Pelican Press

Who won NASCAR Atlanta race? Winner is Christopher Bell, plus full results – Tennessean Who won NASCAR Atlanta race? Winner is Christopher Bell, plus full results – Tennessean Who won NASCAR Atlanta race? Winner is Christopher Bell, plus full results TennesseanNASCAR: Christopher Bell wins with last-lap pass at Atlanta Yahoo SportsWho won the NASCAR race today? Full results, standings from Ambetter Health 400 in Atlanta Sporting News Source link #won #NASCAR #Atlanta #race #Winner #Christopher #Bell #full #results #Tennessean Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

Three years on, Ukraine’s extinction nightmare has returned Three years on, Ukraine’s extinction nightmare has returned Jeremy Bowen International editor BBC Kyiv no longer looks like a city at war in the way that it was three years ago. The shops are open and commuters get delayed in traffic jams on their way to work. But in the days since 12 February this year when US President Donald Trump rang Russia’s Vladimir Putin to send a 90-minute political embrace from the White House to the Kremlin, 2022’s old nightmares of national extinction have returned. Ukrainians used to get angry about the way that President Joe Biden held back weapons systems and restricted the way Ukraine used the ones that arrived here. Even so, they knew whose side he was on. Instead, Donald Trump has delivered a stream of exaggeration, half-truths and outright lies about the war that echo the views of President Putin. They include his dismissal of Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky as a dictator who does not deserve a seat at the table when America and Russia decide the future of his country. The biggest lie Trump has told is that Ukraine started the war. The nightmare fear of national extinction experienced by Ukraine in February 2022 has returned Trump’s negotiating strategy is to offer concessions even before serious talks have started. Instead of putting pressure on the country that broke international law by invading its neighbour, leading to huge destruction and hundreds of thousands of dead and wounded, he has turned on Ukraine. His public statements have offered Russia important concessions, declaring that Ukraine will not join Nato and accepting that it will keep at least some of the land it seized by force. Vladimir Putin’s record shows he respects strength. He regards concessions as a sign of weakness. He has not budged from a demand for even more Ukrainian land than his men now occupy. Immediately after the first talks, held in Saudi Arabia, between Russia and the US since the 2022 invasion, Putin’s foreign minister Sergei Lavrov repeated his demand that no Nato troops would be allowed into Ukraine to provide security guarantees. Getty Images Since re-entering the White House, Donald Trump has turned on Ukraine and offered Russia important concessions A veteran European diplomat who has dealt with the Russians and the Americans told me that when the grizzled, highly experienced Lavrov met Trump’s novice Secretary of State Marco Rubio “he would have eaten him like a soft-boiled egg.” Challenging times A few days ago, as Trump threw more insults at Ukraine’s president, I went to the heavily guarded government quarter in Kyiv to meet Ihor Brusylo, who is a senior adviser to Volodymyr Zelensky and deputy head of his office. Brusylo acknowledged how much pressure Trump is putting on them. “It’s very, very tough. These are very hard, challenging times,” Brusylo said. “I wouldn’t say that now it’s easier than it was in 2022. It’s like you live it all over again.” Brusylo said Ukrainians, and their president, were as determined to fight to stay independent as they had been in 2022. “We’re a sovereign country. We are part of Europe, and we will remain so.” Fading colours In the weeks after Vladimir Putin ordered the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the sound of battle on the edge of Kyiv echoed around streets that were almost empty. Checkpoints and barricades, walls of sandbags and tank traps welded from steel girders were rushed out onto Kyiv’s broad boulevards. At the railway station, fifty thousand civilians a day, mostly women and children, were boarding trains going west, away from the Russians. Getty Images A teacher stands outside a hospital after the bombing of the Ukraine city of Chuguiv on 24 February 2022. The country has been at war ever since The platforms were packed and every time a train pulled in, came another surge of panic as people pushed and shoved to get on. In those freezing days, in bitter wind and flurries of snow, it felt as if the colours of the 21st century were fading into an old monochrome newsreel that Europeans had believed until then was safely consigned to the vaults of history. President Zelensky, in Joe Biden’s words, “didn’t want to hear” American warnings that an invasion was imminent. Putin rattling a Russian sabre was one thing. A full-scale invasion, with tens of thousands of troops and columns of armour, surely belonged in the past. Putin believed Russia’s mighty and modernised army would make quick work of its obstinate, independent neighbour and its recalcitrant president. Ukraine’s western allies also thought Russia would win quickly. On television news channels, retired generals talked about smuggling in light weapons to arm an insurgency while the west imposed sanctions and hoped for the best. Getty Images Three years ago Kyiv was a city very obviously at war. Today it is still facing attacks from Russian missiles and drones As Russian troops massed on Ukraine’s borders, Germany delivered 5,000 ballistic combat helmets instead of offensive weapons. Vitali Klitschko, the mayor of Kyiv and once heavyweight boxing champion of the world, complained to a ******* newspaper that it was “a joke… What kind of support will Germany send next, pillows?” Zelensky turned down any idea of leaving his capital to form a government in exile. He abandoned his presidential dark suit for military attire, and in videos and on social media told Ukrainians he would fight alongside them. Ukraine defeated the Russian thrust towards the capital. Once the Ukrainians had demonstrated that they could fight well, the attitude of the Americans and Europeans changed. Arms supplies increased. Getty Images Volodymyr Zelensky once dressed in a suit but for the past three years has worn military attire “Putin’s mistake was that he prepared for a parade not a war” a senior Ukrainian official recalled, speaking on condition of anonymity. “He didn’t think Ukraine would fight. He thought they would be welcomed with speeches and flowers.” On 29 March 2022, the Russians retreated from Kyiv. Hours after they left, we drove, nervously, into the chaotic, damaged landscape of Kyiv’s satellite towns, Irpin, Bucha and Hostomel. On the roads the Russians had hoped to use for a triumphant entry into Kyiv, I saw bodies of civilians left where they were killed. Charred tyres were stacked around some of them, failed attempts to burn the evidence of war crimes. Survivors spoke of the brutality of the Russian occupiers. A woman showed me the grave where she had buried her son single-handed after he was casually shot dead as he crossed a road. Russian soldiers threw her out of her house. In the garden, they left piles of empty bottles of vodka, whisky and **** that they had looted and drunk. Hastily abandoned Russian encampments in the forests near the roads were choked with rubbish their soldiers had discarded over the weeks of occupation. Professional, disciplined armies do not eat and sleep next to rotting piles of their own refuse. Three years on, the war has changed. Although Kyiv has revived, it still has nightly alerts as its air defences detect incoming Russian missiles and drones. The war is closer, and more deadly, along the front line, more than 1,000 kilometres long, that runs from the northern border with Russia and then east and south down to the ****** Sea. It is lined with destroyed, almost deserted villages and towns. To the east, in what was Kyiv’s industrial heartland of Donetsk and Luhansk, Russian forces grind forward slowly, at a huge cost in men and machines. Echoes of the past Last August, Ukraine sent troops into Russia, capturing a pocket of land across the border in Kursk. They are still there, fighting for land that Zelensky hopes to use as a bargaining chip. Along the border with Kursk, in the snow-covered forests of north-eastern Ukraine, the geopolitical storm set off by Donald Trump is still not much more than a menacing, distant rumble. It will get here, especially if the US president follows up his harsh and mocking verbal attacks on president Zelensky with a final end to military aid and intelligence-sharing, and even worse from Ukraine’s perspective, an attempt to impose a peace deal that favours Russia. For now, the rhythm built up in three years of war goes on, and the forest could be a throwback to the blood-soaked twentieth century. Fighting men move silently through the trees, along trenches and into bunkers dug deep into the frozen earth. In stretches of open ground, anti-tank defences made of concrete and steel stud the fields. The 21st century is more present in the dry and warm underground bunkers. Generators and solar panels power laptops and screens linked to the outside world, and bring in the news feeds. The war