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Warriors Abyss Review (PC) Chaotic Bliss | The Outerhaven Warriors Abyss Review (PC) Chaotic Bliss | The Outerhaven Warriors Abyss has you playing 100 characters from the warriors series as you try to save the underworld from Gouma. Source link #Warriors #Abyss #Review #Chaotic #Bliss #Outerhaven Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

Xiaomi Buds 5 Pro Renders Leak Online; Tipped to Come With Harman AudioEFX Tuning Xiaomi Buds 5 Pro Renders Leak Online; Tipped to Come With Harman AudioEFX Tuning Xiaomi Buds 5 Pro true wireless stereo (TWS) earbuds are said to be in the works. The pair is likely to debut in the first week of March alongside the Xiaomi 15 series. Ahead of the official reveal, alleged renders of the Xiaomi Buds 5 Pro have leaked online. The renders suggest a half-in-ear design for the earbuds. They are said to come with Harman-branded AudioEFX tuning. The Xiaomi Buds 5 Pro earbuds are expected to succeed the Xiaomi Buds 4 Pro. Tipster Sudhanshu Ambhore (@Sudhanshu1414) in association with MySmartPrice has leaked the renders of the Xiaomi Buds 5 Pro. The images show the earbuds in ******, titanium and white colour options along with the charging case. They indicate an oval-shaped case for the earphones. The case appears to have a matte finish on the bottom with the Xiaomi branding on the front. The Xiaomi Buds 5 Pro seem to have a half-in-ear design with silicone earplugs. They have an AirPod-like style with touch controls on the curved stems. The earbuds are expected to feature a USB Type-C port and audio tuning by Harman AudioEFX. They are likely to offer noise cancellation features like the Xiaomi Buds 5 and Xiaomi Buds 4 Pro. Xiaomi Buds 5 Price, Specifications Xiaomi is expected to announce the Xiaomi Buds 5 Pro alongside the Xiaomi 15 series globally on March 2. The vanilla Xiaomi Buds 5 are already available in the company’s home market since last year. They were launched in China in July last year with a price tag of CNY 699 (roughly Rs. 8,000). The earphones come in Frost Blue, Moon Shadow ******, Snow Mountain White, and Titanium Gold (translated from ********) colourways. They have an IP54 rating for dust and splash resistance and have an adaptive noise cancellation (ANC) feature. For connectivity, the Xiaomi Buds 5 have Bluetooth 5.4 with support for AAC, SBC, aptX Lossless and aptX Adaptive audio codecs. Some models of the earbuds support LC3 codec as well. The charging case of the earbud houses a 480mAh battery, while each earbud is equipped with a 35mAh cell. They are claimed to offer a total battery life of up to 39 hours with the charging case without ANC. Affiliate links may be automatically generated – see our ethics statement for details. Source link #Xiaomi #Buds #Pro #Renders #Leak #Online #Tipped #Harman #AudioEFX #Tuning Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

Trump administration hasn’t complied with order to halt foreign aid freeze, judge says Trump administration hasn’t complied with order to halt foreign aid freeze, judge says U.S. President Donald Trump looks on in the Oval Office at the White House in Washington, U.S. Feb. 4, 2025. Elizabeth Frantz | Reuters The Trump administration has not fully complied with a court order pausing the freezing of foreign assistance grants and contracts, a federal judge ruled Thursday. U.S. District Judge Amir Ali last week ordered the administration to allow the disbursement of U.S. foreign assistance after hearing claims from federal contractors challenging an executive order signed by President Donald Trump pausing nearly all foreign assistance. Ali determined that a “blanket suspension of congressionally appropriated foreign aid” had caused irreparable harm to the contractors and was likely not allowed under the Administrative Procedure Act. Earlier this week, the administration said in a notice of compliance that the State Department and the U.S. Agency for International Development had reviewed the thousands of contracts and grants it had canceled as part of the aid freeze and determined that “substantially all” of the terminations were allowed under the terms of the contracts. In response, Ali suggested Thursday that the administration was not fully abiding by his court order pausing the funding freeze and instead searching for new ways to justify its pause on large amounts of aid. “By enjoining Defendants and their agents from implementing any directives to undertake such blanket suspension, the Court was not inviting Defendants to continue the suspension while they reviewed contracts and legal authorities to come up with a new, post-hoc rationalization for the en masse suspension,” Ali wrote. The judge said the Trump administration has yet to offer evidence to rebut the charge that its blanket suspension of foreign aid will cause irreparable harm or that it has fully considered the implications the pause could have on interests that rely on the aid. “The Court stands prepared to consider such arguments and evidence at the preliminary injunction stage,” Ali wrote. “However, to the extent Defendants have continued the blanket suspension, they are ordered to immediately cease it.” The judge stopped short of holding the administration in contempt. A spokesperson for the White House did not immediately return a request for comment. The day of his second inauguration, Trump signed an executive order pausing all “foreign development assistance” funding for 90 days. The order directed all federal department and agency heads to immediately pause new obligations and disbursements of aid to foreign countries and nongovernmental organizations. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, days after being confirmed, ordered an immediate stop to nearly all foreign assistance funded through the State Department and USAID. The foreign aid pause case is not the first time of his second term that the Trump administration has been found by a judge to be in violation of a court order. Earlier this month, a federal judge in Rhode Island ruled that the Trump administration had violated his order halting a broad federal funding freeze, which included a pause to foreign aid but also to domestic grants and loans. The memo enacting that pause, which came from the Office of Management and Budget, was rescinded in late January. Source link #Trump #administration #hasnt #complied #order #halt #foreign #aid #freeze #judge Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

Synthetic Hexagonal Diamond Surpasses Natural Diamonds in Hardness and Stability Synthetic Hexagonal Diamond Surpasses Natural Diamonds in Hardness and Stability A team of researchers has successfully created a synthetic diamond that exhibits greater hardness than its natural counterpart. The development involved scientists from multiple ******** institutions collaborating with a researcher from Umeå University in Sweden. Their findings describe a process where graphite is subjected to extreme heat and pressure, resulting in the formation of a synthetic diamond with a hexagonal lattice structure. Unlike traditional cubic-lattice diamonds, which are commonly found in nature and synthetic production, this new structure enhances hardness and thermal stability. New Insights from Nature Materials Study According to the study published in Nature Materials, previous efforts to produce hexagonal diamonds have been hindered by limitations in size and purity. The research team addressed these challenges by heating graphene under controlled high-pressure conditions, allowing the material to transform into a structured synthetic diamond with the desired lattice configuration. As reported by Phys.org, the first sample produced measured in millimeters and demonstrated an ability to withstand pressures of up to 155 GPa and temperatures reaching 1,100 degree Celsius. In comparison, natural diamonds generally endure pressures between 70 and 100 GPa and can only maintain stability up to 700 degree Celsius. Potential Industrial Applications As per the researchers, the newly developed synthetic diamond is unlikely to be used for jewellery due to its structural properties. Instead, its enhanced hardness and thermal resistance could make it suitable for industrial applications such as drilling, machining, data storage, and thermal management. The ability to produce this type of diamond at a larger scale remains a focus for further research. For the latest tech news and reviews, follow Gadgets 360 on X, Facebook, WhatsApp, Threads and Google News. For the latest videos on gadgets and tech, subscribe to our YouTube channel. If you want to know everything about top influencers, follow our in-house Who’sThat360 on Instagram and YouTube. Google Chrome for iOS Is Getting a ‘Search Screen with Google Lens’ Feature Tecno Camon 40 Series Set to Debut at MWC 2025; Will Feature Upgraded Universal Tone Source link #Synthetic #Hexagonal #Diamond #Surpasses #Natural #Diamonds #Hardness #Stability Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

Canada beats Team USA in overtime thriller to win hockey’s first-ever 4 Nations Face-off championship – CNN Canada beats Team USA in overtime thriller to win hockey’s first-ever 4 Nations Face-off championship – CNN Canada beats Team USA in overtime thriller to win hockey’s first-ever 4 Nations Face-off championship CNNJustin Trudeau sends fiery message to US after Canada’s 4 Nations win Fox NewsCanada Just Beat the United States in Hockey. What the NHL Players Did Afterward Was Inspiring Inc.4 Nations Face-Off: Canada beats USA in OT on Connor McDavid goal to win championship game Yahoo SportsConnor McDavid scores in OT to give Canada 3-2 win over United States in 4 Nations Face-Off final The Associated Press Source link #Canada #beats #Team #USA #overtime #thriller #win #hockeys #firstever #Nations #Faceoff #championship #CNN Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

