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A Frustrated Trump Wants His New Air Force One Planes Pronto A Frustrated Trump Wants His New Air Force One Planes Pronto President Trump, furious about delays in delivering two new Air Force One jets, has empowered Elon Musk to explore drastic options to prod Boeing to move faster, including relaxing security clearance standards for some who work on the presidential planes. His administration has even discussed whether a luxury jet could be acquired and refitted during the wait, according to five people with knowledge of the discussions who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe closely held deliberations. Mr. Musk, whom Mr. Trump has tapped to slash the federal government, has been central to the discussions — consulting with the military, the White House and Boeing, the people said. Mr. Trump regards Boeing as almost a lost cause, according to people close to him. He often laments how far the company has fallen, wondering aloud what happened to the jet maker and why it seems incapable of building things anymore. The two heavily modified Boeing 747s currently used interchangeably to fly the president are more than 30 years old and require extensive servicing. Mr. Trump views Air Force One as a symbol of power and prestige, and he is infuriated that he begins his second term flying around in the same aging planes that once transported President George H.W. Bush. His public comments took on a more ominous tone in an interview broadcast Tuesday night on Fox News’s “Hannity.” Seated beside Mr. Musk, the president excoriated the company, saying, “I mean, they are actually in default, Boeing,” before adding: “They’ve been building this thing forever. I don’t know what’s going on.” Mr. Trump, in a pointed demonstration about his willingness to explore other options, took time on Saturday to kick the tires on a luxury jet sitting at Palm Beach International Airport. Photographers spotted the tail number of the late model 747-8, which revealed the plane to have been owned, at least until recently, by the Qatari royal family, according to registration data. It is unclear whether any of these options will come to fruition. But depending on how extensive the pullback would be for lowering security requirements, the cost of speeding the production schedule for the new planes could be to compromise the president’s safety, or the nation’s security, if not managed with extreme care. Boeing executives have argued that there is a safe way to do this, by lowering the security standards for certain classes of workers who do not touch the airplanes’ most sensitive systems. The Air Force has already contractually committed to paying Boeing $3.5 billion of the $4.3 billion total set aside for the project. But Boeing is at least three years behind schedule and has already booked $2.4 billion in losses on the contract. Decisions made during Mr. Trump’s first term in office are themselves a factor in the delay, said recently departed Air Force officials who helped run the program. Boeing’s contract to build the new planes was first signed in 2018, and the planes were originally expected to be delivered in 2024. A Boeing spokeswoman declined to answer questions, writing in a statement, “We don’t have anything to share.” Boeing’s executives have indicated to the government that they might not be able to deliver the new Air Force Ones until the end of Mr. Trump’s second term. But Mr. Musk, who is known for setting aggressive — in some cases unachievable — deadlines at his companies, has insisted that at least one of the planes can be delivered within a year’s time. Officials involved in the project — a complicated feat of engineering that requires the plane to be capable of evading certain missile attacks or surviving the fallout from a nuclear blast — regard Mr. Musk’s timeline as unrealistic. The president has told associates that if Mr. Musk can fly a rocket, he can probably figure out an airplane. But Mr. Musk’s role in this endeavor adds to the tally of the many conflicts of interest he now has with the federal government. Mr. Musk has more than $2.4 billion in contracts awarded in the past two years with the Air Force, and his SpaceX rocket company competes directly with Boeing’s aerospace division. Steven Cheung, the White House communications director, said in response to questions from The New York Times: “It is ridiculous the delivery of a new Air Force One airplane has been delayed for such a long time. President Trump is working on identifying ways to speed up the delivery of a new plane, which has been needed for a while.” An Airborne Command Center Some of the more radical alternatives that senior administration officials have offered to simply waiting on the tardy Boeing jets, such as retrofitting the Qatari jet within a year’s time, have been described by current and former Pentagon officials as impractical. A temporary plane that could be certified and converted to be mission ready as an Air Force One could still take years, they said. While technically any Air Force aircraft transporting the president is given the designation of Air Force One, in common parlance it refers to the bespoke jets designed to carry the commander in chief. Air Force One is not only a way for the president to travel and a familiar avatar of the U.S. leadership; it is also an airborne command center from which the president, at times of crisis, can steer the nation through wars or responses to attacks, even potentially a nuclear strike. Mr. Trump’s personal plane — which went through a significant upgrade after his first term — has gold plating throughout, including on the seatbelt buckles. He often asks passengers whether they prefer his plane, which he calls “Trump Force One,” and his guests invariably say yes. Mr. Trump also thinks the Kennedy-era robin’s egg blue and white exterior should be updated with a bolder red, white and blue design. While President Joseph R. Biden Jr. had relatively little interest in Boeing’s progress and the project lagged during his administration, Boeing now has to contend with a president who is impatient, bordering on obsessive. During his four years out of power, Mr. Trump kept a model of the new Air Force One at his office at Mar-a-Lago. Both Mr. Trump and Mr. Musk have expressed their frustrations in a series of phone calls with the jet maker’s chief executive, Kelly Ortberg, dating back to November, soon after Mr. Trump’s election victory. “The president wants the airplane sooner, and so we’re working with Elon and the team to figure what can we do to pull up the schedule of that aircraft,” Mr. Ortberg said in a CNBC interview in late January. Yankee White Security Clearance Mr. Musk has told Mr. Trump that the designs for the new Air Force Ones have been over-engineered with unnecessary features that have slowed the production, the people familiar said. Both Mr. Musk and Boeing have privately advocated removing the top-level security clearance requirements for at least some of the people involved. Currently, nearly everyone who works on the project requires a high-level security clearance called Yankee White, which requires a level of vetting equal to what military personnel must undergo if they are to interact with the president or the vice president. That includes Boeing employees and contractors, from mechanics to the electricians, even those who do not work on sophisticated systems. Lowering the security clearance standards would speed up the manufacturing process, making it easier for Boeing to find workers. But it could also expose the project to national security risks, such as espionage by spies posing as employees. Officials involved in the discussions are contemplating the option for only some of the employees who do not work on the most secure parts. Mr. Musk has also questioned the amount of time needed for flight testing of the planes, according to three people with knowledge of his private comments. Some current and former Pentagon officials are concerned that Mr. Trump’s and Mr. Musk’s press for speed might compromise the safety requirements for a vital national security asset. “The requirements could be scrubbed down and more risk can be assumed,” Frank Kendall, the Biden-era Air Force secretary who recently left his post, said in an interview. “But you can also go too far. You do need to have the basic command and control capabilities and communications capabilities on the airplane.” A Boeing Debacle Mr. Trump is hardly the first federal official to express frustration with Boeing’s handling of the Air Force One contract, as there have been a series of snafus and delays since the company was first selected for the job a decade ago. Mr. Kendall said he was so exasperated with Boeing that he considered canceling the contract. When asked if cancellation was legally possible, Ann Stefanek, an Air Force spokeswoman, said, “Every contract has an option for cancellation.” The Pentagon last year hired a different contractor, Sierra Nevada Corp., to convert 747 jets into so-called doomsday planes to allow the military to continue operations even during a nuclear war. The $13 billion deal means there is already another alternative contractor that could potentially handle the Air Force One conversion, one former Pentagon official involved in the project said. Sierra Nevada has ties with Mr. Musk’s rocket company, SpaceX, which has sent Sierra Nevada satellite components to orbit. Andrew Hunter, who recently stepped down from his role as Air Force assistant secretary for acquisition, technology and logistics, said in an interview that late last year, before Mr. Trump returned to power, he ordered Air Force One program managers to work with the Federal Aviation Administration and the White House to look for ways to accelerate delivery of the planes, now set for 2028 or even 2029. It was Mr. Trump who negotiated the original contract with Boeing, an agreement that included extensive demands for specialized security and communications equipment, some of which Mr. Trump’s team is now talking about scaling back. Mr. Trump’s fixed-price contract also gave the Air Force less ability to make quick changes in the project as it encountered problems. Boeing is retrofitting two planes it had already built for a Russian buyer that went out of business, instead of doing a custom build for the Air Force before the 747 production line ended in 2022. A custom build might have helped avoid some of the time associated with rewiring and reconfiguring the plane, one executive involved in the project said. Mr. Trump has also stuck with his preferred red, white and blue color scheme even after engineers determined that the dark blue paint created thermal issues and the Pentagon reverted to a lighter color scheme. The Air Force One project is considered a debacle inside Boeing, a company already reeling from a cascade of other disasters. Boeing has endured six consecutive years of losses, crashes that killed hundreds of passengers and a strike that added to what were already serious production delays. The company has battled multiple public relations disasters on the Air Force One project, such as when company officials discovered that security clearances had lapsed for many of their workers and when empty tequila bottles were found on one of the planes under development. The coronavirus pandemic made it more difficult to find suitable workers, and the project was delayed further when one of Boeing’s key suppliers for the airplanes’ interiors fell behind schedule, resulting in a lawsuit. Tiny cracks in the structures of the two planes also had to be repaired, again delaying the job, even though the planes provided by Boeing had never been used for commercial flights. This is a flaw often found in the 747-8 model, according to the F.A.A. An Unorthodox Visit In December, Mr. Hunter and Mr. Kendall were notified that Mr. Musk planned to view the Boeing facility in San Antonio and they were involved in getting him approval to make this unorthodox visit, as Mr. Musk was neither a federal government official nor a Boeing employee at the time. “That would not have happened in any other transition process,” Mr. Hunter said. Mr. Musk, during this visit, was looking for ways to speed production, one former Pentagon official involved in the deliberations said. “The idea was that we could just strip out a lot of the military stuff, just give the president a good-looking new airplane to fly in with commercial capabilities and maybe some minimal military upgrades,” the former Pentagon official said. One impediment is the requirements that Mr. Trump and the White House set for the Boeing plane in 2018, Mr. Hunter said. “If you don’t like the requirements, change them,” he said in the interview with The Times. Mr. Trump’s inspection on Saturday of a Boeing 747-8 that had been flown to the Palm Beach airport seemed intended, in part, to poke at Boeing. “This highlights the project’s failure to deliver a new Air Force One on time as promised,” Mr. Cheung, the White House communications director, said while Mr. Trump was visiting the 12-year-old plane. The plane Mr. Trump visited is operated by a company called Global Jet. An executive for the company, Aubry Perrin, confirmed that after Mr. Trump’s tour, the jet returned to Doha, Qatar. Mr. Perrin said that he could not disclose the current owner, but that it is privately owned and not available for charters. No explanation has been offered by the Trump White House for how the United States would take control of the Qatari airplane, or who would pay for it. The 747-8 planes typically sell for about $400 million, according to Corporate Jet Investor. Converting the Qatari plane to operate as Air Force One could still take several years, two former Pentagon officials who have worked on the Air Force One program said, unless Mr. Trump was to order that military communications and related military defenses for the airplane be significantly scaled back. Source link #Frustrated #Trump #Air #Force #Planes #Pronto Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content] For verified travel tips and real support, visit: [Hidden Content]