is currently being fought in the forests around the city of Sumy in north-eastern Ukraine Just because bad news arrives doesn’t mean that the soldiers look at it. In a deep dug-out lined with bunks made of rough planks from the local sawmill, with nails hammered into the timber to hang weapons and winter uniforms, Evhen, a 30-year-old corporal said he had more urgent matters to think about – his men and the wife and two small children he left at home when he joined up, ten months ago. That’s a long time on the front line in Kursk. He looks and sounds like a combat veteran. He has faced the North Koreans who have been sent to join the battle there by their leader, Putin’s ally, Kim Jong Un. “Koreans fight till the end. Even if he is injured and you come to him, he might just blow himself up to take more of us with him.” Evhen has come up against North Korean soldiers sent by Kim Jong Un to assist Vladimir Putin All the soldiers we interviewed asked to be referred to by first names for their own security. Evhen seemed relaxed about fighting on without the Americans. “Help is not something that can last forever. We have it today, we don’t have it tomorrow.” Ukraine, he said, was making many more of its own weapons. That’s true, especially when it comes to attack drones, but the US still supplies sophisticated systems that have damaged the Russians badly. A bitter fault line Many of the volunteers who took up arms three years ago have either been killed, maimed, or are too exhausted to fight any more. One of Ukraine’s most bitter fault lines runs between those who fight and those who bribe their way out of military service. Evhen said they were better off without them. “It is better for them to pay not to fight than to come here and run away, tripping us up. It doesn’t bother me much. If they came here, they’d just scarper… they’re deserters.” War strips away surplus thought. The stakes are straightforward for soldiers preparing to return to the battle in Kursk. Mykola, who commands a company of airborne assault troops, spoke affectionately about the capabilities of their Stryker armoured vehicles, supplied by the Americans. “Kursk” he says, “shows the enemy, a nuclear weapons state, that a non-nuclear power with a smaller population and a smaller army can come in, capture land and the Russians have been able to do very little about it.” Putin’s objectives, he said, were clear. Mykola commands a company of airborne assault troops. He does not trust Vladimir Putin “His task is to seize all of Ukraine, change its legal status, and change the president and government. He wants to destroy our political system and to make Ukraine his vassal state.” He laughed when I asked whether the Americans and others should trust Vladimir Putin. “No! I don’t have enough fingers to count how many times Putin lied. To everyone! To the Russians, and to us, and to Western partners. He lied to everyone.” Growing-up in war At a volunteer centre in Kyiv in the first days after the invasion, I met two young students, Maxsym Lutsyk, 19, and Dmytro Kisilenko, 18, who were signing up to fight. When they lined up alongside men old enough to be their fathers as well as other teenage recruits, they carried camping gear and could have been friends off to a festival, except for their assault rifles. At the time, I wrote “18 and 19-year-old lads have always gone off to war. I thought in Europe we’d got past that.” A few weeks later, Maxsym and Dmytro were in uniform and manning a checkpoint just behind the Kyiv front line, still students joking about their parents. Getty Images Russia’s invasion of Ukraine saw the return of conscription in Europe Both fought in the battle of Kyiv. Dmytro chose to leave the army, his right as a student volunteer, when the fight switched to the east. He is preparing to fight again if necessary, training to be an officer at the National Military University. Maxsym stayed in uniform, serving in the front line in the east for more than two years. Now he is an officer working in military intelligence. I have stayed in touch with them as, like millions of other young people here, war shapes their adult lives in ways they never expected. Trump’s move towards Moscow makes them feel almost as if they have to start again. “We mobilised,” Dmytro says. “We mobilised our resources, our people, and I think it’s time that we repeat it once again.” Parallels with the past Unlike the men in the forest on the Kursk border, they follow the news. Donald Trump’s diplomatic and strategic bombshells, starting at the Munich security conference only 10 days ago, reminds them of the infamous deal Britain’s prime minister Neville Chamberlain made at Munich in 1938, forcing Czechoslovakia to capitulate to the demands made by Adolf Hitler. “It’s similar,” Maxsym said. “The West gives an aggressor an opportunity to occupy some territories. The West is making a deal with the aggressor, with the United States in the role of Great Britain.” “It’s a very dangerous moment for the entire world, not only for Ukraine,” Maxsym went on. “We can see that Europe is starting to wake up… but if they wanted to be ready for the war, they should [have] begun a few years ago.” Dmytro agreed about the dangers ahead. “I think that Donald Trump wants to become like a new Neville Chamberlain… Mr. Trump should be more focused on becoming more like Winston Churchill.” The Trump effect If you’re a real estate developer, as Donald Trump was before he went into reality TV and then presidential politics, demolition makes money. Acquire a property, tear it down, rebuild and win. The trouble with that strategy in foreign policy is that sovereignty and independence don’t have a price tag. Trump boasts he puts America first, but he is not prepared to accept that non-Americans can feel the same about their own countries. Since Trump was sworn in for the second time as president of the United States, he has been swinging the wrecking ball. He sent Elon Musk into the federal government to recoup billions of dollars he claims are being stolen or wasted. Abroad, Trump the demolition man has set about the assumptions that underpin the eighty year alliance between the US and European democracies. Donald Trump is unpredictable, but much of what he is doing he has talked about for years. He is not the first American president to resent the way its European allies have saved money by sheltering behind the US defence budget. The phrase used by his defence secretary Pete Hegseth to his Nato partners, that “President Trump will not allow anyone to turn Uncle Sam into Uncle Sucker” was a conscious reference back to President Dwight D. Eisenhower. A US government document from 4 November 1959 records his frustration. It says: “The President said that for five years he has been urging the State Department to put the facts of life before the Europeans He thinks the Europeans are close to ‘making a sucker out of Uncle Sam.'” Russian Foreign Ministry Handout/ Getty Images The return of Donald Trump to the White House has brought Russia and the US round the negotiating table Trump wants payback. He demanded half a trillion dollars of mineral rights from Ukraine. Zelensky turned that deal down, saying he couldn’t sell his country. He wants security guarantees in exchange for any concessions. In private, European politicians and diplomats recognise that, with Joe Biden, they gave Ukraine enough military and financial support not to lose to Russia, but never enough to win. The argument for more of the same is that Russia, weakened by sanctions and drained of manpower as its generals squander their men’s lives, will eventually lose a war of attrition. That is far from certain. Wars usually end with agreements. Germany’s unconditional surrender in 1945 was a rarity. The complaint against Trump is that he has no real plan, so he has followed a gut instinct to get closer to Vladimir Putin, a man he admires. Trump seems to believe that strong leaders from the most powerful states can bend the world into the shape they want. The concessions Trump has already offered to Putin reinforce the idea that his top priority is normalising relations with Russia. Confronting Putin A more credible plan would have to include a way to make Putin drop ideas that are lodged deep in his geostrategic DNA. One of the strongest is that Ukraine’s sovereignty must be broken and control of the country returned to the Kremlin, as it was in Soviet times and before that in the empire of Russia’s Czars. It is hard to see how that happens. The idea is as unlikely as Ukraine surrendering its independence to Moscow. Europe’s security is being turned upside down by the war in Ukraine. No wonder its leaders are so badly rattled by all they have heard and seen this month. Their challenge is to find ways to avoid their young people being forced into the unexpected world of war that has enveloped Maxsym Lutsyk, the 22-year-old Ukrainian combat veteran. “Everyone changed, and I have changed. I think that every Ukrainian matured during these three years. Everyone who entered the military and everyone who was fighting for such a long time drastically changed.” 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 #years #Ukraines #extinction #nightmare #returned Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content] For verified travel tips and real support, visit: [Hidden Content]