The First Berserker Khazan Release Date—Platforms, Free Demo, Editions & Price The First Berserker Khazan Release Date—Platforms, Free Demo, Editions & Price Neople’s The First Berserker Khazan has sleeper-hit potential, and its 2025 release isn’t one to miss. Whether you want to know which platforms it’s on, how much it costs, or how to play its exclusive demo, we have everything you need to know before you become a berserker yourself. 2024 smashed it in the Soulslike department. FromSoftware delivered its long-awaited Shadow of the Erdtree DLC—Radahn still gives me nightmares—and Stellar Blade was more than stellar. Now, it’s time to look ahead to 2025. The First Berserker Khazan is the first hard-hitting heavyweight in the Soulslike division. Khazan’s backstory is nearly as brutal and horrific as the punishing gameplay. But to see if this is the start of something special, I’m here to guide you through the title’s key tidbits before launch. When Does The First Berserker Khazan Come Out? We’re hyped. Credit to Neople Prepare yourself for The First Berserker Khazan’s March 27 release date. Yes, the vengeance-hungry warrior graces screens in March. Not content with battling those who wronged him, The First Berserker Khazan also has to stave off the presence of other March 2025 games including Atomfall and Split Fiction. The First Berserker Khazan Platforms PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X, and PC users can prepare for The First Berserker Khazan launch. I’m afraid it’s bad news if I haven’t mentioned your platform. PS4 and Xbox One users have to miss out, as do Nintendo Switch owners. I keep questioning if any 2025 releases will get an eventual Switch 2 port. The console is supposed to be a million times more powerful (might be an exaggeration) and a future Switch 2 launch might not be out of the question. How to Play The First Berserker Khazan Demo Search for The First Berserker Khazan demo on PlayStation, Xbox, or PC, download it, and get playing. It’s honestly this simple. But here are some handy instructions to follow precisely if you’re struggling: Choose which platform you want to play The First Berserker Khazan demo on. Go to the PlayStation Store, Microsoft Store, or Steam. Search for The First Berserker Khazan. Select the free demo. Click to download it. Once it’s ready, you can jump straight into the The First Berserker Khazan demo. The First Berserker Khazan Editions & Price The First Berserker Khazan has two editions: Standard Edition ($59.99/£49.99) and Deluxe Edition ($69.99/£54.99). Neople is dispensing with luxuriousness where The First Berserker Khazan is concerned. It’s just a Standard or Deluxe Edition to pick from. Most games release with several editions, so this is a more straightforward selection for once. It’s not a full-price release, nor is it getting the hype of a GTA 6 or even Assassin’s Creed Shadows, but don’t sleep on The First Berserker Khazan. It looks brutal and bold. Do you think it could be this year’s Shadow of the Erdtree? Or is it another Soulslike clone? Leave your thoughts in the comments. We have many other release date hubs for you to keep checking back in with: Lost Soul Aside, Killing Floor 3, Tales of the Shire A Lord of the Rings Game, and WWE 2K25. SUBSCRIBE to our newsletter to receive the latest news and exclusive leaks every week! No Spam. Source link #Berserker #Khazan #Release #DatePlatforms #Free #Demo #Editions #Price Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

Bitcoin: Bulls Hope for a Weekly Close Above $99,800 to Regain Control Bitcoin: Bulls Hope for a Weekly Close Above $99,800 to Regain Control Bitcoin must close above $99,800 to confirm an uptrend and break out of its short-term range. Failure to hold momentum could push Bitcoin toward key supports at $95,100 and $92,300. ETF outflows remain a concern, but bullish sentiment is supported by positive regulatory signals and Trump’s crypto-friendly stance. Looking for actionable trade ideas to navigate the current market volatility? Subscribe here to unlock access to InvestingPro’s AI-selected stock winners. has stabilized after early February’s volatility and is now moving within a narrow range. The cryptocurrency has faced resistance at $97,700 this month and found support around $95,300. Buying activity in the second half of the week helped steady the price. It closed above $97,700 yesterday and moved into the $98,000 range. This move signals the potential for an uptrend and pushed Bitcoin above short-term EMA levels. For the trend to strengthen, Bitcoin needs to close the week above $99,800. If it gains momentum, it will break the Fibonacci 0.144 resistance and exit its short-term range, attracting more buyers, potentially pushing the cryptocurrency toward the next $104,000-$106,000 resistance zone. The resistance zone marks the top of a consolidation phase that started in December. If Bitcoin breaks through, it may gain momentum toward $118,000-$122,000 and later $124,000, aligning with the midline of its trading channel. The Stochastic RSI on the daily chart shows strong upward momentum, signaling a possible rise. However, Bitcoin must break the resistance just below $100,000 with high trading volume to confirm a bullish trend. Conversely, if it loses momentum and stays below $99,800, market stress could increase. Selling pressure may push the price toward the 3-month EMA at $95,100, which acts as short-term support. If Bitcoin falls below this level, it could drop to $92,300. A daily close below that may lead to $86,400 as the next support. If the decline continues, the price could target the $74,000-$80,000 range. Trump’s Pro-Crypto Stance Boosts Market Confidence The recent rise in Bitcoin over the past two days came after US President Trump reaffirmed his positive stance on crypto markets. Speaking at the Future Investment Initiative Institute conference in Miami, Trump said Bitcoin’s record prices reflect market confidence in him. His supportive remarks have renewed hopes that the US may establish a Bitcoin reserve. Reports of individual states working on Bitcoin reserves have also added to market optimism. Other positive factors include growing confidence in US crypto regulations, which has helped limit downward price movements. Speaking this week, Atlanta Fed President predicted two cuts in 2025 due to a slowdown in the labor market. This statement was seen as a bullish signal for Bitcoin. Despite recent positive developments, spot Bitcoin ETFs have seen significant outflows that have impacted the price. In the past three days, US-traded spot Bitcoin ETFs recorded nearly $500 million in withdrawals. Bitcoin’s rise toward $98,000 suggests bullish momentum, but sustained outflows could increase selling pressure. Bitcoin’s Key Support and Resistance Levels Resistance Levels: $99,800: A daily close above this level could strengthen the uptrend. $104,000-$106,000: Target zone if the upward movement continues. $112,000-$118,000: Potential acceleration points if Bitcoin breaks out of consolidation. $124,000: Key target for the medium-term uptrend. Support Levels: $95,100: 3-month EMA support. $92,300: Could be tested if Bitcoin closes below this level. $86,400: First strong support zone if selling pressure increases. $74,000-$80,000: Main support zone if the decline continues. Consolidation (Horizontal Movement) If Bitcoin stays between $95,100 and $99,800, market direction will remain uncertain. Buyers and sellers may wait for a breakout with high volume. The Stochastic RSI signals bullish potential, but Bitcoin must break $100,000 with strong momentum. **** Disclaimer: This article is written for informational purposes only. It is not intended to encourage the purchase of assets in any way, nor does it constitute a solicitation, offer, recommendation or suggestion to invest. I would like to remind you that all assets are evaluated from multiple perspectives and are highly risky, so any investment decision and the associated risk belongs to the investor. We also do not provide any investment advisory services. Source link #Bitcoin #Bulls #Hope #Weekly #Close #Regain #Control Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

