Pelican Press

Sheba Hospital Says Three Freed Hostages Are in Stable Condition Sheba Hospital Says Three Freed Hostages Are in Stable Condition In brief statements on Sunday night, two doctors at Sheba hospital suggested that the women were not in immediate need of emergency treatment. “I’m happy to report that they are in stable condition,” said Prof. Itai Pessach, adding, “That allows us, and them, to focus on what is the most important thing for now — reuniting with their families.” Sheba Medical Center has been the first stop for dozens of captives who were seized in the October assault and later freed, including many of those released in an exchange of hostages for ************ prisoners in November 2023, as well as the four hostages rescued in an audacious and deadly Israeli military raid in June 2024. Professor Pessach, who has led the Sheba medical team for returning hostages, cautioned in an interview in June that first impressions can be deceptive. “The thing I definitely know is to expect the unexpected,” he said then, after receiving the four hostages who were rescued. “After eight months,” he said, “we had a notion that they’d be much more broken, maybe look differently than they were.” They had lost less weight than had been expected, he said. But then, he said, the results from medical tests start coming in, along with initial psychological evaluations, and “you start to grasp what they’ve been through.” All four had come back suffering from severe malnutrition, Dr. Pessach said, adding that the lack of sunlight, abuse and psychological stress they had endured would have long-term implications for their health. “As wonderful as it is to see Emily’s resilience, these are still early days,” Mandy Damari, Emily’s mother, acknowledged in a statement on Monday, in which she noted that Emily was “doing much better than any of us could ever have anticipated.” In a recent television interview, Yamit Ashkenazi, Ms. Steinbrecher’s sister, said she was expecting to receive “a different Doron.” Ms. Ashkenazi also worried about telling her sister that so many of her friends were killed in the ****** attack. Source link #Sheba #Hospital #Freed #Hostages #Stable #Condition Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

SIILTIBCY (Serum Life Science Europe GmbH) SIILTIBCY (Serum Life Science Europe GmbH) SIILTIBCY (Active substance: rdESAT-6 and rCFP-10) – Centralised – Authorisation – Commission Decision (2025)263 of Mon, 13 Jan 2025 – European Medicines Agency (EMA) procedure number: EMEA/H/C/006177/0000 Source link #SIILTIBCY #Serum #Life #Science #Europe #GmbH Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

Days Gone Dev Reacts To Game Cancellation, Says It Still Has Cool ***** In The Works Days Gone Dev Reacts To Game Cancellation, Says It Still Has Cool ***** In The Works Recently, Sony confirmed that it had canceled a live-service game that was in the works at Days Gone developer Bend Studio. A developer at the studio has now responded to the news, thanking fans for the outpouring of support and confirming that the team still wants to make “cool sh**.” “I’ll keep this short,” community manager Kevin McAllister said. “Thanks for the love and support everyone, especially to those that have reached out. P.S. We still plan on creating cool sh**.” Bend’s live-service game was never announced, nor was the supposed live-service God of War game said to be in development at Bluepoint, which was also canceled. Sony confirmed the game cancellations in a statement to Bloomberg recently, saying the projects were scuttled “following a recent review.” Back in 2023, Sony management said it would only go ahead with six live-service games in the near future, down from a dozen. At the time, management said it was attempting to focus on quality over quantity. Plenty of games that begin development are never seen through to release; this is part of the normal creative process. But what was not normal was Sony’s high-profile shutdown of the multiplayer live-service game Concord and the closure of its developer, Firewalk. Sony pulled the plug on the game just after launch, going on to refund all players. Bend Studio’s latest release was 2019’s Days Gone, which is unlikely to get a sequel. In June 2024, Bend said the studio was making a new IP, which could have been the canceled live-service game. In the absence of a Days Gone game sequel, a Days Gone biker movie is now in development. Source link #Days #Dev #Reacts #Game #Cancellation #Cool #***** #Works Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

