If Atomfall's 'Experimental' Mechanics Are a Hit, Fallout May Want to Keep a Close Eye on Them
If Atomfall's 'Experimental' Mechanics Are a Hit, Fallout May Want to Keep a Close Eye on Them
Atomfall is taking a new approach to a post-apocalyptic story, and if one bold mechanic works well, Fallout may want to follow.
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England 47-24 Italy: England up to second in Six Nations
England 47-24 Italy: England up to second in Six Nations
England: Daly, Freeman, Lawrence, Dingwall, Sleightholme; F Smith, Mitchell; Genge, George, Stuart, Itoje (capt), Chessum, T Curry, Earl, T Willis.
Replacements: Cowan-Dickie, Baxter, Heyes, T Hill, Cunningham-South, B Curry, Van Poortvliet, M Smith
Italy: Capuozzo, Ioane, Brex, Menoncello, Gallagher; P Garbisi, Varney; Fischetti, Nicotera, Riccioni, N Cannone, Ruzza, Negri, Lamaro (capt) Vintcent
Replacements: Lucchesi, Spagnolo, Ferrari, Favretto, Zuliani, L Cannone, Page-Relo, Allan
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Russian troops ‘enter pipeline’ to hit Ukraine forces
Russian troops ‘enter pipeline’ to hit Ukraine forces
Russian special forces have crept kilometres through a gas pipeline near the town of Sudzha in an attempt to surprise Ukrainian forces as part of an offensive to eject Ukrainian soldiers from the western Russian region of Kursk, pro-Russian war bloggers say.
The ruse was among moves aimed at cutting off thousands of Ukrainian soldiers in the region ahead of Ukrainian talks with the United States on a possible peace deal to end the war.
Ukrainian troops seized about 1300 square km of Russia’s Kursk region in August last year in what Ukraine said was an attempt to gain a bargaining chip in future negotiations and to force Russia to shift forces from eastern Ukraine.
Russia has been pressing its push to regain control of the region with some success in recent days.
Open source maps on Friday showed Ukraine’s contingent in Kursk nearly surrounded after rapid Russian advances.
“The lid of the smoking cauldron is almost closed,” former Russian president Dmitry Medvedev said on Telegram.
“The offensive continues.”
Yuri Podolyaka, a Ukrainian-born pro-Russian military blogger, said Russian special forces crept nearly 16km along the inside of the 1.5 metre wide gas pipeline and spent several days in the pipe before surprising Ukrainian forces from the rear near Sudzha.
Pro-Russian war blogger Two Majors said a major battle was under way for Sudzha and that Russian forces had surprised Ukrainian soldiers by entering the area via a major gas pipeline.
A statement from Ukraine’s airborne assault forces said that Russian soldiers had used the pipeline in an attempt to gain a foothold but the Russian troops were promptly detected and attacked with rockets, artillery and drones.
Russian advances in 2024 and US President Donald Trump’s upending of US policy on Ukraine and Russia have raised fears among European leaders that Ukraine will lose the war and that Trump is turning his back on the continent.
The United States paused military aid and the sharing of intelligence with Ukraine this month after a meeting between Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy on February 28 descended into acrimony in front of the world’s media.
In its daily update on the situation in Kursk, Russia’s defence ministry said its forces had retaken the village of Lebedevka, as well as seizing Novenke, a hamlet across the border in Ukraine’s neighbouring Sumy region.
Russia made no official mention of the pipeline operation but Major General Apti Alaudinov, commander of Chechnya’s Akhmat special forces, reposted pictures on Telegram of special forces inside a gas pipeline.
“I am surprised by people who really think that Russia could lose,” Alaudinov said.
“It is a good day.”
Russian Telegram channels showed pictures of special forces in gas masks and lights, some using colourful colloquial Russian curses, as they made their way along the inside of what looked like a large pipe.
Owing to battlefield reporting restrictions on both sides, Reuters was unable to verify the reports.
The Soviet-era Urengoy-Pomary-Uzhgorod pipeline used to bring gas from western Siberia via Sudzha to Ukraine but Ukraine terminated all Russian gas transit through its territory from January 1.
Ukraine’s invasion of Kursk last August was the most serious attack on Russian territory since the Nazi incursion of the Soviet Union in 1941.
Another war blogger, Yuri Kotenok, said that Ukrainian forces have been moving equipment away from Sudzha, closer to the border.
The Russian offensive raises a serious tactical conundrum for Ukraine just as the spring thaw turns roads to mud tracks: should it withdraw from Kursk, and if so, can it do so without a disorderly rush to the border under intense Russian fire.
In the eastern Donetsk region, where Russian forces have made slow but steady progress during gruelling fighting in what was once Ukraine’s industrial heartland, Russia said on Sunday that its forces had taken the village of Konstyantynopil.
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Noem taps new immigration enforcement leaders and moves to identify leakers
Noem taps new immigration enforcement leaders and moves to identify leakers
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem on Sunday announced new leadership at the agency tasked with immigration enforcement as she also pledged to step up lie detector tests on employees to identify those who may be leaking information about operations to the media.
“The authorities that I have under the Department of Homeland Security are broad and extensive and I plan to use every single one of them to make sure that we’re following the law, that we are following the procedures in place to keep people safe and that we’re making sure we’re following through on what President Trump has promised,” Noem told CBS’ “Face the Nation.”
While these polygraph exams are typically not admissible in court proceedings, they are frequently used by federal law enforcement agencies and for national security clearances.
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White House officials have previously expressed frustration with the pace of deportations, blaming it in part on recent leaks revealing cities where authorities planned to conduct operations.
Noem announcement of two new leadership appointments within the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement comes less than two months into the Trump administration and demonstrates the importance that the administration places on carrying out the president’s deportation agenda.
Todd Lyons, the former assistant director of field operations for the agency’s enforcement arm, will serve as acting ICE director. Madison Sheahan, secretary of the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries and Noem’s former aide when she was governor of South Dakota, has been tapped to be the agency’s deputy director.
The leadership changes come after ICE’s acting director was reassigned on Feb. 21. Two other top immigration enforcement officials were reassigned Feb. 11. Those staffing changes came amid frustrations in the Trump administration about the pace of immigration arrests.
Noem also announced on Friday that the agency has identified and planned to prosecute two “leakers of information.”
On Sunday, she said these two people “were leaking our enforcement operations that we had planned and were going to conduct in several cities and exposed vulnerabilities.” She said they could face up to 10 years in federal prison.
A DHS spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
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Here’s Where Trump’s Government Layoffs Are Targeted—As NOAA Reportedly Set To Cut 20% Of Staff – Forbes
Here’s Where Trump’s Government Layoffs Are Targeted—As NOAA Reportedly Set To Cut 20% Of Staff – Forbes
Here’s Where Trump’s Government Layoffs Are Targeted—As NOAA Reportedly Set To Cut 20% Of Staff ForbesC.I.A. Begins Firing Recently Hired Officers The New York TimesInside U.S. spy agencies, workers fear a cataclysmic Trump cull The Washington PostCIA is terminating some probationary employees Nextgov/FCWCIA lays off some recently hired officers as Trump shakes up intelligence community The Associated Press
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Kristi Noem says she plans to use “every single one” of “broad and extensive” authorities as DHS secretary
Kristi Noem says she plans to use “every single one” of “broad and extensive” authorities as DHS secretary
Washington — Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said Sunday that she plans to use the “broad and extensive” authorities of her role to follow through on President Trump’s promises.