What to know about the key laws invoked in the scores of Trump legal challenges What to know about the key laws invoked in the scores of Trump legal challenges Washington — Dozens of lawsuits have been filed in the past month challenging executive actions President Trump has taken since the start of his second term in office, and federal courts from coast to coast have started scrutinizing the president’s plans. The challenges are aimed at unwinding many of the president’s policies, which they believe are unlawful. They have targeted his plans to crack down on ******** immigration, shrink the size of the federal government and cut spending, as well as Mr. Trump’s pledge to end what he believes is the weaponization of the Justice Department and FBI. Many of the lawsuits hinge on alleged violations of decades-old federal laws: The Administrative Procedure Act, the Privacy Act and the Impoundment Control Act. The measures prescribe certain procedures and policies that the executive branch must follow when it comes to taking certain actions. Here is what to know about each of the laws: Administrative Procedure Act Lawsuits challenging Mr. Trump’s actions on gender ideology, immigration, civil service rules, FBI agents, deferred resignations, USAID cuts, foreign aid pauses and federal assistance freezes all have one thing in common: they allege the Trump administration and senior officials have violated the Administrative Procedure Act. President Trump signs an executive order withholding federal funding from schools and universities that impose a COVID-19 vaccine mandate in the Oval Office at the White House on Feb. 14, 2025, in Washington, D.C. Andrew Harnik / Getty Images Enacted by Congress in 1946, the law, known as the APA, established the process that federal agencies must follow when creating new rules and regulations, and how courts review those actions. The law’s requirements do not apply to the president. “In the late 1940s, at a time when agencies were doing more and more, and agencies often had their own procedures for doing certain things, Congress wanted to largely standardize the procedures that agencies need to go through when they either make or repeal or reform a regulation or when they take specific action through agency adjudication,” said Adam White, a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute who focuses on the Supreme Court and the administrative state. The APA requires agencies to provide the public with notice of a proposed rule and the chance to offer written comment on it. Once the notice-and-comment ******* is closed, the agency then publishes its final rule in the Federal Register. This must be done at least 30 days before the rule takes effect. Courts reviewing a challenged agency action typically consider whether an agency’s action is “arbitrary and capricious.” The standard of review requires an agency to show that it engaged in “reasoned decisionmaking” by providing an adequate explanation for its decision, according to the Congressional Research Service. The agency also has to provide “the essential facts upon which the administrative decision was based.” “To make a rule, an agency under the APA normally has to give reasons for its rule, and arbitrary and capricious review is a consideration of those reasons,” White said. Arbitrary and capricious review is deferential to the agency, which will often prevail in cases alleging violations of the APA if their explanation is “even plausibly reasonable,” White said. “The government usually wins because it’s a very deferential standard of review, but every once in a while it loses because it just didn’t connect the dots on the policy it was trying to explain,” he said. Most of the lawsuits filed against the Trump administration that seek to invalidate its actions allege violations of the APA, and specifically claim the targeted policies are arbitrary and capricious. In one of the cases that challenges a memo freezing federal assistance, a group of nonprofit organizations argues that the funding pause is arbitrary and capricious “in multiple respects.” The suit argues that the directive fails to acknowledge the “catastrophic practical consequences” of halting federal assistance and did not articulate why a review of existing grant programs requires they be paused. But the challengers also allege that OMB does not have the authority to unilaterally freeze federal financial assistance programs government-wide. The APA has tripped up the last two administrations. In a decision from June 2020, the Supreme Court ruled that Mr. Trump’s rescission of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals immigration program, or DACA, violated the APA. The high court found the rescission was arbitrary and capricious, and said the first Trump administration failed to consider certain issues when it walked back the DACA program, such as the impacts to young people who were enrolled. Then, in its last term, the Supreme Court blocked a rule from the Environmental Protection Agency under former President Joe Biden that aimed to address the harmful smog that travels from certain states. The court said a group of states that challenged the rule were likely to prevail on their claim that it was arbitrary and capricious, in part because of the EPA’s decisionmaking regarding concerns raised during the notice-and-comment *******. Privacy Act Enacted in 1974, the Privacy Act was passed during the Watergate scandal and at the advent of new technologies like mainframe computer systems that allowed for the storage of millions of Americans’ information. “It was Congress’ effort to control what government may do with the information it collects about American citizens and to provide, to a limited degree, an ability for American citizens to review and respond to that use through lawsuits and more particularly through congressional oversight,” Paul Rosenzweig, an expert in homeland security and national security, told CBS News. The law governs the government’s collection and use of Americans’ information kept by agencies. It lays out how the government must store that information, who can access it and when the government can use the data or disclose it. The Privacy Act also prohibits agencies from disclosing records pertaining to an individual without their written consent, unless it falls under an exception. These 12 exceptions allow the government to use personal information in certain circumstances without the individual’s approval, such as for law enforcement activity, or when the information cannot be tied with a specific person, such as for statistical research. A “need-to-know” exception lets an agency disclose Privacy Act records to its officers and employees who need the record to perform their duties, while another allows disclosure when the information is needed for a “routine use.” The Privacy Act gives Americans the right to sue an agency for an alleged violation of the law. A well-known case was brought by Linda Tripp, who was a central figure in the impeachment scandal involving former President Bill Clinton. Tripp accused the Defense Department of violating the Privacy Act by disclosing personal information to a newspaper. She filed three lawsuits against the agency, and the case eventually ended with a settlement in which the Defense Department agreed to pay Tripp $595,000. Now, the law has been invoked in several lawsuits stemming from the work of the White House’s Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, which was established by Mr. Trump as part of his efforts to shrink the size of government. In November, the president said Elon Musk would lead DOGE, though the White House has since said he is a special government employee and senior adviser to Mr. Trump, and not the administrator of the task force. Since DOGE’s formal creation on Mr. Trump’s first day in office, its employees have been dispatched to more than a dozen federal agencies and started accessing data systems. But their efforts have raised concerns among labor unions and Democratic-led states, which have in turn filed lawsuits seeking to block DOGE’s access. “This is a novel set of circumstances involving wholesale disclosures and wholesale access,” Rosenzweig said. He noted that while Privacy Act lawsuits typically center on a specific person’s complaint, “we’ve never seen that many suits of this scope and scale. We’ve also never seen an administration purport to authorize access to such a wide range of people who would not normally be given access: special government employees in DOGE.” The suits allege that several agencies — including the Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services, Treasury and Education — have violated the Privacy Act by disclosing Americans’ personal information to DOGE staff without their consent. “People who must share information with the federal government should not be forced to share information with Elon Musk or his ‘DOGE.’ And federal law says they do not have to,” lawyers for a group of unions wrote in a lawsuit against Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent challenging DOGE’s access to sensitive personal and financial information maintained by the Bureau of the Fiscal Service. A man walks past the U.S. Treasury building in Washington, D.C., on Feb. 6, 2025. MANDEL NGAN/AFP via Getty Images But the Trump administration has argued that DOGE employees are authorized to access the records and are being supervised by the agencies to which they have been detailed. At the Treasury Department, for example, Justice Department lawyers invoked the need-to-know exception and said in a filing that DOGE team members were agency employees who have a need for the records to perform their duties. “Need-to-know is based upon need and thus the asserted justification for why they must have access is fair ground for court-based inquiry,” Rosenzweig said. “For as long as the Privacy Act has been around, that need has been measured by both the asserted government interests and, to some degree, the sensitivity of the data at issue. It’s not canonical, but it is a common-sense assessment that if you really want to know my health records, you better have a damn good reason.” The cases are in their early stages, and no judge has ruled definitively on whether the Trump administration has violated the Privacy Act by allowing Musk and DOGE access to agency records without Americans’ consent. Judges have, though, denied preliminary requests to prevent DOGE staff from getting into systems at some agencies. In one decision from U.S. District Judge John Bates, the court found that a group of labor unions was unlikely to succeed on their claims that the Trump administration is violating the Privacy Act by allowing DOGE access to systems at the Departments of Labor and Health and Human Services, and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. The Impoundment Control Act Court fights aimed at the Trump administration’s 90-day pause on foreign development assistance argue that it is violating the Impoundment Control Act, while federal judges overseeing cases involving the Office of Management and Budget’s memo halting federal aid have both cited the law. Enacted in 1974, the law aimed to reassert Congress’ power of the purse by providing the procedures for when a president wants to suspend appropriations that have already been approved by Congress. The law was enacted following attempts by President Richard Nixon’s administration to not spend money that had been appropriated by Congress, according to the Government Accountability Office. The measure allows the president to temporarily withhold or cut approved funds in certain circumstances. But under the law, he must first send a “special message” to Congress that details the request to rescind or withhold funds. In the case of rescissions, Congress must then pass legislation cutting the funding. The administration’s attempts to halt foreign aid and federal assistance programs may have been aimed at sparking legal challenges to the Impoundment Control Act, as they have done. OMB Director Russell Vought said during his confirmation hearing that Mr. Trump believes the impoundment law is unconstitutional. In decisions temporarily halting the administration’s funding freeze while litigation continues, judges have raised the Impoundment Control Act. U.S. District Judge Loren AliKhan pointed to the Impoundment Control Act as one example of the legislature prohibiting “the executive branch from encroaching on Congress’s appropriations power.” U.S. District Judge John McConnell issued a separate ruling in which he found there is “no evidence that the executive has followed the law by notifying Congress” to bring about a pause that would be legally allowed. Melissa Quinn Melissa Quinn is a politics reporter for CBSNews.com. She has written for outlets including the Washington Examiner, Daily Signal and Alexandria Times. Melissa covers U.S. politics, with a focus on the Supreme Court and federal courts. Source link #key #laws #invoked #scores #Trump #legal #challenges Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content] For verified travel tips and real support, visit: [Hidden Content]

Jenni Hermoso to appeal Luis Rubiales World Cup kiss verdict Jenni Hermoso to appeal Luis Rubiales World Cup kiss verdict Footballer Jenni Hermoso will appeal against a verdict after Spain’s former football federation boss Luis Rubiales was fined for kissing the player without her consent during the 2023 World Cup. On Thursday, Rubiales was found guilty of ******* assault and ordered by Spain’s High Court to pay a fine of €10,800 (£8,942). Rubiales and three of his former colleagues were acquitted of coercion, after allegedly trying to pressure Hermoso into publicly saying that the kiss was consensual. The incident sparked nationwide protests and calls for the resignation of Rubiales, who has also said he will appeal against the verdict. The High Court ruling also banned Rubiales from going within a 200m radius of Hermoso and from communicating with her for one year, the court said in a statement. Prosecutors had demanded a prison sentence for Rubiales. During the 2023 World Cup, as Spain’s players received their medals after defeating England in Sydney to win, Rubiales grabbed Hermoso by the head and kissed her on the lips. He later described the kiss as an “act of affection” and told the court that he was “absolutely sure” Hermoso had given her consent. In her testimony earlier this month, Hermoso insisted that she had not given consent and that the incident had “stained one of the happiest days of my life”. Following the verdict on Thursday, Hermoso’s lawyer, Angel Chavarria, said Hermoso intended to appeal, but did not provide further details. Three of Rubiales’s former colleagues who were also on trial, accused of colluding in the alleged coercion – Jorge Vilda, coach of the World Cup-winning side, Rubén Rivera, the Real Federación Española de Fútbol (RFEF)’s former head of marketing, and Albert Luque, former sporting director – were cleared of those charges. Source link #Jenni #Hermoso #appeal #Luis #Rubiales #World #Cup #kiss #verdict Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

