be hindered by the damage to airports and electricity distribution in the French Indian Ocean territory.
Even before the cyclone's passage, clean drinking water was already subject to chronic shortages.
"I think there will definitely be several hundred, perhaps we will come close to a thousand or even several thousand" deaths, prefect Francois-Xavier Bieuville told broadcaster Mayotte la Premiere.
It would be "very difficult to reach a final count" given that most residents are Muslim, traditionally burying their dead within 24 hours, Bieuville added.
EU chief Ursula von der Leyen on Sunday pledged help from the bloc.
"Our hearts go out to France following the devastating passage of cyclone Chido through Mayotte," she posted on X. "We are ready to provide support in the days to come."
WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus also offered support, writing on X that his organisation "stands ready to support communities in need of essential health care".
PIROI, the Red Cross organisation in the region, said on X that it was ready to intervene.
Hospitals, schools hit
Earlier Sunday, the mayor of Mayotte's capital Mamoudzou, Ambdilwahedou Soumaila, told AFP nine were in a critical condition in hospital, with another 246 more seriously injured."The hospital is hit, the schools are hit. Houses are totally devastated," he said. The storm had "spared nothing", he added.
Establishing an accurate will be doubly difficult given that France's interior ministry estimates around 100,000 people live clandestinely on Mayotte.
Some of them did not dare to venture out and seek assistance, "fearing it would be a trap" designed to remove them from Mayotte," said Ousseni Balahachi, a former nurse.
Many had stayed put "until the last minute" when it proved to late to escape the cyclone, she added.
The cyclone wiped out makeshift housing in the archipelago's shantytown, France's Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau said late Saturday.
Mayotte's 320,000 residents were ordered into lockdown Saturday as cyclone Chido bore down on the islands around 500 kilometres (310 miles) east of Mozambique, with gusts of at least 226 kilometres per hour.
Electricity poles were hurled to the ground, trees uprooted and sheet-metal roofs and walls torn off the shantytown housing inhabited by at least one-third of the population.
One local resident, Ibrahim, told AFP of "apocalyptic scenes" as he made his way through the main island, having to clear blocked roads for himself.
Retailleau will travel to Mayotte on Monday, his office said, with 160 soldiers and firefighters to reinforce the 110 already deployed to the islands.
Pope Francis, visiting French Mediterranean island Corsica on Sunday, urged people to pray for Mayotte's residents. French President Macron promised they would act to help the people there.
Storm hits Mozambique
Already Sunday, medical personnel and equipment were delivered Sunday by air and sea.The prefecture in La Reunion, another French Indian Ocean territory some 1,400 kilometres away on the other side of Madagascar, said a first aid plane had landed in Mayotte.
It carried three tonnes of medical supplies, blood for transfusions and 17 medical staff, authorities in La Reunion said, with two military aircraft expected to follow.
A navy patrol ship was also to depart La Reunion with personnel and equipment including for electricity supplier EDF.
Just northwest of Mayotte, the Comoros islands, some of which had been on red alert since Friday, were also hit, but suffered only minor damage.
Cyclone Chido made in Mozambique landfall early Sunday around 40 kilometres (25 miles) south of the northern city of Pemba, weather services said. The death toll there so far stands at three, said local officials.
UNICEF said it was on the ground in Mozambique to help the people hit by the storm.
"Many homes, schools and health facilities have been partially or completely destroyed and we are working closely with the government to ensure continuity of essential basic services," it said in a statement.
Cyclone Chido is the latest in a string of storms worldwide fuelled by climate change, according to experts.
The "exceptional" cyclone was super-charged by particularly warm Indian Ocean waters, meteorologist Francois Gourand of the Meteo France weather service told AFP.
The UN's Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs warned that some 1.7 million people were in danger, and said the remnants of the cyclone could also dump "significant rainfall" on neighbouring Malawi through Monday, potentially triggering flash floods.
Zimbabwe and Zambia could also expect heavy rains, it added.
(Catch all the Business News, Breaking News, Budget 2024 Events and Latest News Updates on The Economic Times.)
Subscribe to The Economic Times Prime and read the ET ePaper online.
Read More News on
(Catch all the Business News, Breaking News, Budget 2024 Events and Latest News Updates on The Economic Times.)
Subscribe to The Economic Times Prime and read the ET ePaper online.
|
https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/international/world-news/hundreds-feared-dead-on-frances-mayotte-after-cyclone-chido/articleshow/116356454.cms
| 2024-12-16T06:54:17Z
|
SCOTT DETROW, HOST:
For weeks now, residents in New Jersey and across the Northeast have looked up to the night sky and seen drones, dozens of car-sized drones flying above critical infrastructure like reservoirs and military bases.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #1: ...One low looks pretty close, right?
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #2: So I - this one's going to fly over us right now.
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #1: You think so?
DETROW: That is footage captured by one New Jersey resident, U.S. Senator Andy Kim, who spent his Thursday night drone hunting with local police in a rural part of the state and posting about it on social media. Naturally, these mysterious drones have raised some questions. Where are they coming from? Who's flying them? Why? Federal officials say they don't have answers to those questions but say they see no evidence so far of a national security threat. Here's Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas speaking on ABC earlier today.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
ALEJANDRO MAYORKAS: There's no question that people are seeing drones, and I want to assure the American public that we in the federal government have deployed additional resources, personnel, technology to assist the New Jersey state police in addressing the drone sightings.
DETROW: So in the era of see-something-say-something, the Feds seem to be assuring the public that there is nothing to see here. Local firefighters do say do not approach any drones that have crashed into the ground.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC) Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.
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https://www.krcu.org/2024-12-15/drones-in-new-jersey-skies-something-or-nothing
| 2024-12-16T06:54:22Z
|
Peshawar - Since its inception, Pakistan has experienced various eras of political and democratic struggles against dictators, political hegemonic leadership, and foreign conspiracies, all aimed at keeping the nation intact and steadfast against all odds. This journey of struggles and turmoil—whether political or dictatorial—has left indelible imprints on our tumultuous political history, with political forces sometimes warring against each other and, at other times, uniting against dictatorial regimes.
The unwarranted exercise of democratic and dictatorial rule has not only disrupted the democratic process repeatedly but also hindered socioeconomic development in Pakistan, resulting in increased unemployment and a brain drain of youth.
Throughout these eras, there was some sense of sanity and tolerance in struggles, agitations, protests, and even political differences, except for scattered incidents of violence. However, in recent years, an onslaught of immoral assertions, below-the-belt criticism, and bitter mud-slinging has surfaced in our political landscape, with rival politicians hurling unethical allegations and using derogatory language against each other.
This tendency has not only badly damaged our social fabric but also ruined the ethical values of most youth, who are deemed to be the future of the nation. Unfortunately, many of these slurs were introduced to political workers by the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leadership.
This haughty and arrogant segment of political struggle has fueled workers’ passions with an intolerant and insulting attitude, shrinking room for opposing viewpoints and promoting a culture of abuse, leading society to a breaking point.
“Politics of violence—characterized by long marches, sit-ins, street protests, and hooliganism—poses a significant threat to democratic governance,” remarked Prof A H Hilali, a retired educationist from the University of Peshawar. “Democracy derives its strength from people’s votes. In genuine democracies, political rivals outclass opponents through better performance, not violent protests, agitation rallies, and sit-ins.”
He said the developed nations achieved economic success by ensuring political stability and continuity of policies, rather than pursuing disruptive movements or bloody protests.
“Pakistan’s stained political history reflects a pattern of instability, often triggered by dissatisfaction with election outcomes. The country, blessed with abundant natural resources and a large population, has yet to realize its full economic potential due to the overthrow of elected governments,” Dr Hilali said.
“Irrational agitation politics, persistent political intolerance, and disrespect for electoral mandates have derailed democracy repeatedly,” he stated. “The absence of a strong constitutional framework during the early years of independence, and the subsequent accusations of election rigging by rival parties, have hampered the country’s democratic evolution.”
Referring to the PNA’s movement of the 1970s and the political chaos during the 1990s, when the successive governments of PPP and PML-N were dismissed on allegations of corruption and electoral manipulation, political uncertainty continued to prevail.
In 2014, a new chapter of political unrest unfolded when Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) and Pakistan Awami Tehreek (PAT) launched a long sit-in against the PML-N government, accusing them of rigging the 2013 general elections.
Although the allegations of electoral fraud against the PML-N government were dismissed by an independent commission led by former Chief Justice Nasirul Mulk, both PTI and PAT introduced a new trend of abusing, maligning, and slandering political opponents.
“The PTI founder did not learn from the country’s past grim political history and encouraged an assault on sensitive military installations on May 9 and the storming of the capital on November 24, utilizing public resources from KP’s provincial government,” remarked Ikhtiar Wali Khan, PML-N KP Information Secretary.
“The PTI leadership once again exploited workers’ sentiments for the fulfillment of its ulterior motives. Their violent approach to targeting state institutions and attempts to undermine the democratic process have severely damaged the national fabric.”
Wajid Ali Khan, former environment minister, also criticized the PTI leadership for telling lies and making false claims, describing their demands to revoke the 26th constitutional amendment and release Imran Khan as childish. “Only parliament can undo or pass a constitutional amendment, while the PTI leader was jailed on corruption charges, and only the courts can release him,” he said.
He urged the KP Chief Minister to focus on the province’s peace and development rather than wasting time and government resources on agitation politics. “When warring factions were assaulting each other in Kurram, the Chief Minister was busy with futile agitation.”
Wajid Ali questioned, “When PTI’s anti-corruption slogans were exposed after the billion-tree project, on what grounds is its leadership protesting to free the founder from jail without trial? The BRT is running at a loss, KP’s Ehtasab Commission is closed, and probes are starting into the billion-tree project. Does this mean their agitation is aimed at escaping accountability for all this corruption?”
Experts believe that repeated long marches and agitations have eroded public trust in political forces and democratic institutions. The irrational tactics of PTI leadership have not brought genuine change but have instead created political polarization and shaken the confidence of foreign investors.
As the people continue to hope for a strong democratic future and a prosperous Pakistan, political forces must mend their ways to realize this dream, avoiding unnecessary onslaughts and slander against political opponents, and preserving our noble political norms and ethics.
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https://www.nation.com.pk/16-Dec-2024/politics-of-violence-harming-national-fabric
| 2024-12-16T06:54:22Z
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The Vancouver Canucks are having a fine season so far in 2024-25. However, the Canucks have also had some absolutely brutal performances on the ice. This was the case on Saturday night when Vancouver lost to the Boston Bruins by the score of 5-1. After the game, head coach Rick Tocchet did not mince his words when discussing the loss.
Vancouver did not score until halfway through the third period on Saturday night. And the goal was scored by Max Sasson, who picked up his first career goal against Boston. The Canucks' more regular contributors were a non-factor against the Bruins, which Tocchet made quite known to the media. “Let's face facts, we have four or five guys, they're struggling. They're struggling to get emotionally invested in the game,” the Canucks coach said, via Sportsnet.
Tocchet did not name any specific players who he considered to be struggling. However, there are certainly some candidates who may fit the bill. For instance, Nils Hoglander is pointless through his last 19 games, while Danton Heinen has one point through his last 12. Moreover, fans will jump on star center Elias Pettersson, who has one goal in his last eight games and two in his last 12.
No room for “passengers” on Canucks, per Rick Tocchet
Rick Tocchet spoke to the media again on Sunday about his comments from the night before. The Canucks head coach did not change his tune, though. He mentioned that he is not shy about talking to the players. And while he still did not name specific players, he hopes the players in question understand what's being asked of them.
“I mean, that's what you're hoping, that when guys go home, they're like, ‘Hey, man, I had a tough night, and I'm going to do something about it.' (If they're) driving home saying ‘it wasn't me'… then you're in trouble,” the Canucks head coach said, via Sportsnet.
Tocchet went on to talk about the makeup of his team. The Canucks coach said a team such as the Edmonton Oilers can withstand multiple slumps from skaters in their lineup. Vancouver, however, does not have that luxury.
“We don't have the team to have three or four or five passengers. We just don't have it. Edmonton, they can have four or five guys sleeping, and they've got guys that can win the game for him. We are a team that needs everybody to play,” Tocchet said.
The Canucks are still in good shape despite some recent struggles. Vancouver holds a record of 15-9-5 which is good for 35 points. They are sitting fourth place in the Pacific Division, a division they won in 2023-24. However, only four points separates them from the second-placed Los Angeles Kings. It will be interesting to see if the Canucks can bounce back when they retake the ice against the Colorado Avalanche on Monday night.
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https://clutchpoints.com/canucks-news-rick-tocchet-calls-out-struggling-players-bruins-loss
| 2024-12-16T06:54:23Z
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The departure from the coalition of the neoliberal Free Democrats (FDP) deprived Scholz's government of its parliamentary majority and left in limbo dozens of laws the coalition had been scheduled to pass in its remaining time.
However, the FDP signalled on Friday its support for passing certain laws that were already well advanced through the legislative process and in which the party was deeply involved.
Scholz will hold a vote of confidence on Monday and he has urged lawmakers to work together in the remaining window before the election expected on Feb. 23 to pass measures still on the agenda.
WHICH LAWS COULD BE PASSED THIS WEEK?
The parties in the old coalition - the SPD, Greens and FDP - reached an agreement on Friday to deliver income tax relief and higher child benefits.
According to a draft bill, the agreement will result in tax relief of more than 11 billion euros ($11.6 billion) for 2025 and 2026. Child benefit payments will increase by five euros to 255 euros per month.
Another possible survivor is the Deutschlandticket, a signature policy of Scholz's government which gives unlimited travel on local and regional transport for a monthly flat rate of 58 euros for next year.
Though popular with voters, its 1.5 billion euro price tag needs to be approved for next year. Conservative leader Friedrich Merz said he would clear the way for it.
Measures to strengthen Germany's constitutional court are also likely to be approved with the support of the three former coalition partners and the conservatives.
The court could be vulnerable if populist parties on the right and left win a third of the seats in parliament after the election, which would allow them to block appointments of new judges indefinitely, leading to case backlogs.
WHICH LAWS WILL FALL BY THE WAYSIDE?
A law that would promote the building of hydrogen-ready power stations was set to be sent to regional governments for consultation when the coalition collapsed. Though the extra capacity is urgently needed to complement wind and solar power, ministers do not believe there is time to get it through parliament.
There is also no time to pass the 2025 budget, new German Finance Minister Joerg Kukies said after the coalition's collapse. However, the draft budget prepared by the old coalition before the summer will be the basis for a provisional 2025 budget to tide things over until a new government passes a definitive budget.
While the cabinet decided to extend a rent freeze until 2029, Merz announced that his party would not support it in parliament because the current freeze is valid until the end of 2025.
Scholz's proposal to reduce the VAT rate on food from 7% to 5% is also considered to have no chance of success, with both the conservatives and the FDP criticizing the plan as an election campaign manoeuvre.
Germany's cabinet approved a pension reform in September but Scholz's plans for a guaranteed minimum pension of 48% of the average wage are unlikely to get the required support to pass parliament.
The chancellor's plans to cap the costs of electricity transmission at 3 cents per kilowatt hour and partly finance the costs of the transmission grids also lack opposition support.
(Catch all the Business News, Breaking News, Budget 2024 Events and Latest News Updates on The Economic Times.)
Subscribe to The Economic Times Prime and read the ET ePaper online.
Read More News on
(Catch all the Business News, Breaking News, Budget 2024 Events and Latest News Updates on The Economic Times.)
Subscribe to The Economic Times Prime and read the ET ePaper online.
|
https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/international/world-news/which-german-coalition-plans-will-still-be-implemented/articleshow/116357000.cms
| 2024-12-16T06:54:23Z
|
LAUREL HILL — Bo, a mixed breed blue heeler is missing from Laurel Hill and his owner is reaching out hoping residents can aid in his safe return.
“Bo is slightly over a year old,” said Edward Tatum. “I got him just at the start of this pandemic and he is more like my child than a dog. He has been missing since Thursday.”
According to Tatum, Bo was last seen on Laurel Hill Church Road in the Sneads Grove area.
“He worked his collar off on his temporary runner,” said Tatum. “He is mainly an inside dog and is constantly by my side.
“He is a little skittish,” added Tatam, “but he has a mild temperament and he loves children.”
Tatum also stated Bo normally would have identification on him, however when he got loose from his collar, it was left behind.
“There is also a reward for his safe return,” said Tatum. “I just miss him so much and hope he is found soon and returns home safe and unharmed.”
For information or to aid in the search for Bo, contact E.C. Tatum at 910-318-8300.
JJ Melton can be reached at jmelton@laurinburgexch.wpenginepowered.com. To support the Laurinburg Exchange, subscribe here: https://laurinburgexch.wpenginepowered.com/subscribe.
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https://www.laurinburgexchange.com/news/44574/owner-looking-for-his-missing-pet
| 2024-12-16T06:54:23Z
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AJ Styles and Cody Rhodes updates
– AJ Styles was backstage at last night’s TNA tapings at Center Stage in Atlanta, Georgia, near Styles’ home.
According to Fightful Select, while Styles wasn’t in a cast, boot or on crutches, he said he “wasn’t 100%”.
As of right now, there is no timeframe for him to return.
– WWE has provided an ‘injury update’ on Cody Rhodes after Kevin Owens’ attack at Saturday Night’s Main Event.
According to WWE, Rhodes was kept overnight in hospital after suffering “cervical swelling”, with the Undisputed WWE Champion later being ‘diagnosed’ with “axial compression of the cervical spine” and “cervical strain with spasm.”
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https://www.gerweck.net/2024/12/15/aj-styles-and-cody-rhodes-updates/
| 2024-12-16T06:54:23Z
|
SCOTT DETROW, HOST:
Some things are easier to learn when you're a kid, like an instrument or a sport. NPR's Avery Keatley visited a gymnastics class outside of Washington, D.C., to find out why it's important to keep learning new things, no matter your age.
AVERY KEATLEY, BYLINE: On a dark, rainy Tuesday night, the Barcroft Sports & Fitness Center in Arlington, Virginia, is brightly lit and absolutely buzzing. The gymnastics floor is mobbed with kids wearing bright leotards, taking turns on the vault, uneven bars, balance beam and floor. It is loud as the kids tumble across the floor and parents wait in the bleachers overlooking the gymnasium. But as the kids' classes begin winding down, a different group files in.
GAELEN WOOD: (Inaudible) forward rolls, so arms up.
ERIN WEISENBERGER: This is the worst one because it really hurts your head. When I was a kid, this didn't hurt, but it really gives me a headache doing it. I don't know why.
KEATLEY: That's 32-year-old Erin Weisenberger. She's warming up doing somersaults across the gymnastics floor along with the rest of her class. It's a group of nearly all women ranging in age from their late 20s to their early 40s, and they're all here trying something a little different.
WOOD: So we're going to learn something new today.
KEATLEY: They're part of an adult beginner gymnastics class. It's a bit of a rarity in the gymnastics world, where most classes are geared towards kids and teens.
WOOD: And if you're lefty, you're going to jump, land on your right foot, extend your left foot into your lunge.
KEATLEY: That's Coach Gaelen Wood. Tonight, they're learning how to power hurdle. It's a move that helps generate momentum for tumbling, and the footwork is a little complicated.
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON: So think about jumping off of two feet and just land on your right foot.
WEISENBERGER: Just land on my right foot. Just land on my right foot.
(LAUGHTER)
KEATLEY: While Erin tries to master the power hurdle, classmate Shateela Winters has a simpler goal in mind.
SHATEELA WINTERS: So my goal is to not injure myself. I have a bad back amongst other things. But if I could pick the dream thing that I had learned to do, if I could just do one back handspring, I'd be incredibly happy.
WOOD: Awesome.
KEATLEY: After warming up on the floor, the class files over to a trampoline that stretches almost halfway across the gym.
WOOD: All right, we're going to straddle jumps. So remember, either straddle jumps can go out to the side or straddle jumps can come up in front of you, OK?
KEATLEY: Gymnastics program supervisor Alex Asante-Dean says that for adult beginners, breaking out of their normal patterns of movement, like jumping really high in the air on a trampoline, can be uncomfortable.
ALEX ASANTE-DEAN: When we start, some of the things are really jarring 'cause you're moving your body in ways that hasn't been done before.
KEATLEY: And it's not just physical movements.
ASANTE-DEAN: When we get older and we have, you know, routines that we're used to, gets hard to break those habits.
KEATLEY: That's an observation backed up by research.
RACHEL WU: Adults might have a more fixed mindset in terms of thinking, if I'm not good at something now, I'm never going to be good at it.
KEATLEY: Rachel Wu is an associate professor of psychology at University of California, Riverside. She studies the way children learn and how those patterns might help adults learn too. She says that in some ways, learning is easier as an adult. Adults generally grasp concepts more quickly. They're less distracted, and they have better motor control than kids. But learning as an adult requires time, money and quality teachers, which can all be harder to find. She also says adults are often convinced they simply lack a talent for something.
WU: I've never been good at languages, or I've never been good at art, or I don't have a musical ear or something like that - that kind of, like, very fixed mindset. So you're either born with some talent or you're not.
KEATLEY: But continuing to learn as an adult has serious brain benefits.
WU: You will increase a lot of different types of cognitive abilities - your attention, memory. You have existing neurons that can be strengthened and existing pathways between neurons that can be strengthened as well.
KEATLEY: She says physical activities can be especially helpful in growing new neurons, which help the brain remain healthy and flexible later in life. Community can also play a big role in supporting adult learning.
WU: Learning new stuff is really hard, and if you're doing it with other people, it may be less depressing (laughter) in some ways because those people can help hold you accountable. You can see through how other people are struggling that you're not the only one struggling.
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON: There you go. Yes. Pull, pull, pull, pull, pull. Good.
KEATLEY: Back in the gym, the class is practicing on the uneven bars.
WEISENBERGER: The Olympians make it look so smooth and so easy and just like a walk in the park. But it is not (laughter).
KEATLEY: Erin Weisenberger says that even though class is challenging, she gets a lot out of it.
WEISENBERGER: Just proud of myself for trying something that I thought I would be really bad at.
KEATLEY: Coach Gaelen Wood says that for him, seeing adult students achieve something new is one of the best parts of the class.
WOOD: I love when people are nervous of something, and they finally take that step forward, and they're like, I can do this.
KEATLEY: As class winds down, one of those moments unfolds as Erin successfully pulls herself all the way over the uneven bar for the first time.
WEISENBERGER: I did it.
(LAUGHTER)
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON: There you go. Yay.
KEATLEY: Avery Keatley, NPR News.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC) Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.
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https://www.krcu.org/2024-12-15/learning-as-an-adult-can-be-hard-its-even-harder-on-a-balance-beam
| 2024-12-16T06:54:28Z
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DERA ISMAIL KHAN - A community engagement session, chaired by Additional Deputy Commissioner South Waziristan Lower, Kashmir Khan, was conducted to mobilize support for the upcoming anti-polio drive in the area.
The session was attended by tribal chiefs, including Malak Tariq, Malak Said Ullah, Malak Sana Ullah, Malak Serat Khan, and Malak Abid Ullah, along with village secretaries, the district health officer, and a core member of DEOC.
During the session, the Additional Deputy Commissioner (Finance and Planning) emphasized the importance of collective efforts to ensure the success of the campaign. The participants were briefed on the objectives of the drive and the need for community collaboration.
It was decided to establish Tehsil-level committees led by Tehsildars. These committees will include local elders, village secretaries, and partner staff to maximize vaccination coverage and address any challenges during the campaign.
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https://www.nation.com.pk/16-Dec-2024/session-held-to-mobilise-support-for-anti-polio-drive
| 2024-12-16T06:54:28Z
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Miami Dolphins head coach Mike McDaniel revealed Jaylen Waddle's frustration after the wide receiver left the game against the Houston Texans with a knee injury. Considering the AFC playoff hunt, the Dolphins' defeat at NRG Stadium was a missed opportunity. This defeat occurred as the seventh-seeded Los Angeles Chargers lost against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Now, Tua Tagovailoa and the company will seemingly have to win out to give themselves a reasonable chance to make it to the postseason.
Jaylen Waddle's departure definitely hurt Miami's chances. The Dolphins could only muster twelve points on the road and committed four turnovers. Waddle left the game with a right knee injury in the first half. He had two targets and zero receptions before this setback. According to Miami Dolphins beat reporter for the Sun Sentinel David Furones, Mike McDaniel revealed that Jaylen Waddle was “super frustrated” about his knee injury. Miami's head coach could not provide a further medical update beyond that.
The Dolphins need a lot of help to get into the postseason
On a very somber note, Miami Dolphins wideout Grant DuBose left the game with a head injury. The second-year wide receiver out of Charlotte took a scary hit during the third quarter. DuBose was subsequently transported to the hospital. The Montgomery, Alabama native is currently in stable condition. Thoughts and prayers go out to DuBose and his family.
Mike McDaniel's team had an opportunity to get within a game of the playoffs on Sunday. At 6-8 now, Miami is the ninth-place team in the AFC. The two teams the franchise will need to jump are the 6-8 Indianapolis Colts and 8-6 Los Angeles Chargers. Luckily for the Dolphins, they hold the tiebreaker over the Chargers, so they do not need Los Angeles to lose out to get in. However, that scenario would be ideal.
Miami's last three games will be against teams in dire straights. The most challenging matchup is the first one, which is at home against the San Francisco 49ers. The perennial Super Bowl contenders have had a dismal season, sparking speculation that head coach Kyle Shannahan has lost the locker room. Despite this adversity, San Francisco has not been eliminated from the NFC West hunt. This proud franchise will enter this game in the Sunshine State very motivated.
The Dolphins' last two games are on the road against the Cleveland Browns and New York Jets. Both franchises are eliminated from playoff contention and would probably be better served with a loss. However, the Jets are coming off a win at Jacksonville on Sunday. Miami already won the previous affair between the two AFC East rivals in a 32-26 thriller at home.
Overall, the Dolphins need a healthy Jaylen Waddle to win out and give themselves a chance to sneak into the postseason. The star wideout is looking to extend his streak of consecutive 1,000-yard receiving seasons to four. At 700 yards with only three games left, Waddle must be 100% to keep that streak intact.
In addition, Tua Tagovailia will need help rebounding from his brutal, three-interception affair on Sunday. If the Dolphins don't bounce back from this loss, the franchise will have a lot of soul-searching to do over the offseason.
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https://clutchpoints.com/dolphins-news-jaylen-waddle-frustrated-reaction-knee-injury
| 2024-12-16T06:54:29Z
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Also Read: Zakir Hussain: The tabla maestro who touched the world with his rhythms
Understanding Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis
IPF is a debilitating lung condition characterised by scarring of lung tissue, which thickens the alveolar walls, reducing the lungs’ capacity to exchange oxygen. Common symptoms include persistent dry cough, shortness of breath during physical activity, and fatigue. The disease often affects individuals over 50 and has no known cure, with a median survival rate of 3-5 years. While treatments can slow its progression, IPF significantly impacts patients’ quality of life.Also Read: Zakir Hussain no more, family of Tabla maestro confirms
An Illustrious Legacy Rooted in Music
Born on March 9, 1951, Zakir Hussain was the son of tabla legend Ustad Alla Rakha. Recognised as one of the greatest percussionists of his generation, he dedicated over six decades to his craft, transforming the global perception of Indian classical music. Hussain’s collaborations with international musicians such as Yo-Yo Ma, Béla Fleck, George Harrison, and Mickey Hart bridged cultural divides and brought Indian music to new audiences.Hussain was also a pioneer of musical fusion. His 1973 collaboration, Shakti, with guitarist John McLaughlin, violinist L. Shankar, and percussionist T.H. Vinayakram, seamlessly blended Indian classical music with jazz, creating a genre-defining masterpiece.