“I plan to use every single one of them to make sure that we’re following the law, that we are following the procedures in place to keep people safe, and that we’re making sure we’re following through on what President Trump has promised — that he’s going to make America safe again,” Noem said on “Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan.”
The comments came as DHS has been administering polygraph tests to its personnel to determine who may be leaking information to the media about its ongoing immigration raids, an agency spokesperson confirmed to CBS News Saturday.
Noem said on Sunday that the tests will continue, while pledging that the leakers will be prosecuted — and could face up to 10 years in federal prison.
“Anyone who is leaking information outside of how something is planned for the safety of those law enforcement officers needs to be held accountable for that,” Noem said.
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem on “Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan,” March 9, 2025.
CBS News
Noem, who was confirmed and sworn in as DHS secretary in late January, touted the administration’s work on the border so far, saying “we’ve seen incredible progress” since Mr. Trump took office. She noted that the progress can be built upon, including by working with the ******** government to “make sure we not only have the enforcement mission at the border, but south of the border, and make sure we’re going after these cartels.”
The DHS secretary argued that due to the Trump administration’s tariffs, imposed last week and later delayed on Canada and Mexico, “we’re seeing them wanting to be better partners with us to keep our people safe.”
Noem stressed that the tariffs are about stopping fentanyl from entering the country, saying Mr. Trump is committed to making the country safer.
“The president obviously wants a strong economy, obviously wants better trade deals as well, but this is about fentanyl and what we can do to stop the cartels from partnering with ******** officials laundering money and bringing a poison into our country that is specifically designed to kill the next generation,” Noem said.
Noem also announced Sunday that Todd Lyons will be serving as acting director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, who she said has a long history with border czar Tom Homan. Madison Sheahan will serve deputy secretary, she said.
Amid the administration’s effort to crackdown on ******** immigration and pledge to conduct the largest deportation operation in American history, ******** border crossings fell to a 25-year low last month. Asked whether she plans to keep the 6,000 military personnel at the southern border, Noem said they’ll remain “until that border is completely secure, and we see all time record lows of encounters.”
“Our border patrol is doing fantastic work, but we’re going to keep them there until the whole world gets the message that this isn’t Joe Biden’s world anymore,” Noem said. “This is President Donald Trump’s country where we have a border, where we have laws and it applies equally to everybody.”
Still, the administration faces a capacity issue, with a limited number of beds for detainees. Noem said there is a plan to use a military facility at Fort Bliss in Texas for detentions, while urging that the administration needs Congress to approve more funding for the operations.
“We have just weeks before we are out of the funds to continue the operations that we have,” Noem said.
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Kaia Hubbard
Kaia Hubbard is a politics reporter for CBS News Digital, based in Washington, D.C.
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State Reforms + the State of Reform
State Reforms + the State of Reform
We look at plans for a civil service shake-up and at division in Reform ***.
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Flooding threat for region after cyclone packs punch
Flooding threat for region after cyclone packs punch
A cyclone has been downgraded to a tropical low but its impact is still being felt with a region reeling from major flooding with more wild weather forecast.
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Karen Bass’ text messages about Palisades Fire were deleted: Report
Karen Bass’ text messages about Palisades Fire were deleted: Report
The Brief
Mayor Karen Bass’ text messages from the first days of the January wildfires were deleted, according to a Los Angeles Times report.
After a public records request for Bass’ text messages from Jan. 7 and 8 related to the fires, the Times said the city had “no responsive records.”
City lawyer David Michaelson said Bass’ phone is set to auto-delete messages.
Michaelson argued state public record laws don’t apply to text messages.
LOS ANGELES – Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass‘ text messages from the early days of the Palisades Fire were deleted, according to a new report from the Los Angeles Times.
Deleted text messages
What we know
Bass was in Ghana when the Palisades and Eaton fires broke out on Jan. 7, and spent much of the next day traveling the more than 7,500 miles back to Los Angeles.
She and her office said she was in communication with city officials while she was traveling back to LA. In a March 7 report from the LA Times, the newspaper said it had filed a public records request to find out just what Bass and city officials were saying about the situation.
SUGGESTED: Palisades, Eaton fires could cost local economy up to $9 billion, new report says
Specifically, the Times said it had requested all text messages two and from the mayor about the fires and her travel plans, while she was traveling on Jan. 7 and 8. On Thursday, Bass’ office told the Times that they had “no responsive records” to fulfill their request.
What is a public record?
Dig deeper
The California Public Records Act allows any member of the public to request a public record.
State law defines a public record as “any writing containing information relating to the conduct of the public’s business prepared, owned, used or retained by any state or local agency regardless of physical form or characteristics.”
There are exemptions to records requests, which are usually centered around privacy. Government agencies can deny requests for things like personnel and investigative records. Another big exception is “whenever the public interest in nondisclosure clearly outweighs the public interest in disclosure.”
SUGGESTED: Mayor Bass opens up about trip to Ghana during LA fires: ‘I felt absolutely terrible’
But the law also says that when agencies deny requests, they have to say why. Agencies can also redact any exempt information from whatever records they deliver.
In the case of Bass’ text messages, however, the Times said that Bass’ office didn’t give them a reason, or say whether they were withholding any records.
Why is Karen Bass deleting her text messages?
What they’re saying
David Michaelson, an attorney for the city, claims that these laws do not apply to text messages, telling City News Service that “the Mayor’s phone is set to not save text messages — it auto deletes.”
Michaelson added that the CPRA is “not a record-retaining statute. There is no requirement that a city official or employee save text messages.”
Michaelson went on to cite an Attorney General ruling from 1981, that says for any public record to be kept, “it must have been made or retained by the public officer for the purpose of preserving its informational content for future reference.”
Bass receives backlash for Ghana trip
The backstory
The Palisades Fire broke out in the Pacific Palisades on Jan. 7. As firefighters were fighting the rapidly-spreading flames amid deadly winds, Bass was halfway around the world in Ghana.
Bass was there as part of a four-member U.S. delegation sent by President Joe Biden to attend the inauguration of President John Dramani Mahama. Bass returned to Los Angeles once she heard about the fires, getting back on Jan. 8. But, City Council President Marqueece Harris-Dawson, acting as mayor, had to sign the proclamation of a local emergency issued by Bass.
PREVIOUS COVERAGE: Mayor Bass removes Kristin Crowley as LAFD Chief
Bass has faced loads of criticism for the trip, which she later admitted was a mistake. In an interview with FOX 11’s Elex Michaelson, Bass said she wasn’t aware before leaving for the trip that the fire forecast was so dire, and that she would not have left if she had known how bad it was.
She partially blamed former LAFD Chief Kristin Crowley, saying Crowley never contacted her before she left for Ghana to warn her. Bass later fired Crowley over her fire response.
The Source
Information in this story is from a March 7, 2025, Los Angeles Times report, an interview with Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass on Feb. 18, 2025, the state of California’s website on the California Public Records Act, the California Attorney General’s Office and previous FOX 11 reports.