****** Ops 6 Season 2 Zombies Update Rolls Out with a Bug That Punishes You for Taking a Break ****** Ops 6 Season 2 Zombies Update Rolls Out with a Bug That Punishes You for Taking a Break ****** Ops 6 devs are being criticized for rolling out a patch update with a bug causing the game to ****** the moment you hit pause. This is a big blunder from the developers’ side since it shows a lack of QA done before releasing the update. The recent update has one of the most annoying and significant bugs. Image Credit: Activision Pausing is the most basic feature and the most crucial too. It is necessary to momentarily halt the game sometimes to manage some real-life interruptions without causing any harm to the progress in-game. But seems like BO6 players don’t have that luxury, thanks to a bug. ****** Ops 6 Zombie mode’s pausing bug is too annoying ****** Ops 6’s S02 update teaches a valuable lesson to its developer. Image Credit: Activision Letting the update roll out with such a massive bug raises questions about the effectiveness of its QA procedures. This indicates a lack of attention and players are extremely furious with the developers for letting such a big problem slip through. This oversight suggests that there are some problems with the testing protocols which need fixing as soon as possible. Critical features are being overlooked and it is high time Activision makes amendments. Fans are also not happy with the game’s anti-cheat. #BlackOps6 #Warzone Due to a platform issue, Season 02 Reloaded is launching with some known issues that will be addressed in an update to follow soon. See below for details: — Call of Duty Updates (@CODUpdates) February 20, 2025 #BlackOps6 #Zombies Today’s update will introduce two known issues that will impact Zombies, which we are working to address ASAP: Players may encounter a ****** when attempting to pause a Zombies match. Citadelle des Morts Oil Trap kills will temporarily no longer… — Call of Duty Updates (@CODUpdates) February 20, 2025 How did something like pausing causing crashing ever make it to the LIVE release in the first place? That should be been spotted by quality assurance. — dylanjkl (@dylanjkl) February 20, 2025 I think it’s absolutely wild to launch an update with known issues. It essentially bugged, and then deleted my level 96 save. It let me load it, game immediately crashed, now the save file is gone. — Kevin Dion (@intervention302) February 21, 2025 The issue was addressed by Call of Duty’s official Twitter handle responsible for delivering real-time news of the things going on in the live-service space. It is a good thing that the devs were quick to respond. However, a quick response can’t take away from the fact that it did, in fact, release an update with such a huge problem. It will be a while before the developer regains its player base’s trust. The recent update has also added new maps to the game. Bugs are always not a big deal in live-service games New maps have been introduced in the recent update. Image Credit: Activision Live-service games thrive on regular updates that keep the experience of playing them fresh and exciting. During these various updates, some bugs do find a way into the game, and it is very normal for that to happen since not all the bugs can be found by the team. Most developers get to know about the various bugs in their games by putting the game in the hands of players. A lot of times bugs do surface and then they are duly addressed. However, in the present case, the bug in question is a big one. It is not something that the team could not have found had they paid enough attention during the QA procedure. What do you think about it? Let us know in the comments below. Source link #****** #Ops #Season #Zombies #Update #Rolls #Bug #Punishes #Break Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content] For verified travel tips and real support, visit: [Hidden Content]

Hegseth circulating list to congressional Republicans of top generals, officers he is interested in firing Hegseth circulating list to congressional Republicans of top generals, officers he is interested in firing Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has been circulating a list to congressional Republicans with the names of top military generals and officers he is interested in firing, Fox News has learned. Among the names on the list are U.S. Navy Adm. Lisa Franchetti, the current Chief of Naval Operations and the second woman to be promoted to a four-star Admiral in the Navy’s history, a senior official said. “She is one of the folks on the list,” the official said. Hegseth Orders Pentagon To Make Plans For Major Budget Cuts To Align With Trump’s Priorities U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth attends a NATO Defence Ministers meeting at the Alliance’s headquarters in Brussels, Belgium last week. So far, the list contains a “handful of names,” but it may not be the final version. It has been conveyed to Republican members of Congress, not Democrats. Several top Republicans on the Armed Services Committee said they heard about the list, but had not seen it themselves. “I may have heard a rumor, but I’m not going to speculate on rumors,” Senate Armed Services Committee Chair Roger Wicker (R-Miss.) told Fox. “No one has approached me about such a list other than people asking me questions.” Read On The Fox News App Hegseth was slated to travel Friday to Guantanamo Bay, Cuba to conduct a media interview, but the trip has been postponed until Tuesday. Some officials have taken the postponement to be another sign that firings could be imminent. Late Friday is often the time that firings are announced in Washington. Trump Admin Expected To Enact Layoff At Defense Department Amid Doge Arrival: Report Chief of Naval Operations, Admiral Lisa Franchetti on Thursday, May 23, 2024. During her tenure, Franchetti commanded two aircraft carrier strike groups in the Pacific and served as the commander of U.S. Naval Forces Korea. She also served as the deputy chief of naval operations for warfighting development, and director for strategy, plans, and policy of the Joint Staff. As head of the Navy’s 6th Fleet, she oversaw the Navy’s response to Syrian President Bashar al Assad’s use of chemical weapons. “She is a war fighter with combat experience. She’s an operational leader. She’s a strategist. She’s an innovator,”Adm. Michael Gilday, the former Chief of Naval Operations, said when Franchetti was nominated by then-President Joe Biden in July 2023. “She’s a team builder. She’s a trailblazer. She’s an example of personal and professional resilience and a testament to the power of the American dream to inspire service and sacrifice,” Gilday said. Hegseth has been outspoken about his belief that women should not serve in combat roles. “I’m straight up saying that we should not have women in combat roles – it hasn’t made us more effective, hasn’t made us more lethal, has made fighting more complicated,” he said on a Nov. 7, 2024 episode of the “Shawn Ryan Show” podcast. He later clarified his comments, saying his remarks had been “misconstrued, that I somehow don’t support women in the military, some of our greatest warriors, our best warriors out there are women.” Joint Chiefs Chairman C.Q. Brown is also rumored to be on the list. When asked if he would fire Brown on his first day in office, Hegseth said “I look forward to working with him.” Brown was standing next to Hegseth as he answered the question. Original article source: Hegseth circulating list to congressional Republicans of top generals, officers he is interested in firing Source link #Hegseth #circulating #list #congressional #Republicans #top #generals #officers #interested #firing Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content] For verified travel tips and real support, visit: [Hidden Content]

Senate begins ‘vote-a-rama’ to advance $340 billion budget for Trump’s agenda Senate begins ‘vote-a-rama’ to advance $340 billion budget for Trump’s agenda WASHINGTON — The Republican-controlled Senate began a series of votes Thursday on a party-line vehicle to pass a $340 billion budget blueprint designed to boost funding for President Donald Trump’s immigration enforcement efforts, energy production and the military. They planned to grind it out in a “vote-a-rama” that’s expected to continue into the early hours of Friday morning. Eventually, they expect to approve the measure along party lines. Republicans have 53 senators and just one of them, Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., voted against proceeding to the budget, along with all Democrats. “Without this bill passing,” said Senate Budget Committee Chair Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., “there is no hope of getting money for the border.” The Senate plan conflicts with a budget plan making its way through the Republican-controlled House, which also includes a $4.5 trillion tax cut and a $4 trillion debt limit hike. Trump has endorsed the House version, but GOP senators have indicated that their version could be a fallback plan if the House blueprint fails. “To my House colleagues: We will all get there together. If you can pass the one big, beautiful bill that makes the tax cuts permanent — not four or five years — then we’ll all cheer over here. Nothing would please me more than Speaker [Mike] Johnson being able to put together the bill that President Trump wants. I want that to happen, but I cannot sit on the sidelines and not have a plan B,” Graham said on the Senate floor Thursday, before voting began. Paul said the budget contradicts GOP rhetoric about reducing spending. “If we were fiscally conservative, why wouldn’t we take the savings from Elon Musk and DOGE and move it over here and help with the border?” Paul said on the Senate floor. “Why would we be doing a brand new bill to increase spending by $340 billion?” Under the process, Senate rules allow for members to propose an unlimited number of amendments. Democrats sought to force Republicans to take difficult votes through amendments, which the majority party voted down one by one. Many were aimed at protecting benefits and programs they say the GOP is targeting for cuts. One amendment proposed by Senate ********* Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., would have prohibited the bill from cutting taxes for the wealthy if even $1 is cut from Medicaid, a health care program for low-income Americans. It was rejected 49-51, with just two Republicans joining Democrats in favor of it: Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, and Josh Hawley, R-Mo. If the Senate passes the budget resolution, it would instruct committees to craft legislation that satisfies its goals, which can be fast-tracked to the floor and passed by a simple majority. The measure seeks $175 billion for immigration and border enforcement, on the request of the Trump administration’s border czar Tom Homan. And it calls for expanding the military by $150 billion, even as Trump and Elon Musk say they want to cut costs at the Pentagon. The “budget reconciliation” process allows members to bypass the 60-vote threshold in the Senate, but it limits provisions to spending and taxes. Democrats can challenge policies that run afoul of the “Byrd rule” constraints and call on the Senate parliamentarian to strip them out. For months, Republicans in the House and Senate have clashed over whether the party should try to pass Trump’s legislative priorities in one reconciliation bill or two. But on Wednesday, Trump gave a full-throated endorsement to the House’s strategy, taking to Truth Social to say he wanted “ONE BIG BEAUTIFUL BILL” and urging the Senate to pump the brakes on their two-bill reconciliation push. The House plan calls for a sweeping package that includes border enforcement, expanding energy production, and renewing the expiring 2017 Trump tax cuts. The Senate plan would be narrower and would not include renewing the tax cuts that were a signature accomplishment of Trump’s first term. Instead, those tax cuts would come in a second reconciliation package later this year, senators have said. If the House and Senate can get on the same page and pass an identical budget resolution, that would only be the start of a very long and complicated legislative process. In the House, conservatives are demanding steep spending cuts while more moderate Republicans are getting skittish due to potential cuts to Medicaid. “The budget resolution is just patty cake. The real work begins when you start putting together the bill and the pay-fors,” said Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., a member of both the Budget and Appropriations committees. “The only prediction I’ll make is that a reconciliation bill will not pass either the House or the Senate without substantial spending reductions.” Vice President JD Vance, who met with senators this week, said he believed Congress is “on track” to pass a reconciliation package in May or June, while acknowledging that was an ambitious timeline. “I think the president has learned a lot about how D.C. works. And I actually talked to the president about this yesterday, and he said to me, ‘Look, it’s very rare that you can get two reconciliation bills done in one Congress,’ which is why he thinks we’ve got to do a lot with that one big beautiful bill,” Vance said during an appearance Thursday at the Conservative Political Action Conference. “It’s early, right? This stuff takes time to put together,” he continued. “I think if you had a record-pace reconciliation bill, we would get this thing done in May or in June. I think we’re on track to do that.” Source link #Senate #begins #votearama #advance #billion #budget #Trumps #agenda Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