Also Read: 'Wah Taj': When Ustad Zakir Hussain brewed an unforgettable legacy for tea lovers. Watch viral ad
Achievements and Honours
Zakir Hussain’s unparalleled contributions to music earned him widespread recognition. He was the recipient of four Grammy Awards, including three at the 66th Grammy Awards earlier this year. In India, his accomplishments were acknowledged with the Padma Shri in 1988, the Padma Bhushan in 2002, and the Padma Vibhushan in 2023, one of the nation’s highest civilian honours.Also Read: When Ustad Zakir Hussain stood by his friend Pandit Shivkumar Sharma, even during his final journey
Tributes Pour In
The news of Hussain’s passing prompted an outpouring of grief on social media. Author Ashwin Sanghi wrote on X, “The hands that brought the tabla to life have fallen silent, but Ustad Zakir Hussain’s music will live on in eternity. A true genius, a global icon, and one eternally blessed by Ma Saraswati. Om Shanti. #ZakirHussain.”The Consulate General of India in San Francisco also issued a heartfelt statement: “We are deeply saddened to know about the passing away of the legendary tabla maestro and Padma Vibhushan awardee Ustad Zakir Hussain from idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis in San Francisco at the age of 73 today. We offer our heartfelt condolences to his wife Antonia Minnecola; his daughters, Anisa Qureshi (her husband, Taylor Phillips, and their daughter, Zara) and Isabella Qureshi; his brothers, Taufiq Qureshi and Fazal Qureshi; and his sister, Khurshid Aulia. Our thoughts and prayers are with his family.”
Also Read: Tributes pour in from all walks of life for Ustad Zakir Hussain
A Global Icon
Hussain’s influence extended beyond music. His mastery of the tabla and his ability to innovate within traditional and contemporary frameworks made him a cultural ambassador. He inspired generations of musicians and listeners alike. Despite his passing, his music remains a timeless testament to his genius.Also Read: Last Mohican in world of classical music: Musicians condole death of Zakir Hussain
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https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/new-updates/tabla-maestro-zakir-hussain-passes-away-at-73-after-battling-idiopathic-pulmonary-fibrosis-all-you-need-to-know/articleshow/116354281.cms
| 2024-12-16T06:54:29Z
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Video: MJF and Big Boom AJ had a stare down
MJF and Big Boom AJ had a stare down at Boca Raton Championship Wrestling, during MJF vs. QT Marshall.
The referee was knocked down at one point during the match and Marshall tried to cheat, but he was stopped by AJ. This prompted MJF to get in AJ’s face, but the two simply had words before walking away. MJF then hit a stalling brainbuster on QT to get the three count.
MJF & BIG BOOM AJ JUST CAME FACE TO FACE IN FLORIDA!
MJF here defeated QT Marshall tonight at Boca Raton Championship Wrestling. pic.twitter.com/w0CzTtssUe
— Drainmaker ️ (@DrainBamager) December 16, 2024
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https://www.gerweck.net/2024/12/15/video-mjf-and-big-boom-aj-had-a-stare-down/
| 2024-12-16T06:54:30Z
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SCOTT DETROW, HOST:
By many measures, California is a shining success story. On its own, it boasts the world's fifth-largest economy. It's one of the richest states in the U.S., with one of the country's highest per capita incomes. And California is also a place where Hollywood and Silicon Valley have set a standard for the U.S. and created a mythical, romantic version of the state that looms over pop culture. But in recent years, it is a story that has been told of one as a state in decline. And according to that narrative, the most populous state is overregulated and too expensive to live in, and so much so, according to some, that people are fleeing it in droves. But how true is that story? To answer, I am joined now by Tessa McLean, the California editor at the online publication SFGATE. She dug into this narrative - not just the current one, but previous times that everybody has been talking about California failing. Welcome to ALL THINGS CONSIDERED.
TESSA MCLEAN: Thanks for having me.
DETROW: Let's just start with the now - how dire is it? Is the California dream over? Are we packing it up?
MCLEAN: (Laughter) No, the California dream is not quite over yet, though many would say it is dying. The population in the last three years has declined, but it's never declined more than 1%. Each year since 2021, it's declined by a smaller and smaller number, and in 2023, it only declined 0.09%, according to figures from the State Department of Finance. So growth is simply slowing. It has not fully declined.
DETROW: But this led you to take a broader look because, you know, I covered California politics for a couple of years, and I heard this at the time I was there, and it seems like such a constant. This state is too expensive. It's overregulated. It's killing itself, and people are leaving in droves. And yet, the population - big-picture - continues to go up, the economy continues to grow. Why did you want to take a look back at these previous moments of doom and gloom? What was interesting about it to you?
MCLEAN: I write a lot about the movement of Californians, whether that's leaving the state entirely for a different state like Texas or Montana or whether they're moving around within the state itself. So I really wanted to take a look at the population data and see how big any decline has been in recent years and find out if this was a new phenomenon or if this had in fact been happening for years.
DETROW: Yeah.
MCLEAN: And leading up to the most recent election, it felt like California was in the spotlight more than ever. Kamala Harris was born in the Bay Area. She started her career in California, and that fact was often used against her. Meanwhile, Donald Trump is boasting about how Elon Musk left California for Texas. And Governor Gavin Newsom is sparring with the governors of Texas and Florida, and these conversations are making the national news. I wanted to take a step back and examine America's obsession with California failing.
DETROW: To be clear, though, you're not saying that some of the real problems that are being flagged, like the high cost of living, the cost of housing, in particular, aren't real. It's just that they may be overblown in terms of leading people to flee the state in droves?
MCLEAN: Absolutely. California is an expensive place to live. There's no doubt about it. And that high housing costs and all the cost of living expenses that come along with that are a big reason - the main reason, mainly - why people leave. There's been a lot more migration within the state itself, especially since the pandemic. You know, people might be leaving large coastal metros like San Francisco or Los Angeles for places like the Inland Empire or Sacramento, more so than are leaving the state itself.
DETROW: Why do you think then there's such an impulse over the years - and you're talking about the dot-com bust, you're talking about earlier periods in the 20th century. Why do you think there's such an interest in declaring the death of California?
MCLEAN: California has always been a prosperous place. It's a place that people look to, to go find wealth and success. People have been migrating out to California, looking for the California dream since the Gold Rush. And so I think that idea of the California dream is really important for people, and it really draws people out there.
DETROW: Were there any interesting parallels that you picked up on when you compared these moments?
MCLEAN: Yeah. I mean, the parallels is that the reasons that people are leaving are almost always the same. It's high housing costs. It's traffic. It's overpopulated cities, people just being fed up with the politics of the state. Those reasons never really changed, whether it's 1989 or 2023.
DETROW: That's Tessa McLean, the California editor at SFGATE. Her piece, "America's Obsession With California Failing," is at sfgate.com. Thanks so much for talking to us.
MCLEAN: Thank you. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.
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https://www.krcu.org/2024-12-15/the-love-hate-tug-of-war-with-california
| 2024-12-16T06:54:34Z
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Hyderabad - Chief Secretary Sindh, Syed Asif Haider Shah, has directed concerned officials to ensure the success of the upcoming seven-day polio eradication campaign, starting on December 16.
Chairing a review meeting on the readiness of the Divisional Polio Task Force at the Divisional Commissioner’s Office, Shahbaz Building, Hyderabad, Chief Secretary Asif Haider Shah emphasized the need for concerted efforts to eradicate polio from the province.
The meeting was attended by Divisional Commissioner Bilal Ahmed Memon, DIG Hyderabad Tariq Razak Dharejo, SSP Hyderabad Dr. Farrukh Ali Lanjar, Deputy Commissioner Hyderabad Zain-ul-Abidin Memon, DHO Hyderabad, WHO Focal Person, and other stakeholders. All Deputy Commissioners of the division participated in the meeting via video link.
Divisional Commissioner Hyderabad, Bilal Ahmed Memon, briefed Chief Secretary Sindh on the preparations for the anti-polio campaign. Chief Secretary Asif Haider Shah stressed that all officials, from UCMOs to Deputy Commissioners, should be aware of the challenges faced by polio workers.
“The Union Councils are our basic level, and team coordination strengthens a district,” he said. “It is essential for polio workers at the Union Council level to be properly trained. Lack of training may hinder the success of the polio campaign,” he added.
Chief Secretary Sindh Asif Haider directed officials to ensure that polio eradication officers at the UC level monitor polio teams and train them to have sufficient knowledge for comprehensive briefings during monitoring visits.
Commissioner Hyderabad Bilal Ahmed Memon said that preparations for the current polio campaign are more comprehensive than in previous campaigns. All Deputy Commissioners, DHOs, and police officers have been briefed on the preparations.
The Commissioner added that Mukhtiarkars and ACs at the union level are fully cooperating, but vaccination teams still require training to address complications encountered during the polio campaign.
According to Commissioner Hyderabad, 17 polio cases have been reported across Sindh, with three cases confirmed in Hyderabad Division. There is an urgent need to address the persistent poliovirus cases.
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https://www.nation.com.pk/16-Dec-2024/sindh-cs-for-ensuring-success-of-anti-polio-campaign
| 2024-12-16T06:54:35Z
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Monday's College Basketball slate is heating up and we are set for a betting prediction and pick with coverage of the Western Athletic Conference v. Conference USA Challenge. The Grand Canyon University Lopes (6-3) will take on the Louisiana Tech Bulldogs (9-2). It's time to continue our College Basketball odds series with a Grand Canyon-Louisiana Tech prediction and pick.
The Grand Canyon Lopes most recently lost to Georgia 73-68, breaking a four-game winning streak. They own key wins over Stanford and Hawai'i and have the third-best overall record in the WAC. They'll look to bounce back as the short road favorites.
The Louisiana Tech Bulldogs are on a two-game winning streak with double-digit victories over Louisiana and Georgia Southern. They own the second-best record heading into CUSA play and will looking to build upon their 3-1 record at home.
Here are the Grand Canyon-Louisiana Tech College Basketball Odds, courtesy of FanDuel
College Basketball Odds: Grand Canyon-Louisiana Tech Odds
Grand Canyon: -1.5 (-108)
Moneyline: -120
Louisiana Tech: +1.5 (-112)
Moneyline: +100
Over: 146.5 (-110)
Under: 146.5 (-110)
How to Watch Grand Canyon vs. Louisiana Tech
Time: 7:30 p.m. ET/ 4:30 p.m. PT
TV: ESPN+
*Watch college basketball LIVE with fuboTV (Get Access | Save $30)*
Why Grand Canyon Will Cover The Spread/Win
After hosting six games at Global Credit Union Arena where the Antelopes own a significant home-court advantage, they'll be tested on the road for the first time this season against a very fundamental team. Still, Grand Canyon ranks second in the WAC in points per game (75.9) and they rank first conference-wide in defense, allowing 64.8 PPG to opponents. They're matching up against another stern defense in this Bulldogs unit, so it should make for a low-scoring game which favors the Antelopes as the road team.
Senior guard Tyon Grant-Foster leads the team in points, rebounds, steals, and blocks, becoming their all-around catalyst on both ends of the floor. His ability to spark this team with his defensive play is oftentimes coupled with his ability to push the ball up the floor in transition. Ray Harrison will also be looking to heat-up from three as he went 2-4 in their most recent showing.
Why Louisiana Tech Will Cover The Spread/Win
Louisiana Tech has mounted impressive wins over Richmond, UMass, and Eastern Kentucky and looking at the rest of their schedule this season, they could be serious contenders within their conference if they're able to maintain this high energy brand of basketball. They also put together a solid performance against No. 16 Memphis managing to shoot 51% from the field and shoot 56.5% from three. Their offense has been known to go on extended scoring runs, so they'll need every bit of effort in building a comfortable lead against this Grand Canyon team.
Final Grand Canyon-Louisiana Tech Prediction & Pick
Louisiana Tech is coming into this matchup with a strong advantage at home and neutral sites with a combined record of 7-1 in those games. While they're just 1-1 when listed as the underdogs, they've gone 6-2-1 ATS on the season thus far. While Grand Canyon is playing solid basketball at the moment, the Bulldogs of Louisiana Tech may have too much momentum at home to not cover this spread as underdogs. Let's roll with the home team to win this game outright in what could be a late-game thriller.
Final Grand Canyon-Louisiana Tech Prediction & Pick: Louisiana Tech ML (+100)
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https://clutchpoints.com/grand-canyon-vs-louisiana-tech-prediction-odds-pick-for-college-basketball
| 2024-12-16T06:54:35Z
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The ‘Wah Taj’ phenomenon
In the 1990s, Ustad Zakir Hussain became a household name not only for his musical prowess but also as the face of the iconic Brooke Bond Taj Mahal Tea advertisements. The ad, which featured Hussain playing the tabla against the backdrop of the Taj Mahal, culminated in the now-famous exchange: a member of the audience exclaimed, “Wah Ustaad!” to which Hussain humbly replied, “Arey huzoor, Wah Taj boliye!”This slogan became a cultural touchstone, evoking nostalgia and pride among viewers. The rhythmic beats of Hussain's tabla symbolised the precision and care of brewing the perfect cup of tea, blending tradition with modernity in a way that resonated with a wide audience.
Advertising meets cultural identity
The Brooke Bond Taj Mahal Tea campaign, with Hussain at its core, was more than a marketing success. It celebrated India’s heritage by pairing the grandeur of the Taj Mahal with Hussain’s mastery of rhythm. His universal appeal bridged generational gaps, making the campaign a lasting symbol of India’s evolving identity.Hussain’s collaboration with Brooke Bond continued through the 1990s, featuring him alongside personalities like Alisha Chinai and Ruby Bhatia. These commercials brought his artistry into living rooms across the nation, introducing many to the magic of the tabla and cementing his status as a cultural icon.
Remembering the maestro
For many, the ‘Wah Taj’ ads were a first glimpse into the genius of Zakir Hussain, who had already achieved global recognition as a musician. His presence in these commercials highlighted the timelessness of Indian traditions while embracing the aspirations of a modern audience.Even as the world mourns his passing, Hussain’s legacy endures—not just in the annals of classical music but in the memories of a generation that grew up associating his rhythmic beats with the aroma of freshly brewed tea and the splendor of the Taj Mahal.
Hussain is survived by his wife, Antonia Minnecola, his daughters, Anisa Qureshi and Isabella Qureshi, his brothers, Taufiq Qureshi and Fazal Qureshi, and his sister, Khurshid Aulia. His passing marks the end of an era, but his contributions to music and culture will continue to inspire generations to come.
(Catch all the Business News, Breaking News, Budget 2024 Events and Latest News Updates on The Economic Times.)
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Read More News on
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https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/new-updates/wah-taj-when-ustad-zakir-hussain-brewed-an-unforgettable-legacy-for-tea-lovers-watch-viral-ad/articleshow/116352206.cms
| 2024-12-16T06:54:36Z
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Mercedes Mone retains the Strong Women’s Championship
Mercedes Mone defeated Hazuki to retain Strong Women’s Championship, Mina Shirakawa answered her open challenge and will face off at the Tokyo Dome at Wrestle Dynasty.
Also, Shirakawa will be putting up her gold as well.
After an incredible main event, @MercedesVarnado is still #njpwSTRONG Women's Champ, and wants @MinaShirakawa in a double title match with @RevProUK gold at stake as well at #wrestledynasty!#njSSE pic.twitter.com/trXdqLL5Vr
— NJPW Global (@njpwglobal) December 16, 2024
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https://www.gerweck.net/2024/12/16/mercedes-mone-retains-the-strong-womens-championship/
| 2024-12-16T06:54:36Z
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The 2-day debate on the matter began today.
Sitharaman said, "...Post Second World War, over 50 countries had become independent and had their Constitution written. But many have changed their Constitutions, not just amended them but literally changed the entire feature of their Constitution. But our Constitution has stood the test of time, of course, yielded itself to very many amendments..."
The minister took the opportunity to bash the Congress, saying that the party gagged freedom of speech whenever it was in power. To drive her point home, Sitharaman cited Congress' banning of a book on India-China war in one instance.
Sitharaman lashed out at Jahaharlal Nehru over the first Constitutional amendment of 1951. Within a year of the adoption of the Constitution, the first constitutional amendment was brought in by the Congress to "curb the freedom of speech", Sitharaman remarked.
Sitharaman quoted a Constituent assembly member, Kameshwar Singh, as saying on that occasion: "The Prime Minister, I (Kameshwar Singh) am constrained to say, is creating a bad precedent by sowing the seeds of executive despotism, and playing with the supremacy of the Constitution for party advantages."
Even before that amendment, there were actions taken by the Nehru government to curtail freedom of speech, she said.
More coming...
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Subscribe to The Economic Times Prime and read the ET ePaper online.
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https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/politics-and-nation/constitution-debate-in-rajya-sabha-nirmala-sitharaman-bashes-congress/articleshow/116357248.cms
| 2024-12-16T06:54:37Z
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SCOTT DETROW, HOST:
Two important food holidays are meeting up this year. December 25 is both Christmas and also the first night of Hanukkah.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)
DETROW: Well, we did not want to miss the opportunity to explore the potential for a feast for all. And to help us imagine what to prepare, we have called on Sarah Lohman, who's a food historian and writer. Sarah has put together a menu for us, and my only regret here is that this is a remote interview and I cannot eat it all right now. So that being said, welcome to ALL THINGS CONSIDERED, Sarah.
SARAH LOHMAN: Hi, Scott. Thank you.
DETROW: When you first realized the alignment here, what was your first thought?
LOHMAN: OK, first thought was, of course, fry everything.
DETROW: Yeah.
LOHMAN: I mean, maybe it's obvious, maybe it's my first thought, but I was like, let's fry things that have never been fried before. Let's make it the Iowa State Fair up in here.
DETROW: (Laughter).
LOHMAN: OK, so the fun part of this project for me was I got to reach out to my community. And I started talking to my friend Leah Koenig, who is the author of the recent cookbook "Portico," which is about Roman Jewish culture. And she pointed out to me that latke, the traditional Hanukkah fried potato pancake - they really aren't that old in terms of Judaism. The practice originates with German Jews in the late 18th century. So that's like a drop in the bucket of the multiple-thousand-year history. So that's when I said, OK, well, is there another direction we can go here?
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)
DETROW: So you have put together a menu. And before we go into it, tell me...
LOHMAN: Feast.
DETROW: A feast - important correction.
LOHMAN: (Laughter) I think.
DETROW: Tell me what you ended up organizing it around. What were the central thoughts? What were you trying to bring together?
LOHMAN: Well, I also happen to know a lot of people who are Christian or specifically Catholic and Jewish from populations around the world. And I think particularly in America, we can get sort of lost the idea of Christian as being a majority faith here, whereas in most of the world, it is a minority faith. And so I decided to put together a multicourse menu that looks at regions that have traditional, historical Christian and Jewish populations and look at where their food intersects and differentiates. I really believe that, like, cooking can be an act of learning; eating can be an act of education. And so I wanted to use this moment, this party, this feast, this festival to make space for the understanding of the long histories of these faiths throughout the world.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)
DETROW: That being said, let's get going. Tell us what the first course is.
LOHMAN: OK, so for the first course, we're going to go to China, which does have a historical Jewish population. No one's quite sure when they came, but they came into the area around Kaifeng, which is in Henan, which - not Hunan, Henan, which is a northern Chinese province. And it's difficult to trace dishes from Jewish ancestry there. There's maybe only about 1,000 Kaifeng Jews today. But one we know of is a Kaifeng noodle-blanketed carp. And it's a whole fish that's wok fried, and it's served with a sauce made from vinegar, rice wine, ginger and scallions. And then you top it with crispy fried noodles.
But if you're not up for frying a whole fish, which not everybody is, I would recommend ordering in some Henanese cuisine. Soup dumplings, or xiaolongbao, are from the Henan area. But don't get the pork ones. Get ones made with lamb or chicken and vegetables, or you could also order in some hui mian (ph), which are wide wheat noodles. I should note in this whole menu, I decided to avoid pork, shellfish, and I didn't serve meat and dairy so that anyone can come to your house for this party of any religious background and be able to eat the food.
DETROW: All right, so walk me through the last main dish.
LOHMAN: OK, so last main dish, we're going to go to Ethiopia. And I think, you know, this might be - sound like a simple answer, but the national dish of Ethiopia is dora wat, which is a chicken stew, and it's dark meat chicken, slow cooked with hard boiled eggs, garlic ginger, onions, tomato, and you finish the top with a sprinkle of black cardamom. So I also love the connections, the spice connections and flavor connections made through these dishes. Now, dora wat is sort of the Coptic Christian name for it, but it's also known as sanbat wat in Ethiopian Jewish communities. And sanbat means Shabbat. So a lot of these two aren't necessarily Hanukkah dishes. Actually, the Ethiopian Jews didn't traditionally celebrate Hanukkah in Ethiopia. But now over 100,000 Ethiopian Jews have moved to Israel and another thousand are here in America too. So they've moved in the cultures that celebrate Hanukkah. And definitely, you should make it with injera, too.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)
DETROW: So assuming there's any room left at all after all of these dishes so far, I know you've put a lot of thought into a very important holiday item, and that is desserts.
LOHMAN: Oh, my gosh, of course. I mean, but there is always room for dessert.
DETROW: (Laughter).
LOHMAN: So I've got two ideas here. One is cassola, which is from my original person who gave me this idea, Leah Koenig. It's a cheesecake that was created by Roman Jews, and it actually descends from this idea of pancake-making on Hanukkah. Hanukkah, you know, oil, things that are fried and things that are dairy are sort of traditional Hanukkah foods. Cassola was originally made on stove tops, like a really thick pancake. Now it's baked, and now it's actually crossed over that it's a favorite served by Roman Catholics on Christmas. So it's a ricotta cheesecake made with cinnamon, vanilla and raisins.
Now, for some people, having dairy after meat is OK, but for some people, it's not. So if you want to stick to a menu that's kosher friendly, I'd also recommend bolo menino. Bolo menino is named after the Christ child, and it's a cake made in Macao, which is governed somewhat by China, but not totally, so they have more religious freedom. And many people there are also Portuguese descendants, as well. So this is a cake made with crumbled cookies, coconut and pine nuts that is always served on Christmas in Macao.
DETROW: You know, I think a lot of people listening might be taking notes and thinking, I want to do this. And I think there might be a lot of people listening who are thinking, like, oh, my gosh, this sounds so overwhelming.
LOHMAN: (Laughter).
DETROW: What do you say to somebody who, like, loves the idea, but when it comes to, especially, like, a multicourse meal, just kind of gets intimidated?
LOHMAN: You know, there is always a potluck. There's always divvying this up. Or, you know, hey, if you love throwing a party like me, make the whole thing. But if not, just make the one dish that appeals to you. I think that food is always better with a story. And I love the idea of using this December 25 to reflect on these cultures throughout the world. And sometimes they're often difficult stories, too.
DETROW: Yeah. You know, we're talking about learning about different cultures, as this menus together. But, you know, I think for a lot of people, a holiday is also about kind of leaning into your heritage - right? - your family story - right? - in terms of food.
LOHMAN: Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. And I think that we can't forget that many of these cultures that I talked about today also exist within America. These communities are here. And I think for all of us during this holiday season, this is often a time where we connect to our own ancestry. I'm sure that there are people listening right now thinking about the recipes that they're going to make that have been passed down through their families and that really are labors of love that make this feel like a special and important time of year.
DETROW: Absolutely.
LOHMAN: It's religion, but it's celebration, it's family, it's ancestry, too.
DETROW: And all of this is kind of very American, right? Like, you've put together a meal that touches on a dozen different countries and cultures.
LOHMAN: Yeah, but they can all be found here, absolutely.
DETROW: Yeah.
LOHMAN: And to me, I think that that's the most powerful and beautiful thing about America, our diversity. We can be a little hard to govern sometime. We're an unruly lot. But just how many different people become American too, I think that's really the most wonderful thing about living here and celebrating the holidays here.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)
DETROW: That is food historian Sarah Lohman. Her most recent book is just out in paper, "Endangered Eating: America's Vanishing Foods." Thank you so much for taking up the challenge and crafting a Christmas Hanukkah feast for us.
LOHMAN: Oh, my gosh, my pleasure. Now the real challenge is I'm going to have to sit down and make all of this.
DETROW: I think there's no question now. Thank you.
LOHMAN: Thank you.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC) Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.
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https://www.krcu.org/2024-12-15/what-to-cook-on-hanumas-chrismukah
| 2024-12-16T06:54:40Z
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November 11, 2024 was quite the emotional day for Dallas Mavericks guard Klay Thompson. It was the first time that he visited the Golden State Warriors' home grounds of Chase Center as a member of the opposing team, and in his return, the Warriors faithful showered him with so much cheer that's befitting of a true franchise legend. But there's a reason why people say that you never forget your first, as Thompson's second trip back to the Bay as a Maverick didn't come with as much fanfare especially after Dallas took a 143-133 win on Sunday night.
Nevertheless, Thompson can still feel the love from the Warriors fanbase and that he is still appreciative of all the memories he created that will live long in the minds of every Golden State fan — while reiterating his full commitment to the Mavericks and how he's dead-set on achieving great things with his new team.
“It still warms my heart to see all the number 11 jerseys. Still makes me feel incredibly grateful for the time I did have here. Legendary stuff. But now it's time to do some legendary stuff in Dallas. I truly believe in this team. We have all the ingredients to be really special,” Thompson said in his postgame interview, via the official NBA account on X (formerly Twitter).
It will definitely warm Thompson's heart as well that this time around, it's the Mavericks that got the upper hand over his former team. The Warriors, as one would recall, took a come-from-behind win during their first meeting over a month ago thanks to a Stephen Curry onslaught, with Curry even firing off what seemed to be a passive-aggressive remark after nailing a dagger triple.
The Mavericks appear to be rounding into form, with Luka Doncic taking center stage with a stellar 45-point, 13-assist outing, and things continue to get better for Thompson in this new chapter of his career.
The Splash Bros scorch the nets on Sunday… but Klay does it for the Mavericks now
It is still a bit of an odd sight to see Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson play against each other. They have climbed the NBA mountain multiple times alongside one another, pushing each other to be the best version of themselves. And on Sunday, Warriors fans were treated to a familiar sight — with the Splash Brothers combining for 14 triples on the night.
The heartbreaking thing for Warriors fans, however, is that Thompson is doing his damage for the Mavericks now. Thompson had his best game for his new team yet, finishing with 29 points and most importantly, his first win against his former team.
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https://clutchpoints.com/mavericks-news-klay-thompson-gets-100-real-about-lesser-fanfare-in-bay-area-return
| 2024-12-16T06:54:41Z
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Protests and boycott calls erupted across Spain on the weekend over the country’s arms sales to Israel.
Demonstrators in cities including Barcelona, Valencia, Cartagena and the capital, Madrid, demanded that the government stop all arms trade with the country.
Spaniards took to the streets following a call from the Solidarity Network Against the Occupation of Palestine and another pro-Palestinian group demanding a halt to the transfer of weapons that fuel the genocide against Palestine and a ban on the sale of military equipment to Israel.
During the demonstration in Madrid, the crowd gathered in front of the US Embassy building and marched with Palestinian flags to the Defense Ministry building.
Chanting slogans such as “Stop the genocide in Palestine,” “Boycott Israel,” “They were hospitals, not military bases,” “Sanctions against Israel are not in sight” and “Free Palestine,” the protesters demanded the ruling leftist coalition government to “cut ties with Israel, which committed genocide and is on trial at the International Court of Justice.”