Starmer backs Zelensky after Trump ‘dictator’ claim Starmer backs Zelensky after Trump ‘dictator’ claim Joshua Nevett Political reporter Reuters Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer has expressed support for Volodymyr Zelensky as a “democratically elected leader” after Donald Trump branded the Ukrainian president a “dictator”. Sir Keir spoke to Zelensky on the phone on Wednesday evening and said it was “perfectly reasonable” for Ukraine to “suspend elections during war time as the *** did during World War II”, Downing Street said. The call came after Trump criticised Zelensky, saying he had done a “terrible job” and claiming “he refuses to have elections” in Ukraine as a condition of a deal to end the war. Zelensky had accused Trump of living in a Russian “disinformation space” after the US president appeared to blame Ukraine for starting the war in the country. A Downing Street spokesperson said Sir Keir “stressed the need for everyone to work together” in his phone call with the Ukrainian president. “The prime minister expressed his support for President Zelenskyy as Ukraine’s democratically elected leader and said that it was perfectly reasonable to suspend elections during war time as the *** did during World War II,” the spokesperson said. “The prime minister reiterated his support for the US-led efforts to get a lasting peace in Ukraine that deterred Russia from any future aggression.” Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch has also defended the Ukrainian leader. In a post on X, Badenoch said Zelensky was “the democratically elected leader of Ukraine who bravely stood up to Putin’s ******** invasion”. But Badenoch said Trump was “right that Europe needs to pull its weight” and called on Sir Keir to “get on a plane to Washington and show some leadership”. The row between Trump and Zelensky has increased the political jeopardy for Sir Keir, ahead of a high-stakes meeting with Trump next week. The prime minister will travel to Washington DC for his first in-person meeting with the US president, as he seeks to influence the American approach to ending the war in Ukraine. Sir Keir has said he wants to use his meeting with Trump next week to discuss a “US backstop” he says is necessary to deter Russia from attacking its neighbour again. The *** and other European nations have been scrambling to respond to this week’s rapid developments, almost three years after Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine. The week started with diplomats from the US and Russian meeting in Saudi Arabia for talks aimed at ending the war. The US was accused of sidelining European leaders, including Zelensky, by not inviting them. Then on Tuesday, President Trump appeared to blame Ukraine for the war and suggested the Zelensky’s popularity rating was as low as 4%. It’s unclear what source the president was citing as he didn’t provide evidence. A survey conducted this month found that 57% of Ukrainians said they trusted the president, according to the Ukraine-based Kyiv International Institute of Sociology. In his remarks on Wednesday, Trump warned Zelensky that “he is not going to have a country left” if he did not make peace. Zelensky won a five-year term in 2019, and has remained in office because elections have been suspended since martial law was declared after Russia’s invasion. Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey said calling Zelensky a dictator “must be where the line is drawn”. He wrote on X: “It is my sincere hope that the whole political spectrum in the United Kingdom will speak with one voice in opposition to Trump’s lies.” Tory MP and former cabinet minister James Cleverly said Trump was wrong about Zelensky and urged Foreign Secretary David Lammy to “say so”, adding “his silence is deafening”. “The *** & USA must send the message that we don’t let tyrants win!,” he posted. Former Prime Minister Boris Johnson has also waded into the war of words, posting to say “of course Ukraine didn’t start the war”. He added: “Trump’s statements are not intended to be historically accurate but to shock Europeans into action.” Earlier, *** Defence Secretary John Healey visited Norway’s border with Russia with Norwegian defence minister Tore Sandvik. Asked whether the *** agreed with Trump’s suggestion that Ukraine “started it”, Healey told reporters: “Three years ago, one country illegally invaded another, and since then the Ukrainians have been fighting for their freedom. “They’ve been fighting for their future, and they still are. “So whilst all the focus may be on talks, not even negotiations, our concern as defence ministers is that we’re not jeopardising the peace by forgetting about the war.” Source link #Starmer #backs #Zelensky #Trump #dictator #claim Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content] For verified travel tips and real support, visit: [Hidden Content]

New Poll Shows Americans’ Approval for Congress Has Soared, but Probably Not for Long New Poll Shows Americans’ Approval for Congress Has Soared, but Probably Not for Long Republicans in Congress have spent the opening weeks of President Trump’s second term falling in line behind his most scandal-tainted cabinet nominees, cheering him on as he tramples their power as a coequal branch of government and generally catering to his whims — and Americans seem to be loving it. About 29 percent of voters approve of Congress, according to a Gallup survey released on Wednesday, a jump of 12 percentage points since last month and the highest approval rating that a long-despised institution has scored in four years. But what is really behind this sudden positivity for the typically reviled legislative branch? A 42-point surge in approval among Republican voters. It is the latest chapter in a long-running cycle of ***** and (mostly) bust when it comes to Americans’ sentiments about Congress. Approval of Congress has jumped in the past when one party controls the White House and both chambers, according to public opinion experts, but the love affair rarely lasts. In 2021, Democrats held Congress in higher esteem for a moment, when their party controlled everything. In 2017, Republicans controlled all branches of government and briefly liked what they saw. In this case, Republican voters are giddy about the prospect of a governing trifecta delivering on its promises. But they are likely to lose faith in Congress all over again in the coming months, just as they have in the past. Jeff Jones, a senior editor at Gallup, said that when one party was in full control, “their side gets really excited about Congress.” The high approval rating indicates “anticipation about possibilities,” Mr. Jones said. “But more often than not, they don’t meet those expectations. It may not last much longer.” Still, even accounting for cyclical trends, the enthusiasm among Republicans is notable. A total of 53 percent of Republican voters said they approved of Congress, higher than any time since August 2005. Only 5 percent of Democratic voters said they approved. “What we’re seeing is largely partisan excitement about the idea of entering unified party control,” said Molly E. Reynolds, a senior fellow in governance studies at the Brookings Institution. There was also a 30-point jump in Republican approval of Congress from the last Gallup survey of the Obama administration in January 2017 to the first poll of the Trump administration that year. This year’s increase was *******, Ms. Reynolds said, but “the trend of partisans being excited about the possibility of legislating under unified party control is there.” Still, it is a bright moment, however brief, for an institution that everyone loves to hate. Democratic and Republican voters alike generally hold a dimmer view of the faceless institution of Congress than they do of their representatives who serve there — and that is saying something. Year after year, in poll after poll, voters report that they do not think lawmakers on Capitol Hill care about the people they represent, nor do they think they do a good job of promoting laws and policies that serve the public interest. Members of both parties report that their elected officials do a bad job of listening to constituents and a worse job of keeping their financial interests separate from their work on Capitol Hill. As for working across the aisle, well, 80 percent of Democrats and Republicans said lawmakers were not good at it, according to a Pew Research survey from 2023. And Congress as an institution typically earns a lower approval rating than the lawmakers whom voters say they do not particularly trust. After all, it is a body made up of hundreds of these dubiously viewed characters. “Congressional leaders are less charismatic and not as well known,” Mr. Jones said, explaining why the body consistently ranks lower than even the least popular presidents. “And the way Congress works can often get messy, and you have to get a lot of people to agree on something to accomplish anything. So a lot of these ratings are influenced by how the government matches your party preferences.” The uptick in Republican approval coincides with a moment when the party’s leaders are ceding much of their power to Mr. Trump. Speaker Mike Johnson has positioned himself as a junior partner to the president rather than a leader of a coequal branch of government. Republicans in both the House and the Senate have shrugged as Mr. Trump has trampled on Congress’s authority and constitutional status as a check on his power. Mr. Jones said the Gallup poll was unlikely to have factored in the daily specifics of what Congress is doing. For instance, Republicans are wading into a complex and divisive budget debate that has fractured the party and is forcing them to make tough choices, some of which are sure to disappoint voters. But for now, they seem to have the generally correct impression of what is transpiring beneath the dome. “I don’t know how much people really know about what Congress is doing on a day-to-day basis,” Mr. Jones said, “other than confirming Trump’s nominees.” Source link #Poll #Shows #Americans #Approval #Congress #Soared #Long Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

Converting your home to a rental could trigger taxes when you sell Converting your home to a rental could trigger taxes when you sell Busà Photography | Moment | Getty Images Capital gains ‘exclusion’ for your home That tax surprise stems from a special tax break, known as the “Section 121 exclusion,” that shields part of your primary home sales profits from capital gains taxes. The limits are up to $250,000 for single filers and $500,000 for married couples filing jointly. To qualify for the exclusion, you must meet the IRS ownership and use tests, which require that you owned the home and used it as your primary residence for 24 months of the past five years, with some exceptions. The 24 months of residency, however, don’t have to be consecutive. You’re generally eligible if you didn’t claim the exclusion for another property within two years before the *****. Any home ***** profit above those thresholds could be subject to 0%, 15% or 20% capital gains taxes, depending on your taxable income. You also could owe net investment income tax of 3.8%, depending on your other investment earnings. You can reduce your profit by increasing your “basis,” or the home’s original purchase price, by tacking on so-called capital improvements and other expenses. Landlords may only get ‘a portion of the exclusion’ However, “if you’re renting the home, you’re only going to get a portion of the exclusion,” said Mark Baran, managing director at financial services firm CBIZ’s national tax office. For example, if you make $250,000 profit selling your home but rented out the property for three out of the past five years, you would only receive two-fifths of the $250,000 exclusion, or $100,000. That leaves $150,000 of profit that could be subject to capital gains taxes before any adjustments to the home’s basis. Alternatively, you could still be eligible for the full $250,000 exclusion if you met the ownership and use tests but didn’t rent out the property, Baran said. Source link #Converting #home #rental #trigger #taxes #sell Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

Citing ‘Biological Truth,’ Kennedy Issues Guidance Recognizing Only Two Sexes Citing ‘Biological Truth,’ Kennedy Issues Guidance Recognizing Only Two Sexes Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced Wednesday that his department had issued new “guidance on sex-based definitions” aimed, in part, at keeping transgender women and girls out of female sports and fulfilling President Trump’s pledge that the federal government will recognize only two sexes: male and female. “This administration is bringing back common sense and restoring biological truth to the federal government,” Mr. Kennedy said in a statement. “The prior administration’s policy of trying to engineer gender ideology into every aspect of public life is over.” As part of the initiative, the Health and Human Services Department has launched a new web page for the federal Office on Women’s Health. The page, entitled “Protecting Women and Children,” features a video with Riley Gaines, the former University of Kentucky all-American swimmer who says she was put at a competitive disadvantage when competing against a transgender woman. The guidance offers detailed definitions for the words “male” — “a person of the sex characterized by a reproductive system with the biological function of producing ******” — and “female” — “a person of the sex characterized by a reproductive system with the biological function of producing eggs (ova).” The announcement came in response to an executive order Mr. Trump issued on Jan. 20 that gave the health department 30 days to issue “clear guidance” to the public on how to interpret sex-based definitions. “These sexes are not changeable and are grounded in fundamental and incontrovertible reality,” the order declared. On Tuesday, Mr. Kennedy delivered a welcome address to department employees in which he said his agency would work toward helping Americans “to discover our own paths to living our fullest lives, unleashing the potential in every one of us to make good personal choices that allow us to nourish, to heal and to develop ourselves.” There are roughly 1.6 million youths and adults in the United States who identify as transgender, according to an estimate by the Williams Institute at the U.C.L.A. School of Law. Mr. Trump’s predecessor, President Joseph R. Biden Jr., made protecting transgender people a cornerstone of federal policy. Mr. Biden’s assistant secretary for health, Dr. Rachel Levine, a pediatrician, made history by becoming the first transgender person to be confirmed by the Senate to a federal position. Mr. Trump has rapidly reversed Biden administration policies. He has followed up his Jan. 20 executive order with a string of others aimed at stripping away the rights of transgender people in almost every corner of American life — including schools, hospitals, prisons, the military and housing. Critics have objected not only to the substance of the orders, but to their harsh language. The order barring taxpayer dollars from financing medical interventions for transgender children is headlined “Protecting Children from Chemical and Surgical Mutilation.” Government agencies, including the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which is under the health department, were ordered to delete any language mentioning “gender ideology” from their websites. A judge has since ordered the C.D.C.’s page restored. Some are still down. Other sites — including the C.D.C.’s Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System — now carry a disclaimer. “This page does not reflect biological reality and therefore the Administration and this Department rejects it,” the disclaimer says, adding that the information presented is “extremely inaccurate.” Source link #Citing #Biological #Truth #Kennedy #Issues #Guidance #Recognizing #Sexes Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