Double lung transplant means couple can dance again Double lung transplant means couple can dance again Matt Taylor & Ady Dayman BBC News, Leicester BBC John and Catherine Canning say they want to raise awareness of organ donation “It’s like we’ve got a second chance, and we’re taking every opportunity,” Catherine Canning says. In 2008, her husband John was diagnosed with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) – a lung disease – and he said he had to rely on oxygen 24 hours a day and would get out of breath even when walking short distances. The 66-year-old used to go ballroom dancing on a weekly basis with Catherine, but had to stop when his condition deteriorated around the time of the Covid pandemic. John eventually had a double lung transplant in April 2023, which meant the couple, from Leicestershire, can dance together again, and they have a cruise of the Mediterranean booked this year. Supplied John says he was on oxygen 24 hours a day, and “was out of breath going to the kitchen” When asked about their first dance together after the transplant, Catherine, 60, said: “It was the best feeling, but it was also the thought that somebody else had given John that chance as well. “I got the biggest grin on my face. I was crying. “We were with a brilliant group of friends who have supported us an awful lot throughout this, as well as our family who have been brilliant, but these group of friends are like the family we’ve chosen. “There wasn’t a dry eye in the house, so I was crying and laughing and smiling. And I went wrong – even though it was a simple dance. “It was just unbelievable, because I never thought I’d be back dancing with him again.” Video shows first dance after man’s double lung transplant John, who lives with his wife in Barrow-upon-Soar, had lung volume reduction surgery in 2020, which did not work, meaning he was recommended for a transplant. He was told it could take him up to a year to find a donor when he was added to the transplant list in February 2023. But just over four weeks later, he received a call to say doctors had found lungs for him. Despite it emerging that one of the lungs contained an infection that could not be removed, another pair was found a week later. The family travelled to the Royal Papworth Hospital in Cambridge, where John had the operation. Supplied John and Catherine have held fundraising dances to support the Royal Papworth Charity, to raise money for the Cambridge hospital of the same name Catherine said: “Having said goodbye to him in the lift at the hospital as he went for the operation, I got down on the ground floor of the hospital with my son and just burst into tears. “My son was with me, and he was brilliant, and as John’s always said, it’s probably more difficult for me than it ever was for him, going through the operation.” After his surgery, John said he could notice an improvement as soon as he woke up after spending 10 hours on the operating table. He said: “I’m not limited to oxygen tanks and walking for a few minutes without getting breathless.” Last year, he walked 3.1 miles (5km) at Nottingham’s Harvey Hadden Stadium as part of the British Transplant Games, which he described as “emotional”. On 20 January, or Blue Monday – dubbed by some as the most depressing day of the year – the couple sent a voice note to BBC Radio Leicester, when listeners were asked what they had to be cheerful about. The note said they would celebrate their 40th wedding anniversary this year, and had booked a Mediterranean cruise just a few weeks after John came out of hospital. Catherine said it came “completely out of the blue” when she was subsequently contacted by the BBC to elaborate on her story. The pair have also urged people to talk to their loved ones about their wishes to donate organs after death. They said: “Each year, hundreds of opportunities for transplants are missed because families aren’t sure what to do. “Two minutes to register your decision to become an organ donor, and you could save up to nine lives.” Supplied John completed the North Coast 500 road trip in May 2024 after his operation Source link #Double #lung #transplant #means #couple #dance Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content] For verified travel tips and real support, visit: [Hidden Content]

Tony Burke accused of breaching ministerial code in mass citizenship ceremonies Tony Burke accused of breaching ministerial code in mass citizenship ceremonies Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke is facing a serious allegation that he breached ministerial conduct by excluding an independent MP from a major citizenship ceremony in Sydney, while inviting the crossbencher’s Labor challenger. More than 4,500 people became citizens during the three-day event in Olympic Park over the weekend, including now-voters in the division of Fowler. The federal seat’s holder Dai Le has said she was not invited. Meanwhile, Labor’s candidate Tu Le did attend and reaped the benefits of photo-ops with new Australians. Camera IconFowler MP Dai Le says she was not invited to a major ceremony where thousands were granted citizenship, including new voters in her electorate. NewsWire / Martin Ollman Credit: News Corp AustraliaCamera IconLabor’s candidate in Fowler Tu Le was invited to the citizenship ceremony. NewsWire / John Appleyard Credit: News Corp Australia It came against a backdrop of claims that Labor has been rushing through citizenship ceremonies to stack electorates in its favour, allegations Labor has denied. Opposition home affairs spokesman James Paterson said on Monday it was “extraordinary behaviour … in the dying days of a desperate government to schedule these unscheduled, unprecedented, extraordinary Home Affairs Department citizenship ceremonies to ram through 12,000 citizenships in the days before the election is called”. Mr Burke told Sky News last week the mass ceremonies had been held to help clear a “huge backlog”, and brushed off any suggestion there was a political advantage for Labor in the events. “I don’t know if you’ve got some secret insight as to which way people are going to vote. I don’t,” he said. “What we had was a huge backlog … of people who were entitled to have these citizenship ceremonies and different councils weren’t having enough ceremonies. “I just say to the people who are complaining, have a bit of patriotism about this. People standing up and saying, I want to make a lifelong Pledge of Commitment to Australia is a good thing.” Home Affairs’ handling of the citizenship ceremonies was set to be probed during Senate estimates on Monday. Senator Paterson told Sky News Mr Burke “really needs to answer some questions about this today and I’ll be putting questions to the Department of Home Affairs about this today”. Camera IconOpposition home affairs spokesman James Paterson says a push to clear a citizenship backlog is a sign of the ‘dying days of a desperate government’. NewsWire / Martin Ollman Credit: News Corp AustraliaCamera IconHome Affairs Minister Tony Burke has been accused of breaching ministerial conduct. NewsWire / Martin Ollman Credit: News Corp Australia Asked if he thought excluding Dai Le was a ministerial breach, the man vying for Mr Burke’s job said: “Yes, I think it clearly does and I’ll have more questions for the Home Affairs Department about this today and other invitations that they might have made or not made to other politicians.” “These ceremonies are happening all around the country at the moment and it looks like they are playing political favourites here, but that will be a very serious issue for the Department of Home Affairs, for the secretary, Stephanie Foster,” Senator Paterson said. “And I want to understand what, if anything, the department did to satisfy itself that this wasn’t being abused for partisan political purposes as it very clearly appears that it was.” Source link #Tony #Burke #accused #breaching #ministerial #code #mass #citizenship #ceremonies Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