Don’t miss this rare $100 saving on the excellent KitchenAid Artisan Stand Mixer Don’t miss this rare $100 saving on the excellent KitchenAid Artisan Stand Mixer While air fryer deals are reasonably commonplace, it’s less often we see a big discount on stand mixers. Perfect for avid bakers and amateur chefs, we’ve spotted a rare deal on a highly popular stand mixer. Today, you can buy the KitchenAid Artisan Stand Mixer at Amazon for $349.95 (was $449.99). It was slightly cheaper during the ****** Friday sales with an extra $20 off, but this is the next best price and is sure to remain that way for a while to come. The KitchenAid Artisan Stand Mixer is one of the best in the business and is highly regarded. It offers a five-quart stainless steel bowl with a comfortable handle so there’s enough capacity to mix dough for nine dozen cookies or four loaves of bread in just one batch. That’s scratching the surface of what it can do too with many optional attachments to help you achieve your goals. Today’s best KitchenAid deal If you’re seeking one of the best food processors, go all in and invest in a stand mixer. The KitchenAid Artisan Stand Mixer’s huge capacity means you can bake all your holiday cookies in no time, while there are 10 speeds to ensure you get everything mixed just how you need it. You can easily add ingredients via the tilt-head design while there are many optional accessories to change up how you use it. The nice thing about KitchenAid devices is they’re robustly made while still being very simple to use, so you can spend more time working on your recipes than trying to figure out your appliances. It even looks pretty stylish so it’ll look good alongside the best air fryers if your general aim is for a modern-looking kitchen. It’s easy to think you’ll be fine with a cheaper stand mixer but the KitchenAid will set you up for many years and remind you that you get what you pay for. Talking of quality products, there are also some excellent Dyson vacuum deals going on right now if you want to clean up your kitchen more efficiently. Another option could be seeking out one of the best coffee machines. Source link #Dont #rare #saving #excellent #KitchenAid #Artisan #Stand #Mixer Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content] For verified travel tips and real support, visit: [Hidden Content]

Exclusive | Rihanna to grace cover of Harper’s Bazaar after A$AP Rocky trial – Page Six Exclusive | Rihanna to grace cover of Harper’s Bazaar after A$AP Rocky trial – Page Six Exclusive | Rihanna to grace cover of Harper’s Bazaar after A$AP Rocky trial Page SixA$AP Rocky and Rihanna Promise to Name Their Next Baby This After Court Case – E! Online E! NEWSA$AP Relli breaks silence after A$AP Rocky is found not guilty in gun assault trial New York Post A$AP Relli Calls Out ‘Gossiping’ In New Statement Following A$AP Rocky’s Acquittal Rolling StoneASAP Rocky case: Rihanna, Spike Lee, more stars react to rapper’s verdict USA TODAY Source link #Exclusive #Rihanna #grace #cover #Harpers #Bazaar #AAP #Rocky #trial #Page Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

Planes diverted as China conducts rare military drill near Australia Planes diverted as China conducts rare military drill near Australia Planes flying between Australia and New Zealand have been diverted as China conducts a closely-scrutinised military exercise in nearby waters that may involve live fire. The rare presence of three ******** naval ships in the Tasman Sea has put both antipodean countries on alert in recent days, with Australia calling it “unusual”. *********** airline Qantas told the BBC it “temporarily adjusted” the routes of its planes and other carriers have reportedly done the same. China has said the exercise, which is taking place in international waters, is in accordance with international law. The ships are now reportedly 340 nautical miles east of the New South Wales coast of Australia, although they were said to have come as close as 150 nautical miles from Sydney at one point. Australia and New Zealand have been closely monitoring the ******** fleet – a frigate, a cruiser and a supply tanker – since last week, and have dispatched their own ships to observe them. Earlier this week, New Zealand’s Defence Minister Judith Collins said China had not informed them they would be sending warships to their region and “have not deigned to advise us on what they are doing in the Tasman Sea”, according to the New Zealand Herald. Meanwhile, Australia’s Defence Minister Richard Marles said that the ships’ presence was “not unprecedented, but it is an unusual event”. China’s foreign ministry confirmed on Friday they were doing naval training and exercises in “distant waters”. “The exercises were conducted in a safe, standard, and professional manner at all times, in accordance with relevant international laws and practices,” spokesman Guo Jiakun said. Australia’s Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said the ******** fleet issued an alert on Friday that they would start conducting exercises which may involve live fire. “This is activity that has occurred in waters consistent with international law… there has been no imminent risk of danger to any *********** assets or New Zealand assets,” he said. But Marles said the ******** had not directly notified *********** officials when they put out the alert. “What China did was put out a notification that it was intending to engage in live fire, and by that I mean a broadcast that was picked up by airlines, literally commercial planes that were flying across the Tasman,” he told the *********** Broadcasting Corporation, adding that usually such notices would be given 12 to 24 hours in advance. On Friday an Emirates plane was reportedly informed about the exercise by ******** authorities, while it was still in the air as it flew from Sydney to Christchurch. The BBC is seeking confirmation. In a statement to the BBC, Qantas confirmed that it had changed the routes of its planes flying across the Tasman Sea and said it was continually monitoring airspace. “We continue to work with the *********** government and broader industry to monitor the situation,” it added. Virgin Australia and Air New Zealand have reportedly done the same. The drill comes just days after Australia and China held a defence dialogue in Beijing where they had discussed military transparency and communication, among other things. The two countries have seen several recent tense maritime encounters. Earlier this month, Canberra said a ******** fighter jet had released flares in front of an *********** military aircraft while flying over the South China Sea. Beijing said the aircraft had “intentionally intruded” into its airspace. In May last year, Australia accused a ******** fighter plane of dropping flares close to an *********** navy helicopter that was part of a UN Security Council mission on the Yellow Sea. And in November 2023, Canberra accused Beijing’s navy of using sonar pulses in international waters off Japan, resulting in *********** divers suffering injuries. Source link #Planes #diverted #China #conducts #rare #military #drill #Australia Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

Google, Meta execs blast Europe over strict AI regulation Google, Meta execs blast Europe over strict AI regulation STOCKHOLM — Executives at U.S. tech giants Google and Meta said that Europe’s artificial intelligence industry is being held back by excessive regulation, adding to rhetoric from Donald Trump’s administration that the region’s strict tech rules are choking innovation. Speaking at the Techarena tech conference in Stockholm, Sweden, public policy chiefs at both Google and Meta used the stage as a platform to voice their concerns about the bloc’s strict approach to regulating technologies such as AI and machine learning. “I think there is now broad consensus that European regulation around technology has its issues, and sometimes it’s too fragmented, like GDPR [General Data Protection Regulation], sometimes it goes too far, like the AI Act,” Chris Yiu, Meta’s director of public policy, told an audience of tech founders and investors at Techarena on Thursday. “But the net result of all of that is that products get delayed or get watered down and European citizens and consumers suffer,” he said. Yiu pulled out a pair of Meta’s recently launched Ray-Ban branded glasses, which use AI to translate speech from one language to another or describe images for the visually impaired. “This is a profound and very human application of the technology, and it is slow to arrive in Europe because of the issues that we have around regulation,” Yiu said. Meta only began rolling out AI features for its Ray-Ban Meta glasses in some European countries in November, after a delay the firm claimed was caused by the need to reach compliance with Europe’s “complex regulatory system.” Meta previously expressed concerns about its ability to comply with the AI Act, a landmark EU law that establishes a legal and regulatory framework for the technology, flagging “unpredictable” implementation was a core issue. The firm also said that GDPR — the EU’s data privacy framework introduced in 2018 — held up the launch of its glasses in EU countries due to issues surrounding Meta’s use of Instagram and Facebook user data to train its AI models. Dorothy Chou, Google DeepMind’s head of public policy, said a key problem with Europe’s approach to regulating artificial intelligence technology was that the the AI Act was devised before ChatGPT had even come out. The AI Act was first introduced by the European Commission, the EU’s executive body, in April 2021. OpenAI launched ChatGPT in November 2022. “There is a way to use policy to create a better investment environment when it’s done in a way that promotes business” Chou said, referring to the U.S. Inflation Reduction Act as an example of policy that has led to benefits, like subsidies for electric vehicles. “I think what’s difficult is when you are regulating on a time scale that doesn’t match the technology,” Chou added. “I think what we need to do is both regulate to ensure that there is responsible application of technology, while also ensuring that the industry is thriving it all the right ways.” Big Tech ups the ante Big Tech firms more generally have been upping their rhetoric against the EU’s approach to tech regulation and ramping up lobbying efforts in an attempt to soften aspects of the AI Act. Kent Walker, Google’s president of global affairs, told Politico last month that the EU’s code of practice for general-purpose AI (GPAI) models — which refers to systems like OpenAI’s GPT family of large language models, or LLMs — was a “step in the wrong direction.” The EU AI Office, a newly created body overseeing models under the AI Act, published a second-draft code of practice for GPAI systems in December. Earlier this month, Meta’s newly appointed Chief Global Affairs Officer Joel Kaplan suggested in a live-streamed interview at an event in Brussels that the tech giant would not sign up to the code in its current form. The rules, he said, go “beyond the requirements” of the AI Act and impose “unworkable and technically unfeasible requirements.” Tech giants’ pleas for softer EU tech regulation have been emboldened of late by President Donald Trump’s new administration. At the international AI Action Summit in Paris last week, U.S. Vice President JD Vance blasted Europe for being too heavily focused on regulating artificial intelligence rather than embracing the technology’s growth potential. Harmonizing EU rules for startups Big Tech weren’t alone in calling for a more simplified regulatory regime for technology firms operating in Europe. Several venture capitalists investing in European tech startups also decried complex regulatory compliance burdens on their portfolio companies. Antoine Moyroud, a partner at Lightspeed Venture Partners, said that whereas the U.S. has been pushing forward initiatives such as the $500 billion Stargate investment project that strike a “hopeful” message around AI,” Europe’s narrative tends to be more “dramatic.” The region needs to start thinking “beyond GDPR, beyond the EU AI Act” and producing technological success stories to get people “excited” about the promise of the technology. Lightspeed are investors in French AI unicorn Mistral, which is often touted as Europe’s key competitor to OpenAI. Last year, tech entrepreneurs in the region proposed a new initiative to address fragmented market regulations across the 27-member bloc by establishing a so-called “28th regime.” These proposed legal frameworks within the EU offer firms an alternative to member states’ own national rules, rather than replacing them. For example, there’s a European Company Statute under the 28th regime that makes it simpler to set up public limited liability companies in the EU. The likes of Stripe CEO Patrick Collison and Wise co-founder Taavet Hinrikus are among the startup founders looking to set up a new entity under the 28th regime, called “EU Inc.” “Europe is a fragmented place, and what you want to do is [to] be able to hire across any country,” Luke Pappas, a London-based partner for venture capital firm NEA, told CNBC in an interview on the sidelines of Techarena. A key issue with attracting talent in this way, according to Pappas, is that currently “the process of giving equity cross border in Europe is not very easy.” “If we can standardize equity, for example, that will dramatically help,” he added. Source link #Google #Meta #execs #blast #Europe #strict #regulation Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

