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Oscars 2025 Live Updates: Red Carpet and What to Expect at Awards Ceremony – The New York Times Oscars 2025 Live Updates: Red Carpet and What to Expect at Awards Ceremony – The New York Times Oscars 2025 Live Updates: Red Carpet and What to Expect at Awards Ceremony The New York Times2025 Oscars: Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor, Best Actress and more | See full list of winners for 97th Academy Awards ABC7 Los Angeles Source link #Oscars #Live #Updates #Red #Carpet #Expect #Awards #Ceremony #York #Times Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

Blayde’s Bins: How a 12-year-old’s entrepreneurial spirit is cleaning up Tom Price Blayde’s Bins: How a 12-year-old’s entrepreneurial spirit is cleaning up Tom Price A 12-year-old boy from Tom Price is embarking on a business venture around town to keep bins sparkly and new. Source link #Blaydes #Bins #12yearolds #entrepreneurial #spirit #cleaning #Tom #Price Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

Sedgwick County deputy stops vehicle going 120 mph, arrests driver Sedgwick County deputy stops vehicle going 120 mph, arrests driver WICHITA, Kan. (KSNW) – The Sedgwick County Sheriff’s Office took to social media on Sunday to remind drivers to slow down. On Saturday, Deputy Alpers stopped two vehicles “traveling at extremely excessive speeds” near 21st Street and 247th Street. One of those vehicles was stopped for going 120 mph in a 55 mph zone. That’s 65 mph over the speed limit. The driver also had no valid driver’s license and was arrested on the scene. “SLOW DOWN – SPEED KILLS,” read the SCSO’s Facebook post. “Speed limits exist for a reason—to keep everyone safe. Let’s all do our part and drive responsibly.” For more Kansas news, click here. Keep up with the latest breaking news by downloading our mobile app and signing up for our news email alerts. Sign up for our Storm Track 3 Weather app by clicking here. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to KSN-TV. Source link #Sedgwick #County #deputy #stops #vehicle #mph #arrests #driver Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content] For verified travel tips and real support, visit: [Hidden Content]

Crypto prices jump as Trump touts national crypto reserve – The Washington Post Crypto prices jump as Trump touts national crypto reserve – The Washington Post Crypto prices jump as Trump touts national crypto reserve The Washington PostTrump names cryptocurrencies in strategic reserve, sending prices up ReutersTrump announces strategic crypto reserve including bitcoin, Solana, XRP and more CNBCWhy Bitcoin, XRP, and Cardano Led a Crypto Explosion Today NasdaqBitcoin Jumps After Trump Pledges Strategic US Crypto Reserve Bloomberg Source link #Crypto #prices #jump #Trump #touts #national #crypto #reserve #Washington #Post Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

