Pelican Press

Flight operations at 4 Moscow airports temporarily suspended due to Ukrainian drone attack Flight operations at 4 Moscow airports temporarily suspended due to Ukrainian drone attack Russian forces intercepted more than 100 Ukrainian drones fired at almost a dozen regions of Russia, the Defense Ministry in Moscow said Tuesday, in an attack that forced all four airports around Moscow to temporarily suspend flights. Nine other regional Russian airports also temporarily stopped operating as drones struck areas along the border with Ukraine and deeper inside Russia, according to Russia’s civil aviation agency, Rosaviatsia, and the Defense Ministry. It was the second straight night that the Moscow region reportedly was targeted. Two people were injured in the Kursk region, according to local Gov. Alexander Khinshtein, and some damage was reported in the Voronezh region. The Russian reports couldn’t be independently verified. The drone assault comes two days ahead of a unilateral 72-hour ceasefire in the more than three-year war announced by President Vladimir Putin to coincide with celebrations in Moscow marking Victory Day in World War II. The day celebrating Moscow’s defeat of Nazi Germany in 1945 is Russia’s biggest secular holiday when foreign dignitaries will gather in the Russian capital. Meanwhile, Russian forces overnight fired at least 20 Shahed drones at Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-0largest city near the border with Russia, injuring four people, regional Gov. Oleh Syniehubov wrote on Telegram. The drones started a fire at the biggest market in Kharkiv, Barabashovo, destroying and damaging around 100 market stalls, he said. Seven more civilians were injured elsewhere in the Kharkiv region by Russian glide bombs and drones, Syniehubov said. Putin last week declared a brief unilateral truce “on humanitarian grounds” from May 8. Ukraine has called for a longer ceasefire. Russia has effectively rejected a U.S. proposal for an immediate and full 30-day halt in the fighting by insisting on far-reaching conditions. Ukraine has accepted it the proposal, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says. U.S. President Donald Trump said Monday at the White House that the brief truce “doesn’t sound like much, but it’s … a lot if you knew where we started from.” Foreign leaders who have confirmed their attendance at the Victory Day festivities in Moscow include China’s President Xi Jinping, described by Putin as “our main guest.” India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi, another top ally whom Putin has courted, had been expected in Moscow but he canceled his trip amid tensions with Pakistan. Other guests include Slovakia’s populist Prime Minister Robert Fico, who has openly challenged the European Union’s policies over Ukraine. Serbia’s President Aleksandar Vucic also has accepted an invitation, his first trip to Russia since the invasion, but his attendance was uncertain after he became ill. ___ Follow AP’s coverage of the war in Ukraine at Source link #Flight #operations #Moscow #airports #temporarily #suspended #due #Ukrainian #drone #attack Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content] For verified travel tips and real support, visit: [Hidden Content]

Loyalists cheer as ex-PM Zia returns home to Bangladesh – Dawn Loyalists cheer as ex-PM Zia returns home to Bangladesh – Dawn Loyalists cheer as ex-PM Zia returns home to Bangladesh DawnView Full Coverage on Google News Source link #Loyalists #cheer #exPM #Zia #returns #home #Bangladesh #Dawn Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

Interview: Joe Depa, global chief innovation officer, EY Interview: Joe Depa, global chief innovation officer, EY As global chief innovation officer (CIO) at EY, Joe Depa helps his firm embrace new ideas that boost service delivery and address client challenges in key areas, such as tax and assurance. Depa, previously chief data and artificial intelligence (AI) officer at Emory University and global lead for data and AI at Accenture, became global CIO at EY in November 2024, and says the data-intensive nature of the role appealed to him. “Tax and assurance don’t sound all that exciting at first, but then when you learn about what it involves, it’s about dealing with an amazing amount of data,” he says. “At EY, we process about a trillion lines of financial data annually. We’ve got 50% of the Fortune 500 companies’ datasets as part of our tax and assurance business. That data puts us in a unique position to help our clients make more strategic decisions.” Depa says the role allows him to apply some of the skills he’s acquired during his career. With the rise of AI and the ever-increasing importance of data, he saw the opportunity to lead EY into novel areas: “I wanted to continue to accelerate my learning in technological innovation we’re seeing around the global landscape and I felt like EY gave me the platform to do that.” Innovating in the right places As global CIO, Depa is responsible for advancing the firm’s innovation strategy. His team helps the business exploit value-adding technologies, from new products and services to better ways of working. There are three main components to his role. One part is running the firm’s data office – EY’s chief data officer reports to Depa. The second component of his role is what he calls responsible AI agent orchestration: “That’s about the ability to leverage the data using our policies and frameworks.” Depa says part of that work involves creating an assurance practice for the data and AI agents that will be used in the future, which he refers to as a “critical” piece of work, given the fast-moving nature of the digital environment. The third component of Depa’s role is to think about the next frontier, which covers technological developments on the horizon: “It’s focused on things like robotics, physical, cyber, AI, quantum – some of the technologies that are not necessarily having an impact right now, but they’re coming soon, and they’re coming fast. “We have a data-led approach, unsurprisingly, because I’m a data guy at heart, and we look at venture capital and private equity spend. That approach helps us identify where the market’s headed by markets, regions and industries. “For venture capital, we know the timeline is typically five to 10 years, and we know the private equity timeline is a little bit shorter, call it five or less. Right now, we’re seeing an uptick in physical AI, which is robotics, particularly in some areas, like Asia-Pacific. So, the data we collect allows me to think, ‘Okay, I need to focus on that area’.” Depa says that another focus for the next frontier is what he refers to as the omniverse, which encompasses metaverse and digital twin technologies: “The ability to simulate a multitude of scenarios at once is seeing a lot of investment,” he says. With this knowledge acquired, Depa helps EY and its staff to deploy technologies internally and to advise clients externally. “It’s about asking questions like, ‘How do you apply the right AI-ready data within our environment? How do we ensure we’re doing things responsibly from an agentic perspective, and how do we make sure we’ve got the next frontier technologies covered within our user interface?’. Answering those questions is 50% of my job. The other 50% of the job is thinking about how we take those technologies and help our clients.” Creating an effective strategy Depa’s 100-strong innovation team works with EY’s 400,000 professionals to highlight opportunities for data-led business change. The firm’s governance structure means innovation is applied consistently and quickly across service lines and regions. “When I came into the role, I said the last thing I want to do is centralise data, AI and innovation because that approach stifles change, it slows things down,” he says. “My team’s role is to enable, orchestrate and raise visibility about what’s working in each of the regions and service lines.” Depa’s team spreads good ideas from one place in the business to another, ensuring the gap between theoretical and practical deployment is bridged rapidly and effectively. While he’s only been in the CIO role for six months, Depa can already point to some key achievements. “I want us to be the best in data – AI-ready data that we own. I want us to be the best at securing the data and harvesting that data for our clients in a secure and responsible AI manner” Joe Depa, EY “What I wanted to do very quickly was establish our applied innovation strategy – that was step one,” he says. “Applied innovation is an important term, and I chose it purposefully because I wanted to ensure that we’re applying innovation. I didn’t want our teams to feel like we were just a think-tank that built things in a lab that didn’t apply to EY or our clients.” Depa built the applied innovation strategy with input from regional leaders, market leaders, EY’s clients and the firm’s professional teams. He wanted to understand how to focus the strategy on compelling ideas, which can be a struggle for innovation chiefs. “When I came in, and I think many companies have this issue, we were trying to do a lot of things all at once and, therefore, not doing anything well,” he says. “I said, ‘Let’s focus on three areas we can do well based on our brand positioning.’” Delivering excellence in three areas Depa says the first of those three areas is data: “I want us to be the best in data – AI-ready data that we own. I want us to be the best at securing the data and harvesting that data for our clients in a secure and responsible AI manner.” The second area is creating differentiation around responsible AI: “I want to truly embed responsible AI into our processes and the way our clients leverage data and AI. I call it the orchestration tower because our assurance practice can help raise any issues or risks that can provide traceability and audibility for the AI agents of the future.” The third area covers what Depa refers to as the innovation muscle, which he says will differentiate the AI and data pioneers from the laggards. “That’s about how we, as an innovation team, help our organisation adapt to the rapid pace of change,” he adds. “The speed is fast for everyone, including EY and our clients. Success means enabling the right people, processes and training so our teams can rise to the occasion.” Depa says his team has made good progress across those three areas and is applying the principles internally and with the firm’s clients. The team is also looking at how it will invest in talent, via internal training programmes and external hiring, to support development across those three areas. New products are being pushed into operation. EY has deployed a new toolkit for assurance that allows the firm to embed responsible AI into how it audits and provides assurance capabilities for its clients. EY has also pioneered developments in synthetic data, which companies use to fill gaps where real data is limited, especially in regulated industries. “Synthetic data enables us to try some simulations and scenarios with our clients, without using real data,” he says. “We can test things more safely. Synthetic data will be an important component of an AI-ready data strategy for EY and our clients.” Training the innovation muscle Depa is pleased with the progress during his first six months at EY. He refers to the importance of an “open innovation ecosystem”, which allows CIOs to bring together the brightest minds and technologies to get to market quickly. He says the best innovation chiefs are humble and look to learn something new daily. “I believe that, for innovation officers of the future, the concept of centralised control will diminish because it doesn’t give you speed,” he says. “The second thing to recognise is that no innovation chief has all the answers. All CIOs must know how to collaborate and work together with alliance partners, leaders and clients to get answers.” During the next 24 months, Depa wants EY to become an expert in AI-ready data, ensuring the firm uses and deploys responsible AI at scale. He says any business that gets the data foundations right now will be best placed to exploit agentic AI in a secure and compliant manner, adding: “I want us to be the leaders in responsible AI orchestration.” Depa returns to the concept of the innovation muscle and says he’s eager for people across the organisation to feel confident they can use technology to help them do their jobs better. He wants people to adopt and adapt emerging technology faster than today. As an example, Depa refers to EY.ai EYQ, a bespoke generative AI platform designed to empower the firm’s staff with data-powered insights in a private, secure environment. “EYQ is a large language model platform that allows EY professionals to interact with a ChatGPT-style chatbot. We have over 100,000 monthly users, so about 25% of our employees use the platform. But what I find interesting is that our data shows that the employees who use the technology are more engaged,” he says. “Those results show you that AI can help you, in many ways, to do your job better. You can feel more empowered. You can focus on things you want to do instead of repetitive tasks. I hope we continue to see that trend develop over the next 24 months, where employees are more engaged, happier about their jobs, and feel like they’re having an impact. That’s when I’ll know we’ve been successful.” Source link #Interview #Joe #Depa #global #chief #innovation #officer Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content] For verified travel tips and real support, visit: [Hidden Content]

Winter fuel cuts were factor at elections, says minister Winter fuel cuts were factor at elections, says minister Paul Seddon Political reporter Getty Images Restricting winter fuel payments dented Labour’s support at last week’s local elections, the health secretary has acknowledged. Wes Streeting told the BBC many voters “aren’t happy” with the move, adding it had “come up on the doorstep” during campaigning. But he insisted the move would help the government invest in public services despite “multiple crises that we’ve inherited”. Streeting said the policy was not being formally reviewed, after the Guardian said ministers were considering partially reversing the cuts later this year. He said Labour was reflecting on the elections last week at which the party lost around two-thirds of the seats it was defending. But he added: “We are reflecting on what the voters told us last Thursday at the ballot box.” No 10 sources say conversations have taken place about how to address the scale of public concern about the issue. The winter fuel payment is a lump-sum amount of £200 a year for pensioners under 80, increasing to £300 for over 80s, paid in November or December. Last year, the government decided to restrict the payments to those who qualify for pension credit and other income-related benefits, in a bid to save £1.4bn. The move, which did not feature in Labour’s election manifesto, means around 9 million pensioners will no longer qualify for the top-up. It has been seen as a key issue at last week’s elections, at which Labour lost 187 council seats and control of the only council it was defending. ‘Multiple crises’ Streeting told the BBC: “I’m not going to insult your viewers by pretending that winter fuel didn’t come up on the doorstep, of course it did”. “I know that people aren’t happy about the winter fuel allowance in lots of cases,” he added. “We did protect it for the poorest pensioners, but there are a lot of people saying they disagree with it regardless”. However, he also defended the move as part of a wider package of changes, that would provide the “means of raising the investment” in public services. “Unfortunately when you look across the board at the breadth and depth of the multiple crises that we’ve inherited, in order to deliver the change that people voted for we have had to do heavy lifting at the Budget,” he added. Source link #Winter #fuel #cuts #factor #elections #minister Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

Neale Daniher, *********** icon, is no good at fashion Neale Daniher, *********** icon, is no good at fashion Neale Daniher’s daughter Bec takes great delight in teasing him about what head gear he initially wanted for the Big Freeze fundraiser. Source link #Neale #Daniher #*********** #icon #good #fashion Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