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DOGE acting administrator Amy Gleason surrounded in mystery
DOGE acting administrator Amy Gleason surrounded in mystery
Many are wondering whether DOGE is being run by Elon Musk or acting administrator Amy Gleason, seen in a still image from an interview with YouTube channel “What’s the Fix?!”
What’s the Fix?! / Youtube
Amy Gleason, a former emergency room nurse turned health care technologist, was scared. It was 2010 and no doctor could figure out what was behind her daughter Morgan’s strange constellation of symptoms, including rashes and muscle weakness so severe that she could no longer walk upstairs.
When Morgan was finally diagnosed with a rare and potentially life-threatening autoimmune disorder after more than a year, Gleason became determined to empower other patients so they didn’t face similar delays in diagnosis.
“If a doctor had seen all of these visits and activity on one single screen put together, they probably would have wondered why this 10- or 11-year-old is going to the doctor all the time,” Gleason said in a 2020 TEDx talk. “And maybe that would have sparked a faster diagnosis.”
Until recently, Gleason, 53, had been a relatively low-profile health care data cruncher with a passion for simplifying access to electronic medical records.
Then, at the end of February, the White House announced Gleason had been named the acting administrator for the Department of Government Efficiency, elevating her to a prominent position in the Trump administration.
Gleason previously worked on projects related to health data at the U.S. Digital Service, DOGE’s predecessor, overlapping with Trump’s first term and the Biden administration.
However, the White House has not provided details about why, exactly, it selected Gleason to lead DOGE — a task force unit at the center of the administration’s efforts to streamline the federal government.
The move has led many to question whether Gleason is truly in charge or if the power resides with Elon Musk, the world’s richest man and a special government employee who has been the face of DOGE.
For weeks, the administration evaded questions about who was actually at the helm; the White House said Gleason was the acting administrator only after administration lawyers were unable to answer who was in charge of the agency when questioned in court. Gleason does not appear to have made any public comments since the White House announced that she was DOGE’s top official.
The administration has also revealed very little about who else works for DOGE and what they do, despite Musk’s claims of transparency.
Even with Gleason’s title, Musk still seems to hold sway. As recently as Tuesday, Trump referred to DOGE as “headed by Elon Musk,” setting off fresh legal questions about the group’s operations. The working relationship between Musk and Gleason is unclear, and a DOGE spokesperson did not respond Friday to questions from NBC News about Gleason’s job responsibilities.
Gleason also did not respond to a request for comment for this story. In interviews, former colleagues described her as highly intelligent and the most valuable asset wherever she works.
“It’s exactly the kind of person you need in a role like this,” said Dr. Gregg Alexander, a pediatrician in London, Ohio, who has known her for about 20 years. “She’s always tried to do the right thing.”
Still, some former colleagues worry that in her DOGE role, Gleason will be inadvertently complicit in cuts to programs that have personal significance to her — including research for rare disease funding. DOGE has threatened dramatic budget cuts to federal health agencies such as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the National Institutes of Health.
The condition that Gleason’s daughter, who is now in her mid-20s, was diagnosed with is called juvenile dermatomyositis. The extremely rare disease is a form of juvenile myositis, in which a child’s immune system attacks its own cells and tissues.
Therapies discovered over the years thanks to partnerships with NIH have improved the prognosis for juvenile myositis, said James Minow, executive director at the advocacy organization Cure JM Foundation, where Gleason served as a board member and vice president for research from 2014 to 2018, according to her LinkedIn profile.
But with the Trump administration trying to cut NIH grant funding, Minow said he worried that DOGE could hamper the rare disease research that Gleason’s family and so many others depend on.
“Amy is a very thorough thinker, and I think that she’ll be one who will make very solid, reasoned recommendations to the president as he looks at fulfilling what he sees as his mission to reduce the size of government,” Minow said. “Obviously, Cure JM is wanting to do everything we can to protect NIH’s investment.”
Gleason’s friends and former colleagues describe her as apolitical. From 2018 to 2021, she worked for the U.S. Digital Service, an agency created by the Obama administration after its chaotic rollout of HealthCare.gov. Much of her stint was dedicated to partnering with the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services to improve patient access to health care records, she said in her 2020 TEDx Talk.
During the latter part of her time there, she worked on the data team for the White House Coronavirus Task Force, creating databases from hospitals and labs that governors and the public relied on to track the virus. Her LinkedIn profile says she rejoined the U.S. Digital Service in January of this year as a senior adviser, though The New York Times reported she was reintroduced at the agency in late December, ahead of Trump’s inauguration.
A long history in the private sector
Gleason has also worked in the private sector at various health care management companies and startups. She held vice president positions at Allscripts, which provided software for electronic medical records, and worked from 2011 to 2018 at CareSync, a Florida-based medical technology startup that she co-founded, according to LinkedIn.
Her LinkedIn profile adds that from 2021 to 2024, she was vice president of product at Main Street Health, which provides care for people in rural areas, and at Russell Street Ventures, a firm dedicated to launching innovative health care.
Both Main Street Health and Russell Street Ventures were founded by entrepreneur Brad Smith, an early senior DOGE member who was previously named as head of the Center for Medicare & Medicaid Innovation in 2020 during Trump’s first administration.
Smith did not respond to a request for comment; according to anonymous sources who spoke to The New York Times, Smith began advising on Musk’s cost-cutting moves late last year and brought Gleason in on the talks. NBC News has not confirmed the report.
Tom Cooke, a retired health care executive who worked closely with Gleason more than 15 years ago, said her position at DOGE was “kind of a curveball.”
“I’ll put my politics on my sleeve: I don’t trust Elon Musk at all in this role. I trust her completely,” he said. “I am confident that she will use her voice strongly and that she’s a straight shooter, whether it’s news that people above her want to hear or not.”
Cooke described Gleason as having an effervescent personality and an unflappable work mentality.
“Professionally, I put a lot on her plate to get done in a very short ******* of time, and was amazed by her ability to achieve that,” he said.
And on a personal level, “I’ve seen her be really thoughtful with folks that she may have had just a little bit of interaction with,” he said. “She just has a way with people.”
Others were also surprised by her DOGE title. One former health care IT colleague told NBC News via a LinkedIn message that “it did seem to come out of nowhere.”
“I was shocked to hear of her appointment to DOGE, having been a fierce and committed patient advocate,” wrote the former colleague, who has known Gleason for 15 years and spoke on condition of anonymity because she was concerned speaking out against the Trump administration could have career repercussions. “To go from such a position of kindness, to a position that eliminates jobs for thousands of working parents, seems like such a dichotomy in values.”
A graduate of the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, Gleason is an avid football fan who likes to needle friends who root for anyone other than the Tennessee Volunteers, said Alexander, the pediatrician. He added that she has a “tremendous sense of humor” and loves to travel.
Gleason’s interest in streamlined medical records and other improvements for patients dates back decades. In 2021, she told the “Tell Me Where IT Hurts” podcast, which examines the intersection between health care and technology, that she started out as an emergency room nurse and “quickly realized how powerful health care technology could be.”
Gleason has said the best career advice she has received was from her parents. She told another health care podcast in 2023 that her dad taught her mistakes are a learning opportunity, and her mom encouraged her to follow her dreams.
“I’ve had a pretty great career trying a lot of new things and following my passions as I develop new ones as well,” she told the podcast.