Israel confirms four dead hostages who will be returned from Gaza include young family Israel confirms four dead hostages who will be returned from Gaza include young family TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — The remains of the youngest and one of the oldest captives seized by ****** during the attack that ignited the war in the Gaza Strip are expected to be returned on Thursday, an Israeli official said Wednesday. The handover, part of the ceasefire agreement that has paused the fighting in Gaza, will include the bodies of a mother and her two young children whose fate was uncertain and a retired journalist in his 80s, said the official who spoke on condition of anonymity in line with regulations. It was the first Israeli confirmation that the bodies of Ariel and Kfir Bibas, who were 4 years old and 9 months old when they were taken captive on Oct. 7, 2023, were being returned along with their mother Shiri. A grassroots forum representing hostage families also confirmed the names. Trusted news and daily delights, right in your inbox See for yourself — The Yodel is the go-to source for daily news, entertainment and feel-good stories. For many Israelis, the family has come to symbolize the plight of those taken captive. The fate of the Bibas mother and boys was unclear for much of the war, and the family released a statement Wednesday asking Israelis to wait for forensic identification of the remains before “eulogizing our loved ones.” The body of Oded Lifshitz, who was 83 when he was abducted, also will be returned, the official said. “The heart of an entire nation breaks,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Wednesday. ****** has said all four were killed in Israeli airstrikes while Israel had previously said it had ”grave concern” for the lives of the Bibas family. A top ****** official announced earlier this week that the militant group will return the four bodies and free six living Israeli hostages on Saturday in exchange for hundreds of ************ prisoners during the ceasefire’s first phase. The deal’s first phase calls for ****** to gradually release 33 hostages, eight of whom are believed to be dead. So far, the return of 19 living Israeli hostages has been celebrated across the nation, but the handover of the bodies on Thursday is sure to be met with a somber tone. ****** leader Khalil al-Hayya said on Tuesday the dead would include the “Bibas family.” The Bibas family were taken hostage from Kibbutz Nir Oz on Oct. 7, 2023. Their plight captivated Israelis who saw in them an embodiment of the brutality of ******’ attack. Yarden Bibas, the husband and father, was freed from captivity earlier this month. Lifshitz, who spent his life fighting for Arab rights, was one of the oldest hostages taken by ******. His daughter, a London-based artist, said in January she was holding onto hope that he survived but also prepared for the worst. “These are difficult hours for us, after being informed that our beloved Oded is among the deceased hostages who will be returned,” his family said in a statement. “For 502 days we hoped and prayed for a different outcome. However, until we receive absolute certainty, our journey is not over, and even afterwards we will continue to fight until the last hostage is returned.” As a journalist, Lifshitz campaigned for the recognition of ************ rights and peace between Arabs and Jews. In his later years, he drove Palestinians to medical appointments in Israel as part of a group called On the Way to Recovery. The release of the six living hostages on Saturday would mark an acceleration of the ceasefire deal. Israel is expected to continue releasing hundreds of ************ prisoners, including many serving life sentences for deadly attacks. During the first phase, Israel is also due to release all women and children seized from Gaza since the war began. Source link #Israel #confirms #dead #hostages #returned #Gaza #include #young #family Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content] For verified travel tips and real support, visit: [Hidden Content]

Trump Likens Himself to Royalty on Truth Social: ‘Long Live the King’ Trump Likens Himself to Royalty on Truth Social: ‘Long Live the King’ President Trump is famous for his love of everything gold and other trappings that connote royalty, whether it be large military parades or extravagant inaugural ******. But in a post on his social media platform Truth Social, Mr. Trump went a step further, likening himself to a king as he celebrated his administration’s move to kill New York City’s congestion pricing program. “CONGESTION PRICING IS DEAD. Manhattan, and all of New York, is SAVED,” he wrote. “LONG LIVE THE KING!” The White House then reinforced the message, recirculating it on Instagram and X with an illustration of Mr. Trump wearing a crown on a magazine cover resembling Time, but called Trump. Mr. Trump has been vocal in his opposition to congestion pricing, which charges most drivers $9 to enter Manhattan below 60th Street, saying it was harmful to the city’s economy. He vowed during the election to halt it when he entered office. In an interview with The New York Post earlier this month, he characterized the toll as being “destructive” to New York. “If I decide to do it, I will be able to kill it off in Washington through the Department of Transportation,” Mr. Trump said in the interview. On Wednesday, the transportation secretary, Sean Duffy, made good on the president’s wishes. He laid out Mr. Trump’s objections to the program in a letter sent to Gov. Kathy Hochul and said that federal officials would contact the state to “discuss the orderly cessation of toll operations.” “I share the president’s concerns about the impacts to working-class Americans who now have an additional financial burden to account for in their daily lives,” Mr. Duffy wrote. Mr. Trump’s first month back in the White House has been full of moments where he has invoked almost monarchical power. In his Inaugural Address, he said God had saved him when a would-be assassin made an attempt on his life in order “to make America great again.” He has liberally dispensed executive orders. And, most significantly, he has claimed that any efforts on his part do “not violate any law” if done in service of saving the country. An avalanche of lawsuits have been filed to contest many of the executive actions. Ms. Hochul explicitly pushed back on Mr. Trump’s presentation of himself as a monarch in her statement about the revoking of congestion pricing. In recent weeks, she spoke with him multiple times to try to convince him of the program’s benefits only to see the plug pulled. “We are a nation of laws, not ruled by a king,” Ms. Hochul said. “The M.T.A. has initiated legal proceedings in the Southern District of New York to preserve this critical program. We’ll see you in court.” Source link #Trump #Likens #Royalty #Truth #Social #Long #Live #King Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

NWSL’s Portland Thorns signs Ring as major sponsor NWSL’s Portland Thorns signs Ring as major sponsor Hina Sugita #8 of the Portland Thorns celebrates with teammates after scoring a goal during the second half against the Seattle Reign at Providence Park on May 11, 2024 in Portland, Oregon. Soobum Im | Getty Images Portland Thorns FC of the National Women’s Soccer League on Wednesday announced a multiyear sponsorship with Amazon-owned home security firm Ring. The collaboration establishes Ring as the club’s primary sponsor and will include logo placement on player jerseys, cold weather jackets and media backdrops. The value of the partnership was not disclosed, but a person familiar with the terms told CNBC it’s the largest kit deal in league history. The person spoke on the condition of anonymity to comment on nonpublic details. “Working with Ring goes beyond logo placement — it’s about deepening our connection with fans and enhancing their experience,” said Lisa Bhathal Merage, governor of Portland Thorns, in a news release. “Ring’s vision aligns perfectly with our mission to bring fans closer to the team and the game. This collaboration provides unprecedented access and strengthens the bond between our players, fans, and city while continually elevating the fan experience.” Ring manufactures cameras, doorbells, alarms and other security products. It will install its products throughout the team’s training facility and arena, Providence Park, to film practices and games. The company will also back initiatives to support local businesses and for women to shadow Thorns front office personnel and obtain certifications as referees or coaches. “We’re excited to support women’s sports, especially with the Portland Thorns FC, an iconic team that embodies strong community connection and excellence,” Liz Hamren, CEO of Ring, said in the release. “At Ring, we’re committed to helping people stay connected to what’s important — whether it’s home, family, or community. For many, sports are a part of that connection, and we are thrilled to partner with Thorns to celebrate players, fans, and the Portland community.” Thorns FC is one of the founding NWSL franchises and has won a league-leading three championships as well as two Shield awards, which go to the team with the best regular-season record. The team’s 2025 season will begin against the Kansas City Current on March 15. — CNBC’s Jessica Golden contributed to this report. Don’t miss these insights from CNBC PRO Source link #NWSLs #Portland #Thorns #signs #Ring #major #sponsor Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content] For verified travel tips and real support, visit: [Hidden Content]

Trump Says Medicaid Won’t Be ‘Touched.’ That Would Make It Hard to Extend Tax Cuts. Trump Says Medicaid Won’t Be ‘Touched.’ That Would Make It Hard to Extend Tax Cuts. President Trump’s big legislative ambition — extending his signature tax cuts — may have just crashed into his newly expressed wish to protect the Medicaid program. Mr. Trump said Tuesday night on Fox News that he wouldn’t make cuts to Medicaid, the federal-state health insurance program that mostly covers poor Americans. But making substantial cuts to Medicaid is a key part of congressional Republicans’ plan to extend the tax cuts. “Medicare, Medicaid — none of that stuff is going to be touched,” Mr. Trump said in an interview with Sean Hannity. “We won’t have to.” Mike Johnson, the House Speaker, has been hard at work on a major bill that can balance various priorities of Mr. Trump and his caucus: a desire for $4.5 trillion in tax cuts, a wish to trim federal spending, and concerns about rising federal debts. The budget Mr. Johnson negotiated, a first step in passing that agenda, calls for around $880 billion in cuts to Medicaid, in an effort to counterbalance a portion of the tax cuts. Mr. Trump’s comments may make that carefully negotiated package moot. Mr. Trump has long promised not to make major changes to Medicare, the public health care program for seniors and people with disabilities. But he has always been more open to changes to Medicaid, which has become the biggest health insurance program in the country. During his first term as president, he supported an Obamacare repeal effort that would have cut around $800 billion from Medicaid and permanently altered the structure of the program. His presidential budgets also included major cuts and structural changes to Medicaid. But as the failure of the Obamacare repeal effort highlighted, Medicaid has become a widely used and popular program, covering 72 million Americans. Federal funding for Medicaid has also become a cornerstone of state budgets, meaning Medicaid cuts would put fiscal pressure on Republican governors, not just poor patients who need help paying for their health care. Medicaid covers nearly half of all births in the country, and around two-thirds of nursing home stays. In 41 states that expanded the program as part of the Affordable Care Act, it also covers millions of working-class Americans with incomes close to the poverty line. The House plan remains vague. It does not specify Medicaid policies other than the budget target for the committee that oversees the program. But spending reductions so large would require major changes. Adding a work requirement to the program, a proposal with some public support, would save only around $100 billion. Steve Bannon, Mr. Trump’s former chief strategist, has been warning publicly that cuts to Medicaid could be politically damaging to Mr. Trump and other Republicans. “A lot of MAGA’s on Medicaid,” he said on his “War Room” podcast last week. “You can’t just take a meat ax to it.” And a handful of Republican lawmakers, including a few in the House whose votes Mr. Johnson will need, have begun expressing reservations about big changes to Medicaid. Mr. Trump followed up his comments Tuesday night with a post on social media Wednesday endorsing the House framework. “House Resolution implements my FULL America First Agenda, EVERYTHING, not just parts of it!” he wrote. The trouble is that the math of the Republican budget plan requires major cuts to the Medicaid program. Extending expiring tax cuts passed in 2017 — a major congressional and presidential priority — will alone increase federal deficits by more than $4 trillion over a decade. At a time of growing federal debt, many Republican lawmakers say they won’t vote for such a large increase. A recent amendment added to the House bill requires lawmakers to find $2 trillion in spending cuts to help compensate for some of the lost revenue. And Mr. Trump has already taken other large federal programs off the table. In addition to Medicare, which he has vowed not to cut, he has promised to avoid changes to Social Security. The House budget bill increases, rather than shrinks, the next largest category of federal spending, the military. And because Congress wants to pass the package using a special budgetary process to avoid a Senate filibuster, its cuts are subject to a detailed set of rules and restrictions, further limiting legislative options. In the current House plan, Medicaid cuts make up nearly half of the required $2 trillion in spending cuts. Hitting the target without them would mean revising the bill’s language as well as enormous cuts to remaining programs. Source link #Trump #Medicaid #Wont #Touched #Hard #Extend #Tax #Cuts Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