Character AI Reportedly Testing a New Games Feature, Adds Two Word-Based Games Character AI Reportedly Testing a New Games Feature, Adds Two Word-Based Games Character AI, the California-based artificial intelligence (AI) platform, is said to be testing a new ‘games’ feature. As per a new report, the company has released two word-based games to paid users of the platform. While users can create game-focused AI characters and play a wide range of story-driven games, these are said to be the first games to be added directly by the platform. These games can reportedly also be played against any character of the users’ choosing. Character AI reportedly stated that these games were aimed at making the platform more engaging. Character AI Is Reportedly Adding Games to the Platform According to a TechCrunch report, the AI character-based platform is currently testing the reception of first-party games. Currently, there are two games dubbed Speakeasy and War of Words. These games are reportedly available to the c.ai+ subscribers as well as a limited set of free users. Notably, Gadgets 360 staff members were not able to verify the presence of the new feature. Unlike the existing games, where users can chat with specific characters to either play an interactive game or a story-driven game involving role-playing elements, these first-party games work differently. Instead of playing them within specific chats, these games can reportedly be played against any of the characters on the platform. A new controller icon has reportedly been added to the side panel of the chatbot interface, tapping which allows users to play either of the two games. These games are said to be available on both the desktop and the mobile app of the platform. As per the publication, the objective of Speakeasy is to make the character say a specific word while not using five related words. For instance, the user might have to make Einstein say the word “bedroom” while not using “bed, room, sleep, dream, and night”. Every time the game begins, the target and related words are generated randomly. War of Words reportedly starts a random duel where the user has five rounds to outsmart the AI character. At the end of the five rounds, a referee decides the outcome. Since these games will require a different strategy while playing against different characters, users can potentially find a new challenge in every playthrough. A Character AI spokesperson told TechCrunch, “Our goal as an AI entertainment company is to find ways to make the Character AI experience even more fun and entertaining. We’re currently testing a feature that allows gameplay with your favourite Characters, all while keeping the immersive experience users love.” Source link #Character #Reportedly #Testing #Games #Feature #Adds #WordBased #Games Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