Isabel Serra Sanchez, the spokesperson for the Podemos party and a member of the European Parliament, accused the Spanish government of “lying by saying that we do not sell arms to Israel.”
Despite statements by Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Albares and Defense Minister Margarita Robles that no ships carrying arms to Israel are allowed to stop in Spanish ports, Serra Sanchez said that arms are allowed to pass through the ports of Valencia, Barcelona and Algeciras.
“Human rights organizations show that the Spanish government's statements are an absolute lie and that arms contracts are still in place to finance Israel's genocide against the Palestinian people,” she said.
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https://www.nation.com.pk/16-Dec-2024/spaniards-demand-end-to-arms-deals-with-israel
| 2024-12-16T06:54:41Z
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https://365project.org/365projectorglilysmom/365/2024-12-16
| 2024-12-16T06:54:42Z
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Looking to treat yourself while saving some money? Here are some of the best deals and freebies around the Valley this week, Dec. 16-22.
Restaurants, stores and more deals
- Streets of New York: Get a voucher for a free 10” pizza when you donate blood through Vitalant through Dec. 24. While all blood types are needed, O-negative is always in greatest demand. For locations and donation appointments, visit vitalant.org, download and use the Vitalant App or call 877-25-VITAL (877-258-4825).
PHX Beer Co. is celebrating the “16 Days of Beer Specials” through Dec. 24. Guests can also enjoy $4 pints of beer all day, $8 crowlers, $16 growlers, and $13 growler refills.
- Noodles & Company: Throughout December, guests who spend $15 can get a limited-edition holiday dessert for $1. The offer is available both in person and online with code CRISPIDAYS!
- Grimaldi’s Pizzeria: Every Tuesday, guests 21+ can enjoy half-off glasses and bottles of wine, as well as glasses of sangria at participating locations. This offer is available for dine-in only.
- The Italian Daughter: Check out daily deals like Martini Monday ($5 martinis), Tortellini Tuesday ($5 tortellini with your choice of sauce), Wine Down Wednesday (half-off bottles of wine under $100) and more.
- One Handsome Bastard: Happy Hour from 3:30-7 p.m., Monday through Friday, offers half off craft cocktails, $2 off draft beers and house wine and more.
- Waymo deal to and from Tempe Marketplace: Through Dec. 27, Waymo will offer Tempe Marketplace shoppers 25% off their first two rides when you take a Waymo to or from the property for the holiday season. Use code TEMPE25 to claim.
- Wendy’s: Through Dec. 22, get BOGO deals through the app and free breakfast deliveries. You can also buy a Frosty Key Tag for $3, which gives you unlimited free Frosty Jr.’s throughout 2025 with a purchase.
- Shake Shack: Get freebies from Dec. 16-24 with a $10 purchase via the app (with code BURGERBLITZ) or in-store. They’re offering a free burger that varies each day!
- Phoenix City Grille: On Tuesdays, take-out orders after 4 p.m. will receive 15% off their order when mentioning the “Take Out Tuesdays” promo.
- Through the end of the year, El Pollo Loco is offering 2 for $5 tacos every Tuesday (with the option to add chips, salsa and a drink for $2.50 extra). Loco Rewards Members can get 3 tacos for $5!
- Kona Grill: Get all-you-can-eat traditional sushi rolls on Sushi Sundays. Adults are $39 and kids are $19, or you can upgrade to specialty rolls for $10 more. It includes miso soup and seaweed salad. The deal is dine-in only, every Sunday from 3 p.m. to close, at its Desert Ridge and Gilbert locations.
- Dave & Buster's at Tempe Marketplace offers $5 plates and $5 drinks all day, every day.
- Harkins Theatres released its annual Loyalty Cup on Nov. 8. Get the cup (with a free first drink fill) for $7.75, and then bring it back for $3 drink refills. The cups are available online and at all locations.
- Duck Donuts: Get a medium Lemonade Refresher with any donut for just $5 from 3-6 p.m. Monday through Friday through the end of the year.
- Every football Sunday, Shake Shack is offering a free Chicken Shack sandwich! To get a FREE Chicken Shack: place a minimum $10 Shake Shack order via kiosk in-Shack or via the Shake Shack app or website for delivery or pick-up and enter promo code CHICKENSUNDAY. Limit one free sandwich per order. The deal is valid through Dec. 15.
- ATL Wings: On game days when Arizona collegiate teams and the Arizona Cardinals play at their home stadiums, ATL Wings fans will receive six free wings with the purchase of every dozen wings. This special is available at all statewide ATL Wings locations and by using the All The Luv Wings App.
- Grimaldi’s Pizzeria is offering a limited-time-only deal— Slices ASAP. From 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. daily, guests can get a slice of Grimaldi’s famous pizza, a soda, and side salad for only $10.99. Guests can also opt for a slice and soda for only $7.49. One slice is only $4.
- Hamburguesas Y Cervezas offers $12 lunch specials every Monday through Friday from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.
- Recreo Cantina: All day, every day at the bar top, get happy hour specials like $5 well drinks, $2 off appetizers, and more.
- Urban Agave: Get $2 off House Margs and other special offers every day from 3-6 p.m.
- Red Robin offers 50% off Kids’ Meals every Wednesday. The deal is good for dine-in and online ordering using promo code “KIDSMEAL50”. Learn more here.
Are you a Smart Shopper? What are your go-to saving tips and tricks?
Share your deals or ways to save here!
- STK Steakhouse: From Sunday to Thursday, from 9 p.m. to close, get $3 oysters, $6 sliders and Wagyu meatball, $9 Wagyu tacos and more. They also have surf-and-turf specials and discounted drinks.
- Kona Grill: From 9 p.m. until close every day, get dishes from $3-9.
- Free pet microchips are available through Maricopa County Animal Care and Control through the end of the year for Valley dog owners. Pet owners can sign up for an appointment here.
- Big’s American Bar & Grill is introducing new daily specials and happy hour offerings, like $2 sliders and sides on Mondays, $2 street tacos on Tuesdays, $10 for 10 wings on Wednesdays, $9 ribs and fries on Thursdays, and more.
Do you have any smart ways to save money or know of a deal we should share? Email us at SmartShopper@abc15.com.
Holiday and gift card deals:
- Urban Agave is offering a gift card special this season! Buy a $100 gift card and get an additional $20 to use on your next visit.
- At Kona Grill, when you purchase a $100 gift card, receive an additional $25, or when you purchase a $50 gift card, receive an additional $10.
- At STK, when you purchase a $100 gift card, receive an additional $25, or when you purchase $50 gift card, receive an additional $10.
- During Thai Chili 2go’s gift card sale, those who purchase a $30 gift card will receive a $5 bonus gift card for free, those who purchase a $100 gift card will receive a $20 bonus gift card for free and those who purchase a $200 gift card will receive a $45 bonus gift card for free! (Promo is available from Friday, Nov. 15 through Tuesday, Dec. 31.)
- Del Taco: Buy $25 in gift cards in-store and get a $5 voucher for a purchase in January, or buy $40 in eGift cards online and get a $10 credit for your next app or online order in January. (Deal valid from Nov. 21-Dec. 26)
- Grimaldi’s Pizzeria: Through Dec. 31, when you buy $50 in gift cards, you will receive a $10 bonus card that will be valid from Jan. 1 through March 31 of 2025.
- Roaring Fork: For every $100 spent on gift cards, dining patrons will receive a complimentary $20 bonus card to enjoy. The bonus cards will be offered through December 31.
- Hash Kitchen: Now through the end of December, buy a $100 gift card and get a $20 bonus card to use on your next visit.
- The Sicilian Butcher: Now through the end of December, buy a $100 gift card will receive a $20 bonus gift card.
- Chula Seafood: From now through Tuesday, Dec. 31, every $100 gift card purchase will earn $20 in free fish dollars! Free fish money increases with every $100 in gift card purchases. For online orders, use the following codes: Select $120 and use Code: CHULA120 to receive $20 off; Select $240 and use Code: CHULA240 to receive $40 off; Select $360 and use Code: CHULA360 to receive $60 off; Select $480 and use Code: CHULA480 to receive $80 off; Select $600 and use Code: CHULA600 to receive $100 off
Deals for teachers, military, veterans, first responders, nurses and seniors
- Grimaldi’s Pizzeria: Every day of the year, military service members and veterans receive a 15% discount. To receive the discount, patrons must show their military ID. This offer is only valid for dine-in and call-in takeout.
- The Bouldering Project: On the first Wednesday of the month, educators can climb for free on their first visit, and then $10 on future Teacher Night visits. Learn more here.
- Cuppa Yo Frozen Yogurt: Teachers (past or present) can bring in ID and get $2 off! (1510 S. Watson Rd. # B102, Buckeye, AZ)
- Peter Piper Pizza: 10% off the entire purchase for veterans all year long with valid ID.
- Teachers can get free admission to the Museum of Illusions on Tuesdays with a teacher ID shown in person at the exhibit.
- Myke’s Pizza: All year long, there's a 10% discount for active military and veterans.
- Morning Squeeze: All year long, there is a 10% discount for active military and veterans at its three locations in Phoenix, Scottsdale, and Tempe.
- The Wigwam: Educators can get 20% off the best available rates at the Valley resort. To learn more, click here.
- Arizona Science Center: As a Blue Star Museum, the Science Center features a very special benefit for all active-duty military personnel. Each year, beginning Armed Forces Day through Labor Day, general admission tickets to the Center are FREE for active duty personnel and up to five family members. Qualifying Active Duty Personnel include the U.S. Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps, Coast Guard, National Guardsmen (regardless of status), U.S. Public Health Commissioned Corps, NOAA Commissioned Corps.
- Over Easy offers a year-round discount for veterans with 10% off their bill every time they visit.
- Arizona Humane Society: Military members and veterans get a 20% adoption discount year-round!
Check out even more deals and ways to save with the ABC15 Smart Shopper!
Things to do
- Harkins Holiday Series: Enjoy holiday favorites at the theatre for just $5 each in December. Elf and Christmas Vacation are showing from Dec. 20-22. Tickets are available now at Harkins.com.
- Santa’s Wonderland at Bass Pro Shops: Through Dec. 24, get free photos with Santa with or without reservations (first come, first served), and enjoy other free holiday activities and giveaways throughout the season.
- The Pickleball Space in Glendale offers free introductory classes to learn the popular sport! Lessons are scheduled and limited to the first eight people who register for each class. See the schedule and sign up here.
- Tempe Youth Transit Pass: Kids 6-18 years old can get free transit passes to use light rail, streetcar and Valley Metro buses. Passes will be valid from June 1, 2024, through June 30, 2025. Get one here.
- Chicken N' Pickle in Glendale provides a free pickleball space for teens on Sundays from 8-10 p.m. to play for free.
- Every month, Chicken N' Pickle offers a free adaptive pickleball class to those with physical and mental disabilities. The class includes wheelchairs, pickleball equipment, and assisted help for those looking to participate in this trending sport.
Videos in the player above highlight local things to do and other ways our Smart Shopper team has found to save you money!
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https://www.abc15.com/news/smart-shopper/deals-gift-freebies-desserts-drink-specials-and-more-valley-discounts
| 2024-12-16T06:54:42Z
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Rizwan Kadri, a member of the Prime Minister's Museum and Library (PMML) Society has written a letter to the Lok Sabha Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi requesting to give back the documents, that he called are "important aspect of its history" and were withdrawn from the museum allegedly on the order of Congress senior leader Sonia Gandhi.
Speaking to ANI, Kadri said that he wrote a letter to Sonia Gandhi in September requesting her to return the documents back to the institution
"In September 2024, I wrote a letter to Sonia Gandhi requesting that the 51 cartoons from approximately eight different sections, which were part of the Nehru collections at the Prime Ministers' Museum (formerly the Nehru Memorial), be either returned to the institution, or we be granted permission to scan them, or provided with their scanned copies. This would allow us to study them and facilitate research by various scholars," he said.
"These include important correspondences between Pt. Jawaharlal Nehru and Lady Mountbatten, as well as letters exchanged with Pt. Govind Ballabh Pant, Jayaprakash Narayan, and others. These letters are a significant part of Indian history and have been proven through records to have been withdrawn from the museum in 2008 at Sonia Gandhi's direction," Rizwan Kadri added.
He also mentioned that after receiving no response from Sonia Gandhi, he wrote another letter to Lok Sabha LoP Rahul Gandhi on the same.
"Since no response was received from her, I have requested Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi to help in getting these materials restored. I have also urged him to consider that these documents are part of the nation's heritage and an important aspect of its history. Until we can view these materials, we cannot determine the reasons for their withdrawal. There must have been some objectionable content for them to have been removed," Kadri said.
Bharatiya Janata Party MP Sambit Patra also responded to the same and said that it is "intriguing".
"From what's today the Prime Minister's Museum and Library and formerly Nehru Museum and Library, the then UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi took away 51 cartoons of letters written by Nehru to various personalities including "EDWINA MOUNTBATTEN"! In the recently concluded AGM of the PMML one of the members, Rizwan Kadri has written to LoP Rahul Gandhi and sought his help in getting back the letters from his mother Sonia Gandhi!" Patra said on X.
"What intrigues me is what would have Nehru ji written to EDWINA MOUNTBATTEN that needed censoring and will LOP Rahul help getting back the letters between Nehru and Edwina!" the BJP MP added.
Nehru Museum Memorial and Library in the Teen Murti complex in New Delhi was the official residence of Jawaharlal Nehru, the first Prime Minister and it was set up in his memory as an autonomous institution under the Union Culture Ministry.
Speaking to ANI, Kadri said that he wrote a letter to Sonia Gandhi in September requesting her to return the documents back to the institution
"In September 2024, I wrote a letter to Sonia Gandhi requesting that the 51 cartoons from approximately eight different sections, which were part of the Nehru collections at the Prime Ministers' Museum (formerly the Nehru Memorial), be either returned to the institution, or we be granted permission to scan them, or provided with their scanned copies. This would allow us to study them and facilitate research by various scholars," he said.
"These include important correspondences between Pt. Jawaharlal Nehru and Lady Mountbatten, as well as letters exchanged with Pt. Govind Ballabh Pant, Jayaprakash Narayan, and others. These letters are a significant part of Indian history and have been proven through records to have been withdrawn from the museum in 2008 at Sonia Gandhi's direction," Rizwan Kadri added.
He also mentioned that after receiving no response from Sonia Gandhi, he wrote another letter to Lok Sabha LoP Rahul Gandhi on the same.
"Since no response was received from her, I have requested Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi to help in getting these materials restored. I have also urged him to consider that these documents are part of the nation's heritage and an important aspect of its history. Until we can view these materials, we cannot determine the reasons for their withdrawal. There must have been some objectionable content for them to have been removed," Kadri said.
Bharatiya Janata Party MP Sambit Patra also responded to the same and said that it is "intriguing".
"From what's today the Prime Minister's Museum and Library and formerly Nehru Museum and Library, the then UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi took away 51 cartoons of letters written by Nehru to various personalities including "EDWINA MOUNTBATTEN"! In the recently concluded AGM of the PMML one of the members, Rizwan Kadri has written to LoP Rahul Gandhi and sought his help in getting back the letters from his mother Sonia Gandhi!" Patra said on X.
"What intrigues me is what would have Nehru ji written to EDWINA MOUNTBATTEN that needed censoring and will LOP Rahul help getting back the letters between Nehru and Edwina!" the BJP MP added.
Nehru Museum Memorial and Library in the Teen Murti complex in New Delhi was the official residence of Jawaharlal Nehru, the first Prime Minister and it was set up in his memory as an autonomous institution under the Union Culture Ministry.
(Catch all the Business News, Breaking News, Budget 2024 Events and Latest News Updates on The Economic Times.)
Subscribe to The Economic Times Prime and read the ET ePaper online.
Read More News on
(Catch all the Business News, Breaking News, Budget 2024 Events and Latest News Updates on The Economic Times.)
Subscribe to The Economic Times Prime and read the ET ePaper online.
|
https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/politics-and-nation/pms-museum-and-library-member-asks-congress-to-return-nehru-documents-withdrawn-on-sonia-gandhis-order/articleshow/116355466.cms
| 2024-12-16T06:54:44Z
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DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip — Israel said Sunday it will close its embassy in Ireland as relations deteriorated over the war in Gaza, where Palestinian medical officials said new Israeli airstrikes killed over 46 people including several children.
The decision to close the embassy came in response to what Israel's foreign minister has described as Ireland's "extreme anti-Israel policies." In May, Israel recalled its ambassador to Dublin after Ireland announced, along with Norway, Spain and Slovenia, it would recognize a Palestinian state.
The Irish Cabinet last week decided to formally intervene in South Africa's case against Israel at the International Court of Justice, which accuses Israel of committing genocide in Gaza. Israel denies it.
"We are concerned that a very narrow interpretation of what constitutes genocide leads to a culture of impunity in which the protection of civilians is minimized," said Ireland's foreign affairs minister, Micheal Martin.
Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar's statement on the embassy closure said "Ireland has crossed every red line in its relations with Israel."
Irish Prime Minister Simon Harris called the decision to close the embassy "deeply regrettable." He added on X: "I utterly reject the assertion that Ireland is anti-Israel. Ireland is pro-peace, pro-human rights and pro-international law."
Israeli strikes in Gaza kill a journalist and childrenIsraeli forces continued Sunday to pound Gaza, including the largely isolated north, as the Palestinian death toll in the war approached 45,000.
A large explosion lit up the southern Gaza skyline on Sunday night. An Israeli airstrike hit a school and killed at least 16 people in the southern city of Khan Younis, according to Nasser Hospital, where the bodies were taken. There was no immediate Israeli military statement.
In the north, an airstrike hit the Khalil Aweida school in the town of Beit Hanoun and killed at least 15 people, according to nearby Kamal Adwan Hospital where casualties were taken. The dead included two parents and their daughter and a father and his son, the hospital said.
And in Gaza City, at least 17 people including six women and five children were killed in three airstrikes that hit houses sheltering displaced people, according to Al-Ahli Baptist Hospital.
"We woke up to the strike. I woke up with the rubble on top of me," said a bandaged Yahia al-Yazji, who grieved for his wife and daughter. "I found my wife with her head and skull visible, and my daughter's intestines were gone. My wife was three months pregnant." His hand rested on a body wrapped in a blanket on the floor.
Israel's military in a statement said it struck a "terrorist cell" in Gaza City and a "terrorist meeting point" in the Beit Hanoun area.
Another Israeli airstrike killed a Palestinian journalist working for Al Jazeera, Ahmed al-Lawh, in central Gaza, a hospital and the Qatari-based TV station said.
The strike hit a point for Gaza's civil defense agency in the urban Nuseirat refugee camp, Al-Awda Hospital said. Also killed were three civil defense workers including the local head of the agency, according to al-Aqsa Martyrs hospital. The civil defense is Gaza's main rescue agency and operates under the Hamas-run government.
One of the bodies was covered with an orange work jacket marked "ambulance" in English.
"We, the civil defense, are carrying out humanitarian work like in any country in the world. Why are we being targeted?" said colleague Kerem Al Dalou.
Israel's military said it struck a militant command center embedded in the civil defense offices.
The war in Gaza began after Hamas and other militants from Gaza stormed southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people and taking well over 200 hostage.
Israel's retaliatory offensive has killed almost 45,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza's Health Ministry. The ministry's count does not distinguish between combatants and civilians, but it says over half of the dead have been women and children.
Most of Gaza's population of over 2 million has been displaced, often multiple times. The hospitals that are still functioning say they lack medicines, fuel and other basic supplies, while aid groups warn of widespread hunger.
The head of the World Food Program, Cindy McCain, told CBS on Sunday that the U.N. agency was able to get just two trucks of supplies into Gaza in November, citing insecurity there.
"We need a ceasefire, and we need it now," she said. "We can no longer sit by and just allow these people to starve to death."
Copyright 2024 NPR
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https://www.krcu.org/2024-12-16/israel-will-close-its-ireland-embassy-over-gaza-tensions
| 2024-12-16T06:54:46Z
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PJ Washington has been quite the perfect addition for the Dallas Mavericks. Washington relishes in doing all the dirty work, all the while doing his part in getting underneath the skin of the opposition. And on Sunday night, with the Mavericks having wrapped up a 143-133 win over the Golden State Warriors, Washington was back to his feather-ruffling ways — this time rubbing some salt on Stephen Curry and the Dubs' wounds with his own version of the “Night Night” celebration.
With Mavericks head coach Jason Kidd removing his starters from the game with less than a minute to go, Washington made his way to the bench and proceeded to mock Curry's signature celebration before dapping up veteran big man Markieff Morris.
Curry's celebration quickly took the world by storm ever since he first unveiled it in Game 5 of the 2022 NBA playoffs first round against the Denver Nuggets. It simply means that the Warriors have put the game to bed and it's time for everyone to pack it up and go home. And as one would recall, Curry utilized that celebration when the Warriors defeated the Mavericks back on November 11 in an NBA Cup group stage game.
Washington has never been one to back down from a challenge, and he has become an annoyance to the opposition as quickly as he has endeared himself to the Mavericks faithful. And their Sunday night win over the Warriors must feel so good, especially after Curry puffed his chest so much during the last time these two teams met. As they say, all is fair in war, and if the Warriors badly wanted Washington to not make a mockery of the “Night Night” celebration, then they should have put up a much better defensive effort as a unit.
PJ Washington rubs even more salt on Warriors' wounds after Mavericks' victory
PJ Washington is fully leaning into his identity as the Mavericks' biggest instigator, and not only did he make a mockery of Stephen Curry's “Night Night” celebration, he also took to his Instagram to further fan the flames of this budding rivalry.
“BELT TO A**,” Washington wrote as the caption to his Instagram story, via the official ClutchPoints account on X (formerly known as Twitter).
Expect Washington to be a marked man the next time the Warriors face the Mavericks. Washington better prepare himself as well for some retaliation from Draymond Green, the league's most prominent enforcer.
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https://clutchpoints.com/mavericks-news-pj-washington-savagely-trolls-warriors-with-stephen-curry-night-night-celly
| 2024-12-16T06:54:47Z
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I posted a photo of Santa’s garage two days ago so thought I’d post Santa’s house also. A permanent structure on our Main Street, built in 1987. The interior is loaded with decorations and Santa is there, evenings and weekends in December for children to visit.
a lifelong Michigander...enjoy photography and have a new camera to learn. favorite subjects include flowers, light and its effects, Marty the family Welsh springer,...
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https://365project.org/amyk/365/2024-12-15
| 2024-12-16T06:54:48Z
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Kohli, who hasn't had many fruitful outings in Australia, barring a second-innings ton in Perth this series, was dismissed chasing an outside-off delivery yet again. His dismissals Down Under on this tour have come in a similar fashion, with pacers finding the edge of his bat by bowling in the channel on the 6th or 7th stump.
Th batter, batting at 4, attempted to drive a widish delivery from Australian pacer Josh Hazlewood and ended up giving an easy catch into the hands of the wicket-keeper Alex Carey. He had to depart after scoring just three runs in the innings.
Virat Kohli's dismissal turns into a meme fest on social media
Meanwhile, social media users did not show any mercy to Kohli and came up with hilarious memes.Indian Innings so far
Pacer Mitchell Starc struck twice at the start of the innings and Josh Hazlewood once to leave India reeling at 22 for three at lunch after Australia racked up 445 in their first innings.Starc removed Yashasvi Jaiswal in the second ball of the India innings and then dismissed Shubman Gill before Hazlewood accounted for the wicket of Virat Kohli as the visitors stared down the barrel of another poor outing with the bat after their failures in Adelaide.
Jaiswal was out caught by Mitchell Marsh at short midwicket while he tried to clip a Starc half-volley off his pads.
Gill was sent back when Marsh pulled off a brilliant catch in the slip cordon off the bowling of Starc after the India number three played away from the body.
Kohli was dismissed in what has now become a familiar scene as he once again chased a length delivery outside off before nicking it to Alex Carey.
Rishabh Pant was also caught behind off Pat Cummins trying to push the ball away from his body.
Earlier, Australia ended the innings at 445 all out, riding on centuries from Travis Head and Steve Smith. Wicket-keeper Alex Carey provided quick runs batting with the tail on Day 3 before falling for 70. Bumrah finished with 6/76.
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https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/sports/ind-vs-aus-test-virat-kohli-get-out-to-outside-off-stump-ball-again-triggers-meme-fest-on-social-media/articleshow/116353639.cms
| 2024-12-16T06:54:50Z
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Dennis Schroder was off to a career-best start with the Brooklyn Nets this season. The veteran point guard effectively played himself off the rebuilding squad.
Brooklyn traded Schroder to the Golden State Warriors for a pair of second-round picks. The move was an admission that this season isn’t about stacking wins but rather losses.
“We’re going to miss Dennis, the person on and off the court. What he did for us in the locker room, his leadership, he exemplifies the Brooklyn grit that we talk about. So missing him is difficult,” said general manager Sean Marks. “But these are the decisions you have to make when your ultimate goal is long-term sustainable success. We're weighing in a lot of factors here. It's never easy to see one of your own leave. But at the same time, looking at the big picture here, this is what's best for our organization long term.”
Brooklyn has exceeded expectations this season, and Schroder’s undeniable impact was the main reason why.
Why Nets trading Dennis Schroder was a necessary tanking admission
While the Nets have been among the NBA's top surprises, they lack a star building block in year one of a rebuild. Their best path to acquiring one is through the draft.
It’s why Marks paid a substantial price to reacquire Brooklyn’s first-round pick from the Houston Rockets this summer. It’s also why the GM has been to Rutgers several times to scout Ace Bailey and Dylan Harper, who coincidentally drained a game-winning buzzer-beater the same day news of the Schroder trade broke.
Trading Schroder, who has posted the fourth-highest net rating (+13.9) among NBA point guards this season, was a necessary step toward maximizing Brooklyn's draft position. With several other impact veterans on the roster, it’s also a signal that the Nets are open for business.
“We’re always going to be listening,” Marks said of the potential for more trades. “We're always going to be canvassing the league. And when there are opportunities for us to build that fit our long-term approach and how we’ll build, acquiring draft assets is going to be important for us.”
Cam Johnson and Dorian Finney-Smith are candidates to be moved next.
Nets listening to trade offers with deadline approaching
Johnson has generated substantial interest amid a career-best start, with one general manager identifying him as the top player who will be moved before the deadline. The 6-foot-8 sharpshooter has averaged a career-high 18.5 points per game on 48/43/90 shooting splits.
With Schroder West Coast bound, Johnson knows his elite play could result in a similar outcome.
“The business is a business, and I understand that I'm a part of it,” he said. “And sometimes, things happen. But I'm grateful for any opportunity that comes my way, no matter what. I'm really grateful to be here in this moment.”
While angling for a top draft pick is in Brooklyn's best interest long-term, its players and coaching staff face a harsh reality in the meantime. Jordi Fernandez has drawn rave reviews for his impact during his first season as a head coach. However, with Schroder out the door and Johnson and Finney-Smith candidates to follow him, his job will only get more difficult.
Yet, Fernandez knew a rebuild was in the cards when he took the Nets job last spring. And with Sunday marking the unofficial start of trade season, he’s prepared for what’s to come.
“I trust everything we do because we do it as a team. There's constant communication. There's no surprises,” Fernandez said of the trade. “The important thing in the NBA is you have opportunities. And when you have opportunities, you have to decide if you want to take advantage of the opportunities. And we believe this one made us better.”