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Google Pixel Smartphones Just Scored A Huge Camera Advantage Over iPhone – Forbes
Google Pixel Smartphones Just Scored A Huge Camera Advantage Over iPhone – Forbes
Google Pixel Smartphones Just Scored A Huge Camera Advantage Over iPhone ForbesMarch Pixel Drop: Updates for Gemini Live, Scam Detection and more The KeywordThere’s one new Pixel ‘upgrade’ you might not love – here’s how to fix it ZDNetFind My Device adding ‘People’ location sharing, Android Auto getting full games, more 9to5GoogleNew Google feature flags when you might be getting scammed in real time The Hill
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Kenya President Ruto’s church donation sparks clashes
Kenya President Ruto’s church donation sparks clashes
Police in Kenya have fired tear gas to disperse protesters who tried to occupy a church that was recently given a substantial donation by President William Ruto.
The gift to the Jesus Winner Ministry in the Roysambu suburb of Nairobi of 20m shillings ($155,000; £120,000) drew criticism from some young Kenyans struggling with the high cost of living.
Ruto has defended his donation and has offered a similar gift to another church in Eldoret.
Last year, both Kenya’s Catholic and Anglican leaders rejected donations, arguing that there was a need to protect the church from being used for political purposes.
Several people have been arrested during the clashes, which saw protesters try to get into the church and light fires and use rocks to block nearby roads.
But the church service went ahead with tight security for worshippers, local media report.
Bishop Edward Mwai said that unnamed people had mobilised “thugs” to disrupt the church service, reports the Star website.
Ruto, an evangelical Christian, defended the donation, saying it was an attempt to address the country’s moral decay.
“Kenya must know God so that we shame the people who are telling us that we cannot associate with the church,” the Nation site quoted him as saying at another church, in Eldoret.
Kenyans have been angered by a series of tax rises introduced since Ruto was elected in 2022.
He says they were needed to pay off the huge debts he inherited from the previous government but many Kenyans argue that he should first tackle public waste and corruption.
Last year, a wave of nationwide protests forced Ruto to withdraw his Finance Bill, which contained a series of tax rises.
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Champions Trophy final: India survive scare to beat New Zealand and win title
Champions Trophy final: India survive scare to beat New Zealand and win title
As has been the case throughout in Dubai, spin was far harder to face than pace.
Chasing a below-par score, Rohit pulled the second ball of the innings for six and dominated a stand of 105 with fellow opener Shubman Gill.
New Zealand’s fightback was sparked by a stunning one-handed catch by Glenn Phillips – his third such grab of the tournament – at extra cover to dismiss Gill for 31.
Kohli, usually the master of these chases, went lbw to off-spinner Michael Bracewell and Rohit was stumped when advancing to left-arm spinner Rachin Ravindra.
The partnership of 61 between Axar and Iyer was important in steadying India, although both fell trying to accelerate. Iyer, having already been dropped, flicked to short fine leg and Axar tamely punted to long-on to give Santner and Bracewell a further wicket each.
However, the required run-rate was always under control. It only ever nudged slightly above a run per ball as Rahul remained calm before Hardik pumped a towering straight six with the winning line in sight.
It was fitting that it was Jadeja, another veteran of this era of Indian white-ball cricket, who flicked the winning runs off his hip. New Zealand fought admirably but this is their fourth defeat in the final of a white-ball event since 2015.
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PM’s support up, not enough for a Labor win: Newspoll
PM’s support up, not enough for a Labor win: Newspoll
Support for the coalition remained ahead of the Labor government, according to the latest Newspoll despite Anthony Albanese extending his lead as the preferred prime minister.
The survey conducted for The *********** and published on Monday has the coalition leading Labor 51 per cent to 49 per cent on a two-party-preferred basis – the same result as the previous Newspoll.
Primary support for both major parties has lifted, with Labor on 32 per cent and the coalition on 39 per cent. This is in line with Labor’s result at the last election, but represents gains of more than three percentage points for the coalition.
The Greens remained on 12 per cent, while there was no movement in support for Pauline Hanson’s One Nation (seven per cent).
Opposition Leader Peter Dutton suffered a fall in his approval rating as Mr Albanese extended his lead on who voters regard as preferred prime minister.
Mr Albanese increased his five-point lead in February to a nine-point margin in the latest poll with the prime minister improving two points to 47 per cent and Mr Dutton falling two points to 38 per cent.
Mr Dutton also suffered a two-point approval rating slide to 39 per cent and a two-point rise in voter dissatisfaction to 53 per cent, giving him a net negative rating of minus 14.
Mr Albanese’s approval rating rose four points to 41 per cent, with disapproval falling five points to 53 per cent – landing him on minus 12.
This is the first time since late last year that the Labor leader has had a better approval rating than the opposition leader.
On the question of whether the coalition is ready to govern, Newspoll showed 45 per cent of voters backing a Dutton-led government against 55 per cent who do not.
The latest Newspoll was conducted between March 3 and 7 with 1255 voters throughout Australia.
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This photo’s real, but doesn’t show ‘Great Pacific Garbage Patch’
This photo’s real, but doesn’t show ‘Great Pacific Garbage Patch’
Claim:
A photograph genuinely shows the “Great Pacific Garbage Patch” that grew to “be twice the size of Texas.”
Rating:
Rating: Miscaptioned
Context:
Though the photograph is authentic, it was captured in 2017 and shows a different patch of garbage off the coast of Honduras in the Caribbean Sea — not the Pacific Ocean.
For years, social media users have shared a photograph of refuse floating on the surface of water and claimed that it shows the “Great Pacific Garbage Patch,” a collection of marine debris in the North Pacific Ocean.
For example, in early February 2025, one X user posted (archived) the picture and wrote: “Did you know? The Great Pacific Garbage Patch, a massive collection of marine debris, is now estimated to be twice the size of Texas!”
Other iterations of the photo appeared in 2021 and throughout 2024.
In short, while the picture is authentic, it does not show the “Great Pacific Garbage Patch.” Underwater photographer Caroline Power captured the picture, which shows a large area of trash off the coast of Roatán Island, Honduras, in 2017. The island is in the Caribbean Sea, not the Pacific Ocean, therefore it cannot be part of the “Great Pacific Garbage Patch.” Thus, the above social media posts have miscaptioned the photo.
In a Facebook message, Power confirmed that it was indeed her photograph and that it was taken off the coast of Roatán Island in 2017. On Oct. 16 of that year, she shared similar pictures on Facebook — though not the one in question in this article.
However, one of the photos she posted (below right) showed a man in scuba gear who looked similar to the person seen in the picture in question (below left). The man’s hair, clothes and diving equipment match in both photographs.
(Caroline Power)
Power has posted numerous photographs of bodies of water covered in waste on her photography Facebook page and her personal account.
British newspaper The Telegraph interviewed Power in October 2017 (archived) and described her team’s experience of witnessing the “sea of plastic and Styrofoam“:
The worst of the rubbish the dive team found was about 15 miles off the coast of Roatan heading towards the Cayos Cochinos Marine Reserve
“We were on a dive trip to a set of islands that don’t quite break the ocean surface. They are one of the most pristine dive sites in this part of the Caribbean,” Ms Power recalled.