Plane GPS systems are under sustained attack Plane GPS systems are under sustained attack BBC As a Ryanair flight from London approached Vilnius, Lithuania, on 17 January, its descent was suddenly aborted. Just minutes from touching down, the aircraft’s essential Global Positioning System (GPS) suffered an unexplained interference, triggering an emergency diversion. The Boeing 737 MAX 8-200 had already descended to around 850ft (259m) when the disruption occurred. Instead of landing, the plane was forced to climb back into the sky and divert nearly 400km (250 miles) south to Warsaw, Poland. Lithuanian air authorities later confirmed the aircraft had been affected by “GPS signal interference”. This was not an isolated incident. Over the last three months of 2024, more than 800 cases of GPS interference were recorded in Lithuanian airspace. Estonia and Finland have also raised concerns, accusing Russia of deploying technology to jam satellite navigation signals near Nato’s eastern flank – though the country has denied that. Last March the then Defence Secretary, Grant Shapps, was on a plane that had its GPS signal jammed while flying close to Russian territory. The threat of GPS jamming extends beyond aviation. Without GPS, our lives would grind to a halt: in 2017, a government report stated that systematic GPS jamming could bring the ***’s financial, electricity and communications systems to a standstill. Getty Images NPL’s atomic clock, alongside clocks from around 80 labs worldwide, helps set Universal Coordinated Time (UTC), the official global time standard To pinpoint our exact location, we need to know the exact time. GPS works by users receiving signals from multiple satellites. The length of time it takes each signal to reach a device is used to determine exactly where on Earth we are. Very large atomic clocks communicate directly with the satellites, allowing them to know the time to within 100 billionths of a second, and this precision timing is key to a variety of economic activities around the world, including communication systems, electrical power grids, and financial networks. The potential cost of losing GPS has been put at £1.4bn each day – no wonder GPS jamming is on the government’s national risk register as one of the ***’s greatest threats. With this in mind, a group of British scientists – dubbed the “Time Lords” – has been asked to come up with a solution. The plan is simple: to develop a more secure alternative to GPS by enabling the portable use of new atomic clocks, rather than relying on signals from satellites in space that can be jammed. But its execution is fiendishly difficult: to harness the power of the atom, develop a new type of clock, and even change the way we measure time itself – all within a few years. In recent months, the *** government has set up research initiatives to tackle the threat of GPS jamming. But turning prototypes into robust devices that could one day be incorporated into our phones is an enormous undertaking – and the need for the new technology is getting ever more urgent. A new way of measuring time The challenge can be compared to the invention of a portable clock for marine navigation by John Harrison in the 18th Century, which solved the so-called longitude problem, allowing a new era of trade and a golden age of exploration. Three hundred years on, researchers are once again racing to perfect a new clock to solve the GPS problem – and the impact could be at least as transformative. “History shows that each time we have an improvement in the ability to measure time, new applications follow to make things possible that people didn’t dream of before,” says Dr Helen Margolis, head scientist (time and frequency) of the ***’s timing laboratories at the National Physical Laboratory (NPL) in south-west London. In 1967, the world’s timekeepers, an intergovernmental body called the General Conference on Weights and Measures, agreed to define time using atomic clocks, rather than by the Earth’s rotation. The switch transformed our world just as radically as Harrison’s clock, laying the foundation for GPS and similar space-based systems. These provided precise timekeeping from atomic clocks on satellites, which allowed rapid and huge volumes of communications, computation, and transactions to be carried out everywhere in the world near instantaneously, as well as more precise navigation. Getty Images John Harrison’s marine clock revolutionised navigation, paving the way for global trade and exploration The search for a new portable alternative to GPS involves a field called quantum technologies, finding ways to manipulate atoms. Much of the buzz around the subject in recent years has been about the development of powerful quantum computers which, the narrative goes, will make our fastest supercomputers seem like abacuses by comparison. But a quieter revolution to improve navigation and measurement of time has flown under the radar, and it is in this field that quantum technology is set to make its earliest impact, according to Prof Douglas Paul of the *** Hub for Quantum Enabled Position Navigation and Timing (QEPNT), which was set up last December by the government to develop these new devices. “We are expecting to see some sort of navigation system within two to five years in the marketplace,” he says. “So, some of these technologies are already quite advanced.” The ‘Time Lords’ Prof Paul and his quantum scientists are working with Dr Margolis and her fellow researchers at NPL, who have been given the “Time Lords” nickname by other horologists. In 1955, the NPL invented the first atomic clock of the sort that is used today, based on the frequency of radiation from an atom of the element caesium. GPS and other satellite navigation systems reset their own clocks by touching base with these more accurate clocks on the ground. For the alternative to GPS, the scientists will need a new type of atomic clock that can eventually be miniaturised and robust enough to work in everyday situations, rather than the carefully controlled conditions inside a lab. The NPL researchers are perfecting a so-called optical clock to achieve this, which is 100 times more accurate than the most accurate caesium clocks used today. It looks as if it might be part of Dr Who’s Tardis and is stimulated with laser light rather than microwaves. When optical clocks take over from caesium ones as the timepieces that determine Universal Coordinated Time (UTC), the way the passage of time is defined will also have to change, according to Dr Margolis. “The international community has drawn up a road map for the redefinition of the second,” she tells BBC News. The NPL’s immediate hope is to have a national network by 2030, connecting four atomic clocks across the *** that businesses can plug into for secure accurate timekeeping and for developing new innovative applications that harness ultra-fast time. Eventually, critical systems in the *** in finance, telecommunications, energy, utilities and national security could switch over – though that would take longer. “To convert everything is at least a decade away, and probably significantly longer,” says Prof Paul. Yet the stakes are high, and the alternative this new technology offers is significant. “The US Department of Defence might decide to stop supporting GPS, it could be taken out in a conflict or by an accident,” he says. “There is no guarantee GPS … will always be available. With all the jamming and spoofing [where a criminal gives a false signal with an incorrect time and location], you cannot always guarantee you have an assured signal, so if you cannot get or trust the information then people will stop using it.” *** MOD In March 2024, the then Defence Secretary Grant Shapps experienced GPS jamming first-hand when his plane lost signal while flying near Russian territory While this type of research is taking place around the world, it’s being led by the ***. When an aircraft with the technology on board carried out a test flight in May 2024, the then science minister Andrew Griffith described it as “further proof of the *** as one of the world leaders on quantum”. According to the government, it was the first test of this type of technology in the *** on an aircraft in flight, and “the first such flight worldwide that has been publicly acknowledged”. By carrying a group of atoms cooled to -273C on the plane itself, rather than relying on an external signal, the technology can’t be interfered with by jamming. But the problem is that the equipment is still too large to be used routinely on planes. Henry White, part of the team from BAE Systems that worked on the test flight, told BBC News that he thought the first application could be aboard ships, “where there’s a bit more space”. Quantum clocks, gyroscopes and accelerometers are large, bulky and incredibly expensive, with an accurate quantum clock costing around £100,000. Yet military research is allowing the creation of smaller, better and cheaper systems. Press Association GPS jamming is disrupting British military operations in conflict zones like Ukraine, posing serious challenges GPS jamming is causing problems for the British military in conflict zones such as Ukraine. One of the main challenges faced by scientists at the government’s Defence, Science and Technology Laboratory (DSTL) is making the sensitive technology work not just in the real world, which in the Navy’s case is often in very choppy seas, but also in the harshest of environments; the battlefield, according to a lead researcher at the DSTL, who has to remain anonymous for security reasons. “We are harnessing atoms,” she points out. “You have vibrations, you have pressure changes, you have temperature changes, and you have environments which have all of these different variables going on while you are trying to manipulate the properties of light. So, it’s precision that is needed”. Atomic clocks in our pockets The ultimate aim for some of those working on this new technology is for each of us to have the equivalent of our own personal GPS system incorporated into our phones. This would comprise a miniaturised optical clock as well as a tiny gyroscope, so we know which direction we are going in, and a device called an accelerometer, which will tell us how fast we are going. QEPNT has been set up by the government to shrink the devices on to a chip, making them robust enough for everyday life and affordable for everyone. That process isn’t going to happen soon, though. “This is many decades away from happening for all critical national infrastructure across the ***,” says Prof Paul. Quantum clock researchers are facing exactly the same problems experienced by John Harrison when he was developing his portable marine clock in the 18th Century. Mr Harrison had to build a clock whose timekeeping was not affected by changes in temperature, pressure or humidity, and was able to function in a constantly moving ship – his greatest difficulty was to make it small. But it turned out that his difficulty was also the path to his solution. The smaller he made his clocks, the more robust he found they were at sea. “Harrison found that it was it easier to isolate them from all those external influences,” says another DSTL scientist. “As was the case 300 years ago, as we make these systems smaller, it will become easier to control the environment around them and isolate them from the effects of vibration, temperature, pressure, and humidity.” Prominent 18th-Century scientists, including Sir Isaac Newton, thought that navigation with marine clocks was impossible. But eventually Mr Harrison, a simple clockmaker and carpenter, proved his more illustrious colleagues wrong. Bringing prototype optical clocks first into the battlefield and then eventually into everyday life is just as challenging. Will the scientists working on the problem be able to find solutions fast enough? One day we might have them in our pockets, but the more urgent aim is to get them in a state where we can safely fly, as incidents of GPS jamming on planes and critical computer systems increase. The Time Lords and quantum scientists hope to continue the humble clockmaker’s legacy – transforming the measurement of time, and protecting the ***’s critical systems from GPS attack. Top image credit: Getty Images BBC InDepth is the home on the website and app for the best analysis, with fresh perspectives that challenge assumptions and deep reporting on the biggest issues of the day. And we showcase thought-provoking content from across BBC Sounds and iPlayer too. You can send us your feedback on the InDepth section by clicking on the button below. Source link #Plane #GPS #systems #sustained #attack Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content] For verified travel tips and real support, visit: [Hidden Content]

Rottnest Island: 64-year-old Mosman Park man found adrift in ocean by police Rottnest Island: 64-year-old Mosman Park man found adrift in ocean by police A large-scale search for a missing boatie unfolded in waters off Rottnest Island overnight before he was found alive almost five hours later. Police received reports of an overdue tender vessel in Stark Bay, Rottnest Island, about 10pm on Sunday before several police resources were deployed to help locate the man on board. “Rottnest Island police, Rottnest Island rangers, Water Police and Police Airwing were all deployed to assist in a land and sea search,” a police spokeswoman said. Almost five hours later — about 2.55am — a 64-year-old man, from Mosman Park, was found by police ”alone with his vessel, adrift north of Rottnest”. “He was uninjured and conveyed back to the island,” the spokeswoman said. Source link #Rottnest #Island #64yearold #Mosman #Park #man #adrift #ocean #police Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