“Are we going to miss Dennis here? Yes, because he's a great guy and did great things for us. But we got assets [for him], and moving forward that will be a good thing for our future. So I understand that's how it works. It's not my part of the job. My job is to work with these guys on the court and make them play hard. But like I said, our vision from ownership to the front office to the coaching staff is aligned, and we're going to keep doing it this way.”
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https://clutchpoints.com/nets-news-sean-marks-reveals-motivation-dennis-schroder-trade-tank-speculation-grows
| 2024-12-16T06:54:53Z
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How fun to discover ‘Jean-François Larrieu’ he has inspired me enormously.
He has created a distinctive style filled with the energy that ‘Life is Beautiful’.
Encapsulating everything I love from nature.
The mosaic-like oil paintings of exotic landscapes and cityscapes stippled with all sorts of magical figures, trees, animals, birds and simply oozing life from nature
The ordinary to a fantastical colourful and imaginary world.
For the last almost 50 years, Jean-François Larrieu has been painting his universalist story, both humanist and environmental ‘story of Life’.
Life IS beautiful…seeing life through Rose tinted glasses has huge benefits, as does living in a positive bubble.
Later today I’m going to write to him to share my thoughts…”the girl who peeped through the posh gallery window”.
2024 I begin my 3rd Year…
I have absolutely loved and embraced this challenge, I feel incredibly grateful to have discovered 365 when I was learning...
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https://365project.org/beverley365/365/2024-12-16
| 2024-12-16T06:54:55Z
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The modern-day great scored 156 runs before being dismissed by spinner Shoaib Bashir. His innings included 20 fours. The hosts have extended their lead past 600 on a rain-affected third day.
Resuming from 50 on Day 3, Williamson crafted his innings with patience and precision. Despite a few nervy moments, including an lbw appeal on 73 that was deemed an umpire's call, the 34-year-old reached his century in style, lofting Jacob Bethell for six to bring up the milestone off 137 balls.
His partnership with Rachin Ravindra, worth 107 runs, frustrated England until Ravindra fell for 44, miscuing a Matthew Potts delivery to Brydon Carse at mid-off.
Seddon Park continues to be a happy hunting ground for Williamson, where he averages an astonishing 98.81, amassing 1,581 runs in 12 Tests. His innings steadied New Zealand after England, already assured of the series win, had threatened early on.
There was a worrying moment for England as skipper Ben Stokes left the field clutching his hamstring during a spell of bowling. As New Zealand tightened their grip on the game, England's bowlers endured the same toil their hosts faced in the earlier Tests, with few breakthroughs to show for their efforts.
(Catch all the Business News, Breaking News, Budget 2024 Events and Latest News Updates on The Economic Times.)
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Read More News on
(Catch all the Business News, Breaking News, Budget 2024 Events and Latest News Updates on The Economic Times.)
Subscribe to The Economic Times Prime and read the ET ePaper online.
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https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/sports/kane-williamson-smashes-33rd-test-century-against-england-equals-steve-smith-in-fab-4-race/articleshow/116354366.cms
| 2024-12-16T06:54:56Z
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The Green Bay Packers secured a dominant 30-13 victory over the Seattle Seahawks on Sunday, improving to 10-4 and further cementing their playoff aspirations. While quarterback Jordan Love delivered an efficient performance, completing 20 of 27 passes for 229 yards and two touchdowns, his postgame remarks highlighted the team’s focus on improvement.
“We’ve definitely got to do better with just playing a complete, four-quarter game,” Love said via Ryan Wood on X, formerly Twitter, reminding everyone that while the Packers' win was decisive, there’s still work to be done.
The Packers got off to a fast start, scoring touchdowns on their first two drives. Josh Jacobs capped the opening possession with a 1-yard touchdown run, and Green Bay followed it up with an 80-yard drive that ended with Love connecting with wide receiver Jayden Reed for a 9-yard touchdown. The early offensive surge gave the Packers a commanding 14-0 lead, and they never looked back.
Seattle struggled to keep up, managing only a field goal before halftime. Geno Smith, who completed 15 of 19 passes for 149 yards, threw a costly interception in the red zone late in the second quarter, setting up a Packers field goal that extended their lead to 20-3 at the break.
Jordan Love has the Packers rolling with full steam ahead toward the NFC Playoffs
Green Bay’s defense was the standout unit, sacking Seattle quarterbacks seven times and forcing two interceptions. The relentless pass rush kept the Seahawks’ offense in check, particularly after Smith left the game in the third quarter with a knee injury. Backup quarterback Sam Howell struggled in relief, completing just 5 of 14 passes for 24 yards and an interception.
Despite the win, Love and the Packers are not resting on their laurels. While the offense delivered when needed, the second half was marked by sloppiness, including turnovers and missed opportunities to extend the lead. Still, the Packers' ability to capitalize on Seattle’s mistakes and maintain control was key to their success.
Defensively, Green Bay continues to prove why they are a playoff contender. The unit has been a driving force during the team’s remarkable turnaround, helping the Packers win eight of their last 10 games after starting the season 2-2. Their four losses have come against top-tier teams, including the Lions (twice), Vikings, and Eagles — all with a combined 35-6 record.
With the win, Green Bay remains in prime position for a strong playoff push. Their next challenge comes on Dec. 23 against the New Orleans Saints, where they’ll look to tighten up their game and continue their momentum.
For the Seahawks, the loss is a significant setback. Dropping to 8-6, Seattle now finds itself outside the NFC playoff picture, with the Rams leapfrogging them in the division standings. The Seahawks' playoff hopes now hinge on Geno Smith’s availability as they prepare for a tough Week 16 matchup against the 11-2 Minnesota Vikings.
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https://clutchpoints.com/packers-news-jordan-love-keeps-green-bay-grounded-take-amid-week-15-win-vs-seahawks
| 2024-12-16T06:55:00Z
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The tragedy and triumph of Superman’s Margot Kidder
As the late actor’s star-making performance in the cult slasher film ‘Black Christmas’ turns 50, Adam White looks back at one of the wildest movie stars of the Seventies, who played Lois Lane, fought the system and took the stigma out of living with mental illness
Before she died in 2018 at the age of 69, Superman actor Margot Kidder told her friends her final wish. If they ever find her body, keep her death a secret. Wrap her in a bedsheet, take her to the forest outside her home in the mountains of Livingston, Montana, and leave her for the wolves. Kidder loved those wolves, regularly feeding them from her back porch. Kidder’s friends, understandably, didn’t abide by her request. But there would have been something oddly fitting about this fate – Hollywood’s wildest movie star, at least for a few years in the Seventies, vanishing into the mysterious recesses of the Montana woods, never to be seen again.
Kidder went back and forth on her own stardom. “After Superman came out, I found it very difficult and hard to deal with,” she said in 1997, of the Lois Lane role that briefly propelled her to international renown. “There is a sense of having to put on this phoney face when you go out in public. I wasn’t very good at it, and it filled me with anxiety and panic. I had to hide the manic depression, for one thing. I just felt inadequate for the job.”
But it always made sense why Kidder was asked to do that job, why Hollywood felt they could harness her undeniable presence on camera and use it to sell romcoms and horror movies. Kidder’s charisma – along with those sharp, beguiling features and whip-crack of a line delivery – is visible from the off in Black Christmas, which turns 50 this month. Along with Brian De Palma’s trippy 1972 psycho-thriller Sisters, the Canadian slasher film made Kidder’s name, announcing her as an actor of unusual verve and bite, whose glamour was always a little chaotic, her spikiness a little sad.
Kidder isn’t the star of Black Christmas, which revolves around a sorority house menaced by a murderous prank caller. That spot is reserved for Olivia Hussey, playing the sorority’s pretty, haunted naif. Kidder, on the other hand, is its trainwreck Barb, a traumatised alcoholic with a messy sex life and a guilt complex, who reacts to deviant phone calls from a killer with swagger and outrage: come and get it if you think you’re tough enough, she more or less barks back at him. Black Christmas doesn’t judge Barb, or punish her for her apparent sins. She’s its most human component. But that effect is also down to Kidder’s performance, which feels startlingly alive and rich in empathy.
Black Christmas was part of a short-lived run of hits for Kidder, which included the Robert Redford drama The Great Waldo Pepper (1975) and the goofy haunted house blockbuster The Amityville Horror (1979). Superman came in 1978, her smart, sassy and hopelessly romantic Daily Planet reporter Lois Lane serving as the blueprint for the many actors who played that role in the aftermath, from Teri Hatcher to Amy Adams. Lois’s initial sit-down with Christopher Reeve’s Superman – who flies onto her apartment balcony for an interview – is full of blushing, pining and frazzled pauses. It’s one of those great Seventies movie star performances, perfectly matched by Reeves’ effervescent wholesomeness. Of course, Kidder was propelled to the A-list.
The problem, though, was that Kidder was a bit too offbeat and interesting for all of that. When she moved to Los Angeles from her native Canada in 1970, she lived in a somewhat notorious Malibu beach house that played host to the likes of a young De Palma, Steven Spielberg, Susan Sarandon and Martin Scorsese. Powders were snorted, sex was rampant and the next big ideas in filmmaking were formed. (Famously lily-white Spielberg, it should be said, reportedly only ever took part in the last one.) Easy Riders, Raging Bulls, Peter Biskind’s seminal 1998 tome on Seventies Hollywood, made this all out to be somewhat sordid, which Kidder disputed. “It was drugs and sex, yes, but it was sweet,” she said. “We were just a bunch of kids who had no money and wanted to change the world.”
Kidder was political and opinionated, and lived smack-dab at the centre of the sexual bohemia of the era. She had flings with De Palma, Richard Pryor and the Canadian prime minister Pierre Trudeau. And when Hollywood came calling, she rebuffed the squarer conventions imposed on her. The makers of The Amityville Horror were hungry for publicity stunts and asked her to tell the press the set was haunted – she called it “hogwash” and refused. When Superman’s director Richard Donner was fired from the film’s sequel, she publicly admonished its producers, and was allegedly punished for it – that’s why, it’s long been speculated, Lois is barely a presence in the franchise’s third instalment.
She also posed for Playboy, but only on the assurance that she could write an accompanying essay, which is quite literally all about how looking at pictures in Playboy as a teenage girl entirely destroyed her self-esteem. “Fourteen is a nervous age for a girl,” she wrote. “You want to be perfect and no one will tell you how. Your self-confidence is frail as glass, easily shattered. Playboy used to smash mine regularly.”
At the turn of the Eighties, high-profile work dropped off. It coincided with a number of health struggles, Kidder having received a diagnosis of schizophrenia in her twenties, followed by years of a repetitive cycle: a new round of medication, then a round of destructive self-medication, then back again. “None of us ever thought of Margy as mentally ill,” her friend Jennifer Salt said in 1997. “She was bright, courageous, a brilliant actress with extraordinary energy and intelligence … [but] it’s hard to know where the illness leaves off and the greatness begins.”
Kidder’s personal struggles were largely kept out of the spotlight until the early Nineties, when injuries from a car accident left her unable to work and ultimately in debt. Tabloids mocked her when she was photographed selling jewellery in New York to make ends meet. In 1996, a manic episode left the then-47-year-old wandering the streets of Los Angeles for several days, and she was found in a stranger’s garden. A year later, she was upfront about her personal difficulties.
“What’s it like to be the most famous crazy person in the world? It’s a dubious honour,” she joked to The Los Angeles Times in 1997. In 2001, while receiving a Courage in Mental Health award from the California Women’s Mental Health Policy Council, she also thanked the homeless people who kept her safe during the worst days of her crisis. “I was, in common terms, cuckoo,” she said. “But they had compassion and understanding. They knew that my confusion did not negate my humanity. What people need when they’re crazy is not to feel separated from the rest of humanity, but to have that hand reach out with love, and say, ‘OK, this is who you are right now. That’s fine. I’m here for you’.”
Kidder continued to work, often in horror movies or on television, and would happily poke fun at her less-than-glittering acting career. “I’ll [make] practically anything – I’m the biggest whore on the block,” she joked in 2008. “Unless it’s something sexist or cruel, I just love to work. I’ve done all sorts of things, but you just haven’t seen them because they’re often very bad and shown at four in the morning.”
She also pivoted more substantially to political activism in the mid-Noughties, working with a womens’ protest group in Montana initially called Bushes Against Bush (“We couldn’t go public with that name, so we became Montana Women For,” she’d say). Later, she would campaign for leftist Democrat Bernie Sanders and protest against the construction of oil pipelines. A memoir never happened, but she often teased it. “I’m going to call it I Slept With Everyone on Television,” she said in 2009. “I was in the airport in Minneapolis, and I thought, ‘S*** – what you have to do is have something that catches the eye of people going from Minneapolis to New York that looks like a good, easy read on a plane.’ So that title would sell out right away.”
Little is known of Kidder’s final months. Friends said she harboured addicts in her Livingston home, in a last act of charity and empathy. Or, as her daughter Maggie suggested in a statement, because of her own addictions in the end. Her manager said she died in her sleep, but a coroner later ruled she died from a “self-inflicted drug and alcohol overdose”. “It’s a big relief that the truth is out there,” Maggie said. “It’s important to be open and honest so there’s not a cloud of shame in dealing with this.”
It made sense. Kidder had, after all, never herself been one for shame – quick to a self-deprecating joke, a plea for compassion and a worthy fight. And even when asked to play doomed slasher movie characters – fated to be introduced and then speedily killed by a gruesome predator – she could always find the tiny cracks of humanity.
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https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/features/margot-kidder-death-superman-b2663995.html
| 2024-12-16T06:55:00Z
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It was built in 1855 and commissioned by Emperor Napoleon III in person and was the very first Grand Hotel in Paris at that time.
Under the direction of Prefect Haussmann, the city underwent significant transformation.
In 1887, the hotel was relocated to the other side of Place du Palais-Royal-where it Proudly stands today.
Steeped in history…The impressionist painter Camille Pissarro painted several paintings there in 1897 and 1898, from the windows of the suite he occupied, which now bears his name.
Sigmund Freud stayed at the hotel in 1910 and wroteUn Souvenir d'Enfance de Léonard de Vinci there.
The hotel also inspired Arthur Conan Doyle, who featured a character staying there in a Sherlock Holmes adventure.
During World War II, the Hôtel du Louvre served as the headquarters for an SS Sonderkommando.
Ooo The list is endless…
I walk past this lovely hotel to the Metro… this day of wandering is almost over.
It’s been fun! I chose a lovely route.
Sooo That’s a Wrap! …
“Everything that is made beautiful and fair and lovely is made for the eye of one who sees.”
My fav Rumi…
2024 I begin my 3rd Year…
I have absolutely loved and embraced this challenge, I feel incredibly grateful to have discovered 365 when I was learning...
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https://365project.org/beverley365/discovering-the/2024-12-16
| 2024-12-16T06:55:01Z
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Remembering Zakir, the maestro with his rare treasure of music he left us
Tabla maestro Zakir Hussain died at a hospital in San Francisco, his family said on Monday. Hussain died due to complications arising out of idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, the family said in a statement. He was 73. He had been hospitalised for the last two weeks and was later taken to the ICU after his condition deteriorated. Watch glimpses of his performances.
Show moreRead more on
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https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/videos/remembering-zakir-the-maestro-with-his-rare-treasure-of-music-he-left-us/videoshow/116353999.cms
| 2024-12-16T06:55:04Z
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The New England Patriots conspicuously didn't use Drake Maye as a runner on multiple short-down situations in their 30-17 loss to the Arizona Cardinals on Sunday, leading to a head-scratching comment from Jerod Mayo.
When Mayo was asked why the Patriots didn't run any quarterback sneaks on short-down situations, he seemed to initially throw offensive coordinator Alex Van Pelt under the bus.
“You said it. I didn’t,” Mayo responded.
The Patriots head coach was asked about the offensive play calling again in a follow-up question. This time around, he took ownership of the situation.
“It’s always my decision,” Mayo said. “I would say, look, the quarterback obviously has a good pair of legs and does a good job running the ball. We just chose not to do it there.”
Not using Maye as a runner on short-down situations likely didn't cost the Patriots the game on Sunday, but it might have cost them a touchdown. They got the ball down to the Cardinals' 4-yard line with just over five minutes remaining in the third quarter, facing a third-and-1. They opted to run the ball up the gut with Antonio Gibson, who was stuffed.
Facing fourth-and-1, they ran a similar play with Rhamondre Stevenson. The Patriots were dealt the same result: a stuff and turnover on downs.
What Drake Maye said of the lack of QB sneaks in Patriots' loss to Cardinals
The Patriots' insistence to not use Maye as a runner is head-scratching. He's already shown a strong ability as a runner as a professional, rushing for 359 yards and two touchdowns this season.
Maye wants to get the ball in those situations, too.
“I was a good quarterback-sneaker in college,” Maye told reporters. “I’m a big dude, I’m heavier than people think. So, I think maybe there’s a conversation for that. I think it’s tough to stop a 6-[foot]-5 dude for one yard.
“But at the same time, Rhamondre is pretty dang good at getting one yard as well. It’s unfortunate that it happened. But there’s a time and place for it.”
Of course, the conversation about using Maye on a quarterback sneak likely wouldn't have happened if the Patriots just picked up one yard on those two aforementioned runs. That's what seemed to frustrate Mayo the most.
“It was disappointing. I said this probably the first week of the season, there comes a point in time as a football team where everyone in the stadium knows what the play is, and we just gotta move bodies,” Mayo said. “And we weren’t able to move them … we have guys in there that are physically tough, mentally tough. My expectation for them is that we can always move bodies, and unfortunately, we just didn’t do that today.”
Now, Mayo's critics have another talking point to use in what's been a rocky rookie season as head coach. As the Patriots fell to 3-11 with the loss, Mayo took the blame for another loss, but he's hoping others on the team will do so as well.
“We all have got to take accountability,” Mayo said after New England’s loss. “And what does that look like? Accountability is not really the ‘My bad.' The accountability isn’t coming in saying things like, ‘Oh, if we would have just done X, Y, and Z,’ we’ve been talking about that all year.
“Accountability is going out and correcting that. That’s about action. It’s not about just sitting here saying that’s my fault. You have enough of those, and that’s what you have out there on the field today.”
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https://clutchpoints.com/patriots-news-jerod-mayo-cryptic-drake-maye-gameplan-message-cardinals-loss
| 2024-12-16T06:55:06Z
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Bridgerton’s Nicola Coughlan says one family member was ‘so mad’ about her sex scenes
The actor had a lot of steamy scenes in the latest series of the Regency-era show
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Your support makes all the difference.Nicola Coughlan has shared her mother’s less than thrilled reaction to her sex scenes in Bridgerton.
In the latest series of the Regency-era Netflix hit, Coughlan’s character Penelope Featherington shared a friends-to-lovers romance with Luke Newton’s Colin Bridgerton.
Speaking on the latest episode of The Graham Norton Show, Coughlan, 37, who rose to fame playing a teenager in Derry Girls, said: “I realised I was 35 when I was filming the season, and I’d never played an adult. I was like, ‘How do I do this?’”
She added: “The first two [Bridgerton] series, I looked a lot like Spongebob Squarepants, very curly, ginger [hair], yellow dress, sort a of a tent situation going on.
“But then it was weird having to play the romantic lead and… it’s a sexy show. A lot of sexy things happen in it, and then I realised I was going to have to do the sexy things and I was like, ‘Right.’”
Coughlan said of her mother’s reaction: “My mother was so mad at me about those scenes – as if they were my fault, so I didn’t go to the screening with her.”
The actor has previously spoken about how “empowering” it felt to do the scenes, telling Stylist: “There’s one scene where I’m very naked on camera, and that was my idea, my choice. It just felt like the biggest ‘f*** you’ to all the conversation surrounding my body. It was amazingly empowering.
“I felt beautiful in the moment, and I thought: ‘When I’m 80, I want to look back on this and remember how f***ing hot I looked!’”
Coughlan went viral for her reaction to one fan, who had said she was “very brave” for stripping off on camera.
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“You know, it is hard, ’cause I think women with my body type, women with perfect breasts… We do not get to see ourselves onscreen enough,” she quipped at a screening.
She added: “I am a proud member of the perfect breasts community, and I hope you enjoy seeing them.”
Coughlan is one of The Independent’s TV heroes of 2024. Read more here, and find Coughlan’s biggest cultural picks of the year.
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https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/tv/news/nicola-coughlan-graham-norton-bridgerton-sex-scenes-b2664896.html
| 2024-12-16T06:55:06Z
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Photo 4856
Christmas At Rutherford House...The Wreath
Today Rutherford House held their annual Christmas event. So l met up with my sister, brother-in-law and Great nephew.
Here is the house from outside. Come with me and let's go on inside.
More pictures in my other two albums
15th December 2024
15th Dec 24
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Cool architecture! I like the bits of castellation over the bay windows/along the roofline.
December 16th, 2024
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https://365project.org/bkbinthecity/365/2024-12-15
| 2024-12-16T06:55:07Z
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Dec 16, 2024
Warm lemon water with kala namak helps stimulate the secretion of digestive enzymes, making your morning digestion smoother and reducing bloating.
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This magical combo acts as a natural detoxifier, flushing out toxins and keeping your liver and kidneys healthy.
Kickstart your metabolism with this morning drink, helping burn fat faster while keeping your cravings in check.
Kala namak, rich in essential minerals, replenishes your body's electrolytes, keeping you hydrated and energized.
The Vitamin C in lemon, combined with the mineral-rich kala namak, reduces acne, lightens blemishes, and gives your skin a radiant glow.
Despite being acidic, lemon has an alkalizing effect on your body, while kala namak soothes the stomach, reducing heartburn and acidity issues.
This drink is packed with antioxidants, keeping seasonal illnesses like colds and flu at bay while strengthening your immune system.
Use lukewarm water—comfortably sip-able, not boiling—to preserve nutrients and protect your throat.
Mix half a lemon’s juice and a pinch of kala namak in a glass of warm water. Stir and drink on an empty stomach.
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| 2024-12-16T06:55:10Z
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Move over Toronto Blue Jays, you have company. The Boston Red Sox joined their American League East roommate and foe in the undesirable “spurned by superstars” club after failing to sign either Juan Soto or Max Fried. They did not tend to their heartbreak for long, however. Chief Baseball Officer Craig Breslow directed his attention to the trade market and finally acquired an All-Star pitcher in the form of Garrett Crochet.
Since throwing money at high-end free agents did not work, the Red Sox are going back to the well, the Chicago White Sox left-handed starter well, that is. Chris Sale won a World Series with the franchise, and the hope is that Crochet can help vault it back into contention.
Another premium arm is needed, though. Boston has a wealth of in-house resources that it can use to help rebuild a prosperous culture, but the foundation might still be unable to support an inadequate pitching staff. This trade alone is not guaranteed to put an end to the annual second-half slumber problem. The starting rotation is still lacking stability at the top.
Breslow cannot advance to spring training without solidifying the unit. It is best to keep fishing in the free agency pool, even though his most recent expeditions have gone awry. When nothing bites, it is all too tempting to pack everything up. But maybe Boston just needs better bait, or a different spot.
The Red Sox must learn from their mistakes and figure out how to reel in the trophy trout. There are three pitchers who can potentially fill that role for them this offseason.
Corbin Burnes is the new man in demand
Crochet is a strikeout fiend, punching out 209 batters in only 146 innings of work. He is young, supremely talented and under club control for two more seasons. The southpaw is also unpredictable, though. The White Sox coddled him in the latter part of the 2024 campaign, preserving him with the purpose of optimizing his health and trade value. They succeeded, and now the onus is on Boston to consider his risks.
Aside from Crochet's medical history, which includes Tommy John surgery, he is also a bit bold. The 24-year-old made an off-putting list of demands when his name was swirling around the rumor mill last summer, so fans should be on their toes. When taking account of the variables that exist, it is important for Breslow to reinforce the pitching staff with one more major acquisition.
Since the start of the decade, Corbin Burnes has been one of the steadiest starters in the sport. He is understandably going to flirt with historic dollar figures, but the Red Sox have already flashed their teeth in the Soto and Fried negotiations. There is no reason to hold back when a former Cy Young and four-time All-Star is available. Being content with Garrett Crochet does not fit with the revamped model that management has promised the city.
Ownership needs to grant Breslow permission to chase Burnes at full speed. If he signs with the San Francisco Giants or another team, then so be it. People will relentlessly mock the Fenway Sports Group, even more than they have, but the alternative is far more unsettling. Boston should be in the hunt for remaining free-agent hurlers, and the durable righty tops them all.
The 2.92 ERA and 181 Ks he recorded for the Baltimore Orioles last season should make him feel comfortable about sticking in the AL East.
Red Sox can try to woo Roki Sasaki
Less than a month ago, it felt like a foregone conclusion that Japanese star Roki Sasaki would sign with the Los Angeles Dodgers. Many still expect him to join countrymen Shohei Ohtani and Yoshinobu Yamamoto, but it does not appear to be a one-horse race. The young right-hander's appeal is wide-ranging and his expenses are affordable, which means he has plenty of proposals to mull over.
Boston's should be one of them. While moving to the United States is a surreal undertaking for anyone who resides in Asia, it could be especially difficult for a player to venture out to the Northeast. But one man's chore can be another's reprieve. Sasaki's agent Joel Wolf spoke about his client's rough experiences with the Japanese media, opening the possibility of the 23-year-old deciding to drift far away from the Pacific Ocean.
The Red Sox remain a recognizable brand and one of the most valuable MLB franchises, but their market can give a new star some space to breathe. If Sasaki jumps to the Dodgers as anticipated, the coverage will be incessant. He will be marketed as part of a trio along with Ohtani and Yamamoto, making it challenging for him to escape the media circus or stand on his own. The hype will still be towering in Boston, reaching past the Green Monster, but he will not be tasked with being a global phenomenon.
And for some guys, that is actually a more attractive option, particularly when they are playing on their first big-league contract. Though, if the two-time Nippon Professional Baseball All-Star is the type to get homesick, he would have a familiar face with him on the Sox in Masataka Yoshida. In return, the Fenway faithful would ardently appreciate Sasaki's eye-catching fastball and bountiful ability.
Jack Flaherty can round out the Sox's starting staff
With attention fixed on the highly credible Corbin Burnes and the electric Roki Sasaki, Jack Flaherty can be misconstrued as an underwhelming choice by comparison. Let's not forget, however, that this is a former first-rounder who recorded 194 strikeouts in 162 innings last season. He is flashy enough for the Red Sox.
Moreover, the World Series champion also contains substance. He recovered from a concerning 2023 and looked like a legitimate All-Star in 2024. Flaherty notched a 3.17 ERA across his time with the Detroit Tigers and LA Dodgers, coming through clutch in the final year of his contract. His overall rough playoff numbers (7.36 ERA in five starts) minimize the important role he occupied in October.
The Dodgers were once again yearning for pitching, as Tyler Glasnow and a handful of others spent their postseason on the injured list and Yamamoto eased his way back into the rotation. Flaherty gave manager Dave Roberts crucial innings at crucial junctures, allowing the bullpen to stay fresh as possible. Boston skipper Alex Cora will ask him to do the same, so as not to burn out his relievers.
Flaherty's heart clearly belongs to the Dodgers and California, a potential issue whenever a lucrative multi-year deal is on the table, but Red Sox Nation has an uncanny ability of romancing supposed outsiders fairly quickly. The fact that he could indeed become the team's X-factor ought to please his ego, too.
Regardless of if the organization swings big for an ace or settles for a pitcher on the next tier down, it has to capitalize on the Garrett Crochet trade. One headline-making pleases the masses. Another increases the likelihood that true change will take shape on Jersey Street.