Trump’s Tariff Threat Stokes Anxiety in Canada’s Auto-Industry Hub Trump’s Tariff Threat Stokes Anxiety in Canada’s Auto-Industry Hub Since 1988, the hulking presses at Lanex Manufacturing on the edge of Windsor, Ontario, have been stamping out door strikers, folding-seat latches, tailpipe hangers, frame braces and other prosaic bits of metal that make their way into vehicles ranging from Corvettes to Honda minivans. But, these days, worries about the future permeate the plant as President-elect Donald J. Trump prepares to enter the White House. He has threatened to impose a 25 percent tariff on all goods exported from Canada to the United States. In Windsor, that would ravage its lifeblood: automobiles and everything that goes into them. “Everybody’s waiting for the next shoe to drop,” Bruce Lane, the president of Lanex, said in its boardroom, whose walls were made of painted concrete blocks. “If Windsor lost its automotive business, Windsor would not survive.” Few ********* cities are as acutely aware as Windsor of the integration of the two countries’ economies. The city sits just across the Detroit River from Detroit, and Canada’s maple-leaf flag often flies next to the stars and stripes there. And no industry has been interwoven across the border for as long as auto making. “These workers here in Windsor are more exposed to trade with the United States than anyone else,” Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said at a steel plant during a recent visit to the city. Mr. Trump, he added, “is proposing tariffs that would damage not just people here in Windsor but people right across the country and indeed in the United States.” Windsor’s two major landmarks are shared with Detroit: the $5.7 billion Gordie Howe International Bridge, scheduled to open this year, and the 96-year-old Ambassador Bridge, which carries about $300 million in cross-border trade each day. Of Canada’s $440 billion in annual exports to the United States, only oil and gas generate a larger amount than cars, trucks and auto parts. But with ********* officials taking Mr. Trump at his word that he will follow through on his threat of tariffs, Mr. Lane and others in the auto industry are already bracing for the potential fallout. George Papp is the chief executive of Papp Plastics, whose headquarters sits near the imposing new suspension bridge. He said his U.S. customers, mainly automakers, would simply invoke the terms of contracts he has with them and deduct the cost of tariffs from the amount they pay him. “Who’s going to take the hit?” Mr. Papp said. “Me, and people like me and companies like mine.” Flavio Volpe, the president of the Automotive Parts Manufacturer’s Association, a ********* trade group, estimated that most of his members had single-digit profit margins and that the tariffs Mr. Trump was threatening would be ruinous. The intertwining of the auto industry across the two countries was cemented in 1965 when Canada and the United States reached an agreement that effectively eliminated the border for the industry. Today, 90 percent of cars and trucks made in Canada are sent to the United States, primarily by train. At Lanex, small metal parts that few motorists will ever see are forged into shape by upward of 600 tons of pressure by the firm’s presses. Their journeys illustrate how enmeshed the two countries’ auto industries have become. As a small supplier, Mr. Lane does not deal directly with carmakers, but sells his goods through larger parts makers. Seat-locking hooks that Lanex makes for Honda minivans are sent to a plant elsewhere in Ontario, where they are fitted with other parts and then shipped to an assembly line in Alabama that belongs to Honda, a Japanese company. Mr. Lane’s factory has sent parts to Michigan for heat treating, brought them back to Windsor for more machining and then sold them to a U.S. company. “Windsor is used to going back and forth across the border,” Mr. Lane said. “It’s like just like getting up out of bed in the morning.” The turmoil from possible tariffs comes at an already difficult time for Canada’s auto business. Many auto-parts manufacturers have yet to see their business return to levels from before the coronavirus pandemic because of lagging car sales. In 2020, Lanex had about 60 employees working on two shifts, but it now has about two dozen employees running a single shift. The anxiety is particularly acute in Windsor, which has a metropolitan population of roughly 484,000. Aside from cargo trucks rumbling across the Ambassador Bridge, the city’s most obvious automotive symbol is a giant Stellantis factory that produces Chrysler Pacifica minivans as well as Dodge Charger muscle cars. A city within the city, the European-based Stellantis employs 4,500 workers at the factory. Aided by billions of dollars in ********* subsidies, it is building a battery plant in a joint venture with the South Korean company LG in Windsor and recently spent 1.89 billion ********* dollars (about $1.3 billion) to retool its assembly plant to make electric vehicles alongside gasoline-powered ones. But, like many auto makers, Stellantis is now in a slump as it struggles with the transition to electric vehicles and with competition from China. James Stewart, the president of the local union that represents Windsor’s Stellantis workers, said he did not believe a large tariff would necessarily deal a fatal blow to Stellantis’s operations in Windsor, given how much the company had invested. But with so much of Windsor’s economic well-being intimately tied to trade with the United States, Mr. Stewart said, tariffs would deal a heavy blow, including the closing of businesses, layoffs and production cuts. “We’re a suburb of Detroit; we’ve always felt that way,” he said, adding that Windsor seemed to be “under attack and for no reason.” Mr. Trump initially characterized tariffs as a way to prod Canada and Mexico into better securing their borders to tamp down the flow of undocumented migrants. But he also mused about making Canada the 51st state, noting that the United States was heavily invested in Canada’s military defense, and threatened to use economic force annex it. He has also vented about what he describes as the “subsidizing’’ of Canada by the United States, an apparent reference to the U.S. trade deficit with Canada, largely because of oil and gas imports. The Trudeau government is expected to detail how it would retaliate against any U.S. tariffs on Monday, the day Mr. Trump is to take office. But Canada’s comparatively small economy makes it difficult for the country to inflict substantial economic harm on the United States, though levies against specific products could hurt individual states. Retaliatory tariffs would also drive up prices in Canada. Back at the Lanex plant, Mr. Lane said that, by pure coincidence, the company had been embarking on a “secret” manufacturing project unrelated to automobiles and that had unexpectedly become a potential hedge against tariffs. He declined to offer any details to avoid tipping off competitors. Mr. Papp, the plastics-company owner, said that even though he would oppose tariffs, which would hurt his business, he was a fan of Mr. Trump and understood why the president-elect had argued that tariffs were needed to help rebuild industry in the United States. Regardless of what happens, Mr. Papp said, Canada and the United States will always remain unshakable allies. “You can’t separate our countries,” he said. “They’re bolted together.” Source link #Trumps #Tariff #Threat #Stokes #Anxiety #Canadas #AutoIndustry #Hub Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