Louisiana death row inmate Christopher Sepulvado dies before execution date Louisiana death row inmate Christopher Sepulvado dies before execution date Christopher Sepulvado, an 81-year-old Louisiana man who was scheduled to be executed, died Saturday night according to his lawyers, just days after a judge handed down an execution date. Sepulvado was to be executed on March 17 for the ******* of his 6-year-old stepson in 1992 after a judge granted a death warrant on Feb. 11. He died at the Louisiana State Penitentiary in Angola, located in the eastern part of the state. Lawyers for Sepulvado in a statement announcing his death said he suffered from severe physical and mental decline in recent years. “The idea that the State was planning to strap this tiny, frail, dying old man to a chair and force him to breathe toxic gas into his failing lungs is simply barbaric,” Shawn Nolan, Sepulvado’s attorney, said in the statement. Lawyers said Sepulvado was sent to a hospital in New Orleans to amputate a leg that contracted gangrene leading to sepsis but was returned to the prison Friday to be prepared for the execution. A prisoner’s hands inside a punishment cell wing at Angola prison on Oct. 14, 2013. The Louisiana State Penitentiary, also known as Angola, and nicknamed the “Alcatraz of the South” and “The Farm” is a maximum-security prison farm in Louisiana operated by the Louisiana Department of Public Safety & Corrections. It is named Angola after the former plantation that occupied this territory, which was named for the African country that was the origin of many enslaved Africans brought to Louisiana in slavery times. A statement from the Louisiana Department of Safety and Corrections said that Sepulvado died, “from natural causes as a result of complications arising from his pre-existing medical conditions.” Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill argued Sepulvado should have been executed sooner in a statement to USA TODAY. “Justice should have been delivered long ago for the heinous act of brutally beating then scalding to death a defenseless six-year-old boy,” Murrill said. Louisiana was set to use controversial execution method Sepulvado would have been the first person executed in Louisiana in 15 years and the first person executed in the state by nitrogen gas. Jessie Hoffman, 46, will now be the first to face the new execution method on March 18. Hoffman was convicted for the 1996 ******* of Mary “Molly” Elliot. Hoffman, Sepulvado and seven other inmates are plaintiffs in a federal civil rights lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of Louisiana’s death penalty. Lawyers for the group filed an emergency effort in the case to stop the nitrogen gas method after Republican Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry announced its implementation, citing a lack of critical information about sourcing the gas and training for staff, according to the Louisiana Illuminator. Landry said in a statement announcing the implementation that “justice will be dispensed” with the controversial new execution method. “For too long, Louisiana has failed to uphold the promises made to victims of our State’s most violent crimes,” Landry said. The use of nitrogen gas in executions has drawn critics. The Rev. Jeff Hood, a spiritual advisor for death row inmates and anti-death penalty activist, was a witness to the first nitrogen gas execution in the United States − that of Kenny Eugene Smith on Jan. 25, 2024 − and described it as “horrific.” With nitrogen hypoxia is used, the inmate breathes pure nitrogen through a mask that displaces oxygen in their system. Proponents claim it is an almost instant and painless method. Opponents, including Hood, claim it is largely untried and amounts to torture. Some opponents have argued the use of nitrogen gas is a breach of Eighth Amendment protections against cruel and unusual punishment Hood accused Landry of “cowardice” for approving the method in a statement to USA TODAY when it was announced. The U.S. has executed five inmates so far this year, with six executions scheduled in March. There are 57 inmates on death row in Louisiana, according to the Shreveport Times − a part of the USA TODAY Network. Contributing: Greta Cross This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: LA death row inmate Christopher Sepulvado dies before execution date Source link #Louisiana #death #row #inmate #Christopher #Sepulvado #dies #execution #date Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

Some US agencies tell workers not to reply to Musk’s email Some US agencies tell workers not to reply to Musk’s email WASHINGTON, Feb 23 (Reuters) – Multiple U.S. agencies have told employees not to respond immediately to a demand by President Donald Trump’s adviser Elon Musk to list their accomplishments in the past week or be fired, as a chaotic campaign to cull the federal workforce pushes forward. Trump administration-appointed officials at the FBI and State Department sent their staff emails telling them not to respond outside their chains of command – a possible sign of tension between members of the Republican administration and the world’s richest person in his campaign to slash the 2.3 million-strong federal civilian workforce. “The FBI, through the office of the director, is in charge of all our review processes,” said FBI Director Kash Patel, a Trump appointee, in an email to staff seen by Reuters. Musk leads the so-called Department of Government Efficiency, which in the first weeks of Trump’s administration has laid off more than 20,000 workers and offered buyouts to another 75,000, across wide swaths of the government from the Defense Department – long a top Republican priority – to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, where all staff members have been ordered to halt work. The frantic pace has led the federal government in some cases to rush to rehire workers who perform critical functions like securing the nation’s nuclear arsenal and trying to fight the worsening bird flu outbreak, which has caused egg prices to spike. While there is bipartisan agreement that the U.S. government, which carries $36 trillion in debt, would benefit from reform, Musk’s tumultuous approach has drawn widespread criticism, including from voters in some Republican-dominated areas. Federal workers on Saturday evening received an email instructing them to detail the work they did during the previous week by 11:59 p.m. ET on Monday (0459 GMT on Tuesday), shortly after Musk posted on his X social media site that failing to respond would be taken as a resignation. The subject of the email read, “What did you do last week?” and came from a human resources address in the Office of Personnel Management, but did not include Musk’s threat of termination. Workers at the departments of Defense, Homeland Security, Education and Commerce, as well as at the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, the National Institutes of Health and the Internal Revenue Service also were told not to respond pending further guidance, according to sources and emails reviewed by Reuters. Workers at intelligence agencies likewise will be told not to respond, according to a source. “To be clear – this is irregular, unexpected, and warrants further validation,” wrote a senior executive at the National Centers for Environmental Information, an agency that manages environmental data and is part of the Commerce Department. Source link #agencies #workers #reply #Musks #email Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

Hat trick puts Alex Ovechkin 13 away from breaking Wayne Gretzky's NHL career goals record – The Associated Press Hat trick puts Alex Ovechkin 13 away from breaking Wayne Gretzky's NHL career goals record – The Associated Press Hat trick puts Alex Ovechkin 13 away from breaking Wayne Gretzky’s NHL career goals record The Associated PressOvechkin continues ‘amazing journey’ toward goal record with hat trick against Oilers NHL.comHow many goals does Alex Ovechkin need to pass Wayne Gretzky? Tracking all his stats USA TODAYHat trick pulls Ovechkin closer to Gretzky’s NHL goals record Yahoo SportsCan Alex Ovechkin break the record? And how far can these Caps go? Ask Post Sports. The Washington Post Source link #Hat #trick #puts #Alex #Ovechkin #breaking #Wayne #Gretzky039s #NHL #career #goals #record #Press Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

Can Canadians get the world drinking tree sap? Can Canadians get the world drinking tree sap? Keena Al-Wahaidi Business reporter Maple3 ********* brand Maple3 makes still, sparkling and flavoured maple water While drinking tree sap does not immediately sound appealing, ********* producers are hoping that it will be the next must-try soft drink around the world. We have all heard of maple syrup, which is made by boiling down the sap of maple trees to produce a thick, sweet, golden-to-brown coloured syrup that is typically poured over pancakes. What is far less well known is that you can drink the sap itself, which is called maple water. Clear in colour, it contains just 2% natural sugars, so it is only slightly sweet. A small but growing number of producers in Canada are now selling this maple water in bottles or cartons, after first giving it a filter and pasteurisation to kill off any microbes. “People feel like they’re drinking the wild ********* forest,” says Yannick Leclerc of Maple3, a producer of maple water drinks, based in Quebec City. Advocates point to the fact it is a natural drink, and makers hope that it can steal some sales from the existing similar product – coconut water. The latter is made from water that naturally forms inside coconuts. As Canada is far and away the world’s largest producer of maple syrup – accounting for more than 80% of production – it is understandable that the nascent maple water sector is also *********. Furthermore, it is centred on the province of Quebec, which makes 90% of Canada’s maple syrup. Yannick Leclerc Yannick Leclerc, right, set up his company with business partner Stéphane Nolet Mr Leclerc says that Maple3 is one of the pioneers of the sector. “Nobody [previously] thought about keeping the sap for its hydration purposes verses just boiling it into syrup.” He founded the company back in 2013 with business partner Stéphane Nolet. In recent years an increasing number of other producers have entered the marketplace. Mr Leclerc claims that Maple3 has doubled its annual profits since 2021, with sales not just rising across Canada, but in 12 other countries, including France, Japan, Singapore and South Korea. Some 75% of its sales now come from overseas, and it sells both still and sparkling maple water, and fizzy versions with added natural fruit flavourings. “It’s more than just a local product at this point,” adds Mr Leclerc. Getty Images “Tapping” trees for sap involves drilling holes and attaching a pipe For the maple water industry as a whole, one recent report predicts big growth. It estimated that global sales in 2024 totalled $506m (£409m), with that expected to jump to $2.6bn by 2033. By comparison, worldwide sales of coconut water reached $7.7bn in 2023, with that expected to grow to $22.9bn by 2029. So maple water has a long way to catch up. Meanwhile, the global value of the maple syrup market was $1.7bn last year, according to one study. Beth Czerwony, a dietician with the non-profit medical centre Cleveland Clinic in Ohio, says the growing popularity of maple water is linked to its perceived health benefits. “When the sap itself is filtered through the tree, it ends up absorbing a bunch of antioxidants,” she says. “So they’re gonna end up having a better performance and a faster workout recovery.” However, one medical study from 2019 concluded that maple water was “was not superior in rehydration” to normal water. Jeremy Kinsella owns The Soda Pop Bros in Windsor Ontario, which sells soft drinks under its own brand name, as well as imports from around the world. His family have been in the industry for nearly a century, and in his lifetime he has seen a fair share of trends come and go. He says that if maple water is to go mainstream it needs the financial backing and promotion of one of the huge global soft drinks firms. “It will take a larger soda manufacturer for it to really catch on,” he says. Mr Kinsella also says that the price of maple water is currently too high. “When it comes down to it, someone’s looking at a can of Coke for a buck and they’re looking at a can of maple water for three bucks, they’re going to try it a couple of times and go back to Coke,” he says. Getty Images It is hard to see maple water ever surpass the popularity of maple syrup Marketing maple water more would certainly help it increase sales, says John Tomory, who helps run Pefferlaw Creek Farms in Uxbridge, Ontario. He and his brothers have been making maple syrup commercially for almost 10 years, and for the past four they have also been selling the sap to a Canada brand called Sap Sucker. This makes sparkling sap water with different added flavours, from lime to grapefruit, and lemon to orange. Mr Tomory says he agrees with this approach to make the sap more interesting. “I know a lot of people have tried just selling the sap as it is, just basic sap from the tree and it’s still, but they haven’t really caught on,” he says. “So I think carbonating it and adding fruit flavour makes it more interesting. That’s the real innovation.” Back at Maple3 in Quebec, Mr Leclerc also thinks that the sparkling version of the drink could be the more popular: “It has perks that a normal sparkling water doesn’t have,” he says, such as a more interesting flavour, without having all the bad stuff that [regular] soda has.” Source link #Canadians #world #drinking #tree #sap Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