Driven by data: The RAF’s revamped maritime patrol capabilities Driven by data: The RAF’s revamped maritime patrol capabilities Over the inhospitable waters of the North Atlantic, Royal Air Force aircraft play a game of cat and mouse with Russian hunter-killer submarines, and data collection and management are at the heart of its operations. The primary role of the Poseidon MRA1 maritime patrol fleet is protection of the ***’s continuous at-sea nuclear deterrent. Detecting, and tracking, Russian subs, surface vessels and spy ships is their daily task. As recently as January this year, a Royal Air Force Poseidon from RAF Lossiemouth was involved in tracking a Russian landing ship, the RFN Aleksandr Shabalin, through the English Channel. And, should war break out, Poseidons will be called on to coordinate attacks on such surface vessels, or even take on submarines with their on-board torpedoes. In that way, the task of the RAF’s two maritime patrol squadrons, based at RAF Lossiemouth in Scotland, differs little from the missions of their forebears during the Second World War and the Cold War, hunting down ******* and then later Soviet submarines. But in many other critical respects, the RAF’s nine Poseidon aircraft are very different from anything that has gone before. Poseidon, also known by its US designation, P-8A, is very different from the flying boats and converted bombers that hunted U-boats during the Second World War, or the Shackleton and Nimrod aircraft of the post-war *******. Poseidon reflects the increasing importance of data as a dimension of modern warfare. In effect, the P-8A is a flying datacentre. Subsea data processed in the air From the outside, Poseidon appears unremarkable. The P-8A shares its basic airframe with the Boeing 737-800 airliner, fitted with in-flight refuelling gear, a defensive suite and other adaptations. It has been “toughened up” for military operations, according to one of its pilots. This includes removing most of the windows, save for two large side portholes for observers. They are also fitted with stronger wings than a 737-800, to withstand flying at just a few hundred feet over the Atlantic’s waves. The P-8A also features an internal weapons bay, for torpedoes, and hard points on the wing. These allow it to carry anti-ship, and potentially defensive anti-aircraft missiles, although these are not currently used with RAF aircraft. But Poseidon’s greatest threat to hostile vessels might not even be a weapon. Instead, it’s her suite of sensors, including a search radar, a powerful camera and sonobuoy acoustic sensors. Poseidon has two automatic magazines for dropping sonobuoys, as well as a manual launch system, and can use passive and active (“multi-static”) sonobuoy models. Passing on intelligence Poseidon crews use sonobuoys to listen for enemy submarines below the surface and triangulate their position. The aircraft collects and processes the buoys’ acoustic data. On-board systems combine this with feeds from the aircraft’s other sensors for Poseidon’s seven mission crew to analyse. They can then pass on the intelligence to other aircraft, or to surface ships. But Poseidon’s most powerful feature is perhaps her ability to gather and store vast amounts of data for future analysis. The exact nature of this is classified, but post-mission data is analysed on the ground at Lossiemouth – “terabytes” of it, according to the RAF. The resulting intelligence “product” is then made available to the RAF, the Royal Navy, and potentially Nato and “five eyes” allies. This allows commanders to form an accurate intelligence picture of vessel movements through the Greenland-Iceland-*** gap in the North Sea. “We do that by building ‘recognised maritime pictures’ of the surface and subsurface, knowing where the people are that we would not like to be within reach of our submarines,” says squadron leader Peter Armitage, officer commanding of the P8 Tactical Operations Centre. The fact that the P-8A is a standard, even off-the-shelf aircraft, used across allied nations, helps here. Nato countries operate around 40 Poseidons in the North Atlantic. Further afield, Australia and New Zealand also have P-8A fleets. The RAF’s P-8A fleet is supported on land by a dedicated data processing system, built primarily with components from Fortinet and NetApp. This feeds into the RAF’s Air Chan, Air Content Hosting and Access Network, command and control programme. According to Toby Milwright, Poseidon and Air LDO manager at Defence Digital, which manages communications and information systems across *** defence, there are several stages of data gathering and processing for maritime patrol aircraft. “It’s aiding your flight planning and the communications before you go flying so the air crews are going out with the right intelligence,” he says. “It’s about on-task communication with the aircraft wherever it is … and that’s both in terms of voice communications and also data communications.” But it’s what happens after the flight that has seen the most changes to how data is handled, processed and turned into intelligence. “That’s the post-flight, post-mission management of the data,” he says. “Data comes off the aircraft. It’s processed on this particular aircraft mission equipment, and then we want to look after it, and then, it’s sort of our half, our part in what’s known as the ‘intelligence cycle’.” Modern data systems a game changer With older surveillance aircraft, such as Nimrod, analysts mostly worked with analogue information sources that used systems designed as far back as the 1970s. According to the RAF, media with collected data was physically moved from aircraft all the way to analysts elsewhere in ***. This took time. “The process was very manual before, in the way they distributed that data to remote locations,” says Huw Davies, account director for the MOD at NetApp, which provides the data storage layer for Air Chan. “It would potentially take weeks for that information to be shared and analysed. Now we are down to hours and minutes.” Poseidon is a step change in the way it handles information, as the process is entirely digital and data moves in near real time. Media from the aircraft is transferred into the MOD’s system technology – local components of the Air Chan network – for what the RAF describes as “ordered ingest of bulk data, curation of that data and making it available to analysts over MOD secure networks”. The core data storage infrastructure is NetApp’s StorageGrid technology, which uses S3 object storage and runs on the suppliers’ E-series storage hardware. Fortinet provides networking. For operational reasons, neither NetApp nor Defence Digital can confirm the exact volumes of data involved. It is “probably in the terabytes per sortie as a typical number”, says Davies. He qualifies this with the caveat that an air-sea rescue mission, another Poseidon task, could be significantly longer than an anti-submarine patrol. Object storage and unstructured data “It’s an unstructured object storage environment,” explains NetApp’s Davies. “There’s video camera imagery, and sonar detection as well. So, all of that data is collected by the sensors. There’s a lot of data that’s collected, for sure.” The data storage and analysis system is, however, all on-premise. Redundancy is via secondary data storage offsite, running over protected inter-site links. As well as StorageGrid, the current system for handling the P-8A’s data system also incorporates additional local storage used by intelligence analysts. This provides quick, local access to critical information. This is vital, given the amount of information involved. The P-8A is designed to patrol for four hours or more. A key part of intelligence processing is then to “curate the data, adding metadata, relationships between objects and security permissions”, according to Defence Digital’s Toby Milwright. Identifying relevant information P-8A mission data is tagged during flights. This greatly speeds up the time it takes for the RAF’s intelligence specialists to identify relevant information. “One of the things that we do is labelling of data whilst in flight, that we’re able to quickly tag,” says NetApp’s Davies. “It is the better data, the interesting elements of the sortie, rather than looking at six hours of data and trying to wade through that … they don’t have to look at as big a dataset. They can look at specific information.” This allows the MOD to use off-the-shelf IT hardware, albeit hardware that meets strict government standards for security and availability. However, StorageGrid is a commercial product, widely used in enterprises. “It is enterprise grade. StorageGrid is used in the enterprise world as well. It is not specific to defence,” he says. And the actual performance requirements are manageable, according to Davies. “It’s not intra-second performance,” he says. “It’s making the metadata available to the analysts.” Reliability, availability and long-term support are as important, he adds. A military aircraft system can have a 30-year service life, and the missions it undertakes can change significantly over that time. The communications and information systems technology needs to keep pace. For now, data from Poseidon and the StorageGrid system is currently based at fixed locations, but there is an ambition to develop a deployable version, which could accompany P-8A missions away from their home base. In the future, the data fabric that supports Poseidon operations could be extended to other “defence domains”, says Davies. Linking more defence users to Poseidon’s data output justifies the ***’s investment in the aircraft, in the three P-8A squadrons, and in RAF Lossiemouth, the RAF’s only station in Scotland. It also provides the assurance that should potentially hostile forces move on or under the seas of the Greenland-Iceland-*** gap, they will not go undetected. Source link #Driven #data #RAFs #revamped #maritime #patrol #capabilities Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content] For verified travel tips and real support, visit: [Hidden Content]

Russian journalist who escaped house arrest in Moscow reappears in Paris after brutal journey Russian journalist who escaped house arrest in Moscow reappears in Paris after brutal journey Russian journalist who escaped house arrest in Moscow reappears in Paris after brutal journey Source link #Russian #journalist #escaped #house #arrest #Moscow #reappears #Paris #brutal #journey Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

88-year-old man and dog killed in bear attacks in Florida: Officials – ABC News 88-year-old man and dog killed in bear attacks in Florida: Officials – ABC News 88-year-old man and dog killed in bear attacks in Florida: Officials ABC NewsAt least 1 dead in possible Florida bear attack YahooBear Kills Man and Dog in Southwest Florida, Officials Say The New York TimesFlorida man and his dog killed in suspected bear attack NBC NewsOne person, dog dead in Collier County bear mauling; officials haul dead bear out of woods Naples Daily News Source link #88yearold #man #dog #killed #bear #attacks #Florida #Officials #ABC #News Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

Can S&P 500’s Rally Continue or Will Tariffs and Fed Decisions Derail Progress? Can S&P 500’s Rally Continue or Will Tariffs and Fed Decisions Derail Progress? Last week, stocks were up for the second week in a row, and the got back to where it was before the April 2 tariff announcement. Can the major indexes make it three weeks in a row of gains? The S&P 500ʻs two-week surge has seen it move higher for nine straight days, through Friday. That is the longest winning streak for the large-cap benchmark since 2004. But the streak ended on Monday, as the S&P 500 was down 36 points, or 0.5%, while the dropped 133 points, or 0.7%. The was off 88 points, or 0.2%, while the fell 12 points, or 0.6%. Tariffs continue to dominate the macroeconomic landscape and stock markets, with the latest being a proposed 100% tariff on movies made outside the U.S. However, the White House released a statement following the initial President Trump social media post, saying that “no final decisions on foreign film tariffs have been made,” according to USA Today. FOMC meets Tuesday and Wednesday This week, all eyes will be on the Federal Reserve’s Federal Open Market Committee (), which meets Tuesday and Wednesday on interest rates. While the labor market has been solid and has come down, there is little expectation for the FOMC to lower rates at this meeting, given the uncertain economic environment and tariff impact. The key gauge for what the FOMC might do is the CME FedWatch survey, which polls interest rate traders on what they expect. As of Monday afternoon, 97% of those traders surveyed expect the Fed to keep rates at the current 4.25% to 4.50% range. Further, the majority, 71%, expect the rates to stay the same even after the June meeting. The July 25 FOMC is the meeting that most are targeting for a reduction in rates, with 56% calling for a 25-point cut and 18% expecting a 50-point reduction. Palantir Leads Busy Week for Earnings First quarter earnings season rolls on, and one of the most anticipated companies to report this week is Palantir Technologies (NASDAQ:). Last year’s top-performing large-cap stock reports earnings on Monday after the market closes. Analysts anticipate earnings of 13 cents per share for Palantir, which is up 64% year-to-date and a ridiculous 435% over the past 12 months. Other notable stocks reporting this week are hotel chain Marriott (NASDAQ:) and chipmaker Advanced Micro Devices, or AMD (NASDAQ:) on Tuesday; Walt Disney (NYSE:) and sports betting site Flutter Entertainment (NYSE:) on Wednesday; crypto platform Coinbase Global (NASDAQ:), sports betting site DraftKings (NASDAQ:), and fintech Affirm Holdings (NASDAQ:) on Thursday. Original Post Source link #500s #Rally #Continue #Tariffs #Fed #Decisions #Derail #Progress Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content] For verified travel tips and real support, visit: [Hidden Content]

Woman attacked by stingray at a SA beach Woman attacked by stingray at a SA beach An X-ray showed the dagger going in at her elbow and coming out almost under her arm. Source link #Woman #attacked #stingray #beach Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