For Sen. Susan Collins, is it a case of ‘Wake Up Little Susie,’ or is she more like Susie from Seinfeld – Advocate.com For Sen. Susan Collins, is it a case of ‘Wake Up Little Susie,’ or is she more like Susie from Seinfeld – Advocate.com For Sen. Susan Collins, is it a case of ‘Wake Up Little Susie,’ or is she more like Susie from Seinfeld Advocate.comSen. Collins calls on Trump to consult with Congress on federal budget cuts WGME Source link #Sen #Susan #Collins #case #Wake #Susie #Susie #Seinfeld #Advocate.com Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

What Went Wrong With The Last Of Us Online, According To An Ex-Sony Exec What Went Wrong With The Last Of Us Online, According To An Ex-Sony Exec PlayStation and its live-service game slate have had a rough patch, with several announced games being canceled for one reason or another. The Last of Us Online was one of those games that was canceled in 2023 as Naughty Dog shifted its focus to single-player games instead. That’s despite it having shown promised, according to one person who got to play it. Former Sony Interactive president Shuhei Yoshida recently spoke on the Sacred Symbols+ podcast (via Push Square), where he said he liked the game when he got to try it out, but Naughty Dog realized what it would take to make it work after Bungie highlighted some oversights. “The idea for The Last of Us Online came from Naughty Dog and they wanted to make it, but Bungie explained [to them] what it takes to make live-service games,” he said. “Naughty Dog realized, ‘Oops, we can’t do that! If we do it, we can’t make Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet.’ So that was a lack of foresight.” Yoshida went on to explain that, from his experience, at least, no development team at PlayStation has been forced to develop a live-service game. The studios pitch games based on the direction they believe the industry is going and develop from there. “From my experience, when studios see the company has a big initiative, [they realize] riding on that gives them a better chance of getting a project approved and supported,” he added. “It’s not like [current PS Studios boss Hermen Hulst] is telling teams they need to make live-service games; it’s likely mutual.” Sony recently canceled two live-service projects from Bluepoint and Bend Studio, including a reported God of War title. At the time of the cancelation of The Last of Us Online, Naughty Dog explained that supporting the game would have required too many of its resources and it would no longer be able to make single-player games. “To release and support The Last of Us Online we’d have to put all our studio resources behind supporting post-launch content for years to come, severely impacting development on future single-player games,” the statement read. “So, we had two paths in front of us: Become a solely live service games studio or continue to focus on single-player narrative games that have defined Naughty Dog’s heritage.” Source link #Wrong #Online #ExSony #Exec Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

NYT Strands hints and answers for Thursday, February 20 (game #354) NYT Strands hints and answers for Thursday, February 20 (game #354) Looking for a different day? A new NYT Strands puzzle appears at midnight each day for your time zone – which means that some people are always playing ‘today’s game’ while others are playing ‘yesterday’s’. If you’re looking for Wednesday’s puzzle instead then click here: NYT Strands hints and answers for Wednesday, February 19 (game #353). Strands is the NYT’s latest word game after the likes of Wordle, Spelling Bee and Connections – and it’s great fun. It can be difficult, though, so read on for my Strands hints. Want more word-based fun? Then check out my NYT Connections today and Quordle today pages for hints and answers for those games, and Marc’s Wordle today page for the original viral word game. SPOILER WARNING: Information about NYT Strands today is below, so don’t read on if you don’t want to know the answers. NYT Strands today (game #354) – hint #1 – today’s theme What is the theme of today’s NYT Strands? • Today’s NYT Strands theme is… Together for the present NYT Strands today (game #354) – hint #2 – clue words Play any of these words to unlock the in-game hints system. FIVE TIED NEST THAN THEN DONE NYT Strands today (game #354) – hint #3 – spangram What is a hint for today’s spangram? • Wedding date celebrations NYT Strands today (game #354) – hint #4 – spangram position What are two sides of the board that today’s spangram touches? First side: bottom, 1st column Last side: top, 3rd column Right, the answers are below, so DO NOT SCROLL ANY FURTHER IF YOU DON’T WANT TO SEE THEM. NYT Strands today (game #354) – the answers (Image credit: New York Times) The answers to today’s Strands, game #354, are… DIAMOND GOLD FIRST PAPER FIFTIETH SIXTIETH SPANGRAM: ANNIVERSARY My rating: Easy My score: Perfect Just to wrap up these pairs, PAPER is your FIRST ANNIVERSARY, GOLD your FIFTIETH, and DIAMOND the SIXTIETH. Sign up for breaking news, reviews, opinion, top tech deals, and more. With people getting married later in life, it feels as if there should be celebrations of wedding anniversaries before you toast 50 years together, especially as you’re less likely to want a party by the time you get to that stage. I propose we go big on Tin – which marks 10 years since your wedding day. It’s also a lot more affordable than getting someone a gold or diamond gift. Come on Hallmark, let’s make this happen. All in on Tin. How did you do today? Let me know in the comments below. Yesterday’s NYT Strands answers (Wednesday, 19 February, game #353) ELDER STRAW HUCKLE BLUE RASP SALMON GOLDEN ****** SPANGRAM: BERRIES What is NYT Strands? Strands is the NYT’s new word game, following Wordle and Connections. It’s now out of beta so is a fully fledged member of the NYT’s games stable and can be played on the NYT Games site on desktop or mobile. I’ve got a full guide to how to play NYT Strands, complete with tips for solving it, so check that out if you’re struggling to beat it each day. Source link #NYT #Strands #hints #answers #Thursday #February #game Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content] For verified travel tips and real support, visit: [Hidden Content]

First pharaoh’s tomb found in Egypt since Tutankhamun’s First pharaoh’s tomb found in Egypt since Tutankhamun’s Egyptologists have discovered the first tomb of a pharaoh since Tutankhamun’s was uncovered over a century ago. Until recently, King Thutmose II’s tomb was the last undiscovered royal tomb of the 18th Egyptian dynasty. But a British-Egyptian team located it in the Western Valleys of the Theban Necropolis near the city of Luxor. Researchers had thought the burial chambers of the 18th dynasty pharaohs were more than 2km away, closer to the Valley of the Kings. The crew found it an area associated with the resting places of royal women, but when they got into the burial chamber they found it decorated – the sign of a pharaoh. “Part of the ceiling was still intact: a blue-painted ceiling with yellow stars on it. And blue-painted ceilings with yellow stars are only found in king’s tombs,” said the field director of the mission Dr Piers Litherland. He told the BBC’s Newshour programme he felt overwhelmed in the moment. “The emotion of getting into these things is just one of extraordinary bewilderment because when you come across something you’re not expecting to find, it’s emotionally extremely turbulent really,” he said. “And when I came out, my wife was waiting outside and the only thing I could do was burst into tears.” Dr Litherland said the discovery solved the mystery of where the tombs of early 18th dynasty kings are located. Researchers found Thutmose II’s mummified remains two centuries ago but its original burial site had never been located. Thutmose II was an ancestor of Tutankhamun, whose reign is believed to have been from about 1493 to 1479 BCE. Tutankhamun’s tomb was found by British archaeologists in 1922. He is best known for being the husband of Queen Hatshepsut, regarded as one of Egypt’s greatest pharaohs and one of the few female pharaohs who ruled in her own right. Dr Litherland said the “large staircase and a very large descending corridor” of the tomb suggested grandeur. “It took us a very long time to get through all that,” he said, noting it was blocked by flood debris and the ceilings had collapsed. “It was only after crawling through a 10m (32ft) passageway that had a small 40cm gap at the top that we got into the burial chamber.” There they discovered the blue ceiling and decorations of scenes from the Amduat, a religious text which was reserved for kings. That was another key sign they had found a king’s tomb, Dr Litherland said. They set to work clearing the debris – expecting that they would find the crushed remains of a burial underneath. But “the tomb turned out to be completely empty”, said Dr Litherland. “Not because it was robbed but because it had been deliberately emptied.” They then worked out that the tomb had been flooded – “it had been built underneath a waterfall” – just a few years after the king’s burial and the contents moved to another location in ancient times. It was through sifting through tonnes of limestone in the chamber that they found fragments of alabaster jars, which bore the inscriptions of the names of Thutmose II and Hatshepsut. These fragments of alabaster “had probably broken when the tomb was being moved,” said Dr Litherland. “And thank goodness they actually did break one or two things because that’s how we found out whose tomb it was.” The artefacts are the first objects to be found associated with Thutmose II’s burial. Dr Litherland’s said his team had a rough idea of where the second tomb was, and it could still be intact with treasures. The discovery of the pharaoh’s tomb caps off more than 12 years of work by the joint team from Dr Litherland’s New Kingdom Research Foundation and Egypt’s Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities. The team has previously excavated 54 tombs in the western part of the Theban mountain in Luxor, and had also established identities of more than 30 royal wives and court women. “This is the first royal tomb to be discovered since the ground-breaking find of King Tutankhamun’s burial chamber in 1922,” said Egypt’s minister of tourism and antiquities Sherif Fathy. “It is an extraordinary moment for Egyptology and the broader understanding of our shared human story.” Source link #pharaohs #tomb #Egypt #Tutankhamuns Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