“The photo of the diver in the water was actually over one of these seamounts. To see an area that is supposed to be pristine covered in garbage and trash was disheartening.”
She said they passed through floating garbage for “nearly five miles”, adding: “Everywhere we looked, plastic bags of all shapes and sizes: chip bags, ziplocks, grocery, trash, snack bags, other packaging. Some were whole and the rest were just pieces. Sadly, many turtles, fish, whales, and seabirds will mistake those bits of plastic for food.
“We then reached an area about two miles wide that had multiple trash lines that stretched from horizon to horizon
“There was also a seemingly infinite number of plastic forks, spoons, drink bottles, and plates. There were broken soccer ******, toothbrushes, a tv, and so many shoes and flip flops.”
The “Great Pacific Garbage Patch” is actually a misnomer. In June 2024, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) National Ocean Service said the term paints an inaccurate picture of the marine debris problem in the North Pacific Ocean.
(NOAA)
The phrase should be used to describe debris concentrations in various regions of the North Pacific, not one specific area.
“The exact size, content, and location of the ‘garbage patches’ are difficult to accurately predict,” the agency wrote, adding:
The name “Pacific Garbage Patch” has led many to believe that this area is a large and continuous patch of easily visible marine debris items such as bottles and other litter—akin to a literal island of trash that should be visible with satellite or aerial photographs. This is not the case. While higher concentrations of litter items can be found in this area, much of the debris is actually small pieces of floating plastic that are not immediately evident to the naked eye.
Ocean debris is continuously mixed by wind and wave action and widely dispersed both over huge surface areas and throughout the top portion of the water column. It is possible to sail through “garbage patch” areas in the Pacific and see very little or no debris on the water’s surface. It is also difficult to estimate the size of these “patches,” because the borders and content constantly change with ocean currents and winds. Regardless of the exact size, mass, and location of the “garbage patch,” manmade debris does not belong in our oceans and waterways and must be addressed.
Wilson Center, an independent research group, reported in 2020 that Honduras saw “waves of pollution” following severe storms that underscored an existing waste management issue that had led to concentrations of waste dubbed “garbage islands.”
Researchers writing in a May 2020 issue of Marine Pollution Bulletin used Roatán Island as a case study of plastic accumulation zones in coastal seas, acknowledging that Power captured an October 2017 “episode” published by The Telegraph. The study authors wrote:
The issue of plastic in the marine environment is a growing concern. Images of floating plastic island are often found in mainstream press publications. In this study, we focus on such an episode that occurred in October 2017 near the island of Roatan in the Gulf of Honduras.
[ … ]
On October 16, 2017, a Honduran photographer, Caroline Power published in United Kingdom newspaper The Telegraph photos taken off Honduras exposing an environmental scandal (Molloy, 2017). During a boat trip, she uncovered a large area of floating debris located between Roatan Island and the Cayos Cochinos marine reserve. It was mostly made up of light debris, such plastic bags, bottles and Styrofoam.
Power’s images were also shared in a report published by the World Bank Group titled “Marine Pollution in the Caribbean: Not a Minute to Waste.” The 2017 event was described as “a mass of floating trash”:
Litter and debris are a common sight in the region’s marine and coastal areas, sometimes covering vast expanses of water. In 2017, a mass of floating trash at least eight kilometers wide and several kilometers long was found off the coast of Honduras apparently caused by heavy rains and discharge from rivers.
On Nov. 4, 2017, after publishing her photos, Power addressed the response she had received from others who were concerned about the ongoing garbage problem.
Four days later, she posted a video showing more refuse, writing that “a group of recently hatched sea turtles [was] rescued from a floating mat of plastic and seaweed before they wash[ed] ashore.” The footage featured similar scenes to those shown in her pictures.
Snopes has previously debunked another photo that was said to show the “Great Pacific Garbage Patch.”
Sources:
13K Views · 126 Reactions | An Ocean of Plastic | A Group of Recently Hatched Sea Turtles Are Rescued from a Floating Mat of Plastic and Seaweed before They Wash Ashore. | By Caroline Power Photography | Facebook. www.facebook.com, [Hidden Content]. Accessed 20 Feb. 2025.
—. www.facebook.com, [Hidden Content]. Accessed 20 Feb. 2025.
Leonard, Elise, and Marc Lucas. “Identifying Plastic Accumulation Zones in Coastal Seas: The Roatan Island Case Study.” Marine Pollution Bulletin, vol. 154, May 2020, p. 111077. ScienceDirect, [Hidden Content].
Shocking Photo Shows Caribbean Sea Being “Choked to Death by Human Waste.” 17 Feb. 2024, [Hidden Content].
US Department of Commerce, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. What Is the Great Pacific Garbage Patch? [Hidden Content]. Accessed 20 Feb. 2025.
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Syrians describe terror as Alawite families killed in their homes
Syrians describe terror as Alawite families killed in their homes
Lina Sinjab
BBC Middle East correspondent
Reporting fromDamascus, SyriaReuters
Syrians gather in the capital Damascus to protest against the killing of civilians and security forces in recent days
Syria’s interim leader has appealed for unity, as violence and revenge killings continued in areas loyal to ousted former leader Bashar al-Assad on Sunday.
Hundreds of people have reportedly fled their homes in the coastal provinces of Latakia and Tartus – strongholds of Assad support.
Local residents have described scenes of looting and mass killings, including of children.
In Hai Al Kusour, a predominantly Alawite neighbourhood in the coastal city of Banias, residents say the streets are filled with scattered bodies, piled up and covered in blood. Men of different ages were shot dead there, witnesses said.
People were too scared to even look out of their windows on Friday. The internet connection is unstable, but when connected they learned of their neighbours’ deaths from Facebook posts.
One man, Ayman Fares, told the BBC he was saved by his recent imprisonment. He had posted a video on his Facebook account in August 2023 criticising Bashar al-Assad for his corrupt rule. He was arrested soon after, and only released when Islamist-led forces freed prisoners after Assad’s fall last December.
The fighters who raided the streets of Hai Al Kusour recognised him, so he was spared death but not the looting. They took his cars and continued to raid other houses.
“They were strangers, I can’t identify their identity or language, but they seemed to be Uzbek or Chechen,” Mr Fares told me by phone.
“There were also some Syrians with them but not from the official security. Some civilians also were among those who carried out the killing,” he added.
Mr Fares said he saw families killed in their own homes, and women and children covered in blood. Some families ran to their rooftops to hide but were not spared the bloodshed. “It is horrific,” he said.
The ***-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights documented more than 740 civilians killed in the coastal cities of Latakia, Jableh and Banias. A further 300 members of the security forces and remnants of the Assad regime are reported to have died in clashes.
The BBC has not been able to independently verify the death toll.
Mr Fares said things stabilised when the Syrian army and security forces arrived in the city of Banias. They pushed other factions out of the city and provided corridors for families to access safe areas, he said.
Ali, another resident of Banias who asked us not to use his full name, corroborated Mr Fares’ account. Ali, who lived in Kusour with his wife and 14-year-old daughter, fled his home with the assistance of security forces.
“They came to our building. We were too scared just listening to the fire and screams of people in the neighbourhood. We learned about the deaths from sporadic Facebook posts when we managed to connect. But when they came to our building, we thought we are done,” he said.