Exclusive-Order by Hegseth to cancel Ukraine weapons caught White House off guard Exclusive-Order by Hegseth to cancel Ukraine weapons caught White House off guard By Erin Banco, Phil Stewart, Gram Slattery and Mike Stone NEW YORK/WASHINGTON – Roughly a week after Donald Trump started his second term as president, the U.S. military issued an order to three freight airlines operating out of Dover Air Force Base in Delaware and a U.S. base in the United Arab Emirates: Stop 11 flights loaded with artillery shells and other weaponry and bound for Ukraine. In a matter of hours, frantic questions reached Washington from Ukrainians in Kyiv and from officials in Poland, where the shipments were coordinated. Who had ordered the U.S. Transportation Command, known as TRANSCOM, to halt the flights? Was it a permanent pause on all aid? Or just some? Top national security officials — in the White House, the Pentagon and the State Department — couldn’t provide answers. Within one week, flights were back in the air. The verbal order originated from the office of Pete Hegseth, the secretary of defense, according to TRANSCOM records reviewed by Reuters. The cancelations came after Trump wrapped up a January 30 Oval Office meeting about Ukraine that included Hegseth and other top national security officials, according to three sources familiar with the situation. During the meeting, the idea of stopping Ukraine aid came up, said two people with knowledge of the meeting, but the president issued no instruction to stop aid to Ukraine. The president was unaware of Hegseth’s order, as were other top national security officials in the meeting, according to two sources briefed on the private White House discussions and another with direct knowledge of the matter. Asked to comment on this report, the White House told Reuters that Hegseth had followed a directive from Trump to pause aid to Ukraine, which it said was the administration’s position at the time. It did not explain why, according to those who spoke to Reuters, top national security officials in the normal decision making process didn’t know about the order or why it was so swiftly reversed. “Negotiating an end to the Russia-Ukraine War has been a complex and fluid situation. We are not going to detail every conversation among top administration officials throughout the process,” said Karoline Leavitt, the White House spokeswoman. “The bottom line is the war is much closer to an end today than it was when President Trump took office.” The cancelations cost TRANSCOM $2.2 million, according to the records reviewed by Reuters. In response to a request for comment, TRANSCOM said that the total cost was $1.6 million – 11 flights were canceled but one incurred no charge. An order halting military aid authorized under the Biden administration went into effect officially a month later, on March 4, with a White House announcement. The story of how flights were canceled, detailed by Reuters for the first time, points to an at-times haphazard policy-making process within the Trump administration and a command structure that is unclear even to its own ranking members. The multiday pause of the flights, confirmed by five people with knowledge of it, also shows confusion in how the administration has created and implemented national security policy. At the Pentagon, the disarray is an open secret, with many current and former officials saying the department is plagued by internal disagreements on foreign policy, deep-seated grudges, and inexperienced staff. Reuters couldn’t establish exactly when Hegseth’s office ordered the freight flights canceled. Two sources said Ukrainian and European officials began asking about the pause on February 2. The TRANSCOM records indicate that there was a verbal order from “SECDEF” – the secretary of defense – that stopped the flights and that they had resumed by February 5. “This is consistent with the administration’s policy to move fast, break things and sort it out later. That is their managing philosophy,” said Mark Cancian, a retired Marine officer and defense expert with the Center for Strategic and International Studies think tank. “That is great for Silicon Valley. But when you’re talking about institutions that have been around for hundreds of years, you are going to run into problems.” The stop in shipments caused consternation in Kyiv. The Ukrainians quickly asked the administration through multiple channels but had difficulty obtaining any useful information, according to a Ukrainian official with direct knowledge of the situation. In later conversations with the Ukrainians, the administration wrote off the pause as “internal politics,” said the source. Ukrainian officials did not respond to requests for comment. The shipping of American weapons to Ukraine requires sign-off from multiple agencies and can take weeks or even months to complete, depending on the size of the cargo. The majority of US military assistance goes through a logistics hub in Poland before being picked up by Ukrainian representatives and transported into the country. That hub can hold shipments for extended periods of time. It’s not clear if the 11 canceled flights were the only ones scheduled that week in February, how much aid was already stockpiled in Poland and if it continued to flow into Ukraine despite the TRANSCOM orders. The revelations come at a time of upheaval in the department. Several of Hegseth’s top advisers were escorted from the building April 15 after being accused of unauthorized disclosure of classified information. The secretary continues to face scrutiny, including from Congress, about his own communications. Previously he’s attributed allegations of upheaval to disgruntled employees. The canceled flights contained weapons that had long been approved by the Biden administration, authorized by lawmakers on Capitol Hill. Reuters couldn’t determine if Hegseth or his team knew how the order to TRANSCOM would play out or that the order would be a substantial change in U.S. policy on Ukraine. Three sources familiar with the situation said Hegseth misinterpreted discussions with the president about Ukraine policy and aid shipments without elaborating further. Four other people briefed on the situation said a small cadre of staffers inside the Pentagon, many of whom have never held a government job and who have for years spoken out against U.S. aid to Ukraine, advised Hegseth to consider pausing aid to the country. Two people familiar with the matter denied there was a true cutoff in aid. One of them described it as a logistical pause. “(They) just wanted to get a handle on what was going on and people, as a result, misinterpreted that as: ‘You need to stop everything,’” said one. FLIGHTS CANCELED According to two sources with knowledge of the meeting, Hegseth arrived at the January 30 Oval Office meeting with Trump with a memo drafted by some of his top policy advisers, advocating that their boss push the White House to consider pausing weapons deliveries to Ukraine to gain leverage in peace negotiations with Russia. The sources said the secretary attended the meeting with other top officials involved in Ukraine policy, including National Security Adviser Mike Waltz and Ukraine envoy Keith Kellogg. The group broadly discussed U.S. policy on Ukraine and Russia, including potentially tightening sanctions on Moscow. It’s not clear the extent to which Hegseth proposed stopping aid during the meeting, but the idea came up in discussions, said one of the sources and another person familiar with the meeting. Since the beginning of Russia’s full-scale invasion in February 2022, the U.S. had approved billions of dollars worth of military aid to Ukraine. Most was delivered under the Biden administration. But a few shipments remained in the pipeline, scheduled into this summer. Trump had threatened to freeze aid repeatedly on the campaign trail, but had yet to do so. And during the meeting, he again declined to stop aid to Ukraine or order Hegseth to implement any policy changes when it came to sending equipment to Kyiv, the sources said. An order effectively freezing any military support for an ally would normally be discussed intensively among top national security officials and approved by the president. It requires the coordination of multiple agencies and often multiple freight companies. None of that discussion or coordination happened when Hegseth’s office canceled the scheduled flights carrying American artillery shells and ammunition to Poland from Al Udeid military base in the United Arab Emirates and the Dover U.S. military base in Delaware, three of the sources said. The pause came as Ukraine’s military was struggling to fend off Russian forces in eastern Ukraine and in the consequential battle for the Kursk region of Russia, where Ukrainian forces were losing ground and have since all but been expelled. Close Trump advisers got tipped off to the pause by Pentagon staffers and discussed with the president whether to restore the aid shipments, according to two sources. By then, TRANSCOM had canceled 11 flights, according to the records reviewed by Reuters. Some media outlets, including Reuters, wrote about the pause but Hegseth’s role was previously unknown. It’s unclear if Trump subsequently questioned or reprimanded Hegseth. One source with direct knowledge of the matter said National Security Adviser Waltz ultimately intervened to reverse the cancelations. Waltz was forced out on Thursday and is expected to be nominated as U.S. ambassador to the United Nations. GROWING INFIGHTING When Trump entered office, aid to Ukraine continued flowing and he pledged to work with Ukraine and Russia to end the war – or at the very least broker a ceasefire. Two of his most prominent envoys, Kellogg, a supporter of Kyiv who worked with Trump in his first administration, and Steve Witkoff, a real-estate magnate and close friend of the president, set out to negotiate with both parties. Separately, at the Pentagon, some of Hegseth’s policy advisers privately started drafting proposals to pull back American support for Ukraine, according to two sources briefed on the matter. That group of staffers align themselves closely with the anti-interventionist philosophy. Some have previously advised Republican lawmakers advocating for an America-first approach to foreign policy and have called publicly, in writings and talks, for the U.S. to pull back from military commitments in the ******** and Europe – a view similarly held by Vice President JD Vance. Several have advocated that the U.S. instead focus on China. Supporters of the staffers have slammed those pushing back on the anti-interventionist movement in the administration, claiming Vance and others are merely trying to save the lives of people living in warzones like Ukraine and prevent future American military deaths. The infighting has complicated the policy-making process, according to a person familiar with the matter and four other sources. At a time when Kellogg and Witkoff are trying to broker a peace deal with Russia and Ukraine, the staffers have advocated behind the scenes for the U.S. to draw back its support for Kyiv – a policy that has angered Ukrainian officials and pressured European allies to fill the gap, five people with knowledge of the situation said. Washington has signed a deal with Kyiv for rights to its rare earth minerals – an agreement U.S. officials say is an attempt to recoup money America has spent to prop up Ukraine’s war effort. At least one of the staffers who had previously pushed for the administration to pull back its support for Kyiv, Dan Caldwell, was escorted out of the Pentagon for a leak he claims never happened. Caldwell, a veteran, served as one of Hegseth’s chief advisers, including on Ukraine. Despite the brief pause in February and the longer one that began in early March, the Trump administration has resumed sending the last of the aid approved under U.S. President Joe Biden. No new policy has been announced. (Reporting by Erin Banco, Phil Stewart, Gram Slattery and Mike Stone. Editing by Don Durfee and Lori Hinnant.) Source link #ExclusiveOrder #Hegseth #cancel #Ukraine #weapons #caught #White #House #guard Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content] For verified travel tips and real support, visit: [Hidden Content]