Your Questions Answered: War In Ukraine Your Questions Answered: War In Ukraine Your questions answered on America’s relationship with Ukraine – and the rest of Europe. Source link #Questions #Answered #War #Ukraine Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

Impressive Reds open season in style with Super win Impressive Reds open season in style with Super win The Queensland Reds have lived up to their top billing with a stylish 56-36 season-opening Super Rugby Pacific win over Moana Pasifika in Brisbane. With 13 Wallabies in their match-night 23, the star-studded Reds resisted a spirited fightback from Moana to record a runaway eight-tries-to-five victory on Friday night. Having trailed 21-0 after a dozen minutes, the Pasifika pulled to within seven points of the lead midway through the second half before the Reds turned the screws at Suncorp Stadium. Quickfire tries to locks Angus Blyth and Travis Smith in the space of three minutes turned a precarious six-point buffer into a commanding 42-22 advantage for the home side. There was no coming back for Moana as the Reds registered a season-opening win even without sidelined ex-Wallabies captain Liam Wright. Revelling in the wet conditions, the Reds bolted out of the blocks with three tries in the opening 11 minutes through Wright’s fill-in, tough-nut No.8 Seru Uru, and prolific wingers Filipo Daugunu and Tim Ryan. Ryan’s strike was the so-called Junkyard Dog’s 10th try in 10 appearances for the Reds, surely keeping the 21-year-old in the eye of Wallabies coach Joe Schmidt. The Pacific Islanders reduced the halftime deficit to eight points courtesy of a try to inspirational captain Ardie Savea and a penalty goal to fullback William Havili. But moments after being injected into the fray, first-choice Wallabies hooker Matt Faesler came off the bench for the Reds to blow the game open. Faesler peeled off the back of a driving maul to score in the 43rd minute to swing the momentum back in the Reds’ favour. Source link #Impressive #Reds #open #season #style #Super #win Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

3 migrants beat the Trump administration in court. They got deported the next day 3 migrants beat the Trump administration in court. They got deported the next day The future looked bright for Luis Eduardo Perez Parra, Leonel Rivas Gonzalez and Abrahan Josue Barrios last week. After being held in immigration custody for over a year and facing the possibility of transfer to Guantánamo Bay, the three men asked a federal court to intervene, warning they might have “disappeared into the legal ****** hole” of Guantánamo. Last Sunday, a federal judge in New Mexico handed down a surprise ruling blocking the Trump administration from sending the men to Guantánamo — the first successful legal challenge to the policy since it was enacted last month. But their victory was short-lived. The very next day, the men were placed on the first deportation flight back to Venezuela in over a year, according to their lawyer Jessica Vosburgh. “It’s hard to imagine that it didn’t have something to do with them filing a habeas petition and then stepping forward to challenge these threatened Guantanamo transfers,” Vosburgh told ABC News. “The court’s order only applied to transfers to Guantánamo, this is just a slap in the face to get deported the next day.” While Vosburgh stopped short of calling the deportations retaliatory, she said she struggles to see what else could have led to the sudden deportation. “With thousands of other post-order Venezuelans detained in the United States awaiting removal, it is hard to imagine that petitioners would have been prioritized for these first deportation flights if they had not filed this habeas action, and courageously challenged the executive branch’s reprehensible and legally unsupportable decision to begin shipping detained migrants to the notorious military prison at Guantánamo and holding them there incommunicado,” Vosburgh argued in a court filing voluntarily dismissing the case. PHOTO: Guatemalan migrants arrive on a deportation flight from the U.S., in Guatemala City (Cristina Chiquin/REUTERS) Vosburgh also called out the Trump administration for alleging that her clients — two of whom have no criminal records, and one who was accused of a non-violent offense — were members of the infamous Tren de Aragua gang, which could cause severe harm now that they are back in Venezuela where President Nicolás Maduro has linked the gang to his political opposition. “Respondents’ reckless labeling of these two Petitioners as gang-affiliated is part of a disturbing pattern, beginning on the Trump campaign trail, of scapegoating and criminalizing migrants who come to this country seeking protection and a better life,” Vosburgh wrote. “It is also part of a trend, fueled by President Trump and his administration and supporters, of painting all Venezuelan migrant men as dangerous gang members deserving of being disappeared into the legal ****** hole of Guantánamo.” Vosburgh noted that her clients have safely made it to their homes and been reunited with their families, but the scars of their year-long incarceration remain. According to Vosburgh, each man endured “dismal conditions” that led them to suffer depression and suicidal ideation. One of the men was admitted into a psychiatric facility last month after he tried to hurt himself, according to the filing. “Petitioners were needlessly separated for many months from their loved ones in the United States—including Mr. Rivas Gonzalez’s young daughter, who he has not been able to hold in his arms for half of her life. Their separation may now be permanent. It is deeply regrettable and an affront to justice that Petitioners had to suffer so much and for so long,” the filing said. 3 migrants beat the Trump administration in court. They got deported the next day originally appeared on abcnews.go.com Source link #migrants #beat #Trump #administration #court #deported #day Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content] For verified travel tips and real support, visit: [Hidden Content]

Google, Meta execs blast Europe over strict AI regulation Google, Meta execs blast Europe over strict AI regulation STOCKHOLM — Executives at U.S. tech giants Google and Meta said that Europe’s artificial intelligence industry is being held back by excessive regulation, adding to rhetoric from Donald Trump’s administration that the region’s strict tech rules are choking innovation. Speaking at the Techarena tech conference in Stockholm, Sweden, public policy chiefs at both Google and Meta used the stage as a platform to voice their concerns about the bloc’s strict approach to regulating technologies such as AI and machine learning. “I think there is now broad consensus that European regulation around technology has its issues, and sometimes it’s too fragmented, like GDPR [General Data Protection Regulation], sometimes it goes too far, like the AI Act,” Chris Yiu, Meta’s director of public policy, told an audience of tech founders and investors at Techarena on Thursday. “But the net result of all of that is that products get delayed or get watered down and European citizens and consumers suffer,” he said. Yiu pulled out a pair of Meta’s recently launched Ray-Ban branded glasses, which use AI to translate speech from one language to another or describe images for the visually impaired. “This is a profound and very human application of the technology, and it is slow to arrive in Europe because of the issues that we have around regulation,” Yiu said. Meta only began rolling out AI features for its Ray-Ban Meta glasses in some European countries in November, after a delay the firm claimed was caused by the need to reach compliance with Europe’s “complex regulatory system.” Meta previously expressed concerns about its ability to comply with the AI Act, a landmark EU law that establishes a legal and regulatory framework for the technology, flagging “unpredictable” implementation was a core issue. The firm also said that GDPR — the EU’s data privacy framework introduced in 2018 — held up the launch of its glasses in EU countries due to issues surrounding Meta’s use of Instagram and Facebook user data to train its AI models. Dorothy Chou, Google DeepMind’s head of public policy, said a key problem with Europe’s approach to regulating artificial intelligence technology was that the the AI Act was devised before ChatGPT had even come out. The AI Act was first introduced by the European Commission, the EU’s executive body, in April 2021. OpenAI launched ChatGPT in November 2022. “There is a way to use policy to create a better investment environment when it’s done in a way that promotes business” Chou said, referring to the U.S. Inflation Reduction Act as an example of policy that has led to benefits, like subsidies for electric vehicles. “I think what’s difficult is when you are regulating on a time scale that doesn’t match the technology,” Chou added. “I think what we need to do is both regulate to ensure that there is responsible application of technology, while also ensuring that the industry is thriving it all the right ways.” Big Tech ups the ante Big Tech firms more generally have been upping their rhetoric against the EU’s approach to tech regulation and ramping up lobbying efforts in an attempt to soften aspects of the AI Act. Kent Walker, Google’s president of global affairs, told Politico last month that the EU’s code of practice for general-purpose AI (GPAI) models — which refers to systems like OpenAI’s GPT family of large language models, or LLMs — was a “step in the wrong direction.” The EU AI Office, a newly created body overseeing models under the AI Act, published a second-draft code of practice for GPAI systems in December. Earlier this month, Meta’s newly appointed Chief Global Affairs Officer Joel Kaplan suggested in a live-streamed interview at an event in Brussels that the tech giant would not sign up to the code in its current form. The rules, he said, go “beyond the requirements” of the AI Act and impose “unworkable and technically unfeasible requirements.” Tech giants’ pleas for softer EU tech regulation have been emboldened of late by President Donald Trump’s new administration. At the international AI Action Summit in Paris last week, U.S. Vice President JD Vance blasted Europe for being too heavily focused on regulating artificial intelligence rather than embracing the technology’s growth potential. Harmonizing EU rules for startups Big Tech weren’t alone in calling for a more simplified regulatory regime for technology firms operating in Europe. Several venture capitalists investing in European tech startups also decried complex regulatory compliance burdens on their portfolio companies. Antoine Moyroud, a partner at Lightspeed Venture Partners, said that whereas the U.S. has been pushing forward initiatives such as the $500 billion Stargate investment project that strike a “hopeful” message around AI,” Europe’s narrative tends to be more “dramatic.” The region needs to start thinking “beyond GDPR, beyond the EU AI Act” and producing technological success stories to get people “excited” about the promise of the technology. Lightspeed are investors in French AI unicorn Mistral, which is often touted as Europe’s key competitor to OpenAI. Last year, tech entrepreneurs in the region proposed a new initiative to address fragmented market regulations across the 27-member bloc by establishing a so-called “28th regime.” These proposed legal frameworks within the EU offer firms an alternative to member states’ own national rules, rather than replacing them. For example, there’s a European Company Statute under the 28th regime that makes it simpler to set up public limited liability companies in the EU. The likes of Stripe CEO Patrick Collison and Wise co-founder Taavet Hinrikus are among the startup founders looking to set up a new entity under the 28th regime, called “EU Inc.” “Europe is a fragmented place, and what you want to do is [to] be able to hire across any country,” Luke Pappas, a London-based partner for venture capital firm NEA, told CNBC in an interview on the sidelines of Techarena. A key issue with attracting talent in this way, according to Pappas, is that currently “the process of giving equity cross border in Europe is not very easy.” “If we can standardize equity, for example, that will dramatically help,” he added. Source link #Google #Meta #execs #blast #Europe #strict #regulation Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