Canada’s doctor shortage drives 37% online for medical advice: poll – National Canada’s doctor shortage drives 37% online for medical advice: poll – National A new poll suggests more than a third of Canadians say they have no choice but to seek health information online because they don’t have access to a doctor, further highlighting challenges posed by an ongoing physician shortage. The online survey by the ********* Medical Association and Abacus Data conducted last November found that 37 per cent of respondents used medical advice they found online because they couldn’t access a doctor or a medical professional for help. Twenty-three per cent of those surveyed said following health advice they found online resulted in a bad reaction or had a negative impact on their health. The survey of 3,727 adult Canadians can’t be assigned a margin of error because online surveys are not considered truly random samples. The CMA says the number of Canadians turning to online sources for medical help emphasizes the lack of accessible health care across the country, as an estimated 6.5 million people – one in five Canadians – do not have a family doctor or nurse practitioner they see regularly. Story continues below advertisement CMA president Dr. Joss Reimer called the survey results “extremely concerning.” “There is no other generation that’s been exposed to so much misinformation, but also had to face the hardship of a health-care system that is overtaxed and not meeting their needs,” Reimer said in a phone interview. Employment and Social Development Canada says the country currently has fewer doctors per capita than most countries that are part of the Organization for Economic Co-Operation and Development. 1:55 Grant program aims to alleviate family doctor shortage in Fredericton It says that from 2022 to 2031, the number of job openings for general practitioners and family physicians are expected to total 48,900, while the number of job seekers in this group is expected to total 29,400 – creating a shortage of almost 20,000 doctors. Get weekly health news Receive the latest medical news and health information delivered to you every Sunday. The CMA says the shortage can be attributed to several factors. Many family doctors are retiring, and fewer new doctors are choosing family medicine. The association also says more family doctors are focusing on niche services rather than general care. Story continues below advertisement Reimer also pointed to doctor burnout as a major challenge facing the health-care system. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen it quite as bad as it is right now when it comes to both access to care, but also burnout that we’re seeing amongst our physician colleagues,” said Reimer. “I know we can get things going in a better way for Canadians and for the people who work in the health system, but it’s hard not to feel discouraged.” Trending Now Gulf of America? A look at some of Trump’s 1st executive orders Donald Trump is the 47th president. Read his full inaugural speech The CMA survey also found that 42 per cent of respondents have tried medical advice they found online, and 31 per cent had taken online medical advice instead of advice received from a doctor or other medical professional. Reimer added that the survey’s findings are especially concerning given how easily health misinformation can spread online. 1:56 How Saskatchewan finds itself facing a doctor shortage “I know that our physicians feel passionate about being able to provide information to their patients, so I do want people to feel comfortable asking questions to their doctor,” said Reimer. “That is absolutely what we’re here for and what we want to be there for.” Story continues below advertisement But for Canadians who don’t have access to a doctor or can’t see one in a timely way, Reimer said if they are seeking information online they should look to trusted sources such as the Public Health Agency of Canada or other organizations led by health professionals. Reimer said the issue could be addressed with a more integrated health-care system that’s accessible to everyone. This could mean pharmacists, nurses, doctors and social workers working together to share information with patients and make accessing health care easier, she said. “When people don’t have access to those trusted relationships with health-care providers, they’re going to go online to get that information,” she said. More on Health More videos &copy 2025 The ********* Press Source link #Canadas #doctor #shortage #drives #online #medical #advice #poll #National Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

A third-party publisher says it expects Switch 2 to be released between April and September A third-party publisher says it expects Switch 2 to be released between April and September A third-party publisher expects the Nintendo Switch 2 to be released between April and September 2025. In a recent press release discussing its Q3 earnings for this fiscal year (as spotted on X by MauroNL), the publisher noted that it expects the Nintendo Switch 2 to be released during the first half of the 2025/2026 fiscal year, which runs from April to September 2024. Among other factors, Nacon lists “the arrival of the Nintendo Switch 2 console, for which Nacon already has compatible games and a full range of accessories” as something it anticipates will increase operating income. The compatible games likely refer both to Nacon’s Switch games (which will run on Switch 2) and its Switch 2-specific games. NACON expects the Nintendo Switch 2 to launch in the first half of its 2025/2026 fiscal year, which runs from April – Sepember 2025. The publisher noted it “already has compatible games and a full range of accessories” on the way for the new Nintendo console. pic.twitter.com/LjDdo1NJQk — MauroNL (@MauroNL3) January 20, 2025 In a Nintendo Switch 2 reveal video published on last week, Nintendo confirmed the console will launch this year, with a full reveal planned for April 2. As expected, Switch 2 will sport a similar form-factor to the original Switch, with detachable joins – this time magnetic – and a large screen. Nintendo also showcased what appears to be a new Mario Kart game during the trailer. Commenting on the reveal, Japan game industry consultancy firm Kantan Games’ CEO Dr Serkan Toto told VGC that shareholders appeared to be happy that previous Switch 2 leaks were true and that Nintendo was playing it safe with the new console’s design. Source link #thirdparty #publisher #expects #Switch #released #April #September Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