Oppo Find X8 Ultra Review: So Good, Yet So Far Oppo Find X8 Ultra Review: So Good, Yet So Far Another Ultra phone has made its way to our reviews. But I’m disappointed that this one won’t be available in India. Yes, the Find X8 Ultra is the successor to the Find X7 Ultra (which also never launched in India). This means that the Find X8 Pro and Find X8 (Review) will remain the ultimate flagship smartphone for people in India who want the absolute best from Oppo. So, compared to the X8s available in India, what does X8 Ultra bring to the table? Well, a lot. The X8 Ultra gets a higher resolution screen than the X8 Pro and Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite (8-Core) under the hood compared to MediaTek Dimensity 9400 on the X8 Pro. There’s also the primary 1-inch sensor, which isn’t on the X8 Pro. To top it off, there’s also faster-wired charging and a ******* battery. Well, on paper, the X8 Ultra definitely feels like a phone that should have made it to India and could have easily gone up against the likes of the iPhone 16 Pro Max (Review), Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra, and Xiaomi 15 Ultra. Nevertheless, if you plan on getting the X8 Ultra, what should you expect? Well, read my review to find out. Oppo claims that the Find X8 Ultra is the slimmest camera flagship at 8.78mm Oppo Find X8 Ultra Design and Display: Striking aesthetics and stunning visuals Dimensions: 163.09×76.80×8.78mm Weight: 226 grams Display: 6.82-inch ProXDR AMOLED, 2500nits peak brightness IP68 and IP69 rating The Find X8 Ultra introduces an all-new design for the company’s Ultra line of devices. The Find X7 Ultra (Review) had a signature dual-tone finish that stood out, but Oppo chose a more muted option. It’s more in sync with the X8 Pro and X8 smartphones. Yes, the rear camera module looks nothing less than an ‘Ultra’ setup, which we have finally lived to accept lately. The Oppo Find X8 Ultra camera module has four 50-megapixel sensors and a True Chroma module, a multispectral system, and I will talk about that in the camera section. The phone comes in Matte ******, Pure White, and Shell Pink (pictured above) colours Oppo has been thumping its chest for the Find X8 Ultra to be the thinnest camera phone. At 8.78mm, the Find X8 Ultra convincingly beats the Find X7 Ultra (9.5mm) and Xiaomi 15 Ultra (9.48mm). Oppo claims that it achieved a significant feat by redesigning its internals. While using it every day, the 226 grams of weight felt distributed evenly throughout. It has a flat design, just like many flagships in the market. The contoured edges and matte glass back offer a great hand feel. The company calls the camera module ring at the back the Cosmos Ring design. The good thing is that the cameras are arranged in symmetry with the legendary camera brand, Hasselblad, branding. Oppo has ensured attention to detail with an orange dot at the back signifying imaging capabilities and a nod to Hasselblad’s shutter button in its cameras. Oppo has nailed the attention to detail quotient. The Find X8 Ultra rear camera housing comes with Hasselblad branding Finally, another smartphone maker joined hands with Apple and entered the era of more physical buttons on a smartphone. The Find X8 Ultra gets a Shortcut Button and a Quick Button, which was also seen on the Find X8 Pro. The Quick Button is a shortcut to access the cameras on the device by double tapping and then swiping for zoom or even long pressing for burst shooting. The Shortcut Button is a more evolved Alert slider, activating sound and vibration modes by simply long pressing. You can also customise it to turn on a flashlight, record voice, turn on translation, or take screenshots. The Find X8 Ultra sports a glass sandwich design, but the good thing is the rear is fingerprint-smudge-free. Oppo claims Corning Gorilla Glass is used on both sides but doesn’t mention whether it is the latest. The Cherry on the cake is that the phone gets SGS Five-Star drop resistance certification, so you can comfortably use this one without a case. Like some Android flagships, the Find X8 Ultra also gets IP68 and IP69 dust and water-resistant ratings. It features a 6.82-inch LTPO OLED display with adaptive 120Hz refresh rate The Find X8 Ultra is available in Matte ******, Pure White, and Shell Pink. For some reason, Oppo India sent me a Shell Pink, which initially wasn’t my best pick colour but has since grown on me. The muted colour and matte finish look classy and provide an understated presence. The phone also gets an ultrasonic fingerprint scanner, which is snappy and always reliable. Jumping to the display, the Find X8 Ultra features a 6.82-inch AMOLED LTPO display with 120Hz Adaptive refresh rate, 1440×3168 pixels screen resolution, 510PPI pixel density, and up to 2160Hz PWM dimming. It supports Dolby Vision and gets a peak brightness of 2500nits. Everything about the Find X8 Ultra display is flagship-grade except the peak brightness, which should have been at least 3000nits, if not more. For comparison, the Find X8 Pro and Find X7 Ultra sport 4500nits peak brightness. The peak brightness is capped at 1600nits, which is lower than what we see on some competition devices Talking about raw performance, the Find X8 Ultra packs a stunning panel. I loved watching multimedia content on this one and also playing gaming titles. It can reproduce punchy colours and is bright enough in the outdoors. It gets Widevine L1 support, which means you can watch HDR content across OTT platforms. Like I said, everything about the display department on the Find X8 Ultra is flagship-grade except the peak brightness, which could have been better. Oppo Find X8 Ultra Performance: Flagship standard SoC: Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite (8-Core) RAM: Up to 16GB LDDDR5X Storage: Up to 1GB UFS 4.1 OS: ColorOS 15 based on Android 15 The Find X8 Ultra is powered by Qualcomm’s top-of-the-line Snapdragon 8 Elite chipset, and you can’t get a better chipset on an Android phone than this one (at least till 2025 H2). The unit we got has 16GB of RAM and 512GB of storage. In China, Oppo also sells a 1 TB variant. The smartphone comes with UFS 4.1 storage In everyday usage, the Find X8 Ultra is snappy and can handle up to 35 apps in the background without sweat. I had a wonderful time playing games Call of Duty: Mobile and BGMI on the device, and the games at Medium graphics and Ultra frame rate were terrific. Even after 45 minutes of continuous COD Mobile, the phone didn’t overheat. Although it gets hot, once you stop playing the vapour chamber system, graphite and copper layers are super quick to bring temperatures down. Talking about benchmarks, the Find X8 Ultra is a flagship device, and the table below shows how well it performed versus the competition. Benchmark Oppo Find X8 Ultra iPhone 16 Pro Max Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra Xiaomi 15 Ultra Geekbench 6 Single 3,065 3,203 3,053 2,980 Geekbench 6 Multi 9,390 7,846 9,832 8,870 AnTuTu v10 27,38,647 15,87,059 21,23,303 25,19,481 PCMark Work 3.0 18,540 N/A 19,266 18,189 GFXB T-rex 60fps 59fps 120fps 120fps GFXB Manhattan 3.1 326fps 59.7fps 115fps 306fps GFXB Car Chase 60fps 59.4fps 94fps 120fps 3DM Slingshot Extreme OpenGL Maxed Out N/A Failed to run Maxed Out 3DM Slingshot Maxed Out N/A Failed to run Maxed Out 3DM Wild Life Maxed Out 8,942 Maxed Out Maxed Out 3DM Wild Life Extreme Stress 6,221 N/A 23,683 Failed to run If there’s one department where the Find X8 Ultra really stands out, then it has to be the haptic motor (0916T). The flawless vibration motor enhances the gaming and typing experience to the next level. The Find X8 Ultra excels in the performance department with its raw credentials. The Find X8 Ultra runs ColorOS 15 based on Android 15 The phone runs on ColorOS 15, based on Android 15, and comes with the company’s promise of 5 years of OS updates and 6 years of security updates. The new coat of ColorOS brings a host of AI features, like other smartphone makers. AI is the buzzword, so why should Oppo miss out on cashing on it? There are features like AI Photo Remaster, AI Clarity Enhancer, AI Reflection Remover, AI Unblur, AI Eraser, AI Perfect Shot, and AI Studio. Additionally, there are more AI features focused on productivity features, like AI Reply, which shows pre-typed texts, and you can just send them. There’s also AI Writer, AI Speak, AI Assistant for Notes, AI Recording Summary, and AI Summary for documents like PDF. Oppo claims the Trinity Engine features smart caching that optimises CPU and system performance. The new ColorOS 15 also introduces the O+ Connect app that lets you transfer files between Oppo devices and iPhone/iPad. There’s also a new Zen Mode-like Aqua Dynamics, which reduces interference. The smartphone is powered by 8-core Snapdragon 8 Elite SoC Overall, the Find X8 Ultra is an excellent product from Oppo, and as I said in my intro to the review, I’m disappointed that this isn’t coming to India. Oppo Find X8 Ultra Camera: Setting the benchmark Camera setup: Quad camera setup Primary: 50-megapixel Sony LYT900 1-inch sensor with f/1.8 aperture Telephotos: 50-megapixel (3x) Sony LYT700 1/1.56-inch with f/2.1 aperture 50-megapixel (6x) Sony LYT600 1/1/95-inch with f/3.1 aperture Selfie: 32-megapixel sensor The Find X8 Ultra’s biggest strength is its camera setup. If something makes it ultra-worthy, then it has to be the cameras. Jumping straight to the raw camera performance, the Find X8 Ultra can click some amazing daylight shots. The samples I clicked had plenty of details and, most importantly, vibrant and accurate colours. In most of the samples, the dynamic range is also excellent. I was carrying the Find X8 Ultra to one of my recent Spiti trips, and here are some fantastic samples from the amazing place. The rear packs four 50-megapixel cameras The results are amazing whether you are clicking with a 1x or 2x lens. I didn’t see much of a difference because of the switch of the lenses. Oppo Find X8 Ultra primary camera samples (tap images to expand) Portraits also come out well, and below is a sample captured in the middle of nowhere en route to Spiti. I really love how the phone manages to keep skin tone and facial details rendered well without oversharpening. The depth estimation is also accurate, and subject isolation is perfect. The two telephoto cameras offer a big advantage to the Find X8 Ultra, especially when you compare them to the Find X8 Pro. The 3x telephoto sensor comes in handy for your macro shots as well as regular shots. Oppo Find X8 Ultra portrait sample (tap image to expand) The samples had great details, accurate exposure and colours. The best part is that the noise is well-managed across lighting conditions. The 6x lens is equally useful for zoom shots. It is great for reach, and I got some amazing 6x shots with plenty of details, excellent dynamic range, and crisp colours. Oppo Find X8 Ultra 3x telephoto lens in action (tap image to expand) The 50-megapixel ultrawide camera does well too. It managed to get some excellent shots in different lighting situations. Oppo Find X8 Ultra ultrawide camera samples (tap image to expand) Oppo Find X8 Ultra 6x telephoto lens in action (tap image to expand) The low-light samples on the Find X8 Ultra came out really well. The two shots below have been clicked in pitch-dark conditions. See how well these are processed without overdoing anything. I like the point that noise is well-managed. Oppo Find X8 Ultra low-light samples (tap images to expand) The selfie camera is a 32-megapixel shooter but doesn’t get bells and whistles like the rear ones. The daylight shots come out really well, and the low-light shots are decent. But, nothing that blew me or I can write home about. For videos, all the cameras on Find X8 Ultra support up to 4K (60 fps) recording. The rear also gets 4K (120fps) support. The phone doesn’t support 8K recording but gets Dolby Vision support. Overall, with Find X8 Ultra, Oppo again sets a benchmark for smartphone photography. I will repeat that this one is China-locked and may never reach India. The company introduced its all-new image processing engine, Lumo, which really works across lenses and focuses on portraits. But I hope the 1-inch sensor and the camera tech in any avatar make their way to India because the camera prowess is the best we have seen from Oppo so far. The Find X8 Ultra comes with IP68 and IP69 rating Oppo Find X8 Ultra Battery: Your last man-standing phone Capacity: 6100mAh battery Fast-charging – 100W SUPERVOOC wired charging, 50W wireless charging 10W reverse wireless charging The Oppo Find X8 Ultra packs a large 6100mAh battery, a big bump from the Find X7 Ultra’s 5000mAh battery and the Find X8 Pro’s 5910mAh unit. It also has 100W SUPERVOOC wired charging, 50W AIRVOOC wireless, and 10W reverse wireless charging. During my tests, the Find X8 Ultra could easily last over a day of heavy usage. My testing involved over 30 apps open in the background, including utility, chat, gaming, and office apps alongside other multimedia apps like YouTube, Netflix, ESPNCricinfo, and more. Considering the Find X8 Ultra is a camera-centric smartphone, I included a full hour of camera usage that heated the phone a bit but didn’t impact the battery drain much. The Find X8 Ultra can charge up to 60% (from scratch) in less than 20 minutes, thanks to fast charging. The Find X8 Ultra packs a 6100mAh battery In our HD video loop test, the Find X8 Ultra lasted for roughly 23 hours and 35 minutes, which sets a benchmark for phones we tested lately. The Find X8 Ultra definitely sets a benchmark in the battery department. Oppo Find X8 Ultra Verdict The Find X8 Ultra is another superb phone from Oppo that you won’t be able to ­buy or, as an expert, I can’t recommend it to readers in India. Much like some other Ultras, the Find X8 Ultra comes with a 1-inch sensor that makes it super elite in the class of camera phones. Considering that the Find X8 Pro doesn’t get this, Oppo should have introduced the Ultra in India, maybe as a limited edition, and it would have been a package worth checking for camera smartphone enthusiasts despite the high price tag. Oppo Find X8 Ultra packs two physical buttons – Shortcut and Quick Button The Find X8 Ultra ticks a lot of boxes, including solid design, display, performance, and battery. Of course, the cameras remain a highlight of the device. Especially the decision to cut down some weight in favour of bringing a sleek camera phone is a masterstroke. Imagine getting a 1-inch sensor without carrying a bulky phone, which is a shot worth taking. The addition of dedicated physical buttons may work for users who love quick access to features without the need to toggle multiple options on the screen. If you’re reading this review in India and are still looking for a great camera smartphone, then the Xiaomi 15 Ultra (Review) is a phone you should look at. There’s also the Vivo X200 Pro (Review) that’s equally fantastic and capable. If budget is no bar, then the Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra (Review) is also a great package, though not limited to just cameras but overall. Source link #Oppo #Find #Ultra #Review #Good Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

Israel plans to seize parts of Gaza and stay indefinitely – The Washington Post Israel plans to seize parts of Gaza and stay indefinitely – The Washington Post Israel plans to seize parts of Gaza and stay indefinitely The Washington PostIsrael vows to escalate war with new plan to ‘conquer’ Gaza CNNChina says it is ‘highly concerned’ about Israeli military operations in Gaza The Times of IsraelNetanyahu Warns of ‘Intensive’ Escalation From Israel in Gaza Campaign The New York TimesIsrael’s radical new course in Gaza The Economist Source link #Israel #plans #seize #parts #Gaza #stay #indefinitely #Washington #Post Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

Himanshi Narwal, Indian navy officer’s widow trolled after peace appeal Himanshi Narwal, Indian navy officer’s widow trolled after peace appeal Nikita Yadav BBC News, Delhi PTI Himanshi Narwal (left) bid an emotional farewell to her husband, who was killed in the Pahalgam attack Two weeks ago, the photograph of a woman sitting motionless beside her husband’s body went viral across Indian social media. It captured a moment of unspeakable grief – one that came to symbolise the 22 April militant attack in Indian-administered Kashmir in which 26 civilians were killed. The woman in the photo was Himanshi Narwal, whose husband, a 26-year-old naval officer, was among the victims. The couple, who had been married for less than a week, were on their honeymoon when Vinay Narwal was shot dead. But within days, Ms Narwal, who had been portrayed as the face of the tragedy, found herself at the centre of a hate campaign. It started last week when she urged people not to target Muslims or Kashmiris as emotions ran high across the country. Survivors of the attack have said that Hindu men were targeted, and that the victims were shot after the militants checked their religion. Indian security forces are still searching for the attackers. Since the attack, there have been reports of Kashmiri vendors and students in other Indian cities facing harassment and threats, mainly from members of Hindu right-wing groups. “People going against Muslims or Kashmiris – we don’t want this. We want peace and only peace,” Ms Narwal told reporters at a blood donation camp held by the family on what would have been her husband’s 27th birthday. “Of course, we want justice. The people who have wronged him should be punished,” she added. It was her first public statement since a video of her bidding an emotional farewell over her husband’s coffin went viral. In it, the grief-stricken widow says with tears: “It is because of him that the world is still surviving. And we should all be proud of him in every way.” Her appeal for peace sparked a swift backlash. Within hours, many of the internet users who had earlier mourned her loss were posting abusive comments. Kamal Saini/BBC Vinay Narwal was on his honeymoon with Himanshi when he was shot dead Some accused her of dishonouring her husband’s memory as she refused to blame ordinary Kashmiris for the attack. Others made and shared unfounded claims about her friendships and relationships with Kashmiri men while studying at a university in Delhi. Yet more claimed that she had no right to speak about her husband’s death as they were only married for a few days. As the online abuse continued, India’s National Commission for Women (NCW) wrote on X that the trolling was “extremely reprehensible and unfortunate”. “Perhaps her reaction may not have gone down well with angry people. But any kind of agreement or disagreement should always be expressed with decency and within constitutional limits,” NCW Chairperson Vijaya Rahatkar wrote on X. Journalist Namita Bhandare, who covers gender issues, told the BBC that it was “shocking” how much hatred Ms Narwal received for simply appealing for peace and calm. She was viciously trolled because she “appealed for peace rather than succumbing to the narrative of revenge”, Ms Bhandare added. Ms Narwal was not the only survivor of the attack to face online abuse. Arathi R Menon, the daughter of a man from Kerala state who was killed in the shootings, was also trolled after she recounted her ordeal in front of the media. Some people said that she spoke too calmly and didn’t display much emotion as she recounted her father’s death. Others found fault with her praising two Kashmiri men who she said helped her and took care of her “like a sister”. “It is the same old story – women are always the easy targets,” says Ms Bhandare, adding that female victims of online abuse are also likely to be sexualised and threatened with violence. “Being faceless online gives people the courage to say whatever they want,” she says. “And of course, there’s patriarchy at play, women are singled out, no matter who they are.” Reuters Twenty-six people were gunned down by militants in Pahalgam last month Amid the abuse, Ms Narwal received support online as well. “Your [Ms Narwal’s] statement in the face of that loss was an act of grace and unimaginable strength,” writer and activist Gurmehar Kaur wrote on X. “My mother was your age when she lost my father in the [Kashmir] valley. I know this kind of loss.” In 2017, Kaur, then a graduate student, became the target of a vicious social media campaign after she spoke against a Hindu right-wing student group after a clash at a college in Delhi. Many of the people who trolled her took issue with an earlier campaign by her where she said her father, a soldier who died in 1999, was killed by war, not Pakistan. Journalist Rohini Singh welcomed the NCW’s statement supporting Ms Narwal, but asked why no action had been taken against the social media accounts “blatantly abusing and slandering her”. Members of India’s opposition parties have also urged the government to act. Priyanka Chaturvedi, an MP from the Shiv Sena (UBT) party, tagged federal Information and Broadcasting Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw in a post, asking him to “stand with the widow of an Indian officer” and take action against the trolling. No Indian minister has commented on the trolling campaign yet, and no police complaint has been lodged. Meanwhile, Ms Bhandare says that, like many online hate campaigns, this too may follow a familiar pattern: “It will run its course and then the people will move on to their next target.” Follow BBC News India on Instagram, YouTube, X and Facebook Source link #Himanshi #Narwal #Indian #navy #officers #widow #trolled #peace #appeal Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content] For verified travel tips and real support, visit: [Hidden Content]