RFK Jr.’s plans could make Musk’s look small RFK Jr.’s plans could make Musk’s look small Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is now in charge of the nation’s health agencies. His plans to upend them could make Elon Musk’s budget-cutting spree look modest by comparison. Kennedy won Senate confirmation on Thursday even after vowing to take nutrition and health programs in a radical new direction, and despite his long history of criticizing the safety of scientifically proven vaccines. “We will make sure our tax dollars support healthy foods. We will scrutinize the chemical additives in our food supply. We will remove the financial conflicts of interest in our agencies,” he told the Senate Finance Committee in describing his goals. “We will create an honest, unbiased, science-driven HHS, accountable to the president, to Congress, and to the American people.” The Senate confirmed Kennedy in a 52-48 vote to lead the 80,000-employee Department of Health and Human Services. Only former Republican Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky broke from the party line, joining Democrats in opposition. A polio survivor, McConnell has criticized Kennedy’s anti-vaccine activism. Kennedy will be sworn in Thursday afternoon in the Oval Office, according to two people granted anonymity to discuss the planning — a sign of President Donald Trump’s personal investment in installing Kennedy as the nation’s top health official. Republicans’ assent represents a major shift for a party once aligned with the health care industry and food manufacturers, both of which Kennedy plans to target. Kennedy focused on attacking chronic disease by regulating food additives and chemicals in the environment during his own presidential run, before he dropped out of the race and endorsed Trump. The issues will likely remain at the top of his agenda, according to two people familiar with his internal discussions, who were granted anonymity to speak freely. Kennedy and his aides have spent the past several days drawing up a list of actions that he will prioritize, the two people said, though one of them cautioned that his plans remained in flux just 24 hours out from his confirmation amid debate over how quickly he should move to put his stamp on the administration’s health agenda. Kennedy laid out an aggressive plan even before Trump named him to lead HHS, vowing an overhaul of HHS’ Food and Drug Administration, which approves drugs and medical devices, in a post to X in October. He said it was “corrupt” and accused it of conspiring with pharmaceutical companies to suppress inexpensive alternatives to high-cost drugs. Kennedy has long advocated banning direct-to-consumer pharmaceutical ads, his advisers said, a politically popular yet legally thorny policy initiative that he’s expected to pursue in some form as health secretary. In November, Kennedy targeted the National Institutes of Health, which oversees billions in health research grants to universities, saying he planned to purge hundreds of employees. Kennedy believes the agency has overemphasized infectious diseases and underemphasized chronic ones — a position that has alarmed public health experts worried about his claims about vaccines. Kennedy published a book in 2021 painting then-NIH official Anthony Fauci as a servant of the pharmaceutical industry. Kennedy’s former colleagues in the anti-vaccine movement have continued to push for him to take expansive action on vaccines, including ramping up scrutiny of new and existing vaccines and overhauling the way the federal government recommends and talks about standard childhood immunizations. Kennedy for years led an advocacy group that challenged scientific consensus that vaccines are safe, promoting disproven theories that they cause autism. During his confirmation hearings, Kennedy refused to disavow what he’d said but promised to keep an open mind and not to take away anyone’s vaccines. Others in his camp have urged Kennedy to stick to those vows not to undermine confidence in vaccines, part of a broader dialing back of the aggressive rhetoric of his presidential campaign. Still, Kennedy told senators he thinks the U.S. health care system is broken because it spends too much money and prioritizes the wrong things. He will start work at HHS a few weeks into the Trump administration that’s already moved to cut federal health agency staff, take down certain public health information from federal websites, and seize control of federal health care data with the help of Musk and DOGE, the commission Trump created by executive order in January 2025. Musk’s DOGE staffers are already at the HHS division that oversees Medicare, the health insurer for elderly people, and Medicaid, which covers those with low incomes. Combined the two account for about $1.5 trillion in federal spending. Musk seeks to recover billions lost to fraud. The vote to confirm Kennedy was political theater of a rare sort. Democrats voted in unison to reject Kennedy, the scion of a famous Democratic family whose father and two uncles were Democratic senators. His anti-vaccine views and alliance with Trump were more important, they said. “People are alarmed. My phone lines are ringing off the hook with constituents who understand the stakes here and want us to stand up for science and for their health and safety,” Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.) told reporters Tuesday. “Because the health secretary has real power over whether Americans can get the basic information and care they need.” Apart from McConnell, their longtime leader, Republicans voted to confirm Kennedy, putting aside reservations about his support for food and environmental regulation, his anti-vaccine claims and past advocacy of abortion rights. It reflected their deference to Trump and desire to bring Kennedy’s formidable “Make America Healthy Again” movement into the Republican coalition. Kennedy’s MAHA supporters filled the Senate hearing rooms and jammed phone lines to wavering Republican senators. Pharmaceutical, hospital, insurance and doctors’ groups — Kennedy targets that were previously thought to be nearly omnipotent in Washington — have largely remained silent on his confirmation, believing they couldn’t affect the outcome and fearing the backlash that could ensue if they spoke out. Some groups are even working to recast their goals in a MAHA-friendly light. But while MAHA’s backing and DOGE’s help could propel Kennedy after he’s sworn in, his lack of managerial experience and lack of familiarity with the intricacies of HHS’ various programs could limit his reach. A former senior Trump HHS official, granted anonymity to speak frankly, told POLITICO Kennedy’s influence will come down to his circle. “Personnel is policy. That’s incredibly true of the Trump administration,” the official said. Kennedy, the person said, will need to rely on people with institutional knowledge to make the changes he wants to make — within the applicable constructs to avoid judicial challenges. Already, federal judges have hit the pause button on the Trump administration’s plans to cut health research grants and to offer hundreds of thousands of federal employees early resignations. A federal judge also ordered the White House to restore webpages of public health agencies that Trump officials had taken down. “He is going to need to rely on people who do understand how he could successfully be a disruptor,” the former official said. “You’ve got a lot of disruptors, but there may be ways to do so faster and more successfully than others.” Source link #RFK #Jr.s #plans #Musks #small Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

San Francisco 49ers explore selling ********* stake ***** San Francisco 49ers explore selling ********* stake ***** A San Francisco 49ers helmet on the field during pregame warmups before an NFL game against the Arizona Cardinals at State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Arizona, on Dec. 17, 2023. Ryan Kang | Getty Images The San Francisco 49ers may be the next National Football League franchise to sell a ********* stake to private equity. The 49ers are considering a ***** of up to 10% of the franchise to either a private equity firm or other investors, including wealthy individuals or families, according to a person familiar with the matter. The New York Giants are also exploring a ********* stake *****, the franchise announced last week. NFL owners voted last year to allow private equity investment of up to 10% of a franchise. The Miami Dolphins and the Buffalo Bills have already struck deals with investment firms, and the Philadelphia Eagles and Las Vegas Raiders have used the increased interest from private equity to generate higher prices from other individuals and families. The 49ers are hoping to value the franchise near $9 billion, the person said. CNBC valued the organization at $7.4 billion in its most recent valuations list. Bloomberg first reported the team’s interest in selling a ********* stake. The NFL’s 49ers are both recently and historically one of the most successful NFL franchises in terms of wins and losses. The parent company of the 49ers, 49ers Enterprises, also owns the English football club Leeds United. The York family owns the 49ers, and Jed York is the 49ers’ CEO. Many teams are eager to sell ********* stakes for increased liquidity for family members or for money that can be pumped back into the team for stadium repairs or future investments. Sales to private equity firms come with no voting rights. Still, firms have been willing to pay premium prices for small stakes because they come with perks, such as owner’s box seating, which can be used for clients and employees. Source link #San #Francisco #49ers #explore #selling #********* #stake #***** Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content] For verified travel tips and real support, visit: [Hidden Content]

Warriors: Abyss Review – Hades Meets Vampire Survivors in a Musou Inferno | COGconnected Warriors: Abyss Review – Hades Meets Vampire Survivors in a Musou Inferno | COGconnected Warriors: Abyss blends the addictive roguelite loop of Hades, the frantic, overwhelming combat of Vampire Survivors, and huge Musou battles. Source link #Warriors #Abyss #Review #Hades #Meets #Vampire #Survivors #Musou #Inferno #COGconnected Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

Top-rated charities in jeopardy amid battle over foreign aid Top-rated charities in jeopardy amid battle over foreign aid President Donald Trump’s order to suspend all U.S. foreign aid, which was announced on January 20, is currently on hold amid a legal review. But for nonprofits, charities and public service organizations that rely on federal funding, some damage has already been done. “Foreign assistance programs don’t operate with an on/off switch,” said Mitchell Warren, executive director of the AIDS Vaccine Advocacy Coalition, which provides **** prevention resources worldwide. More from Personal Finance: How Musk’s DOGE took over the Education Department What dismantling the Education Department may mean Here’s a potential winner from Trump tariffs About 30% of the overall nonprofit sector’s revenues come from government grants and contracts, according to Diane Yentel, president and CEO of the National Council of Nonprofits, which brought a suit against the federal funding freeze resulting in a temporary restraining order. “The temporary restraining order preventing the administration from freezing all federal funding has had a positive effect, with many nonprofit organizations previously unable to access funds to continue their vital work now able to do so,” Yentel said. However, “some federal agencies continue to make expected funding unavailable, and many nonprofits — especially the smallest among them, with the least resources to fall back on if a federal payment doesn’t come through — are having to make difficult decisions to furlough or lay off staff, or to close programs entirely,” Yentel said. A worker removes the U.S. Agency for International Development sign on their headquarters on Feb. 7, 2025 in Washington, DC. Kayla Bartkowski | Getty Images Trump’s foreign aid freeze and the shutdown of the U.S. Agency for International Development is part of a larger effort to shrink the federal bureaucracy. Backed by the Trump administration, Elon Musk and his advisory group known as the Department of Government Efficiency said dismantling the USAID is a first step. “We spent the weekend feeding USAID into the wood chipper,” Musk wrote on his social media platform X on Feb. 3. Most Americans support foreign aid. A 2024 poll by the Reagan Institute found that 54% of Americans believe the U.S. should be more involved in international affairs, while 33% want less U.S. engagement. Even more — 77% — said the U.S. has a moral obligation to stand up for human rights and democracy around the world. ‘Now is the time to dig deep’ The freeze on foreign assistance funding sent “a shock wave through the nonprofit sector,” said Michael Thatcher, the CEO of nonprofit evaluator Charity Navigator. Many international organizations operate with less than 100 days of working capital, according to Thatcher, which means “this is going to change their ability to pay their staff and maintain operations,” he said. “About half may not survive.” In some cases, individual donors can bridge some of the funding gap, Thatcher said. “If some of these causes are things you care deeply about, now is the time to dig deep.” In fact, foreign assistance only comprises about 1% of the federal budget — or roughly $63 billion in fiscal year 2023 — and less than 0.33% of gross domestic product, according to a Brookings Institution report from September. By comparison, U.S.-based institutions and individual donors contributed about $49.3 billion to overseas causes as of a 2020 tally. Where to give “Individual givers and philanthropy on a larger scale has a really important role right now,” said Michael Jarvis, executive director of the Trust, Accountability, and Inclusion Collaborative, a Washington, D.C.-based network of funders that operate around the world. “There’s no way that private givers can fill the gap that the U.S. government is leaving,” Jarvis said, “but it means that their funds are all the more important and needs to be strategically deployed even more effectively.” To that end, Charity Navigator compiled a list of highly rated nonprofits that were affected by the funding freeze on foreign assistance, including Save the Children and UNICEF, among others. Individual giving “is already an important player and I do think people will step up more now,” Jarvis said. “There are ways people can use their voice effectively and certainly use their money effectively.” There may even be a tax benefit, depending on how those donations are made. Subscribe to CNBC on YouTube. Source link #Toprated #charities #jeopardy #battle #foreign #aid Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