General Motors wins Deutsche Bank upgrade, says risks priced into stock General Motors wins Deutsche Bank upgrade, says risks priced into stock The way forward for General Motors is higher as the risks related to a second Trump administration have already been factored into the stock price, according to Deutsche Bank. Analyst Edison Yu upgraded the maker of Cadillacs and Buicks to buy from hold. He also raised his price target on the stock to $60 from $56, implying upside of almost 18% from Friday’s close. “While there are concerns about the cycle and potential policies of the new Trump administration, our view is that these risks are already very well-known and there’s room for positive surprises (e.g., pricing holds up better, no Mexico tariffs, etc.),” Yu wrote. GM 1Y mountain GM shares in past year. “With GM stock having outperformed Ford significantly last year, we could envision 2025 being directionally similar,” he added. Donald Trump was inaugurated as the 47th president on Monday. On his first day, he signed a flurry of executive orders, though none included tariffs on goods from key trading partners such as China, Mexico or Canada. To be sure, Trump floated the idea of 25% levies on goods coming from Canada and Mexico, huge centers of production for the auto industry. Yu added: “GM has consistently executed well in the midst of macro uncertainties, and we think this will continue to position the company well for 2025, amid a lingering [electric vehicle] slowdown, tariff concerns and potential policy changes.” GM shares soared 48% in 2024 despite the auto industry having to pare back efforts in the electric vehicle sector due to shifting consumer preferences. So far in early 2025, GM is down 4.3%. Analysts covering the stock are mostly split. LSEG data shows that 15 of 29 who cover the automaker rate it a buy or strong buy. Another 14 have a hold or underperform ratings. That said, the average price target signals 17% upside. Source link #General #Motors #wins #Deutsche #Bank #upgrade #risks #priced #stock Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

Why U.S. companies struggle to replicate China’s WeChat ‘super app’ Why U.S. companies struggle to replicate China’s WeChat ‘super app’ Think about the apps you use on your phone every day. Studies have shown Americans use an average of 46 mobile apps each month to complete a variety of everyday tasks. Now imagine if you could combine all of those programs into a single, standalone app. A one-stop shop to socialize with friends, order food, pay rent, or even consult with a doctor — colloquially known as the “super app.” “We’re all sick of the dozens of apps on our phones,” said Arjun Kharpal, CNBC’s senior technology reporter. “And the appeal of the super app is that all of the functions of those apps are in one place, in the super app itself. It’s convenient, it’s frictionless.” Perhaps the most prominent example of the super app is Tencent’s WeChat, which began in 2011 as a simple messaging app in China and today boasts more than 1.3 billion monthly active users. The popularity of such apps can be attributed to several factors, including convenience, seamless user experience, and user behavior. While super apps have flourished in Asia, their adoption in Western markets, including the U.S., has been slower due to a variety of reasons. “The regulatory environment in the U.S. today is certainly not as conducive to allowing a super app to develop,” said Dan Prud’homme, assistant professor at Florida International University’s College of Business. “There are still very strong protections on things like peer-to-peer lending, data privacy, antitrust and so on that don’t allow the apps in the U.S. to quite thrive in the same way that WeChat could.” But things may be starting to change. In recent years, more and more tech companies have set their sights on bringing the super app model to the U.S. Watch the video to find out what’s behind the appeal of super apps in Asia, why the U.S. has been slower to adopt the “everything app” model, and whether we can expect a super app in the U.S. anytime soon. Source link #U.S #companies #struggle #replicate #Chinas #WeChat #super #app Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