This Cannabis ETF Enters Recovery Phase With Momentum Beating S&P 500 This Cannabis ETF Enters Recovery Phase With Momentum Beating S&P 500 There have been lots of headlines about cannabis lately. From the bipartisan support in government, to states looking to legalize at least for medical, to Mexico having a pro-cannabis protest, the buzz leans towards a change in the law. Currently, there are 39 states that have legal medical laws and 23 states that have legal recreational laws. Today, this was announced- Pennsylvania Lawmakers Approve Bill To Legalize ********** Just One Day After It Was Introduced: “Right now, Pennsylvanians who use cannabis are either crossing state lines to purchase from other legal markets or buying from the illicit market.” I cannot imagine any other circumstance where the Federal government is so out of touch with the will of the people. Plus, in the land of tariffs, cannabis avoids all of that as it is readily grown in the US. Imagine the revenue not just from the product itself, but then add packaging, marketing, distribution, sales and tourism. It could add a minimum of 125 billion a year in money to the government. The headline above is what investors are looking for. Blackrock (NYSE:) showing interest aligns with not only the headlines, but also the alcohol and tobacco budding interest. Then add the big pharma… I recorded a 2-part radio broadcast on KSFRFM Santa Fe interviewing a New Mexico regulator and a local cannabis store owner. Part 1 airs May 7th. You know I love good stories, but I also love to look at charts to help with market timing. is the ETF and the first US-listed actively managed ETF to provide exposure solely to American cannabis and hemp companies, including multi-state operators (MSOs). The ETF currently allocates 81% of its holdings in the . That means that the ETF can put those dollars to use and increase the holdings in other cannabis related companies when it is appropriate to do so. On the Daily chart, MSOS entered a recovery phase, cleaning the 50-DMA. The red horizontal line with the January 6-month calendar range low at 3.38. MSOS outperforms the . And momentum tells us that there is a bullish divergence with the dots very close to the 200-DMA while the price is far from it (4.80). The weekly chart is even more interesting. The last time the price traded above the 50-WMA was in May 2024. Should MSOS clear 5.00 we know something is up. Bottom line is that investing in MSOS continues to be a lottery ticket. However, 2.00 is where the price bleed stopped. Through 3.40, there is resistance, but like any trade, having stops, targets and trailing stops is advisable. ETF Summary  (Pivotal means short-term bullish above that level and bearish below)  S&P 500 (SPY) 560 support 570 resistance Russell 2000 (IWM) 200 pivotal Dow (DIA) 400 support 418 resistance Nasdaq (QQQ) 480 support 490 resistance Regional banks (KRE) 55 support 60 resistance Semiconductors (SMH) 208 support 230 resistance Transportation (IYT) 60 key area Biotechnology (IBB) 124 near-term support 130 resistance Retail (XRT) 70 key to hold. 72 resistance Bitcoin (BTCUSD) 89k support 95k pivotal 110 resistance Source link #Cannabis #ETF #Enters #Recovery #Phase #Momentum #Beating Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

Curfew in Peru province after 13 mine workers killed Curfew in Peru province after 13 mine workers killed The Peruvian government has imposed a night-time curfew in Pataz province, where 13 kidnapped mine workers were killed last week. President Dina Boluarte also ordered that mining activities be suspended for a month while extra police and soldiers are deployed to the region. The incident has shone a spotlight on the activities of criminal gangs in Pataz. La Poderosa, the Peruvian company which owns the gold mine at which the men worked, said they had been kidnapped by “******** miners colluding with criminals” on 26 April. Their bodies were found on Sunday. President Boluarte said that the armed forces would take “full control of La Poderosa mining area”. La Poderosa said in a statement that in total, 39 people with links to the company had been killed by criminal gangs in Pataz, a mining region more than 800km (500 miles) north of the capital, Lima. It added that the state of emergency which has been in effect in the province since February 2024 had had little effect. “The spiral of uncontrolled violence in Pataz is occurring despite the declaration of a state of emergency and the presence of a large police contingent which, unfortunately, has not been able to halt the deterioration of security conditions in the area,” said the statement from 2 May. The 13 men whose bodies were found on Sunday were employed by a subcontractor, R&R, which worked at La Poderosa’s mine. They had been sent to confront a group which had attacked and occupied the mine but were ambushed and seized as they were trying to regain control of it. Videos shared by their captors showed them tied up and naked, lying in a mine shaft. The footage, and the fact that their captors shared it with the relatives in an attempt to get them to pay ransom money, caused outrage in Peru. The discovery of their bodies on Sunday and forensic evidence suggesting they were shot point blank more than a week before they were found, has caused further shock. A prosecutor from the region, Luis Guillermo Bringas, told local media that the area was being rocked by “a war for mining pits” between ******** miners and criminals on the one hand and legal miners on the other. Source link #Curfew #Peru #province #workers #killed Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

Ukrainian drone attack closes airports around Moscow Ukrainian drone attack closes airports around Moscow Russian forces have intercepted more than 100 Ukrainian drones fired at almost a dozen regions of Russia in an attack that has forced all four airports around Moscow to suspend flights, the defence ministry in Moscow says. Nine other regional Russian airports also temporarily stopped operating as drones struck areas along the border with Ukraine and deeper inside Russia, according to Russia’s civil aviation agency, Rosaviatsia, and the defence ministry on Tuesday. It was the second straight night that the Moscow region reportedly was targeted. Two people were injured in the Kursk region, according to local governor Alexander Khinshtein, and some damage was reported in the Voronezh region. The Russian reports could not be independently verified. The drone assault comes two days before a unilateral 72-hour ceasefire in the more than three-year war announced by President Vladimir Putin to coincide with celebrations in Moscow marking Victory Day in World War II. The day celebrating Moscow’s defeat of Nazi Germany in 1945 is Russia’s biggest secular holiday when foreign dignitaries will gather in the Russian capital. Meanwhile, Russian forces overnight fired at least 20 Shahed drones at Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city near the border with Russia, injuring four people, regional governor Oleh Syniehubov wrote on Telegram. The drones started a fire at the biggest market in Kharkiv, Barabashovo, destroying and damaging around 100 market stalls, he said. Seven more civilians were injured elsewhere in the Kharkiv region by Russian glide bombs and drones, Mr Syniehubov said. Putin last week declared a brief unilateral truce “on humanitarian grounds” from May 8. Ukraine has called for a longer ceasefire. Russia has effectively rejected a US proposal for an immediate and full 30-day halt in the fighting by insisting on far-reaching conditions. Ukraine has accepted it the proposal, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy says. US President Donald Trump said on Monday at the White House that the brief truce “doesn’t sound like much, but it’s… a lot if you knew where we started from”. Foreign leaders who have confirmed their attendance at the Victory Day festivities in Moscow include China’s President Xi Jinping, described by Putin as “our main guest”. Source link #Ukrainian #drone #attack #closes #airports #Moscow Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content] For verified travel tips and real support, visit: [Hidden Content]

Donald Trump Announces 2 New National Holidays… With A Catch Donald Trump Announces 2 New National Holidays… With A Catch President Donald Trump announced two new national holidays on Monday. But don’t expect to get any extra time off work. Trump posted on his Truth Social platform that “we will not be closing the Country” for the days because “we already have too many Holidays in America” and “there are not enough days left in the year.” “We were Workers then, and we are Workers now!” he added. Trump designated as new holidays May 8, to mark the allies’ victory in World War II, and Nov. 11 to mark the signing of the Armistice that ended World War I. The president’s reasoning for the celebrations: “We won two World Wars, but we never took credit for it — Everyone else does! All over the World, the Allies are celebrating the Victory we had in World War II. The only Country that doesn’t celebrate is the United States of America, and the Victory was only accomplished because of us. Without the United States, the War would have been won by other Countries, and what a different World it would be.” Truth Social Related… Source link #Donald #Trump #Announces #National #Holidays.. #Catch Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

Behind the Scenes of the Met Gala’s 2025 ********* Party Behind the Scenes of the Met Gala’s 2025 ********* Party The Met Gala’s themes can sometimes be vague, but this year, the Costume Institute benefit at the Metropolitan Museum of Art got far more specific. The night was a celebration of “Superfine: Tailoring ****** Style,” a new exhibition focusing on the ****** dandy and its influence on fashion. The show was guest curated by Monica L. Miller, chair of the Africana studies department at Barnard College, whose 2009 book inspired the collection. At a ********* party to toast the opening, the stars sported their best take on the ****** dandy or, in Kim Kardashian’s case, a quaintrelle. “I’m not sure how to pronounce it,” Ms. Kardashian said of the term, meaning a woman who uses personal style to emphasize a life of passion, as she walked into the Great Hall of the Met. “I had a vision of a modern-day dandy like Lenny Kravitz, and so that’s who I was inspired by with Chrome Hearts.” This year’s exhibition was sponsored by Instagram, Louis Vuitton and Tyler Perry, among others. The honorary chair of the event was the basketball star LeBron James, who said he was unable to attend because of a knee injury. His wife, Savannah, came in his stead. “I am supporting my husband here on behalf of him,” Ms. James said. “But if there is any Met Ball that I would love to be a part of, it is this one. This is more than I could have imagined.” As guests walked into the museum they were greeted by more than 7,000 faux narcissus flowers suspended in the air. And as they walked up the stairs, they were received by a decorated group of co-chairs that included the Oscar nominee Colman Domingo, the rapper ASAP Rocky, the Formula 1 racecar driver Lewis Hamilton and Pharrell Williams, Louis Vuitton men’s creative director. That group, save for ASAP Rocky, stood at the top of the stairs alongside Anna Wintour, the editor of Vogue and the global editorial director of Condé Nast, who has been orchestrating the Met Gala since 1999. For some of the guests, this year’s gala was particularly special. “This one is just steeped in meaning,” said the tennis great Venus Williams. “You can see by what everyone wore, how much thought they put into it, also how much it meant to them and how much they wanted to get it right.” She added: “No matter what is happening in your life, no matter what barriers you’re facing, no matter what freedoms you have or don’t have, you can still express yourself, through what you wear, and still be powerful.” The history of the ****** dandy goes back to when some enslaved people were forced to dress in an elevated style. ****** people later embraced that style to reflect their social mobility and their aspirational freedom. The style is about self-expression in incredible detail, which was reflected in many of the stars at this year’s gala. “I am woman dandyism,” the rapper Megan Thee Stallion said during cocktails while wearing a sparkly Michael Kors number. “I’m giving Josephine Baker, a little Eartha Kitt.” Fresh off an Oscar win, Zoe Saldaña was dressed in a Thom Browne gown as she sat next to her fellow actress Kerry Washington in the American Wing of the museum. Everyone who walked into the area stopped to greet them, including the actresses Demi Moore and Ayo Edebiri. Dandyism and ****** excellence are not things to be celebrated only on occasion, Ms. Saldaña said. “We celebrate every day when we wake up and while we’re sleeping.” Dandyism can also reflect refined and elegant personal style, which was embraced by luminaries of the Harlem Renaissance like Claude McKay and Langston Hughes. That style of dress empowered ****** people and allowed them to assert their dignity. “We have always been here,” said the Grammy-winning rapper Doechii, who was wearing custom Louis Vuitton men’s wear. “I’ve always been here. What I represent for fashion and dandyism right now has always been here. It means everything to me. It means history and representing the dandies that came before me.” The stylist Law ****** had predicted days before that it would be the Blackest gala in the history of the event, which was by design. Joining the co-chairs was a host committee of 25 ****** celebrities that included Ms. Edebiri, Jeremy O. Harris, Janelle Monáe, André 3000, ******* King and Spike Lee “It’s looking pretty much like what I said,” Mr. ****** said as he walked in to the gala decked out in Burberry. “I think it’s important for us to be celebrated for the contributions that we’ve made,” he added. “Decade after decade, century after century, that not only affects culture, but pop culture and fashion and everything else.” As Miley Cyrus, Sabrina Carpenter and Jeremy O. Harris chatted near the back of the American Wing, Edward Enninful shouted into his cellphone behind the bar. Gigi Hadid laughed with Derek Blasberg not too far away. At another bar in the wing, Future chatted up FKA twigs while Mr. Williams and Ms. Wintour continued to hold court nearby. As Jeff Goldblum made his way inside the wing, castmates from HBO’s “Euphoria” — including Zendaya, Hunter Schafer and Sydney Sweeney — hugged and hung around. The Costume Institute and Vogue had been working on this year’s theme for several years before it all finally came to life. The starry celebration of the ****** dandy was held a month after President Trump signed an executive order titled “Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History.” In the order, Mr. Trump took aim at the Smithsonian Institution for coming “under the influence of a divisive, race-centered ideology.” Among guests at the 2025 Met Gala, however, the idea of celebrating the ****** dandy didn’t seem particularly divisive. “This is, like, the total opposite of what’s happening in the country today,” the director Spike Lee said, wearing Fear of God and checking the score of the Knicks game. “You see all these artists, business people, successful ****** folks, it is vibrant,” Mr. Lee added. “Everybody’s getting love, everybody’s giving love.” The theme coming to fruition at this specific time was not lost on the producer and songwriter Babyface, who nursed a drink while wearing a ****** and white Laquan Smith ensemble. “There has always been flavor,” he said. “So being able to embrace that tonight and the timing tonight with what’s going on in our country right now, it couldn’t be better. I feel very honored that they saw to it.” Well after the cocktails were over, as a choir set up in the Great Hall to serenade guests as they departed for dinner in the Temple of Dendur, Rihanna finally made her way up the steps. As is often the case, she was the last guest to arrive. “Dandyism is excitement, reinterpretation,” she said as she rushed into the event, somehow donning a corset over a freshly revealed baby bump. “It is all the things I love about ****** people, how we just take things in and make it our own and make it something that is covetable.” Source link #Scenes #Met #Galas #********* #Party Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