2024 laggards due for a comeback this year, according to Jefferies 2024 laggards due for a comeback this year, according to Jefferies Some laggards from 2024 could be due for a swing to the upside in the new year, according to Jefferies. “Similar to Momentum’s strength, dispersion between winners & losers has been much wider than normal,” the firm’s analysts wrote in a Wednesday note to clients. “We see the gap narrowing in ’25.” The analysts noted that the best small-cap names trade around 2.6 times sales, while the best mid-cap names trade around 3.2 times sales. “Momentum has weakened, we think more to go,” they continued. In anticipation that the gap between last year’s winners and laggards will narrow, Jefferies screened for buy-rated stocks that underperformed in 2024 but could be due for outperformance amid signs of improvement. Here’s what came up on the list. Align Technology fell 23.9% in 2024, but shares could be set up for a turnaround. Year to date, shares of the medical device company have slid more than 3%. In the post-earnings trading session earlier this month, the stock gained about 1% despite the company missing earnings and revenue estimates for the fourth quarter. Align also forecast full-year revenue growth in the low single digits compared with the year before. “4Q results offered some signs that case volume might be stabilizing globally although we remain somewhat cautious given the sluggish overall dental macro trends,” the firm, whose $260 price target reflects more than 28% upside from Tuesday’s close, wrote in the note. “This puts more emphasis on the innovation pipeline, but we expect new products like the Invisalign Palatal Expander and the next generation Lumina scanner will be a tailwind to growth in F25.” A majority of analysts on Wall Street are bullish as well. Jefferies is among the 11 out of 18 analysts covering the stock that have a strong buy or buy rating, according to LSEG. Align also has a $258 consensus target, which implies more than 27% upside potential ahead. While automotive services company Valvoline shed 3.7% last year, shares have outperformed the broader market already in 2025, gaining more than 5%. The S & P 500 , meanwhile, has risen more than 4% in the same *******. That momentum just might continue in the months ahead. Along with its buy rating, Jefferies has a target of $49, implying more than 35% upside, as of Tuesday’s close. “We highlight Valvoline as a top pick in ’25 supported by steady industry tailwinds in growing vehicle PARC & vehicle miles traveled (VMT),” the firm wrote. “We also expect VVV continues to see market share gains in highly fragmented quick lube industry as customer base growth is fueled by new unit openings (FY25 guide of 160 to 185 new units) and investments in customer service, while seeing further tailwinds from continued momentum in higher margin service mix.” Jefferies’ stance joins seven other analysts out of the 15 covering the name that have a strong buy or buy rating. Valvoline also has a consensus target of around $44, which reflects more than 22% upside. Beverage company Celsius also made the screen after having plummeted 51.7% in 2024. While the stock has fallen more than 2% this year, shares jumped 12% on Wednesday ahead of its fourth-quarter earnings results due out after the bell on Thursday. Source link #laggards #due #comeback #year #Jefferies Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content] For verified travel tips and real support, visit: [Hidden Content]

Millions of Dead People on Social Security? The Agency’s Own Data Says Otherwise. Millions of Dead People on Social Security? The Agency’s Own Data Says Otherwise. As the Department of Government Efficiency has pursued access to sensitive personal information held by the Social Security Administration, Elon Musk and President Trump have said they suspect tens of millions of dead people may be receiving fraudulent payments from the government. The claim, which would presumably require living people to ultimately cash those checks, is rooted in an arcane problem: Among the more than 500 million unique Social Security numbers the agency has ever issued, there are millions of people in its records who were born more than a century ago but who have no recorded deaths. That nettlesome issue, however, is largely unrelated to the question of who receives Social Security checks today. The agency publishes public data about those beneficiaries, including by age. And there simply aren’t tens of millions of people receiving retirement checks who appear over the age of 100. There are at most 90,000 of them: And according to the Census Bureau, there are about 85,000 people in America 100 or older. The above chart covers nearly 52 million Americans receiving retired worker benefits in December 2024. These are the people who paid into the Social Security system over their working lives, and who now collect what most people think of as “Social Security.” The Social Security Administration makes a smaller number of payments to dependents and widowed survivors of those retirees, and to disabled workers and their dependents under a different trust fund. The total number of people receiving benefits last year was about 68 million. The table Mr. Musk shared on social media over the weekend showed about 20 million people in the agency’s database over the age of 100 and with no known death, including 3.5 million people in their 120s, and 1.3 million people in their 150s. The numbers he mentioned appeared to be from a system called the Numident, the Rosetta Stone-like computer database that contains basic information on every Social Security number ever issued. It covers a far larger universe of people than all Americans currently receiving Social Security checks. The S.S.A. has also already concluded that the group of Americans receiving payments contains few people who should probably be considered dead. The agency’s inspector general found in a 2023 report that nearly 19 million people in the Numident appeared over 100 years old and did not have a recorded death. The S.S.A. concluded that “almost none” of them were receiving payments from the agency — in fact, that was part of why the agency argued it wasn’t worth the expense to try to clean up information about people who largely died before the advent of electronic records. “Elon Musk did not discover this problem in the Numident,” said Kathleen Romig, the director of social security and disability policy at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, and a former adviser at the S.S.A. “Even to call it a problem is exaggerating. It’s an issue. As the I.G. report makes clear, it’s not a problem,” she added, in the sense that people are not receiving benefits. “This is a propagandist looking for something out of the ordinary,” said Justin Wolfers, a professor of economics and public policy at the University of Michigan. There are other potential issues of fraud stemming from people who have never been recorded as dead. It might be easier, for one, to use their stolen Social Security numbers (to ends other than collecting Social Security checks). The data discrepancies can also cause erroneous payments in other federal benefits systems that depend on the Social Security database to ferret out inaccurate or unreported deaths. The S.S.A. also has other problems with improper payments, including overpaying real-life beneficiaries who don’t accurately report their income or work status. While those improper payments add up to billions of dollars annually, they amount to less than 1 percent of what the agency spends on benefits every year. Mr. Musk has suggested he can find something much larger. And on Tuesday, Mr. Trump ran with that idea. During a news conference at the White House, he took out a piece of paper that appeared to contain the numbers Mr. Musk posted on social media over the weekend and started rattling them off. “Wow, I wonder if people are getting paid with all this,” he said. The White House did not respond to questions asking how to reconcile Mr. Musk’s numbers with the S.S.A.’s own public data. Source link #Millions #Dead #People #Social #Security #Agencys #Data Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