Conservatives Are Getting Honest About The Heated Trump-Zelensky Oval Office Meeting, And They’re Not Holding Back Conservatives Are Getting Honest About The Heated Trump-Zelensky Oval Office Meeting, And They’re Not Holding Back Last week’s volatile exchange in the Oval Office between President Trump, Vice President JD Vance, and Ukrainian President Zelensky sent the world into a tailspin as the three leaders loudly argued over the US’s support for Ukraine for over 10 minutes before the press. Trump and Zelensky arguing in Oval Office The unprecedented meeting went mega-viral and has been described by many as “shameful,” “disgusting,” and a “disgrace.” Trump, Vance, and Zelensky arguing in Oval Office If you haven’t seen it, it’s worth the 10-minute watch: Twitter: @cspan The meeting was so bad that Trump canceled the scheduled news conference with Zelensky, who was then asked to leave the White House early. Zelensky getting into his car at the White House to leave Conservatives (many who claim to have voted for Trump) are not holding back their frustrations about the whole debacle and how Trump is treating Ukraine. Here’s what they’re saying over on the r/LeopardsAteMyFace and r/Conservative subreddits: 1.This person called themselves an “avid trump supporter,” but felt Trump went too far during the Oval Office meeting. Summary of tweet: The user comments on Trump’s support for Ukraine, expressing surprise and a desire for less chaotic times, referencing the White House and a meeting 2.This MAGA voter said Trump is behaving like a “real clown”: Social media post supporting Trump’s foreign policy on Cuba and Venezuela, criticizing the previous administration, and warning about China 3.”We might as well have voted for Vladimir Putin.” Comment discussing impeachment, questioning the impact of Trump’s policies, and expressing regret over voting decisions related to Russia and Ukraine 4.This “die-hard Republican” and MAGA voter is regretting supporting Trump, saying they didn’t vote for the president of Ukraine to get “ousted.” Barbara Hamblen’s Facebook post criticizes the Republican party and tariffs, expressing frustration over job losses and urges the Trump administration to do better 5.This person said they were “nauseous” about Trump’s changed support of Ukraine. Social media comment questioning Trump’s changing support for Ukraine and its impact on Zelensky’s actions regarding a deal 6.”This self-aggrandizing ********* is bad foreign policy.” Greg criticizes an admin’s foreign policy and calls it bad. Hey_ringworm agrees, mentions supporting Trump mostly, but criticizes his foreign policy 7.This person questioned Trump’s thought process regarding how the Ukraine-Russia war began: Social media comment questioning why Ukraine is blamed for starting the war, asking if there’s unknown reasoning for Russia’s invasion 8.”I voted for this guy, but his foreign policy is suspect.” Comment criticizing a political figure’s foreign policy and decision to take control of Gaza. User labeled as a top commenter 9.”He makes it awfully hard to be conservative sometimes.” Comment questioning a leader’s stance on a conflict, criticizing their relationship with Putin and impact on global reputation What are your thoughts on Trump and Vance’s treatment of President Zelensky in the Oval Office? Let us know in the comments below. Source link #Conservatives #Honest #Heated #TrumpZelensky #Oval #Office #Meeting #Theyre #Holding Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content] For verified travel tips and real support, visit: [Hidden Content]

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has paused cyber offensive against Russia – CBS News Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has paused cyber offensive against Russia – CBS News Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has paused cyber offensive against Russia CBS NewsHegseth Orders Pentagon to Stop Offensive Cyberoperations Against Russia The New York TimesAs Trump warms to Putin, U.S. halts offensive cyber operations against Moscow The Washington PostExclusive: Hegseth orders Cyber Command to stand down on Russia planning The Record from Recorded Future News Source link #Defense #Secretary #Pete #Hegseth #paused #cyber #offensive #Russia #CBS #News Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

Arab states and UN condemn Gaza aid blockade by Israel Arab states and UN condemn Gaza aid blockade by Israel Several Arab states and the UN have condemned Israel for blocking the entry of all humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip. Egypt and Qatar said the Israeli move on Sunday violated a ceasefire deal, while UN humanitarian chief Tom Fletcher described it as “alarming”. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said his country acted because ****** was stealing the supplies and using them “to finance its terror machine”. He also accused the ************ group of rejecting a US proposal to extend the ceasefire in Gaza, after it expired on Saturday. Israel said it had approved the proposal. A ****** spokesman said Israel’s blockade was “cheap blackmail” and a “coup” against the ceasefire agreement. The ceasefire deal halted 15 months of fighting between ****** and the Israeli military, allowing the release of 33 Israeli hostages for about 1,900 ************ prisoners and detainees. In a statement on Sunday, Qatar’s foreign ministry said it “strongly condemns” the Israeli decision, describing it as “a clear violation of the ceasefire agreement” and “international humanitarian law”. In Egypt, the foreign ministry accused Israel of using starvation as “a weapon against the ************ people”, the AFP news agency reported. Both Qatar and Egypt helped to mediate the ceasefire agreement in Gaza. Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia expressed its “condemnation and denunciation” of the Israeli aid blockade, the foreign ministry said. Tom Fletcher, UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs, wrote in a post on X: “International humanitarian law is clear: We must be allowed access to deliver vital lifesaving aid.” Netanyahu said Israel had decided to act “because ****** steals the supplies and prevents the people of Gaza from getting them. “It uses these supplies to finance its terror machine, which is aimed directly at Israel and our civilians, and this we cannot accept.” ****** has previously denied stealing humanitarian aid in Gaza. Netanyahu also said ****** was refusing to accept a temporary extension of the ceasefire proposed by US President Donald Trump’s envoy, Steve Witkoff. The first phase of the ceasefire came into force on 19 January and expired at midnight on Saturday. Negotiations on phase two, meant to lead to a permanent ceasefire, the release of all remaining living hostages and the withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza, were due to have started weeks ago – but have barely begun. There are believed to be 24 hostages alive, with another 39 presumed to be dead. Phase three is meant to result in the return of all remaining bodies of dead hostages and the reconstruction of Gaza, which is expected to take years. ****** has previously said it will not agree to any extension of phase one without guarantees from the mediators that phase two will eventually take place. As the first phase of the deal expired on Saturday, Netanyahu’s office said Israel had agreed to Witkoff’s proposal for the ceasefire to continue for about six weeks during the ******* holy month of Ramadan and Jewish Passover periods. If, at the end of this *******, negotiations reached a dead end, Israel would reserve the right to go back to war. Witkoff has not made his proposal public. According to Israel, it would begin with the release of half of all the remaining living and dead hostages. Witkoff is said by Israel to have proposed the temporary extension after becoming convinced that more time was needed to try to bridge the differences between Israel and ****** on conditions for ending the war. Aid agencies confirmed that no aid trucks had been allowed into Gaza on Sunday morning. “Humanitarian assistance has to continue to flow into Gaza. It’s very essential. And we are calling all parties to make sure that they reach a solution,” Antoine Renard from the World Food Programme (WFP) told the BBC. Thousands of trucks have entered the Gaza Strip each week since the ceasefire was agreed in mid-January. Aid agencies have managed to store supplies, which means there is no immediate danger to the civilian population. Also on Sunday, medics said four people had been killed in Israeli strikes on Gaza. The Israeli military said it had attacked people who were planting an explosive device in the north of the territory. ****** carried out an unprecedented attack on Israel on 7 October 2023, killing about 1,200 people and taking another 251 hostage. Israel responded with an air and ground campaign in the Gaza Strip, during which at least 48,365 people have been killed, according to the territory’s ******-run health ministry. Source link #Arab #states #condemn #Gaza #aid #blockade #Israel Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content] For verified travel tips and real support, visit: [Hidden Content]