How Democrats Hope to Overcome a Daunting 2026 Senate Map How Democrats Hope to Overcome a Daunting 2026 Senate Map Senator Chuck Schumer and his allies are working aggressively to stretch a Senate map that offers precious few opportunities for Democrats to reclaim a majority in 2026, recruiting deep into the country’s most conservative corners to find viable candidates in red states. Democrats have grown more bullish about their midterm prospects as President Trump’s approval rating has sagged. “We are going to be in the majority in 2027,” Mr. Schumer, the ********* leader from New York, boldly predicted last month. But Democrats also confront the brutal reality of a map where all but two of the 22 Republican seats up for election are in states that Mr. Trump carried by at least 10 percentage points in 2024. Winning in such hostile territory has grown harder and harder as Senate contests increasingly align with presidential voting. Republicans now occupy every seat in the states that Mr. Trump won all three times he was on the ballot, powering their 53-seat majority. To break that stranglehold, Mr. Schumer has been dialing up past and present politicians in hopes of landing previous red-state winners. Some, like former Senator Sherrod Brown of Ohio and former Gov. Roy Cooper of North Carolina, could instantly make their states’ races more competitive. But party strategists are also thinking outside the box, looking for political lottery tickets in places like Alaska, Mississippi and Texas. Some are even quietly talking about backing independent candidates instead of Democrats in especially challenging states, including Nebraska, where the independent Dan Osborn is considering a second Senate run. “This map is far more intriguing than initially meets the eye,” said Justin Barasky, a Democratic strategist who has worked on Senate races for years. “There are going to be a bunch of states that are incredibly competitive that people may not be thinking about.” For now, Democrats aim to put as many politically viable boats in the water as possible in case a major backlash to Mr. Trump develops. To have any chance at control, Democrats will need to venture far beyond the two clearly competitive states: Maine, where Senator Susan Collins’s moderate reputation has allowed her to succeed as a Republican, and North Carolina, a battleground where Senator Thom Tillis, another Republican, is seeking re-election. And that doesn’t even take into consideration all the territory Democrats must defend. Retirements by the party’s senators have opened seats in Michigan, Minnesota and New Hampshire, and Senator Jon Ossoff is seeking re-election in Georgia. Republicans had hoped that Gov. Brian Kemp would challenge him, but Mr. Kemp said on Monday that he would not run. Alex Latcham, the executive director of the leading Senate Republican super PAC, is confident of keeping the majority. “Democrats are delusional,” he said. “We welcome their effort to waste resources in states they’re never going to win. We’re going to beat the hell out of them.” A narrow map to start Republicans are determined not to be caught sleeping in seemingly safe states, especially after Mr. Osborn forced the G.O.P. to scramble to save Senator Deb Fischer. Senator Tim Scott of South Carolina, the chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, has told colleagues that a top priority is to avoid spending money in places that should not be competitive. Every Republican senator running in 2026 is expected to have struck a critical fund-raising agreement with the party by mid-May. The Republican-held seats that everyone agrees are competitive are in North Carolina and Maine. In North Carolina, Mr. Schumer has pursued Mr. Cooper, telling him during a conversation about disaster relief last year that he would make a great Senate candidate, according to a person briefed on the call. Mr. Cooper is unlikely to make any decision for at least another month, according to two people briefed on his thinking. In Maine, it is less clear whom Democrats want to run against Ms. Collins. Gov. Janet Mills, 77, has left the door open, but some in the party worry about her age. Representative Jared Golden has expressed interest in statewide office and occupies a pro-Trump seat, but some Democrats dislike his moderate positions. A former congressional aide, Jordan Wood, is already running. The next tier The next tier of races is in once-competitive states that have slipped from Democrats’ grasp. That includes Ohio, where Senator Jon Husted, the Republican appointed to fill Vice President JD Vance’s seat, must stand for election, and Iowa, where Senator Joni Ernst is seeking her third term. Ms. Ernst mollified some Republican critics when, under pressure, she backed Pete Hegseth for defense secretary. She has already drawn a Democratic challenger named Nathan Sage, who bills himself as a mechanic, a Marine and the product of a trailer park. His kickoff video was filled with working-class appeals: “I’m fighting for a Democratic Party that people like me will actually want to be a part of.” J.D. Scholten, a state legislator who narrowly lost a 2018 congressional bid in Iowa’s most conservative district, said he was considering a Senate campaign. He is a rare Democrat in the state’s northwest — “a blueberry in a bowl of tomato soup,” he said — and has recently held rallies in other parts of the state. (Timing on a campaign could be complicated by his other job as a 45-year-old professional baseball pitcher; he just signed for another season with the Sioux City Explorers.) Zach Wahls, an Iowa state senator who burst onto the political radar as a teenager testifying about growing up with two moms, said he was also exploring a Senate run. “Ernst is vulnerable,” he said. The longer shots The last bucket of races is the biggest and most daunting: states that are solidly red, but where Democrats hope that some combination of fortune, uniquely strong challengers, bloody G.O.P. primaries and a poor 2026 environment for Republicans could give them a chance. That list includes Alaska, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Nebraska, South Carolina and Texas. The top potential Democratic recruit in Alaska is Mary Peltola, a former congresswoman who narrowly lost her seat in 2024 and has since joined a lobbying and law firm. But she might instead run for governor or even seek to return to the House. Anton McParland, her former chief of staff, said she was probably months away from a decision, though he added, “No Alaskan really wants to be in D.C.” Mr. Schumer has told associates that he sees an intriguing opportunity in Mississippi, which has the largest percentage of ****** residents of any state. One possible candidate there is Scott Colom, a district attorney who was appointed by President Joseph R. Biden Jr. to a federal judgeship — only to be blocked by Senator Cindy Hyde-Smith, whom Mr. Colom would be running against in 2026. The state is also appealing for Democrats because it is small and relatively cheap to compete in. Democrats also hope that states with bruising Republican primary races could create openings, though Democrats themselves face potentially messy primaries in Minnesota and Michigan. In Louisiana, Mr. Schumer has spoken by phone and met once in Washington with former Gov. John Bel Edwards, a Democrat, according to a person briefed on their conversations. Senator Bill Cassidy, the Republican incumbent, faces at least one primary challenger after voting to convict Mr. Trump during his second impeachment trial. Mr. Edwards has signaled to party leaders to circle back to him closer to August, the person said. In Kentucky, Republicans appear headed toward a three-way primary scrum to replace the retiring Senator Mitch McConnell. But Democrats have yet to land a prominent candidate. Mr. Schumer has pressed Gov. Andy Beshear, a Democrat, to consider a run, but Mr. Beshear appears more interested in a 2028 presidential bid. “I’ve said no to running for Senate,” he said in a brief interview. In Texas, Democrats are energized by a Republican primary between Senator John Cornyn and Attorney General Ken Paxton that is expected to be costly and ugly — though the winner will still be heavily favored. “There is a civil war rolling through the Texas Republican Party right now,” said former Representative Beto O’Rourke, a Democrat who broke fund-raising records during his unsuccessful Senate bid in 2018. He said in an interview that he would consider running again if it were “where I am most useful.” Terry Virts, a former astronaut and International Space Station commander, has sounded out Democrats, including Mr. O’Rourke, as he seriously considers a campaign, according to a person briefed on his deliberations. He has begun sharing more political opinions — like his opposition to Elon Musk — with a social media following that he amassed partly through his space photography. Colin Allred, a Democratic former congressman who lost last year to Senator Ted Cruz by nine points after raising nearly $100 million, said he was “seriously considering” another run and would decide by summer. “It won’t be dependent on what other folks do,” he said in an interview. “I’ve made that clear to anyone who’s asked.” Another option for Democrats is to avoid fielding a candidate altogether — and to back an independent candidate instead. That strategy made recent races more competitive in Alaska, Utah and Nebraska, though Republicans ultimately prevailed. In Nebraska, Mr. Osborn is exploring a second independent run on a populist message. A Navy veteran and mechanic, he far outperformed former Vice President Kamala Harris and forced Republicans to spend millions of dollars to keep the seat last year. Mr. Osborn reported several big donations from national Democrats after the election. Paul Rieckhoff, who runs the group Independent Veterans of America, predicted that as many as five independent Senate candidates in the mold of Mr. Osborn could run in 2026, though he acknowledged that Mr. Osborn would probably have “much more of a hill to climb” as a second-time candidate. “He doesn’t get a second bite at that,” Joanna Rodriguez, a spokeswoman for Senate Republicans, said of Mr. Osborn’s attempts to run as an independent. Last week, an independent candidate, Brian Bengs, entered the South Dakota Senate race after losing heavily as a Democrat in 2022. That year, he said in an interview, he met many voters who agreed with him only to add that they would never vote for him. “They ruled out any possibility of supporting me,” he said, “because the letter D was beside my name.” Reid J. Epstein contributed reporting. Source link #Democrats #Hope #Overcome #Daunting #Senate #Map Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