Lost Records: Bloom and Rage – All Collectibles and Locations in Tape 1 Lost Records: Bloom and Rage – All Collectibles and Locations in Tape 1 Lost Records: Bloom & Rage is a nostalgic adventure set in the 1990s, with storytelling and exploration that revolves around using a camcorder to capture video memoirs. Achievement hunters have plenty of collectibles to chase down for these recorded memoirs. Many of these collectibles are easily found during your adventures, but some of them are well-hidden or tricky to complete. Here we’ll guide you through each collectible category for Tape 1 of Lost Records: Bloom and Rage. Note: Chapters can be replayed in Collectible mode to allow you to replay and collect without interfering with your story choices. If ever you’re unsure of a chapter we mention in this guide–since the game doesn’t always telegraph their names–you can use the game’s scene replay feature to browse them by name and jump right to where you want to be. Woodland Ruins – 6 collectibles needed Woodland Ruins This category becomes available during the chapter called This Old House. All of these collectibles can be found during this chapter, as well as later trips to the cabin, but they are all pretty easy to obtain. You only need six to complete this category, but you’ll find more than you need. The most obvious ones being the following: The deer-shaped weather vane on the roof The broken bridge at the cabin The wooden outhouse The windchimes in nearby tree The firepit at the lake The towels hanging on the line at the lake The miner’s gravesite on the trail behind the cabin Graffiti – 10 collectibles needed Graffiti on dumpster Graffiti is by far the easiest of the collectible categories to complete. You can collect these through most scenes in the game where you explore with your camcorder, but you can complete this all during the chapter titled The Day We Met. This chapter takes Swann to the parking lot of the Movie Palace. The area is covered in graffiti, including the following areas: The graffiti marks on the fence’s Do Not Enter sign Graffiti on the green dumpster near the Yooper Scooper There are six different graffiti opportunities on the park benches by Yooper Scooper Graffiti on the side of the white van Spray paint on the right side of the Movie Palace Even more graffiti can be found on the rooftop if you take the ladder on the right side Spotlights: Kat, Nora, Autumn – 10 collectibles each Character spotlights There’s really no trick to these spotlight collectibles. Simply record 10 moments for each character. This can all be done during the chapter titled The First Night, or you can collect moments more organically throughout the entirety of Tape 1. You can work on this anytime Swann is able to record while with the girls. Forgotten Playground – 6 collectibles needed Forgotten Playground The Forgotten Playground collectibles can be earned during the chapter called The First Night. If you miss any, they can also be collected in later scenes where you visit the park, such as during Kat’s memoir. There are a few more collectibles than you need here, but here are the main ones you’ll likely find: The seesaw The marbles on the ground The giant rocketship The jungle gym The animal-shaped spring riders Swing set Bullies – 7 collectibles needed Filming Dylan after confrontation The bullies category can be started early on in the game, with the very first encounter with Dylan and Corey during the chapter titled The Day We Met. Mild Spoilers: If you make the same apologetic and non confrontational dialogue choices as I did when dealing with Dylan and Corey, you’ll need to replay this scene in Collectible mode to get more of these. You need to pick the taunting choices, where you taunt and film Dylan, and then agree to film Corey and his bike. The final bully collectibles come from an opportunity to film Corey again later in the game. This comes after near the end of the chapter titled the Abyss. This is also optional and missable. Nora will prompt you to film Corey, but the choice is yours. Water Tower – 4 collectibles needed Velvet Cove water tower This is another easy category. You’re basically filming the same Velvet Cove water tower throughout various scenes in the game. Some of the opportunities are as follows: Film while standing in the Movie Palace parking lot Film from Swann’s bedroom window in various chapters Can be filmed from the park in various chapters Can be seen from the bar parking lot Mothgirl Chronicles – 6 collectibles needed Mothgirl placement at the end of Riot Grrrl The Mothgirl Chronicles collectible category starts during the chapter called Packing Up. This is an unmissable part of the story that takes place in Swann’s bedroom, and filming Mothgirl for the first time unlocks this collectible category. The remaining five collectibles require you to find a special spot where you can place Mothgirl and film. There don’t seem to be any extra locations, so you’ll need to replay sections if you miss these. These hidden locations are as follows: Later, during Packing Up, there is a scene with the girls at the lake, and you can place Mothgirl on a nearby rock and film her During the chapter called Double Dare, go up into the attic. You’ll want to do this before you light the fireplace. Place Mothgirl on the ledge of the open section of the attic. (This collectible appears to be glitched. It lets me place Mothgirl here, but the game marks this as a location I’ve already recorded even though it wasn’t previously recorded or in the footage.) In the chapter titled Kat, you’ll film an interview with her. You’ll have the option to explore around the park afterwards, so make sure you grab your collectibles before telling her you’re done. There are two Mothgirl locations here. Place Mothgirl on both the swing and the slide for two more collectible opportunities During the chapter called Riot Grrrls, you’ll break into the fenced-off area of the bar. Immediately look right and place Mothgirl in the lounge chair on the right After turning on the power during Riot Grrrls, run back to Nora’s band setup and place Mothgirl on one of the speakers Terrible Toys – 6 collectibles needed Bunny car pictured with the moo box on top of it for optional trophy The Terrible Toys memoir category requires you to film weird toys you find while on your adventures. Not all of these are available at this time, as Don’t Nod told GameSpot that one of them is only found in Tape 2, coming this April, but here are the five known locations so far: During the chapter called The First Night, you can find a collectible when helping Kat look for the keys. You’ll see a troll doll Another toy can be found during The First Night chapter. When looking for something to knock down the keys, you follow Autumn into a junkyard. Here you’ll find a creepy doll to film at the campsite The third one you’ll encounter is during the chapter called Garage Band. Inside Nora’s garage you’ll find a weird bunny car to film Grab the item sitting on top of the bunny car and inspect it. Rotating the item until it moos like a cow will unlock the hidden MOO! trophy/achievement to “Make the moo box moo.” The next is found during chapter – Lights, Camera, Action! Before you follow your friends across the tree bridge, turn right towards the lake to find another creepy doll The next is a voodoo doll that can be found in various times and locations. The best times to look are either during Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark or This Old House. Head up into the cabin’s attic to find a voodoo doll. The doll can also be found later in the story on a trail leading away from the cabin, or in a small cave entrance. It can only be counted once, though It’s worth noting that since not all Terrible Toys can be found yet, it may also be the case that some other collectible categories can be finished in Tape 2, likely making those easier to complete. Strangers – 7 collectibles needed Strangers at the bar There are seven collectibles needed for the Strangers memoir category. The entire category is really easy to miss, depending on how you approach specific moments in the game. The first four can be discovered during the chapter called The Day We Met. Before interacting with any characters, use the ladder on the right side of the Movie Palace. You can climb up and get a view of two sets of characters. Corey and Dylan are at the back, and Nora and Autumn are at the Yooper Scooper ice cream shack. Use the camcorder to view them and then record each one as strangers There’s a trophy/achievement you can unlock called “Dub and Dubber” by imitating the strangers as you film them. I had to imitate Corey, Dylan, and Nora before the trophy popped. There might be early opportunities I missed, but I got the last three strangers needed for the category recorded before the last part of the Riot Grrrls chapter. Once you’re tasked with placing the stickers, head to the front of the bar to find three men walking out. Record each of them to complete the Strangers category Scenic Views – 4 collectibles needed Scenic View captured at the lake during Lights, Camera, Action! Scenic views is a category that only requires four game environments to be recorded, but you’ll have several opportunities to do so. The first of the scenic views can be captured during the chapter called Welcome to Velvet Cove. There will be a pretty scene by the lake that Swann will want to film. While this isn’t all of the locations, some other scenic options include: A scenic view near the picnic tables at the Yooper Scooper during The Day We Met Looking across the road from the Yooper Scooper during The Day We Met A view of the river during Lights, Camera, Action! Another is found during Lights, Camera, Action while visiting the lake with your friends Before crossing the tree bridge, turn right to capture another scenic view of the lake in Lights, Camera, Action! Hunting – 8 collectibles needed Hunting stand near padlock fence There are only eight Hunting collectibles needed, and these are easy items that can be found throughout much of the story. Here are some you’ll encounter early in the game: During Swann’s first walk through the nature trails during Welcome to Velvet Cove, you come across opportunities to film a doe, stag, some animal tracks, and bones More hunting collectibles are given during the trail walk with friends during Lights, Camera, Action! This includes more deer walking around, arrows, and deer antlers found on the path In Lights, Camera, Action, during the scene at the padlock fence, where Kat pretends to shock herself, there is a hunting stand Just past the hunting stand mentioned above are more animal tracks to record Additionally, there is a trophy/achievement unlock that you can get here at the fence. Here is our guide for unlocking the “Heartbreak” trophy/achievement in Lost Records. Birds! – 15 collectibles needed Wood Thrush found during This Old House Having 15 birds to record sounds like a lot, but this is another category with multiple opportunities to collect them. Many are easy to spot during the chapters for Welcome to Velvet Cove and Lights, Camera, Action! Some birds are more difficult to spot, and you need 15 different types. Here are some specific spots: The Cardinal is first found at the very beginning during the Swann Holloway chapter The Ring-Billed Gull can be found on top of white van in parking lot of the Movie Palace during The Day We Met An owl can first be found during the chapter called The First Night The Blue Heron is near the pond in Lights, Camera, Action! The ******-Billed Magpie can be found on some rocks in the distance once you pass the hunting stand during a chapter called Lights, Camera, Action! Also during Lights, Camera, Action, you can find the American Robin. When it’s time to film the tree crossing scene for your video, turn around and find the robin on a post behind you You’ll find a horned owl at the start of the chapter called Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark Ravens are commonly found throughout the chapters Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark and The Abyss A Wood Thrush is sitting by the wind chimes outside the cabin during the chapter This Old House A mallard can be spotted at the lake during Echoes of Summer During the chapter titled Bloom…You can find the Tufted Titmouse bird near the start of the scene. It’s sitting near the door, but it will fly away if you get too close During the Packing Up chapter, there is a scene where you return from the lake, and you’ll find a Red-headed Woodpecker and Gold Finch just outside of the cabin A Blue Jay can be found on top of the large concrete pipes in the park during Kat’s chapter Moving in Place – 6 collectibles needed Push the merry-go-round There are six collectibles needed for the Moving in Place category. You’ll have more than six opportunities, but a few of them are tricky and easy to miss. During the chapter called The Day We Met, there is a red balloon as part of the story, but capturing this moving object is missable if you don’t hit record before the cutscene happens Also during The Day We Met, look up to capture the flag on top of the Movie Palace During The Day We Met, use the ladder on the right side of the Movie Palace to climb up. There is a portable fan on the rooftop that you can record for the collectible During the chapter The First Night, you can find shoes hanging in the tree between the slide and the jungle gym You can also record the merry-go-round in The First Night, but you need to interact with the merry-go-round first. Push it and then quickly film it Lastly, there is a flag waving from the top of the rocket ship during The First Night If you missed any of these, you can also use the overhead fan or the Newton’s Cradle from one of Swann’s bedroom scenes. Just interact with the items to make them move, and then quickly hit the record button. Critters – 6 collectibles needed Squirrel found on natural trail There are six collectibles needed for the Critters category, but you’ll have way more than six opportunities to film them. These critters are as follows: The first is the stick bug **** that Swann keeps in her bedroom aquarium. You can film them during any of the bedroom scenes The ants around the spilled ice cream in front of the Movie Palace during The Day We Met Squirrels can be found through the various scenes with nature trails Frogs can be found sitting on rocks near the water in various locations near the trails and cabin Moths at the bar’s outdoor light during Riot Grrrls More Cat! – 9 collectibles needed More Cat is a category with nine collectibles involving recording cat-themed content in Swann’s bedroom. This is easily completed by the time you reach the chapter titled Swann Holloway. This includes taking more videos of her cat in the room, plus the following items: The cat tower Cat scratches on the door Can of cat treats on the floor before you give them to the cat Cat toys by the closet Cat scratches on the side of her dresser Filming the cat after you give the treats Source link #Lost #Records #Bloom #Rage #Collectibles #Locations #Tape Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content] For verified travel tips and real support, visit: [Hidden Content]

Defense officials fear impending Pentagon firings could break law and hurt military readiness – CNN Defense officials fear impending Pentagon firings could break law and hurt military readiness – CNN Defense officials fear impending Pentagon firings could break law and hurt military readiness CNNA comprehensive look at DOGE’s firings and layoffs so far The Associated PressDefense Department firings expected to start soon, officials say The Washington PostHere’s Where Trump’s Government Layoffs Are—As DOGE Reportedly Accesses Employee Info At Pentagon ForbesDOGE meets with Pentagon officials to plan cuts at the biggest U.S. department CBS News Source link #Defense #officials #fear #impending #Pentagon #firings #break #law #hurt #military #readiness #CNN Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

Everything New in Monster Train 2 Revealed So Far Everything New in Monster Train 2 Revealed So Far Monster Train 2 has been officially announced by developer Shiny Shoe and Big Fan Games, a new publishing label from Devolver Digital. This latest announcement also comes with a demo to give players a taste of what to expect from the sequel of the hit deck-building rogue-lite. While the game largely builds on the existing mechanics of the first title, there are several new additions that players will need to take into account. Here are all the new features, mechanics, and content in Monster Train 2 based on the demo released by the developers on Steam. New Features in Monster Train 2 Here are some of the new additions we’ve seen so far in Monster Train 2 based on the demo and the Steam page! Five New Clans: There are five new clans that players can choose from including Banished, Pyreborn, Luna Coven, Underlegion, and Lazarus League. Players will decide on a Primary and Secondary clan before departing. The first two are available in the demo. Screenshot by Prima Games Room Cards: Room cards can installed on the floor of the train, adding a gameplay effect that persists until the end of the battle. Each floor can only have one room effect active at a time. Equipment Cards: These cards can be attached to a unit inside the train. Once attached, the unit will be provided with a bonus. Each unit card can be buffed with one equipment card at a time. For instance, “Lava Armor” gives players the Revenge bonus that applies Pyregal 3 to the attacker. Screenshot by Prima Games There’s a story now: The first Monster Train was a purely gameplay experience with some background lore, but there’s an actual story this time around with named characters, unique dialogue, and more. Screenshot by Prima Games Active Skills: Some champions now come with an active skill with cooldowns that you can use during battle. Screenshot by Prima Games Dragon Eggs: These are an additional form of currency that players can earn during a run and hold for more rewards. They can cash them right away too, but there’s a fun risk and reward element tied to them. Screenshot by Prima Games Train Customization: One of the most requested features in the original title, players can finally customize their trains in the sequel by unlocking new parts. This feature isn’t available in the demo but should be fun to mess around with once the game releases. Pyre Hearts: Pyre Hearts serve as a modifier that shakes up the entire run with new gameplay mechanics. These are selected before departing and will apparently play a role in the story as well. Daily Challenges: Players will be able to take on a challenge run every single day with a hugely modified run featuring brand new mutators, as well as some returning old favorites. Yes, there’s a leaderboard too! Endless Mode: Players will travel the rails with ever-increasing difficulty to test their skills and see how long they can survive. New cards, enemies, effects, and abilities! These are just some of the features we’ve spotted Monster Train 2 Platforms Monster Train 2 is coming to PS5, Xbox Series, Switch, and PC. A release date has not been announced as of yet. Monster Train 2 Demo Players can now download the demo for Monster Train 2 directly through Steam. It contains a complete run with two clans including the Banished and Pyreborne. Despite the full run, several features are locked during the demo, for obvious reasons. Dedicated fans can also provide feedback during the run by hitting F8. Prima Games is supported by our audience. When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn a small affiliate commission. Learn more about our Affiliate Policy Source link #Monster #Train #Revealed Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content] For verified travel tips and real support, visit: [Hidden Content]