“They were after money. They knocked on our neighbour’s door taking his car, his money and all the gold or valuables he had in his home. But he was not killed.”
Getty Images
Fighting took place between the Syrian security forces and Assad loyalists in the country’s coastal region earlier this week
Ali and his family were picked up by his Sunni neighbours, who follow a different branch of Islam, and are now staying with them. “We lived together for years, Alawites, Sunnis and Christians. We never experienced this,” he told me.
“The Sunnis rushed to protect Alawites from the killing that happened and now the official forces are in town to restore order.”
Ali said families were taken to a school in a neighbourhood that is predominantly Sunni, where they will be protected until members of the factions that carried out the killings are ousted from Banias.
The violence started on Thursday after Assad loyalists – who refused to give up arms – ambushed security forces around the coastal cities of Latakia and Jableh, killing dozens of them.
Ghiath Dallah, an ex-brigadier general in Assad’s army, has announced a new rebellion against the current government, saying he was establishing the “Military Council for the Liberation of Syria”.
Some reports suggest that former security officers of the Assad regime who refused to give up arms are forming a resistance group in the mountains.
Mr Fares said most of the Alawite community reject them and blame Dallah and other hardline Assad loyalists for the violence.
“They benefit from the bloodshed that’s happening. What we need now is official security to prevail and to prosecute the killers from the factions who did the mass killing so the country restores safety,” he said.
But others also blame interim president Ahmad al-Sharaa, saying he dismantled Syria’s security, army and police establishments with no clear strategy for dealing with thousands of officers and personnel left unemployed.
Some of these individuals, especially among the police, had nothing to do with the killing during Assad’s regime. The new authorities also dismissed thousands of public employees from their work.
With 90% of Syria’s population living below the poverty line and thousands left without an income, it’s fertile ground for a rebellion.
There is a split in views in Syria over what is happening. The wider community condemns the killing of any civilians and demonstrations have been organised in Damascus to mourn the deaths and condemn the violence.
But over the past two days, there were also calls for “******” in different parts of Syria. Residents in Banias said that along with the factions, there were some civilians who were armed and joined forces in the killing.
Getty Images
The Syrian army sent reinforcements after the violence to stabilise the region
Syria’s majority Sunnis have faced atrocities at the hands of the Assad regime’s forces over the past 13 years. This fuelled sectarian hatred mainly towards the Alawite *********, where members of the community are affiliated with war crimes.
According to human rights groups, there is evidence that Alawite security officers were involved in the killing and torture of thousands of Syrians, the majority of which are Sunni Muslims, during the Assad regime.
Those members of the army and security forces who were killed are mostly from the Sunni community and now some in the Sunni community are calling for retaliation, but the president has called for calm.
Sharaa, whose Islamist forces toppled Assad three months ago, must now balance providing safety for all with pursuing justice for the crimes of the Assad regime and its henchmen.
While he has authority over some of the troops who helped him to power, some factions are clearly out of his control. Those factions also include foreign fighters with a radical Islamist agenda.
To lead Syria into a safe and democratic future, many argue Sharaa needs to end the presence of any foreign fighters and deliver a constitution that protects the rights of all Syrians, regardless of their background or religion.
While he is seen to be working towards the legal framework for such a constitution, controlling the violent factions and expelling foreign fighters will prove a major challenge.
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Killing Floor 3 delayed following closed beta response
Killing Floor 3 delayed following closed beta response
In response to less-than-stellar responses from its closed beta, Tripwire Interactive has put a delay on Killing Floor 3 until later this year. This delay will give it time to polish the game’s common complaints from the closed beta.
On Twitter, Tripwire revealed the game was going to get delayed to an unspecified time later this year. This decision was fully backed by parent company Embracer Group. The game itself is meant to not just serve as an “ambitious step forward” for the franchise but also “maintain the core experience” of the game.
Components including UI, lighting, performance, weapon feel, and more are all in line to get modified.
We’re sure this is disappointing to those who were excited to see what Tripwire had cooking, but at least it’s in response to community outcry rather than setting an unreasonable deadline.
Gabriel Stanford-Reisinger Editor-in-Chief
Gabe has been a gamer since he was young, playing games like Pajama Sam, Freddi Fish, Guitar Hero, and whatever looked cool on GameFly. Ever since 2018, he’s been infatuated with the inner workings of the gaming and entertainment industries, covering a wide range of topics from video games to TV and film. Starting as a contributor for PSX Extreme, he’s worked his way up to its Managing Editor. Using what’s he learned over the years, he founded Smash Jump to remind everyone to smash jump.
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I asked Gemini to play a text-based adventure game with me and the AI whisked me away to a word-based fantasy
I asked Gemini to play a text-based adventure game with me and the AI whisked me away to a word-based fantasy
Gemini, Google’s AI chatbot running the 2.0 Flash model, is well equipped to handle complex conversations, generate instant images (“I need a picture of a guy working on the weekend on his computer”), and handle difficult math equations. I know all this, and yet, sometimes, I just find myself chatting with the thing, and when I do that, I often discover hidden capabilities, like classic video gameplay.
Remember Zork? In 1977, a trio of MIT researchers created the first text-based adventure game for a DEC mainframe and eventually ported it to the earliest PCs. I discovered the minimalist game in 1980 at my high school’s math lab, home of the school’s only computer. The game offers you descriptions and options while a witty narrator carries you through the storyline. Your decisions define your experience and gameplay. It was difficult and inscrutable, but I loved it.
BFFs
The subject of the game came up quite by accident during a casual conversation with Gemini.
I started using Gemini more after I found I could place the Gemini widget on my iPhone 16 Pro Max’s lock screen. Now, the LLM is one tap away. As with most AI conversations, they follow my own somewhat random stream of consciousness. I started by asking Gemini about AGI (artificial general intelligence). Gemini spelled it out for me and admitted that it does not yet have AGI.
The conversation felt stilted, so I asked, via voice, Gemini to make its responses more casual like it was my best friend. It heard the word “casual” as “coffee” and then comically blended coffee references into its now much friendlier banter.
Gemini asked about my weekend plans, and then I asked if it liked to play games. Among the responses it offered is that it enjoyed text-based games. Then Gemini asked what games I like to play.
(Image credit: Future)
I explained my love of chess and poor modern video game skills. Then I described playing “one of the very earliest video games where there was nothing but text and you would sort of go on an adventure and you’d get a prompt, and then you would figure out what you were supposed to do based on some options.”
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This description clearly intrigued Gemini, and it asked if I wanted to talk more about these classic games, play chess, or play a text-based adventure that it would create.
I recalled the game Zork, which Gemini described as a “legendary game,” and gave me some details about its history.
Then Gemini offered to set up a little “Zork-inspired adventure.”
Do you want to play a game?
Don’t worry; this isn’t a tale where a sinister computer offers to set up a game that inexplicably has geopolitical and possibly world-ending implications. Gemini is not that AI. But I will say, the game that followed was impressive, if a bit too precious.
Here’s how it started:
“You find yourself standing at the edge of a whispering forest. The air is thick with the scent of damp earth and ancient trees. A narrow path winds its way into the depths of the woods, disappearing into the shadows. To your left, you see a crumbling stone wall, partially overgrown with ivy. To your right, a small, gurgling stream flows from the forest, its water dark and clear.
What do you do?