TikTok profiting from ******* livestreams involving children, BBC told TikTok profiting from ******* livestreams involving children, BBC told Nalini Sivathasan, Patrick Clahane & Debula Kemoli BBC News Investigations & Africa Eye BBC TikTok is profiting from ******* livestreams performed by teens as young as 15, the BBC has been told. We spoke to three women in Kenya who said they began this activity as teenagers. They told us they used TikTok to openly advertise and negotiate payment for more explicit content that would be sent via other messaging platforms. TikTok bans solicitation but the company knows it takes place, moderators have told the BBC. TikTok takes a cut of about 70% from all livestream transactions, we have previously found. TikTok told the BBC it has “zero tolerance for exploitation”. Livestreams from Kenya are popular on TikTok – each night over the course of a week, we found up to a dozen in which women performers danced suggestively, watched by hundreds of people around the world. Warning: Contains details of a ******* nature A blurred screenshot of a TikTok livestream – some performers (right) take it in turns to twerk and dance suggestively on the main screen (left) It’s two o’clock in the morning in Nairobi, and the TikTok Lives are in full flow. Music blasts, and users chat over each other, as a woman turns her camera on to twerk or pose provocatively. Emoji “gifts” then fill the screen. “Inbox me for kinembe guys. Tap, tap,” the performers say on repeat. “Tap, tap,” is a phrase commonly used on TikTok, calling for viewers to “like” a livestream. “Kinembe” is Swahili for “*********”. “Inbox me” instructs the viewer to send a private message over TikTok with a more explicit bespoke request – such as to watch the performer masturbating, stripping or performing ******* activities with other women. Livestreams from Kenya are popular on TikTok – each night over the course of a week, we found up to a dozen in which women performers danced suggestively, watched by hundreds of people around the world. Some used coded ******* slang to advertise ******* services. The emoji gifts act as payment for the TikTok livestreams and – because TikTok removes any obvious ******* acts and nudity – also the more explicit content sent later on other platforms. The gifts can be converted into cash. “It’s not in TikTok’s interest to clamp down on soliciting of sex – the more people give gifts on a livestream… [the] more revenue for TikTok,” says a Kenyan former moderator we are calling Jo – one of more than 40,000 moderators TikTok says it employs globally. We discovered that TikTok is still taking about a 70% cut from livestream gifts. The company denied it took such a large commission after we established the same cut in a 2022 investigation. TikTok has long been aware of child exploitation in its livestreams – having run its own internal investigation in 2022 – but ignored the issue because it “profited significantly” from them, according to the claims of a lawsuit brought by the US state of Utah last year. TikTok responded that the lawsuit – which is ongoing – ignored the “proactive measures” it had made to improve safety. Kenya is a hotspot for this abuse, says the charity ChildFund Kenya, compounded by a young demographic and widespread internet usage. The African continent as a whole also has poor online moderation compared to Western countries, the charity added. Payment on TikTok, usually for activities such as make-up tutorials, is made via emoji “gifts” which can be exchanged for money Jo, who worked for Teleperformance – contracted by TikTok to provide content moderation – says moderators are given a reference guide of banned ******* words or actions. But this guide is restrictive, says Jo, and does not take into account slang or other provocative gestures. “You can see by the way they are posing, with the camera on their cleavage and thighs [for example], that they are soliciting sex. They may not say anything, but you can see they are signposting to their [other platform] account, but there’s nothing I can do.” Another content moderator for Teleperformance, who we are calling Kelvin, says moderation is also limited by TikTok’s increasing reliance on artificial intelligence (AI), which he says is not sensitive enough to pick up on local ******* slang. Jo and Kelvin are among seven current and former content moderators working on TikTok content who told us their concerns. Jo says about 80% of livestreams flagged in content moderators’ feeds were *******, or advertising ******* services, and TikTok is aware of the scale of the issue. Anonymous whistleblowers from a company providing TikTok with content moderation spoke to the BBC ChildFund Kenya and other charities have told the BBC that children as young as nine are taking part in these activities. We have spoken to teenage girls and young women who say they are spending up to six or seven hours a night on the activity and making on average £30 a day – enough to pay for a week’s food and transport. “I sell myself on TikTok. I dance naked. I do that because that’s where I can earn money to support myself,” says a 17-year-old we are calling Esther. She lives in a poor Nairobi neighbourhood, where 3,000 residents share toilet facilities. She says the money helps her buy food for her child, and support her mother who has been struggling to pay the rent since Esther’s father died. She says she was 15 years old when she was introduced to TikTok Lives by a friend, who helped her bypass the age restrictions – only over-18s can use a Live. Users also need at least 1,000 followers to go live. So TikTok users with a big following can act as digital pimps – hosting the livestreams selling ******* content. Some of them have back-up accounts, indicating they have been banned or suspended by TikTok in the past. They appear to know how to evade detection by TikTok’s content moderators, while generating the right amount of ******* teasing to pique customers’ interest. “When you’re dancing, move away from the camera, otherwise you’ll get blocked,” shouts a pimp to a woman twerking on screen. In return for being hosted, the women give pimps a cut of their earnings. The relationship can quickly turn exploitative, says Esther. She says her digital pimp knew she was under 18, and “he likes using young girls”. He put pressure on her to earn more – meaning she needed to livestream more frequently – and took a larger cut of her earnings than she expected, she says. “So if an emoji is sent which is 35,000ksh (£213), he takes 20,000ksh (£121) and you only get 15,000ksh (£91).” Working for him was like being in “handcuffs” she says. ”You are the one hurting because he gets the biggest share and yet it is you who has been used.” “Sophie”, not her real name, who says she was also 15 when she started livestreaming on TikTok, says she got requests from men in Europe for services on third-party platforms, including from one a ******* user who would demand that she caress her breasts and genitals for money. Now 18, she regrets her online sex work. Some of the videos she sent to users via other platforms were then uploaded to social media without her consent, she says. Her neighbours found out, and warned other young people not to associate with her, she told the BBC. “They brand me as a lost sheep, and young people are told that I’ll mislead them. I am lonely most of the time.” Some of the girls and women we spoke to said they had also been paid to meet TikTok users for sex in person, or had been pressured into having sex with their pimps. TikTok is keen to establish itself in African markets, but is not employing enough staff to effectively monitor content, the content moderators in Kenya told us. Kenya’s government has shown signs of acknowledging the issue – in 2023, President William Ruto held a meeting with TikTok’s CEO Shou Zi Chew to call for better content moderation on the platform. The government said the company had agreed to tighter regulation, with a TikTok office in Kenya to help co-ordinate operations. But the moderators we spoke to said, more than 18 months later, neither had happened. Teleperformance replied that its moderators “work diligently to tag and flag user-generated content based on community standards and client guidelines” and that its clients’ systems are not set up to allow Teleperformance to remove offending material or report it to law enforcement authorities. A spokesperson for TikTok told the BBC: “TikTok has zero tolerance for exploitation. We enforce strict safety policies, including robust Live content rules, moderation in 70 languages, including Swahili, and we partner with local experts and creators, including our Sub-Saharan Africa Safety Advisory Council to continually strengthen our approach.” Source link #TikTok #profiting #******* #livestreams #involving #children #BBC #told Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

Gordon Ivankovic jailed for eight years after killing mother Maria Ivankovic in Melbourne Gordon Ivankovic jailed for eight years after killing mother Maria Ivankovic in Melbourne A man who killed his elderly mother after he was invited over to help flip a mattress could walk free in as little as three years, a court has been told. Source link #Gordon #Ivankovic #jailed #years #killing #mother #Maria #Ivankovic #Melbourne Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