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https://clutchpoints.com/red-sox-3-pitchers-must-consider-after-adding-garrett-crochet
| 2024-12-16T06:55:12Z
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Kieran Culkin goes viral after listing the most ‘adorable’ Britishisms
He has lots of favourite British words and expressions, which he’s learnt from his wife
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Your support makes all the difference.A video of Kieran Culkin listing the most “adorable” Britishisms on The Graham Norton Show has gone viral.
The Succession actor, 42, who hails from New York, was talking about the expressions he’s learned from his Londoner wife, Jazz Charton, 36.
The pair met in a bar and have been together for 13 years. They got married in 2013 and share two children, daughter Kinsey Sioux and son Wilder Wolf.
Speaking on the BBC One show on Friday night (12 December), Culkin said he disovered one of his favourite words years ago when he and Charton were watching the wrestling on TV.
“There’s this wrestler called Biggie, who was this really big muscular guy, big biceps, you know? Pecs all that,” Culkin explained. “He had a singlet on him and before he would do his finishing move, he would take it off, and we were watching this on TV, and she just went, ‘That’s right, love, get your baps out.’ I was like, ‘What?! I need that word.’”
Culkin also said he loved the word “chuffed”, explaining, “We don’t have anything like it in the States, nothing.”
Addressing the audience in London, he said: “You guys have the most adorable little expressions and words for things.”
He then listed more words, such as “chinwag” for conversation and “sunnies” for sunglasses, as well as “brolly” for umbrella.
“The most adorable thing is that you guys say is poo,” he added. “The cutest sentence I think I’ve ever heard anyone say is. ‘I done a poo.’”
When Norton asked him what children in America do, Culkin answered, “They s***, I don’t know!”
Culkin also went viral earlier this year when he won the Emmy for Best Actor in a Drama Series for his performance as the mischievous, foul-mouthed Roman Roy in Succession, and he used his speech to tell Charton: “Thank you for sharing your life with me and giving me two amazing kids... I want more. You said ‘maybe’, if I win! I love you so much.”
In response, Charton could be seen covering her face with her hands in a mixture of joy and shock.
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Christmas At Rutherford House...Decorating The Stairwell
The Grand Staircase is the first thing you see. As you can see the Rutherford's were rather simple when it came to decorating
15th December 2024
15th Dec 24
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Very pretty and festive! The shape of the lintels in the background is interesting.
December 16th, 2024
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ET Online
Dec 16, 2024
Currently running successfully in cinemas, Pushpa 2: The Rule has taken the box office by storm with its intense storyline, breathtaking action sequences, and Allu Arjun’s electrifying performance as Pushpa Raj.
Image Source: iStock
A blockbuster showcasing Allu Arjun's rugged charm and powerful performance as a smuggler, with unforgettable action sequences and the iconic "Thaggede Le" attitude.
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A perfect blend of family drama, comedy, and romance with Allu Arjun delivering a charismatic performance and chartbuster songs like "Butta Bomma."
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The film that skyrocketed Allu Arjun’s career, featuring an unforgettable love story and the portrayal of a selfless lover.
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A sequel with a twist, showcasing Allu Arjun's versatility in a darker, more intense love triangle.
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A high-octane action entertainer where Allu Arjun shines as a fearless and justice-driven hero.
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A hilarious and action-packed film with a brilliant performance by Allu Arjun, complemented by the popular "Cinema Choopistha Maava" song.
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A smart heist film with a perfect mix of action and comedy, highlighting Allu Arjun’s impeccable comic timing and dance moves.
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A romantic-action film where Allu Arjun impresses with his energetic performance and his chemistry with Hansika Motwani.
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A multi-starrer where Allu Arjun steals the show as Cable Raju, delivering one of his most emotional and critically acclaimed performances.
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https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/web-stories/allu-arjuns-10-best-movies-to-add-to-your-watch-list/slideshow/116356631.cms
| 2024-12-16T06:55:16Z
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The Seattle Seahawks are anxiously awaiting clarity on the status of quarterback Geno Smith after he suffered a knee injury in Sunday’s 30-13 loss to the Green Bay Packers. The injury occurred in the third quarter when Smith attempted a pass under pressure, leaping to release the ball as Packers linebacker Edgerrin Cooper collided with his lower leg. Smith landed awkwardly and remained on the ground in visible pain before limping off the field.
Head coach Mike Macdonald provided a tentative update after the game, stating that initial indications suggest the injury isn’t structurally serious. “Structurally it looks like it’s OK,” Macdonald said, per The Athletic’s Michael Dugar. “We’ll do all the tests tomorrow. We don’t know whether Geno will have to miss time. Tests will determine that.”
Smith’s frustration was evident as he slammed his helmet on the sideline before heading to the locker room. Backup quarterback Sam Howell stepped in but struggled to generate any offensive momentum. Howell finished the game completing just 5-of-14 passes for 24 yards and an interception. With Smith sidelined, the Seahawks’ offense couldn’t mount a comeback, dropping them to 8-6 on the season.
Geno Smith may miss some time for the Seahawks
The injury comes at a critical juncture for the Seahawks, who are in a tight race for the NFC West title. They are now tied with the Los Angeles Rams for the division lead, but the Rams hold the tiebreaker after winning the first head-to-head matchup. The teams will face off again in the regular-season finale on Jan. 5, a game that could determine the division winner.
If Smith’s injury forces him to miss time, the Seahawks’ playoff hopes could take a serious hit. Their remaining schedule includes matchups against tough opponents, and without Smith at the helm, Seattle’s path to the postseason becomes significantly more challenging. The 9-5 Washington Commanders are also in the mix for the NFC’s final wild-card spot, putting additional pressure on the Seahawks to secure wins in their last three games.
Macdonald emphasized the importance of Smith’s leadership and playmaking ability for the team. “Geno’s been a huge part of our success this season,” he said. “We’re hopeful he’ll be back soon, but we’ll prepare for whatever comes next.”
For now, the Seahawks and their fans will hold their breath as they await the results of Smith’s medical tests. With the stakes higher than ever, his health could very well determine whether Seattle secures a playoff berth or faces another disappointing postseason absence.
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https://clutchpoints.com/seahawks-news-geno-smiths-concerning-knee-injury-important-update-packers-game
| 2024-12-16T06:55:18Z
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ET Online
Dec 16, 2024
Soak 2-3 anjeer (figs) overnight and eat them on an empty stomach in the morning to curb cravings and promote digestion.
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Blend soaked anjeer with almond milk or low-fat yogurt for a fiber-rich, filling breakfast smoothie.
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Replace unhealthy snacks with dried or fresh anjeer to satisfy your sweet tooth while consuming fewer calories.
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Pair anjeer with warm water to enhance its digestion-boosting properties and help detoxify your system.
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Chop fresh or dried anjeer and toss them into your salads for a fiber boost and natural sweetness.
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Blend anjeer with nuts and seeds to make homemade energy balls, a healthy pre-workout snack.
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Steep dried anjeer in hot water with a dash of cinnamon for a metabolism-boosting herbal tea.
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Consume one or two figs after meals to aid digestion and prevent overeating during the next meal.
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Use anjeer as a natural sweetener in desserts like oatmeal, chia pudding, or yogurt parfaits for a guilt-free treat.
Image Source: iStock
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| 2024-12-16T06:55:18Z
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Britain is failing to prepare itself for war with Russia, top general warns
In a dramatic intervention, Richard Shirreff says Britain must ‘fight a second cold war to avoid a third world war’
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
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Your support makes all the difference.Britain is not properly prepared to defend itself in a war with Russia and cannot rely on the United States and Nato, a retired senior general has warned.
Writing in The Independent, Sir Richard Shirreff, who served as Nato’s deputy supreme allied commander in Europe from 2011 to 2014, said another global conflict will only be prevented if there is a “band of deterrent steel from the Baltic to the Black Sea" – something he said the UK may have to be prepared to help realise without the support of Washington.
His dramatic intervention comes alongside warnings from former defence secretary Ben Wallace and Labour peer Admiral Lord West that a failure to prioritise defence would be a grave error for the prime minister.
Lord West’s warning follows a foreboding speech by Nato general secretary Mark Rutte who said the West is not ready to deal with the threat of war from Russia, declaring it is “time to shift to a wartime mindset and turbocharge our defence production”.
Mr Rutte said: “Russia is preparing for long-term confrontation, with Ukraine and with us,” adding: “We are not ready for what is coming our way in four to five years.”
There is growing concern about the strength of Donald Trump’s commitment to Nato, following repeated threats to pull out of the alliance if member states do not spend more on defence. Sir Richard warned that Britain can make “no assumptions that Trump would honour Nato’s doctrine of collective defence”, adding: “If we are to deter a third world war, Europe must step up to the mark.”
A number of Nato member states do not yet meet the 2 per cent of GDP threshold for defence spending. Meanwhile, there are also concerns over the failure of Keir Starmer to specify a timescale in relation to his pledge to increase UK spending to 2.5 per cent.
Sir Richard said the West will “only achieve peace for ourselves, our children and grandchildren and prevent a third world war between Nato and Russia with a band of deterrent steel from the Baltic to the Black Sea”.
“This is something that we now have to be ready to do without the US lead and it means gearing up to be ready for war in every respect,” he said.
Sir Richard said the UK must demonstrate “moral courage and exemplary leadership” to “make the necessary sacrifices to preserve peace by deterring war”.
“We have to fight a second cold war to avoid a third world war,” he warned. “If we fail to do this the costs, in terms of blood and treasure will be appalling.”
So far, he said, the new government’s approach to defence is falling far short of what is required.
“While the new UK government talks of defence being the first priority, notably it did not figure in the prime minister’s recent ‘top six’ priorities,” he said.
Last month, Sir Keir unveiled six milestones to measure the government’s progress – but the targets did not include defence or security.
Former defence secretary Ben Wallace told The Independent that the UK has become “overdependent on the US which has limited our choices and left us vulnerable”, calling for Britain to commit to spending 3 per cent of GDP on defence.
“The world is sadly getting more insecure and more anxious. Technology has enabled enemies to compete in a way that was impossible to do in the past.
“Now is the time to commit to 3 per cent GDP by 2030. For Starmer to not invest in our security would be a dereliction of duty”, he warned.
Lord West of Spithead, a former security adviser to Gordon Brown and a retired admiral of the Royal Navy, said Sir Keir had made a “terrible political error” in not including defence in his six milestones, saying the decision was worrying and “beyond belief”.
While he expressed doubt that Mr Trump would abandon Nato, he called for European nations to spend more on defence.
“There is absolutely no doubt from anyone who knows anything about the military and about defence that our forces are underfunded.
“I think the fact that defence wasn’t mentioned in that list is a political error, and it’s a terrible error, full stop. It is beyond belief, really. With the world as dangerous as it is, knowing how underfunded we are, that he’s not willing to mention that as one of the priorities – I find that very worrying”, he told The Independent.
Lord West added: “I don’t believe that even Trump will just suddenly pull out of Nato. But should European nations be pulling more weight in defence terms? Yes, absolutely they should.”
Colonel Tim Collins, a former army officer who gave a stirring eve-of-battle speech at the start of the Iraq War, expressed concern that Labour is not taking the defence of Britain seriously enough, warning that the UK is facing a situation similar to that of the mid-1930s in the lead-up to the Second World War.
While he dismissed some of Mr Trump’s remarks about Nato as rhetoric, he admitted that the UK has “very little leverage over the United States”.
Speaking about the new government’s commitment to defence, he said: “I don’t think it is taken particularly seriously by Labour. To the extent that they’re threatening to pull funding from the Tempest programme.”
Withdrawing from the Tempest programme, he said, would be comparable to cancelling the Spitfire programme just before the Second World War.
The Tempest project, part of the Global Combat Air Programme alongside Italy and Japan, is designed to replace the ageing Eurofighter Typhoons by the mid-2030s. But its budget was slashed by 10 per cent this year.
Shadow armed forces minister Mark Francois warned that Russia will not be deterred by “empty platitudes from the chancellor and the Treasury”, and called for the UK to urgently increase defence spending.
“During the 1980s, at the height of the Cold War, Mrs Thatcher’s government spent around 5 per cent of GDP on defence, which helped keep the peace in Europe until the Berlin Wall fell.
“With Putin’s Russia now at war in Ukraine and threatening further expansion, for instance into Nato’s Baltic states, we urgently need to increase defence spending to deter the Russians again – which we won’t do with empty platitudes from the chancellor and HM Treasury”, he said.
A government spokesperson said: “This government will always do what it takes to defend this country, with threats increasing, the world becoming more volatile and technology changing the nature of warfare.
“That is why the Budget increased defence spending by £2.9bn for next year and we are committed to setting a path to 2.5 per cent of GDP on defence in spring. The Strategic Defence Review is working at pace to look at the threats we face and the capabilities we need to meet the challenges, threats and opportunities of the 21st century."
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| 2024-12-16T06:55:18Z
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Christmas At Rutherford House....Poinsettia
A few more decorations just inside the front entrance
15th December 2024
15th Dec 24
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What a pretty Christmas display. Nicely captured.
December 16th, 2024
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The Phoenix Suns secured their second consecutive win, this time against the Portland Trail Blazers. Tyus Jones and Devin Booker were at the forefront of it for Phoenix in that contest.
Although Booker posted 28 points, it was Jones who stole the show. He had 19 points on 8-9 shooting and knocked down all three of his three-point attempts. Following the win, Booker spoke to reporters and broke down how Jones was successful in all facets of the basketball court.
“He's mastered that since the sixth grade,” Booker said. “I keep telling y'all to watch him be super punctual. Since then, he's always had a pace on the open floor and his scoring, which is so underrated. I'm glad that he is on our side.”
The first season of a Jones and Booker backcourt seems to be paying dividends. Jones is having a career season alongside Booker, Bradley Beal, and Kevin Durant. He's averaging a career-high 12.5 points, seven assists, and 2.6 rebounds per game. However, he's averaging a career-high in three-point makes and attempts. Not to mention, Jones is connecting on 42.9% of those. While some can say it's a byproduct of playing alongside the Suns Big 3, there's more to it than that.
Mike Budenholzer and Devin Booker love what Tyus Jones brings
Suns head coach Mike Budenholzer has an offensive system that emphasizes the three-pointer more than any shot. The Suns are sixth in total threes made and seventh in total threes attempted. That trickles down to every player, from Jones to Booker to Durant. Luckily, the influx of threes wasn't a lone-season revelation. Jones explained postgame about a conversation he had that sparked that influx.
“That third year (in Memphis), it was in the off-season talking with Taylor Jenkins about just being a little bit more aggressive shooting the ball, especially from the three-point line. So that's been something they've been on me about here as well. Everyone knows about Bud's system. He wants us to get up threes. Also, with the gravity that KD, Book, and Brad create, everyone else is getting an open look. So just being ready to fire them and knock them down.”
The Phoenix point guard has been the X-factor heading into the season. It was evident before his first game with the team. Grayson Allen and Budenholzer convinced Jones to join the Suns. 25 games into the season, and it hasn't disappointed. He's been the floor general that they missed all of last season. His impact opens up the floor for Booker, Beal, and Durant. For the Suns head coach, he sees that as well as anyone.
While Jones explained how his three-point emphasis grew, Budenholzer echoed that sentiment. He detailed how he's been on Jones about taking those shots throughout the game and the season.
“We probably just have to stay on him and be in his ear more,” Budenholzer said. The more aggressive he is, the better we are as a team. I think that's harder for him to wrap around with his basketball intellect and his point guard kind of nature. When he's aggressive, I think we are at our best. He's done that some recently, and we need more of it.”
Tyus Jones has been the Suns' X-factor this season
Budenholzer isn't exaggerating about the Suns' need for more scoring from Jones. In the past eight games, he's scored 10+ points. In all of those games, he's shot 37% from three or better while taking a minimum of three attempts. Plus, it unlocks another dimension to the offenses.
Defenses will sag off of guys like Jones to focus on the three stars. As a result, it allows Jones consistent, open looks. Phoenix has been encouraged by his increased scoring production. As Jones described it, his mentality is about making the right decision every play.
“It's finding in the flow, trying not to pass up shots that they're just taking,” Jones said. “I'm not hesitating to make my reads. Whatever the defense is giving me in the last couple of games, it's been some early looks and just getting in a rhythm early on, and that's been helping me.
“I'm not coming in saying, ‘I'm going to shoot X amount of times tonight' or anything like that. I'm just taking what the defense gives me, looking to try to be a playmaker. That's scoring or creating for others and just taking my shots with confidence.”
Beal remains out with right knee swelling. It could mean that Tyus Jones will be in line for another scoring opportunity. After all, he's been in that position for the first 25 games and will likely be in that same spot for the remainder of the season. The emphasis from Devin Booker, Mike Budenholzer, and other teammates and coaches should result in a dead-eye shooter that teams will respect and pay serious attention to.
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https://clutchpoints.com/suns-news-devin-booker-gushes-tyus-jones-underrated-skill-suns-defeat-blazers
| 2024-12-16T06:55:24Z
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In the world of public health, timing is everything. Recent events surrounding Moderna’s RSV mRNA vaccine trials have reminded me just how critical it is to pay attention, not just to what’s being said, but also to what’s conspicuously absent from the headlines.
You might not have heard, but the FDA recently halted trials of Moderna’s RSV vaccine for children. This decision came after troubling data showed that vaccinated infants were not only failing to gain protection from RSV but were also experiencing worse outcomes when exposed to the virus. Yet, for such a significant development, there was an eerie silence from mainstream news outlets.
Why is that? And what does it tell us about the way critical health information is shared, or obscured?
Purchase on Amazon here >
A Vaccine Trial Halts, and Nobody Notices
On December 13, 2024, the FDA flagged significant safety concerns in Moderna’s pediatric RSV vaccine trial. The vaccine, an mRNA-based candidate, appeared to exacerbate RSV infections rather than mitigate them. This is a significant finding, with implications for mRNA vaccine technology as a whole.
But instead of sparking widespread discussion, this revelation seemed buried beneath other stories. That same day, headlines focused on Stephen Bartlett’s podcast, accused of spreading "health misinformation." The timing is interesting, to say the least.
Read BBC Article here >
When a major vaccine trial encounters a safety issue, the public deserves to know. This isn’t about spreading fear—it’s about transparency. If we can’t openly address challenges, how can we hope to improve public trust in medical advancements?
What We Know About the RSV Vaccine Trials
The halted trials revealed a troubling pattern: children vaccinated with the RSV mRNA shot were more likely to develop severe respiratory illnesses when exposed to RSV or other respiratory viruses. This finding aligns with what we’ve seen in some mRNA studies—a potential suppression or alteration of the immune response.
In recent clinical trials, two experimental RSV vaccines for babies may not only have failed to protect them, but actually made some of them sicker when they got RSV or another respiratory virus. The findings, publicly discussed in detail for the first time yesterday, have profoundly unsettled many RSV scientists, who recall similar problems with a vaccine trial decades ago.
Scienceinsider - 13 December, 2024 (Jon Cohen)
Read full Article here >
In simple terms, mRNA vaccines work by instructing cells to produce specific proteins (like the spike protein in COVID-19 vaccines) to train the immune system. But this approach requires bypassing natural cellular defenses, like RIG-1 and MDA5, which normally guard against foreign RNA. While this is necessary for the vaccine to function, it can also disrupt the body’s natural immune balance.
The Broader Implications of Immune Disruption
This case isn’t just about RSV. It raises broader questions about how mRNA technology interacts with the immune system, especially in vulnerable populations like children.
The principle behind mRNA vaccines is flexibility, scientists can quickly adapt the formula to target emerging threats. But this adaptability doesn’t erase the need for rigorous, long-term safety studies. What happens when repeated exposure to mRNA technology alters how the immune system responds to not just one virus, but many?
This isn’t just theoretical. A Cleveland Clinic study showed that individuals who received multiple COVID-19 booster doses were at increased risk of infection, not severe disease, but infection itself. These findings underline the complexity of immune responses and the importance of understanding the trade-offs of any medical intervention.
Shrestha, Nabin K., et al. "Effectiveness of the coronavirus disease 2019 bivalent vaccine." Open Forum Infectious Diseases. Vol. 10. No. 6. US: Oxford University Press, 2023.
Why Silence Is Dangerous
When significant news like this is overshadowed or ignored, it erodes public trust. People are left feeling like they’re being kept in the dark, and that perception breeds suspicion.
As a physician, I’ve always believed in empowering people with knowledge. That means sharing the successes of vaccines, but also being upfront about the challenges and limitations. If we gloss over the difficult parts, we risk losing the very trust that public health campaigns depend on.
What Can We Do?
Demand Transparency: Public health organizations must prioritize openness about trial results, both positive and negative.
Encourage Balanced Reporting: Media outlets should avoid sensationalizing one story to the detriment of others, particularly when public health is at stake.
Stay Curious: Don’t just accept the headlines at face value. Ask yourself, “What’s missing? What else is happening right now?”
A Call to Action
The challenges surrounding the RSV vaccine trial highlight why we need vigilance and accountability in the development of new medical technologies. These issues aren’t insurmountable, but they require us to face them head-on rather than sweeping them under the rug.
As I reflect on this situation, my commitment to transparency and education grows stronger. Together, we can demand better communication, foster trust, and ensure that science serves the people it’s meant to protect.
Please support my research efforts by subscribing to Vejon Health Substack. Your support allows me to continue bringing you my insights in a timely and effective way.
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https://philipmcmillan.substack.com/p/mrna-rsv-vaccine-coverup-exposed
| 2024-12-16T06:55:24Z
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Stock market today: Asian shares fall as China reports lackluster data, while bitcoin hits new highs
Shares have retreated in Asia after China reported lackluster economic indicators for November, while bitcoin surged to fresh highs, topping $106,000
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Your support makes all the difference.Shares retreated Monday in Asia after China reported lackluster economic indicators for November, while bitcoin surged to fresh highs, topping $106,000.
Oil prices fell and U.S. futures were little changed.
Bitcoin was trading at $104,948 early Monday, up 3.4% but down from an earlier high of $106,495.
The price of the cryptocurrency has surged since the election in November given U.S. President-elect Donald Trump's bitcoin-friendly stance. Trump signaled a lighter regulatory approach to digital currencies with his choice of crypto advocate Paul Atkins to be the next chair of the Securities and Exchange Commission. Bitcoin was trading below $70,000 before the Nov. 5 election.
A report Monday showed Chinese retail sales slowed in November, while growth in factory output was flat and home sales declined. The report said the economy and employment were stable, but noted a complicated “external environment," reflecting unease over the outlook in coming months once U.S. President-elect Donald Trump takes office, potentially delivering on promises to sharply hike tariffs on imports from China.
Japan's Nikkei 225 index edged 0.1% lower, to 39,438.74, while the Hang Seng in Hong Kong lost 0.8% to 19,821.24.
The Shanghai Composite index was almost unchanged, at 3,390.91.
South Korea's Kospi lost 0.3% to 2,486.47 as South Korean law enforcement authorities were pushing to summon impeached President Yoon Suk Yeol for questioning over his short-lived martial law decree and the Constitutional Court met to discuss whether to remove him from office or reinstate him.
Taiwan's Taiex edged 0.1% higher, while the Sensex in India fell 0.4%. Thailand's SET dropped 0.9%.
On Friday, major stock indexes on Wall Street drifted to a mixed finish Friday, capping a rare bumpy week for the market.
The S&P 500 ended essentially flat, down less than 0.1% at 6,051.09. The benchmark index posted a loss for the week, its first after three straight weekly gains.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average slipped 0.2% to 43,828.06, while the Nasdaq composite rose 0.1% to 19,926.72, ending just below the record high it set on Wednesday.
There were more than twice as many decliners than gainers on the New York Stock Exchange.
Gains in technology stocks helped temper losses in communication services, financials and other sectors of the market.
Broadcom surged 24.4% for the biggest gain in the S&P 500 after the semiconductor company beat Wall Street’s profit targets and gave a glowing forecast, highlighting its artificial intelligence products. The company also raised its dividend.
But some tech stocks were a drag on the market. Nvidia fell 2.2%, Meta Platforms dropped 1.7% and Google parent Alphabet slid 1.1%.
Among the market's other decliners were Airbnb, which fell 4.7% for the biggest loss in the S&P 500, and Charles Schwab, which closed 4% lower.
Furniture and housewares company RH, formerly known as Restoration Hardware, surged 17% after raising its forecast for revenue growth for the year.
Wall Street's rally stalled this week amid mixed economic reports and ahead of the Federal Reserve's last meeting of the year. The central bank is widely expected to cut interest rates for a third time since September when it meets this week.
Expectations of a series of rate cuts has driven the S&P 500 to 57 all-time highs so far this year.
The Fed has been lowering its benchmark interest rate after aggressively hiking rates to tame inflation. It raised rates from near-zero in early 2022 to a two-decade high by the middle of 2023. Inflation eased under pressure from higher interest rates, nearly to the central bank's 2% target.
The economy, including consumer spending and employment, held strong despite the squeeze from inflation and high borrowing costs. A slowing job market, though, has helped push a long-awaited reversal of the Fed's policy.
In other dealings early Monday, U.S. benchmark crude oil lost 47 cents to $70.82 per barrel. Brent crude, the international standard, lost 36 cents to $74.13 per barrel.
The U.S. dollar fell to 153.62 Japanese yen from 153.71 yen. The euro rose to $1.0516 from $1.0491.
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https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/donald-trump-ap-shares-yoon-suk-yeol-asian-b2664889.html
| 2024-12-16T06:55:24Z
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2015 Yukon XL
2015 Yukon XL will deliver greater capability and refinement, with more power, new fold-flat rear seats and a quieter interior.
2015 Yukon XL will deliver greater capability and refinement, with more power, new fold-flat rear seats and a quieter interior.
2015 Yukon XL will deliver greater capability and refinement, with more power, new fold-flat rear seats and a quieter interior.
And thanks to a new family of advanced EcoTec3 engines, the lineup is expected to deliver the segment’s best V-8 fuel economy.
Bold styling and advanced technologies – including new safety and security technologies – support Yukon’s greater capability, while a more comprehensive list of standard features and enhanced infotainment options are designed to broaden the appeal of one of the industry’s most-popular full-size SUV lineups.
Yukon XL share design, architectural and powertrain elements, but Yukon XL has an approximately 14-inch longer wheelbase and is approximately 20 inches longer overall, providing greater legroom for third-row passengers and almost twice the cargo room behind the third-row seat.
When it comes to safety, the Yukon lineup incorporates new technologies to help protect the driver and passengers before, during and after a collision. They include a forward radar system and the segment’s only front seat center-mounted air bag (models with bucket seats), which is engineered to provide additional protection to drivers and front passengers in far-side impact crashes, where the affected occupant is on the opposite, non-struck side of the vehicle.
Standard and available safety features, depending on the model, also include forward collision alert, front park assist, lane departure warning, lane change assist, rear cross traffic alert, adaptive cruise control, front and rear automatic braking, and GM’s Safety Alert Seat. It offers directional vibrations to alert the driver about potential crash threats.
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https://www.indiatimes.com/boyz-toyz/cars-and-bikes/2015-yukon-xl-104366.html
| 2024-12-16T06:55:24Z
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https://365project.org/catey/365/2024-12-15
| 2024-12-16T06:55:25Z
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From the opening tip of the Golden State Warriors' Sunday night battle against the Dallas Mavericks, it was apparent that it was going to be a high-scoring affair. The first half saw offensive explosions from both teams, with the two entering the break having combined for 155 points. In the end, the Warriors' offensive onslaught wasn't enough as the Mavericks did more than enough to keep in step, with the Dubs taking a 143-133 defeat at home.