Carney to Meet With Trump on a High-Stakes Visit to the White House Carney to Meet With Trump on a High-Stakes Visit to the White House Just days after winning a stunning election on an anti-Trump platform, Prime Minister Mark Carney of Canada on Tuesday will meet with President Trump, who has imposed tariffs on Canada, America’s closest ally, next-door neighbor and top trading partner, and repeatedly threatened its sovereignty. With the relationship between the two countries in tatters, the two leaders will sit down in the White House for their first face-to-face discussion, a high stakes encounter that could easily go sideways. Mr. Trump has claimed that Canada doesn’t deserve to be independent because of its reliance on U.S. trade and defense and has spoken about making it part of the United States. Mr. Carney was a political novice who was swept to power because Canadians saw him as a steady hand to negotiate with Mr. Trump and guide Canada through economic turmoil because of his background as a policymaker and private-sector executive. Mr. Carney served a governor of the Bank of Canada during the 2008 global financial crisis and of the Bank of England during Brexit, establishing himself as one of the world’s most prominent central bankers. He faces an unenviable balancing act. Canadians who took a chance on him will expect him to push back on Mr. Trump’s belittling and threatening rhetoric against Canada, as he promised he would. But he will also need to avoid openly antagonizing Mr. Trump in their working luncheon or in front of journalists in the Oval Office photo opportunity that will follow. There was no firm agenda going into the meeting. On Monday, Mr. Trump said he was “not sure” what Mr. Carney wanted to discuss. ********* officials framed the meeting as a first step in the two leaders becoming acquainted and beginning talks that would likely go on for a while. Chemistry matters As is often the case with Mr. Trump, a lot could come down to his chemistry with Mr. Carney, which is untested. The two may not be a natural match. Mr. Carney is a sometimes stiff former banker, known to not suffer fools. He has — while campaigning — revealed a snappish side, as well as a bone-dry sense of humor, when pressed or cornered. But he could earn Mr. Trump’s respect for his private-sector experience — he worked at Goldman Sachs for more than a decade and was later a boardroom leader for major companies. “He’s a very nice man, I think,” Mr. Trump said of Mr. Carney in an interview on the NBC program, “Meet The Press” on Sunday. The anodyne statement was an improvement on his feelings about Mr. Carney’s predecessor, Justin Trudeau. The two had a public falling out in 2018, and the relationship never recovered. Mr. Trudeau visited Mr. Trump after his re-election in Mar-a-Lago, when he was still prime minister, to plead his country’s case against tariffs. Mr. Trump has since said that, during that dinner, Mr. Trudeau told him Canada would be crushed if the United States imposed tariffs. While Mr. Trudeau has never confirmed this version of events, Mr. Trump has cited Mr. Trudeau’s supposed statement to claim that Canada doesn’t deserve to be a country because it is overly dependent on the United States. He started referring to Mr. Trudeau as “Governor Trudeau” and Canada as “the 51st state.” Despite the more respectful language regarding Mr. Carney, it was clear Mr. Trump was not backing down from his main claims about Canada. “I’m a real estate guy at heart,” he told NBC. “When I look down at that artificial line that was drawn with a ruler many years ago — was just an artificial line, goes straight across. You don’t even realize. What a beautiful country it would be.” What are the issues? On a call with Mr. Trudeau in February, Mr. Trump said he did not like the border treaty between the two nations, a claim he’s since repeated publicly, and raised doubts about the two countries’ water-sharing agreements. The president’s statements suggest he is eyeing a renegotiation of the agreements that regulate the relationship between the two next-door neighbors, a worrying prospect for Canada, which would enter such talks as the weaker party. “America wants our land, our resources, our water, our country,” Mr. Carney said in his acceptance speech last week. “President Trump is trying to break us so he can own us. That will never happen.” Mr. Trump has imposed tariffs on many ********* goods, but some goods that had been slated for tariffs have been exempted as he has changed his mind, spreading confusion. Canada has applied retaliatory tariffs against U.S. goods, the only country to take that step besides China, although Mr. Carney has said there is a limit to this approach. The United States, Canada and Mexico have long had a free-trade agreement, now known as U.S.M.C.A., which lays in tatters. Renegotiating a new deal is one of Mr. Carney’s goals. “We subsidize Canada to the tune of $200 billion a year,” Mr. Trump told NBC on Sunday, citing an incorrect figure about the two countries’ trade balance. In reality, the United States last year had a $63.3 billion trade deficit with Canada, according to U.S. government data. When ********* oil exported to the United States is excluded, America has a surplus. Mr. Trump has complained that Canada is a laggard in military spending in NATO, which has a target for its members of committing 2 percent of economic output to defense. Mr. Carney has promised to reach that goal by the end of this decade. And Mr. Trump has said ********* industries like dairy and banking are unfairly protected, making access for U.S. competitors harder. Many elements of the relationship that Mr. Trump says are unfair, were agreed on as part of the trade agreement he negotiated and signed in his first term. Source link #Carney #Meet #Trump #HighStakes #Visit #White #House Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content] For verified travel tips and real support, visit: [Hidden Content]

Samsung Galaxy S26 Series Tipped to Do Away With Snapdragon Chips; May Use Exynos 2600 SoC Samsung Galaxy S26 Series Tipped to Do Away With Snapdragon Chips; May Use Exynos 2600 SoC Samsung Galaxy S25 series was launched in January and it came with a noticeable shift in terms of its processor. While the South Korean tech conglomerate preferred to use its in-house Exynos-branded chips in the Galaxy S24 and previous S series models, it adopted Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8 Elite in the entire Galaxy S25 lineup for all markets. However, an industry note suggests that Samsung may switch back to its proprietary Exynos 2600 for the purported Galaxy S26 series. Exynos SoC in Samsung Galaxy S26 Series Tipster @Jukanlosreve shared an industry note in a post on X (formerly Twitter) detailing Samsung’s plan of powering the purported Galaxy S26 series with the Exynos 2600 processor. However, that may only be applicable to certain markets. The chipset is currently claimed to have a low yield, due to which it is likely to be used only in the phones offered in the European market. Latest industry note related to Samsung: Exynos 2600 is indeed planned to be used in the S26. Currently, due to reportedly low yield, it is likely to be equipped mainly in European models. An industry source emphasized that even in the AP for the S26, Qualcomm’s Snapdragon… — Jukanlosreve (@Jukanlosreve) May 3, 2025 Citing an industry source, the note states that in the Application Processor (AP) for the Galaxy S26, Qualcomm’s Snapdragon shows a “clear” performance advantage over Exynos, although exactly which chip was tested remains unknown. It is said that Samsung initially designed the Exynos 2500 processor for the Galaxy S25 series but dropped it in favour of the flagship Snapdragon 8 Elite and the chip was never released. It was attributed to the company’s failure in delivering a better yield, following which it opted for Qualcomm’s chipset in its current flagship lineup. The tipster speculates that this reported shift from Snapdragon back to Exynos is due to System LSI, Samsung Semiconductor’s R&D business unit, reporting losses of around $400 million (roughly Rs. 3,374 crore) because of this single decision. However, this is not the first time that Samsung’s potential plans of going back to Exynos have surfaced. In February, a South Korean publication pointed out that Samsung Electronics witnessed success with its development of the Exynos 2600 SoC, achieving a 30 percent yield. At the time, it was reported that if the company can achieve a 60 percent yield with its 2nm chipset, its mass production will commence. Source link #Samsung #Galaxy #S26 #Series #Tipped #Snapdragon #Chips #Exynos #SoC Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

Welcome to Reno, the Mighty Mecca of All-You-Can-Eat Sushi Welcome to Reno, the Mighty Mecca of All-You-Can-Eat Sushi The décor may be minimal at Hinoki Sushi, but the Godzilla rolls are endless. Inside this Reno, Nev., restaurant on a sunny Monday afternoon, platters of sushi streamed out of the kitchen like floats in a parade, each roll drizzled with pastel-hued sauces, confettied with furikake or crowned with haystacks of imitation crab. The Godzilla roll — a Reno special overflowing with whitefish, teriyaki sauce, hot sauce, spicy mayonnaise, green onions and sesame seeds, the whole thing deep-fried in tempura batter — graced almost every table. Diners dipped liberally into trays of ponzu, Cajun and honey-mustard sauces. The price for this spread? $27.99 per person. At a time when food prices remain bloated, tariffs threaten supply chains and the big casino-town buffet appears endangered — Reno has a thriving ecosystem of all-you-can-eat sushi that, for now, remains relatively inexpensive. Here in mountain-capped Reno — a kind of Las Vegas Lite, brimming with neon and a smattering of casinos, that serves as a stopover for many travelers to Lake Tahoe — nearly all of the 50 or so sushi restaurants are all-you-can-eat. Limitless sushi has become such a given that à la carte sushi restaurants rarely survive beyond a year, said Mike Higdon, a local food writer and photographer. Born of the American sushi ***** of the 1990s and the value-oriented culture of Reno, where you can still find $9.99 steak-dinner specials, all-you-can-eat sushi has become a city signature, especially as bottomless meal deals vanish elsewhere, Mr. Higdon said. “There is a lot of pride in all-you-can-eat here,” he added. “We know that we are the mecca.” The baroque fantasias on Reno tables look nothing like the sushi you’d find in Japan, where the emphasis is on simplicity and pristine freshness. The high cost of seafood and local restaurants’ need to offer bounty and variety have birthed a flamboyant cuisine in which the fish is almost beside the point. Reno’s sushi menus are a roster of punchy proper nouns followed by lengthy descriptions, like the Playboy: cream cheese, onion, tempura shrimp, red snapper, avocado, jalapeño and both ponzu and habanero sauces. Or the Mickey: seared tuna with avocado, crab, unagi sauce and Sriracha, so named for its apparent resemblance to the Disney mascot. (The likeness is murky.) “I am sure all-you-can-eat sushi would horrify Japanese people,” Mr. Higdon said. But being abundant, inexpensive and loaded with ******* sauces, “it’s an extremely American way to eat sushi.” There are, notably, few Japanese people involved in Reno’s sushi restaurants. Like one-quarter of the city’s 274,000 residents, many of the sushi chefs are Latino, said Khai Duc Du, the owner of Hinoki Sushi. (Japanese sushi chefs, he said, tend to work in higher-end restaurants in cities like Las Vegas or New York.) As a result, Latino flavors have made their way onto the menu. Oscar Robles, a sushi chef at Hinoki, designed a roll called the Odd Future that marries salmon, cilantro, onion and tempura jalapeños with a lining of avocado slices and streaks of lemon honey, habanero and teriyaki sauces. Amy Arias, a communications professor at the University of Nevada, Reno, was having an early dinner with her family one recent afternoon at Hinoki. She comes at least once a month, even though she doesn’t like raw fish. “It’s more about the combination of flavors than it is about the fish,” she said. “The idea of the taste of the fish coming through — no, thank you.” Reno is the only city where Ms. Arias will even eat sushi, as it’s hard to beat the price. “When you go to other places, it’s by the roll,” she said. “It’s jarring.” Jongsoo Park, who opened Kuma Sushi two years ago, said she wanted to serve premium species like sea urchin and spot prawns, but the expense would have forced her to adopt an à la carte menu. She instead opened an all-you-can-eat restaurant, which she says became profitable almost immediately. “We have to take care of three kids,” she said. “We can do high-quality later.” But an all-you-can-eat sushi restaurant turns a profit only when selling at high volumes, and that’s becoming more difficult, said Mr. Du of Hinoki. “We are oversaturated,” he said. “We have 50 all-you-can-eat restaurants for 300,000 people.” With competition that stiff, profit margins are growing slimmer. And President Trump’s 145 percent tariff on imports from China has already driven up prices of ingredients like seaweed and eel, he said. The first place in Reno to serve all-you-can-eat sushi, according to the restaurateur Tony Sin, was likely Sushi and Teri, which opened in 1989 and at some point began offering a bottomless option at its sushi bar. Mr. Sin, who opened his own Sushi Club in 1997, went a step further, offering all-you-can-eat sushi at tables. “Everybody was talking about healthy food, and omega-3s from salmon,” he said. Because sushi was considered a high-end food, he marketed the meal deal as offering both health and value. Other owners adopted that model, and the restaurants multiplied. The continued reign of all-you-can-eat sushi in Reno owes a lot to one buyer, Miyuki Wong. Ms. Wong — who works at the local food distributor Sierra Meat & Seafood — supplies more than three-quarters of Reno’s all-you-can-eat sushi restaurants, selling $200,000 worth of fish each week. She started as a saleswoman at another distributor in 1997. “I am Japanese, and so they were like, ‘You handle the sushi,’” she said. As bottomless sushi boomed and even casinos started offering it, Ms. Wong was buying increasingly larger volumes and obtaining ******* discounts from suppliers across the country and the globe. For all-you-can-eat sushi restaurants to survive, “I have to be able to sell at a certain price,” she said over lunch at Tokyo Sushi, as she sized up a platter of tuna and hamachi set atop a garden salad and impaled with pink and blue ********* umbrellas. “I know the market, I know the competition, and I know where I have to be. I have great relationships.” She sells mostly cooked and frozen fish, as it’s less expensive than fresh. Locals have become so used to the taste, she said, that some restaurants that tried incorporating fresh fish switched back to frozen because customers preferred it. “They thought the fresh was not light enough in color,” she said. “It was sort of strange that they preferred what they were used to rather than the real deal.” She’s unsure whether all-you-can-eat sushi can stay affordable under the new tariffs. She recently bought 100 cases of eel from China for $11.90 a pound, before the price jumped to $13.95. Last year, she paid $8.40. Some restaurateurs have already taken preventive measures. Heejin Polon, the owner of Sushi Pier, one of Reno’s oldest all-you-can-eat sushi restaurants, has added several inexpensive appetizers like dumplings and edamame, so customers order less sushi. She also sells poke bowls as an add-on to boost check totals. Mr. Du of Hinoki Sushi has made a more drastic shift. Three years ago, he opened Hinoki O, the city’s first omakase restaurant, serving a set menu of fresh, unadorned fish — a sharp departure from the local style. He can’t get the fish he needs from local suppliers, so he has had to create new supply chains for acquiring high quality seafood from abroad. At first, he said, customers were skeptical of paying $100 for 10 pieces of fish when they could pay $27.99 for unlimited fish at his other restaurant. Slowly, though, business has picked up, especially with the influx of technology workers from ******* cities, where omakase restaurants are more common. Source link #Reno #Mighty #Mecca #AllYouCanEat #Sushi Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content] For verified travel tips and real support, visit: [Hidden Content]

Met Gala 2025: The best looks from the red carpet – CNN Met Gala 2025: The best looks from the red carpet – CNN Met Gala 2025: The best looks from the red carpet CNNMet Gala 2025 live updates: Rihanna stuns on the red carpet after Diana Ross, Zendaya and other stars dazzle on fashion’s biggest night YahooMet Gala 2025: Take a look at the best dressed celebs of the night The Indian ExpressBlack Dandyism Explained—From Its 18th-Century Roots to Modern-Day Expressions VogueSuperfine: Tailoring ****** Style The Metropolitan Museum of Art Source link #Met #Gala #red #carpet #CNN Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