Vaccine victims left disabled after taking Covid jab react to bombshell Yale study that found shots cause extr – Daily Mail Vaccine victims left disabled after taking Covid jab react to bombshell Yale study that found shots cause extr – Daily Mail Vaccine victims left disabled after taking Covid jab react to bombshell Yale study that found shots cause extr Daily MailScientists Describe Rare Syndrome Following Covid Vaccinations The New York TimesImmune markers of post vaccination syndrome indicate future research directions Yale NewsResearchers Describe Rare Syndrome After COVID Vaccine Medpage TodayYale Scientists Link Covid Vaccines To Alarming New Syndrome With Long-Term Effects AOL Source link #Vaccine #victims #left #disabled #Covid #jab #react #bombshell #Yale #study #shots #extr #Daily #Mail Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

Man, 87, ‘staying put’ in home near Surrey sinkhole Man, 87, ‘staying put’ in home near Surrey sinkhole Adrian Harms BBC News, Godstone Katy Docherty-Warren BBC News, South East PA Media Thirty households have been evacuated after two sinkholes appeared since Monday An 87-year-old says he will remain in his home only metres from two Surrey sinkholes. Two sections of Godstone High Street have caved in since Monday night, with 30 homes evacuated. But Bren Davis, 87, says he has lived in his property, approximately 60ft (18 metres) opposite the sinkhole, all his life and despite having no water he and his wife don’t want to leave. Mr Davis told BBC Radio Surrey: “I’m staying put.” He said he was confident his house was stable and that it was built by his grandfather. He said: “There are more bricks below our house than above.” Mr Davis has had three “helpful” visits from the police but no-one has ordered him to leave, he said. Although he is without water, he says he has had a pallet of bottled water delivered. Mr Davis said: “Carrying five bottles upstairs to flush the toilet is not a job for an 87-year-old.” He has an escape plan if anything goes wrong, he said. “If we have a problem, we have a back entrance so we can run out that way,” he added. BBC / Adrian Harms The sinkhole was declared a “major incident” by Surrey County Council on Tuesday Garage owner Shane Fry told BBC Radio Surrey he believed customers would soon be allowed to limited access to the High Street. Surrey County Council said: “Any decision to move the cordon back will depend on the outcome of technical safety assessments over the coming days.” Meanwhile, residents said on Thursday they feared they would be homeless for months. Tandridge District Council said on Thursday: “The sinkhole in Godstone remains a significant incident and we continue to work closely with our partners to resolve the situation as quickly as possible. “The response is now being led by Tandridge District Council, with ongoing support from the Surrey Local Resilience Forum, which includes Surrey County Council.” Source link #Man #staying #put #home #Surrey #sinkhole Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

Muhammed Usman: Injured driver in Dalkeith tragedy breaks silence day after Rhys Bellinge imprisoned Muhammed Usman: Injured driver in Dalkeith tragedy breaks silence day after Rhys Bellinge imprisoned The seriously injured rideshare driver, who narrowly survived the Dalkeith horror smash, has broken his silence for the first time on the incident that has seen a doctor charged with manslaughter. Muhammed Usman, 25, praised paramedics and hospital staff for looking after him. “I am still struggling to comprehend what happened last Saturday night and my thoughts are with Elizabeth Pearce’s family,” he said in a short statement issued late Friday. Camera IconElizabeth Pearce Credit: Unknown/Facebook “Thank you to the first responders and the staff at RPH for looking after me with such great care and understanding.” “I am aware of the interest in the case but would appreciate if my privacy can please be respected as I focus on my recovery,” he added. Mr Usman broke both his legs and an arm in the horror smash on Birdwood Parade, Dalkeith about 10.15 pm on Saturday. He had just picked up Ms Pearce when his Honda Jazz was allegedly struck head-on by a Jaguar driven by obstetrician Rhys Bellinge. Ms Pearce, 24, died from her injuries at Royal Perth Hospital later that night. Mr Usman was moved out of intensive care on Wednesday after waking from his coma. He remained in a serious but stable condition at RPH. Camera IconRhys Bellinge Credit: intagram The Pakistan-born driver had just completed his studies and was about to embark on a new job. He has no family in Australia but has been visited by friends. Dr Bellinge, 45, was charged with manslaughter and dangerous driving causing grievous bodily harm in circumstances of aggravation following the ******. Police prosecutors said he was “accelerating” and “aggressively” speeding, reaching 130km/h, while being almost four times over the legal drink-drive limit prior to the fatal impact. He allegedly had a blood alcohol reading of 0.183 at the time of the head-on ******. The legal limit is 0.05. The speed limit on Birdman Parade is 50km/h. Dr Bellinge was driving from the Nedlands home of his estranged wife Juli to his father’s mansion on Jutland Parade, Dalkeith — just 1.5km away — when his Jaguar allegedly hit a kerb and lost control, veering onto the wrong side of the road, crashing into a Honda Jazz. Dr Bellinge, from one of WA’s richest families, was remanded in custody after his bail application was refused by Magistrate Clare Cullen on Wednesday. The magistrate decided to decline the application and remand him in custody after viewing footage taken from the dash cam of Dr Bellinge’s luxury blue Jaguar. She not only considered his diving on the night of the collision but also of his alleged erratic behaviour in the days before, including allegedly speeding around Kings Park on the night of February 9. After seeing the vision she concluded he posed a risk of re-offending if given bail. “I find the risk to the community is too great and for those reasons I refuse bail,” Ms Cullen said. Source link #Muhammed #Usman #Injured #driver #Dalkeith #tragedy #breaks #silence #day #Rhys #Bellinge #imprisoned Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