Options:
1 Follow the path into the forest.
2 Examine the stone wall.
3 Follow the stream.
4 Listen to the sounds of the forest.
Enter the number corresponding to your choice.”
Mostly, I selected numbers that I thought would keep the adventure percolating. The descriptions were rich and mostly well-written; if I closed my eyes, I could imagine the scene. I was entertained and curious enough to keep going.
The game’s storyline led me through a path in the woods to, naturally, an old moss-covered cottage. Inside was a “figure” who was eventually described as “Edler.” At one point, Gemini took to calling the figure “them” and “they,” which might have meant the figure had no gender or that Gemini had lost a bit of the thread.
Throughout more than a dozen prompts, we explored the woods, retrieved a magical key, and examined the contents of a mysterious box. Perhaps my favorite part of the game was how it tied together, retrieving the key from a magical stone and then realizing that it was also the key that unlocked that special box.
The game went on so long that I had to take breaks. When I returned to Gemini, I thought I’d lost the game, but Gemini keeps track of all prompt discussions in the chat icon on the upper left corner of the app. As soon as I opened that prompt, we were able to continue from where I left off.
Gemini’s idea of a big reveal fell a little flat. We found a locket in the box containing photos of Edler’s parents. Their tale of love found and lost wasn’t particularly magical or even that dramatic, but Edler’s obvious sadness did touch me.
However, once the Elder shared the ‘secret” of the locket, I was no longer interested in the Elder’s story or the cottage, so I chose the option where I said goodbye and left the cottage.
(Image credit: Future)
Here was the final gameplay text:
“Thank you for sharing your story, Elder,” you say, your voice soft and respectful. “I’m glad I could help you recover this precious memento.”
You rise from your chair, ready to take your leave. “I should be heading back now. The sun is setting, and I don’t want to get lost in the forest.”
Elder nods slowly, their eyes filled with gratitude. “You are a kind and courageous traveler,” they say. “May the forest guide you safely on your journey. And may you always remember the power of love and memory.”
You turn and walk towards the door, the creaking hinges echoing in the quiet room. As you step out into the twilight, you glance back at the cottage. The flickering candlelight casts a warm glow through the window, illuminating the figure of Elder, still holding the silver locket.
You turn and walk away, the sounds of the forest closing in around you. The path back to the edge of the woods seems clearer now, as if the forest itself is guiding you.
The End.”
Gemini wasn’t that good at raising the stakes – a key component of the best gameplay – but I was engaged, and I think the game might’ve been more interesting if I’d made some different choices or been more involved in the game development. I’m sure Gemini would let me adjust some of the mechanics.
It’s another reminder that we’re far from discovering the full depths of these chatbots’ capabilities. We must be ready to look beyond the obvious, choose our path, and take an AI adventure.
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Khalil Fong, Hong Kong Singer-Songwriter, Dies at 41
Khalil Fong, Hong Kong Singer-Songwriter, Dies at 41
Khalil Fong, a Hong Kong singer-songwriter who infused a soul and R&B sensibility into ******** pop songs, died on Feb. 21. He was 41.
His death was announced on Saturday by his record label, Fu Music. The announcement did not say where Mr. Fong had died or specify a cause of death, but it said he had endured a “relentless illness” for five years.
Beloved for its soulful vocals and distinctive blend of soul and Mandarin pop, Mr. Fong’s music found an audience in Hong Kong, mainland China and much of the wider ********-speaking world.
“Trying to introduce soul music, or soul R&B, was not the easiest thing,” he said in a 2016 interview with The South China Morning Post, noting that the genre was not widely embraced in the region. “One of the things I wanted to do was to introduce this type of music within the context of ******** language.”
He broke into the popular music scene in 2005, when Warner Music Hong Kong released his funky, syncopated debut album, “Soulboy.” In the following decade, he released eight albums and performed in stadiums and large concert halls around the world, wearing his signature thick ****** glasses.
But Mr. Fong’s career was cut short by health problems, and in recent years he had largely retreated from the public eye. Inspiration never stopped flowing, however, and he sporadically released singles.
He recorded his final album, “The Dreamer,” during what he described as various stages of illness, the nature of which he never disclosed.
Making the music was “both a challenge and a relief from the rather tedious circumstance” of ill health, he wrote on Instagram when the album was released in October.
“I had tons of notes and ideas, song structures and lyrics jotted down, and whenever I could manage, I would gradually chip away at them,” he added.
Khalil Fong, whose ******** name was Fong ****-tung, was born on July 14, 1983, in Hawaii.His father was a drummer, and Mr. Fong grew up listening to his collection of blues and soul records from the 1950s, ’60s and ’70s. His mother was a language teacher who later became his full-time business manager and was credited in some songs as a lyricist.
When Mr. Fong was 5, the family moved to Shanghai, where they lived for several years. After a brief stint in Guangzhou, they settled in Hong Kong. He began learning guitar and writing music as a teenager, and he was soon submitting demo tapes to record labels.
He was 22 when “Soulboy” was released. More albums, among them “Love Love Love,” “Orange Moon” and “Timeless,” followed in quick succession, along with world tours.
His interpretations of American hits like “Nothing’s Gonna Change My Love for You” and “Red Bean,” a ******** ballad by the popular singer Faye Wong, accumulated millions of views online.
While most pop musicians in Hong Kong sang in Cantonese, Mr. Fong acknowledged that he did not feel comfortable singing in what was his third language. He mostly sang in Mandarin and English.
In 2016, he founded the independent label Fu Music, saying he wanted it to pay tribute to both ******** and Western influences.
“JTW,” named after the Ming-dynasty Buddhist epic “Journey to the West,” was released that year. The album included collaborations with two South Korean pop stars, Zion T. and Crush, as well as the Taiwanese-American pop star Wang Leehom.
In 2018, Mr. Fong began publishing “Emi the Dream Catcher,” a fantasy graphic novel series he wrote in ******** and English, about a girl who has lucid dreams that help her understand her place in the world.
“I think these stories are a reminder to myself and others of the things we should be mindful of, to create a better society for future generations,” he said in an interview at the time.
He did not disclose that he had been struggling with health problems until 2024, when he introduced “The Dreamer,” his last album.
“In life we are each faced with challenges but through it all let’s not forget how to be dreamers,” he wrote.
Complete information about his survivors was not available. He said in interviews that he was an only child and had no children himself.
Mr. Fong recently told ********-language media outlets that he hoped to start touring again and had plans for new music. Just a few weeks ago, he promoted the video for “Oasis,” a song from “The Dreamer.”
The album was wide-ranging. Its songs included a tongue-in-cheek rebuttal to an internet rumor that he had taken up farming, and a whimsical review of the “Godfather” trilogy: “It was good but it was sad/ Mike was good and Mike was bad / But mostly mad and lonely.”
Most poignant, perhaps, was how he conveyed the swift passage of time. Many songs on the album, including the last one, “Not Much Left to Say,” ended abruptly midsentence, just before he could complete the thought. He sings:
Oh, my love, I could want you to stay
But the truth’s telling me
That there’s nothing here left to …
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Jay-Z Sues ***** Accuser and Lawyers, Saying They Knew Claim Was False
Jay-Z Sues ***** Accuser and Lawyers, Saying They Knew Claim Was False
Jay-Z filed a lawsuit on Monday against the anonymous woman who withdrew her ***** lawsuit against him last month, asserting that she and her lawyers knew the allegations were false but proceeded with the claim anyway.