Trump supporter faces possible prison time in case associated with Jan. 6 Trump supporter faces possible prison time in case associated with Jan. 6 President Donald Trump’s historic Jan. 20 pardons of the U.S. Capitol rioters freed prisoners and ended the legal cases of nearly 1,600 people, shutting down the largest federal prosecution in U.S. history. But one case with a connection to the Jan. 6, 2021, assault on the Capitol remains, and the Texas woman involved still faces the prospect of prison time. Abigail Jo Shry, charged for allegedly leaving a voicemail threatening to kill federal Judge Tanya Chutkan and Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee Brazoria County jail A federal judge in Texas has scheduled sentencing for Abigail Shry, 44, for May 5 at the federal courthouse in Houston. Shry pleaded guilty in November to a threat charge — for making a vulgar, racist and violent threat in 2023 against the judge handling Mr. Trump’s Jan. 6 criminal case in Washington. Prosecutors alleged Shry made the threatening phone call to U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan just hours after Chutkan was assigned to handle Trump’s election subversion criminal case. They argued Shry called Chutkan’s chambers from Shry’s hometown of Alvin, Texas, and left the threat on the judge’s chambers voicemail service. According to the Justice Department, Shry’s voicemail message “threatened to kill anyone who went after former President Trump.” The charging documents in Shry’s case allege she referred to Chutkan as a “slave (epithet)” in the message. Prosecutors said Shry also left a message for a member of Congress in which she said, “If President Trump doesn’t get elected in 2024, we are coming to kill you, so tread lightly.” According to the Justice Department, “On Aug. 8, 2023, authorities went to (Shry’s) residence, at which time she admitted the phone number associated with the calls was hers and that she did in fact make the call to the judge’s chambers. She noted that she had no plans to travel anywhere to carry out anything she stated. However, she told authorities that if the congresswoman ever traveled to her city, then “we need to worry.” While being questioned by federal agents in her case, Shry continued to rant against Democrats and “explained her hate for the government,” according to testimony at a May 2024 hearing in her case. Chutkan was frequently seen with protective details in Washington in the months after she was assigned Trump’s Jan. 6 criminal case, which was dismissed by special counsel Jack Smith after the 2024 election. Prosecutors, witnesses and judges who were part of Jan. 6 criminal cases were subjected to frequent harassment, menacing and threats, according to testimony and statements made during criminal proceedings in the riot cases. Some judges noted the frequency of violent threats targeting judges during the Jan. 6 sentencing hearings. Shry’s sentencing has been postponed multiple times, but carries the prospect of a prison term. Her attorney declined CBS News request for comment, including what sentence Shry will seek at the hearing. At a detention hearing in Shry’s case last year, a defense attorney suggested the court order her to undergo mental health and substance abuse treatment. A Justice Department prosecutor argued she could be at risk of making future threats. The prosecutor told the judge in May 2024, “Judge, my greatest concern in this case is that she starts watching Fox News again, gets herself spun up, she goes out, she gets a case of beer, continues to get herself spun up. There’s no way to gauge what’s going to happen here, except to look at what she’s done in the past six months. I mean, not even a year, the past six months.” Threats against federal officials have surged in the years since Jan. 6, 2021. U.S. Capitol Police records show the number of threat investigations undertaken by the department has jumped from 6,955 cases in 2019 to 9,474 cases in 2024. Agency reports show threat investigations by the U.S. Marshals Service, which provides security to federal judges and prosecutors, nearly tripled from 2019 to 2023. Scott MacFarlane Scott MacFarlane is CBS News’ justice correspondent. He has covered Washington for two decades, earning 20 Emmy and Edward R. Murrow awards. His reporting has resulted directly in the passage of five new laws. Source link #Trump #supporter #faces #prison #time #case #Jan Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content] For verified travel tips and real support, visit: [Hidden Content]

New Orleans boosts Mardi Gras security measures to historic levels New Orleans boosts Mardi Gras security measures to historic levels New Orleans boosts Mardi Gras security measures to historic levels Source link #Orleans #boosts #Mardi #Gras #security #measures #historic #levels Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

Oscars 2025 live updates: Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo open the show with commanding performances, Conan O'Brien hosts and a list of winners – Yahoo Entertainment Oscars 2025 live updates: Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo open the show with commanding performances, Conan O'Brien hosts and a list of winners – Yahoo Entertainment Oscars 2025 live updates: Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo open the show with commanding performances, Conan O’Brien hosts and a list of winners Yahoo EntertainmentView Full Coverage on Google News Source link #Oscars #live #updates #Ariana #Grande #Cynthia #Erivo #open #show #commanding #performances #Conan #O039Brien #hosts #list #winners #Yahoo #Entertainment Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

Government to end leasehold flat system with new commonhold plans Government to end leasehold flat system with new commonhold plans BBC Leaseholders and some renters currently pay a service charge Ministers have outlined plans to abolish the leasehold system in England and Wales. Proposals to change the law would ban the ***** of new leasehold flats. Under the leasehold system, third-party landlords known as freeholders own the building and a leaseholder buys the right to occupy a flat within it for a fixed time *******. The government said it wanted to move to a way of building homes that was more in line with the rest of the world, known as commonhold, where homeowners owned a share of and had control over buildings they lived in. But freeholders said leasehold was the “most effective way of managing large complex apartment buildings”. A white paper published on Monday stated the ***** of new leasehold flats would be banned and commonhold “reinvigorated” with a new legal framework. A draft Leasehold and Commonhold Reform Bill – including the detail of how the new system would work – will be published later this year, the government has said. New legislation would apply to England and Wales, where there are around five million leasehold homes. Housing Minister Matthew Pennycook said reforms would put an end to “unfair practices and unreasonable costs at the hands of landlords”. Leaseholders can feel like they have no control over costs for repairs and maintenance of the outside of their building. Around 1,000 people contacted the BBC after a BBC investigation about service charges in leasehold blocks last year. Housing Minister Matthew Pennycook plans ban leasehold newbuilds Kasia Tarker bought a one-bedroom flat in Southall, West London, in 2022. Her service charge bills have increased from roughly £65 per month in 2022 to more than £200 per month this year. She said she felt helpless and could not afford the charges. “I am going have to try and sell the flat or become homeless, I don’t know what I am going to do.” FirstPort, who took over management of Kasia’s development in 2023, said the “increases in areas such as insurance and health and safety costs” were beyond its control. Kasia said she would like more control over her service charges but the government’s commonhold proposals were for new builds, so would not help her in her current situation. Flat-owner Kasia Tarka says she doesn’t know what to do about a “massive” increase in costs Jean Hopkin, another leaseholder who got in touch with the BBC, said the service charge for her three-bedroom flat in Sheffield had increased 356% – from £106 a month to £483 in four years – and was unsellable because of the high charges. Jenny Baker in Southampton is also struggling to find buyers because of “unjustified” service charges that have gone up to £7,200 a year. “The state of the apartment block is just terrible. The windows don’t get cleaned and there’s ****** mould on the outside of the building – what on earth am I paying for? “I feel stuck – I can never come out of it. I feel like I have absolutely no control, and it makes me feel really anxious.” Rendall & Rittner, which manage Jean and Jenny’s buildings, said the company did “not profit from or mark up any costs”. According to property company Hamptons, the amount of money leaseholders pay for communal maintenance and services in their building has risen by 11% in England and Wales between 2023 and 2024 to an average of £2,300. Companies responsible for managing buildings have said a rise in costs can be attributed to legitimate expenses including energy prices and higher inflation rates but many leaseholders felt the costs were unfair. Under the current system, it is the freeholder or landlord that appoints a managing agent. Under a commonhold system, residents would have more autonomy over what they pay and who they appoint to do maintainence, the government said. What is the difference between leasehold and commonhold? A leasehold property reverts to the freeholder after a fixed amount of time. A commonhold property is owned outright, like a freehold house.Under commonhold, homeowners have a say on the annual budget for their building. Under the leasehold system, a freeholder or landlord sends a bill to residents for communal costs. The residents will be able to hire and fire a managing agent.There is no ground rent charge in a commonhold property.Forfeiture is not possible under commonhold, meaning a resident cannot be threatened with losing their home. Natalie Chambers, director of the Residential Freehold Association (RFA), said the measures “should not be seen as a trade-off between leasehold and commonhold”. “Millions of leaseholders across the country are perfectly content with the tenure and we firmly believe that leasehold is the most effective way of managing large complex apartment building.” She added that a commonhold system would mean “residents would face greater financial and legal responsibilities for block maintenance and management”. ‘Significant step’ The National Leasehold Campaign (NLC) said it was “delighted” about the announcement and called today’s white paper is a significant step forward. But NLC founder Katie Kendrick said it was “paramount” that those currently living in leasehold buildings were not forgotten. She said: “While focusing on preventing future leasehold abuses is crucial, it’s equally vital to address the plight of existing leaseholders currently bound by the inequitable leasehold system. “Commonhold conversion mechanisms are essential to offer an escape route for those trapped.” Mr Pennycook said the government would “continue to implement reforms to help millions of leaseholders who are currently suffering”. Additional reporting by ***** Thompson Source link #Government #leasehold #flat #system #commonhold #plans Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