Senate estimates: Senior parliamentary officials, bureaucrats grilled on furniture costs Senate estimates: Senior parliamentary officials, bureaucrats grilled on furniture costs Senior senate officials have been grilled over a $3.8m spend on office furniture for workstations, storage units, meeting tables and filing units. Source link #Senate #estimates #Senior #parliamentary #officials #bureaucrats #grilled #furniture #costs Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

Trump and Elon Musk are floating ‘DOGE dividends.’ Low-income Americans might not benefit. Trump and Elon Musk are floating ‘DOGE dividends.’ Low-income Americans might not benefit. James Fishback said the whole idea came to him in a recent dream: Send American taxpayers dividend checks with whatever money Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency saves as it dismantles parts of the federal government. The idea took off on Tuesday when Fishback tweeted about it and Musk responded, pledging to share the idea with Trump. The president himself promoted the specifics of Fishback’s idea from the stage at the FII Priority Summit in Miami Beach on Wednesday. “There’s even under consideration a new concept where we give 20% of the DOGE savings to American citizens, and 20% goes to paying down debt, because the numbers are incredible, Elon,” Trump said. But if Trump follows through with the plan as Fishback envisions it, low-income Americans may not benefit. Fishback, CEO of the investment firm Azoria who briefly worked with former presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy as DOGE was just getting off the ground, told NBC News in an interview that he awoke from that dream and, working with the lead researcher at his firm, composed a brief proposal to send millions of American households checks. “We fleshed this thing out in about two and a half hours,” Fishback said Wednesday. “We sent it to [White House chief of staff] Susie [Wiles], sent it to some folks in the admin, sent it to some folks at Treasury, and here we are a day or so later, with it being shared with President Trump from Elon. And so it’s exciting.” The episode illuminated the speed with which Musk can help draw the president’s attention to seemingly random ideas — even one from a little-known 30-year-old investor — that are floating around on his social media platform X. Something like a “DOGE dividend” wouldn’t be an entirely foreign concept to Trump; it follows the playbook of a pandemic-era program from his first term. Then, the government sent direct payments to Americans with the president’s name attached. “The president of the United States should sign the checks, and the checks should include the word DOGE, very simply, because we have to be honest,” Fishback said, adding: “If I’m the CEO of Azoria and I cut our employees a check every month, my name is on it. President Trump is the leader of the country, the duly elected president of the United States. His name should be on the checks. As should DOGE, because that is what’s responsible for these savings.” The difference during the pandemic was that people who made below a certain amount all received the checks. In his proposal, Fishback starts from the presumption that DOGE will achieve $2 trillion in cuts to the government. He takes 20% of those savings, or $400 billion, and divides them among 79 million taxpaying households, to receive $5,000 each. Importantly, the rebate would be sent only to households that are net-income taxpayers — people who pay more in taxes than they get back — with lower-income Americans not qualifying for the return. According to the Pew Research Center, most Americans who have an adjusted gross income of under $40,000 pay effectively no federal income tax. Since the dividend checks would be funded by dollars that have already been appropriated rather than the deficit-financed stimulus checks, Fishback writes, they would not worsen inflation. “The DOGE Dividend is different from past stimulus checks (e.g. 2021 American Rescue Plan) because only tax-paying households receive it,” he writes. “Tax-paying households are more likely to save (not spend) a transfer payment like the DOGE Dividend as consumption is a lower share of their income. … There is nothing inflationary about paying off debt, saving for emergencies, or investing in college or retirement. In fact, debt paydowns are actually deflationary.” In an interview, Fishback said the dividend only going to households above a certain income threshold should ease concerns about any inflationary pressure the rebates would cause, adding that the pandemic-era checks were sent “indiscriminately.” “A lot of low-income households essentially saw transfer payments of 25 to 30% of their annual … income,” Fishback said, adding, “This exclusively goes to households that are net-payers of federal income tax, and what that means is that they have a lower propensity to spend and a higher propensity to save a transfer payment like the DOGE dividend.” Yet even among Republicans, there is no consensus for sending Americans checks with money DOGE is able to save — the total amount of which is, so far, unclear. The group claims on its website that it has saved $55 billion so far, but some claims about its work have not stood up to the most basic scrutiny. In one example, DOGE claimed to have saved $8 billion from a single canceled contract at the Department of Homeland Security. It turns out, that contract clearly stated it was for just $8 million. Musk initially pledged that DOGE would find $2 trillion in savings before the middle of next year, but has softened his expectations since. “We have to actually figure out if any money is saved at all before promising people checks in the mail,” said Mark Zandi, the chief economist at Moody’s Analytics, adding: “I thought this was about taking a crack at reducing our deficit. So if you give a dividend, that certainly doesn’t help in that regard. It just feels like putting the cart way before the horse. I’ve got the cart. I don’t even see the horse yet.” As for the idea that the rebates will be reserved for American households above a certain income threshold, Zandi agreed that such a model would lead to a higher rate of receivers saving the payments rather than spending them immediately. “We’re slicing a hair,” he said. “These are things really on the margin. The broader point is … DOGE has got a long way to go here to see if DOGE saves anything and ultimately is a benefit for the economy or not before you start talking about dividend checks.” Asked about the idea at the Conservative Political Action Conference on Thursday, House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., did not appear warm to the proposal. “Well, look. I mean, politically that would be great for us, you know. It gives everybody a check,” Johnson said. “But if you think about our core principles, right, fiscal responsibility is what we do as conservatives. That’s our brand. And we have a $36 trillion federal debt, we have a giant deficit that we’re contending with. I think we need to pay down the credit card, right?” From the stage at CPAC that same day, Musk said he discussed the proposal with Trump and that the president is on board. Musk, the world’s richest man who has become perhaps the single most influential presidential adviser, said “it sounds like … that’s something we’re going to do.” The White House declined to comment on the proposal. Fishback traveled to Washington this week and said he had a number of promising conversations on the proposal with stakeholders, though he would not divulge with whom. He did post a video showing him having a brief conversation with Musk on Thursday. “Now look, for folks who want to criticize this plan and say, well, DOGE would never deliver $2 trillion in total savings, we disagree, but let’s just assume that they’re right on that,” Fishback said. “Let’s say it’s only $1 trillion. OK, so then the check goes from $5,000 to $2,500. Let’s assume that it’s only $500 billion. … Then the check is $1,250. That’s real money.” “I’ve got to tell you the truth here. It’s not necessarily about the dollar amount,” he added. “It’s about the symbolism of the government sending money back in the form of restitution to compensate hardworking Americans, whether they’re in East Baltimore or whether they’re in East Palestine that the government misused and abused their hard-earned tax dollars.” But as Zandi noted, the cuts themselves do not come free of any potential economic consequences. “It’s not like there’s a free lunch here,” he said. “So if you fire people, that’s going to be a hit to the economy. That has a cost. You’ve got to see exactly what the fallout of all this is on the broader economy, and that’s just the near term. What about the longer term? You’re making the assumption here, at least the implicit assumption, that the jobs you’re cutting and the work you’re scaling back really was not important, [that] there was no benefit from those folks working in the FAA or USAID or the FTC and FDA.” “That’s a pretty strong position to take that these jobs have no benefit and no importance in the long run, that they’re not doing things that are important to the well functioning of our economy and the nation,” he added. “I don’t pretend to know, but I don’t think anyone else knows that either.” This article was originally published on NBCNews.com Source link #Trump #Elon #Musk #floating #DOGE #dividends #Lowincome #Americans #benefit Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content] For verified travel tips and real support, visit: [Hidden Content]