The Warriors have had some offensive execution troubles in recent weeks, so for their offense to come alive in this manner is a welcome sign. In fact, they made 27 triples as a team — just two shy of the all-time record for three-pointers made by a team in a single game. But they were undid by their lackluster defense, and in turn, they became the first team in NBA history to lose when making 27 or more triples, with the previous teams that did going 11-0, as pointed out by Bobby Karalla of DLLS Mavs.
It was the Warriors' torrid shooting from beyond the arc that gave them a lifeline throughout the game; the Mavericks were getting anything they wanted on offense, with Luka Doncic putting the Dubs' defense to the sword by recording 45 points, 11 rebounds, and 13 assists on a scorching hot 16-23 shooting from the field.
Golden State may have made 27 of their 54 three-point attempts on the night, but the Mavericks made 21 out of 41 themselves (51.1 percent) while shooting a blistering 31-46 from two-point range (67.4 percent). On the contrary, the Warriors weren't as efficient from two, as they went 22/51 from within the three-point line (43.1 percent). That proved to be all the difference in their high-octane affair.
The Warriors simply have to gain a better two-way balance from here on out, and perhaps the arrival of Dennis Schroder would do wonders to that end.
Warriors could not contain Luka Doncic
It's rare for any team to withstand a three-point barrage from the Warriors; Stephen Curry was once again breathing fire, as he made seven of his 13 three-point attempts on Sunday. But the Dubs, of all teams, would know that they aren't getting anywhere far without a sturdy defense, and whatever the opposite of sturdy is, that's what their defense was on the night.
Luka Doncic was simply phenomenal and he made Andrew Wiggins, someone who has defended the Mavericks star well in the past, look like a high-schooler with the way he was in control all night long. Doncic put so much pressure on the Warriors' defense, unlocking the best out of Klay Thompson, who grabbed his first win over his former team with an incredible 29-point outing (9-14 from the field, 7-11 from beyond the arc).
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https://clutchpoints.com/warriors-news-golden-state-blemishes-perfect-3-point-nba-record-in-loss-to-mavericks
| 2024-12-16T06:55:30Z
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Luigi Mangione and the spectre of populist, non-partisan political violence
A shifting paradigm
This is a post about how technological advancement has made it almost impossible to avoid detection and punishment if our elite’s willpower to catch a perpetrator exists, the climate which is going to make higher-level assassinations more common regardless, and how upper elites will respond to that threat.
This is actually a topic I’ve thought about covering for awhile, but it was a lower priority compared to others. I’ve increased it to high priority due to current events.
In the days after the assassination of the UnitedHealthcare CEO I saw a large number of poor takes around the internet, arguing that the UHC CEO assassin would get away with murder. I wrote a Note arguing that he would definitely be caught and caught quickly, which I was sure of even before the image of him de-masked at the hostel he was staying at was released. The poor take argument went more-or-less as follows: the perpetrator covered his face with a mask almost the whole time he was in New York City, he rode a bike (not a public e-bike), he disappeared into central park which lacked cameras, he used a silencer, he wasn’t caught in or around the scene of the crime, most crimes are solved because they had a personal relationship to the victim and here there likely was none, etc. Furthermore, the U.S. has a historically low below 50% homicide clearance rate (i.e.conviction rate), which is pretty crazy all things considered. See here:
Therefore, because of the U.S.’s low clearance rate, the many precautions the attacker had taken and his lack of personal connection with the victim, it was only reasonable, these people argued, to assume he would get away with murder.
Let’s highlight the problems with this argument. Yes, the homicide conviction rate is very low, but that is because most murders are of people that the system doesn’t care about. A large percent of those murders are low income black-on-black violence, and relatively few of those murders result in a conviction:
Here, the victim was a globohomo cog in the machine who made $10 mil+ a year — he was important. Because of that, our elites were certain to spend resources as a high priority to find and track down the killer, especially to disincentivize something like this from happening again. Criminal violence in our system can be applied against the powerless, but never the powerful (unless it’s an intra-elite spat, which this did not seem to be). Additionally, the murder happened in NYC which is one of the most surveilled cities in the world, and all it would take is one wrong move in order to be discovered. Our elites could find him if he had his cell phone on him, they could find him if he left a fingerprint somewhere, they could find him if his silencer was registered (as there would only be a small pool of buyers), they could find him if he de-masked at some point (which he did) or if he used his credit card somewhere. Facial recognition software is quite advanced at this point and they could narrow the list of suspects even if he was wearing a mask by looking at facial characteristics such as facial shape, eyebrow shape, and the distance between the suspect’s eyes. Facial recognition technology isn’t quite there yet to identify people just by the eyes, but it’s not far off either: see this journal submission which states “Multimodality (voice, iris, fingerprint...), soft facial biometrics, infrared imaging, sketches, and deep learning without neglecting conventional machine learning methods are tracks to be considered in the near future” (with that said, Mayor Eric Adams is asking NYC businesses moving forward to ask people to remove face masks (what happened to fraudvirus, libs?) so the masks may still be proving to be a bit difficult for identification, although that technology is also progressing). There are so many ways with modern technology they could track this guy down if the political will is there, which in this case there was. One wrong move and the perp was done for.
This isn’t the past; we live in the era of the omnipresent security state. Perhaps if he had done this ten or twenty years ago he would have gotten away with it. Still, the perpetrator’s tiny odds of escaping these days would have been higher if the crime happened in a remote area and not the most surveilled place on the planet, but still low odds if the political will was there to track him down. Soon with the implementation of Real ID and everyone needing to submit your biometrics to access public events, combined with the digital panopticon previously discussed where Sundance argues that Peter Thiel, his Palantir partner Alex Karp and Musk are galloping the country toward as quickly as they can, such identification will happen almost instantaneously. The noose is tightening and the public is asleep.
With the attacker caught (although it’s strange he apparently didn’t ditch the murder weapon), one is going to see the book thrown at him and he is going to be made to suffer - solitary confinement, or genpop with contracted sexual assaults against him - to try to prevent copycats from happening in the future. The official story of how Mangione was caught - that of a McDonalds worker recognizing him and reporting him to the police - is possible, as there are always plenty of people in the public ready to report on a fugitive (reminiscent of the great book The Running Man, not to be confused with the terrible movie, which I will cover in the future) but it’s also possible - if not probable - that he was caught via abuse of the technological security state and then parallel construction was used as an excuse for how he was actually tracked down.
The public is broadly supportive of the attacker
The public response to this assassination is interesting to watch on social media: it is broadly supportive of it, believing that UnitedHealthcare is highly predatory and that the CEO’s actions resulted in the deaths of many people. See this Rolling Stone article about it. Mangione’s possible manifesto can be seen here, or a different one here. This assassination transcended traditional left/right dynamics and represents more of a populist vs. elitist dynamics given that the attacker is hard to pigeonhole: he was a good looking guy (Twitter profile here), apparently an Ivy League graduate1, the valedictorian of his high school class, who was worried about global warming and praised Kaczynski’s Industrial Society and it’s Future even as he seemed proficient with guns:
To Mangione’s point, UHC has the highest coverage denial rate in the insurance industry, double the national average, leading to record profits for the company (which the CEO was on his way to announcing when he was killed):
UHC took down the biographies of it’s executives from its website and is fearfully putting up a fence around it’s headquarters. Comments to it’s posts on social media are turned off and they sent out an internal memo for employees not to comment publicly. It’s stock went up the day after the attack, but then fell a lot the day after that, almost 10% between 12/5 and 12/6. The other top executive called the public’s response deplorable.
Widening wealth disparities increase social instability
There is no middle class in America anymore; people have talked for a long time about how the middle class is dying, but it isn’t dying anymore - it is dead. Dead, dead, dead. There is simply the ultra rich and everyone else. A shitbox in a major metropolitan area costs well over $1 million if not double that with interest rates on mortgages at 7% - no one can afford to buy a home anymore. The traditional middle class lifestyle - home ownership, two cars, put kids through college, retirement, perhaps only one parent working - is now reserved for the top 1% if not higher.
This is why the public is generally approving of the attacker’s actions - the general population is angry and upset as it’s quality of life continues to erode, which is only going to get worse (much worse) given the extreme amount of federal debt, which at 125% debt to GDP ratio is higher than it was at the peak of World War 2. We see 20%+ inflation on foodstuff, health care, housing costs, even as the Fed claims that real inflation is 2%. It’s a joke. You can see all the charts here how the wealth disparity really skyrocketed after getting off the gold standard in 1971, and it accelerated further after the decline of the Soviet Union - without fear of communism holding financial predators in check they were free to dramatically jack up executive compensation while ruthlessly decreasing worker pay.
If people feel like they don’t have a stake in society, if they can’t afford to have a family and if they think the future is going to be worse than it is now, then you are going to see a much greater rise in attacks like this moving forward. I’m kind of surprised that it hasn’t happened more, to be honest; this is the first big one I can think of in recent memory where a higher up executive was targeted instead of terror attacks instigated by our elites against the public.
As these attacks grow over time, there will be a response from the elites: both in terms of limiting free speech online, to increasing propaganda by labeling such attacks as terrorism, and also result in a vast proliferation of private security forces and walled ultra-rich enclaves, much like one sees in South Africa and Brazil. It will become dangerous for the ultra rich to go out in public without armed security. This is coming and it is neo-feudalism in action. But it will also be interesting to see if UHC quietly lowers their claim rejection rates moving forward - will a CEO want to bear the risk of assassination even if he has a giant private security force (or is the CEO just an expendable cog and shareholders will force him to bear that risk regardless)? What about top bankers or the central bank owners if they become subject to the public’s wrath such as the 1920 Wall Street bombing? The upper elites have never been targeted historically: not a single Rothschild was killed in World War 2 despite many of them living in Europe before and during the war because they controlled Germany’s finances (via the Bank for International Settlements, the Dawes loans, financing and supply of IG Farben, and via Germany’s central bank). Yet the structure of the modern world is slowly, ever-so-slowly leaking out to people (also see here and here). Will the rising risk of assassination in turn serve as a limiting factor for upper elites who may have to ultimately take personal risk into their calculations?
Mangione’s attack was qualitatively different than other shootings, such as the Las Vegas shooting (buried by the FBI and media), the Trump assassination attempts (buried by the FBI and media; we already know much more about Mangione than about Matthew Crooks), or terrorist attacks (most of them sponsored by the FBI), because this is a populist response to the elites and not the regular elite crushing of the masses with associated mind-games.
touched on this concept a bit in this post. There are very few assassinations in the modern era and most of them are against dissidents or populists both on the right and left, or of strongmen who globohomo used to support but they became tired of (Qaddafi, Saddam). Historically one may think of Huey Long and the Kennedys as victims of this too. Future attacks under this shifting paradigm may be done by lone wolfs without official government sanction or support, and how would elites protect oneself from such nebulous threats? What kind of general anxiety would that endanger? It is interesting that the media is hyping up this attack; perhaps they don’t quite understand what to make of the paradigm shift he represents, or alternatively the media’s owners may want to highlight him in order to further their goals of pushing ubiquitous internet censorship in the future (“We need to clamp down on free speech for public safety!”).I hope you found this exploration helpful. Perhaps it’s not a bad thing if our upper elites, utterly materialistic and atheistic2, would have to factor public blowback to them personally for their actions as a check on unlimited rapaciousness and greed.
Thanks for reading.
This raises an interesting point about the personality and background profile of this shooter: a likely upper middle class resentment brought about by access to the upper class but an inability to convert that access to money or power; entitlement without payoff. Indeed, the upper middle class has always been biggest threat to the elites, not the middle or lower lumpenproletariat who would not likely feel the toxic resentment/entitlement combination to target higher elites.
According to Eustace Mullins, the central bank owners “adopted the Hegelian dialectic, the dialectic of materialism, which regards the World as Power, and the World as Reality. It denies all other powers and all other realities. It functions on the principle of thesis, antithesis and a synthesis…Thus the World Order organizes and finances Jewish groups; it then organizes and finances anti-Jewish groups; it organizes Communist groups; it then organizes and finances anti-Communist groups. It is not necessary for the Order to throw these groups against each other; they seek each other out like heat-seeking missiles and try to destroy each other. By controlling the size and resources of each group, the World Order can always predetermine the outcome. In this technique, members of the World Order are often identified with one side or the other. John Foster Dulles arranged financing for Hitler, but he was never a Nazi. David Rockefeller may be cheered in Moscow, but he is not a Communist…a distinguishing trait of a member of the World Order, although it may not be admitted, is that he does not believe in anything but the World Order. Another distinguishing trait is his absolute contempt for anyone who actually believes in the tenets of Communism, Zionism, Christianity, or any national, religious or fraternal group…If you are a sincere Christian, Zionist or Moslem, the World Order regards you as a moron unworthy of respect. You can and will be used, but you will never be respected.”
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https://neofeudalreview.substack.com/p/luigi-mangione-and-the-spectre-of
| 2024-12-16T06:55:30Z
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Bernie Sanders says CEO murder came amid people’s anger ‘rising up’ over health insurance denials
Democratic congressmembers are highlighting problems with the US healthcare industry
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Your support makes all the difference.Bernie Sanders, the Vermont senator who has campaigned for a national healthcare system, has said the UnitedHealthcare CEO’s shooting underscores people’s frustration with the industry.
Sanders, an Independent who caucuses with the Democrats, made the remarks on Meet the Press on Sunday morning.
“What I think has happened in the last few months is that what you have seen rising up is people’s anger at a health insurance industry, which denies people the health care that they desperately need while they make billions and billions of dollars in profit,” the senator told the show’s host Kristen Welker in response to a question about whether now is the right time to be discussing health insurance policy.
Luigi Mangione, the suspect in the murder, allegedly gunned down UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson on December 4 in New York City. He was arrested days later at a McDonald’s in Altoona, Pennsylvania. At the time, police said they found a handwritten manifesto on him outlining his motive.
“Frankly, these parasites simply had it coming. A reminder: the US has the #1 most expensive healthcare system in the world, yet we rank roughly #42 in life expectancy,” Mangione allegedly wrote. He’s been charged with second-degree murder in New York and gun-related charges in Pennsylvania.
While condemning Mangione’s murder, Sanders, who chairs the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, reiterated some of the points made in the alleged manifesto.
“We need to ask ourselves when we talk about health care is why we are the only major country on earth not to guarantee health care to all people, why we have a life expectancy which is significantly lower than in other countries, why working-class people die five to ten years shorter than the people on top,” he said
“I think the time is long overdue for us to guarantee health care to every man, woman, and child, especially at a time when we’re spending twice as much per capita on health care as the people of every other nation.”
Other Democratic lawmakers have recently highlighted problems with the healthcare system. In a TV interview earlier this week, Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren said “you can only push people so far and then they start to take matters into their own hands.”
She later said: “I should have been much clearer that there is never a justification for murder.”
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a Congresswoman from New York, said the shooting revealed a “mass bubbling of resentment.”
“Of course, we don’t want to see the chaos that vigilantism presents,” she told Business Insider. “We also don’t want to see the extreme suffering that millions of Americans confront when your life changes overnight from a horrific diagnosis.”
UnitedHealthcare denies more claims than other insurers, according to a report from Forbes. After Mangione’s arrest, his supporters donated tens of thousands of dollars to his defense funds, surpassing $100,000. He’s currently being held in a Pennsylvania detetion facility while he fights extradition to New York.
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https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/bernie-sanders-united-healthcare-ceo-insurance-b2664897.html
| 2024-12-16T06:55:30Z
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| 2024-12-16T06:55:31Z
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Mapped: Where has Russia made advances on the frontline in Ukraine?
Ukraine’s military say the hottest fighting along the roughly 640-mile frontline is taking place along multiple points in Donetsk
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Your support makes all the difference.Ukrainian forces defending the eastern region of Donetsk are heading into the “moment of maximum tension” as Russian forces rush to take territory across Ukraine ahead of Donald Trump’s inauguration next year, war monitors have claimed.
Mr Trump’s comprehensive victory in the US election, which came off the back of his promises to end the war in Ukraine in 24 hours, has brought into sharp relief the difficult situation on the frontline for Kyiv.
Russian forces have continued to make gains in the eastern region of Donetsk, advancing along several fronts towards the city of Pokrovsk, a linchpin of the wider area’s defence.
Moscow has also mobilised thousands of North Korean soldiers to push back the Ukrainian incursion into the border region of Kursk, with some success.
And in the Kharkiv region, Russian forces are also staging an attack on the city of Kupiansk, which is key to that area’s wider defence.
Exactly how Mr Trump’s promise to end the war in 24 hours plays out remains to be seen but several unofficial proposals have included plans to freeze the frontline.
Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov has since said that a frozen conflict would be “even worse” than deals struck in 2014 and 2015 to put a pause to fighting during Russia’s first invasion a decade ago.
Whether or not either Ukraine or Vladimir Putin will accept those concessions is also unclear - many say it is unlikely - but the incentive for Russia to seize as much territory as possible is self-evident.
The past few months have seen Moscow seize territory at their fastest rate since March 2022.
Below, we look at the two hotspots of fighting.
Russia’s months-long attack in the direction of Pokrovsk has led to Moscow capturing more than 300 square miles of territory since seizing the city of Avdiivka in February.
It has come at great cost, with western intelligence officials estimating Russia has suffered its highest monthly military personnel losses in the past few months since the start of Moscow’s full-scale invasion. Sir Tony Radakin, the UK chief of the defence staff, put the figure at around 1,500 casualties a day.
Nevertheless, a wide bulge can now be seen protruding from the Russian frontline into Ukrainian-held territory of the Donetsk region, towards Pokrovsk.
In what is a rapid last push to capture the region, Russian forces recently advanced in the direction of Pokrovsk. The Institute for the Study of War cited geolocated footage published on 7 and 8 November and said that Russian forces recently advanced east of Ukrainka (southwest of Pokrovsk) and southeast of Dachenske (southeast of Pokrovsk).
The claim was followed by Russian milbloggers stating that forces seized Novotroitske (southwest of Pokrovsk) and advanced within Shevchenko and Zelene (both south of Pokrovsk) and southeast of Novotroitske but the US-based think-tank could not confirm it.
The region makes up one half of the area known as Donbas – the other half is Luhansk, which is almost entirely controlled by Russia – and has been the site of fighting between Russia and Ukraine since 2014.
The Kremlin is likely to push forth with its attempts to capture Pokrovsk despite significant human and material losses, the ISW has assessed.
Russian president Vladimir Putin has made no secret of his desire to control the entire Donbas.
The Centre for Defence Strategies (CDS), a Ukrainian security think tank, says the upcoming battle for Pokrovsk will be “the climax of the enemy’s offensive operations” this calendar year.
“October and partially November become the moment of maximum tension for both sides in the entire 2024 campaign,” they added.
In its latest update, Ukraine’s military said there were more than 40 Russian attacks in the Pokrovsk direction in the last 24 hours.
Immediately to the south, at the bottom of the bulge, there were a further 45 attacks in the Kurakhove direction.
Russia’s defence ministry, meanwhile, claimed they had taken control of the town of Voznesenka, days after taking the nearby Kreminna Balka. Both villages are just north of Kurakhove.
While DeepState, a Ukrainian war monitor with close ties to the Ukrainian defence ministry, said Voznesenka remains in the grey zone, where neither side is in control of the town, they acknowledged that Russia are advancing in that area.
They reported on Thursday that Russian forces had also taken the town of Illinka, directly above Kurakhove.
In the past month, after the fall of Vuhledar, the Russians have also pushed nearly 10 miles towards the settlements of Maksymivka and Trudove. There were 10 Russian attacks in that area over the last 24 hours, say the Ukrainian military.
This has created a S-shaped frontline in Donetsk, in which the bulge towards Pokrovsk is followed by a dent around Kurakhove, followed by a secondary bulge.
Concerns abound that the shape of these attacks now leaves Ukrainian forces fighting in Kurakhove at risk of being encircled.
In the city of Kupiansk in Kharkiv in northeast Ukraine, Russian forces – without gaining ground this month – have continued the offensive along the Kupyansk-Svatove-Kreminna line.
In Lyman direction, Russian forces are using armored vehicles less than they were a week ago, the spokesperson of a Ukrainian brigade operating in the region said, and added that Russian infantry with varying levels of training are conducting assaults in the area.
Kupiansk was seized by Moscow's forces in the early days of their February 2022 invasion and recaptured by Ukrainian troops in a rapid counter-offensive months later. In recent months, the area has seen an upsurge of activity by Russian forces.
“The alleged presence of Russian troops in the city of Kupiansk is not true,” the Ukrainian military's General Staff wrote on the Telegram messenger.
A Russian-installed official said earlier that Moscow’s forces were gaining a foothold on the outskirts of the city
Further north, in the Russian region of Kursk, around 10,000 North Korean forces are reportedly helping Moscow’s soldiers to push back a Ukrainian attack.
Their effectiveness has come under question for several reasons, not in the least because they lack any combat experience and there remains a language barrier with their Russian counterparts, but US secretary of state Anthony Blinken reported the Pyongyang forces have been heavily-armed.
Last week, Ukrainian and North Korean troops engaged in small-scale fighting for the first time, which amounted to the start of Pyongyang’s direct involvement in the war, Ukraine’s defence minister Rustem Umerov told South Korea’s public broadcaster KBS in an interview.
He added that he anticipates around five North Korean units, each with approximately 3,000 soldiers, will be stationed in the Kursk region.
Kyiv’s forces launched the daring cross-border assault into Kursk on 6 August, capturing hundreds of square miles of territory, but in recent weeks have lost ground on the western side of the attack.
The main city of Sudzha, on the eastern side of the attack, remains in Ukrainian hands. It is believed to be a key target for the Russian forces.
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| 2024-12-16T06:55:36Z
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Nasa to Launch 3-D Printer into Space
Nasa is preparing to launch a 3-D printer into space next year, a toaster-sized game changer that greatly reduces the need for astronauts to load up with every tool, spare part or supply they might ever need.
MOFFETT FIELD (US): Nasa is preparing to launch a 3-D printer into space next year, a toaster-sized game changer that greatly reduces the need for astronauts to load up with every tool, spare part or supply they might ever need.
The printers would serve as a flying factory of infinite designs, creating objects by extruding layer upon layer of plastic from long strands coiled around large spools. Doctors use them to make replacement joints and artists use them to build exquisite jewelry.
In Nasa labs, engineers are 3-D printing small satellites that could shoot out of the space station and transmit data to earth, as well as replacement parts and rocket pieces that can survive extreme temperatures.
"Any time we realize we can 3-D print something in space, it's like Christmas," said inventor Andrew Filo, who is consulting with Nasa on the project. "You can get rid of concepts like rationing, scarce or irreplaceable."
The spools of plastic could eventually replace racks of extra instruments and hardware, although the upcoming mission is just a demonstration printing job.
"If you want to be adaptable, you have to be able to design and manufacture on the fly, and that's where 3-D printing in space comes in," said Dave Korsmeyer, director of engineering at Nasa's Ames Research Center at Moffett Field, about 55 kilometres south of San Francisco.
For the first 3-D printer in space test slated for fall 2014, Nasa had more than a dozen machines to choose from, ranging from USD 300 desktop models to USD 500,000 warehouse builders.
All of them, however, were built for use on Earth, and space travel presented challenges, from the loads and vibrations of launch to the stresses of working in orbit, including microgravity, differing air pressures, limited power and variable temperatures.
As a result, Nasa hired Silicon Valley startup Made In Space to build something entirely new.
"Imagine an astronaut needing to make a life-or-death repair on the International Space Station," said Aaron Kemmer, CEO of Made in Space. "Rather than hoping that the necessary parts and tools are on the station already, what if the parts could be 3-D printed when they needed them?"
When staffing his start up in 2010, Kemmer and his partners warned engineers there would be ups and downs, nauseating ones. In more than a dozen flights in Nasa's "vomit comet" reduced-gravity aircraft, Made In Space scientists tested printer after printer.
AP
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https://www.indiatimes.com/boyz-toyz/machines/nasa-to-launch-3d-printer-into-space-104373.html
| 2024-12-16T06:55:37Z
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We have a few northern hemispherians at our work, who struggle with the; its Christmas and summer and it just doesn't seem right.... But this is our Christmas tree and its blooms always make me feel festive. So I will do a week of them to get into the spirt.
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| 2024-12-16T06:55:37Z
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| 2024-12-16T06:55:38Z
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Travel warning issued as seven tourists fall sick with alcohol poisoning in Fiji
Four Australians, two Americans and a Fijian hospitalised after drinking cocktails at popular resort
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Your support makes all the difference.At least seven people have been taken to hospital in Fiji after drinking cocktails at a popular resort bar over the weekend.
Four Australian women, two Americans and one Fijian, aged 18 to 56, were hospitalised for suspected alcohol poisoning on Saturday night.
One of the Australians, 56, was under constant hospital surveillance while another, 19, had experienced “serious medical episodes”. The other two, aged 49 and 18, were in critical but less severe condition.
Fiji’s police and health ministry were conducting investigations and toxicology tests to determine the cause of the poisoning.
The victims reportedly drank cocktails at Warwick Fiji Resort on the Coral Coast and soon developed nausea, vomiting, and “neurological symptoms”.
The country’s government insisted that the episode was “extremely isolated”.
An incident of alcohol poisoning left six tourists dead in the Southeast Asian country of Laos last month.
“We don’t have the cause of the incident yet but our team is currently investigating,” Jemesa Tudravu from the health ministry was quoted as saying by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. He said police were conducting separate toxicology exams as part of their investigation.
Viliame Gavoka, deputy prime minister, said all seven guests had been transferred to the Lautoka hospital for “medical care, investigation, and management”.
“We are glad to hear that they are stable and hope their conditions continue to improve,” the minister said in a statement. “This is an extremely isolated incident, affecting only these seven guests at a specific bar within the resort.”
“As we approach the festive season, we always advise everyone to exercise the usual caution about what they consume,” Mr Gavoka said.
Australia, meanwhile, warned travellers to Fiji to look for the potential risks of “drink spiking and methanol poisoning” when consuming alcoholic beverages.
The Warwick Fiji Resort earlier said it was operational despite the hospitalisations. “We do not have anything to disclose because the resort is under investigation,” the resort’s reception said in a statement to the BBC.
The establishment said they were taking the matter “very seriously” and “conducting a thorough investigation”. They were waiting for the “test result report” from the health ministry to “gather all necessary information”.
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| 2024-12-16T06:55:42Z
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Wires
Winter must be cold for those with no warm memories.
-Deborah Kerr
15th December 2024
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| 2024-12-16T06:55:43Z
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A Documentary On Sunny Leone Soon
It will be really interesting to watch Sunny Leone's real life on screen.
It will be really interesting to watch Sunny Leone's real life on screen.
The adult-film-star-turned-Bollywood-actress has been reportedly approached by the famous photo-journalist, Dilip Mehta, who wants to create a film on Leone's life. It is said that the film will be produced by Dilip's sister, notable filmmaker, Deepa Mehta.
The project is yet to be green-signalled. Hence, neither Dilip nor Deepa has made the official announcement. However, Sunny's husband, Daniel Weber, reveals to TOI, "Sunny and I have been approached regarding a documentary about our lives and have been in talks with a Canadian production company (Hamilton Mehta Productions) and Dilip Mehta. We will have more information about the shooting schedule in the next 30 days."
Sunny, who made her Bollywood debut with Jism 2, is currently shooting for Ragini MMS 2 and Jackpot.