WA’s Boekeman Machinery named one of the best CASE IH dealers in Australia WA’s Boekeman Machinery named one of the best CASE IH dealers in Australia WA’s own Boekeman Machinery has been named one of the best CASE IH dealers in the country after “raising the bar” with exceptional customer service and long-lasting relationships. Source link #Boekeman #Machinery #named #CASE #dealers #Australia Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content] For verified travel tips and real support, visit: [Hidden Content]

Rubio Melts Down on Air Over Accusation U.S. Is ‘Placating Putin’ Rubio Melts Down on Air Over Accusation U.S. Is ‘Placating Putin’ Secretary of State Marco Rubio threw a tantrum in an interview with ABC News after This Week presenter George Stephanopoulos claimed the Trump administration had “taken steps to placate Putin.” Rubio was fuming as he dodged questions from Stephanopoulos and made an eyebrow-raising comparison between the war in Ukraine to conflicts in the Middle East. Throughout the Sunday segment, which lasted over ten minutes, Rubio insisted Trump’s central mission was to open peace negotiations with President Vladimir Putin. “The president is basically saying, there’s this horrible war,” Rubio said. “It’s been going on for three years. It is a bloody stalemate, a meat grinder-type war, and he wants it to end. How does it end? It’s very simple. The only way it ends is if Vladimir Putin comes to a negotiating table.” “Right now, President Trump is the only person on earth who has any chance whatsoever of bringing him to a table to see what it is he would be willing to end the war,” he added. But just moments later, Rubio admitted that the Trump administration had no idea what Putin’s demands were for a peace agreement to be made, despite several talks between American and Russian officials over the last month. This includes at least one conversation held on the phone between Trump and Putin as well as a long and intimate meeting between the Russian leader and Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff in Moscow in February. Rubio also met with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in Saudi Arabia. “Maybe…their demands will be unreasonable,” Rubio speculated. “We don’t know, but we have to bring him to the table.” Rubio even suggested that peace may not be possible as he surprisingly claimed that Americans had not negotiated with Putin since before Russia’s full-scale invasion began in 2022, despite engagements in the last month. “I’ve said from the very beginning, maybe they don’t want to deal either. We don’t know, but we haven’t talked to them in three years,” he said. The interview became more fiery after Stephanopoulos asked Rubio why Trump officials refused to call Putin a “dictator” when they had so readily made the same claim about Zelensky. “We’ve spent three years calling Vladimir Putin names. That’s not the point,” he said. “We all understand that Putin is not going to be an easy negotiator,” he added. “In this regard. We all get that, but we have to start the process to see if something is even possible. And I honestly am puzzled. I just don’t understand!” The secretary of state had lost his temper by the time he made a bold comparison between Trump’s treatment of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine and former President Joe Biden’s treatment of the war between Israel and ****** in Gaza. “The Biden administration berated Benjamin Netanyahu and the Israelis put all kinds of conditions and pressure on them to try to get a cease fire. In this particular case, we’ve been nice by comparison, and all we’re trying to do here is figure out whether a peace is possible,” he claimed. But the interview’s climax came when the ABC News presenter pointed to Senator Lisa Murkowski’s comments slamming Trump. “Even some of your Republican allies are puzzled by the steps that President Trump has taken to placate Vladimir Putin,” Stephanopoulos began. “Which steps has he taken?” Rubio snapped back. “Which ones? Are we arming the Russians?” Another tense moment came when Stephanopoulos pointed out that America had voted with Russia and Belarus in a United Nations resolution that called for an end to the conflict and contained no criticism of Russia. “The job of the UN is to bring about peace in the world. I thought that’s what the UN was created to do, to stop wars and to prevent them, and that’s what the resolution did. Was it antagonistic towards the Russians? Back to the point, but it also didn’t praise the Russians,” Rubio answered. He failed to mention that the U.S. also voted against a European-drafted resolution that condemned Russia as an aggressor. The final conflict between Rubio and Stephanopoulos came as the ABC News host asked what concessions America expected Russia to make during negotiations. “Why would I say that on the news broadcast?” Rubio cracked. “That’s what negotiations are about. That’s the problem here. Again, this is not a messaging exercise, okay? This is ‘can they get to a table?’ And then there’s hard work to be done.” Source link #Rubio #Melts #Air #Accusation #U.S #Placating #Putin Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content] For verified travel tips and real support, visit: [Hidden Content]

2025 Oscars Red Carpet Photos: Halle Berry, Miley Cyrus, Selena Gomez – The New York Times 2025 Oscars Red Carpet Photos: Halle Berry, Miley Cyrus, Selena Gomez – The New York Times 2025 Oscars Red Carpet Photos: Halle Berry, Miley Cyrus, Selena Gomez The New York TimesOscars 2025 Live Updates: Red Carpet and What to Expect at Awards Ceremony The New York TimesOscars 2025 live updates: Kieran Culkin wins best supporting actor for ‘A Real Pain’ The Associated Press Source link #Oscars #Red #Carpet #Photos #Halle #Berry #Miley #Cyrus #Selena #Gomez #York #Times Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