Asia markets primed to fall Asia markets primed to fall Junkboat of Hong Kong at Night Nikada | E+ | Getty Images Asia-Pacific markets opened lower after Wall Street logged its worst session of the year last Friday on lackluster U.S. economic data that pointed to a slowing economy and sticky inflation. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 extended losses to a sixth straight session, opening 0.81% lower. In South Korea, the Kospi started the day 0.71% lower, while the small-cap Kosdaq was down 0.1.21%. Futures for Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index last traded at 23,397, pointing to a weaker open compared to the HSI’s Friday close of 23,477.92 — it’s highest since February 2022. Japanese markets are closed for a public holiday. Singapore is slated to release its inflation numbers for January later in the day. A Reuters’ poll forecasts the city-state’s consumer price index reading at 2.15% year on year, higher than December’s 1.60%. Meanwhile, the poll estimates that core inflation rate, which strips out accommodation and private transport costs, will expand 1.5% year on year, lower than the 1.8% rise in the month before. In U.S., the three major averages closed lower on Friday, as fresh data raised investors’ concerns on the economy. Losses also intensified amid fears of further policy moves by U.S. President Donald Trump, who has already proposed a slew of tariffs and other changes within a month of taking office. The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 748.63 points, or 1.69%, to close at 43,428.02. Friday’s decline, its worst this year, brought its two-day losses to roughly 1,200 points. The S&P 500 slid 1.71% to end at 6,013.13, marking a second negative session after the index closed at a record on Wednesday. The Nasdaq Composite dropped 2.2%, settling at 19,524.01. — CNBC’s Brian Evans and Lisa Kailai Han contributed to this report. Source link #Asia #markets #primed #fall Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

SAG Awards 2025 Red Carpet: See All the Looks – The New York Times SAG Awards 2025 Red Carpet: See All the Looks – The New York Times SAG Awards 2025 Red Carpet: See All the Looks The New York TimesHow to Watch PEOPLE and EW’s Red Carpet Livestream for 2025 SAG Awards (with RHOSLC’s Bronwyn Newport!) PEOPLEThe Screen Actors Guild Award Winners VultureSAG Awards live: Will ‘Anora’ finally become the Oscar frontrunner tonight? Yahoo News UKHow to watch the 2025 SAG Awards CNN Source link #SAG #Awards #Red #Carpet #York #Times Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

Waspi women threaten legal action after pension payouts rejected Waspi women threaten legal action after pension payouts rejected A campaign group has threatened the government with legal action unless it reconsiders its decision to refuse compensation to millions of women affected by an increase in the state pension age. The Women Against State Pension Inequality (Waspi) group is demanding payouts for 3.6m women born in the 1950s who were not properly informed of changes first introduced in the 1990s. The government apologised that the changes were not communicated quickly enough but told the BBC it “cannot justify paying for a £10.5 billion compensation scheme at the expense of the taxpayer”. WASPI chair Angela Madden said: “We believe this is not only an outrage but legally wrong.” The “letter before action” that has been sent to the government is a formal mechanism to allow it a chance to respond before the campaigners seek a judicial review at the High Court in two weeks time. Last year the parliamentary ombudsman recommended payouts of up to £2,950 each because of a 28 month delay in writing to inform the women affected of the changes. Waspi campaigners have claimed women suffered financial hardship and had to rethink retirement plans. However in December, Work and Pensions Secretary Liz Kendall apologised for the delayed communications but said there was “considerable awareness” of the changes to the pension age. She said sending letters earlier would not have made a difference to their ability to make retirement choices. Her claim there was no direct financial loss could now be examined in court if the campaigners get approval for their judicial review. Ms Madden said: “The government has accepted that 1950s-born women are victims of maladministration, but it now says none of us suffered any injustice.” With no compensation forthcoming she said: “The alternative is continued defence of the indefensible but this time in front of a judge.” The Waspi group has also launched a crowd-funding campaign to try and cover an estimated £75,000 in legal fees. If the women were to win their case its estimated it could cost the government as much as £10.5 billion. With government finances already under strain because of weak economic growth and higher borrowing costs Sir Keir Starmer has said “the taxpayer simply can’t afford the burden” of compensation. The changes were first decided in 1995 when the then Conservative government sought to equalise the age at which men and women received their state pensions, aiming that by 2020 everyone would have to wait until their 65th birthday. However in the aftermath of the global financial crisis in 2010, the Conservative-Lib Dem coalition decided to speed up the changes, to reduce the overall cost of the state pension. Other countries have made similar decisions in recent years however the *** government didn’t communicate its change quickly enough and the impact of that could now be examined in court. A government spokesperson told the BBC on Sunday it accepted the ombudsman’s finding of maladministration and had apologised for the 28-month delay in writing to 1950s-born women. “However, evidence showed only one in four people remember reading and receiving letters that they weren’t expecting and that by 2006, 90% of 1950s-born women knew that the State Pension age was changing. “Earlier letters wouldn’t have affected this.” Source link #Waspi #women #threaten #legal #action #pension #payouts #rejected Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

Cyclone Bianca: Category two cyclone located about 1050km west northwest of Exmouth Cyclone Bianca: Category two cyclone located about 1050km west northwest of Exmouth A tropical cyclone has formed off the coast of WA. Tropical cyclone Bianca, which is a category one system, was identified about 1050km west-north-west of Exmouth about 2am on Monday. It is moving in a west-south-westerly direction about 18km/h and is expected to strengthen over the next couple of days before weakening on Wednesday. The cyclone is forecast to move in a south south-westerly direction but is expected to remain offshore. “There is high confidence that tropical cyclone Bianca will weaken a long way away from the country without really impacting the weather for Western Australia or for the offshore islands in the Indian Ocean,” meteorologist Angus Hines said. Category one tropical cyclone Alfred also formed off the Queensland coast about 4am on Monday and is about 910km north-east of Cairns. The cyclone is moving in an easterly direction about 7km/h and is strengthening as it slowly moves towards the Coral Sea. Cyclone Alfred is expected to intensify throughout the week before moving south. While the cyclone is expected to remain offshore, there is a risk it will move closer to the central Queensland coast by next weekend. Mr Hines said it was too early to say what parts of the Queensland coast would be impacted. “The key message through the first half of this week for people in Queensland is to keep a watch of the forecast track maps for tropical cyclone Alfred in the coming days,” he said. It comes just weeks after category four cyclone Zelia hit the Pilbara region, unleashing destructive winds and torrential rain about 60km east of Port Hedland. According to the Bureau of Meteorology, wind gusts peaked at 270km/h within the storm’s core. Record flood levels have been recorded in the De Grey River catchment, with Coolenar Pool peaking at 9.02m. Source link #Cyclone #Bianca #Category #cyclone #located #1050km #west #northwest #Exmouth Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