GOP Rep. Rich McCormick Faces Furious Locals in Town Hall Event Gone Wrong GOP Rep. Rich McCormick Faces Furious Locals in Town Hall Event Gone Wrong The Georgia Republican who recently told CNN that school kids should be sent to work to earn school lunches was met with outrage and fury from residents at a town hall meeting on Thursday night. Rep. Rich McCormick announced last week that he would be hosting an in-person constituent town hall at Roswell City Council. On Thursday night, lines overflowed outside the town hall, and Atlanta Journal-Constitution reporter and NBC News contributor Greg Bluestein was on hand to capture the events as they unfolded. It got heated quickly over McCormick’s support for the sweeping federal budget cuts made in recent weeks by Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). According to Bluestein, who posted numerous videos to X, McCormick faced boos and “catcalls” as residents pushed back on Trump’s erratic governing style. In his article for AJC, Bluestein reported “hundreds of critics” descended on the meeting and that McCormick’s staff “seemed caught off guard” by the sheer force of the pushback. Crowd members shouted “we’re *******” and “don’t bend over,” according to NBC News. In one video, a resident called out McCormick for “doing us a disservice” and “not standing up for us.” McCormick replied: “If you all are just going to yell at me, that’s not going to be an effective comment.” A representative for McCormick did not immediately respond to a request for comment from the Daily Beast. In another video, the moderator cuts off the crowd and pleads for the audience to be respectful. “We’re all trying to get through this,” he says. Rep. Rich McCormick, R-Ga., arrives to a meeting with Elon Musk, Vivek Ramaswamy, and House and Senate Republicans in the Capitol Visitor Center about President-elect Donald Trump’s Then, in another, one resident questions McCormick, saying, “It’s clear from all the writings of our Founding Fathers that our great republic was never meant to be ruled by a dictator or a king.” The comment was greeted by a large round of applause. “So you can imagine my shock and pure horror when I woke up to find that our president had given himself unprecedented executive powers and then in a few days named himself King to his followers,” she continued to more applause, before being prompted to ask a question. “Tyranny is rising in the White House and a man has declared himself our king, so I would like to know, rather, the people would like to know, what you, congressman, and your fellow congressmen are going to do to reign in the megalomaniac in the White House?” The woman received a standing ovation. “When you talk about tyranny, when you talk about presidential power, I remember having the same discussion with Republicans when Biden was elected,” McCormick replied, to a chorus of boos, including screams of “Come on!” McCormick then brought up the Jan. 6 insurrection, before another shocked response from the crowd. “Shame, shame,” they shouted. McCormick tried to move on but the crowd demanded answers. “If you stop yelling, I will answer,” McCormick says. “The REINS Act, which reins in executive powers for both parties—whoever is in power—and I think it can be tweaked actually to be much better. I don’t think executive privilege should be as strong as it is. I think we’re out of balance right now,” McCormick said. “I don’t want to see the president make all the decisions, I don’t,” McCormick said, despite pleas from the crowd that he wasn’t answering their questions surrounding Trump’s “king” comments. “Do you not want to hear that I just said, I answered it directly, I said I don’t want to see any president too powerful.” McCormick blamed the failure of the passing of the REINS act on the Biden administration and “democratically-controlled Senate.” McCormick said the crowd were “all screaming at me” and “I’m telling you how you solve this, and you’re saying no we don’t want to hear that.” At one point a crowd member screamed: “We want to work with someone better!” Source link #GOP #Rep #Rich #McCormick #Faces #Furious #Locals #Town #Hall #Event #Wrong Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

In Charts: Germany’s Economy Was Once the Envy of Europe. Not Anymore In Charts: Germany’s Economy Was Once the Envy of Europe. Not Anymore While the United States and most of the European Union have shrugged off the pandemic recession and restarted their economic engines, Germany remains idled. Its economy shrank slightly in 2024, after adjusting for rising prices. Forecasts for this year don’t look much better. And other measures look even worse. They show an economy rapidly sliding backward, stunning declines that have emerged as one of the biggest issues in the parliamentary election set for Sunday. Source: Eurostat Note: The horizontal axis shows the percentage difference between Germany and the total for the 27 countries in the European Union in the most recent data. The vertical axis shows how that metric has changed in Germany over the most recent 12 months of data. Both axes are plotted on a logarithmic scale. The situation is nothing short of a national crisis. A country that has long prided itself on its work ethic and its manufacturing might is now watching global rivals race past it. “Economic policy in Germany is in tatters,” Stefan Pallesch, a kitchen supply store owner from the nation’s wine region said this month on the sidelines of a political rally in the town of Stromberg. He went on to list several industries in crisis, including construction, traditional automaking, and electric vehicles. Business leaders and many worried voters use the same word when describing what’s gone wrong: competitiveness. They feel as if they are a soccer star who suddenly can’t find the net, or a marathoner who can’t keep up with the lead group. And they feel like it’s happened almost overnight. “I definitely believe that we can compete,” said Christian Klein, the C.E.O. of *******-based software giant SAP, “but some fundamentals have to change.” The charts below show just what it looks like when an economy rapidly loses its edge. They tell a stark story of industrial woe and workforce challenges, with few opportunities for a near-term turnaround of the sort ******* politicians are promising as they vie for the chancellorship. ‘Stuck in stagnation’ In the big picture, it’s impossible to miss Germany’s struggles. Start with growth, which helped make Germany the world’s third-largest economy but has only cracked 2 percent per year once since 2017. After adjusting for rising prices, the ******* economy is no larger today than it was five years ago. Government forecasters predict an anemic 0.3 percent growth rate this year. Germany’s economic growth has stagnated. Higher than the E.U. Lower than the E.U. –10 –5 0 5 10 pct. pts. 15 2005 2010 2015 2020 2025 Germany E.U. Note: Shows year-on-year economic growth, adjusted for inflation. “Germany is stuck in stagnation,” the economic minister, Robert Habeck, said late last month. That’s partly because ******* leaders made a big bet on globalization that has not yet paid off. Even with a large consumer base at home, ******* companies rely on foreign markets for sales growth. More than four-fifths of the ******* economy depends upon trade, compared to about a quarter of the American economy. The threat of a global trade war, spurred by tariffs from the Trump administration, looms over everything. The market that once looked most promising, China, increasingly looks fraught. ******* exports to China peaked in 2022 and have been declining, even though China is growing. That has drained fuel for growth. ******* companies have not yet found other markets to replace their slowing ******** sales. Germany exports more to China compared to other E.U. economies, but exports are declining. Higher share of G.D.P. from exports to China 0.5 1.0 1.5 2.0 2.5 % 3.0 2005 2010 2015 2020 2025 Germany E.U. Note: Shows exports to China as a share of G.D.P. High costs, low demand Much of Germany’s economic identity is wrapped up in its factories: cars, chemicals, pharmaceuticals, even espresso makers. That makes the sector’s struggles all the more painful. Manufacturing is still the backbone of the economy, but it is declining. Higher share of G.D.P. from manufacturing than the E.U. 14 15 16 17 18 19 % 20 2005 2010 2015 2020 2025 Germany E.U. Note: Shows the share of G.D.P. contributed by the manufacturing sector. Manufacturing is falling as a driver of Germany’s economy. While ******* factories used to be the envy of Europe, they aren’t anymore. They’re not even above-average, in terms of output. After decades of ******* manufacturing humming at much higher rates than its European counterparts, Germany idled more of its production lines last year than the European Union as a whole. Germany’s factories have more idle capacity, and are now falling behind Europe’s. Less idle capacity than the E.U. More idle capacity than the E.U. 70 75 80 85 % 90 2005 2010 2015 2020 2025 Germany E.U. Note: Shows industrial capacity utilization. Factory owners, executives and workers all name the same culprit for that slide: soaring energy costs. It takes a lot of power to run a factory, and Germans pay more for it than their neighbors do. ******* politicians pushed the country before the pandemic to shutter its nuclear power plants and ramp up imports of natural gas from Russia. When Russia invaded Ukraine, the flow of gas stopped and energy costs soared. Germany’s energy costs remain high, though are easing. Cheaper than the E.U. More expensive than the E.U. 0.05 0.10 0.15 €0.20 2005 2010 2015 2020 2025 Germany E.U. Note: Shows the price per kilowatt-hour for consumers using between 70,000 MWh and 149,999 MWh, excluding taxes and levies. The country has rapidly invested in renewable sources like wind and solar, but the country’s high energy costs remain a huge burden on companies trying to compete with rivals in Europe, Asia and America, where electricity costs less. A less competitive workforce Along with high energy costs, economists and business leaders complain that characteristics of Germany’s labor pool put it at a disadvantage. ******* workers are more expensive than their counterparts across Europe, largely because hourly wages are significantly higher than in peer countries. Germany’s labor costs are high, and still rising. Higher than the E.U. 20 25 30 35 €40 2005 2010 2015 2020 2025 Germany E.U. Note: Shows the cost of employing a worker, including compensation of employees, taxes, and subsidies. And as a whole, its population works less. Germans work less per week than those in the E.U., and their hours are still falling. Lower working hours than the E.U. 35 36 37 38 hours per week 39 2005 2010 2015 2020 2025 Germany E.U. Note: Shows the average number of hours worked per week by full-time employees. The country has also experienced shifts in worker preferences, often influenced by government policies. In 1991, shortly after the fall of the Berlin Wall, about 14 percent of Germans worked part-time. That number has more than doubled, to 30 percent. Even full-time workers are logging fewer hours. And Germany has seen a surge in the number of days that workers call out sick, with an average of 22 recorded in 2023, according to the ******* Economic Institute. Politicians across the political spectrum agree the country needs more workers, and will for decades to come. Germany’s post-war baby ***** came later than America’s, and it is only beginning to see the wave of worker retirements from that generation. Germany has more retirees per worker than the E.U. Older than the E.U. 24 26 28 30 32 % 34 2005 2010 2015 2020 2025 Germany E.U. Note: Shows the number of people aged 65 or over as a percentage of the population aged 15 to 64. Conservative politicians in the chancellor race have promised to curb government ******** payments to people who can work, but choose not to. Economists say the country’s policies, and its social norms, discourage women in particular from working more. The workforce crisis would look even worse if not for the millions of refugees and other migrants Germany has taken in from countries like Syria, Afghanistan and Ukraine over the past decade. Economists say they’ve helped fill in the holes left by retirements and the shift to part-time work. Last year, researchers at the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development in Paris reported that Germany had a 70 percent employment rate for immigrants in 2022. That was significantly higher than most other European Union countries. The migration surge, though, has also strained ******* society and emerged as a top voting issue. Particularly in parts of the country where factory production has fallen, voters have embraced politicians who promise to block new refugees and deport those already there. For some voters, it’s a complaint bound tightly to their experience of economic decline: the country, they say, no longer looks like the Germany they grew up in, and they want the old one back. Source link #Charts #Germanys #Economy #Envy #Europe #Anymore Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]