‘Starry Night,’ All Night Long, as a Van Gogh Blockbuster Ends ‘Starry Night,’ All Night Long, as a Van Gogh Blockbuster Ends The moment well after midnight when one day slides into the next is usually a lonely time, observed by security guards and nurses, insomniacs and students cramming for exams. But this weekend, at the National Gallery in London, thousands of people were there together. They had come to see Friday into Saturday with some of the last paintings Vincent van Gogh ever made. “There’s an intrigue,” said Digenis Koumas, a visitor, musing on the artist’s appeal. “It’s kind of an enigma, his life. The struggles, the battles he had with himself, with his psyche.” Koumas, like many other art lovers, had interrupted his circadian rhythms and braved London’s spotty nighttime public transportation options for a final glimpse at “Van Gogh: Poets and Lovers,” which was staying open for an all-nighter in an effort to meet visitor demand before it closed on Sunday. In a statement on Monday, the museum said it had been the most popular ticketed event in its history, with nearly 335,000 visits. Nearly 20,000 of those were on the final weekend. For many visitors, the van Gogh show was as poignant as it was beautiful. The 61 pieces in the exhibition were all made in the two years before van Gogh died by suicide in 1890 at age 37. Koumas had already seen the show at least eight times, he said, but he wanted one more look. “You’re seeing his paintings,” Koumas said, “and you’re seeing him as well.” Gabriele Finaldi, the National Gallery’s director, said that curators chose to hang the works higher than normal, so that crowds could see them better, anticipating that the show would be popular. But maybe not this popular. For months, tickets have been sold out. The rooms have been packed four deep, regular visitors said, like subway platforms at rush hour. For the final weekend, museum officials looked back at how they had handled demand for another standout show, a Leonardo da Vinci exhibition that closed in 2012. That show had about 324,000 visitors, and it closed out with the first all-nighter in the National Gallery’s history. The van Gogh tickets sold out quickly, too. And so on Friday night, after the rest of the museum closed at 9 p.m., fans lined up for timed slots to enter the exhibition. Many were repeat customers. “I really wanted to see van Gogh’s paintings again,” said Ekow Davis, 8, sometime after 1 a.m. He had already seen the show in November. On Friday, he said, he went to bed early after a hamburger and some Lego time, and then his parents woke him around 10:30 p.m. to take him to the National Gallery. Ekow said he loved the bright colors in some of van Gogh’s most famous paintings. But there was something about a lesser-known piece, a monochromatic rendering of a mountain, that struck him. “It looks like a place that I honestly want to go to,” he said, adding that he could imagine the sun and the wind. Two of van Gogh’s famous sunflower paintings, which were surrounded by crowds all night, hung in another room. One piece came from the National Gallery’s collection. The other was on loan from the Philadelphia Museum of Art. Between them hung a portrait of a woman in a green dress. For many, this wall was the highlight of the show: Van Gogh had envisioned such a triptych in a letter to his brother, Theo. Perhaps that is why climate activists doused those sunflowers with soup last fall, an hour after other activists were sentenced to jail time for an earlier attack on the National Gallery’s “Sunflowers,” in 2022. (There was no permanent damage to the paintings.) The mood on Friday and Saturday, by contrast, was serene, even contemplative. Many people took their time with the show. “Midnight offers more room for reflection and self-exploration,” said Yuan Lee, 20. Lee said he had loved van Gogh’s paintings for years. He had met up at a bar beforehand with friends, some of whom were there more for an adventure than to see the art. Hannah Gilbert, 30, and her friend Tilly George, 27, had come for both. The two live just outside of London and drove half an hour to the end station on a subway line to arrive in time for a 1:45 a.m. slot — the earliest one left when they booked. They would have a long ride back. But they had a lot to see. After gazing into the sky of “Starry Night over the Rhône,” painted in 1888, the two took pictures of each other from the back as they stood in front of the work, fixing their hair between shots. Just before 4 a.m., Gilbert looked up at “Van Gogh’s Chair,” a painting of an empty seat with the artist’s pipe and tobacco. The piece is like a self-portrait in the negative, a death foretold in his absence. She loves the painting, she said. She always has. But she did not want to buy a postcard of it. “As beautiful as it is, I don’t want to put it on my wall because I don’t want to see it every day,” she said. It is just too sad, she added, maybe a little too close. Gilbert said she had been thinking about how much van Gogh struggled during his lifetime — and wondering how he would react to the crowded late-night show. “What would his perspective of his success be?” Gilbert said, looking around the room. “Like: ‘I was myself and it was worth it,’” she guessed. “‘It was enough.’” As 5 a.m. came and went, Diane Martin, 73, flipped to a new page in her sketchbook. Martin had come to the show many times. On Friday, she had begun sketching around 9 p.m. Only now, she said, did she feel “a bit tired.” “Every time I’ve been, it’s been incredibly busy,” she said, nodding at the people standing in front of her. “It’s been like that the whole exhibition.” The crowds had thinned, just a little. This is what she had been waiting for: A chance to draw without peering through a wall of bodies. “It was really to just hopefully get a bit of time when I could sit a bit easier and draw,” she said. In front of her, an olive grove twisted. The wind seemed to rustle the leaves, spread across four paintings, all painted in 1889. Maybe it was van Gogh, or maybe early-morning delirium. But for a second, the trees did seem to move. Source link #Starry #Night #Night #Long #Van #Gogh #Blockbuster #Ends Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