World’s glaciers melting faster than ever recorded World’s glaciers melting faster than ever recorded Mark Poynting Climate and environment researcher Getty Images At more than 20km long, Aletsch Glacier is the biggest in the European Alps. But its front has retreated by around 3.2km (2 miles) since 1900, including more than 1km since 2000. The world’s glaciers are melting faster than ever recorded under the impact of climate change, according to the most comprehensive scientific analysis to date. Mountain glaciers – frozen rivers of ice – act as a freshwater resource for millions of people worldwide and lock up enough water to raise global sea-levels by 32cm (13in) if they melted entirely. But since the turn of the century, they have lost more than 6,500 billion tonnes – or 5% – of their ice. And the pace of melting is increasing. Over the past decade or so, glacier losses were more than a third higher than during the ******* 2000-2011. The study combined more than 230 regional estimates from 35 research teams around the world, making scientists even more confident about exactly how fast glaciers are melting, and how they will evolve in the future. Glaciers are excellent indicators of climate change. In a stable climate, they remain roughly the same size, gaining about as much ice through snowfall as they lose through melting. But glaciers have been shrinking pretty much everywhere over the past 20 years as temperatures have risen due to human activities, principally burning fossil fuels. Between 2000 and 2023, glaciers outside the major ice-sheets of Greenland and Antarctica lost around 270 billion tonnes of ice a year on average. These numbers aren’t easy to get your head around. So Michael Zemp, director of the World Glacier Monitoring Service and lead author of the study, uses an analogy. The 270 billion tonnes of ice lost in a single year “corresponds to the [water] consumption of the entire global population in 30 years, assuming 3 litres per person and day”, he told BBC News. The rate of change in some regions has been particularly extreme. Central Europe, for example, has lost 39% of its glacier ice in little over 20 years. The novelty of this study, published in the journal Nature, is not so much finding that glaciers are melting faster and faster – we already knew that. Instead, its strength lies in drawing together evidence from across the research community. There are various ways of estimating how glaciers are changing, from field measurements to different types of satellite data. Each has its own advantages and disadvantages. Direct measurements on glaciers, for example, give very detailed information, but are only available for a tiny fraction of the more than 200,000 glaciers worldwide. By systematically combining these different approaches, scientists can be much more certain about what’s going on. These community estimates “are vital as they give people confidence to make use of their findings”, said Andy Shepherd, head of the Department of Geography and Environment at Northumbria University, who was not an author of the recent study. “That includes other climate scientists, governments, and industry, plus of course anyone who is concerned about the impacts of global warming.” Glaciers take time to fully respond to a changing climate – depending on their size, anywhere between a few years and many decades. That means they will continue to melt in the years ahead. But, crucially, the amount of ice lost by the end of the century will strongly depend on how much humanity continues to warm the planet by releasing carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases. This could be the difference between losing a quarter of the world’s glacier ice, if global climate targets are met, and nearly half if warming continues uncontrolled, the study warns. “Every tenth of a degree of warming that we can avoid will save some glaciers, and will save us from a lot of damage,” Prof Zemp explained. These consequences go beyond local changes to landscapes and ecosystems – or “what happens on the glacier doesn’t stay there”, as Prof Zemp puts it. Hundreds of millions of people worldwide rely to some extent on seasonal meltwater from glaciers, which act like giant reservoirs to help buffer populations from drought. When the glaciers disappear, so does their supply of water. And there are global consequences too. Even seemingly small increases to global sea-level – from mountain glaciers, the major Greenland and Antarctic ice-sheets, and warmer ocean waters taking up more space – can significantly increase the frequency of coastal flooding. “Every centimetre of sea-level rise exposes another 2 million people to annual flooding somewhere on our planet,” said Prof Shepherd. Global sea-levels have already risen by more than 20cm (8in) since 1900, with around half of that coming since the early 1990s, and faster increases are expected in the decades ahead. Source link #Worlds #glaciers #melting #faster #recorded Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

Apple announces the iPhone 16e with Apple Intelligence for $599 Apple announces the iPhone 16e with Apple Intelligence for $599 After three years, Apple has finally unveiled its next entry-level iPhone. The iPhone 16e takes over for the iPhone SE in the company’s lineup. It borrows the blueprint of the iPhone 14 and spices it up with (among other changes) an updated processor that’s ready for Apple Intelligence. At $599, it’s the cheapest AI-equipped iPhone by $300. As leaks suggested, the fourth-generation iPhone 16e resembles the iPhone 14, the company’s 2023 standard (non-Pro) model. This is the first entry-level model to adopt the iPhone’s modern full-screen design. That means it’s also the first with Face ID. At 6.1 inches, this is the biggest screen yet on an entry-level model. (The 2022 iPhone SE is only 4.7 inches.) But like Apple’s 2017 to 2022 flagships, it has the notch at the top of the display, so you’ll still have to pay for a more expensive model to get Dynamic Island. Some external details differ from those of the iPhone 14. It has a USB-C port instead of Lightning, and like older iPhone SE models, it has only a single camera lens on the back. However, it’s a 48MP “2-in-1” with integrated 2x zoom capabilities, which is quite an upgrade over the last SE. Apple It also gets the Action button, the customizable physical shortcut button that debuted on the iPhone 15 Pro. On the other hand, it lacks the MagSafe charging found on Apple’s more expensive handsets: It only supports Qi wireless charging up to 7.5W. That aligns with the iPhone SE it replaces, but it could still be a big drawback for some buyers. One of the biggest differences is inside, where you’ll find the A18 chip — the same one powering the iPhone 16 and 16 Plus. In addition to fast and smooth performance, the A18 enables Apple Intelligence, which the company recently began activating by default during onboarding. (You can still turn it off in Settings.) You get Apple’s generative AI writing tools, Genmoji, Image Playground, Visual Intelligence, ChatGPT integration and the recently tweaked notification summaries — all in a sub-$600 iPhone. Not bad if you’re into those things. The new iPhone SE comes in 128GB, 256GB and 512GB storage tiers. You can order it in ****** and white finishes. At $599, the 2025 iPhone SE is priced somewhat comparably to Google’s $499 Pixel 8a and Samsung’s $400 Galaxy A35 for those wanting flagship-esque features in a more affordable handset. You can pre-order the new iPhone SE starting on February 21 at 8AM ET, ahead of its February 28 ship date. Source link #Apple #announces #iPhone #16e #Apple #Intelligence Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

Apple and Google Restore TikTok to App Stores in the U.S. Apple and Google Restore TikTok to App Stores in the U.S. Apple and Google restored TikTok to their U.S. app stores on Thursday evening, several weeks after they removed the ********-owned video platform to comply with a new law that banned it in the country. Last month, President Trump tried to pause enforcement of the TikTok ban with an executive order. But Apple and Google were reluctant to bring TikTok back until they were certain they were not breaking the law. Apple and Google had recently received letters from the Justice Department assuring them that they would not face fines for carrying TikTok in their app stores, said two people with knowledge of the communications, who were not authorized to speak publicly. The executive order that Mr. Trump signed last month asked that “written guidance” be sent. The law, signed last year by President Joseph R. Biden, had called for TikTok’s parent company, ByteDance, to sell the app to a non-******** owner by Jan. 19. Federal lawmakers were concerned that TikTok’s ******** ties made it a national security threat. The law targeted app store operators and internet hosting companies with steep financial penalties if they distributed or maintained TikTok. Mr. Trump’s executive order, which told the Justice Department to refrain from enforcing the law for 75 days while his administration pursued a resolution, prompted confusion among technology companies. While Apple and Google kept TikTok out of their app stores, companies like Oracle, which provided back-end technology support for the app, resumed working with it after a brief shutdown in January. Apple and Google did not comment beyond saying they had reinstated the app. TikTok and a spokesman for the Justice Department declined to comment. TikTok’s return to the app stores means it is now back to operating as it always did in the United States. That has raised questions about whether Mr. Trump is abiding by the rule of law or putting executive power first, with some experts saying that conflict represents the beginnings of a constitutional crisis. The Supreme Court unanimously upheld the law last month. “If we get to 75 days without a deal and Trump says we’ll continue to not enforce it, we will very much be in a crisis,” said Lindsay Gorman, the managing director of the technology program at the ******* Marshall Fund and a former tech adviser for the Biden administration. “Then we’re getting to ******* issues than just about TikTok but about the relationship between the executive and legislative branches.” On Thursday, Mr. Trump suggested that he might extend his nonenforcement of the law banning TikTok. “I have 90 days from about two weeks ago, and I’m sure it can be extended, but let’s see,” he said, appearing to misquote the time ******* stated in his executive order. “We have a lot of people interested in TikTok.” Lawmakers and intelligence officials have long argued that ByteDance could hand over sensitive U.S. user data — like location information — to Beijing. They have also claimed that China could use TikTok’s content recommendations to fuel misinformation. TikTok has rejected such concerns and said there was no public evidence that either situation had occurred in the United States. Since the law went into effect last month, TikTok — which claims 170 million U.S. users — has remained largely unaffected on American phones that had already downloaded the app. Still, some TikTok creators have complained of glitches that they believed were tied to the app’s absence from app stores. That includes issues with livestreaming and digital coins on TikTok that users can buy and give to creators they like. Mr. Trump promised to save TikTok during his campaign and has said he will help orchestrate a deal for the company that will keep it in the United States. But it is unclear how his administration will do that under the constraints of the law, which calls for a ***** and says a person or people in China cannot hold, directly or indirectly, more than 20 percent of TikTok. ByteDance has said for years that it cannot sell the app, in part because the ******** government would not allow the export of TikTok’s all-important algorithm. On Tuesday, TikTok executives told creators in a briefing call that it was optimistic that Apple and Google would soon reinstate the app, said H. Lee Justine, a TikTok creator and author, who was on the call. “They said that the administration had given them a lot of information that they wouldn’t be penalized and that they were really hopeful that any day now they would put it back in the app stores,” she said in an interview. “It makes me very hopeful that they felt that they could do this because hopefully this means that long term there’s not going to be issues and this will work out.” David McCabe contributed reporting. Source link #Apple #Google #Restore #TikTok #App #Stores #U.S Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content] For verified travel tips and real support, visit: [Hidden Content]