Mahesh Bhatt, who offered Sunny her big B-Town break, says, "If a documentary is being made on her, it is because sin is photogenic and it sells."
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| 2024-12-16T06:55:45Z
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| 2024-12-16T06:55:51Z
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NAIROBI, Kenya, Dec 16 – The Gatabaki family says they have not been compensated Sh300 million awarded to them after the government acquired their land for the construction of the Northern Bypass.
The family further indicated that people claiming to be owners of the undeveloped land have been seen encroaching on it.
According to Nancy Wanja Gatabaki, she acquired the land together with her husband in 1971 and they have not been paid.
“Northern bypass 16.60 and a half acres I’ve never been paid a single penny Asian on that side but I have never been paid. I have been to DCI when Kinoti was there, but nothing has happened,” she stated.
She also pointed out that she has not sold any part of the land and is still its legal owner.
“You know my land has always been 206 acres, the CID came to my house telling me that I have 360 acres, and I have sold some to Peter Kiarie Muraya I ASKED THEM whether we went to lawyer? You know when you were selling a big land like that one, you go to land board, where was the money deposited?” she stated.
Two of her daughters also stated that they had to relocate in a bid to help their mother get justice.
“This is where we grew up, this is home I don’t have another home. My children also this is their shagz. We request even the president to now step in and help us, this is a cry for help My mom is a widow We are children of a widower,” she said.
They stated that some people who visited the parcel on Thursday last week declined to identify themselves.
“We believe the equity Boss is behind this, because when the judge made the order equity wanted the matter to be stayed, they should just leave this property,” she said
She further claims that her last husband was cheated that once he gives out the land, he will have 50 percent shares.
“He was not genuine, Peter Kiare withdrew the money to another account not ours,” she claims
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Photo 3386
Student of the month
Napoleonville, Louisiana
I was looking for an old sugar mill that the Cub Scouts visited years ago. The sugar mill is gone, as are many of the vintage workers' bungalows that surrounded it. Sitting among the derelict houses were a few renovated ones, including this one.
6th December 2024
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I don’t think I’d like to live among derelict buildings, even if mine had been renovated.
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| 2024-12-16T06:55:56Z
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If you’re looking for hints and answers for Strands for Monday, December 16, 2024, read on—I’ll share some clues and tips, and finally the solution to the puzzle with the theme “Crossed words.”
For an easy way to come back to our Strands hints every day, bookmark this page. You can also find our past hints there as well, in case you want to know what you missed in a previous puzzle.
Below, I’ll give you some oblique hints at today’s Strands answers. And farther down the page, I’ll reveal the spangram and the answers. Scroll slowly and take just the hints you need!
Hint for the spangram in today’s Strands puzzle
A word for when two words are mashed together.
Hint for the theme words in today’s Strands puzzle
Examples of hybrid words.
BEWARE: Spoilers follow for today’s Strands puzzle!
We’re about to give away the answers to today’s Strands puzzle.
What is the spangram in today’s Strands?
Today’s spangram is PORTMANTEAUX.
What are the theme words in today’s Strands?
The theme words today are: ZORSE, SMOG, ANKLET, ATHLEISURE, SPORK, BRUNCH.
Here’s what the board looks like when the puzzle is solved:
How I solved today’s Strands
“Crossed” could refer to anger, so maybe it’s words related to that?
SORE and ZERO are non-theme words.
BRUNCH, in the bottom right, is a hit. 🔵 Oh, because it’s two words mixed together: breakfast and lunch. So “crossed words” refers to two words that have been combined.
And another word for that is a portmanteau, which leads me to the spangram: PORTMANTEAUX. 🟡 (I guess that’s the plural form?)
SMOG (smoke and fog) is along the left edge. 🔵
ANKLET (ankle and bracelet) is in the bottom left corner. 🔵
SPORK (spoon and fork) is above BRUNCH. 🔵
ATHLEISURE (athletic and leisure) is in the upper right corner. 🔵
OK, you guys, I kid you not, I was going absolutely insane trying to figure out this last word. I was convinced the puzzle was broken. (I did hit the hint button until I realized it just highlights the remaining letters, which is of no help at all.) It’s ZORSE, which is apparently a zebra-horse hybrid? Sure. 🔵
Strands #288 “Crossed words” 🔵🟡🔵🔵 🔵🔵💡🔵
How to play Strands
You can find the Strands game on the New York Times website and in the NYT Games app.
When you start playing, you’ll see a game board with an assortment of letters, flanked by a clue that gives a hint at the board’s theme—this will be a phrase, like “Better with age.” Your job is to find the hidden words within the board that reflect the puzzle’s theme.
A crossword crossed with a word search
The most important word to find is the “spangram,” a word that more explicitly states the puzzle’s theme. (For example, the spangram for the puzzle with the theme "Better with age" is FERMENTED, which describes products that are, you guessed it, better with age.) The spangram will span the entire game board, either from left to right or top to bottom (hence the name). When you find the spangram, it will be highlighted in yellow. Solving the spangram usually makes the rest of the puzzle much easier to complete.
In Strands, words can travel any direction (up, down, left, right, and diagonal), and you will only use each letter once. There is only one correct solution. When you correctly identify one of the puzzle’s words (for example, KOMBUCHA, MISO, or KIMCHI), it will be highlighted in blue.
If you are struggling to solve the puzzle, you can submit any non-theme words you see (as long as they are four letters or more) to receive credit toward a single hint. If you submit three non-theme words, the “Hint” button will be clickable; if you click it, all of the letters in one of the theme words will be highlighted for you. You will still have to link these highlighted letters in the right order to form one of the theme words. If there is already a hint on the board and you use another hint before solving for that word, that word’s letter order will be revealed.
How to win Strands
Unlike Connections and Wordle, you cannot fail Strands. When you submit guesses, you will either correctly identify an answer, receive credit toward a hint, or the text will shake back and forth, indicating that the word you submitted is too short or not valid. You can't run out of guesses, and there is no time limit.
You win when you’ve correctly used all the letters on the board, meaning that you have identified the spangram and all of the theme words. Like other NYT games, upon solving the puzzle, you will see a shareable card that indicates how you performed that day: blue dots 🔵 indicate theme words you found, the yellow dot 🟡 indicates when you found the spangram, and a lightbulb 💡 indicates words that you received a hint for.
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https://lifehacker.com/entertainment/strands-nyt-hint-today-crossed-words-dec-16-2024
| 2024-12-16T06:55:57Z
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CLO's Christmas treats run through November 22
Wintertime is a time of tradition, and Pittsburgh understands that as well as any other town. The big tree is up at the skating rink, lights line the major thoroughfares, the Market Square karaoke busker has switched from Whitney Houston to "Last Christmas." Yes, holiday time is a time of ritual, when something old is valued as much as something new. Clearly, this sentiment is understood by Pittsburgh CLO, as they bring us the thirty-second annual production of A Musical Christmas Carol, and the second annual production of Who's Holiday. These shows may be returning favorites, but there's nothing hoary and predictable about either one. Both shows are as fresh as the day they premiered. They work uncommonly well as a double feature, too: despite its family-friendly source material, Christmas Carol gets extremely dark, while the gleefully depraved Who's Holiday ends in a joyful outpouring of healing and redemption.
Right away at the Byham, audiences can tell this isn't the classic, cuddly Victoriana of so many Dickens adaptations. The set design by D. Martin Bookwalter is a macabre gothic treasure trove of broken antiques, piled garbage and haunted-house details. David H. Bell's adaptation, with complex and evocative musical arrangements by Rob Bowman and McCrae Hardy, leans hard into that dark, haunted-house atmosphere. This production, as directed by Scott Evans from David H. Bell's original direction and choreography, is no Hallmark Christmas special. It turns up both the written intensity of Dickens's holiday haunting, and heaps on an extra load of Dickensian melodrama and social commentary, building the world around Scrooge in its grubby meanness to emphasize the flickers of human decency around him. This darker, more melodramatic takes also makes the moments of comic relief, which are many, shine brighter amidst the gloom.
Right away, from his first lines, Charles Shaughnessy is a very different Scrooge than most. It's a subtle change from the commonplace, but Shaughnessy plays Scrooge with a working-class accent, eschewing the scenery-chewing archness and poshness so often associated with the role. This choice immediately establishes not only Scrooge's origin, but his current status: Shaughnessy's Scrooge is making no attempt to hide who he is or where he came from. He may have risen from poverty, but he's only made it to the middle of the middle class, yet he still kicks downward at his peers and lessers with a savage ferocity. Bell's adaptation makes Scrooge not only the head of an investment firm, but an active loan shark who we see shake down tardy clients. Combine that with Scrooge's working-class speech and coarser mannerisms, and it's hard to shake the more modern association that Scrooge appears to be a low-level gangster, a minor figure in the London mob. Most Scrooges shake their canes at bystanders to express scorn and disapproval; when Shaughnessy does it, it's clear that Scrooge would whack them and think nothing of it. All this toughening of the character, gives Scrooge even farther to come; instead of a man who has failed to pursue goodness, we instead are witness to the redemption of a man who has been actively and consistently evil. A villain, not an antihero, is saved in this production.
Shaughnessy's rough-hewn, realistic portrayal often stands out among the more caricatured and mannered supporting roles, who play into the music-hall side of the genre with aplomb. The supporting cast, most of whom play multiple roles, leaven the mournful, wrathful qualities of the story with comic relief and grotesque touches galore. Theo Allyn, a CLO mainstay, comes close to stealing Act 1 with her portrayal of Scrooge's housekeeper. The only way to describe it is "Carol Burnett as Mrs. Lovett." Daniel Krell is scary as Marley's Ghost, but even scarier as the living Marley, who Bell has written and Krell performed as a predatory, Palpatine-esque "dark father" to Scrooge. Saige Smith's Christmas Past is joyfully ethereal yet gentle, an energy she shares with Kat Harkins, who plays "all the women in Scrooge's life." (Harkins has wonderful chemistry- comic, romantic and dramatic- with Alexander Podolinski, a strong presence as Young Scrooge. Their scenes together make me wish their characters extended into Act 2 as well.) Naturally, it wouldn't be Christmas Carol without Tim Hartman as Fezziwig and Christmas Present. A master of vaudevillian asides and music-hall ribaldry, Hartman inches as close to the fourth wall as he can get without breaking it, bringing wild humor to the former role and a fire-and-brimstone preacher's smoldering intensity of purpose to the latter. Krell and Hartman also double in the "future" segment as catty, effete businessmen gossipping together with a third played by J. Alex Noble. Is it dangerously close to being an outdated gay joke? Maybe... and yet it feels so of a piece with the world and with the characters, and so recognizably a type known even today, that no one but the tightest prude or the wokest scold could object.
Around the corner at the Greer, a very different Christmas party is underway. Lara Hayhurst, directed by her longtime collaborator/husband Trey Compton, holds court at Who's Holiday, playing the grown, messy, self-destructive, hypersexual and deeply traumatized Cindy Lou Who. The energy is joyfully unhinged, trashy and Christmas yassified; it's maybe one or two wig changes from counting as an honorary drag show. Hayhurst's ability to bounce between playing Cindy Lou, and playing Hayhurst-as-Cindy-Lou-as-emcee, absolutely gives the show its engine. Watch in awe as she improvises banter with the audience, then snaps back into the intentionally-forced Seussian rhyme structure. This is very much NOT a show for children, though it's full of things your average fourth grade has JOKED about happening behind the scenes of the Grinch story. But as seedy and slutty and gory as it can get, it's still a Christmas special. There is a journey to go on, and Hayhurst never once lets go of the narrative thread. Cindy Lou's life has chewed her up and spit her out again, but it's Christmas, and on Christmas people can grow and heal and find new beginnings. You'll be tempted to shed a tear, then you'll suddenly remember a shameless visual gag or double entendre from half an hour ago, and think "how is this just one show?"
I can't think of a better double feature for a discerning, holiday-loving theatergoer, than the CLO one-two punch offered this year. A beloved TV star on one side, a star-making comedic role on the other. Roast goose, then Jello shots- that's Christmas to me, baby!
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https://www.broadwayworld.com/pittsburgh/article/Review-A-MUSICAL-CHRISTMAS-CAROL-WHOS-HOLIDAY-Revive-Holiday-Traditions-at-Pittsburgh-CLO-20241215
| 2024-12-16T06:55:57Z
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Akshay Kumar's Cool Dance Moves In Boss
Alshay Kumar is having a lot of fun on screen in Boss
Alshay Kumar is having a lot of fun on screen in Boss
After playing serious roles in Special 26 and Once Upon Ay Time In Mumbai Dobaara Akshay Kumar is back to having fun on screen in Boss. Here's a look at the Khiladi Kumar shaking a leg in the different songs of Boss
Akshay with his army of sexy babes in the title song
Akshay grooves with Yo Yo Honey Singh in Party All Night
Akshay Kumar with PrabhuDeva in Hum Na Tode
Akshay Kumar grooves with his Rowdy Rathore babe Sonakshi Sinha
Boss opens across in cinemas on October 16, 2013
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https://www.indiatimes.com/entertainment/bollywood/akshay-kumars-cool-dance-moves-in-boss-104412.html
| 2024-12-16T06:55:58Z
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https://www.indiatimes.com/entertainment/bollywood/boss-party-all-night-full-song-104393.html
| 2024-12-16T06:55:58Z
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Photo 610
Lo, How a Rose E'er Blooming
St. Philomena Catholic Church, Labadieville, Louisiana
The New Orleans area had the warmest November on record. The roses are still blooming in December.
4th December 2024
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We finally had frost last week in Richmond, and my roses were blooming up til then. I wonder what winter will be like.
December 16th, 2024
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| 2024-12-16T06:56:02Z
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If you’re looking for the Wordle answer for December 16, 2024 read on. We’ll share some clues, tips, and strategies, and finally the solution. Today’s puzzle is easier; I got it in three. Beware, there are spoilers below for December 16, Wordle #1,276! Keep scrolling if you want some hints (and then the answer) to today’s Wordle game.
How to play Wordle
Wordle lives here on the New York Times website. A new puzzle goes live every day at midnight, your local time.
Start by guessing a five-letter word. The letters of the word will turn green if they’re correct, yellow if you have the right letter in the wrong place, or gray if the letter isn’t in the day’s secret word at all. For more, check out our guide to playing Wordle here, and my strategy guide here for more advanced tips. (We also have more information at the bottom of this post, after the hints and answers.)
Ready for the hints? Let’s go!
Does today’s Wordle have any unusual letters?
We’ll define common letters as those that appear in the old typesetters’ phrase ETAOIN SHRDLU. (Memorize this! Pronounce it “Edwin Shirdloo,” like a name, and pretend he’s a friend of yours.)
They're almost all common letters from our mnemonic today! Only one isn't, and it's fairly common.
Can you give me a hint for today’s Wordle?
Not a humble brag.
Does today’s Wordle have any double or repeated letters?
There are no repeated letters today.
How many vowels are in today’s Wordle?
There are two vowels.
What letter does today’s Wordle start with?
Today’s word starts with B.
What letter does today’s Wordle end with?
Today’s word ends with T.
What is the solution to today’s Wordle?
Ready? Today’s word is BOAST.
How I solved today’s Wordle
I started with RAISE and TOUCH, which gave me all the clues I needed to guess BOAST.
Wordle 1,276 3/6 ⬛🟨⬛🟩⬛ 🟨🟩⬛⬛⬛ 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩
Yesterday’s Wordle answer
Yesterday’s Wordle was medium difficult. The hint was "might describe a smell or a style” and the answer contained two common letters, two somewhat common letters, and one uncommon letter.
The answer to yesterday’s Wordle was FUNKY.
A primer on Wordle basics
The idea of Wordle is to guess the day’s secret word. When you first open the Wordle game, you’ll see an empty grid of letters. It’s up to you to make the first move: type in any five-letter word.
Now, you can use the colors that are revealed to get clues about the word: Green means you correctly guessed a letter, and it’s in the correct position. (For example, if you guess PARTY, and the word is actually PURSE, the P and R will be green.)
Yellow means the letter is somewhere in the word, but not in the position you guessed it. (For example, if you guessed PARTY, but the word is actually ROAST, the R, A and T will all be yellow.)
Gray means the letter is not in the solution word at all. (If you guessed PARTY and everything is gray, then the solution cannot be PURSE or ROAST.)
With all that in mind, guess another word, and then another, trying to land on the correct word before you run out of chances. You get six guesses, and then it’s game over.
The best starter words for Wordle
What should you play for that first guess? The best starters tend to contain common letters, to increase the chances of getting yellow and green squares to guide your guessing. (And if you get all grays when guessing common letters, that’s still excellent information to help you rule out possibilities.) There isn’t a single “best” starting word, but the New York Times’s Wordle analysis bot has suggested starting with one of these:
CRANE
TRACE
SLANT
CRATE
CARTE
Meanwhile, an MIT analysis found that you’ll eliminate the most possibilities in the first round by starting with one of these:
SALET
REAST
TRACE
CRATE
SLATE
Other good picks might be ARISE or ROUND. Words like ADIEU and AUDIO get more vowels in play, but you could argue that it’s better to start with an emphasis on consonants, using a starter like RENTS or CLAMP. Choose your strategy, and see how it plays out.
How to win at Wordle
We have a few guides to Wordle strategy, which you might like to read over if you’re a serious student of the game. This one covers how to use consonants to your advantage, while this one focuses on a strategy that uses the most common letters. In this advanced guide, we detail a three-pronged approach for fishing for hints while maximizing your chances of winning quickly.
The biggest thing that separates Wordle winners from Wordle losers is that winners use their guesses to gather information about what letters are in the word. If you know that the word must end in -OUND, don’t waste four guesses on MOUND, ROUND, SOUND, and HOUND; combine those consonants and guess MARSH. If the H lights up in yellow, you know the solution.
One more note on strategy: the original Wordle used a list of about 2,300 solution words, but after the game was bought by the NYT, the game now has an editor who hand-picks the solutions. Sometimes they are slightly tricky words that wouldn’t have made the original list, and sometimes they are topical. For example, FEAST was the solution one Thanksgiving. So keep in mind that there may be a theme.
Wordle alternatives
If you can’t get enough of five-letter guessing games and their kin, the best Wordle alternatives, ranked by difficulty, include:
Dordle and Quordle, which ask you to play two (Dordle) or four (Quordle) puzzles at the same time, with the same guesses. There is also Octordle, with eight puzzles, and Sedecordle, with 16.
Waffle, which shows you several five-letter words, scrambled in a grid; you play by swapping the letters around until you solve.
Absurdle, which changes the solution after each guess, but needs to stay consistent with its previous feedback. You have to strategically back it into a corner until there is only one possible word left; then you guess it, and win.
Squabble, in which you play Wordle against other people with a timer running. You take damage if you spend too much time between guesses; winner is the last one standing.
Antiwordle, in which you are trying not to guess the day’s solution. You’re required to reuse any letters that you (oops) guessed correctly, so the longer it takes you, the better you are at the game.
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https://lifehacker.com/entertainment/wordle-nyt-hint-today-december-16-2024
| 2024-12-16T06:56:03Z
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https://www.indiatimes.com/entertainment/bollywood/dont-address-aishwarya-as-ash-abhishek-104481.html
| 2024-12-16T06:56:05Z
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Seven foreign tourists were hospitalized in Fiji after drinking cocktails at a resort bar, Fijian authorities said on Monday.
The cause of their illness was not known and officials said it was too soon to know if tainted alcohol was involved.
Those who became ill at the five-star Warwick resort near the town of Sigatoka on Saturday included Australians and an American, according to local news reports. They were hospitalized with nausea, vomiting and neurological symptoms, said Jemesa Tudravu, a Fiji Health Ministry spokesperson.
Two people remained in the hospital, conscious and in stable condition, Fiji's Tourism Minister Viliame R. Gavoka told reporters on Monday. One person was discharged on Sunday and four others on Monday.
David Sandoe, an Australian man who said his daughter and granddaughter were hospitalized, told Sky News Australia that his relatives had been released from the hospital and were due to fly home on Monday night.
Local news outlets reported on Sunday that the cause of the foreigners' illness was suspected alcohol poisoning, similar to a case in Laos in November in which six tourists — including two Australian teenagers — died after consuming tainted drinks.
But Tudravu said no cause had been identified in the Fiji episode. Police have ordered toxicology tests and are awaiting results — which are expected to take three or four days — Gavoka said.
U.S. & World
The bar was full of customers on Saturday night and many had ordered piña coladas, the drink consumed by those who became ill, said the official.
Gavoka said no other reports of similar illness were recorded at the resort or across Fiji, a South Pacific island nation of 930,000 people.
“The resort management has assured us that they have not engaged in practices such as substituting ingredients or altering the quality of drinks served to guests,” Gavoka said. The hotel, located on the picturesque Coral Coast of the largest island, Viti Levu, has operated for many years and “holds a strong reputation,” he added.
“This is the only reported case of its kind that we’ve experienced in recent memory, and certainly nothing like this has been experienced this year,” Gavoka said.
Australia's Foreign Ministry said in a statement that officials are providing consular assistance to two Australian families in Fiji.
The ministry did not comment on the cause of the Australians' illness, but its website advising tourists was updated on Monday to caution travelers about “potential risks around drink spiking and methanol poisoning through consuming alcoholic drinks.”
A spokesperson for the resort, Savaira Molaucake, said staff were “conducting a thorough investigation” of the incident and were working closely with authorities.
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https://www.necn.com/news/national-international/7-foreign-tourists-hospitalized-in-fiji-after-drinking-cocktails-at-a-resort-bar/3415846/
| 2024-12-16T06:56:07Z
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Photo 5027
Easy Breezy
this lady makes scootering look lovely
16th December 2024
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Hi there, I live in Wellington, New Zealand. Photography is my passion and I feel like Edward Scissorhands, but with a camera, as it is...
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What a fun way to travel.
December 16th, 2024
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Super panning.
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| 2024-12-16T06:56:08Z
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Jaaved Jaaferi: Give Respect To Good Cinema
After making us all go LOL in the Dhamaal series, Jaaved Jaaferi is back on the screen in a different kind of comedy. Indiatimes.com spoke to Jaaved Jaaferi to find out more about his upcoming war comedy War Chhod Na Yaar
After making us all go LOL in the Dhamaal series, Jaaved Jaaferi is back on the screen in a different kind of comedy. Indiatimes.com spoke to Jaaved Jaaferi to find out more about his upcoming war comedy War Chhod Na Yaar, in which he plays an Army officer from Pakistan; as well as his thoughts on playing the main villain in Ranbir Kapoor's Besharam.
Why don’t you do more films?
Not too many good films have been coming my way. Whenever the good ones are offered, I accept them, while I stay away from the not so good ones.
But now you have two back-to-back releases, so have you become aggressive about you acting career?
I have always been passionate about acting, but the people who make films also have to offer something exciting.
You have the trickier part in the movie (War Chhod Na Yaar) as your character is from the Pakistan Army. How did you make sure your character remains funny, without hurting sentiments?
The best part is, I did not have to do much as the script was written in a very balanced and intelligent way. It’s a satire and not a screwball comedy, so the situations are very real and the humor comes out of natural developments.
I play Captain Qureshi, the voice of reason on that side of the border. Qureshi has an impulsive commander named Khan, who is slightly crazy. They both share a very special relationship, as nobody respects Khan while everyone really likes Qureshi. So the Commander looks at Qureshi like a son.
It’s a unique equation as they both balance each other out in a funny way. There also lot of sensible statements about how war is a tool of manipulation which results in wrong propaganda and hatred. A lot of intelligent things have been said in a funny way.
I am funny, but not over the top. It is a controlled performance that I was able to manage with help from the director.
So no one should feel offended after seeing this war comedy?
No not at all. There is some really good stuff that has been said in the movie. It is a very balanced perspective. The take home would be a very feel good and balanced ending. The reaction from both sides will be Bravo! Well said.
The comedy in this film is quite different from a Dhamaal and Salaam Namaste. How do you prepare yourself for different roles?
You have to mould yourself. That is the best part of being an actor. You become water and take the shape of the vessel you are in. It’s all about adapting.
The second aspect is that you should be like clay, and let the director mould you according to his vision. I try to bring as much variety to my characters as possible and avoid caricatures. All of us walk differently, talk differently; but many people do not pay much attention to that. The best thing about being an actor is that you get to be someone else, so you should take advantage of that as an actor. And that’s what I try to do. I have been appreciated by the grace of God. So when people say they love my work, that’s my success.
A film like Dhamaal looks easy, but it is not as you have to think like a child. Then there was a film called Boom, which didn’t not work but as a character it was totally unlike Javed. Then Singh Is King, Salaam Namaste, Tasveer 8X10 – In all these films, I have tried to bring subtleties to my characters.
In Besharam you play a hardcore villain. That’s not something you have done in a while…
I was in fact waiting for somebody to look at me and say ‘Ok Javed I know you do comedy well, but you know what, I don’t want you to do comedy’. So I am very grateful to Abhinav for casting me as a no-nonsense villain in such a big film. He has seen my work over the years and was confident about me. Ranbir too showed a lot of confidence in me and I think it works well on screen.
Meri Jung was perhaps the first and last time went bad on screen…
No after Meri Jung I did Oh Darling Yeh Hai India, but yes it was a while back.
You were the pioneer of dance cum talent-hunt shows as well as stand up comedy on TV. These days both genres are doing very well, so why don’t we see you on any of these shows?
That’s the whole point, we set the trend and now new people are coming in. Boogie Woogie is starting again, but I am not a part of it. In comedy I would love to do a show of may own, so lets see if the channels support. This is something I have started and am good at. My show on [V] was one of the most creatively satisfying phases of my life. But I would like to balance my time between movies and TV.
Finally what would you like to say to people about War Chhod Na Yaar?
I can only say that if people do not support good cinema that does not have big stars, then it won’t make business sense. If people will decide to watch small films on TV or DVD then these films will never get made. Give respect to good cinema and watch it in a theatre. Watch it and then decide whether it is good or bad. This is a funny and entertaining film, but not nonsensical. It has a relevant message. The audience has a big role in maneuvering the kind of cinema they want to see. Afterall if you do not buy what we are trying to see, we have to stop production!
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https://www.indiatimes.com/entertainment/bollywood/jaaved-jaaferi-give-respect-to-good-cinema-104386.html
| 2024-12-16T06:56:11Z
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Here is the shot before the cows photo-bombed
me the other day.. There is a lot more colour on the Pohutukawa (NZ Christmas tree) now than in this shot, so will take another shot in a day or two. FG is just returning from doing some spaying on the little David Brown..
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https://365project.org/julzmaioro/365/2024-12-16
| 2024-12-16T06:56:14Z
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A woman was arrested in Iran after she posted a video of herself singing without a hijab on YouTube, even though the Iranian parliament passed a new, stricter law on women's modesty that rights groups have criticized.
Parastoo Ahmadi posted a 27-minute video of her concert performance Wednesday, in which she sang in a sleeveless dress with her hair down accompanied by four male musicians. In the caption, she described it as an "imaginary concert" and invited the audience to "imagine this beautiful homeland" in Iran.
The performance was recorded in a caravanserai, the name for the roadside inns historically built along the Silk Road to provide merchants and travelers with places to rest as they trekked the ancient trade route spanning North Africa to Central Asia. Ahmadi wrote that it was "where history and our myths intertwine."
"I am Parastoo, a girl who wants to sing for the people I love," the caption said. "This is a right I could not ignore; singing for the land I love passionately."
Milad Panahipour, an Iranian lawyer, told The Associated Press that Ahmadi was arrested Saturday over the performance. He said he was unaware of the charges, the arresting agency or the location of her detention.