Huge laptop ***** is live at Best Buy – shop the 7 best deals I recommend from $139 Huge laptop ***** is live at Best Buy – shop the 7 best deals I recommend from $139 It may not be the busiest time of the year for tech savings but Best Buy has launched a massive ***** this week featuring dozens of excellent laptop deals. Everything from super-cheap Chromebooks to modern high-end Copilot Plus machines are reduced, so I’ve picked out the seven best offers that are worth buying – with prices starting as low as $139. • See all of today’s laptop deals at Best Buy The standout offer is this HP Envy 16 2-in-1 Laptop for $549.99 (was $899.99) – a fantastic price for a powerful and versatile machine. It boasts a current Intel Ultra 5 processor, 16GB of RAM and a 512GB SSD, which is a strong set of components if you need a machine for everyday use, general admin jobs, multitasking and watching videos. The fact that you also get a flexible 16-inch touchscreen is a huge bonus at this price point, too. If you want even more power then I fully recommend this Dell XPS 13 for $999.99 (was $1,499.99) as it’s a return to the lowest price yet for the brand-new version with a Snapdragon processor. This incredibly efficient CPU ensures fantastic all-around performance and an impressive battery life of up to 17 hours – great if you need a powerful portable machine. More of my top picks from the latest laptop ***** at Best Buy are below, including excellent prices on several devices from Acer, Lenovo, Asus and Apple. If nothing here exactly suits your needs then I’ll be hunting down more of the best laptop deals every week here at TechRadar. Today’s 7 best laptop deals at Best Buy Source link #Huge #laptop #***** #live #Buy #shop #deals #recommend Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

Inflation cools to 1.8% in December as tax ‘holiday’ kicked off – National Inflation cools to 1.8% in December as tax ‘holiday’ kicked off – National Descrease article font size Increase article font size Inflation slowed further in December as ********* consumers got a tax break from the federal government. Statistics Canada said Tuesday that the annual pace of inflation cooled to 1.8 per cent last month. That’s down from 1.9 per cent in November. The December inflation figures capture part of Ottawa’s GST/HST “holiday,” which began Dec. 15. StatCan said Tuesday that prices of food bought from restaurants and alcoholic beverages — two of the categories excluded from federal tax for two months — saw a major deceleration in the annual and monthly inflation figures. Get weekly money news Get expert insights, Q&A on markets, housing, inflation, and personal finance information delivered to you every Saturday. The Bank of Canada will be poring over the latest figures ahead of its first interest rate decision of the year, set for Jan. 29. More to come… Trending Now Who is Usha Vance? What to know about the lawyer married to JD Vance Gulf of America? A look at some of Trump’s 1st executive orders Story continues below advertisement 2:01 Halfway through the GST/HST tax holiday &copy 2025 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc. Source link #Inflation #cools #December #tax #holiday #kicked #National Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

Trump orders federal workers back to office 5 days a week Trump orders federal workers back to office 5 days a week Trump begins second term with flurry of executive orders Trump begins second term with flurry of executive orders 02:54 President Trump is requiring millions of federal employees to return to the office. In an order issued Monday, the White House instructed all U.S. government departments and agencies in the executive branch to end remote work arrangements and require employees to return to work on a full-time basis. Department heads can exempt some workers from the requirement. The executive order was one of a blizzard of actions announced by Mr. Trump on the day of his inauguration, including directives on the economy, immigration and climate change. —This is a developing story and will be updated. Kate Gibson Kate Gibson is a reporter for CBS MoneyWatch in New York, where she covers business and consumer finance. Source link #Trump #orders #federal #workers #office #days #week Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