Louisiana man on death row dies weeks before March execution date Louisiana man on death row dies weeks before March execution date ANGOLA, La. (AP) — A terminally ill man who spent over 30 years on death row in Louisiana for the killing of his stepson died days after a March date was scheduled for his execution by nitrogen gas. Christopher Sepulvado, 81, died Saturday at the Louisiana State Penitentiary in Angola, Louisiana, “from natural causes as a result of complications arising from his pre-existing medical conditions,” according to the Louisiana Department of Public Safety and Corrections. Sepulvado was charged with the 1992 killing of his 6-year-old stepson after the boy came home from school with soiled underwear. Sepulvado was accused of hitting him on the head with a screwdriver and immersing him in scalding water. He was convicted of ******* and sentenced to death in 1993. 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. His attorney, federal public defender Shawn Nolan, said in a statement Sunday that doctors recently determined Sepulvado was terminally ill and recommended hospice care. Nolan described his client’s “significant” physical and cognitive decline in recent years. “Christopher Sepulvado’s death overnight in the prison infirmary is a sad comment on the state of the death penalty in Louisiana,” Nolan said. “The idea that the state was planning to strap this tiny, frail, dying old man to a chair and force him to breathe toxic gas into his failing lungs is simply barbaric.” According to Nolan, Sepulvado had been sent to New Orleans for surgery earlier in the week but was returned to the prison Friday night. Louisiana officials decided to resume carrying out death sentences earlier this month after a 15 year pause driven by a lack of political interest and the inability to secure legal injection drugs. Republican Gov. Jeff Landry pushed to proceed with a new nitrogen gas execution protocol after the state’s GOP-dominated Legislature last year expanded death row execution methods to include electrocution and nitrogen gas. Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill said in a statement that “justice should have been delivered long ago” and Louisiana “failed to deliver it in his lifetime.” Sepulvado’s execution was scheduled for March 17. Another man, Jessie Hoffman, was convicted of first-degree ******* in 1996 and slated for execution on March 18. Hoffman initially challenged Louisiana’s lethal injection protocol in 2012 on the grounds that the method was cruel and unusual punishment. A federal judge on Friday reopened that lawsuit after it was dismissed in 2022 because the state had no executions planned. The country’s first execution using nitrogen gas was carried out last year in Alabama, which has now executed four people using the method. Source link #Louisiana #man #death #row #dies #weeks #March #execution #date Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

Alex Ovechkin nets hat trick to move 13 shy of breaking Wayne Gretzky’s NHL’s goals record – CNN Alex Ovechkin nets hat trick to move 13 shy of breaking Wayne Gretzky’s NHL’s goals record – CNN Alex Ovechkin nets hat trick to move 13 shy of breaking Wayne Gretzky’s NHL’s goals record CNNHow many goals does Alex Ovechkin need to pass Wayne Gretzky? Tracking all his stats USA TODAYOvechkin scores goal No. 880 NHL.comHat trick pulls Ovechkin closer to Gretzky’s NHL goals record Yahoo SportsCan Alex Ovechkin break the record? And how far can these Caps go? Ask Post Sports. The Washington Post Source link #Alex #Ovechkin #nets #hat #trick #move #shy #breaking #Wayne #Gretzkys #NHLs #goals #record #CNN Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

Watch: Merz thanks voters as he is greeted with cheers Watch: Merz thanks voters as he is greeted with cheers Christian Democrats leader Friedrich Merz thanks those who placed their trust in the party and in him. Source link #Watch #Merz #voters #greeted #cheers Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

Wistech Global chair, three directors resign in mass protest against founder Richard White’s new role Wistech Global chair, three directors resign in mass protest against founder Richard White’s new role WiseTech shares have plunged by nearly 25 per cent on news the chairman and three directors of the global logistics software company have quit the board in protest over the ongoing role of founder Richard White, as well as a poor earnings update. The tech giant dropped the bombshell news in an announcement to the ASX on Monday, saying board leader Richard Dammery and fellow non-executive members Lisa Brock, iinet founder Michael Malone and Fiona Pak-Poy would quit after the company releases its half-year results on Wednesday. The stock later regained some ground but was still down 21.3 per cent to $95.75 at 10.45am AEST. The company said the four had resigned over “intractable differences in the board and differing views around the ongoing role of the founder and founding CEO, Richard White.” Mr White was still to sign a contract for a $1 million-a-year consulting role. He has been working in a consulting capacity for the firm after being pressured to resign as chief executive in October last year over allegations he unduly used his influence to gain ******* favours, paid for a multimillion-dollar house for an employee that he had been in a relationship with, and awarded a lucrative contract to a then-lover. He had also been accused of “sustained intimidation and bullying” by former director Christine Holman. A legal and accounting review, released at the company’s annual general meeting in November, concluded Mr White did not act inappropriately, found he disclosed all close personal relationships in the workplace, did not misuse company funds, and said there was no evidence of bullying, intimidation, or unlawful behaviour. Shareholders waved through a bump in director’s salaries at that AGM. But Mr White has been dogged by new reports in the *********** Financial Review earlier this month that revealed three more women had come forward with allegations of inappropriate behaviour against him, including one from an employee and another from a supplier. Since Mr White stepped down in October, he has been continuing in a consulting role, primarily working on new products designed to drive further revenue. According to reports, Mr White had expected to sign a 10-year, $1 million-a-year contract to continue in a consulting capacity but had not done so. The leadership vacuum at the company will be on show when the company reports its half-year results on Wednesday, with interim chief executive Andrew Cartledge, interim chief financial officer Caroline Pham, and Mr White presenting the accounts. The company also issued an update on financial guidance, saying revenue would come in at the lower end of previous guidance “due to further delays to the rollout of the three announced breakthrough products”. Earlier this month, investment bank RBC Capital Markets said the “product release delays and management distractions”, while the absence of permanent CEO was “contributing to the uncertainty”. Longer-term they were bullish on the company’s prospects. “Medium term, WTC should be a net beneficiary of tariffs which are likely to spur demand for CargoWise, particularly customs and compliance modules. We believe near-term sentiment remains negative, while medium term structural tailwinds remain solid,” the RBC analyst note said. More to come Source link #Wistech #Global #chair #directors #resign #mass #protest #founder #Richard #Whites #role Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

Armed robbery at Concord store turns deadly Armed robbery at Concord store turns deadly Yahoo is using AI to generate takeaways from this article. This means the info may not always match what’s in the article. Reporting mistakes helps us improve the experience.Generate Key Takeaways The Brief The suspect in a Concord armed robbery was shot dead by a store employee, police say It’s not the first time the convenience store was robbed CONCORD, Calif. – A suspect in a botched armed robbery at a Concord convenience store was shot dead by a store employee Friday night, police say. The robbery occurred on the 3200 block of Willow Pass Road around 11:30 p.m., when the suspect allegedly tried to force one store employee to open the store’s safe. Another store employee was alerted to the ruckus and pulled his own weapon, shooting the suspect. The suspect was declared dead at the scene. Dig deeper It’s not the first time the corner store has been targeted in a robbery. Nearly a year ago, one suspect was caught on camera stealing champagne and ******** bottles worth around $1,320. In his escape, he kicked the glass door down after being locked in. “We’re very frustrated, angry, and sad. Me and my husband are trying to provide a good community store,” one of the owners said at the time of the March 2024 robbery. What’s next Police said they are withholding the suspect’s name pending notification of next of kin. They are reviewing evidence and investigating the shooting. It’s unclear if the employee faces any charges stemming from the deadly shooting. Anyone with information about the robbery is asked to contact Concord Det. Justin Wilson at (925) 603-5859. The Source Concord police department, KTVU reporting Source link #Armed #robbery #Concord #store #turns #deadly Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