Switzerland targets rich tourists but at what cost? Switzerland targets rich tourists but at what cost? Imogen Foulkes Geneva correspondent, BBC News Badrutt’s Palace Hotel Swiss hotels, such as Badrutt’s Palace in St Moritz, attract the world’s wealthiest people The world is a very insecure place right now – conflict, climate change, and fears of recession dominate the headlines. But for some people, things are going rather well – the wealthy. Despite the global turmoil, the number of billionaires in the world is growing and the personal wealth of each of them is increasing too. So what to do with all that money? The growing trend for the ultimate luxury experience is a clue as to what the very rich are doing with their cash. For the tourist industry in particular, it’s an opportunity. In Switzerland, which has long cultivated a reputation for understated luxury, the number of five-star hotels is increasing faster than any other category. Many of them were built in the early 20th century – grand belle epoque palaces serving a then emerging class of privileged, primarily English tourists. Today, renovated to the highest standards, those hotels leave no guest’s wish unmet. There are luxury spas, gourmet restaurants, and designer suites with panoramic views of the alps. Some offer “ski butlers” to ferry guests to and from the slopes, carry the skis, and even help put on their boots. Key markets are the US, the Gulf states, China and South East Asia. American guests in particular, Swiss hoteliers say, expect the full five-star treatment, including 24-hour room service, so that they can order food in the middle of the night. Meanwhile, China and India are emerging markets, where the first groups to travel from those two countries are among the wealthiest. Switzerland is very keen to get in at the start of that trend. But the five-star offer comes with a hefty price tag, so where does that leave those who are not billionaires? Markus Berger of Switzerland Tourism says the strategy is not to focus solely on high-end guests, but to take a hard-headed look at the figures. Stays at Swiss five-star hotels make up around 8% of all overnights, but the guests in them contribute at least 25% of Switzerland’s total revenue from tourism. “The numbers speak for themselves,” says Mr Berger. “The high economic significance justifies a commitment to luxury guests.” What’s more, he adds, Switzerland, with its high-wage, high-price economy, cannot compete with less expensive neighbours, particularly now that the Swiss franc is so strong. “Switzerland has never tried to compete over prices,” Mr Berger explains. “There is always somewhere cheaper.” Switzerland Tourism Switzerland’s tourist industry has never competed on price says Markus Berger Instead, the focus is on quality, service, and added value, like those ski butlers. In exchange, guests who come to five-star hotels also contribute a good deal to the rest of the economy, spending lavishly in the Michelin-starred restaurants and boutique shops that are also becoming a feature in a number of Swiss alpine resorts. But it’s not an entirely win-win situation. In some of Switzerland’s most famous up-market resorts, like St Moritz or Zermatt, there are long-standing concerns that the focus on luxury is pricing locals out of the market. A common challenge is finding accommodation for the hundreds of hotel and restaurant staff needed to provide the five-star service. They sometimes find themselves commuting, late at night when the ********* bars and restaurants have finally closed, long journeys to other villages where the accommodation is affordable on a waiter’s salary. Monika Bandi, who leads the Tourism Research Unit at Bern University’s Centre for Regional Development, sees Switzerland’s pitch to high-end guests as a fine balancing act. It’s about “quantity versus quality”, she says. More tourists aren’t necessarily better, she believes. Instead, higher spending by existing numbers can be positive. And, she adds, Switzerland needs to watch out for the “tipping point, where the destinations really lose their character”. Questions about a tipping point are currently being asked in the resort of Wengen, world famous for its Lauberhorn ski race, and its decades long connection with British skiers – the much-loved “Down Hill Only” ski club celebrated its 100th anniversary this year. And also this year, Wengen is opening its first ever five-star hotel, and there are plans too for a five-star complex of serviced “hotel apartments”. They will be sold to wealthy tourists who want a luxury holiday home in the Alps, and they can also be rented out when the owners are absent. Jungfrau Region Wengen has been attracting tourists for generations By calling the project a hotel, it exploits a loophole in Switzerland’s strict laws against the “cold beds” of holiday homes. In theory, the law limits them to no more than 20% of a resort’s accommodation. The Swiss Heritage Society has formally objected to the Wengen plans, because, claims spokesman Simon Weiss, the project is not really a hotel. “It looks like a typical holiday home complex… there is no integration into the community.” The required public spaces that a hotel would have – a restaurant and a spa – are planned, but they will all be underground. The design priority, Mr Weiss fears, is for private luxury apartments that may be occupied for only a few weeks a year. “The design is unacceptable,” he adds. Some Wengen locals also have their doubts. “It’s not St Moritz here,” one told Swiss media, adding “Wengen is not posh”. Wengen’s tourism director Rolf Wegmüller agrees with that assessment, but says the trend towards luxury accommodation won’t change the resort’s character. “We’re not going to have guests walking around in fur coats all of a sudden,” he says. Wengen, he points out, is only accessible by train, so, unlike St Moritz, there will be no Bentleys or Rolls-Royces taking up parking spaces. Even if they could ostentatiously display their wealth, Mr Wegmüller believes “our guests won’t want to show off what they have”. Rolf Wegmüller Switerland’s winter tourism is very much focused on skiing The resort also has visitors who come back year after year, contributing to the integration Mr Weiss worries about losing. “Some families have been coming for generations,’ says Mr Wegmüller. ‘The locals know them, and that’s good.” Among them are Brian Bollen, keen member of the Down Hill Only Club, who has been coming to Wengen for more than 50 years. He loves it, but does worry that some of “the charm has gone from the place… it’s over built”. But most in Wengen, like Switzerland Tourism, see the investment in the alpine resorts as positive. These villages were, not much more than a century ago, very poor. A 19th English guide to the Swiss alps wrote that “most of the children are beggars”. In more recent years, the global trade rules limiting agricultural subsidies have forced many small alpine dairy farms to close. Tourism, winter and summer, is enormously important for the Swiss economy, especially for the mountain communities. And, as Mr Berger of Switzerland Tourism points out, while the five-star sector is growing, three-star hotels are still the biggest category. “We have one to five-star [in Wengen],” adds Mr Wegmüller. “That’s a good thing in a resort.” And while the people with unlimited money to spend on luxury travel may still be in a tiny *********, their numbers, and their wealth, are growing. Switzerland’s approach – not cheaper, but better, not more people, just richer – seems to be paying off. Read more global business stories Source link #Switzerland #targets #rich #tourists #cost Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content] For verified travel tips and real support, visit: [Hidden Content]