U.K. May Change Terrorism Law After Southport Attack, Starmer Says U.K. May Change Terrorism Law After Southport Attack, Starmer Says Britain faces a new and dangerous form of extremism, Prime Minister Keir Starmer said on Tuesday, warning that loners and misfits were being radicalized by “a tidal wave of violence freely available online.” In a speech at Downing Street, Mr. Starmer said that unlike the terrorist threat posed by organized groups like Al Qaeda, where a clear ideology could be identified, some young people were becoming fixated on extreme violence for its own sake. He compared the brutal ******* of three girls at a dance class last July in Southport, England, to some of the school shootings seen in America. On Monday, Axel Rudakubana, 18, admitted to murdering three girls in the coastal town of Southport and to attempting to kill 10 other people. The attack last summer prompted rioting in several towns and cities across England and in Northern Ireland. Serena Kennedy, the chief constable of Merseyside Police, the force that covers Southport, said in a statement on Monday that Mr. Rudakubana had “an unhealthy obsession with extreme violence,” as evidenced by a trove of documents, images, videos and texts about violence, conflict and genocide that he had viewed on his digital devices. “We know that he had researched numerous documents online which show that obsession,” she said, adding: “From all those documents, no one ideology was uncovered, and that is why this was not treated as terrorism.” On Monday the government announced a public inquiry after it emerged that the perpetrator had been referred three times to a counterterrorism program called Prevent, when he was 13 and 14, because of his interest in extreme violence. Because he was deemed not to be motivated by a terrorist ideology, he was not considered suitable for intervention. Mr. Starmer said that this judgment was “clearly wrong,” and that he would not let any institution of the state “deflect from their failure,” which, “in this case, frankly, leaps off the page.” He rejected claims from Britain’s right-wing media that there had been a coverup around the murders, saying that he had been briefed on the police investigation as it was underway but had been prevented by law from disclosing information about the perpetrator in advance of any possible trial. Strict rules govern the release of information during active court proceedings in Britain in order to guarantee the right to a fair trial. “If this trial had collapsed because I or anyone else had revealed crucial details while the police were investigating while the case was being built, while we were awaiting a verdict, then the vile individual who committed these crimes would have walked away a free man,” Mr. Starmer said. In the days after the attack on July 29, right-wing critics suggested that information was being suppressed about the perpetrator to contain public anger. Rioting exploded after the rapid spread of misinformation about the killer’s identity — including false claims that he was a recently arrived undocumented immigrant from Syria. Mr. Rudakubana was born in Wales. The police announced in October that after searching Mr. Rudakubana’s house, they had found ricin, a lethal toxin, and a PDF file titled “Military Studies in the ****** Against the Tyrants: The Al Qaeda Training Manual.” But in statements on Monday, investigators made clear that the killer’s interest in violence was wide-ranging and did not appear to stem from any single ideology. The Southport attack was “a sign,” Mr. Starmer said, that terrorism was evolving and that Britain faced a new threat alongside more organized groups such as those linked to or inspired by Al Qaeda. “We also see acts of extreme violence perpetrated by loners, misfits, young men in their bedroom, accessing all manner of material online, desperate for notoriety,” said Mr. Starmer, adding that, while such people were sometimes inspired by traditional terrorist groups, they were “fixated on that extreme violence, seemingly for its own sake.” Since such acts were designed to terrorize, Mr. Starmer said, Britain’s antiterror laws might need to change in order to recognize and tackle the new threat. “I do think it’s new — you’ve seen versions of it in America with some of the mass shootings in schools,” he said. “It is not an isolated, ghastly example. It is in my view an example of a different kind of threat.” Mr. Starmer argued that the tragedy of the Southport killings “must be a line in the sand for Britain.” It would, he said, address questions that were “far-reaching, unburdened by cultural or institutional sensitivities and driven only by the pursuit of justice.” Chris Philp, who speaks for the opposition Conservative Party on home affairs, welcomed the establishment of a public inquiry but said that it should investigate “what the government knew when,” whether the authorities were “as open and transparent with the public as they could have been,” and whether any lack of transparency contributed to the riots. Source link #U.K #Change #Terrorism #Law #Southport #Attack #Starmer Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

The Thing Remastered review [SideQuesting] The Thing Remastered review [SideQuesting] The updated version of The Thing may prove that age *IS* more than just a number. Source link #Remastered #review #SideQuesting Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]