******* election: Friedrich Merz urges 'independence' from US – DW (English) ******* election: Friedrich Merz urges 'independence' from US – DW (English) ******* election: Friedrich Merz urges ‘independence’ from US DW (English)******* election victor Merz plans pivot from US as coalition talks loom ReutersGermany’s Merz vows ‘independence’ from Trump’s America, warning NATO may soon be dead POLITICO EuropeNot US ‘vassals’: Merz will back a strong Europe, says Klaus Welle EURACTIVGermany’s election winner pledges ‘independence from US’ Financial Times Source link #******* #election #Friedrich #Merz #urges #039independence039 #English Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

The Papers: 'Zelensky offers to quit' and 'Germany turns Right' The Papers: 'Zelensky offers to quit' and 'Germany turns Right' Volodymyr Zelensky’s offer to step down as president of Ukraine features heavily in Monday’s papers. Source link #Papers #039Zelensky #offers #quit039 #039Germany #turns #Right039 Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

Hundreds of eager fans line up for days ahead of Billie Eilish’s Sydney concert Hundreds of eager fans line up for days ahead of Billie Eilish’s Sydney concert In the early hours of Monday morning, an enormous crowd had already formed, with some using camping gear to secure a spot. Source link #Hundreds #eager #fans #line #days #ahead #Billie #Eilishs #Sydney #concert Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

My stepmother remarried after my father died. How can I claim my inheritance? My stepmother remarried after my father died. How can I claim my inheritance? “My father and stepmother built a successful business together and had decent-sized investments in stocks and bonds.” (Photo subject is a model.) – Getty Images/iStockphoto I have a question about our rights to an estate once my stepmother passes away. Here is some history: My father was married to my stepmother for 30 years. She acted as a mother to me growing up and we had a reasonably good relationship. My father and stepmother built a successful business together and had decent-sized investments in stocks and bonds, and their home. My father had set up his assets like their home, etc, as a “tenancy in entirety” in the state of Florida. However, he and my stepmother also had an irrevocable martial trust in which, as I understand it. My father and stepmother had a child together (my sister), but she passed away about 16 years ago. Only my brother and I are survivors as named inheritors within the marital trust. My stepmother remarried. She now has no interest in giving my brother and me anything. Her intention is to bequeath her properties and investments to her current new husband and her nieces and nephews on her side of the family. Will his marital irrevocable trust have any protection for me and my siblings so we have rights to the assets once she passes away, or does she have the right to re-direct the assets to unnamed individuals outside of the marital trust? Stepchild Related: ‘She is very manipulative and controlling’: My mother offered to buy me an apartment, but there are strings. Is it foolish to say no? Marital trusts are especially important for blended families so each spouse ensures that their respective children are taken care of in the event that one of them dies. – MarketWatch illustration The clue is in the question. The trust is irrevocable. It’s not subject to change, especially upon the whims of one of the beneficiaries. Assuming your father set up this trust to benefit his spouse in addition to his two sons, there are three beneficiaries rather than one. A trust has a grantor (your father), the trustee (appointed by your father; it could be a family member, lawyer or financial adviser) and the beneficiary or beneficiaries. The trustee ensures that the beneficiaries abide by the rules. Marital trusts are especially important for blended families so each spouse ensures that their respective children are taken care of if one of them dies. A stepmother or stepfather may promise their spouse and stepchildren the world while both parties are living but, as the pages of this column can attest, they can have a swift U-turn upon the death of their spouse. Your stepmother appears to have experienced one such change of heart. Story Continues In addition to making sure that your wishes are fulfilled posthumously, marital trusts have other benefits. “Marital trusts are significant in estate planning for high-net-worth individuals, serving as a tool to minimize the estate tax burden by taking advantage of estate tax exemptions,” according to the law firm Keane Thomas & Pinnacoli in Jensen Beach, Fla. “A married couple can significantly reduce or eliminate estate taxes by utilizing a marital trust.” Marital trusts can also distribute funds based on need. For example, if one child goes to college, the trust can provide for that. If another child falls off the wagon and needs rehab, the trust could fund that too (or not). “The surviving spouse can receive income and financial stability from the trust,” the law firm adds. “Assets are kept in the family, and the inheritance intended for children from previous marriages is protected.” Even assuming all things are equal and both spouses would have upheld their respective promises to each other, the tax benefits are significant. “A marital trust effectively doubles the estate tax exemption for a married couple, ensuring that a more significant portion of their wealth can be transferred tax-free,” Keane Thomas & Pinnacoli says. “In the context of the federal estate tax, this can result in substantial tax savings and financial security.” A “tenancy in entirety” enables each party to own 100% of the property, which prevents creditors from being able to place a lien on the property in the event one owner falls into debt. However, this type of property ownership is similar to “joint tenancy with rights of survivorship,” meaning that if one spouse dies, the other spouse automatically inherits the property. As such, the transfer of ownership happens outside of probate. So what do you do next? Information is your friend. You have been forewarned, for better or for worse, by your former stepmother. After 30 years, she has made clear that her own immediate family and her new spouse are her priorities. That’s fine, good luck to her. Put any anger and hurt feelings aside, contact an attorney who specializes in such trusts, inform the trustee, read the terms of the trust, and make sure that your inheritance is rock solid. Your father made a wise decision, in retrospect. The Moneyist regrets he cannot reply to questions individually. ‘I wish Dad were here’: I received $500,000 after my late father’s wrongful-death lawsuit. My adviser suggests annuities. How do I invest it? ‘She is very manipulative and controlling’: My mother offered to buy me an apartment, but there are strings. Is it foolish to say no? My sisters want to hide $170,000 of our mother’s money from Medicaid by adding their names to her bank account. What should I do? Source link #stepmother #remarried #father #died #claim #inheritance Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

Some US agencies tell workers not to reply to Musk's 'What did you do last week' email – Reuters Some US agencies tell workers not to reply to Musk's 'What did you do last week' email – Reuters Some US agencies tell workers not to reply to Musk’s ‘What did you do last week’ email ReutersTrump Administration Live Updates: News on Elon Musk and Federal Work Force The New York TimesMurkowski knocks Musk over ‘absurd weekend email’ The HillDOD tells civilian workforce to ignore Elon Musk’s request to report productivity Fox NewsGovernment agencies give conflicting guidance on Musk email The Washington Post Source link #agencies #workers #reply #Musk039s #039What #week039 #email #Reuters Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

Disaster: Roosters rocked by Spencer Leniu ban for high shot, depth to be tested in the early rounds Disaster: Roosters rocked by Spencer Leniu ban for high shot, depth to be tested in the early rounds The Roosters could be without powerhouse prop Spencer Leniu for the opening three rounds of the season after the rep star was charged for his high shot on Newcastle’s Phoenix Crossland during Sunday’s heavy defeat in Gosford. It’s the last thing the Roosters need given their front-row stocks have taken a big hit with Jared Waerea-Hargreaves (Hull KR) and Terrell May (Wests Tigers) no longer at the club, while Luke Keary, Joseph Manu and Joseph-Aukuso Suaalii have also left. Leniu was hit with a grade 2 careless high tackle charge for an incident early in Sunday’s clash and can accept a two-match ban with an early guilty plea but risks an extra week if he fights the charge and loses. Leniu was being assessed for a head knock at the time when he was sent to the sin bin, with the prop forward forced to stay off for an extra five minutes due to the HIA. If he is banned, it would be the second year in a row he’s missed a chunk of the season after he copped an eight-match ban for a racial slur directed towards Brisbane’s Ezra Mam in Las Vegas. The Roosters open their campaign against the Broncos and then play the Panthers and Warriors away from home in a daunting start to a season where plenty of people have tipped them to miss the finals. Source link #Disaster #Roosters #rocked #Spencer #Leniu #ban #high #shot #depth #tested #early #rounds Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]