The lawsuit, brought in federal court in Alabama, where the woman lives, was filed against both the accuser and her lawyers, Tony Buzbee and David Fortney. In the suit, Jay-Z, born Shawn Carter, said the woman had admitted to his representatives that she had made up the story.
But in a statement, Mr. Buzbee said the suit has “no legal merit” and that the woman continues to stand by her account.
The woman originally sued Jay-Z last year, naming him as a defendant in one of the dozens of cases that have accused Sean Combs of ******* abuse. In this case, the plaintiff accused Mr. Carter and Mr. Combs of raping her when she was 13, at an after-party following the MTV Video Music Awards in 2000. After an NBC News interview with the plaintiff highlighted inconsistencies in her account, the plaintiff acknowledged that she had “made some mistakes” in presenting the allegations.
For about two months, the plaintiff’s lawyers defended the veracity of her allegations in court papers, but last month, they withdrew her claim with no public explanation.
In the new lawsuit, lawyers for Mr. Carter assert that the plaintiff — who is not identified — has “voluntarily admitted directly to representatives of Mr. Carter that the story brought before the world in court and on global television was just that: a false, malicious story.”
The suit quotes the woman as saying that Mr. Buzbee had “pushed” her toward “going forward with the false story against Mr. Carter.” The complaint makes no explanation of how or why the plaintiff made that admission, and it does not specify to whom.
In a statement, Mr. Buzbee pushed back against the contention that the woman had recanted her account of *****.
“After speaking with Jane Doe today, it appears that the quotes attributed to her in the lawsuit are completely made up, or they spoke to someone who isn’t Jane Doe,” the statement said. “This is just another attempt to intimidate and bully this poor woman that we will deal with in due course. We won’t be bullied or intimidated by frivolous cases.”
The suit ratchets up an already heated legal battle between Mr. Carter and Mr. Buzbee, a Houston lawyer who has filed more than three dozen suits against Mr. Combs. Mr. Carter already sued Mr. Buzbee in Los Angeles last year, alleging that a letter the lawyer sent outlining his client’s ***** allegations and demanding a “confidential mediation” amounted to extortion. In a hearing last week, a judge indicated that he was inclined to dismiss the extortion claim but to allow a separate defamation claim to proceed. The judge has not made a formal order in the case.
In an affidavit in the Los Angeles case, which was filed on Monday, the woman said she had been approached at her home last month by two people who identified themselves as investigators working with Mr. Carter’s lawyer; she said she had refused to sign papers recanting her allegations against Mr. Carter. The affidavit said she had withdrawn her original suit because she was “frightened by the reaction of Jay-Z and his supporters, and the likelihood that I would have to be publicly named and subjected to public attacks.”
The lawsuit in Alabama brings a defamation claim against the woman, citing the NBC News interview. It accuses her and her lawyers of malicious prosecution, among other complaints.
In the NBC report, the accuser said that she had called her father after being assaulted and that he had driven to pick her up. But the father, who lived hours away in Rochester, said in the report that he did not remember doing so, noting that would have been “something that would definitely stick in my mind.” The accuser also recalled speaking to a musician at the after-party who was on tour in another state at the time.
The suit says that, as a result of the woman’s lawsuit, Mr. Carter faced reputational harm. It also says that his entertainment company, Roc Nation, lost more than $20 million, though it does not specify how.
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The biggest retirement regrets — and how to avoid them
The biggest retirement regrets — and how to avoid them
Listen and subscribe to Decoding Retirement on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you find your favorite podcasts.
If given the opportunity to do things over, many retirees say they would’ve made financial decisions differently.
According to research by Olivia Mitchell, a Wharton professor and executive director of the Pension Research Council, a majority of the adults over the age of 50 that Mitchell surveyed expressed strong regret over insufficient savings.
“A majority of the respondents said they wished they saved more,” Mitchell said on a recent episode of Decoding Retirement (see video above or listen below). “Only 2% said they wished they had saved less.”
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Retirees highlighted other regrets as well. Many regretted not working longer and not delaying their Social Security claims — both of which would have increased their retirement income.
Another notable finding was regret over not securing lifetime income, such as through an annuity. Annuities provide a steady income stream, making it easier to manage expenses, especially as cognitive abilities decline with age.
“Many people are financially not as literate as they were when they were younger,” Mitchell said. “And having that steady income stream is and can be a real boost. People regretted not having done that as well.”
Read more: Fixed annuities vs. CDs: Which is better for your retirement savings?
In the podcast, Mitchell also addressed the increasing number of older adults who are retiring with mortgage debt, student loan debt, credit card debt, and the like.
According to Mitchell, older adults once took pride in being debt-free in retirement — so much so that mortgage-burning ceremonies were a common tradition in 20th century America.
A group of senior citizens with a dog look out over the seawall towards the sea on Sept. 17, 2024, in Sheringham, United Kingdom. (John Keeble/Getty Images) · John Keeble via Getty Images
“But that attitude is not true of retirees today,” she said.
More and more retirees are now entering retirement without paying off their mortgage — and in some cases, they even take on a larger mortgage when relocating to a sunnier climate or another state.
Credit card debt has also become a growing concern for retirees. And strangely, around 6% of retirees are now seeing their Social Security checks garnished due to unpaid student loans — either their own or those taken out for their children, Mitchell said.
“So debt is increasingly troubling the older population,” she said.
Read more: How to pay off credit card debt when your budget’s tight
Furthermore, Mitchell noted that high inflation has led to increased interest rates on various types of debt, including mortgages, credit cards, and student loans.
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“It becomes a very big challenge for people to meet that increase in debt payments, debt obligations in retirement,” Mitchell said. “So my advice is to try to really get your debt under control. Pay back everything you can. Destroy your credit cards if you find yourself unable to live within your means. Think about downsizing. Think about moving to a state with lower tax rates. All those things are ways to try to stretch your dollar a little bit farther in retirement.”
As for her current research, Mitchell is exploring financial advice and how financial advisers can better equip individuals with the information they need to make informed decisions.
“There’s a lot of financial advice online,” she said. “Social media is full of influencers providing financial advice, but some of them are conflicted. Some of them are giving terrible advice. I would like to see a better way of evaluating financial advice where people are getting what they need throughout their lifetimes.”
Mitchell said she reviewed financial apps that provide advice a few years ago and concluded that they were getting better at helping you decide how much to save, where to save, how to allocate your portfolio, and so on.
However, those apps struggled with key retirement decisions, such as the optimal time to claim Social Security, how much to allocate to an annuity, and how to factor in family dynamics.
For example, if one spouse had a defined benefit plan and the other had a defined contribution plan, the apps fell short in helping users optimize their savings and payout strategies together.
“So I think that the whole financial advice field has to really be improved and supported,” she said. “Maybe the fintech and the large language models will help.”
She highlighted one fintech company, in particular, that is designing avatars to help individuals picture themselves in retirement should they follow one lifetime path versus another.
“And I think that’s brilliant,” she said. “It really has the potential to help us picture our future selves, and that’s exactly what we need in order to be able to look at the impact of our decisions on our future outcomes.”
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