Iran's judiciary confirmed that a case has been opened into Ahmadi's performance but did not specify the charges. The statement, released by the state-run Mehr News Agency, also said Ahmadi was released after an interview with authorities.
"The Mazandaran Police Information Center announced that Ms. Parastoo Ahmadi attended a briefing session after posting a video deemed contrary to cultural norms and values," the agency said. "She has been asked to appear before judicial authorities."
U.S. & World
The Hengaw Organization for Human Rights, a Norway-based organization, said it got a report that two of the men performing with her — Sohail Faghih-Nassiri and Ehsan Beyraghdar — were also arrested.
Iran's hijab laws tighten
The hard-line regimes that have reigned since Iran's 1979 Islamic Revolution have passed laws saying women must be veiled in the presence of men, though women have resisted the rules both domestically and abroad.
Conflict over the issue drew international outrage once again in 2022 when a young woman named Mahsa Amini, 22, was arrested outside a subway station in Tehran and accused of failing to properly wear a hijab. She was dead just three days later.
Iran's government denied wrongdoing, claiming that Amini died of pre-existing medical conditions. Human rights groups, however, have cast doubt on that, and a United Nations fact-finding mission asserted she was killed “as a result of beatings” by Iranian authorities.
Her death drew rage throughout Iran, drawing women out to protest in droves despite violent crackdowns by authorities.
The authorities who enforce the modesty laws, often called the morality police, have eased public confrontations with women over veiling since President Masoud Pezeshkian was elected this year. Pezeshkian campaigned as a reformist who opposed such types of morality police patrols.
But enforcement has not stopped altogether, according to locals who have said the police are now instructed to issue warnings rather than take immediate action. So-called anti-unveiling clinics have also been established, where women are encouraged to follow the hijab laws through "therapy."
Despite Pezeshkian's reformist approach, the parliament pushed even harsher laws about women's veiling this year.
The Hijab and Chastity Law was originally submitted by former President Ebrahim Raisi, who died in May, and it was ultimately passed in September, according to Human Rights Watch. Enforcement will go into effect for a three-year trial period, which the rights organization said will dramatically increase the punishments for women who do not comply.
The new law extends the enforcement into online spaces, increases fines for violations depending on frequency, institutes a travel ban for offenders and includes long-term imprisonment as punishment, Human Rights Watch reported. Fines alone could be detrimental for many Iranians as the country's economy has struggled under the weight of years of sanctions and regional conflict.
The U.N. Human Rights Council's experts on Friday called for the law to be repealed, describing it as a "comprehensive system of gender-based persecution."
Pezeshkian himself criticized the law this month as difficult to enforce in both a statement on X and an interview on state television.
“We should not do anything that disrupts the unity and solidarity of society,” Pezeshkian said. “We need to have dialogue and engage in discussions about this issue.”
This article first appeared on NBCNews.com. Read more from NBC News here:
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https://www.necn.com/news/national-international/singer-in-iran-arrested-after-performing-on-youtube-without-a-hijab/3415848/
| 2024-12-16T06:56:13Z
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Priyanka Chopra: The Exotic Trendsetter
She is super high on experimenting with her hairstyles and clothes these days. And we are loving our all-new Priyanka Chopra.
As Sanjay Leela Bhansali releases Priyanka Chopra's item number look in his upcoming romantic drama, Ram-Leela, we simply can't resist gushing over the stunning beauty's tantalizing pose. With a body to die for, the seductress has easily made for a sumptuous treat for the eyes. Her flirtatious midriff and that silky, toned leg have clearly set our naughty imaginations run wild.
This current look of the actress is just one of the many, wherein she wins over our hearts and stops our heartbeats. In real life also, Chopra has been a total revelation lately. Thanks to her newly-acquired fondness for getups spelling zing and pep.
She is no more the old Priyanka Chopra we knew. She walks with a certain freshness these days. There's an air about her that is oh-so refreshing, inspirational and uplifting.
Her usual figure-flattening, fitted knee-length dresses in bright hues are being replaced with more of backless outfits, off-shoulders, midriff-flaunting tees, crop-tops as well as quirky attires that bring an element of spunk and sizzle to her overall look.
Clearly a trendsetter now, Priyanka surely knows how to strike a glorious balance between the vintage and the voguish. More than her fashionable getups or her drop-dead splendid looks or her perfect-ten hot-bod, what really works like magic for this dazzling damsel is her candor and confidence. With these two invincible and inimitable accessories, Chopra is always ready to take on the so-called style specialists.
Priyanka can go bold and look graceful with utmost panache at the same time. She can craft a heady cocktail of a sensational yet simple guise. And even in the plainest tee from her closet, she can smoothly come across as a very, very sexy gal with her smart tricks. Either she would team it up with a tempting mini skirt, or would wear it with a pair of rugged denims – showing off a wee bit of her washboard abs. Mouthwatering, isn't it?
It's not only her wardrobe that has undergone a major makeover. PeeCee has also charmed the pants off us with her new-found love for experimenting with her hairstyles.
While she mostly let her tresses open with bangs swept to one side earlier, the diva has been clicked flaunting many welcoming changes of late.
Her short bangs have been gorgeously swapped with a striking fringe cut. At various dos recently, Priyanka's hairstyles spell glamour and style. From a high puff, to short curls, to a fish-tail pony, to streaked poker straight locks, to a messy bun, to a side swirl – Chopra has been at it with unremitting fervor.
Priyanka's graduation from Hindi Cinema to international music circles has only added more spirit and guts to her persona. Her fashion statements have embraced a dynamic global accent now.
And who can forget her perpetual penchant for wedges? The classy footwear certainly render oomph to Priyanka's personality, and the lady surely knows she looks her sexiest in those elegant heels. Priyanka also matches her stunning outfits with peep-toes, ballerinas and pencil heels, depending on the need and the mood of the occasion.
After a head-to-toe study of the actress with our fashion-expert microscope, we can easily conclude that she is super high on experimenting with her hairstyles and clothes these days. And we are loving our all-new Priyanka Chopra.
Which look, flaunted by Priyanka Chopra, has impressed you the most?
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https://www.indiatimes.com/entertainment/bollywood/priyanka-chopra-the-exotic-trendsetter-104345.html
| 2024-12-16T06:56:18Z
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https://www.indiatimes.com/entertainment/bollywood/ranbir-kapoors-100-crore-deal-104359.html
| 2024-12-16T06:56:19Z
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Finance Minister Pichai Chunhavajira said on Monday he wanted a further interest rate cut to align with low inflation, speaking ahead of a policy review this week by the Bank of Thailand where economists expect no change to the key rate.
Mr Pichai said that while the central bank would make the decisions on rates, he had discussed the matter with its Governor Sethaput Suthiwartnarueput.
"From our perspective, if it can be reduced, it's good. We want it to be in line with inflation," Mr Pichai said.
"We've already discussed with the governor many times... the governor is aware of our concerns and global trends," he added.
Average headline inflation was just 0.32% in the January-November period, well below the central bank's target range of 1% to 3%.
All but two of the 30 economists in a Reuters poll forecast the central bank would keep its benchmark one-day repurchase rate at 2.25% on Wednesday. The two predicted a 25 basis point cut.
At its previous meeting in October, the central bank unexpectedly cut the key rate by a quarter point but said it was not the start of an easing cycle.
Mr Pichai also said the government was still planning measures to boost spending but was in no rush to introduce them.
"We're looking at the New Year's gift and various measures. But the gift does not have to be given on Dec 31," he told reporters.
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https://www.bangkokpost.com/business/general/2920656/thai-finance-minister-seeks-further-rate-cut
| 2024-12-16T06:56:20Z
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Happy Birthday Sohum Shah: From Ship Of Theseus To Tumbbad And Dahaad, Iconic Performances That Define His Versatile Acting Journey
Celebrate Sohum Shah's birthday by revisiting his most iconic performances, from Ship of Theseus to Tumbbad and Dahaad, showcasing his remarkable versatility.
- Sohum Shah has carved a niche for himself with his captivating performances and fearless choice of roles
- From art-house gems to mainstream masterpieces, Sohum’s journey reflects his commitment to storytelling
- On his birthday, we celebrate his most iconic roles that have left an indelible mark on audiences
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Sohum Shah, an actor par excellence in Indian cinema, has carved a niche for himself with his captivating performances and fearless choice of roles. From art-house gems to mainstream masterpieces, Sohum’s journey reflects his commitment to storytelling and his unparalleled versatility. On his birthday, we celebrate his most iconic roles that have left an indelible mark on audiences.
1. Navin in Ship of Theseus (2012)
Sohum Shah's breakthrough came with Anand Gandhi's philosophical masterpiece, Ship of Theseus. As Navin, a stockbroker caught in an ethical conundrum, Sohum delivered a subtle yet deeply impactful performance. His portrayal of moral dilemmas resonated with viewers and showcased his ability to dive into complex characters.
2. Vinayak Rao in Tumbbad (2018)
In the cult classic Tumbbad, Sohum Shah embodied Vinayak Rao, a character driven by greed and ambition. His performance captured the haunting interplay of human desires and morality, making Vinayak one of Indian cinema’s most memorable anti-heroes. As the producer and lead actor, Sohum’s dedication to this mythological horror epic turned it into a cinematic masterpiece.
3. Kailash Parghi in Dahaad (2023)
In the gripping crime series Dahaad on Amazon Prime, Sohum played Kailash Parghi, a vulnerable and dejected police officer. His nuanced performance brought emotional depth to a layered character, proving his ability to shine even in an ensemble cast.
4. Bheema Bharti in Maharani (2021–2023)
As Bheema Bharti in the political drama series Maharani, Sohum Shah portrayed a power-hungry and manipulative politician navigating a volatile political landscape. His compelling portrayal of Bheema added intrigue and complexity to the series, showcasing his flair for long-form storytelling.
5. Vedant Chaudhary in Talvar (2015)
Even in a supporting role in the critically acclaimed Talvar, Sohum left a lasting impression as Vedant Chaudhary, an officer embroiled in a high-profile murder investigation. His restrained performance underscored the emotional turmoil of the case, adding gravitas to the film’s narrative.
Sohum Shah: A True Maverick of Indian Cinema
Sohum Shah's journey is a testament to his fearless approach to acting and his dedication to meaningful storytelling. Whether it's exploring existential dilemmas, portraying morally ambiguous characters, or tackling intricate relationships, he continues to redefine versatility in Indian cinema.
Here’s wishing the exceptionally talented Sohum Shah a very happy birthday and many more iconic performances to come!
Stay informed on all the latest news, real-time breaking news updates, and follow all the important headlines in india news and world News on Zee News.
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https://zeenews.india.com/bollywood/happy-birthday-sohum-shah-from-ship-of-theseus-to-tumbbad-and-dahaad-iconic-performances-that-define-his-versatile-acting-journey-2832254.html
| 2024-12-16T06:56:20Z
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| 2024-12-16T06:56:20Z
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Salvation Army bell ringers are ubiquitous this time of year.
Here’s a chance to join them. The Salvation Army Tucson is asking community members to ring the bells for its annual Red Kettle Campaign now through Christmas Eve.
In front of stores and businesses, volunteers collect funds that support those in need with food assistance, shelter for the homeless and holiday gifts for children.
“Every hour you spend ringing the bell is an hour of hope you’re giving to families who need it most,” said Maj. Andres Espinoza, Salvation Army Tucson city coordinator.
“By volunteering, you’re helping ensure that no one in our community goes without a warm meal or a helping hand this holiday season. No experience is needed — just bring your holiday spirit and a desire to make a difference.”
Most shifts are two hours and raise enough to provide 80-plus meals for a family in need, a safe, warm home for a family for a month or allow three
underprivileged children to attend summer camp.
Becoming a bell ringer is simple and a way to give back during the holidays. Volunteers can sign up at registertoring.com and choose the shifts and locations that fit their schedules. For questions, call 520-645-6669.
Bell ringing isn’t the only way to support the Red Kettle Campaign. Folks can donate at any Red Kettle location or online at salvationarmytucson.org.
Past volunteers have found the job very satisfying, especially when they can bring a bell-ringing partner.
“I grew up wanting to ring the bell,” said local Kiwanian Brigid Gannon. “So, for the past four years, I’ve gone with my good friend, Sue Wood, and we’ve manned a kettle together. We dressed up in holiday wear, accessorized by a hat with bells. With a smile and warm greeting, along with candy for the kids, Sue and I didn’t ask people to put money in the kettle. We just made it easy and fun for them to do so. Giving back to the community is what it’s all about.”
The public can also donate nonperishable food items to help the cause. In a new initiative, The Salvation Army Tucson has partnered with Vantage West Credit Union for a holiday food drive to address food insecurity rising locally.
“The Salvation Army is incredibly thankful for community partners like Vantage West Credit Union,” Espinoza said “This food drive and our partnership with Vantage West Credit Union allow us to provide assistance in areas where the most help is needed.”
Salvation Army donation boxes are set up at 13 Vantage West locations in Tucson. Donation suggestions include canned vegetables and beans, peanut butter, crackers, boxed cereals, applesauce, canned tuna and chicken, soups, pasta and sauce.
The Vantage West food drive will also help supply Christmas community meals at The Salvation Army Tucson Hospitality House.
“At Vantage West, we believe in strengthening our community by supporting those who need it most,” said Jimena Valdés-Walls, senior vice president of member experience at Vantage West.
“Partnering with The Salvation Army allows us to make a direct impact, helping provide essential resources and support to our neighbors in need.”
The community may also donate
monetary funds online at salarmy.us/VantageWestFOODDRIVE.
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https://www.tucsonweekly.com/tucson/the-kettles-on-for-the-salvation-army/Content?oid=36481063
| 2024-12-16T06:56:20Z
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King Receives Saudi Defence Minister
Date
12/15/2024 11:13:22 PM
(MENAFN- Jordan Times)
AMMAN - his majesty King Abdullah on Sunday received Saudi Defence Minister Prince Khalid bin Salman bin Abdulaziz.
Prince Khalid conveyed to His Majesty the greetings of Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud and crown prince Mohammed bin Salman bin Abdulaziz, the prime minister of Saudi Arabia, a Royal Court statement said.
His Majesty asked Prince Khalid to express best wishes to the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques and the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia.
The King stressed the deep-rooted ties between the two countries and peoples, expressing keenness to enhance them further, the statement said.
Discussions covered regional developments and matters of mutual concern.
Director of the Office of His Majesty Alaa Batayneh and Saudi Ambassador to Jordan Naif Al Sudairi attended the meeting.
MENAFN15122024000028011005ID1108995660
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https://menafn.com/1108995660/King-Receives-Saudi-Defence-Minister
| 2024-12-16T06:56:24Z
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Check out the theatrical trailer of R...Rajkumara. Directed by Prabhu Dheva the film stars Shahid Kapoor, Sonakshi Sinha, Sonu Sood. Produced by Sunil Lulla & Viki Rajani, R...Rajkumar releases in on 6th December, 2013.
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https://www.indiatimes.com/entertainment/bollywood/rrajkumar-theatrical-trailer-104424.html
| 2024-12-16T06:56:25Z
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NAKHON RATCHASIMA - A 12-year-old girl was under close watch at a hospital on Monday after falling from an octopus ride at a fair in Pak Chong district.
Pakchongnana Hospital said the girl had a broken rib, a grade 2 spinal fracture and air in her chest cavity.
The girl remained in the hospital and a tube had been inserted into her chest cavity to release air. She was conscious and able to communicate, the hospital said. Her condition was being closely monitored.
The 12-year-old fell from an octopus ride at a winter fair organised by the Lions Club Khao Yai (Pak Chong) in a field in tambon Nong Sarai. The fair opened on Friday and is scheduled to continue until Dec 24.
According to reports, the girl fell from the ride about 8pm on Saturday. She was in the company of her elder sister, who said the ride was started before their safety bar was locked, and it threw them off as it began spinning.
The older sister fell out and onto the ride's platform and was unharmed. The younger girl fell from a height of about three metres, thrown out and onto the field below.
|
https://www.bangkokpost.com/thailand/general/2920625/girl-falls-from-octopus-ride-seriously-injured
| 2024-12-16T06:56:26Z
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Santa
Time to start Christmas photos. I saw this guy in a shop
16th December 2024
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| 2024-12-16T06:56:26Z
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Sajid Nadiadwala Announces Sikandar Teaser To Drop On Salman Khan's Birthday
Produced by Nadiadwala Grandson, 'Sikandar', directed by AR Murugadoss, stars Salman Khan and Rashmika Mandanna in lead roles.
Trending Photos
New Delhi: The announcement of Sajid Nadiadwala's Sikandar, directed by AR Murugadoss and starring Salman Khan, has created a buzz among audiences. This mega project has captivated attention since its reveal, and the excitement among fans for its release is at its peak. Now, producer Sajid Nadiadwala has announced an exciting gift for Salman Khan fans on his birthday—the release date of the teaser is set to drop on 27th December 2024.
Finally, the audience will get a glimpse of the much-awaited Sikandar, as producer Sajid Nadiadwala has revealed the teaser's release date. Scheduled to launch on December 27, 2024, the teaser will serve as a special birthday gift for Salman Khan's fans.
As one of the biggest superstars, Salman Khan enjoys a massive fan following eagerly anticipating his return to the big screen. With the teaser of his much-awaited film Sikandar dropping on his birthday, it promises to be nothing short of a celebration for his fans. This announcement has further heightened the excitement to witness glimpses of Sikandar on this special occasion.
Produced by Nadiadwala Grandson, 'Sikandar', directed by AR Murugadoss, stars Salman Khan and Rashmika Mandanna in lead roles. This action-packed entertainer guarantees an unparalleled cinematic experience, slated for the Eid 2025 weekend.
Stay informed on all the latest news, real-time breaking news updates, and follow all the important headlines in india news and world News on Zee News.
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https://zeenews.india.com/bollywood/sajid-nadiadwala-announces-sikandar-teaser-to-drop-on-salman-khans-birthday-2832272.html
| 2024-12-16T06:56:26Z
|
(MENAFN- Jordan Times)
AMMAN - Syrians living in Jordan are closely following the unfolding changes in their homeland, grappling with a mix of hope, concern for loved ones, and uncertainty about their future.
Speaking with The Jordan Times, Sabah Luay, a Syrian mother of four who has lived in Amman since 2013, expressed conflicting emotions.“At first, I couldn't reach my daughter or my mother in Aleppo for four days. Then, suddenly, people around me started congratulating me, saying Syria had become free,” she said.
Despite the relief, she added,“I'm not sure if I'll be able to go back and start over.”
Fatima Ali, a 40-year-old mother of three also living in Amman, voiced cautious optimism.
“I hear from my relatives that life is becoming a bit more normal in some areas. However, it's hard to fully trust after so many years of fear,” she said, her tone a mix of hope and hesitation.
Fatima fled to Jordan in 2013 and has not returned since.
For younger Syrians like 17-year-old Adnan Qasem, who grew up in Irbid, the connection to Syria feels more remote.
“I only remember small things about my hometown. My parents talk about how much it has changed, but for me, Jordan is home now,” he said.
Alaa Qasem, a Syrian woman in her 30s living in Zarqa, highlighted the shared longing among displaced families.
“Despite the challenges, the sense of yearning for home unites us all,” she told The Jordan Times.
Jordan has hosted more than 1.3 million Syrians since the beginning of the crisis in 2011, including nearly 660,000 refugees registered with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, out of more than 5 million Syrian refugees in Jordan and neighbouring countries.
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https://menafn.com/1108995661/Decade-As-Refugees-Syrians-In-Jordan-Watch-Homelands-Transition-With-Hope-Concern
| 2024-12-16T06:56:30Z
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Sanjay Dutt Gets 14-Day Parole
Sanjay Dutt, serving a 42-month sentence in the 1993 Bombay blasts case in Pune's Yerawada Central Jail, gets 14 days parole.
Sanjay Dutt, serving a 42-month sentence in the 1993 Bombay blasts case in Pune's Yerawada Central Jail, gets 14 days parole, on account of medical reasons.
Sources reveal that Dutt has already left from the jai to get the treatment of his leg done.
Though Sanjay had applied for a 30-day parole earlier, but the Pune police rejected his application then.
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https://www.indiatimes.com/entertainment/bollywood/sanjay-dutt-gets-14day-parole-on-medical-grounds-104311.html
| 2024-12-16T06:56:31Z
|
New dietary guidelines propose prioritizing legumes like beans, peas, and lentils over meat to reduce chronic disease risks and improve public health outcomes.
Beans, peas, and lentils are set to play a key role in proposed updates of the U.S. dietary guidelines. An advisory committee to the Agriculture Department released a report this week suggesting that these protein-rich legumes are an ideal replacement for red and processed meats. Their recommendation is based on scientific evidence reviewed by the experts (1✔ ✔Trusted Source
Now Available: Scientific Report of the 2025 Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee
Go to source).
‘Did You Know?
There are nearly 1 lakh different protein combinations in our body and it only lasts for 2 days. Our cells frequently undergo repair, hence breaking down the proteins to form new ones. #medindia #protein #body’
There are nearly 1 lakh different protein combinations in our body and it only lasts for 2 days. Our cells frequently undergo repair, hence breaking down the proteins to form new ones. #medindia #protein #body’
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Emphasis on Plant-Based Proteins and Whole Grains
If implemented, the updated guidelines would focus on plant-based proteins, encouraging the consumption of more whole grains while reducing sugary drinks, salt, and processed foods. The report highlights the significant health benefits associated with diets rich in legumes, noting that such patterns are linked to positive health outcomes. In contrast, higher consumption of red and processed meats is associated with negative health effects, while diets high in fish and seafood are linked to better health.Why the emphasis on legumes? Angela Odoms-Young, vice chair of the advisory committee and a professor at Cornell University, explained that diets abundant in beans, peas, and lentils are associated with a reduced risk of chronic diseases.
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Legumes Reclassified as Primary Protein Source
Currently, legumes are categorized as both vegetables and protein foods, the committee proposes placing beans, peas, and lentils at the forefront of protein-rich foods to encourage more plant-based protein consumption. This recommendation is informed by research on the long-term health impacts of meat-based diets, including the links to chronic illnesses like heart disease and diabetes. Heart disease, the leading cause of death in the U.S., could potentially be mitigated by reducing meat consumption and increasing legume intake.While the committee acknowledges that animal proteins can still be part of a healthy diet, it emphasizes the importance of incorporating more plant-based protein. Additionally, the report advises reducing sugary drinks and salt while increasing whole grain consumption to make up 50% of all grains eaten.
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Review Process and Public Comment Period
The report has been submitted to the Agriculture Department and the Department of Health and Human Services for review. A 60-day public comment period is currently underway, and if approved, the changes would take effect next year and remain in place until 2030. Committee member Cheryl Anderson, a public health expert, stressed that these recommendations aim to address preventable diseases tied to poor dietary habits, such as heart disease and diabetes.In developing the proposed changes, the committee also considered socioeconomic factors and access to healthy food, hoping that the guidelines could be followed by all Americans, regardless of where they live, work, or have access to groceries.
Reference:
- Now Available: Scientific Report of the 2025 Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee - (https://odphp.health.gov/news/202412/now-available-scientific-report-2025-dietary-guidelines-advisory-committee)
Source-Eurekalert
|
https://www.medindia.net/news/eat-less-meat-more-legumes-new-dietary-guidelines-encourage-plant-based-proteins-218310-1.htm
| 2024-12-16T06:56:32Z
|
Travellers using Nakhon Si Thammarat airport are advised to allow at least three extra hours for travel to and from the airport because of severe traffic congestion on flooded roads.
The airport said on Monday morning it remained open with no flights cancelled.
However, flooding on the roads to the airport was severe. Passengers should allow at least three hours extra to get to and from the airport. Drivers of small vehicles were warned of the need for extreme caution.
Nakhon Si Thammarat is the province hardest hit by the flooding in provinces along the western side of the Gulf of Thailand. Floodwater ravaged the city and other districts on Monday morning.
The Meteorological Department on Monday warned of rain throughout the day and big waves at sea, continuing into Tuesday.
A small boats warning is in effect for the area.
|
https://www.bangkokpost.com/thailand/general/2920632/roads-to-nakhon-si-thammarat-airport-flooded
| 2024-12-16T06:56:32Z
|
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Photo 3477
young Astra
if you look back at Woody yesterday you can see that Astra is only a teenager
9th December 2024
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Update Jan. 2024 I live in the koalas backyard. 🐨 This makes me one of the luckiest people alive. STILL Koala numbers are declining...
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| 2024-12-16T06:56:32Z
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WI vs BAN: Bangladesh Seal 7 Run Victory Despite Rovman Powell's Heroics First T20 Match
Bangladesh secured a thrilling 7-run victory over West Indies in the 1st T20I, with Mahedi Hasan's powerplay heroics dismantling the hosts' chase. Disciplined bowling sealed the win for them.
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WI vs BAN: After three consecutive ODI defeats, Bangladesh finally returned to winning ways with a narrow 7-run victory over the West Indies in the 1st T20I at Arnos Vale Ground. The West Indies managed to make it out a nail-biting affair, courtesy of skipper Rovman Powell's blitzkrieg, But in reality, the hosts never really recovered from the damage caused by Mahedi Hasan in the powerplay.
While chasing a modest 148-run total, the Caribbean side faced problems as Mahedi made early inroads through their batting lineup. The West Indies had already lost Brandon King before Mahedi was introduced to bowl in the powerplay. In his second delivery of the match, Mahedi caught the big fish, Nicholas Pooran. He invited him to step out of the crease to have a go at him.
Pooran shimmered down the crease, went for a swing and missed the ball, which held a straight trajectory. The explosive batter was well short of the crease as Litton gathered the ball and dislodged the bails in a jiffy.
West Indies found reprieve in the next over with Johnson Charles going berserk against Tanzim Hasan Sakib. He tonked two sixes and followed it up with a crisp four to accumulate 25 runs from the over.
But the impending end from Mahedi ended Charles' deal with the boundaries. The opener took the aerial route, but the desired elevation was something that was missed dearly. The ball landed in Hasan Mahmud's hands at mid-off.
With the West Indies tottering at run-a-ball 36 and three wickets down after the first six overs, Mahedi dealt a massive blow to make their chase a lost cause.
He delivered a match-defining over to remove Andre Fletcher for a four-ball duck and then Roston Chase for 7(13). With the West Indies looking down and out at 39/5, Powell knew his side needed something special from him.
Powell kept the hopes alive with Romario Shepherd playing the second fiddle to his skipper. The duo paced their knocks according to the situation and brought down the equation to 20 needed in 18 balls.
With victory once again in sight, Bangladesh pacers held their nerves to see off the game. Taskin Ahmed removed Shepherd (22), but Powell's threat continued to loom in the atmosphere.
In the final over, Hasan Mahmud had 10 runs to defend while facing Powell. Mahmud bowled it wide, and Powell went for a flashy drive. He only found an outside edge, which was taken by the wicketkeeper. Mahmud castled Alzarri Joseph to seal a 7-run victory for Bangladesh.
Earlier in the match, after being put to bat by the hosts, Bangladesh needed moments of individual brilliance to find their way to 147/6. Soumya Sarkar played a blistering knock of 43(32), while Jaker Ali (27), Mahedi (26*) and Shamim Hossain (27) made invaluable contributions towards the end, which took the visitors to a fighting total.
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https://zeenews.india.com/cricket/wi-vs-ban-bangladesh-seal-7-run-victory-despite-rovman-powells-heroics-first-t20-match-2832243.html
| 2024-12-16T06:56:32Z
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