Trump once promised to end **** in America. His deep funding cuts are rolling back progress in the South. Trump once promised to end **** in America. His deep funding cuts are rolling back progress in the South. JACKSON, Miss. — Storm clouds hung low above a community center in Jackson, where pastor Andre Devine invited people inside for lunch. Hoagies with smoked turkey and ham drew the crowd, but several people lingered for free preventive health care: tests for **** and other diseases, flu shots, and blood pressure and glucose monitoring. Between greetings, Devine, executive director of the nonprofit group Hearts for the Homeless, commiserated with his colleagues about the hundreds of thousands of dollars their groups had lost within a couple of weeks, swept up in the Trump administration’s termination of research dollars and clawback of more than $11 billion from health departments across the country. Devine would have to scale back food distribution for people in need. And his colleagues at the nonprofit health care group My Brother’s Keeper were worried they’d have to shutter the group’s mobile clinic — an RV offering **** tests, parked beside the community center that morning. Several employees had already been furloughed and the cuts kept coming, said June Gipson, CEO of My Brother’s Keeper. “People can’t work without being paid,” she said. A mobile clinic run by the nonprofit My Brother’s Keeper provides free tests for **** and other diseases in Jackson, Mississippi. The group is curbing its services because of cuts to federal funding. Amy Maxmen / KFF Health News The directors of other community-based groups in Mississippi, Alabama, Louisiana, and Tennessee told KFF Health News they too had reduced their spending on **** testing and outreach because of delayed or slashed federal funds — or they were making plans to do so, anticipating cuts to come. Scaling back these efforts could prove tragic, Gipson said. Without an extra boost of support to get tested or stay on treatment, many people living with **** will grow sicker and stand a greater chance of infecting others. President Trump, in his first term, promised to end America’s **** epidemic — and he put the resources of the federal government behind the effort. This time, he has deployed the powers of his office to gut funding, abandoning those communities at highest risk of ****. Mr. Trump’s earlier efforts targeted seven Southern states, including Mississippi, where funds went to community groups and health departments that tailor interventions to historically underserved communities that face discrimination and have less access to quality education, health care, stable income, and generational wealth. Such factors help explain why ****** people accounted for 38% of **** diagnoses in the United States in 2023, despite representing only 14% of the population, and also why half of the country’s new **** infections occur in the South. Now, Mr. Trump is undermining **** efforts by barring funds from programs built around diversity, equity, and inclusion. A Day One executive order said they represent “immense public waste and shameful discrimination.” Since then, his administration has cut millions of dollars in federal grants to health departments, universities, and nonprofit organizations that do **** work. And in April, it eliminated half of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s 10 **** branch offices, according to an email to grant recipients, reviewed by KFF Health News, from the director of the CDC’s Division of **** Prevention. The layoffs included staff who had overseen the rollout of **** grants to health departments and community-based groups, like My Brother’s Keeper. The CDC provides more than 90% of all federal funding for **** prevention — about $1 billion annually. The Trump administration’s May 2 budget proposal for fiscal 2026 takes aim at DEI initiatives, including in its explanation for cutting $3.59 billion from the CDC. Although the proposal doesn’t mention **** prevention specifically, the administration’s drafted plan for HHS, released mid-April, eliminates all prevention funding at the CDC, as well as funding for Mr. Trump’s initiative to end the epidemic. Eliminating federal funds for **** prevention would lead to more than 143,000 additional people in the U.S. becoming infected with **** within five years, and about 127,000 additional people who die of AIDS-related causes, according to estimates from the Foundation for AIDS Research, a nonprofit known as amfAR. Excess medical costs would exceed $60 billion, it said. Eldridge Dwayne Ellis, the coordinator of the mobile testing clinic at My Brother’s Keeper, said curbing the group’s services goes beyond ****. “People see us as their only outlet, not just for testing but for confidential conversations, for a shoulder to cry on,” he said. “I don’t understand how someone, with the stroke of a pen, could just haphazardly write off the health of millions.” Eldridge Dwayne Ellis (right) and a nurse work inside a mobile clinic run by My Brother’s Keeper that offers free tests for **** and other diseases. Amy Maxmen / KFF Health News Quiet tears Ellis came into his role in the mobile clinic haphazardly, when he worked as a construction worker. Suddenly dizzy and unwell on a job, a co-worker suggested he visit the organization’s brick-and-mortar clinic nearby. He later applied for a position with My Brother’s Keeper, inspired by its efforts to give people support to help themselves. For example, Ellis described a young man who visited the mobile clinic recently who had been kicked out of his home and was sleeping on couches or on the street. Ellis thought of friends he’d known in similar situations that put them at risk of **** by increasing the likelihood of transactional sex or substance use disorders. When a rapid test revealed ****, the young man fell silent. “The quiet tears hurt worse — it’s the dread of mortality,” Ellis said. “I tried to be as strong as possible to let him know his life is not over, that this wasn’t a death sentence.” Ellis and his team enrolled the man into **** care that day and stayed in touch. Otherwise, Ellis said, he might not have had the means or fortitude to seek treatment on his own and adhere to daily **** pills. Not only is that deadly for people with ****, it’s bad for public health. **** experts use the phrase “treatment as prevention” because most new infections derive from people who aren’t adhering to treatment well enough to be considered virally suppressed — which keeps the disease from spreading. Only a third of people living with **** in Mississippi were virally suppressed in 2022. Nationally, that number is about 65%. That’s worse than in eastern and southern Africa, where 78% of people with **** aren’t spreading the virus because they’re on steady treatment. My Brother’s Keeper is one of many groups improving such numbers by helping people get tested and stay on medication. But the funding cuts in Washington have curtailed their work. The first loss was a $12 million grant from the National Institutes of Health, not even two years into a 10-year project. “Programs based primarily on artificial and non-scientific categories, including amorphous equity objectives, are antithetical to the scientific inquiry,” the NIH said in a letter reviewed by KFF Health News. My Brother’s Keeper then lost a CDC award to reduce health disparities — a grant channeled through the Mississippi state health department — that began with the group’s work during the covid pandemic but had broadened to screening and care for ****, heart disease, and diabetes. These are some of the maladies that account for why low-income ****** people in the Deep South die sooner, on average, than those who are white. According to a recent study, the former’s life expectancy was just 68 years in 2021, on par with the average in impoverished nations like Rwanda and Myanmar. The group then lost CDC funding that covered the cost of laboratory work to detect ****, chlamydia, gonorrhea, and ********* in patients’ blood samples. Mississippi has the highest rate of ********* transmitted diseases among states, in part because people spread infections when they aren’t tested and treated. “The labs are $200 to $600 per person,” Gipson said, “so now we can’t do that without passing the cost to the patient, and some can’t pay.” Two other CDC grants on **** prevention, together worth $841,000, were unusually delayed. Public health specialists close to the CDC, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they fear retaliation, said they were aware of delays in **** prevention funding, despite court orders to unfreeze payments for federal grants in January and February. “The faucet was being turned off at a higher level than at the CDC,” one specialist said. The delays have now been compounded, they said, by the gutting of that agency’s **** workforce in April. “I know of many organizations reliant on subcontracted federal funds who have not been paid for the work they’ve done, or whose funding has been terminated,” said Dafina Ward, executive director of the Southern AIDS Coalition. To reach the underserved, these groups offer food, housing assistance, bus passes, disease screening, and a sense of community. A network of the groups was fostered, in part, by Mr. Trump’s initiative to end the epidemic. And it showed promise: From 2017 to 2022, new **** infections decreased by 21% in the cities and the Southern states it targeted. Disparities in infections were still massive, with the rate of **** diagnoses about eight times as high for ****** people as White people, and the South remained hardest hit. Ward was hopeful at the start of this year, however, as testing became more widespread and **** prevention drugs — called preexposure prophylaxis, or PrEP — slowly gained popularity. But her outlook has shifted and she fears that grassroots organizations might not weather the funding turmoil. “We’re seeing an about-face of what it means to truly work towards ending **** in this country,” she said. A closed clinic Southeast of Jackson, in Hattiesburg, Sean Fortenberry tears up as he walks into a small room used until recently for **** testing. He has kept his job at Mississippi’s AIDS Services Coalition by shifting his role but agonizes about the outcome. When Fortenberry tested positive for **** in 2007, he said, his family and doctor saved his life. “I never felt that I was alone, and that was really, really important,” he said. “Other people don’t have that, so when I came across this position, I was gung-ho. I wanted to help.” But the coalition froze its **** testing clinic and paused mobile testing at homeless shelters, colleges, and churches late last year. Kathy Garner, the group’s executive director, said the Mississippi health department — which funds the coalition with CDC’s **** prevention dollars — told her to pause outreach in October before the state renewed the group’s annual **** contract. Sean Fortenberry and Kathy Garner, of the AIDS Services Coalition, work inside the group’s **** testing clinic, whose operation has been suspended because of delayed federal funds for **** prevention. Amy Maxmen / KFF Health News Kendra Johnson, communicable diseases director at Mississippi’s health department, said that delays in **** prevention funds were initially on the department’s end because it was short on administrative staff. Then Mr. Trump took office. “We were working with our federal partners to ensure that our new objectives were in line with new **** prevention activities,” Johnson said. “And we ran into additional delays due to paused communications at the federal level.” The AIDS coalition remains afloat largely because of money from the Ryan White ****/AIDS Program for treatment and from the Department of Housing and Urban Development. “If most of these federal dollars are cut, we would have to close,” Garner said. The group provides housing or housing assistance to roughly 400 people each year. Research shows that people in stable housing adhere much better to **** treatment and are far less likely to die than unhoused people with ****. Funding cuts have shaken every state, but the South is acutely vulnerable when it comes to ****, said Gregorio Millett, director of public policy at amfAR. Southern states have the highest level of poverty and a severe shortage of rural clinics, and several haven’t expanded Medicaid so that more low-income adults have health insurance. Further, Southern states aren’t poised to make up the difference. Alabama, Louisiana, Kentucky, Mississippi, and Missouri put zero state funds into **** prevention last year, according to NASTAD, an association of public health officials who administer **** and hepatitis programs. In contrast, about 40% of Michigan’s **** prevention budget is provided by the state, 50% of Colorado’s **** prevention budget, and 88% of New York’s. “When you are in the South, you need the federal government,” said Gipson, from My Brother’s Keeper. “When we had slavery, we needed the federal government. When we had the push for civil rights, we needed the federal government. And we still need the federal government for health care,” she said. “The red states are going to suffer, and we’re going to start suffering sooner than anyone else.” “So goes Mississippi” When asked about cuts and delays to **** prevention funding, the CDC directed queries to HHS. The department’s director of communications, Andrew Nixon, replied in an email: “Critical ****/AIDS programs will continue under the Administration for a Healthy America (AHA) as a part of Secretary [Robert F.] Kennedy’s vision to streamline HHS to better serve the American people.” Nixon did not reply to a follow-up question on whether the Trump administration considers **** prevention critical. On April 4, Gipson received a fraction of her delayed **** prevention funds from the CDC. But Gipson said she was afraid to hire back staff amid the turmoil. Like the directors of many other community organizations, Gipson is going after grants from foundations and companies. Pharmaceutical firms such as Gilead and GSK that produce **** drugs are among the largest contributors of non-governmental funds for **** testing, prevention, and care, but private funding for **** has never come close to the roughly $40 billion that the federal government allocated to **** annually. “If the federal government withdraws some or all of its support, the whole thing will collapse,” said Alice Riener, CEO of the community-based organization CrescentCare in Louisiana. “What you see in Mississippi is the beginning of that, and what’s so concerning is the infrastructure we’ve built will collapse quickly but take decades to rebuild.” Southern health officials are reeling from cuts because state budgets are already tight. Mississippi’s state health officer, Daniel Edney, spoke with KFF Health News on the day the Trump administration terminated $11 billion in COVID-era funds intended to help states improve their public health operations. “There’s not a lot of ****, and we’re cutting it to the bone right now,” Edney said. Mississippi needed this boost, Edney said, because the state ranks among the lowest in health metrics including premature death, access to clinical care, and teen births. But Edney noted hopeful trends: The state had recently moved from 50th to 49th worst in health rankings, and its rate of new **** cases was dropping. “The science tells us what we need to do to identify and care for patients, and we’re improving,” he said. “But trends can change very quickly on us, so we can’t take our foot off the gas pedal.” If that happens, researchers say, the comeback of **** will go unnoticed at first, as people at the margins of society are infected silently before they’re hospitalized. As untreated infections spread, the rise will eventually grow large enough to make a dent in national statistics, a resurgence that will cost lives and take years, if not decades, to reverse. Outside the community center on that stormy March morning, pastor Devine lamented not just the loss of his grant from the health department, but a $1 billion cut to food distribution programs at the U.S. Department of Agriculture. He rattled off consequences he feared: People relying on food assistance would be forced to decide between buying groceries, paying bills, or seeing a doctor, driving them further into poverty, into emergency rooms, into crime. Deja Abdul-Haqq, a program director at My Brother’s Keeper, nodded along as he spoke. “So goes Mississippi, so goes the rest of the United States,” Abdul-Haqq said. “Struggles may start here, but they spread.” KFF Health News is a national newsroom that produces in-depth journalism about health issues and is one of the core operating programs at KFF — the independent source for health policy research, polling, and journalism. Source link #Trump #promised #**** #America #deep #funding #cuts #rolling #progress #South Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]