*** death rate ‘reaches record low’ *** death rate ‘reaches record low’ Christine Jeavans Data journalist, BBC Verify Getty Images Improvements in death rates largely reflect better health at older age groups The *** death rate reached a record low last year, according to exclusive analysis carried out for BBC News. Mortality experts looked at death certificates registered in 2024 and found that deaths per head of the population had returned to pre-pandemic levels and were slightly below the previous record in 2019. However, the new figure puts the *** back on its long-term trend of only gradual improvement. The research was carried out by analysts from the Continuous Mortality Investigation (CMI) at the Institute and Faculty of Actuaries. What’s been happening to death rates? “This is five years of basically flat mortality improvement, it’s pretty poor by historical standards,” said Stuart McDonald from the CMI. There was also a “concerning” rise in the death rate at young working ages, he said. A Department of Health spokesperson said the government was “shifting focus from sickness to prevention”. The registered death rate in the *** steadily halved from 1974 to 2011 largely driven by improvements in tackling heart disease, including smoking prevention and medical advances. From 2011 to 2019 the improvements drastically slowed, then changed direction during Covid as thousands more people died than normal. The first post-pandemic year of 2022 also saw high numbers of extra deaths. To calculate the record low 2024 *** figure of 989 deaths per 100,000 people, analysts at the CMI used provisional weekly death registration figures for the four nations of the ***. “Clearly, it’s very good news that our mortality rate is lower in 2024 than it was,” says Dr Veena Raleigh, epidemiologist at health think tank The King’s Fund. “But if you look at the broader canvas then it’s not so good.” Although similar countries also experienced a slowdown since 2011, the ***’s has been more severe and our life expectancy is at the “bottom of the pack of comparable countries,” she says, adding that nations such as Spain returned to pre-pandemic levels by 2023. Causes and risk factors Researchers point to a variety of reasons behind the slowdown since 2011. Some of the “low hanging fruit” of improvements in heart disease and *******, such as the cut in smoking rates, had already happened, making further gains harder. At the same time, the *** saw rising risk factors, including obesity, poor diet and low levels of exercise, against a backdrop of widening social inequality and pressure on the NHS. Some academics argue that austerity cuts to public services after the 2008 financial ****** had a strong impact on life expectancy, while others say it’s not possible to prove this directly. Dementia and Alzheimer’s disease is the leading cause of death in England and Wales, according to the latest official figures. Heart disease, lung disease, strokes, lung ******* also feature highly, along with flu in some years. “Cardiovascular disease remains a leading killer in the ***,” said Prof Bryan Williams OBE, chief scientific and medical officer at the British Heart Foundation. “The plateau we have seen in reducing the number of deaths… is a serious cause for concern, made worse by the impact of the pandemic on an already overstretched health service.” He added that early deaths from cardiovascular disease had grown in the most deprived areas of England and called for “urgent government action” in its prevention, detection and treatment. Deaths at younger ages Overall death rates are largely a reflection of older people’s health as more than three-quarters of *** deaths happen over the age of 70. So the main trend is driven by what is happening to people in this age group. But the CMI found “really significant differences” at younger ages says Stuart McDonald, with a “concerning” upward trend in mortality among 20-44-year-olds. “For this age group, death rates have actually been going up slightly, even before the pandemic. If we go back to 2011 we can see a slight increase in death rates year-on-year.” Death numbers among this age group are much lower than at older ages and the causes tend to be different. Fewer than 20,000 people aged 20-44 die in the *** each year, about 3% of all deaths. “External and substance-related causes are most important because often that’s what people die of in this age group,” says Antonino Polizzi, researcher at the Leverhulme Centre for Demographic Science at the University of Oxford. “Things like drug overdoses, alcohol-related deaths, accidents, homicides and suicides.” The ***, particularly Scotland, has seen a rise in drug-related death rates, he says. “These causes are usually improving for other Western European countries so we are seeing a divergent effect.” Commenting on the overall trends at all age groups, a Department of Health and Social Care spokesperson said: “We inherited an NHS that was broken and we are determined to fix it. “Through our Plan for Change we are shifting focus from sickness to prevention and targeting the drivers of ill health and catching the biggest killers earlier. “We are creating the first smoke free generation, stopping junk food ads being targeted at children and improving detection of diseases such as ******* and cardiovascular disease.” About the data Source link #death #rate #reaches #record Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

AFL looks to go ahead with Thursday's season opener AFL looks to go ahead with Thursday's season opener AFL chief executive Andrew Dillon says for now, the season opener at the Gabba between Brisbane Lions and Geelong is going ahead as scheduled. Source link #AFL #ahead #Thursday039s #season #opener Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

Authorities search for a missing 2-year-old Oregon boy last seen playing in a yard Authorities search for a missing 2-year-old Oregon boy last seen playing in a yard This photo provided by the Lincoln County, Ore., Sheriff’s Office shows Dane Paulsen, a missing 2-year-old boy last seen playing in a yard. (Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office via AP) SILETZ, Ore. (AP) — Authorities in Oregon were searching Sunday for a missing 2-year-old boy last seen playing in a yard the day before. Dane Paulsen was reported missing around 4:25 p.m. Saturday, the Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office said. Members of the sheriff’s office and fire and police agencies searched the property and surrounding areas on foot and with drones with thermal imaging equipment Saturday, the sheriff’s office said in a statement on social media. On Sunday, search and rescue teams were conducting methodical searches of an area north of the small city of Siletz, near the Siletz River, using drones, dogs and watercraft, the sheriff’s office said. Volunteers who wanted to help were urged to stay out of the main search area. Trusted news and daily delights, right in your inbox See for yourself — The Yodel is the go-to source for daily news, entertainment and feel-good stories. A late 1990s gold station wagon that was seen near the home where Dane was last known to be is considered a “vehicle of interest” in the investigation, the sheriff’s office said. However, Sheriff Adam Shanks told KATU-TV that there is no evidence that the vehicle was directly involved in Dane’s disappearance. Source link #Authorities #search #missing #2yearold #Oregon #boy #playing #yard Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

Xiaomi plans to sell EVs globally after launching $73,000 SU7 Ultra Xiaomi plans to sell EVs globally after launching $73,000 SU7 Ultra The Xiaomi SU7 Ultra on display at the Xiaomi store in Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province, China, Feb 27, 2025. Xiaomi’s first luxury model, the SU7 Ultra, will be officially launched on the evening of February 27. Cfoto | Future Publishing | Getty Images BARCELONA — Xiaomi plans to begin selling its electric vehicles outside of China “within the next few years,” company President William Lu said on Sunday. Lu made the announcement at Xiaomi’s product launch at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona. While there were no concrete timelines, his comments underscore the ******** technology giant’s ambitions in the global EV market to take on players like Tesla. “I cannot share too many details but I am so excited to tell our global users that Xiaomi will be releasing EVs for the ***** in global markets within the next few years,” Lu said. This week, Xiaomi launched its first premium EV in China called the SU7 Ultra, which starts at 529,000 ******** yuan ($72,627). Lu said the car racked up 15,000 orders in 24 hours and will be on display at the company’s booth at MWC. It’s only Xiaomi’s second electric car after its announcing its foray into the EV segment in 2021. The company’s first vehicle, called the SU7, was launched last year in March. The company, which is best-known as a smartphone player, only sells its EVs in China but it is the world’s third-largest smartphone vendor. Xiaomi’s SU7 has been successful, with the company delivering more than 100,000 units last year. Xiaomi’s EV *****, along with a recovery in smartphone sales, has helped the company’s stock, which is listed in Hong Kong, surge almost 300% over the last 12 months. The Beijing-headquartered company is looking to ride that wave with a new high-end phone called the Xiaomi 15 Ultra launched on Sunday, which it hopes will challenge Samsung on a global stage. Source link #Xiaomi #plans #sell #EVs #globally #launching #SU7 #Ultra Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

Lenovo teases solar-powered and foldable screen laptops in latest concept – CNBC Lenovo teases solar-powered and foldable screen laptops in latest concept – CNBC Lenovo teases solar-powered and foldable screen laptops in latest concept CNBCLenovo’s Latest Laptop Concept Has a Screen That Can Flip and Fold WIREDLenovo’s ThinkBook Flip puts an extra-tall folding display on a laptop The VergeLenovo Solar-Powered Yoga PC Means You Never Have to Stop Working GizmodoLenovo Surprised Us at MWC 2025 With Wild Concept Devices – Video CNET Source link #Lenovo #teases #solarpowered #foldable #screen #laptops #latest #concept #CNBC Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

Diversity backlash: Is 'masculine energy' coming to the ***? Diversity backlash: Is 'masculine energy' coming to the ***? Donald Trump has scrapped federal diversity initiatives and many US firms have too – will *** companies follow suit? Source link #Diversity #backlash #039masculine #energy039 #coming Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]